I have really come to enjoy books by Stacy Willingham. The stories always play out well, and the character development is great.
Only if You’re Lucky is another terrific psychological thriller, taking place at a college. Margot has gone to South Carolina to escape her small town and the memories it holds, especially of her dead best friend. She meets Lucy, and things are going great, until they aren’t. Something about Lucy is off…
I don’t want to give away any spoilers, thoroughly enjoyed!

Do you love a slow burn mystery in a college setting? I love a campus novel with suspicious students and this one delivered! From the first chapters you are sucked into this story and just NEED to know more. The chapters are short which kept me listening to one more, then one more. This is definitely more of a slow burn than a traditional thriller, so go in with that expectation and you will be satisfied!

Pub date is today!!!! @stacyvwillingham is an auto buy author for me. This book's ending reminded me why I love her!

Margo was shy and grieving the loss of her best friend from high school, who died before they could go to college together as planned. Lucy was the fun one, the magnetic one. When Lucy befriends Margo, Margo is shocked and hopes maybe this will turn things around for her. She moves in with Lucy, Sloane and Nicole next to a fraternity house. But when she sees a face from the past, her world is rocked again. As she gets in deeper with this group, things start to unravel. Then a boy is murdered and Lucy disappears. What is everyone hiding?

I gave this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I felt like the buildup was just a tad bit slow, but the twists are so worth it! I couldn't put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin Press for an advance copy!

This is a slow burn mystery about a group of college friends where one is dead and one has gone missing. Girl friendships can be quite toxic at times, but I am not sure this one is about friendships since Margot moves in with girls she doesn’t know. This was the start of me silently screaming at her. I’d say who does that but if she doesn’t, then there is no book.

There are so many red herrings and so many twists, all in the last third of the book, hence the slow burn, that I wish the pacing would have been a little more even. With unlikable characters and a slow pace, I was losing interest by the time the good stuff started.

Luckily, I had the audiobook too and it was narrated by Karissa Vacker. She is one of my favorite narrators and keeps me wanting to listen. I highly recommend this on audio if you pick it up.

I should add that I think the author nails college life and what can go wrong with jealous, studying and friendships.

While this is not my favorite read of the authors, the twists and reveals in the last third did redeem the slow start.

The ending really saved this one 😮‍💨
Something just seemed off about Margot so she wasn’t my favorite character but I liked how easily she fit in with her new roommates. I also did really enjoy how everything came together in the end even though it was a little bizarre. It’s always fun to see how little hints throughout the story show back up.

3.5 stars — this book had a nearly perfect recipe but fell short in the execution for me. I loved the college setting and there were several twists I really didn’t see coming, but overall it was just TOO LONG and led by a really generic protagonist. Maybe if it was told in multiple POVs it would have been better? The short chapters helped with the pace but it was overall 50-75 pages too long.

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

I love a dark academia thriller and this one had me holding on right until the end. An ending some weren't satisfied with (or so I've read), but I loved it! Life doesn't always wrap everything up in a package with a nice bow, and I'm ok with a book that doesn't!

Filled with many flawed characters, this one delves deep into friendships, especially female friendships. People lie. People keep secrets. Even those closest to us.

Margot is a bit of a lost soul. She had planned to attend Rutledge with her BFF Eliza, but Eliza's untimely death the summer before college changes everything. Margot is there, but deep in her grief and just trying to survive.

Enter Lucy, a larger than life personality much like Eliza was, who bursts into Margot's life, convinces Margot to move into a house she rents with two others next to a frat house, and changes Margot's life.

When Levi arrives at the frat house next door, a blast from Margot's past and the guy who was with Eliza right before she died, Margot spirals.

Some bodies turn up. Some people go missing. Some secrets are revealed. And you'll be on the edge of your seat right up to the controversial ending.

Both the audiobook and the ebook were fantastic!

Many thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for both an ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Out tomorrow [Thank you to the publisher for providing me an eARC to review!]

Rating: 4/5 stars

Margot is grieving the loss of her best friend when she gets pulled into the orbit of the magnetic Lucy Sharpe—and set on a collision course that will change everything.

I genuinely think Stacy Willingham is one of the very best thriller authors out there right now, so this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year! ONLY IF YOU’RE LUCKY is definitely a bit different from Stacy’s previous books, but I really enjoyed it.

Academic thrillers are some of my favorites, and this one felt like a pretty unique take on a familiar dynamic. I figured out some of the twists but was completely blindsided by others, which is always the ideal mix, in my opinion! I definitely recommend this one if you want a twisty psychological thriller in a college setting.

CW: Death/murder/blood; sexual violence

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Only If You're Lucky" by Stacy Willingham.

I loved Willingham's first two novels and was excited to check out her upcoming one- unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one nearly as much as her others.

Meet Margot, a college student, who's best friend Eliza died 3 weeks after high school graduation. It's the end of freshman year, and Margot meets Lucy, and moves in with her and 2 other girls immediately. They grow close throughout the year, but drunk college students are only fun when you're one of them making all the bad choices, otherwise they tend to be predictable, tedious disasters and unlikeable- there are soooo many horrible characters in this book. We spend entirely too much time inside Margot's head, hearing the SAME obsessive thoughts repeatedly. The first half of this novel was too much of a slow burn and NOTHING happened. The second half picked up and was enjoyable, with a few surprising (and a few predictable) twists.

3 stars, because of the ending.

Let me start by saying, I absolutely loved Stacy Willingham's two previous books. They both were top reads for me last year. From my understanding, Only if You're Lucky is considered dark academia, which this would be my first read in that genre.

I was very interested in Margot and Lucy. I immediately knew that Levi wasn't the culprit but had an idea that Lucy and Eliza did have some ties. Margot came off very naive and low-key obsessive. She seemed to be easily influenced and was very attached to her friend group. Its like she didn't have much of a personality outside of her friends.

The story was a slow burn for sure. The last 15-20% did pick up just a little bit. I found the story to be redundant in several parts. For instance, the before were from the same view. I think had their been different viewpoints in the before, after and present, it may have come together a bit better for me. Maybe POVs could have been from Levi, Lucy, and Margot.

Overall, I do think the story was interesting. I wanted to read it to find out how it all ended. I was underwhelmed with the ending, but then again, I was kind of expecting it. The writing was done very well.

I will continue to support Ms. Willingham. I look forward to seeing what she puts out next. This just wasn't the book for me, but I do think that its a great introduction into thrillers and maybe even dark academia.

I rated this book 3 stars on goodreads. I'm between a 2.5/3 star with it overall.

Once again, Stacy Willingham has written a book that I was so excited to get my hands on. She has such a way of developing characters and twists, and I did not see this one coming (as unbelievable as it was).

Willingham's writing is so beautiful and the tension throughout the book kept me on the edge of my seat. This slow burn isn't like her other novels, so reader beware. It did have interesting characters and a fun setting, but I couldn't convince myself to love it as much as her other books.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e ARC of Only If You're Lucky!

Thank you to NetGalley, Stacy Willingham and St Martin’s Press for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know quite what I feel about this one yet. I read it and I felt like I wasn’t that into it, but I read it in two sittings. The ending had a stellar twist and I liked the variety of characters. So I think I liked it mostly

This is another great campus/academic thriller from Stacy Willingham, although it is definitely more of a slow burn than her other books. I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character, Margot, but her naïveté was exactly what was needed to move the plot along. I enjoyed how the book was divided into multiple time periods (past, before the “event”, and after), because it gave us enough detail while also keeping us wanting more. The last third of the book is one plot twist after another, and I honestly did not see any of it coming! Also, can we take a moment for the cover? 🤩🤩

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read before pub day on January 16th!

I absolutely loved Stacy’s first two books and this one didn’t disappoint. Although it’s not as fast paced, it’s still a solid story that keeps you on your toes. The exploration into female friendships was excellent and took me back to my college years. It’s amazing what lengths girls will go to to protect each other. I really enjoyed the jump between timelines and how everything was revealed. I’m not usually a reader who tries to figure out what’s going on. I enjoy the reveals as they come, but something about this story made me want to figure it out. I couldn’t, and I’m so glad. It was such a satisfying ending. Because of the pacing of this story, I think it’s best experienced on audio.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan audio for advanced copies. My thoughts are my own.

📕Friendships are creation of luck. If you are lucky, you’ll find one who will love you, protect you, cherish you, not abuse you, and not use you. Your paths will be crossed by luck. If you are good at reading people, you’ll figure out whether your friend is giving you what you give to him/her or not. If the latter, you’ll end it.
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📗Friendships are compatibility. You don’t make friends with people you think you have nothing in common. It’s hard to make those work. But sometimes someone comes to you and makes you their friend. You won’t think you are meant to be friends with this person but it happens. Those friendships, beware of them! That’s what happened to Margot
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📘Lucy took Margot by surprise when she wanted to be friends with her. Lucy wanted Margot to be her roommate. She introduced Margot to a different world she wouldn’t care for because Margot lost her best friend. Even being at college without her best friend was too much for her. Lucy, though, she was different than everyone and Margot was slowly going to realize you wouldn’t be randomly chosen for a friend by a queen bee

3.5 stars! Willingham is back with another enjoyable binge! 🙌🏼 ONLY IF YOU’RE LUCKY is different than her other books— it feels more like a YA mystery/drama than a fast-paced thriller, and is heavily character driven vs plot driven. knowing this may have helped me cope a little better with the slow start, since it wasn’t until about 70% of the way through the book that i felt truly invested! but from then on, i couldn’t put it down! 👀👏🏼

if you’ve ready any of her work, you know that Willingham is an amazing writer— and that stays true here!! i loveee her storytelling. plus she always gives multiple twists & keeps things unpredictable. although i prefer her other two books over this, she’s for sure an autobuy author for me!

thank you netgalley & Minotaur books for the eARC, i really appreciate it!

ONLY IF YOU'RE LUCKY by Stacy Willingham

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy. This book is out 1/16.

Looking back, I've rated all 3 of Stacy Willingham's books that I've read 4/5 stars. Guess I pretty consistently love them!

Eliza and Margot are best friends, Margot's timid personality balancing Eliza's daring nature. The summer before the girls leave for college, Eliza dies, and things aren't as straight forward as they seem. Margot meets a group of friends at college, falling into their house and routines easily. One of the girls, Lucy, reminds Margot of Eliza, but Margot is determined to do things differently this time. Except a fraternity pledge dies, and Lucy was the last one to see him alive.

This book reminded me of Pretty Little Liars in the way that there is a group of girls keeping secrets and hindering a murder investigation. Lots of lies and lies of omission, and blackouts from drinking, both which make it trickier to figure out who is the bad guy.

I related to the setting- I lived off campus in college, I was in a sorority, so all of those pieces felt familiar to me. Thankfully nothing like this happened during our years there! However, I found it hard to relate to any of the characters. I found the character of Margot annoying and slightly obsessive. Lucy was manipulative and not a good friend. Sloane and Nicole were wishy washy... just an overall meh cast.

As for pacing, the first half of the book was a little slow, then the second half was a pretty unbelievable. I don't want to go into details and spoil anything. I did read it in 24 hours, but I was recovering from the stomach bug, so not able to do much else.

Margot and Eliza are childhood best friends who plan to room together their freshmen year of college. But tragedy strikes three weeks after their senior graduation leaving often-overlooked Margot alone to navigate college. Fortunately Margot finds herself paired up with Maggie, her equally overlooked roommate, who is happy to stay in, snacking, while binge watching one show after the other.

Having completed her freshmen year, Margot plans to settle in with Maggie and find a place on campus to live together. Until....she is approached by Lucy. Lucy who reminds Margot so much of Eliza - the childhood best friend who died three weeks after graduation. Lucy, like Eliza, is larger-than-life, and easily grabs the attention of those around her. It's only natural that Margot is drawn to her and readily accepts a totally unexpected and out of the blue invitation by Lucy to live with her and her two friends, Sloane and Nicole.

The long summer after freshmen year leads to fun evenings drinking and spending time with the boys in the frat house next door. Then Levi inexplicably shows up - the one whom Margot holds responsible for Eliza's death. Levi watched Eliza through his bedroom window at her most personal moments; Levi broke into Eliza's family home when they were gone just to be in her bedroom, in her space, to be near her. And now Levi is zeroing in on another friend of Margot's, Lucy.

I really enjoyed this and didn't want to stop reading once I started! Anything that keeps me super engaged and guessing from beginning to end will always be a five out of five star and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED read for me!

Thank you NetGalley, Stacy Willingham, and Minotaur books for the opportunity to read this ahead of its anticipated release date - January 16th - in exchange for a candid review! It was a pleasure to read such an amazing book that will be released on my birthday!

I think this is my favorite Stacy Willingham book yet! I loved the collegiate setting and atmosphere created by this house (which she talks about in her Acknowledgements) and had a lot of fun learning about these characters and how they're all intertwined. I think I did myself a big service by taking notes on the characters and plot points, because they came together in a very satisfying way at the end that I think would be much less satisfying if readers don't keep everything and everyone straight throughout. Definitely some things were convenient and a little unbelievable, but in my opinion that comes with the territory of mystery/thrillers and especially young-adult / college-aged thrillers like this one. Overall I think it did what it was setting out to do and I had a fun time reading it!

I loved Flicker in the Dark by Willingham so when I saw this one on NetGalley I knew I wanted it. Unfortunately, Only If You're Lucky didn't hit like FITD. The story/plot itself was okay but felt a little unnecessarily convoluted at the end. And I think I could have gotten the whole idea of the book with about 100 less pages. It just didn't really get interesting until the last 30% for me. Also, I found the MC pretty annoying. All of that said, there was a found family aspect and that's one of my favorite themes so that was fun to read and some of the twists came together nicely. Altogether not a bad read, just a little slow and fluffed up for my taste.