Only if You’re Lucky is my least favorite of Stacy Willinghams books so far. I didn’t dislike it but I didn’t love it either. I will say I definitely wanted to know who did it so I wasn’t considering DNFing it or anything. A decent book, just not her best in my opinion.

Margot went to college in South Carolina for a new start. It’s a chance to get away – from her small town, her family and the memories of her dead best friend.
She gets her wish when the enigmatic Lucy invites her to join two other girls in a shared house for their second year. But as Margot gets to know the girls, she begins to realize that something’s off about Lucy, she’s not quite what she seems.
Six months later, Lucy is missing and a boy from the frat house next door is dead, leaving Margot in the wake of the investigation. But as the police continue to dig, they realize Lucy isn’t the only one with secrets.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

Margot was supposed to go to school with her best friend Eliza, she even turned down Duke to do so.  But Margot is there and Eliza's not because she died in the spring of their senior year.  Margot spent her freshman year introverted and antisocial, and then she met Lucy, a popular girl who invited her to live with her and her friends Nicole and Sloane for sophomore year.  Margot couldn't figure out why she was picked to be part of the group but jumped at the opportunity, especially since Lucy reminded Margot of Eliza.  And then, just as Margot thinks her life has turned a corner, Levi, the boy that Margot insists is the reason Eliza is dead, shows up on campus as a freshman.  
I found this book weirdly slog-like for a thriller - I really wanted to know what happened but I found it just went too slow.  There were a few twists but nothing that saved the book for me; I enjoyed parts but not enough parts.  I listened to half of it on audio and read the other half and I did think the narrator did a great job.  From I've heard the author's back list is really good and so I'm going to read it and wait for her next one.  

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC to review

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read an online arc of Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham.

I am still pondering the title of “Only If You’re Lucky.” The main character, Margot, certainly was not lucky in many ways, nor were the people surrounding her. She loses several friends (and a few rivals) during the story. Her longing for a more normal, loving family proves false. And Margot’s new found independence is at the expense of the keeping of some rather deadly lifelong secrets.

The story is told through a singular voice, Margot’s, which I was not entirely fond of through much of the book. It was only when the story pushes past her passive persona into the second half of sophomore year, and the reveal of some rather large “Truths” that she gets more interesting and can carry the narrative. Many of the characters, like Sloane and Nicole, could have benefitted from being fleshed out more and treated as more than background, especially in considering the big reveal in the last few chapters. It might also have been interesting to get some more insights into the second major character, Lucy Sharpe, through her own voice.

Still the story was twisty and many of the reveals in the story were surprising. Once the action started, the book was hard to put down until the satisfying conclusion. Make sure you read the acknowledgments to find out more about the inspiration for the girls off campus housing arrangement. 4/5 star read

Thank you to NetGalley, author Stacy Willingham, and St. Martin's Press-- Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was SO good!! With each new book that Stacy Willingham writes, she hones her craft even more. This has been my favorite of the books she's written so far, mainly because I love any sort of "college-aged girls coming of age" story. Add to it a twisty mystery and a slightly dark academia setting, and it was a great book. I found each of the girls so fascinating, and I would have loved to see even more of Sloane and Nicole vs mainly just Lucy and Margot. The setting leapt off of the page and definitely helped to add to the atmosphere of the read. It wasn't the most "original" mystery overall, and I was able to predict some of the twists, but there were a couple that did end up surprising me. Mainly, this was well-written, suspenseful read that had interesting characters that I couldn't put down.

Having read both of Willingham’s previous books and loving them, I was super excited to get a copy of this. Sadly, it’s my least favorite of the three. It was the slowest of slow burns, extremely wordy thus making it far longer than it needed to be to convey the same plot. I put this one down a couple of times because I was bored but it did pick up towards the end of the book. I actually figured one of the twists out pretty early on or at least had an inkling.

I know Willingham is an outstanding writer so this miss (for me) won’t stop me from grabbing whatever she writes next.

This book deals with the nature of friendship and belonging. The psychological suspense of this book will have you wanting to read and turn the page quickly. This book was really good.

Not your typical college murder/thriller mystery - it is set next door to a frat house and the main characters are college students rather than a student/professor vibe. The first part of the book moved a little bit slow, but then it really picks up mid-way through. The twist is a big one and I never figured out all the plot moves until they were unveiled to me, which I enjoyed. Would recommend.

Stacy Willingham is quickly becoming "the gold standard in psychological suspense" (Goodreads review).
Margot and Lucy become fast friends when Lucy invites Margot to live with her at the end of their freshman year of college. What occurs during their sophomore year will send the college into a tailspin.
Another great read by Willingham for me! It is a story of growing up during a young woman's college years, and the loyalties between friends when disaster strikes.

Margot arrives to college without her best friend. That wasn’t the plan, they were supposed to go together. While at college, a popular girl, Lucy Sharpe, befriends Margot, asks her to move into her off-campus house with her and two of her other friends, and they quickly become best friends. But somebody moves in to the frat house next door, somebody from Margot’s past that she would rather forget. And something is off about Lucy, and Margot is going to get to the bottom of it, especially after one of the boys next door is murdered.

Stacy Willingham is a captivating writer, and I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book. This book did not give me that heart-pounding creepy feeling that I loved in Willingham’s other book, A Flicker in the Dark. The book is a dark psychological thriller with secrets and lies, but I felt like it was missing something. I liked the story, it was refreshing and different from a typical thriller’s storyline (almost like a YA book). I actually surprised myself when I figured out the twist, and it was a good twist with everything nicely coming together in the end!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and @NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Being that this is a Stacy Willingham book, I did fly through it. Her writing enraptures your attention until the very end. I will say, out of all her books, this one might be my least favorite (even though I did like it)! However, the twists and turns didn’t cause a shock factor and the ending came too quick.

This story follows Margot, a young college girl trying to find her tribe after the death of her best friend. When she meets Lucy, she starts to feel herself coming out of the darkness. Lucy is spontaneous, fun, and mysterious. She moves in with her, as well as two other girls, Sloane and Nicole. She starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel, until she bumps into Levi. The boy who’s responsible for the death of her best friend, at the frat house next door. When Lucy ends up missing, what follows is a before and after timeline leading up to and following her disappearance.
Thank you to netgalley for an ARC of Only If You’re Lucky! Coming out on 1/16/24!

Another great mystery from Stacy Willingham to get the year started!

After the death of a college student, Lucy Sharpe is missing. Her larger-than-life personality is what drew Margot to her at the end of her freshman year at Rutgers. Finding herself living with Lucy and two others (Sloane and Nicole) in an off campus house the summer before her sophomore year will change Margot forever and will also make her face the death of her best friend Eliza, which has haunted her since before she left for college.

I primarily listened to the audiobook and the narration is fabulous. Karissa Vacker is quickly becoming one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Even though I’d just listened to her narrations for two of Kate Alice Marshall’s books, I find she does such a great job of bringing characters to life with a unique sound for each.

I enjoyed Willingham’s debut A Flicker in the Dark and then really enjoyed All the Dangerous Things earlier this year but this one is my favorite so far. It does have a more YA / New Adult vibe to it, which I attribute to the college atmosphere and settings. However, with references to more sensitive topics such as: domestic violence, anorexia, and toxic friendships, it’s definitely not for a younger audience. I found that Willingham did an excellent job of portraying the need to ‘belong’ that teenagers and college students tend to feel.

I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting the ending and while the pacing was a bit slower than her previous books, I still found myself hooked. If you enjoy dark academia stories and unexpected twists than this book is perfect for you.


Only If You’re Lucky comes out January 16, 2024. Huge thank you to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for my advanced copies in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

I’m a big fan of psychological dramas centered around groups of young women and the author has created a terrific novel set at that pivotal time of life when girls turn into adults but are still fragile and brittle while working out their identities and their personal rules.

Margot is at the end of her first year at college having drifted through most of it still grieving for her dead best friend Eliza. When she is picked out by the magnetic Lucy Sharpe, everything changes: instead of moving into an apartment with her dull but comfortable dorm-mate she moves into a rundown house owned by a fraternity with Lucy and her two friends Nicole and Sloane. Suddenly, everything is in technicolor as she fiercely bonds with these young women and joins their whirlwind social life.

But there are two flies in the ointment. Eliza’s death was called an accident but Lucy blames it on Eliza’s boyfriend, Levi, and now Levi has joined the fraternity next door. Secondly, we know from the present day sections that Levi is now dead and Lucy has gone missing.

The novel moves between Margot’s pre-college life and her intense friendship with Eliza, her life at the house with the three young women leading up to the Incident, and the aftermath with the police investigation of the death and disappearance.

It’s all very thrillingly done and the revelations of what has really happened are nicely worked in with some nifty twists. Margot is well-drawn: the eternal sidekick who can’t quite believe her luck to be scooped up by charismatic Lucy and has some dark secrets of her own. Lucy is the instigator, the girl who gets bored and wants to create drama, but needs an appreciative audience. The rest of the cast, both young women and frat boys are a little more sketched in, but play their roles as required.

Unlike many of the other reviewers, I found this much more satisfying than the author’s previous thriller, A Flicker in the Dark which struck me as not particularly original.

Recommended for fans of Megan Abbott, Kara Thomas, and other authors who believe young women are the most dangerous demographic.

Thanks to Minotaur and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

4.5 rounded up to 5

This was an unexpectedly twisty and sinister read, giving me Inventing Anna and We Were Never Here vibes. I'd say this falls into more of a suspense novel rather than what I would consider a traditional thriller as it's a bit of a slow burn with a lot of every day, arguably mundane moments, to get to know the characters.

Margot is our main character and her story is told through multiple timeframes. The summer after high school graduation her best friend dies. Now, she's just completed her freshman year of college and has been invited to live with some other girls by the magnetic Lucy. The 4 girls become fast friends but there's always an underlying tension and you are never quite sure where they really stand with each other. Then someone dies.

I really enjoyed this book and the ending took me completely by surprise. The college setting took me back (minus the death) and I love a book where you are never quite sure who to believe...or if perception is actually reality in the end. This was great and I am looking forward to checking out other books by this author!

Only If You're Lucky made me feel tense from the start. All of the feelings and bad decisions of late teen/early adulthood were brewing on page one, leading up to mayhem, death and a missing girl. Great writing with a very satisfying ending.

Full of twists and turns, a surprising ending, and no clue who to trust throughout, what more could you want in a thriller?
 
Margot had a difficult first year of college after her best friend passed away in an apparent accident the summer before they were meant to head to college together.  At the end of her freshman year, she is invited by one of the most infamous girls in her dorm, Lucy to move into a house with two other students.  Deciding to engage in her college experience more, Margot accepts, but it turns out that things are not quite as they seem.
 
This boo gripped me from the very first page and I just needed to know what happened and how everything tied together.  The middle did slow down a bit and I wished that the pacing had been consistent throughout, but overall, this was an amazing read with an ending that had my jaw hitting the floor.
 
I have loved every book that Stacy Willingham has written and this is no exception.  She has cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.
 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book.  I leave this review voluntarily.

3/5⭐️
I was absolutely thrilled to be selected to receive this book as an e-arc. I absolutely devoured Stacy Willingham’s first book, A Flicker in the Dark. I was hoping for more of the same-a distraction from the hectic holiday season-but the thrills did not stop coming until the last 20% of the book. I was surprised because A Flicker in the Dark grabbed my attention from the first 5 pages. I honestly thought I was missing something because the first 80% of the book was so completely boring. It literally put me to sleep when I would sit down to read it.
With that being said-the last 20% of the book was more in character with what I have come to love and expect from this author. Swipe left for a synopsis.
This title will be released January 16, 2024.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

This story took me back to my college years when we didn’t have a care in the world. Except my college experience didn’t include murder. Right off the bat Lucy came off as too good to be true. Her timing was just too perfect when she swept in to save Margot who is still reeling from her bff’s death.
Alternating chapters between past and present I admittedly had no idea how it would all end with Eliza’s death that kept coming up so you knew something was amiss, Levi’s murder and Lucy’s disappearance. It all comes together at the very end, but not in a way I thought it would! Now that was a good twist.

I wanted to love this one so much, but it was way too slow and way too wordy for me. It took me until chapter 46(!) until I was hooked enough to want to keep reading. I'm not sure if it was the age of the characters or the writing itself (likely both), but it felt like this book was aimed at a much younger audience than her previous two releases and unfortunately (but really fortunately), I'm no longer that young. The last quarter definitely picked up, but it just wasn't enough to make me sing all the praises like I did for her other books. If you haven't read those yet, I suggest you start there!

Thank you St. Martin's Press, & NetGalley for my ARC. This one releases January 16th, 2024!

This one was a slow burn for sure. It took me a while to warm up to the plot. The characters were immediately unlikable and whiny. But it gave just enough intrigue for me to keep going and I am glad I did! I definitely predicted one of the twists (Mago's personal twist). But the big twist with Lucy. Wowsers. I feel like the last few chapters really went brought up my rating to 4 stars. It was twisted, calculated, and the characters were not who I thought they were. I really enjoyed it!