Thank you to Minotaur publishing for my gifted audiobook. I really enjoyed the narration. I couldn’t stop listening. I enjoyed the storyline and the plot. I love when you read a mystery or a psych thriller and can’t figure out who did it or how they did it until the very end. I had a feeling but didn’t know the “how”. I just love this authors writing so so much.

I really wanted to love this book! It’s a DNF for me, unfortunately. I found the MC to be super irritating and unlikeable in a way I just couldn’t get past. The pretty little liars/mean girls esque girls clique could’ve been so good but was just a miss. Waayyy too slow of a slow burn.

Margot is hoping college can give her a fresh start. After losing her best friend since childhood that was supposed to accompany her to college, Margot knows she has to find her own way. But she has never done that without her best friend by her side. When Lucy, beautiful Lucy, asks her to move into a house with her and some friends Margot is shocked and pleased. She is hoping she will finally find her people. She ends up finding a lot more than she bargained for with her new found friendships.

I loved Willingham’s other books. They were hard to put down…this one just didn’t do that for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and I saw the big twist that was coming for the most part. It was okay, but not my favorite of her books.

“If you knew you could get away with murder, would you do it?”

Margot is mourning the loss her best friend, Eliza, who died 3 weeks after high school graduation. She continues on to Rutledge College in South Carolina without her friend and muddles through her first year. Then she is drawn to Lucy Sharpe who is charismatic, outgoing and mysterious. Lucy invites her to live with her and her friends in an off campus house connected to the fraternity Kappa Nu. Things are great until a fraternity brother is murdered and Lucy is missing without a trace.

This was a slower paced psychological thriller that was a fun read with several twists. It read like a YA thriller but I liked the dark academia vibes and the twisty female friendships. I didn’t figure out all twists and this one was full of them in the end. It did bring back some college memories:)

Stacy Willingham has not written a disappointing book yet. This story was engaging from the first page and slowly builds to the point where you don’t know who to trust, who is telling the truth, or what is happening.

It was a fast & fun read.

Thank you to everyone for this gifted copy of Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham!

I have loved Stacy’s work in the past, but this one wasn’t my favorite of her work. I felt like there was something missing, but ultimately the “slow burn” was soooooo slow. It wasn’t until about 65% through the book that I was finally invested and enjoying the book.

I will say that Stacy did a really good job in her writing where I was pretty convinced that the book was going one direction, so the twists took me by surprise.

Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! Snag it now, as it published 1/16/24!

This was my first Stacy Willingham book & I had fun with it! I really like her writing - super descriptive & a quick read. The main character of this story gave me the absolute CREEPS. She was just a little too obsessive for my liking - whether she was written that way on purpose or not, it gave me the ick the entire time.

I called a couple of twists, but the twists DID keep coming & a few I was surprised by. Overall, a quick eerie thriller set in a college town (which is one of my favorite thriller novel settings). I'm looking forward to reading more work from Stacy!

I loved Stacy Willingham's last two books and was thrilled to get early access to her new one! Only If You're Lucky absolutely did not disappoint. This was a quick, twisty story that I flew through because I had to know what was happening. I appreciated that all of the characters had secrets and seemed suspicious at some point, so I could never really trust any of them or their motives. The first half was a bit of a slow burn to get everything set up, but I was on edge the whole time and loved the off campus college setting. The ending went a little off the rails and felt rushed, but the twists were excellent. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to see what the author comes out with next! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy! Since Stacy willinghams debut novel I’ve been hooked. I love her writing style. In this book she takes us back to college, Margot has just left her hometown after her best friend died, she was very obsessed with her and becomes even more introverted in her first year at college until Lucy appears and takes her under her wing. Lucy is just like Eliza was and Margot becomes obsessed. Then Eliza’s boyfriend comes to school and starts hanging around Margot and Lucy, Lucy doesn’t trust him. This book was fairly boring, I have really enjoyed her other two books and will definitely read her next one but maybe I just don’t like books set in college. The ending got a little exciting but otherwise it was rather dull.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for the ARC. I am a huge fan of this sub genre of college murder mysteries and I think Only if You're Lucky is one of the best that I have read. I really enjoyed the dual timelines, it's one of my favorite things whenever I read a mystery/thriller. I also loved the toxic friendship between the four girls and how complex it was. I loved both Margot's past and present friendships and how we got to see the complexities of friendship, how you can both love and hate someone so much. Also the whodunit part was really well done, the author kept me questioning what actually happened and I loved the constant reveals of such intriguing information that makes you ask more questions. Overall this was a really good book, totally a pageturner.

This was an enjoyable listen! I kind of guessed how things were going to go pretty early on but it didn’t alter my thoughts. Margo becomes obsessed with her bestie Eliza only to have things end up tragically. So she sets sail to college where she befriends a group of girls who aren’t any better. There were a few things that I definitely didn’t see coming (I’m spoiler free so I won’t say it here) that had me surprised! Overall, a great chick-lit thriller with Pretty Little Liars/The Craft vibes.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, perhaps the high amount of excitement put my exceptions too high. It was so different from her first two and felt very YA/new adult. It was on the slower side but overall, I was interested to find how it ended but it fell flat for me. If you are a fan of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife you will enjoy this one.

Only if You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham is a story about a young women in college who had tragically lost her high school best friend right after graduation. She befriends the new women she is living with off-campus, opening up herself, as she finally feels a sense of belonging. This story is certainly deemed a psychological thriller, as the darkness overcomes the friendships that are being built. I found this book really interesting, with the ability to see how these friendships are formed, what holds them together, and what will tear them apart. Secrets and lies, lies and secrets. I guess you never know who is telling the truth in your life.

An absolutely unreal thriller from Stacy Willingham! “Only If You’re Lucky” packs a punch I didn’t see coming!

Set on the college campus of Rutledge, as well as in the Outer Banks, Willingham’s follow-up to “A Flicker in the Dark” finds the narrator, Margot, navigating the difficult years of high school & college. Compounding this, is the sudden death of her best friend Eliza, who was meant to be her college roommate. When Margot arrives at Rutledge alone, she latches onto a trio of girlfriends who soon open her up to an entirely new college experience. But everything isn’t as it seems. And before we turn the final page, there aren’t one, but two more deaths, with more secrets exposed that will cause you whiplash!

I dove into this one pretty quickly. The middle drug a little for me as the story played out, but the final chapters were pure masterpiece for any thriller lover! So many twists & turns, you’re going to need a tight seatbelt!

I really enjoyed this authors previous books. This one was just ok. A very slow burner that might have been a little too slow for me. I enjoyed the setting and the storyline for the most part. It's hard to say what I felt was lacking without giving away too much of the plot.

rating: 4/5
genre: suspense
read if you liked: IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE, pretty little liars, cruel summer.

after two consecutive hits from Stacy Willingham the announcement of her 2024 release, ONLY IF YOURE LUCKY, had me squealing. it promises a southern college setting (not quite the dark academia of IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE, but almost), a group of girl friends living next to a frat house, and of course murder 🙊 this is a slowww burn suspense/teen drama. Willigham really makes the reader wait for the chaos, but for me it was hard to put down!! I binged this in 24 hours.

OIYL is different from Willinghams past work but we love to see a writer try out some range! regardless, as I read I still felt her signature marks, like the atmospheric writing that brings a certain creep factor and a dark & twisty story filled with unreliable characters. I liked this one and will continue to recommend Stacy’s work to anyone!

as I was reading I posted on stories that the college experience Stacy writes about (which we learn that parts are based on her own experience at UGA) made me think A LOT about my own. the big, old, run down college house next to a house of frat boys, a group of girlfriends who are in school during the day and out way too late at night, and the silly juvenile drinking games.. it all tracks 😂 if you don’t relate to this I can see how you may think it’s very YA and immature (bc it was 😂😂 but dang was it fun) but have to note this prob helped my reading experience!

I've loved Stacy's previous two books, so I was thrilled for her third! "Only if You're Lucky" was such a good read with so many unpredictable twists and turns. It grabbed my attention from the first chapter and I couldn't put it down. I had to know who did it!

Full of young scandalous characters, lies and so many secrets it is sure to be a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat! Another masterpeice by Stacy Willingham!

"Only If You're Lucky" skillfully balances the exploration of personal growth, friendship, and the darker undercurrents of the narrative. The characters are richly developed, each contributing to the complex web of relationships. The author's nuanced storytelling creates an atmosphere of tension and mystery, making this novel a compelling and thought-provoking read that goes beyond the conventions of a typical coming-of-age story.

"I love him."

"I'm your best friend you're supposed to love me too."

Oh we have all been there; best friends growing up then one falls in love and you are sharing them. It's even worse if you know the guy is no good for them but they can't see it and slowly your friendship starts to die...well something...or someone...dies.

Only If You're Lucky by the remarkably creative jaw dropping twisty author Stacy Willingham is a tale of college students who find themselves in the middle of deadly lies, missing people and murder.

Told from the point of view of Margot, who enters college alone and vulnerable dealing with the unexpected death of her best friend Eliza three weeks after their high school graduation. Luckily (?) she is befriended by the wild Lucy who asks her to be roommates with two other girls. Soon Margot has new friends and even tolerates the frat boys who live next door. But after a party, the police are questioning Margot, Lucy is missing and a frat boy is dead.

What this writer does so brilliantly is slowly build a story that you comfortably believe you know is leading in a certain direction and then gives you whiplash at the end with a jaw dropping twist.

Once again voice actress Karissa Vacker is perfection as the traumatized Margot, the unabashed Lucy and a varied cast of collegiate characters. Reading and listening to this third book by this must read author I am just left feeling very lucky to be in her thrilling orbit.

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is my first Stacy Willingham book, and if I'm being honest, it felt a little sloppy. I enjoyed the premise--girl seeks fresh start after the death of her best friend. However, it felt like I was reading the makings of a TV show. It felt like a lot of the plot was forced. The extended metaphors felt performative. I definitely enjoyed the pace and much of the thrills though. I sincerely appreciate this ARC from Stacy Willingham, NetGalley, and Minotaur Books.