Ooooh, this was a good one! I loves me a good girl mystery, and this one did NOT disappoint. The characters were awesome, the storyline was great and the writing fast-paced. I'll definitely be looking for more from this author.

First off, I absolutely loved both of her previous novels and raved about them on my page. She is a fantastic writer. However, with that said, this book is very different. The main character Margot proves uninteresting with her monotonous voice and a tedious obsession, overshadowing potentially intriguing side characters whose appeal is lost in her lackluster narrative. The story adopts a before/after structure that fails to captivate in either timeline.
The plot unfolds slowly, lacking significant events until the unexpected drama at the conclusion. Despite the engaging atmosphere, particularly in the ending, my overall rating is 3 stars. Although eager to delve into this new one by Willingham, a favorite author, I found it disappointingly reminiscent of other cookie cutter female friendship books—replete with a college setting, a group of students, atmospheric elements, and a monotonous tone, but lacking the requisite tension and suspense.

Def a fan of this author! This was a solid slow burn mystery. Probably 60-75% through I thought I had parts figured out, but I was still surprised by this book. Entertaining throughout. Recommend to mystery fans.

I finished most of this book in one sitting because the big reveal happens a little past the halfway point, and then the wheels just come off! It's one thing after another of big reveals, hidden secrets coming to the surface, and jaw dropping moments.

I don't think I've ever met anyone like Lucy Sharpe; she's very reminiscent of other antagonists from other books, most notably from Ruth Ware's The It Girl. She's carefree, whimsical, a free spirit, who just attracts wounded dogs. I can't decide if I like these types of characters or if they annoy me...either way, they make for a great plot point.

The book toggles between the past and present - before and after Lucy goes missing. We do also get some insight into the past when Margot tells us the story about Eliza, which is all very eye opening and you could see why Margot was attracted to the type of person Lucy is.

Throughout the story, we get a clearer picture of life for Margot both before, after and during Lucy's disappearance. Things are not as they seem, people are not as they seem, and even Margot herself becomes unreliable at times. It's all a little confusing (in a positive way) because everything feels familiar and it's like things are repeating...but then once the curtain is pulled back and you see the characters for who they really are, things click into place.

There were multiple times throughout this book where I screeched and had my jaw drop. When you think everything has been revealed, you find out it's not.

Only If You're Lucky was not scary but it did creep me out at points so I couldn't really read at night. To me, Willingham's writing has an eerier undertone to it where it can send a chill up your spine. It's no different from other thriller plots but something about the way she puts the words together makes me uneasy.

This is definitely one of the best thrillers I've ever read, and I felt a little sad when it was over because it was gripping, suspenseful and so surprising. If you're a thriller nerd like me, you will adore Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham!

Stacy Willingham is a gem at suspense.

Margot befriends the elusive Lucy Sharpe in college after a tragic accident took her best friend in high school. Along with Nicole and Sloane they embark on a friendship that will take you thru twists and turns you never saw coming. Who is Lucy really? She's the life of the party and the one everyone wants to be friends with. But no one really knows anything about her. As Margot unravels the clues the shock will keep those pages turning. The ending you won't see coming.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur books for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Only if You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
Thriller
Pub Date: January 16, 2024 TODAY!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Stacy is hands down one of my favorite thriller authors! I am never able to guess her twists and her writing is great! I highly recommend any of her books if you’re looking for a good thriller.

This story falls under dark academia genre, which I’ve never read before. Margot is in her freshman year of college. Margot is your typical shy college student, what most people don’t know is she lost her best friend weeks after graduation. Eliza her best friend was the outgoing one, the yin to her yang. So when Margot meets Lucy at the end of freshman year, she finds her new Eliza. Lucy is outgoing, crazy and always down to do anything.
Now Lucy is missing, and all these crazy connections start coming up. Why does it seem like Margot is always a part of these missing friends.

I really enjoyed this one! I had no idea the different twist and turns this one ended up having. Sometimes College books seem a bit too YA for me, but this one didn’t bother me at all. I highly recommend this one if you like psychological thrillers!

DNF @ almost 50%.....

This was sooo slow - also very young adult - not what I was expecting. I loved the author's last two books, and with a beautiful cover like this, I couldn't wait to dive in.

Unfortunately, I just kept finding myself uninterested and after everyone I spoke to who read it said they were disappointed, I decided it wasn't worth finishing.

This book was disappointing. I’m not a huge fan of YA novels and this thoroughly read as YA fiction. It’s the story of Margot- a college freshman who tragically lost her best friend Eliza the summer before college. She was creepily obsessed with Eliza- to the point of stealing little mementos from her bedroom. In college she meets Lucy and becomes obsessed with her as well. In the midst of this, there is some murder and assault but it’s all very slow moving and boring.

After reading the synopsis for this I was hoping for more of a dark academia vibe (e.g. 𝙄𝙣 𝙈𝙮 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙄 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙖 𝙆𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙚) but it felt more like Mean Girls with boring characters + a murder/missing person case. The characters are college age but live off-campus next to a frat house so the setting didn't really add much to the story for me. I did like the twisty ending but getting there was too slow of a burn and I was no longer very interested.

I will add that A LOT of people love the other two books by this author and those were just likes for me. So definitely still give this one a shot, especially if you loved those.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Due to tragically losing her best friend the summer before her freshman year of college, Margot spends her first year at university feeling numb and keeping to herself. That is, until she meets the enigmatic Lucy. Completely captivated by Lucy’s charm, Margot finds herself unexpectedly accepting the invitation to live with Lucy and her two best friends in a house off-campus. After settling in and growing closer to the girls, Margot is slowly able to come out of her shell. Then tragedy strikes again and Lucy is nowhere to be found…

“Only If You’re Lucky” ended up being another run-of-the-mill thriller and included characters that were not very compelling. I felt no emotional connection to the four main girls as they were bland and not as fleshed out as I would have liked. I also didn’t love that nothing really significant happened until the 70% mark. It would have helped the momentum of the story had we been given a twist of some kind in the second quarter. I had previously read Stacy Willingham’s debut and I do enjoy her writing style, but this one fell just a little flat.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy!

I absolutely loved this author's previous books so when "Only If You're Lucky" hit NetGalley I couldn't request a copy fast enough. And while this wasn't a total win for me, I ended up enjoying it more than I anticipated.

Willingham's newest book focuses on the complexities of morality and the blurred lines between good and evil. When college student Lucy goes missing, her roommates and neighboring friends are put to the test on what they are willing to protect. It’s soon clear everyone has a reason to want their own protection.

The alternating timelines made the book hard to put down as I found myself engrossed in the dark academia storyline. While none of the characters in this book are all that loveable, you can't help but want them to win in the end -- "if you can't beat them, join them", ya know?

My only hiccup was the less than stellar police work. I can't say too much without spoiling the story, but as a crime junkie, I found their lack of investigation a bit bothersome.

"Only If You're Lucky" is a good fit for readers seeking an exploration of female friendship, loyalty, and the darker side of human nature.

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham’s first two novels so I was excited to read her third, Only If You’re Lucky. I have to say, it did not disappoint! Toxic female friendships full of secrets and lies in a college setting— yes, please! This slow burn suspense novel sprinkled just enough goodies in each chapter to keep me engaged throughout. I’m a big fan of short chapters because it’s so easy to convince yourself to read “just one more” over and over again, which is what I found myself saying each night I read in bed. I loved the back and forth timelines, cleverly labeled “Before” and “After” (since this is a spoiler-free review I’ll leave out the details on the event that separates the two).
I really enjoyed the last quarter of the book when the puzzle pieces started coming together.
Be sure to read the acknowledgements at the end because Willingham discusses how aspects of her own collegiate experience shaped the setting for Only If You’re Lucky and I found that to be extremely fascinating.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝:
* In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
* What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
* The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
* A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
* Stacy Willingham’s first two novels

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

I love Stacy Willingham’s writing style. She gets me completely captivated by the characters. I feel like I am right in the story with them, watching everything unfold right before my eyes. I also love a good college friend group thriller. So many terrible things are always just one decision away from happening in every day college life. What kept this from being a five star for me was one of the twists. I think that particular twist is becoming overdone and unoriginal. Regardless, this was another solid thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed!

An exciting and twisted story!!

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham's two previous novels and was excited to read this one too. I had both the audiobook and ebook which made it even better. Right from the start the story pulled me in.

Margot spent her freshman year at Rutledge College playing it safe. She shared a quiet but comfortable life with her roommate, Maggie. Lucy Sharpe was a very outgoing woman who lived on the same floor as Margot and Maggie. Margot was always very aware of Lucy but didn’t think Lucy had a clue who Margot was. So Margot is beyond surprised when Lucy suddenly introduces herself and then asks if she would like to room with her in a house off campus. Suddenly Margot isn’t going home for the summer and she won’t be following through on her previous plans to room with Maggie again the following year.

Lucy reminds Margot of her best friend, Eliza. Margot and Eliza had applied to the small liberal arts school together. Eliza had convinced Margot that Rutledge was where they were meant to be and they were thrilled when they were both accepted.

“It all felt so perfect, so according to plan…”

Until one night changes everything. All of a sudden Margot was at Rutledge without Eliza.

“I spent the entire year floating, totally unmoored, completely removed from not only my body but from reality, too.”

Rooming with Lucy brings about many changes and it’s not long before Margot starts coming out of her shell. She’s enjoying her new friends and her sophomore year is going great.

Unfortunately, things will soon take a deadly turn...

A dramatic and suspenseful story about friendship, acceptance, loyalty, and betrayal!

“Only if You’re Lucky” is excellent psychological suspense novel. It was a fast paced story with plenty of twists and turns that kept me gripped from start to finish. The chapters alternated between “before” and “after” as things from both the past and present were slowly revealed.

It was a very enjoyable read and the audio was also excellent! It was narrated by Karissa Vacker who is one of my favorite narrators.

I can’t wait to read more from Stacy Willingham!


I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

I’m conflicted. I felt bored 3/4 of this book, but the twist at the end was actually great. I have loved Stacy’s books in the past, but Only If You’re Lucky felt like a whole different author wrote it. The college setting was relatable, but also I’m way past that stage of my life and it just wasn’t for me personally. I felt like the story just dragged on and on with not much happening until the last 20% of the book. I was definitely skimming. The twist at the end was fantastic in my opinion. It was interesting to learn Lucy’s story. What I really love about Stacy, though is her writing skills. I love the detail and how her sentences read so lyrically.

Read if you enjoy:
🔪 The book “In My Dreams I Hold A Knife”
🏫 College setting
✨ Slow burn thrillers

I started this book expecting it to be a constantly building plot with twists and turns throughout. Instead, it was full of twists and turns but some very predictable. I figured out one of the main plot twists by at least 50% into the book. The plot was mildly interesting, and I did enjoy the university setting. But overall the characters were bland and unlikable. I found the female friendships to be underwhelming as well. The friends felt forced and partly due to Margot suddenly jumping at the chance to live with the trio of girls. This felt too desperate to be believable as real friendships. I wanted to feel absorbed in these characters stories and lives but even Margot, the main protagonist was annoying. And don’t even get me started on how spoiled and entitled they were. It is reasonable for college aged kids to have some sort of college funds from their families and still be decent humans. But, these women took it for granted that they were from beachfront homes with fancy neighborhoods and cars and didn’t need to worry about money at all. The only character who had more depth was Lucy and she was not enough to drive the story on her own. I have loved this author previously and maybe went into this with too high of an expectation, but this was an okay story but not one that i would reread.
#OnlyIfYourLucky #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #Minotaur

This author never disappoints. Loved the mystery unraveling through the back and forth timelines and the twists throughout that made everything make sense but also shocked me. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy. This book was just released on January 16, 2024. Grab your copy today!

This is a very well written and crafted psychological thriller. I had so many theories about what was going to happen at the end and I was WAY off! No one is who you think they are. The author kept me hooked from the first chapter and I definitely recommend this thriller!

Stacy Willingham has done it again. This book was a great psychological thriller and I thought I had it this book figured out but the ending was so surprising. I have enjoyed Stacy's previous two books and I am looking forward to the next one. I highly recommend anything that Stacy writes.

This fell a little short for me. I did love the setting being at a college but the characters were a bit dull and the twists were either not twisting or totally unbelievable. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.