I was thrilled when I received an advanced copy for Only If You're Lucky, and this book did not disappoint! Right for the beginning, this slow burn novel kept me hooked and reading long into the night. Every single character was so perfectly written. I felt like I was just another college student living alongside the main characters, watching the thrills and chills unfold. I was fully immersed, and every twist was more shocking than the last. Stellar!

Thank you, Stacy Willingham, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book!

"In time, it may fade, but it'll never truly be gone - because if one goes down, we all go down, which might be the most steadfast act of friendship I've ever known."

This story is a dark and chilling look into female friendships, the lies we tell each other, and how much we may never know those closest to us. If you like slow paced, character driven thrillers, this is the one for you. I have loved this authors previous books and this one is no different. Willingham is clearly a talented author and she knows how to write a good thriller.

This one was a little hard for me, because I didn't truly get into the story until about halfway through. This is definitely a slow burn, but it ramps up speed and the pieces of the puzzle start coming together quickly. I still highly recommend this book, because this author is an incredible writer and the ending is wild, but be aware of the slow burn!

5 stars

This book tells the twisty tale of friendship between Margot, a shy college student grieving the death of her best friend, and Lucy, the bold and dangerous girl who lives down the hall. At the end of the year, Lucy singles Margot out and asks her to be the fourth roommate at her new house. Margot accepts and becomes a party girl, frequenting the frat house next door with her new roomies. When one of the frat boys ends up dead and Lucy goes missing, Margot finds herself in the middle of a police investigation.

Yes! I really enjoyed this book! It had me from the start and I couldn’t put it down. Although a bit of a slow burn, there are lots of twists revealed as the book goes on. I would definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Stacy Willingham just doesn't miss! I've read every one of her books so far and haven't been let down. She's become an insta-read author for me.

Only If You're Lucky follows Margot as she navigates college life while still grieving the death of her best friend. Enter Lucy -- she's magnetic and popular and full of life. She invites Margot to live in an off-campus house with her and her two friends, Sloane and Nicole. Only it's not long before one of the fraternity boys next door ends up dead and Lucy goes missing.

This book is full of unexpected twists and turns and had me racing through the pages to figure out what was going on. Loved this so much and highly recommend!

📚 Review: Only If You’re Lucky 🍁
Wow!! What a book!! I loved it! Once I was about halfway through the book, I could not put it down. I had my interest the entire time.
I kept thinking I knew who was going to be guilty but I was wrong again and again. So many twists in this one, which I love. When a book has me guessing and I get them all wrong, then you know it’s good.
For those not familiar because it’s not out yet, this book takes place on a college campus. College friends living the life at school, partying and falling in love, until someone ends up dead. This book gave me In My Dreams I Hold A Knife vibes and I was totally here for it. It’s told in two timelines, Before and After. It’s just so good with so many twists. I really enjoyed this one a lot. This is my third Stacy Willingham book and it is definitely my favorite. For those who liked her first two books, you’ll see what I mean. As a writer, Stacy is definitely perfecting her craft with each book. 🙌🏻♥️ This was a great binge read and it was for sure ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars for me!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress and @stacyvwillingham for this advanced ebook copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Pub Date: January 16, 2024
You’ll definitely want to pick up your own copy.

Have you read this book yet? Did you like her first two books?

Another solid 4.5 ⭐️ read from Stacy Willingham! Only If You’re Lucky tells the twisty tale of Margot and how she deals with losing her best friend Eliza right before they leave for college. Where it is a twisty and suspenseful ride, it is also a slow burn 🔥. However, the last 30% of this read are fantastic!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Absolutely amazing story! There were so many complexities to this story that I was kept on the edge of my seat, devouring the story! The twists were completely unexpected!

After the tragic death of her best friend, Eliza, Margot heads off to college bruised and broken from the loss. There she finds her people: Lucy, the one everyone is drawn to, Sloane, the brash one, and Nicole, the sweet one. She doesn’t know how she has made it into their orbit, but there she is living with these girls and starting to come out of her shell.

When a blast from her not so distant past arrives, Margot is brought back to all those months before Eliza’s death. Then one of their neighboring frat boys winds up dead and Lucy goes missing.

This was reminiscent of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife. I loved the found family vibe and the story behind the mystery. The way this story unravels had me totally clueless about what would happen next. This author writes such intelligent characters and really knows how to pull you in and wind you up.

This author has been hit or miss for me and if you like extremely slow burn then this is for you. However for me, that meant it was way too boring

Only If You're Lucky is a mysterious story of Margot, a college sophomore who is grieving the tragic death of her best friend shortly after high school graduation. Margot's first year at a small Southern private college went by without incident but also without meaningful connection. She has agreed to live with her roommate again next year, but she flakes out on that plan when a charismatic girl named Lucy invites her to live with her and a few other girls in a house next to a popular fraternity house.

We follow Margot's perspective as she lives with Lucy, Sloane, and Nicole and their lives closely intertwine with the boys of Sigma Nu. Early in the story, one of the brothers is dead and then the timeline alternates between past and present to slowly reveal his tragic death and the secrets many of the characters are hiding.

This was clearly the immersive writing on Stacy Willingham with a chilling Southern atmosphere, which she does so well in all of her novels. However, the characters and plot of this one deviates from her first two novels which keeps it fresh in my opinion. I can see some readers disliking this one as it focuses on high school memories and college experiences, but I enjoyed remembering the big feelings of that time in this creepy, secretive plot. Also in Stacy Willingham style, not much happens until the 75% mark, but then you probably won't put this down and she certainly kept my interest to that point where everything starts coming together quickly.

I didn't find this one totally shocking, but I found it very satisfying. If you've liked this author in the past, this is definitely worth a try.

This was Stacy Willingham’s best book. It was fast paced, gripping, suspenseful, and had great twists. The characters were morally gray and hard to pin down which made guessing what really happened to Eliza, to Levi, and to Lucy even more interesting. Highly recommend!

This book takes place in a university setting. Think frat houses, parties and not so much studying. Margot is our main character who is grieving the death of her best friend. She feels like she doesn't really belong with the girl she's rooming with. Then she meets charismatic Lucy, who reminds her of her best friend she lost. What entails is Margot becoming a party girl with Lucy and her other 2 new roommates. This is a story of revenge, anger, murder and secrets being revealed. This was my first book by the author however, I feel as though it was a slow burn and not as thrilling as my usual reads. I gave it 3 stars. It was a pretty solid book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read for free in exchange for an honest review.

Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this advanced reader copy. Margot is finishing her freshman year at a small North Carolina college. She’s also been mourning the death of her best friend. It’s been a year but she’s unable to move past her grief. She meets Lucy and quickly her world changes. She finds herself living off campus with Lucy and two other girls. They live next door to an unruly bunch of frat boys who just happen to be their landlords. One of the fraternity boys comes from Margot’s hometown though, and he was involved with Margot’s deceased friend. Things get dark and twisty about half way through the novel, and I couldn’t put it down trying to figure it all out. However, the first part of the book read like a young adult novel and it was so close to being a DNF (did not finish) for me. I rarely do that. So first half was a ⭐️ star and the second half was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I loved Stacy Willingham’s two previous books - check those out! Publication in January 2024

Stacy Willingham's 'Only If You’re Lucky' was my least favorite of her three books, despite my initial excitement. It took nearly half the book to truly engage me, but once it did, I couldn't put it down.

The story opens with a missing girl and a dead fraternity pledge, skillfully weaving between past and present. Margot, the central character, narrates the complex relationships girls form during their coming-of-age years, making her an intriguing focal point.

While I anticipated some plot twists, others blindsided me, particularly the shocking revelation at the end. This twist ultimately redeemed the book in my eyes.

Despite a slow start, 'Only If You’re Lucky' delivers an atmospheric mystery with a compelling plot. Stacy Willingham keeps readers guessing until the final pages, making it a worthwhile read.

Starting off in a transitional moment in her life, Margot goes to college in hopes to reinvent herself and let her older self fade into the distance. With a new friend group and living next to a frat house, what could go wrong?
It’s not until Margot is too deep in her new life, with new friends, finding herself in a new mystery that’s looks strangely, very similar to her old life.

Great suspense book for those looking for a mystery that eases you into the depths of the story.

Is history always due to repeat itself?

‼️PLEASE READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING

✨thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

*Advanced copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Stacy Willingham delivers an atmospheric mystery with Only If You’re Lucky, with twists that you couldn’t see coming. The layered plot keeps the pace moving without being too convoluted or complex.

Margot lost her best friend senior year of high school, but continues on to live out their shared dream of attending the college they had picked out together. Once there Margot is drawn to the enigmatic Lucy, and finds herself living with Lucy, Sloane, and Nicole in an off campus house behind a fraternity. When Margot finds the new pledge, Levi, is the boy she blames for her best friend’s death, her tenuous happiness (and seeming grasp on reality) starts to slip. Lucy is now missing, Levi is dead - and Margot, Sloane, and Nicole are keeping a secret no one can guess.

Questioning what it means to be a girl coming of age and examining the complex and sometimes dysfunctional relationships girls form with each other, you finish the book wondering how lucky you might be to find your people in college- and what that luck exactly entails.

Rounded to 4.5 stars. It took me about 48% to get into the book but once I got the halfway point I couldn’t put it down. I guessed some of the plot twist but the big one at the end had me shook. I didn’t see that coming at all and it redeemed the book for me.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This might be my new favorite Stacy Willingham - probably because I am a sucker for dark academia and complicated friendships. For once I am not going to complain that Megan Abbott would have done it better.

Margot and Eliza were best friends, planning on going away to school together. But then Eliza died, at the last party of the year, not long before they were supposed to leave, and now Margot feels rudderless. She goes away to Rutledge anyway, because that was always her plan, but she and her roommate Maggie never really clicked in the same way. She’s just longing to find what she lost when Eliza died.

Enter Lucy. She’s the campus (or at least the dorm) enigma. Everyone’s heard some wild rumor about her, but Margot is drawn to her. And when Lucy suddenly shows up in Margot’s room and offers her a place in an off campus house for sophomore year, with Lucy and two other girls (Nicole and Sloan), Margot is sold. She ditches the boring roommate and immediately moves in with three strangers. Because there’s just something about Lucy - she has the same quality Eliza had, to make you immediately want to be around her. The house is right next to a fraternity - connected by a backyard shed that the boys use alternately for drying tobacco and bleeding out deer carcases. If you’re into that sort of thing it seems like a sweet setup - they have an automatic in for all of the parties and their rent is super cheap, since the boys technically own the house. (to me it sounds like a damn nightmare, but I would have said that at 19 too!)

When the novel opens, we know two things - one of the frat boys is dead and Lucy is missing. The story weaves around through the past and present, showing us the school year leading up to the death/disappearance, and also a few well timed flashbacks to Margot’s last summer before college, when things weren’t quite as perfect as they were initially painted.

I really, really liked this. It’s well paced and well plotted. The multiple timelines are executed extremely well - very often that’s a patch for a thin plot or cheap twist, but I didn’t feel that way here. Much like her last book, I saw some twists but was surprised by others, and the ending is reasonably satisfying. I also enjoyed Margot as a narrator. I feel like I’ve read a handful of books recently where I either found the narrator annoying or wished someone else were telling the story instead (or at least in addition). Margot’s definitely the center here, and I’m glad we didn’t have to hear from anyone else.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was difficult for me. I've read Stacy Willingham's other books and really enjoyed them. This one - while I enjoyed at the end, took over half the book for me to get into it. I found the main character to be a bit annoying and too much time was spent setting the scene. I desperately wanted more events to happen. .

That being said, it turned around for me as I got to the second half! As the twists and turns started to come through, I was hooked. Ultimately - I'm glad I stuck with it. I fully recommend reading this, with the caveat that it may take a minute to warm up. If you do - you will not be disappointed.

When I tell you I was floored when I got the approval for the advanced copy of "Only If You're Lucky" by Stacy Willingham, I definitely wasn't lying.

Willingham quickly shot into my "Favorite Author" category with her strong debut "A Flicker in the Dark" and her follow-up, "All the Dangerous Things." Her most recent novel, "Only If You're Lucky," is strong but lacking a little of what made the first two so special. Still, it is a great third entrance into her collection.

"Only If You're Lucky" focuses primarily on female friendships and just how deep they can go. It is more geared towards the younger generation, with characters in their first few years of college where their focus is partying and just trying to fit in. The dual timelines made for a little confusing move at first but once I settled in, they were cut off perfectly, leaving me wanting to skip ahead to know what happened next.

Willingham definitely has a way with words and this novel is no exception. She also left things pretty open-ended and while that usually bothers me, I loved it because it left everything open to our own interpretation.

Looking forward to her next novel as soon as possible...please.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC copy!