"Only If You're Lucky" by Stacy Willingham is a fabulous read in my opinion, earning a solid 4 stars. The clever use of before and after timelines kept me engaged and guessing right until the very end. The characters were well-crafted, with a mix of likable traits and flaws that kept me intrigued about how they would all come together. In many ways, it's a relatable book that encourages contemplation about the human spirit, the choices we make, and the underlying hurts and fears that shape our lives. A thought-provoking and enjoyable journey.

I’ve been in a reading slump for a while, but not now! Margot is a college freshman still grieving the death of her best friend. She just wants to fit in. Out of nowhere, Lucy Sharpe asks to move in with her & two other girls. Margot is surprised and wary, but she can’t say no. She’s living off campus and becoming close friends with her roommates, especially Lucy. All is well until a boy from the frat house next door is killed and Lucy turns up missing.

Only if You’re Lucky is an exploration of female friendship with lots of twists and turns. It’s a slow burn at first, but once you get closer to the end you’ll race through it and find out you didn’t even come close to figuring things out. Loved it!!

Note: Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

I have read Stacy Willingham's previous 2 novels and really enjoyed the twists and turns so I was very excited to ready an early version of this book. I really believe that female friendships are a unique category of relatinoships that should be widely studied and discussed. These special connections display a wide spectrum of human emotions and behaviors. I think that was very well portrayed in this novel, although I was able to guess some of the twists. I think the ending could have been more well developed and I would have liked to read more on the "afters" vs. "befores."

I finished this book back in August, and I've been avoiding posting a review for this one (and I don't think I will even share my thoughts on Instagram) because I just didn't love it. Stacy Willingham quickly became an auto-buy author for me after A Flicker in the Dark, which was one of my favorite books of 2021. All the Dangerous Things was so good, but I didn't love it quite as much. And now this one... I am disappointed. I feel like it didn't come together until about 65% through, and the characters were empty. There was no one to root for or care about. I hate to say this about a Stacy Willingham book, but this one was just ok for me,

This one was a bit different from Willingham’s previous releases, but it was just as good! The main characters are younger and the book gives off a vibe somewhere between YA and adult.
With thrillers I always try to figure out what’s going to happen in a book and for this one I couldn’t! The twists were great and not very predictable for me! I kept turning pages trying to figure out what was going to happen. Overall definitely recommend grabbing this one if you enjoyed her other books!

I loved A FLICKER IN THE DARK and ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS, so I was thrilled to get an early copy of Stacy Willingham’s newest, ONLY IF YOURE LUCKY.

Willingham is the queen of dark and suspicious characters and settings, and she definitely delivers on that here. In fact, all the characters in this book are dark, which is a good and bad thing for me. Good, because it keeps me suspicious, but bad because I then struggle to connect to and care about the MC’s outcome, which is kind of what happened here. The ending really caught me off guard, which I loved, but readers should be ready for a slow burn as they make their way toward the big reveal.

Overall, this book had an interesting story that kept me engaged enough to keep reading.

However, it was not as fast-paced as I was expecting it to be and I was not a fan of the way some of it ended. It also felt like there was some unnecessary filler information that made it drag on at times.

I will say that there were a few twists near the end that I did not fully see coming.

I think I had high expectations for this book going into it and it just didn’t fully do it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Thank you very much to NetGalley for the ARC for a book I was dying to get my hands on!

The story revolves around the friendship of 4 college roommates whose lives are seeming so regular college girl stuff, but more deep than anyone can imagine.
Margot is reeling from her best friend Eliza’s death. She goes off to college and finds a roommate that is quiet and more boring to play it safe. One day, she is out and meets Lucy who seems exciting and fun and Lucy invites her to room with her, Sloane and Nicole. Sloane and Nicole are besties and the 4 of them grow exceptionally close. The off campus house they rent has a shed that connects them to another house with frat brothers.

I really liked the story especially reading of the girls friendship and the fun. It did get a bit slow for me during the first part but the info and the feeling you get while reading is absolutely necessary for what is to come. There are many, many revelations through the book dropped and all of them were completely unexpected.
I did not guess ANY thing that happened in this book at all, it was awesome.

There’s a lot of things to unpack and this author can write to make you feel things for instance; describing the hazing of the frat brothers having to lay in the homes crawl space, I felt like I could smell and see what they’d see. The shed description, I could see it.
The feeling of best friends and the feeling that you’d do anything for them.

I rated this a 4 star, it was really good and captive. It did not actually take me long to read. I took a break after I started it to read another book.

The setting of this new novel by Willingham is quite possibly my favorite yet. An old house adjacent to a group of rowdy, unreliable fraternity boys, 4 girls trying to keep their cheap rent, and one of the girls with enough secrets to ruin it all.

Willingham's cleverly crafted characters leave the reader unsure who to trust, and many of them are closely walking the line between wanting to belong and obsession. Just when you think you've got it figured out, I promise, you don't.

This book was just ok for me. I guess I went in with some serious expectations because the previous two books delivered such a gut punch of emotions with heart pounding moments that kept you turning page after page.

This also was more of a YA novel as the setting is in a collage dorm and was just a slow burn from beginning to end. There are some twists and turns but nothing at all like the psychological thrillers this authors first two books were so that hampered my feelings on the book overall.

The characters weren’t enjoyable and I didn’t connect with the main character even a little bit. Someone who likes college settings with good girl/ bad girl drama may appreciate this novel more. I’ve read academia novels before but this one just missed the mark for me.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this, for the most part, but do feel there were too many twists at the end added solely for shock value. So many thrillers do this to try and wow you; that all said, it didn’t bother me quite like it does in some others (most of the recent Sager books, for reference). This felt too long at times so it’s a solid 3 star for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a retrospective college thriller, so I was stoked to pick this up. Apparently Stacy Willingham isn't really for me, but I can see why she's caught on and become so popular.

ONLY IF YOU’RE LUCKY BOOK REVIEW

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“If you knew you could get away with murder, would you do it?”

I have always been drawn to books set on a college campus, so was excited to dive into Margot’s world as she heads to Rutledge College for her freshman year. Still dealing with the recent loss of her lifelong friend, Eliza, Margot gets in with a group of girls and ends up moving off campus with them in an apartment attached to a frat house. Typical college shenanigans ensue but things turn dangerous when someone else winds up dead and another person missing…

I’ve heard great things about this author and this was the first book of hers that I’ve read! I found the characters to be pretty much all unlikable but enjoyed the drama between the girls that unfolded throughout the book. I think I would have liked this one better if it were faster paced…by the time I got to the main action and twists I had lost a bit of interest. There were also some components of the setting that seemed misplaced (Ex: mentions of alligators in OBX…?)

Overall, I’d recommend this if you like slow burns and if you liked the book The Girls Are All So Nice Here.

Only If You're Lucky - Stacy Willingham
Margot spends her first year of college just going through the motions. While she gets along well with her roommate, there will always be a constant ache for best friend Eliza who passed away months prior.
Eliza was supposed to come to college with her. Be her roommate. Share all these experiences with her.
When Sloane takes notice of Margot and invites her to be the fourth roommate, she can't resist. Sloane has a dangerous appeal and Margot can't get enough of the attention from her.
Margot fights to fit in with the girls, letting herself experience things she never thought she would have. But when one of the fraternity boys from next door is brutally murdered, and Slone becomes the prime suspect, Margot wonders what she has gotten herself into.
When Sloane goes missing, Margot and the other girls must get their stories straight before the truth comes out.
I must say this book really threw me for a loop and everything that happened was definitely unexpected. Stacy Willingham does a fantastic job of baiting you with tidbits of information to keep you hooked and wanting more. The characters all appealed to you in different ways, and you wanted poor Margot to have a happy ending. The twists though, just wow. If you want your brain to hurt while trying to piece together an incredible murder mystery, this one is it guys! It comes out in January 2024, so make sure you save those Christmas gift cards up! ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Book Title: Only If You’re Lucky
Author: Stacy Willingham
Publisher: Saint Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: January 16, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 384

Comment from Stacy Willingham ~ This is my book again. It's about a bunch of college girls getting into
mischief (to put it mildly). I hope you enjoy it!

Margot and her best friend Eliza were looking forward to going away to college and being roommate ~ however Eliza dies shortly after graduation. Since they both wanted to get away from the Outer Banks – South Carolina seems to be perfect~(Okay I did laugh at this a we vacation and totally love the Outer Banks but UNC as well as NC State are awesome and certainly different than the Outer Banks.)
Margot reluctantly heads off to college in South Carolina Eliza choice.

Margot is quiet and ends up with Maggie a roommate who is okay but certainly not an exciting new friend. The situation reminds Margo of the college experience she should be having with Eliza.
.Margot is envious of a group of girls who have bonded and are having a great time!

At the end of the school year Lucy Sharpe a super popular girl and part of the group that Margot envies asks Margot if she is staying for summer school and if would like to stay with her Sloane and Nicole. Margot isn’t staying for summer school. Lucy states that’s okay how about the fall? Margo is flattered and agrees. They are living in a house off campus owned by the fraternity next door.
(Excuse the mom in me but a fraternity next door!!!!)

When Levi a young man who lives in Kappa Nu the fraternity next door and someone Margot remembers from her hometown ends up dead Margot fears perhaps his death is related to Eliza.
Yikes! now Miss Popular Lucy is missing. Story totally kept me curious.

I love author, Stacy Willingham! This is her third novel and my third as well.
I read both : "A Flicker in the Dark" -] loved it as well as : All the Dangerous Things" which earned 5 stars from stingy star me.
I think she is awesome and was excited to read this!

I never skip the Acknowledgments nor the ‘Author’s Notes.
In this case- Ms. Willingham tells us that her junior and senior years at the University of Georgia, she and her roommates lived off-campus in a house owned by a fraternity.
So yes this story was inspired by a real place but everything else is fictional including the characters. However did admit that the one character she kept was the house itself – as the house had character.
(Aww I love this as I also believe houses do indeed have character as well as history!)

Certainly looking forward to the next Stacy Willingham story!

Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press ~ Minotaur Press for granted me the pleased of reading this WOW early uncorrected proof.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 16, 2024.

Wow! What a great book! I was hooked and couldn’t put it down. I wasn’t expecting the twists at all! It was the perfect thriller! Highly entertaining!! 5 stars!

Stacy Willingham has a knack for making me think that I've figured everything out, and then taking about three left turns in the last 20%. Dual timeline from "before" the incident and "after" the incident, you're slowly gaining background information about the narrator, Margot, and what happened with her childhood best friend Eliza and her budding friendships in college with Lucy, Sloane, and Nicole.

Comes a little behind A Flicker in the Dark for me and I haven't read Willingham's second novel yet to compare.
 
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow. Just wow.

Stacy Willingham has done it again with Only If You’re Lucky. This one is very different from her other two but her writing is very much the same, fast paced and intriguing. Only If You’re Lucky very much reminded me of Ruth Wares It Girl and Ashley Winsteads In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, two of my favorite dark academia/thriller books. If you were looking for a more thrilling version of the It Girl this is it.

The books follows a group of four college girls renting out a frat house when suddenly Lucy, the groups popular girl on campus goes missing. It has two timelines the before and the after which keeps you wanting more from each perspective. The book immediately pulls you in and doesn’t let go until the last page. It was hard for me to put this one down because I needed to know how it was going to unfold. I love following group dynamics especially female friendships and how intricate, vulnerable, and messy they can be. Definitely check this one out in January thank you St. Martins Press and Stacy Willingham for the advanced ebook😊

Y’all I love Stacy Willingham’s books. A Flicker in the Dark? AMAZING! All the Dangerous Things? A masterpiece! But unfortunately, Only If You’re Lucky didn’t hit quite the same for me…

This book is a sloooow burn, and I just could not get into it until about 75%. While I enjoy the author’s writing style, the actual story didn’t hook me. To me, the first half of the book spent far too long establishing a background that was pretty basic IMO- it felt repetitive and unnecessary at times. And while I enjoy an unreliable narrator, the characters themselves were insufferable, and I found it hard to be inside the main character’s head. I spent most of the time being annoyed with her, and her actions made it hard to empathize with her. The pace definitely picked up in the last 100 or so pages, but the ending fell flat for me and wasn’t satisfying.

If you’re a dark academia fan and don’t mind a slow burn thriller, this book might be for you! If you liked the author’s previous novels, I would caution that this one definitely has a different vibe.