Would recommend for fans of…
🔥 Cruel Summer
🔥 The Secret History
🔥 In My Dreams I Hold A Knife

Stacy Willingham is quickly becoming one of my favorite crime writers. She’s an expert at developing characters and setting without sacrificing plot and pacing and can deliver a twist like no other.

While her previous works have had major Southern Gothic vibes and been reminiscent of shows like True Detective, Only If You’re Lucky is a slight departure from that genre. While it still takes place in the South, Only If You’re Lucky is more of a slow burn character study focused on Margot, a college student who finds herself swept up by a charismatic classmate while trying to process the loss of her best friend.

This wasn’t my favorite of Willingham’s books (that title belongs to A Flicker in the Dark), but it’s still a captivating read that I really enjoyed. If you’re a thriller fan who likes stories with a big focus on character, you’ll probably love this one. And the ending??? Probably the most shocking of Willingham’s yet. You don’t want to miss this one.

Only If You’re Lucky is out now. Thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to @stmartinspress @macmilianaudio for the #gifted copy.

Only If You're Lucky transported me right back to my college days. It was a stark reminder of how well do we really know someone! If you are a fan of dark academia, this one is for you.

Margot lost her best friend, Eliza in a tragic accident and spends most of her first year in college moping around until she meets Lucy. Lucy is everything Eliza was not. She is outgoing, loud and in your face. Soon they are moving into a house with several other friends across from a frat house. Then someone gets murdered. Who did it? Who exactly is Lucy? It all starts to unravel and she isn't the person she thought she was!

It took a bit to get into this one, but once I did there was no turning back! I enjoyed this one on audio. The narration was perfect!

3.5 stars. Unfortunately, this Willingham book missed the mark for me. I have loved her other books so I expected more. I do realize, it is probably pretty difficult for authors to continually live up to their previous hits... But yeah, I just didnt love it. If you like a slow burn thriller/mystery, you might love this. It is VERY slow burn and not much happens until about 70%. The other thing I did not love about it, was the fact that it felt very YA. I dont think it was adult at all. The main characters are in high school in the past and college in the present.... so, I did not find it to be an adult read. I did enjoy the ending of the book so that bumped my original rating up a quarter star. I feel bad not loving this book more, but I do think there is an audience for it; I just was not it.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @stmartinspress and @macmillian.audio for the ARC/ALC!

🔹 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🔹
This is a first of this type of dark academia book that I’ve read. It has slow building twists and turns, and I couldn’t have guessed the ending and the twists!

Margot is our main female character and she is off to Rutledge for her first year of college. When she moves into the dorm, she immediately meets Lucy, a charismatic girl who is a sort of ringleader wherever she goes. Lucy invites Margot to live with her, and two other girls in off campus housing that is connected to a fraternity house for their next year of living. Margot is drawn to Lucy, and wanting to fit in so she readily agrees.

Margot has also been healing from some recent past trauma of losing her best friend Eliza right before going off to college. Her new roommate Lucy seems to step up to fill the role of Eliza in Margot’s life for her.

This story has alternating timelines, where we learn that halfway through their sophomore year one of the frat boys has been murdered and soon after, Lucy is missing. Secrets and lies come to light back and forth in this story, as we learn what led up to the murder and what is happening present day.

I couldn’t have predicted the ending to this book, and it left me not knowing what to think of all of the characters! I definitely want to read more from this author in the future!

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🔹 Slow Burn Suspense
🔹 Alternating Timelines
🔹 Greek Life
🔹 Pretty Little Liar Vibes
🔹 Dark Academia
🔹 Unexpected Twists

Only if you’re lucky was another great book by Stacy Willingham. It wasn’t my favorite of her books but it was still really entertaining. The characters were a bit unlikeable but I think that was planned. The first half was pretty slow, but around the 60% mark it really picked up and I couldn’t put the book down. I would recommend this to other readers for sure. Thank you netgalley for my free review copy.

Stacy Willingham delivers another fantastic performance in this dark and chilling look into female friendships and how much we can every really know those closest to us. In this dark academia tale, we meet Margot, a student at a liberal arts college. Margot graduated from high school she lost her best friend Eliza in a tragic accident. Margot spends the majority of her first year in college mourning the loss but at the end of the year, she meets Lucy.

Lucy is a of Eliza and the exact opposite of Margot. Lucy is very outgoing whereas Margot is more of a quiet introvert. Soon after meeting Lucy, Margot moves into a shared apartment with Lucy and two other friends.

Through Lucy’s friendship, Margot is finally coming out of her shell and meeting new friends on campus. The duo have became best friends but by the middle of Margot’s sophomore year, their neighbor who lives in a frat house next door is found brutally murdered and Lucy is missing.

This was a fantastic slow-burn and I would enthusiastically recommend!


Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press-Minotaur, and Stacy Willingham for an ARC of this book,

Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham was intriguing and kept me guessing. I like this author and have found her work engaging and superior throughout. However, this book is a little slow and has moments of intrigue but the big moments happen at the end of the book and it has already lost my interest.

After losing her best friend prior to graduation, Margot heads to college on her own in the fall, where they’d planned to attend together. A loner her freshman year, Margot is shocked when Lucy, a popular girl from her dorm, approaches her at the end of the year and offers her a spot as the fourth roommate in a house with herself and her two friends, Sloane and Nicole. However, halfway through the year when a fraternity brother from next door dies, and Lucy goes missing shortly after, questions begin to arise about their friendship.

This book immediately gave me a sinister version of “Mean Girls” vibes, with Lucy as the ringleader Regina George, and Margot as the new girl Cady Heron. It took me quite a bit of time to feel invested in the story; it’s a definitely a slow-burn thriller and the pace doesn’t really pick up until towards the end. Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite live up to my hopes for it in comparison to Stacy Willingham’s previous two novels. While not my favorite, it’s worth a read for fans of dark academia and twisted female friendships.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my gifted e-ARC!

hmm…really picked up towards the end which might make me lean more towards 4 stars more permenantly. didn’t find it twisty until about 70% in which was disappointing compared to willinghams first two. i love an unreliable narrator and loved the main character which kept me reading. the story itself was a bit repetitive and i would’ve liked to get another’s very point. all of them turning crazy was a bit much for me. poor levi deserved better

I enjoyed this book! I thought it was pretty fast paced and enjoyed the back and forth between the timelines. I’m still a sucker for her debut novel, but she is becoming an auto buy author for me.

Only If You’re Lucky
By Stacy Willingham
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

What a well-written thriller! I realllllly enjoyed this one!

Margot struggled a lot emotionally through her first year at Rutledge College. Margot was supposed to be going off to college and living with her best friend, Eliza, but Margot’s world is wrecked when her best friend dies right after high school graduation. Margot makes friends with her new roommate, Maggie, but things just aren’t the same and Margot wants more for her college experience. Just before moving out of the dorm, one of the most captivating students on campus, Lucy, approaches Margot about moving in with her and some other girls Margot has never met. What seems like a super exciting invitation and a chance to branch out and become someone new ends up becoming a nightmare for Margot. After moving in with Lucy and her friends, Margot ends up in the middle of a murder and missing persons case. Will the truth ever come to light?

A Flicker in the Dark was one of my favorite books in 2022 so I had really high hopes for this one. I really enjoyed this one! It had lots of mystery in it. I will say that I kinda guessed one of the bigger twists, but that didn’t really impact my reading experience.

What a fun way to reminisce on college 🤣 so many of the experiences in this book were so relatable to my college experience. MINUS THE MURDER!! Just want to set the record straight on that one 😂. At one point the girls are getting ready for a Halloween party at a frat house and I had flashbacks to picking out costumes and hitting the town with friends.

This is perfect for those who love a thriller that has an academic setting. I could also see this being a fun read for a younger audience, but definitely check trigger warnings before letting your teen read!

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC! This one is available now, and you need to get your hands on this one!

Willingham's All The Dangerous Things is one of my all time favorite thrillers, so I went into Only If You're Lucky with high expectations. I thought that this was decent and avoided the really unbelievable plot twists that absolutely ruin thrillers for me. However, I did find that this wasn't as good as Dangerous Things. The dynamic between the girls was good, the suspense for the first half built very nicely, but the ending for me just felt a little bit out there.

Do you really know who your roommates are? This thriller is full of suspenseful twists and turns about four college roommates and some frat boys living together in side by side housing. Margot, the malleable one, is traumatized by the death of her best friend Eliza, and is drawn to Lucy, with a magnetic personality who is similar. But Simone and Nicole warn her, Lucy is not whom she seems. Each have a secret and are bound to each other with the desire to belong and be seen. As Lucy drives the narrative with her mind games of "Would you murder someone if you knew you could get away with it?", the girls try to deal with some unexpected trauma when one of them turns up dead. What happened? The narrative goes between the past and present, with juicy bits and details added to spice up this story of murder and mayhem. Fast-paced, I had to read this in one sitting because I could not put it down. Many thanks to #netgalley #onlyifyou'relucky #stacywillingham for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This twisty story was engaging and suspenseful from the very start! The characters were all morally grey and generally unlikeable. I love Willingham’s storytelling abilities and look forward to so much more! Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

A mind wrecking 3.5/5

It took me a bit to get into the book. It was switching from before to after, which confused me and took me a bit to get used to. It dragged on for a bit too long and gave unnecessary clues throughout the book.

When the book got good it was great but was also in the last 50ish pages. If you choose to read this, just know that it is a slow burn and then will blow your mind towards the end.

My thoughts on this one will be short and sweet.

It was fine. Not good but not bad. Kinda forgettable really. I was initially drawn in the story but it didn't hold my attention super well. By the halfway point, I was looking forward to finishing.

I've really enjoyed this author's previous books and will continue to read her upcoming books.

This book was definitely a slowwwwww burn, but I felt like it kept my attention with the suspense just enough to want to continue reading it. I did call one of the bigger twists about 30% in, so it was somewhat predictable, but the ending held a surprise for me. I enjoyed reminiscing college life, as all our characters attend Rutledge University. I found it interesting that the setting for the story was inspired by the author’s actual college experience. That was fun!

New book review: Only if You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham

Summary:

Margot is a new college student who becomes captivated by the charismatic Lucy Sharpe. She gets invited to live with Lucy and two other girls for her next semester. It seems like a dream come true being in a house with the popular girls next to a fraternity. But when a murder occurs next door and the Lucy is missing, the surviving girls in the house begin to get questions from the police.

My Thoughts:

I loved this one! Stacy Willingham is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! With some shades from Ruth Ware’s It Girl, this book takes its own twist on the popular girl on campus. The twists and turns this book takes makes any reader appreciate the art Willingham took into crafting this book!

Get yourself a copy of this book! I was lucky enough to receive an early copy from Netgalley in the fall of 2023, but it was recently released!

I am definitely a fan of Willingham, and this is my second book of hers I’ve read. This one took me quite a bit of time to get into but once I did, I was captivated by her character’s and writing. These flawed characters were so fascinating and I really enjoyed discovering their secrets and seeing how the book concluded! The mystery part of this really kept me turning those pages and the characters were so detailed that I felt as if I were watching them on the screen. I loved the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde parallels along with the notion of what constitutes a truly evil deed and whether it can be justified. While I would warn that this is a bit more of a slower burn than say, All the Dangerous Things, I think it is absolutely worth the read. Once you get about 60% in, I just couldn’t flip the pages fast enough, wanting to know how it would all play out. I also really loved her author’s acknowledgement regarding what parts of the story were real and what was fictional. Overall a really solid mystery! Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur for my gifted eARC!

Four college girls strike up a friendship led by the alpha of the group, Lucy. She has something that Margot finds irresistible, and she reminds Margot of her best friend Eliza who died three weeks after high school graduation. Eliza’s boyfriend, Levi, shows up at Margot’s college as a student and Margot can’t believe it. She never liked Levi and suspects he had something to do with Eliza’s murder. The four girls move into a home that is attached to the Kappa Nu fraternity. One of the fraternity boys is found dead and Lucy is missing.

This book is one of those over the top thrillers. At 85 percent on, I was rolling my eyes. The focus on intense college friendships made this feel really YA to me. I could not get into these characters at all. I think this would be a good pick for readers in their 20s and dedicated thriller lovers who don’t mind outlandish twists.