Was so happy to receive an arc from this author! Loved the book kept me gusessing the entire time. I will definitely be reading more from from this author.

Only If You’re Lucky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A binge-worthy college drama mystery thriller.

Margot and her best friend, Eliza, have plans go to college together. They were going to live together and have a life they always wanted away from their hometown. That is until an accident happened after their senior year. Now Margot is there alone and it’s the end of her freshman year. Trying to decide if she wants to room with her now roommate again or not, she meets Lucy. She’s brighter than life, big personality and reminds her of her best friend from back home. She moves in with Lucy and 2 other girls that live in a house off campus. She finally fits in and makes new friends. Only not everyone is whom they seem. She finds herself questioning just how far she will go for her friends.

Overall, I liked this one. I felt it was a little slowish at times but the story was good. It was a college drama setting told in a then and now storyline. The twist were good and I liked how we got to piece together the information.

This book comes out on January 16, 2024. Be sure to add it to your list. You don’t want miss this one!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my advanced readers copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

Put Stacy Willingham on your auto reads list right now. If she didn’t make the list following A Flicker in the Dark or All the Dangerous Things, Only if You’re Lucky will put her on your list immediately. When Margot goes off to college after losing her best friend Eliza, she’s the quiet one….until she catches the eyes of Lucy who is about to change in life in unimaginable ways. Margot takes up the fourth bedroom with Lucy, Sloane and Nicole and could never see coming all the challenges that would come her way. When the past shows up next door, Margot is put to the test. This story has me flipping pages faster than I could absorb the plot. I truly did not see the end coming before it was upon me.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5 to 5 star

Thoughts: if you are looking for a binge worthy college drama/thriller, this is a great one! This is a book you binge!! If you liked In My Dreams I Held a Knife, you will want to pick this one up! It kept me guessing until the VERY end!!

I am such a huge fan of Stacy Willingham’s first two books, so it saddens me that this one didn’t work as well for me. One thing I love most about her writing, is her attention to pacing and ability to keep the reader engaged throughout the story. While I think this had a few really interesting elements, including the very atmospheric collegiate setting, ultimately, the pacing felt off and I wasn’t able to connect with any of the characters. The reviews are a bit all over the place for this one, so definitely check it out if it sounds like a book you might enjoy.

Read if you like:
•dark academia
•slow burn
•large casts of characters
•more mystery than thriller

Thank you Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies.

I hate to say it, but I'm in the camp that found Only If You're Lucky boring. I LOVED A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things. I was beyond excited for this book. It fell so flat for me. I didn't find it interesting, I didn't find the mystery all that great, and the ending was just okay. The one twist was fine, but I saw it coming.

Nearly all of the book is simply setting up the characters and the backstory. It bounces between before the murder and disappearance and after. There was far too much "before" and not enough "after" and to be honest, this book probably could have been at least 50 pages shorter, if not more. There were at least three times I considered DNFing but pushed on because I enjoyed Willingham's other books.

I wish I had better things to say but this was a total miss for me. I'll give it three stars because the last 30% picked up some and it redeemed the book, otherwise, it was just meh,

Thank Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This has a ton of potential and I really do love Willingham's ability to write such wonderful prose. Her writing is so artistic. I also loved her two previous books a lot.

I wish I were more interested in this one, however. I felt really bored for most of the story and just wish the storyline gripped me more. Thrillers are all blending in now, and it needs to feel fresh to be interesting and this felt on the bland side and could blend in with other thrillers that were written before and easily forgotten.

I hope her next books impact me like her first did! She's talented with words and I look forward to her next novel even though this one didn't work for me.

Special thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

'Only If You're Lucky,' is a page turning, sit on the edge of your seat thriller with lots of twists and turns. Definitely worth a read.

This was a slow burn mystery centered around a house of college girls. I found this book to be just fine, but it didn’t blow me away. Which makes me sad because Willingham's first book, A Flicker In The Dark is easily one of my fave thrillers. I'm not really certain what was missing for me in this one, it just sort of fell flat for me. But, even though I wasn't blown away by this one, there were definitely several good aspects to it:
-a surprising ending
-minimal profanity
-no explicit sexual situations*

*CW: Toxic relationships, Infidelity, Child death, Animal death, Gaslighting, Stalking, Drug use, Sexual assault/violence (not explicit)

Huge thank you to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for an arc of this book!

Stacy Willingham's new book is described as sharp and twisty, which is definitely an accurate description. The setup at the beginning had me hooked and dying to get to the end so I could have answers. Once I got there, I wasn't disappointed. The ending shocked me and I'm still thinking about it!

Only If You're Lucky is definitely a different thriller than Willingham's usual thrillers. I found this one to be more slow-paced. This caused me to become a little disinterested in the middle because I wanted something to happen and I felt many things kept being repeated (ie. Margot really not liking Levi, Margot being obsessed with Lucy). I kept reading because I felt like the ending would save me and it did. Overall, her third book wasn't my favorite of all her books but it was a solid thriller.

Definitely recommend putting this on your 2024 TBR!

This book was good, but not great. I've loved Stacy's other books that I've read so I was a bit disappointed. The pacing of this one was a little slow until the end. I got a bit bored of the main characters fawning over Eliza and then Lucy and all the frat party descriptions. What Stacy still did wonderfully in this book is her skill with imagery. She really draws you into the scene the characters are going through and helps you picture how they're feeling. I read the book in one day because I was curious what would happen, so it succeeds as a thriller in that aspect. I just wish the pacing and plot had been a little more thoughtfully developed. Maybe it's just the backdrop of the story I'm not vibing with because I loved her writing as always! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC!

I am usually a fan of Stacy Willingham's books. Her books often get me hooked by the slow burn plot and the creepy atmospheric feel of Georgia, but I felt this book missed the mark until the ending. Most of the book was filled with stories about frat parties and the chronicles of drunk girls. Hearing about frat parties might be cool, but Margot or the other characters had no likable qualities and did not draw me in. Although I hated the college life plotline, the truth or dare aspect was entertaining. The plot was still very repetitive, and I was eagerly waiting for the twists to come. The ending made up for the whole book. There were a few moments I was not expecting that gave the end a very satisfying feel.

I had access to both the Kindle and audiobook versions, and Karissa Vacker was excellent as the narrator. She kept the story moving.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and to Macmillan Audio for giving me a copy of the book.

Thank you NetGalley, Stacy Willingham, St.Martin’s Press , Minotaur Books for the advance copy of “Only if You’re Lucky” by Stacy Willingham. I was extremely excited for the opportunity to read a novel written by Stacy Willingham because of her previous literature high reviews. This book did intrigue me to want to read her other books to compare her novel.

The lay out of her chapter being short in length was compelling for me. It made it easy to convince myself to just read one more and in felt like that made the pace of the book go quicker. The foreshadowing of the book was a little repetitive but I didn’t mind it. I haven’t been reading thrillers lately but I though the storyline was good and I appreciated the multiple twists. I did like the setting of the book being at a college and center around a group of friends. I’m still not to sure how the title relates to the book but it is a appealing cover.

This book will become available on Jan 16,2024. Thanks again for the advance copy for an honest review.

Thank you to St Martins Press and MacMillan audiobook for review copies of Stacy Willingham's Only If You're Lucky. I know this will be popular among fans of this author and readers looking for a fairly quick mystery. My review is my own.

First, the narration for the audiobook is excellent, Karissa Vacker is one of my favorite voice actors and she did a standout job with the story. Second, this is an author who just does not work for me, I have tried her previous books and this time around though I liked this one more, I do love college settings, I finally realized what does not work: there is a lot of internal dialogue, and description and slow development of the plot, more a character study of characters I don't really think need that much study and who I don't want to spend a lot of time with. For a character filled with self reflection, Margot also lacked a lot of insight. That's just me... I like dialogue and while I love character driven stories, this one didn't have enough of a unique plot to hold my attention.. I would have liked more time with the secondary characters, who felt fairly one dimensional to me though important to the story. Third, some of the plot felt a bit too far fetched for me, blame this on me being well ensconced in college life and wondering about a few for me plot holes/leaps that probably won't bother other readers.

It's a slow race to a speedy resolution that I mostly saw coming. As is often the case with thrillers that don't quite work for me, the end feels like the best place to start an interesting plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Margot is starting her college experience without her best friend (the original plan) because that best friend, Eliza, died after high school graduation, before they could go together. Fast forward to the end of freshman year and enter Lucy: big personality, larger than life, and for some reason, taking an interest in Margot. When they become friends and move into an apartment together with two other girls, Margot is convinced she finally fits in, but there are a few things that just don't add up...

Okay so I didn't dislike the book. I liked it! But I also felt like I didn't care what happened to the characters. I didn't feel for them at all, so I wasn't invested in what might happen to them. The story was likeable, but not my favorite from this author.

CW: death, grief, gaslighting, mentions of sexual assault, alcohol and drug use, vomit

Loved the twists in this book! I wasn’t able to predict the ending and I always appreciate that in a good thriller. The book starts off slower but by the end when all the details come together you see why! Also love a book with female main characters and their friendships being a focus point, rather than a romantic relationship. This takes place during the main character’s college years and it was interesting to think back to that time of my life and how I did/didn't relate to the girls. Bonus points for nicely tying up all questions I had by the ending!

Let me start by saying that I was not a fan of the author’s first book, “A Flicker in the Dark” but I looooved, “All the Dangerous Things”. This was a fun binge for me! I would say that this book is completely different from her first two; this piece was more of a mystery compared to the first two where they were psychological thrillers. I definitely feel like there wasn’t a lot of action but I enjoyed the character building, it made things a lot more suspenseful.

I loved the dark academia aspect to this book, dark academia is my favorite trope when it comes to thrillers. I thought the twists in this piece were fantastic and I was definitely not expecting them!

However, my one big con with this book was the characters! A lot of them were super unlikeable and there really wasn’t anyone I would necessarily root for. Also, it
was super hard to remember a lot of them!

While this one was not necessarily my favorite, I still enjoyed reading it and I think others will as well if they’re fans of Willingham’s.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Minotaur for providing me with an ARC of this!

“Only If You’re Lucky” grew on me. I found the first half to be slow, and I only started to enjoy it in the second half. I thought the exploration of female friendships and the tension building were interesting. But at times I felt disconnected from the plot and characters. Overall it was a so so read for me, but I’m glad I stuck it out.

A Flicker in the Dark was my favorite the year it came out so I was so excited for this one. I think it is still a good thriller; however, it seemed to be missing something. I don't know what it was. But I love this author and I am still excited to see what she does next.

Another amazing book by this author! It did feel a little long and repetitive at times, but it was totally worth it. The characters, plot and twists were so well written!