This was a slow burn but satisfying story with rather unlikable characters that will keep you guessing. It poses the question of how far one would go for friends and also is about jealousy, wanting and trying to fit in, and making moral choices.

this book honestly kept me on my toes the entire time.


margot is nearing the end of her freshman year of college, she’s spent it kept to herself moving through the motions grieving the death of her best friend and supposed roommate eliza, who passed away 3 weeks after their hs graduation in an accident. but now a new girl has piqued margot’s interest.

her name is lucy. lucy is the type of girl who you know absolutely nothing about but want to know everything about. she brings in attention but also danger. when lucy singles out margot and asks her to move in with her and two other girls who live in margot’s hall, sloane & nicole, she’s reluctant at first thinking “why me?” but ultimately agrees.

but what happens when she starts realizing the same thing that pulled her towards lucy was the same pull with eliza? and what happens when someone connected to eliza comes back into margot’s life?

when i say i saw a few things coming but ultimately was left shocked. it has been DAYS since ive finished this and im still kinda shocked that i didn’t see it coming much. i think the twists were so well written, to the point where you see it coming but there’s a twist you may or may not have missed.

i think it does such a deep dive into friendships amongst adolescent girls, especially in college, that weird imbalance in the friend group where one is the “leader” and everyone goes along with it.

i enjoyed this book a lot, i binged the last 50% in a day and i couldn’t stop thinking about it every time i had to put it down. i will admit the inner monologue was quite repetitive at some points but otherwise, it kept me so intrigued.


it did remind me of the first season of pll, in how they always described allison as the girl who brought on danger and thrived in it bc it gave her attention.


overall, this was such a good thriller/mystery and i would love to read more stacy willingham

Thank you to Stacy Willingham, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGally for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Margot loses her best friend Eliza just before she heads off to college in South Carolina. Reeling from the loss, Margot does not do much during her freshman year besides go to class.

Margot finds her self enthralled with a girl on her hall, Lucy, and soon after meeting her, Margot decides to live with her sophomore year.

Sophomore year, Margot and Lucy, along with Sloane and Nicole, live in a house adjacent to a fraternity house.

The girls spend much of their time partying with the boys of Kappa Nu and visiting Lucy’s workplace after hours. And, there is a lot of drinking and poor decision making.

Someone from the past reappears, Margot is caught of guard, something seems off with Lucy, and Nicole is struggling.

And, let me tell you, that was a WILD ride!! So much to digest. What an adventure it was to read Only If You’re Lucky.

I’m pretty sure I’ll purchase the audio version when it comes out. And, may read it again, too, as I’m sure there are clues sprinkled throughout the book.

I think this is the first book I’ve read by Stacy Willingham, and I will definitely check out her other books.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press from the advanced readers copy of Only If You’re Lucky in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my owner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/4 stars

I really loved Willingham’s precious books and was SO excited to head this one ahead of its release. Unfortunately, I was let down with this one.

The storyline started off VERY slow in my opinion and I kept getting the people mixed up as I didn’t really care about any of them or their stories. The novel did pick up about 80% into the book and I did enjoy the last 20% a decent amount. It wasn’t a bad book, just didn’t hit like Willingham’s other books did in my opinion.

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you NetGalley & St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC! I absolutely love Stacy Willingham’s books so I was so excited to be given the opportunity!
Only If You’re Lucky follows the story of Margot, a young girl starting college without her best friend due to a tragic accident. Along the way she meets Lucy, the outgoing girl from her freshman dorm that reminds her so much of her childhood bestie. Margot & Lucy (along with Lucy’s two friends from Hines Hall Sloane & Nicole) all move in together soon after finishing their freshman year right next door to the boys of Kappa Nu. But nothing is as it seems. The twists & turns this triller takes along the way just kept me flipping page after page! You wont be able to put it down!

With multiple twists in her newest novel, Stacy Willingham crafts a suspenseful novel about a group of 4 friends and the murders that have happened around them. I do think some of the twists were predictable early in the story but there were enough to keep me interested. Overall a fun mystery/thriller!

I think this is a DNF. Might finish if it comes out on audio but it’s the most ridiculous plot and I hate all these stupid silly girls

Phew, the last 25% of this book was a wild ride with so many twists and turns. I truly did not guess all the twists, which I so often do with thrillers. However, the first half of the book was pretty slow. I kept speculating where the book was headed and was pleasantly surprised it was not what I was thinking. This book was very different from Willingham’s other 2 novels, which I enjoyed a lot more than this one. Willingham is a great writer and I will definitely continue to reach for her books. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this Advance Readers Copy (ARC) to honestly review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This might be Stacy Willingham’s best book to date and that’s saying A LOT! This author quickly became a favorite after I read A Flicker in the Dark. I will drop everything to read a book from her. It’s increasingly hard to keep my attention on reading these days and this author does it every time. I just need to pace myself! Great work!

“Your only young once, only if you’re lucky.”

Four college girlfriends, three murders. Who are the murderers? Can they get away with it? Are friends for life a myth, a fable, or can you really have friends that remain your friends for life, through thick and thin, through good and bad?

Four girls live in a house on a college campus with boys next door. Lucy is the ringleader. Her favorite game when they are all together is truth or dare. The question that haunts everyone is, “ If you knew you could get away with murder, would you do it?”

The book is slow to get going but the twist and the last 1/3 make it worth reading. Giving this one 3.5 stars. I am a huge fan of Stacy Willingham and am always bummed when I finish her book and have to wait for the next one to come out!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I love when it involves school and girls. Mean girl vibes for sure and interesting to see how everything would play out. I was shocked at many twists and turns.

I absolutely loved Willingham's first two books so was excited to dive into this one. It was a bit of a different style, and just didn't work well for me. While it did pick up in the last fourth of the book, it is a forgettable story for me.

Margot is a shy, blending-into-the-background kind of girl. Lucy, however, is magnetic; someone you can't seem to look away from. When Lucy asks Margot to be her roommate at the end of freshman year, everything will change for Margot. When a fraternity brother is murdered and Lucy goes missing...things may not quite be what they seem.

The obsessed friendships here were a little stale for me. I didn't find any of the characters likeable. It was tough to get through and overall didn't work for me.

thank you for allowing me to be an early reader! i loved A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things so i was extremely excited for this one!

unfortunately, this one let me down a bit. i'll start by saying these characters were truly insufferable. i couldn't stand a single one of them. i also found it to be SOOOO SLOWWW for the majority of the book, picking up around the 75-80% mark and that's far too late in my opinion. the first half of the book was extremely repetitive, and too much inner monologue and too many comments about two "friends" being so similar. it made the big "reveal" super obvious.

I felt this one just dragged on and on and i eventually started to skim through the same FMC's thoughts over and over and over. i felt like the same details were drilled into me page after page.

I struggled to get through this one but I will still read this author's future work!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ | Stacy Willingham’s “Only If You’re Lucky” just secured her spot on my auto-buy author list. I absolutely loved this fast-paced thriller. Willingham’s snappy imagery and quick pacing torpedoed me through her book in a single sitting. And of course, it wouldn’t be a thriller review if we didn’t talk about that twist—sharp, cunning, and merciless… Willingham’s got it all.

Now that was a twisty thriller of a ride! I previously loved A Flicker in the Dark and this one was similarly enjoyed.

I could easily relate to Margot and her desire to fit in and be included by the young women she seemed to adore. I think many of us have been through that in our younger life and still feel the same way into adulthood. This will help readers of all ages relate to and enjoy Margot's story.

As with her previous work, I saw some twists coming, but not others, and I found myself changing my theories throughout the novel. I really enjoy a book that can keep me on the edge of my seat like this one.

Only If You’re Lucky
Stacy Willingham
4⭐️

Willingham does it again with another gripping novel you wont want to miss!

Only if You’re lucky was a well written and cleverly plotted story that at its heart is a story about female friendships, lies, and the secrets we keep! It’s definitely a slow burn but paced well so that the more you read the more engaged you become. The characters felt lifelike. Even like unlikeable ones. 🤔😆 I enjoyed the before and after timelines and was completely immersed in the the academia setting. The well planted Easter eggs and unexpected twists Stacy crafted were so perfectly placed and kept me guessing (mostly wrong) to the jaw-dropping end.

What I enjoyed;
✨ Slow Burn
✨ Dark Academia Thriller
✨ Dual Timeline
✨ Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Pub Date 1/16/24. A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

1. I had no idea Stacy Willingham went to UGA, so that was super cool to read in the acknowledgements. Go Dawgs!
2. This book was super good!
It wandered and meandered in places, but on the whole, that was all necessary for the book. I enjoyed the ending, though I could have used a wee bit more explanation. However, I kind of like that a lot of it was left up to interpretation. Definitely worth the read!

This story was good but not great. I was looking for more of a wow factor. More secrets. It seemed weird to me that Margot had no love interests. Maybe more interactions with Levi. The other two girls were there but didn’t really come into play until the end.

I REALLY loved Stacy Willingham's first to books, so I was thrilled to get a chance to read Only If You're Lucky early. Unfortunately, this wasn't the book for me, which is a definite bummer. I personally could not get into the story - the plot moved incredibly slowly, and there just wasn't enough forward progress to keep me engaged. Excellent character development could save the day in this case, but all of the characters fell utterly flat for me. There was so much toxicity in their relationships, and they never really came off the page for me to care what happened. I made it 55% through the book and I still have no idea who's who, what's going on, or what happened a year ago when the former best friend died.

I needed more from this to really keep me reading. I'm sure folks who enjoy slow burns will be delighted with this, but it didn't work for me.

Margot is from a small town who has just lost her best friend to a horrible accident right before they were to head to collage together. Now Margot finds herself alone and in need of some friendship. That’s when Margot notices Lucy Sharpe, the cool girl who everyone gravitates to. Lucy lives off campus in a house with two other girls, Nicole and Sloane. One day out of the blue, Lucy approaches Margot and invites her to be the fourth girl in the household. Margot jumps at the change, especially since Lucy seems to carry the same charm as her deceased friend, Eliza. Once Margot arrives at the house she notices a small shed attached to the house by the boy’s fraternity. Little did she know the boys would also have access to the house. Lucy and Margot’s bond grow closer, but Lucy seems to keep alluding to hidden secrets. Ones only Margot would know. Life at college is great, until one day a new pledge at the boy’s fraternity is rushing. It turns out to be Levi, the boy who was with Margot’s best friend Eliza the night she died. Margot is determined to make his life miserable and to get her new friends turned against him, but it seems Lucy has other ideas. The story line is told in two different time periods and come to a shocking conclusion that you’ll never see coming.