I feel like this was good but also extremely slow, much didn’t happen until the end but I love stories about female friendships especially toxic ones so that was a plus. It got ramble-y at times which got annoying but the twists were good and I didn’t see some of them coming so I give the book points for that.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Stacy Willingham for allowing me to review this ARC!

Margot and Eliza are best friends, planning to go to college together when tragedy strikes and Eliza dies just after graduation. Margot goes to college without her and meets Lucy, a girl that she is drawn to in her familiarities to Eliza. Lucy brings Margot out of her shell and invites her to move in with her and her friends. A person from Margot's past, one that she'd soon forget, appears one day and makes her feel uneasy, something that she has felt for a long time. Lucy seems to be concerned but it could be for purely selfish reasons. Is Lucy a true friend? Was Eliza's death an accident or on purpose? Many storylines interconnect to form an ending that I didn't see coming. I really appreciate that I couldn't guess what would happen.

This book was interesting and kept me on my toes throughout the entire time I was reading it. It was a little bit of a slow read at times but I did enjoy the story. If you like mysteries with a plot twist this is for you!

💥 Only If You’re Lucky - Stacy Willingham

4.5 ⭐️ - Okay y’all, add this to your TBR! I am a big Stacy Willingham fan. I’ve enjoyed all 3 of her books now. The writing is addictive and I flew through this one.

This one was a bit of a slow burn, but by the end it felt so worth it. I really enjoy Willingham’s writing style with short chapters, before/after timelines, and cliffhangers. This one is full of twists, turns, hints, and surprises. I was pleasantly fooled when I got to the end. I felt the end was a bit rushed. There was a lot of build up and character development, so honestly, I wanted more. I wish I had an epilogue to see where the characters are after the events occurred. Her dark academia, character development and overlapping storylines are easy and fast to follow. If you’re a thriller, mystery, or Willingham fan, I definitely recommend this one.

Keep your eyes peeled for it to hit shelves on 1/16/24. Thank you Minotaur books, NetGalley and Stacy Willingham for the early arc copy!

Only If You're Lucky is Stacy Willingham's latest thriller. Margot barely gets through her freshman year of college, lonely and depressed after her best friend died suddenly the previous summer. She meets charismatic "It Girl" Lucy and is invited to live with Lucy and her friends Nicole and Sloane. The four become close, but their lives are upended when a frat brother from the house next door dies and Lucy is missing.
The story is told by Margot, both in the present day and the past. It's a very slow burn and there isn't a lot of action until the very end. I had a hard time liking the characters, and the friendship between the main four girls seemed very superficial. There are definitely some surprising plot twists and the ending is not at all predictable. Overall, I liked this book, but it was slow bordering on boring at times.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Amazing!!! I would have finished this in a day if it weren’t for travel and spending time with family.
Stacy keeps you on your toes, sharing just enough to make you want to scream and read ONE MORE chapter. Finally at 70% I couldn’t put it down. I had to know!!!
The twists! Wow, all the stars!

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for my first ARC! It did not disappoint.

Many thanks to @minotaur_books, @stmartinspress, and @netgalley for my #gifted copies. Pub date 1/16/24.

Margot and her childhood best friend, Eliza, are accepted into the same college and were supposed to be roommates together until Eliza died. Margot, who is very shy and keeps to herself, decides she still wants to go. At the end of her first year, she is approached by Lucy, the popular, pretty girl everyone wants to be friends with, who asks Margot to be her roommate with her and 2 other girls. Margot can not believe her luck, and she accepts. Things are going great until a fraternity brother is brutally murdered and Lucy goes missing.

This was a slow burn thriller and very different from Stacy's previous books that I absolutely loved! This one read more like a YA book. We learn early on in the book that Eliza dies, Lucy goes missing, and a fraternity brother is murdered, but we don't know why or how. The first half of the book really had me guessing what the heck actually happened, and the ending actually shocked me, I was totally way off! I absolutely love Stacy's writing style, and I will read anything she writes. Be prepared to relive your college days!

I’m sorry to say I was not taken in by this book. Margot tells the story but her warped reality of friendship felt more like obsession. She doesn’t just befriend Eliza and Lucy but becomes all encompassed by them. She’s a pushover who blindly follows Lucy like a lost puppy never questioning anything. The timeline jumps between Margot’s past friendship with Eliza and her current friendship with Lucy. For most of the book we read about drug and alcohol hazed stupors sprinkled with drama from the fraternity house next door. I found myself bored reading about the drunken parties, fraternity hazing, and stupid antics of teenagers while Margot recounts her past friendship with Eliza. The story doesn’t really pick up the pace until almost the end when things begin to unravel. I guessed 3/4 of the plot line before it even happened and was only surprised by two events. It felt predictable to me with an ending that left a few loose threads.

Synopsis: Margot is lost attending college without her best friend who tragically passed away. She goes through the motions and keeps to herself until she meets Lucy who ends up drawing her out of her shell and into her friend group. Suddenly Margot finds herself living in a frat house with a whole new group of friends. But do they really know each other?

My thoughts: I felt SO lucky (🤪) to get this ARC because I absolutely loved Stacy Willingham’s first two books. A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous things are two of my favorite thrillers ever but this one felt different to me. I love her writing style but for me, the slow burn story fell flat when comparing to her other books. There’s a lot of college drama and a lot of repetition in the before/after timelines. I’ll definitely still be checking out her future books but this one wasn’t my favorite.

Stacy Willingham does not disappoint!! I loved this book so much and was completely enthralled while reading it. I cannot wait for her next book!

Rounded up from 3.5. Very passable and readable, but I did not devour this like I did her other two novels, probably because this was very slow out of the gate and also read younger to me. I liked how things tied together throughout


Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I have been a huge fan of Stacy Willingham's previous work. Does she do anything brand new? No. But her writing is captivating and draws you into the story. It was descriptive and makes you really connect with the characters which I find hard to do in a thriller book. I really enjoyed this book and the setting. We follow Margot as she enters college and becomes friends with three other girls; the "popular" ones. We watch as her world turns upside down and everything that she thought was true, might be false. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who previously enjoyed her books and writing.

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an Advanced Review Copy. All opinions are my own.**

4 Stars.

This is an enjoyable slow burn thriller about friendships and the imbalance of power. As the story unfolds, the author reveals how in each friendship, one friend either wants or needs the other friend more. As we learn more about the characters, we begin to see who (supposedly) holds the power in the relationship- but all of that starts to crumble as secrets come to light.

I read and loved Stacy Willingham’s previous two books, and while I didn’t love this one, it was definitely a wild ride.

For me, this was one of those books where none of the characters are likable, which isn’t always a bad thing, but I had a love/hate relationship with it here. The MC Margot was so easily influenced by her friends that I was often yelling at her to grow a backbone while reading. I also had a harder time getting into the story when I didn’t feel very strongly (in a positive way) about any of the characters. I was for sure getting some Mean Girls vibes while reading this, but in a more sinister, mysterious way. This may be fun and enjoyable to other readers, but it didn’t always work for me here.

The small college setting was fun, and set up some good plot points, especially in regard to the living situation. I had a hard time figuring out who/what to trust, and the multiple timelines added a lot to this, which kept me guessing most of the book. The only downside for me was the slow pace. It wasn’t until about the 70% point where things started to pick up, which is too far along for me. However, it did make the growing unease that much more suspenseful.

There were some twists along the way that I suspected, and then others I didn’t see coming that were actually shocking (especially towards the end). The ending felt a little abrupt and I think there could’ve been more there, but I liked the point it leaves us at.

This one is a little different from Willingham’s other work, but still worth a read!

3.5 stars. Stacy's first two thrillers have been some of my favorites in the genre, so I was so excited to try out Only if You're Lucky! This is my least favorite of her 3, however I did still enjoy it! It had a very atmospheric, descriptive setting which is one of her strengths as an author. I could imagine the house and college so vividly. It really impacted the way I felt while reading. I think one of my biggest gripes with the plot is how much of a slow burn it was - I wasn't necessarily bored throughout any of it, but I also didn't find myself itching to pick it back up until about halfway through. The twists didn't shock me as much as I wanted, so while I enjoyed the storyline and the ultimate direction it took in the last 25%, I finished it wanting a tiny bit more. I'd still recommend this to thriller lovers and those who have read and enjoyed Stacy's other two books, but if this is your first try with her, I'd recommend going to A Flicker in the Dark or All the Dangerous Things first.

Thank you NetGalley and Ms. Willingham for the opportunity to review "Only if You're Lucky." This book is a treasure for readers who love thrillers. The web of secrets that are interwoven throughout the story keep the reader guessing. Fans of "The It Girl," by Ruth Ware will certainly enjoy this story. One of my favorite thrillers of the year so far. Highly recommended.

I have read and enjoyed both of Stacy Willingham's past two novels: A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things. Getting the chance to read her upcoming novel four months before publication day was so exciting! Only If You're Lucky is set at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. The main character, Margot is looking for a fresh start at school after a very traumatic year in her hometown. Enter Lucy Sharpe, the bold and carefree peer who seems determined to induct Margot into her inner circle.
The focus on friendships and life or death secrets made this slow-burn thriller a really surprising read. I really liked the change from her past two novels!

I was very interested in the premise of this story; it was very much something up my alley and I have read this author before and enjoyed the books.
This was interesting, but it dragged on a bit in the middle and didn’t keep me completely hooked. However, the twists and turns at the end gave me whiplash and the way everything connected together was SO cool!

This is my second Stacy Willingham book with A Flicker in the Dark being my first. I felt about the same as I did with my first. This was a decent book that had a good ending but the first half of the book seemed to drag a bit. There was a little too much setup to the story and it wasn’t until about 70% in that anything shocking really happened. It was quite the slow burn. Many have said that it reads like a YA novel and I would agree but it’s about college aged kids so I didn’t mind that aspect. I just wanted there to be more twists and shocking moments. I still want to go back and read All the Dangerous Things because I’ve heard that is her best book.

Thanks to #netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved Stacey Willingham's first two novels, so I was beyond excited to receive an ARC of her newest book, and thrilled to see it's an academic suspense novel.
This book follows Margot, who spent her first year of college friendless and sheltered in her dorm room. She's grateful though, when at the end of her freshman year, she gets swept up in a group of girls who become her best friends - with Lucy being the ringleader. When a student is murdered and Lucy goes missing not long after, the reader is left to put the puzzle pieces together before all is revealed in the end.
I love a thriller set around female friendships and college, so this was perfect for me. It's very atmospheric and all of the women are interesting characters. I like to joke that I "support women's wrongs", and I love a book that has me questioning if I really do. Highly recommend this one. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the ARC.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.25 female friendship stars

This is my third book by Stacy Willingham, although this one differs from the first two. There are still several twists, secrets, and things to puzzle through, but I found this one to be a slow burn. The college setting, characters, and actions were a bit hard to relate to for me.

Margot is off to college but without her best friend, Eliza, from high school. The two were inseparable and planned to room together at college. A tragic accident dramatically changes those plans, and Margot spends the first year of college hidden away.

Another girl at school, Lucy Sharpe, plucks Margot from the doldrums and brings her into her world and friendships. There’s a house next to the fraternity where four girls start their sophomore year. As the year goes on, friendships deepen, but do they really know each other?

A big fraternity event ends with another tragedy, and Margot becomes the center of attention as she knows both people. Is she responsible? And where has Lucy disappeared to? The ending of this one was a bit over the top for me.

With themes of friendship, revenge, and jealousy, this one has plenty to offer. While not a favorite, I will continue to look forward to what this author has next up!