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!

I was glued to this book! The nostalgia of college life, crazy antics of the students, and secrets revealed every chapter just made me want to keep reading more. I loved how the book was structured between before and after. It was so interesting to see how the events would play out.
I kept guessing about what was going on, but this one was hard to predict! Just when I thought I had it figured out, the author threw in another twist.
I have loved all of Stacy Willingham’s books so far, but I think this might be my favorite.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! 5 5 5 5 5 ***** holy wow. I love Stacy Willingham! I have read all 3 of her books and this one takes the best by far. This book had my favorite storyline of any of them. The plot was super thick and full of twists and turns. I wouldn’t have guessed the ending at all. It kept me wanting to stay up and read for all hours of the night. I originally thought this book might be a little young adult but I was completely wrong. Super original in terms of a storyline. It’s not your average thriller & I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much. The book hangover I got after this book was so real! Cannot wait for another read by her! It may have been my favorite read of the year.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3!

Parts of this felt a bit similar to my college experience in South Carolina — the fraternity parties, Greek life, tanning on the lawn, bonfires.

I felt that there were a lot of over the top and unrealistic elements to the some of the twists in this book that surely the police would catch on to. The ending felt so abrupt compared to the well-paced narratives/flashbacks.

Thanks Minotaur and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I rated this book 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher (Minotaur Books), and the author Stacy Willingham for accepting my request for an ARC of this book.

Only if You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham is a psychological thriller about friendships, and all the emotions that go along with it, such as the love and acceptance, but also jealousy and anger. Margot is starting college and is looking for a new start to her life after her best friend Eliza tragically dies. While in school, she meets Lucy, who reminds her of Eliza, so she is drawn to her and her group of friends. Lucy invites Margot to live with them off-campus, which she does, and she is able to become more of the person she wanted to become. However, the more time the girls spend together, the more they find out about one another...and they realize some of them aren't who they seem to be. When another person is murdered, Lucy goes missing and the girls are thrown into the investigation and learn more than they expected to about their friend.

I've read both of Stacy's other novels, A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things. Both were fantastic, so I was extremely excited when I was approved an ARC for her newest novel. I think this one was a bit different compared to her previous novels; it did seem more "New Adult" fiction which might throw people off if they weren't expecting to read about college kids. I also think it was more of a slow-burn, since most of the twists were at the end. However, I still thoroughly enjoyed this one and I was blown away by all the twists. I thought I figured it out and I was definitely wrong. I also really liked the flashbacks between the past and present time to show how everything fell into place - it was very clever and I think that was a good way to show how Margot had changed as a person within that year, and added more depth to the story.

There weren't really any trigger warnings other than some brief mentions of sexual abuse and drug and alcohol use. There wasn't a lot of bad language, blood/gore, violence, or sex so that also might make this more of a novel that could be geared towards a younger crowd.

I will post to my Goodreads account and my Instagram once it is officially published.

While I enjoyed the concept of this story it just didn’t quite live up to her other two books. All the Dangerous Things being my favorite. It was a very slow burn with very unlikeable characters. Margot kind of just blends in to the crowd while Lucy is polar opposite. It’s very much a who done it.

I will say I enjoyed the twist right there near the end and the ending. That was unexpected and a nice little cherry on top for me.

Overall, it’s a good solid story, but myself personally a bit slow minus the last few chapters.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the e arc it is much appreciated.

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me the opportunity to read Only If Your’e Lucky and give my honest feedback. The story took place at a college where main character, Margot, attended. Margot is grieving the loss of her best friend, Eliza, her freshman year of college. She and her roommate form a comfortable relationship, but it was nothing like what she experienced with Eliza. Fast forward to the end of freshman year and Margot is approached by a beautiful, life-of the party girl to move in with her and her 2 roommates the following semester. The girls rent their house from the boys next door. Margot decides to take a leap of faith and move in with Lucy and the other roommates. She formed strong bonds with the girls very quickly. Things were only good for so long, when Margot began to hear rumors about Lucy that she worried her. Fast forward and Lucy goes missing and the police investigate the disappearance, questioning Margot and her roommates. This book had so many unexpected twists and turns that I did not see coming! Highly recommend! I rated this book 4 stars!

This was my third Stacy Willingham novel, and like the others it was fantastic! Each one is a unique, compulsive thriller! I'm not even sure how I would pick a favorite between the three, because they are each so different and entertaining.

First off, this book made me feel very nostalgic, as it took me right back to so many memories of my freshman year of college. Dorm life, meeting all new people, frat parties, studying, trying to hold on to high school connections and memories, while also separating yourself from many of them at the same time, etc. These flashbacks were not what I was expecting to feel going into this book at all. To be honest though, I didn't even read the synopsis before starting! Ha.

This book had so many twists and turns, and things that completely shocked me that I didn't see coming at all. There were a few things I thought I had all figured out, then I was completely wrong. It was a very fun rollercoaster of a mystery/thriller and I highly recommend it if this is a genre you enjoy.

Willingham has solidified herself as an auto-read author for me from here on out!!

4+ stars!

I have read and enjoyed all 3 of Stacy Willingham’s thrillers. This is a psychological thriller that took me on such a wild ride! Dual timelines that go between before and after a crime. This is a dark thriller about the complexities of friendship and belonging. Looking forward to her next book. Thanks NetGalley for the eArc.

I am a huge fan of Stacy Willingham books so I was super excited to receive this ARC..

I went into this blind and I am so glad I did. I am not the type to try and guess endings because I love to be surprised and this book was no exception. I loved the college setting, and the Jekyll and Hyde references. This is a slower paced book compared to her other works which is something I didn't enjoy. Something that made the book a little bit more difficult for me to read was the "friendships" I did not find the characters to be likeable- I would not be friends with these people at all . It's still a twisty, fun read and would recommend to readers who enjoy academic thrillers.

Only If You're Lucky is Stacy Willingham's best book yet! It was one of those thrillers you can't stop reading, with a tightly written plot and especially fascinating characters--definitely a must read! Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book.

Huge Stacy Willingham fan here.

If you grab this novel, you will have a very twisty coaster of a ride. The ending, I'm sure will shock almost everyone- and yes, everything is related.

This novel starts with a little bit of a slow burn as we get to know our main character Margot. Told in two timelines (Margot when her best friend Eliza was alive) and present Margot. Margot is really our only character that doesn't have some mystery about her with her wants and thoughts known to the reader.

Margot really resonated with me as a character, as she has undergone a major loss and, like so many of us as 19/20 year olds, is trying to desperately figure out who she is, who she wants to be while attempting to fill the hole that losing her best friend has left in her heart. Margot's present timeline really brought me back to freshman and sophomore years in college where I faced these same struggles and fought to figure out who my true friends were and who I wanted/needed to surround myself with when belonging felt like the most important thing in the world.

When Levi (who happens to be someone Margot knows from back home and could be involved with knowing what happened Eliza) ends up murdered in the frat house next door with her new friend Lucy missing, Margot and the reader have to wonder who has blood on their hands. Is Lucy part of the crime or is she in trouble too? And how much do we really know about our so-called best friends? When the police come knocking what should Margot and her other two friends/roommates say?

This mystery definitely gives a YA feel and a sort of dark academia (although living off campus and having not much to do with classes themselves). That being said, it will 100% keep you guessing. I had no idea what twists were to come, and can't even put words into them for the fear of adding a spoiler other than saying Margot's new friend Lucy isn't just anyone.

Definitively recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!
4/5 stars

This story is another strong one from Stacy Willingham! I think All the Dangerous Things is still my favorite, but this one is a close second. Definitely more a slow burn type of story, but once I got to the twist, I was unable to put it down to see how everything resolved!

The story follows Margot, a sophomore at a small college in South Carolina as she moves into a house with three other girls, one of them the enigmatic Lucy Sharpe. Normal college campus shenanigans ensue. Midway through the year though, one of the girls’ neighbors has been murdered and Lucy is missing. I did not see the end of this one coming, but I would recommend finding out!

This book started a bit slow and repetitive for me. But as the story unfolded and more and more twists happened it definitely became a book I really enjoyed. I think Stacy had an incredible way of writing a story that you can’t guess the ending and this was no different!