Overall, I'd give Only If You're Lucky 3.5 but I'm rounding up here. I was a little disappointed but only because my expectations for there were so high. There were some twists I didn't see coming but a few I did. I wasn't picking up the same atmospheric, Southern Gothic vibes I loved about Willingham's first two books, and I think that's why it fell a bit flat for me.

The first 75% of this was extremely slow. The ending was exciting and fast-paced but I also didn't really like the ending and felt it was rushed and didn't make a ton of sense. This was just ok as a thriller but nothing groundbreaking or all that entertaining. I really enjoyed this author's previous two books and will look forward to their next.

Margot lost her best friend Eliza due to an accident three weeks after graduating high school. Their plan had been to go together to college in South Carolina. Margo decides to do just that but her first year doesn't bring her any happiness, she is barely living. Then, Lucy Sharpe appears out of nowhere and offers Margot to move in with her and her two besties, Sloane and Nicole to an off-campus house and she doesn't hesitate to accept the offer.

Lucy is magnetic. Everyone is interested in her and what she has to say. People gravitate towards her just like they did with Eliza. Margo is no exception. Like moths to light, Margo will follow Lucy's lead into everything but will this include murder? By the middle of sophomore year, a freshman fraternity boy has been brutally murdered and Lucy has gone missing....

The novel is narrated in past and present chapters.

I loved A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things but Only If You're Lucky felt short for this reader. I don't know if it was the unbelievable conclusion or me guessing the conclusion very early on. I was disappointed, to say the least. I wish this wasn't the case.

Will I read Stacy Willingham's next novel? You better believe it!

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Minotaur Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of the ebook.

I have read other books by Stacy Willingham and enjoyed it, although not loving it. I found this book to be less thrilling than her previous ones. I don't think this author would be an automatic read for me here on.

My college days were some of the best years of my life, and sometimes I love to read books that remind me of those times. You have the friendships, the partying, the studying, and just trying to figure out how to be an adult, especially when you move out of the dorms.

Only If You're Lucky takes place during Margot's second year of college. She moves in with three other women and lives next door to a fraternity house. One of the new pledges is from Margot's past, and she believes that he is the one the killed her best friend in high school. That's not a spoiler alert. You learn that in the beginning of the book. :).

There were a few different twists as you try to figure out what happened on the night that Margot's best friend died.

The first half of the book was a little slow for me, and I felt the author repeated the story a little too much. However, I really enjoyed the second half of the book as everything comes to light.

Stacy Willingham, the author, also wrote A Flicker in the Dark and All The Dangerous Things. She definitely knows how to write thrillers.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for sharing this book with me. I would give this book 4 stars. I was given this book for my honest review.

This is my third book by Stacy Willingham, and i think this was my least favorite. I absolutely LOVED Flicker in the Dark, and i think i've been waiting for one to grip me from the start the way her first did.
I had a hard time getting through it because i never really attached to any of the characters. I'd pick it up and put it down after a few pages, so it ended up taking over a month to finish.

While I didn't love this book, i can't deny that it took me for a wild ride. There were a few twists for the end that i didn't see coming! Every single character is pretty terrible, but that's definitely not a bad thing. I appreciated the small college vibe, though the characters were incredibly immature, so it made the book read very YA.

I'd recommend this to someone who is a bit younger--probably college age. Where i thought the characters were annoying, they might find them relatable...bc weren't we all pretty annoying in college? ;)

My in person book club read this in February and it made for such an interesting discussion! Some of us loved reliving our college years... some, not so much. haha!

I've read all of Stacy Willingham's book and this one was my favorite! Intrigue, mystery, best friends, college parties, a rambling old frat house... I absolutely ate this up and loved every moment!

initial thoughts: it pains me to say I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed A Flicker in the Dark and All The Dangerous Things (if you haven’t read those — go!)

this book was a bit boring, honestly, the house was the most interesting character for stretches at a time. the pacing was off, the first 75% of the book nothing but college shenanigans happened, and by the time the twists/reveals came around they seemed a bit too unbelievable.

will definitely pick up whatever this author puts out next though.

I've been enjoying all of the dark college-focused thrillers that have been published over the last few years. It's fun to read, but it does make me think back and wonder how many times I personally may have been in mortal danger while drinking alcohol of questionable origin. Ideally, though, I would like to see one of these books written where no one gets sexually assaulted--not denying that it happens (often), but every single thriller I have read that takes place on a college campus has SA as central to the plot, to the point where it is becoming almost a trope of the genre. And from a selfish standpoint, I just prefer to read books without it.

But I did like this book--there were several twists that I did not see coming, and it was overall an entertaining read.

Stacy Willingham's latest thriller, "Only If You're Lucky" tells the tale of college besties getting tangled up in something they shouldn't. The twist was twisty and the author spends plenty of time building out the characters, the campus, and the clues. As a huge fan of Willingham's "A Flicker in the Dark" and "All the Dangerous Things," I can't wait to see what she writes next.

Margot drifted through her freshman year of college. She didn’t make any real connections, so when a girl from her dorm floor singles her out to join an off-campus house as a fourth roommate, she jumps at the chance. After Eliza, the best friend she was supposed to attend the small school with tragically died the summer before, she’s hopeful she can find new friendships with Lucy, Nicole and Sloane - her roommates in the creepy old house - and their fraternity brother landlords. But after just one semester, one of the frat boys is dead and Lucy is missing. The police want answers and think the remaining girls must know where Lucy is - but best friends don’t betray each other’s trust, right?

I’ve seen some mixed reviews about this book, but I think it’s another solid story from this author. It’s told from the point of view of Margot, and the timelines go back and forth between before Eliza’s death, her time at the house, and present-day with the detectives looking for Lucy. It’s definitely a slow burn but it fully kept my interest throughout. There were a few twists and while I did have an inkling about one, I didn’t guess the others. If you’re a fan of this author’s other books, I think you’ll like this one too. Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Willingham has yet to write a book that I don’t enjoy. This one is no different. I will say that I found the beginning a bit slow and wasn’t sure where the story was going. However, the pace definitely picks up once pieces of the puzzle start to come together.

Most of the book is set on a college campus, and some of the major problems that occur there are included… domestic abuse, sexual violence, hazing. Please check the trigger warnings before reading!

Lucy is a such a manipulative character: she’s a facade and complete chameleon. At times while reading, I was reminded a bit of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝘁 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹 by Ruth Ware, one of my favourite dark academia thrillers.

The major reveal near the end completely shocked me! Did not see it coming at all, and that’s what makes it SO great!

What is it that they say about secrets? They always find the light of day!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Stacy Willingham does it again! Insta-buy author for me. The way she weaves these stories is so good and hard to figure out on your own but its done well! This is my third book by Stacy, and I haven’t been disappointed yet.
Margot is a quiet and cautious person, but when she meets Lucy at the end of her first year of college, she decides to throw caution to the wind. They become roommates off campus in a house owned by one of the fraternities. Margot spends the summer getting closer to Lucy and the two other roommates, Sloane and Nicole. Things start to get tense when someone from Margot’s past shows up and by winter, ends up dead while Lucy has gone missing.
Wow this was such an intense ride. I was having a hard time tracking what was going on. At first, it seems like Margot is just an insecure girl whose only friend died right after high school and is clinging to any friendship she could possibly find. The more you get to know the characters the more theories you have. The twists and turns and betrayals that happen will keep you on the edge of your seat and questioning everything. Such a great psychological thriller set on a college campus.

"Only If You're Lucky" is a gripping psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal. The story follows Margot, a shy and cautious college student, who is drawn into the charismatic and enigmatic world of Lucy Sharpe. As Margot is pulled out of her comfort zone and into the off-campus house shared with Lucy and two other girls, the dynamics between the housemates unravel in unexpected ways.

Stacy Willingham skillfully weaves a narrative of suspense and intrigue, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as secrets are revealed and tensions rise. The disappearance of Lucy Sharpe and the murder of a fraternity boy add layers of mystery, blurring the lines between truth and deception.

Stacy Willingham's new book was on my list of must-read thrillers this year. Flicker In The Dark was a 4 srar for me, but All The Dangerous Things was a solid 5. In the latest book, Margot, a college student befriends a group of girls who become her roommates and suddenly finds herself in the middle investigation of another student's murder.

For a psychological thriller, this book was going in a great direction. I was really enjoying Margot trying to navigate her college friendships and alliances and was very much intrigued by the mysterious death of Margot's high school friend. By becoming close friends with dark and mysterious Lucy in college, the MC was trying to fill the void of losing her best friend. Maybe I was expecting more of a thriller in this than just a story of a good girl waiting to be changed. But when the mystery began to unravel at the end, it sadly felt like it fizzled out.

I am so bummed... I really wanted to love this book, but I guess it just wasn't for me. It started slow and I've been hoping it would pick up, but then it went in all kind of directions, and went off the rails for me. Give it a shot though, this slowburn may just work for you.

I was so intrigued by this, how Margot was obsessed with her former best friend whose deceased and now obsessed with her new best friend Lucy. I enjoyed this so much and felt like this was a fresh take on obsession

2 stars

I think I kind of set myself up for failure with this one probably because of how much I liked her first two books. I felt like this one was a little too slow for me, add to that it felt really young more like a YA novel. It really didn't feel like much happened until the end of the book. The reveals didn't really do much and kind of removed a lot of the suspension of disbelief that one should have when reading a thriller.

I will read her next book because really enjoy her writing.

Thank you Minotaur and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this completely blind and I highly recommend doing that! At first I had zero idea where the story was headed but the character development kept me really interested and then when everything started to unfold I could not put this down! This book not only delivered on being a great thriller but also had a truly amazing story that I felt so engaged in! I love a thriller that makes you feel and this was that!

I think I've been reading too many thrillers because it takes a lot now to impress me. There were pieces of this story that I liked: the college setting, toxic female friendships, and backstories that come into play. But overall, I felt like it was okay-nothing that blew me away.

When Margot's best friend died, a hole was left in her life.
Enter Lucy Sharp, a beautiful, magnetic, mysterious, larger than life presence who chose Margot.
Chose her to be the final piece in her perfect circle of friends.
But soon Lucy disappears leaving a dead frat boy and a lot of questions.

This book had me, I was drawn in immediately, I loved Lucy's character and had so many questions I could not wait to get answers to.
This book was mainly wrote in flashback with short chapters in the present day.
As the book neared the end I was pretty surprised by some of the developments, but I don't know if it was the actual twist or the delivery, but it fell a little flat ... and then the big reveal. *womp womp*
Nope !

This book had me and then immediately lost me.
I absolutely hated the ending. I'm not sure how anyone could be happy with this ending. For a book I initially enjoyed, it was a big let down.
This had the makings of a four star book, but the ending just blew me away in the worst way possible.