Real talk.
Took me awhile to fully get engaged. Then I was hooked. Then about 70% I knew a plot twist was coming and as I kept reading I totally foresaw the first drop, but what I didn’t expect was the twists that kept coming. The ending was abrupt, but I feel necessary to truly end this story. Overall, it was pretty believable thinking back to my college days and how easily what Lucy did could have actually happened.

Thank you to St. Martins press for this ARC.

I was very excited to read this one and am happy to report that it surpassed my expectations. This twisty tale tells the story of Margot and Lucy. Margot is a senior in high school when her best friend dies tragically. Starting her freshman year without her best friend (Eliza) when they should be dorming together, Margot does virtually nothing hardly leaves her room. That’s until she meets Lucy. Lucy is everything Margot is not and a lot like Eliza. Margot is drawn to her, they move in together with two other friends, life feels good but everything is not as it seems, nothing feels true and what really happened the night Eliza died? And who is Lucy?

I guessed two of the three big twists but I didn’t mind at all. I loved reading this, I loved the characters and I couldn’t wait to see if I was right. Not put downable this book is a solid 4 stars.

I couldn't put this down - loved the twists, the dark characters, the friendships. Will be recommending this to others that like dark suspense.

At the end of her freshman year of college, Margot rashly agrees to become roommates with Lucy Sharpe, a larger-than-life girl in her freshman dorm. Having spent the last year reeling from the death of her best friend, Margot is desperate to have someone to bring her back to life. Living in a cheap house next to a fraternity, Lucy quickly becomes the ringleader of Margot, Sloane, and Nicole. But by midyear, a boy from next door will be dead, Lucy will be missing, and Margot and her roommates will be hiding secrets of their own.

Having loved Willingham's previous two thrillers, I was completely disappointed in Only If You're Lucky. Most of the novel is a mind-numbingly slow tale of drunk college girls. So much so that I ended up skimming the middle portion of the book. At about 70% through, the story picked up with a few good twists. But by then I really didn't care anymore.

I was so honored to be chosen to get an ARC of this book from NetGalley! It was slow at first but needed to set the stage! And then the twists came not long after! The characters were wonderfully created, and the story was so gripping it kept me up late reading! But, that ending I did NOT see coming! This was my first book by this author and I will be reading her others! Thank you again to NetGalley for the book! This was such a fun experience!

This is a slow paced mystery set in the backdrop of college and fraternities. The main character Margot lost her best friend and decided she needs a change in her life. When a popular student Lucy offers her a spot in her shared college home she accepts and moves in with 3 other ladies she doesn't know. She sees similarities between Lucy and her friend that is gone and so many questionable things are done in their home.

I liked the premise of this plot it was interesting and I was curious to see how it would build up. It’s told in present, past and after timeline and there so many things going on at once. The story basically comes to a head as she gets comfortable with her new housemates and as they party and do crazy things she uncovers mysteries and information linked to her dead friend. Unfortunately this was a little too slow to get into, there was so much information and characters along with the timeline switching that made it hard for me to keep up at times. The ending was okay and there was a twist that I didn’t see. Overall i would still recommend this especially if you like slower paced mysteries. Thank you to the publisher for this arc.

I'm a fan of some of Stacy Willingham's previous work. All the Dangerous things and Flicker in the Dark were wonderful. So I was very excited to get an advanced copy of Only if You're Lucky. Margot is the main character and she is mourning the tragic death of her best friend Eliza. Because she is grieving she shuts her self out of the college experience until Lucy invites her to live with her and two other girls their sophomore year. The house is owned by a frat house next door. Margot suddenly wonders why of all people Lucy chose her to live here, since she was a recluse and they were not close. There are a lot of games played, mysteries unfold and questionable behaviors from all involved. When one of the frat boys winds up dead, and Lucy goes missing everything starts to unravel. For me this was a 3.5 star read. It kept me guessing although at times it was a little too far fetched for my tastes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Minotaur Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am jealous of everyone who gets to read this book for the first time. EVERYTHING about this book was just so delicious!! Stacy Willingham does it once again and I can't wait to keep reading her work. No spoilers here, just AH THE ENDING!!

3.5 stars

"We break rules when we decide the cost of getting caught doesn't outweigh the reward of doing it."

While the plot was clever enough and the ending really hooked me as all the ends started getting tied up, I'm not entirely sure it was worth such a long, and honestly boring, build-up. It was much too slow-paced for my liking when it comes to thrillers. There was a lot of character development in the first half of the book and very little actually happened. I didn't feel invested in the story until about 2/3 of the way through the book, which is way too late for my preference.

I loved that the house and the property it was on was its own character. The descriptions of it and the way everyone lived was very well-written, leaving me skeeved out and uncomfortable, just as the author intended. Come to find out, the house was based on the author's own experience in college. Super interesting!

Bonus points for Beatles references!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was lucky to receive an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher for this review.

There is something about this author's style of writing that keeps me motivated to continue reading way past my bedtime. This happened with this book again. This book continued to dangle what exactly happened to Levi and Lucy throughout the novel. The book moves between time periods before the incident and after the incident. The actual events that are occur are the reason it is 4 stars instead of 5. It felt a little bit like a letdown after all of the hype about it throughout the entire novel.

It reminded me of many of Megan Abbott's books. The tension is brewing throughout the entire novel. It just is constantly at the surface about who to trust and watching characters make bad decisions about trust.

The real story is the story of female friendship. What makes a solid female friendship? Are there always secrets? Are you a better friend if you are always spending time together?

I loved Willingham’s previous book, A Flicker in the Dark so I was thrilled to recover this arc. Thank you so much Netgalley!

While ultimately I enjoyed the story unfortunately it did not have the same pull for me as her previous book. Still a great mystery though.

I have read both of Stacy Willingham's previous works, of which A Flicker in the Dark was my favorite. It still remains my favorite, but this is a close second. All the Dangerous Things just wasn't for me. This book is somewhere in the middle for me, a 3.25 star read. This story did have a lot of great one liners and really examines the complexity of female friendships, especially when other romantic relationships enter a friend's life. While dramatized for the purpose of a thriller, I do think it does an excellent job of portraying that complex dynamic.
I was the most satisfied with the ending, specifically the last sentence/ realization. Overall, I think its an excellent read, however, not an excellent psychological thriller. Two things can be true at the same time. The first quarter of the book is rather slow, and not a ton happens until the last quarter. If anything, its a great commentary on female friendships, and the author did a great job at developing these characters, but it's almost like she forgot it was supposed to be a thriller? I still won't give up on this author as I really enjoyed her debut, but this novel wasn't necessarily for me.

This book was a slow burn but it really paid off in the end! After reading so many thrillers, it takes a lot to surprise me but I was really impressed with the twists and how all of the clues throughout the book came together. Like Stacy Willingham’s other books, this one was captivating, well-written, and had a level of complexity and depth that I find rare in the thriller genre. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur books and Stacy Willingham for allowing me to read this early!

My very first advanced reader copy eek! I loved Stacy Willingham’s prior two novels, and while this one felt different, it didn’t let me down! It started as a slow burn and around 60% picked up and I couldn’t put it down.

The setting is on a college campus in a house that made me so nostalgic. I loved how accurately the author portrayed college life (minus the few murders obvi) and I found each of the 4 girls to be relatable in a different way.

This book was full of friendships and secrets, and really was the epitome of “how far will you go for your loved ones?” The character development was great, and I felt like it was the perfect amount of slow burn to really get me invested. I was left guessing right up until the last few pages, and the ending was both surprising and satisfying. A great thriller that I think will be loved by many, especially fans of Pretty Little Liars!

I also love how all of her books take place in the South. If you are a Savannah local like me, definitely check out All the Dangerous Things!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy!! Be sure to check this out when it comes out on January 16, 2024.

Stacy Willingham is back with quite possibly her best novel yet! A slow burn in the beginning that develops into a fast paced, page turning thriller! Dare I say, unputdownable?!

ARC review
Only If You're Lucky
by Stacy Willingham

I might have screamed when I got approved for this one! The excitement!
I had the pleasure of reading this as a buddy read with a bunch of amazing ladies. This made it so much more fun! Thanks y’all for this experience!

Margot had a rough past year, her best friend passing away. Now at college, she is drawn into a group of girls, Lucy being the shiny star of the group.
But things don’t go as planned, when a fellow student, Levi, is killed. Margot knows him.
How is he linked to her past? Why did Lucy pick her in the first place, as the newest member of her group?

I am a sucker for Stacy Willingham’s work. I gobbled her first books up. I loved them.
I think all her books have a slower pace. Which I enjoyed. Unfortunately this one was way too slow paced for me. While this was in no way a bad book, I had a hard time getting into it. I felt like nothing ever happened besides college girls getting drunk.

Also, I can’t really explain why, but throughout most of the book I felt like this was a sixties/seventies setting (it was not!) and I expected the w**d smoking homilies to come and dance around the corner. I think the names were partly a reason. Margot, Lucy (“I Love Lucy”), Levi… it threw me off for the longest time. I felt like it was an odd coming off age story without and really mystery and tension for the longest time. There was not a single character I liked. There was not much depth to them.

I always loved her tense Georgia settings, this, it does not have the same atmosphere like her other novels. They’re just a creepy house and a fraternity next door. I felt really, really underwhelmed. Things start to happen at around 70 % and then it becomes clear what has happened. But I could as well have skipped the first seventy percent. The story was quite simple to be frank. I just expected so much more from this.

Publication date 16 Jan 2024 by St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5. personally, i thought this was willingham’s weakest so far. i thought this because 1) not only was this a slow burn, but it was genuinely just too slow and not that much happened, 2) it was rather predictable and the characters were so stereotypical i felt i had read about all of them before, and 3) i didn’t think the back and forth timeline was well-executed here. i’m not giving up on willingham, but this wasn’t my favorite by her.

Another great book from Stacy Willingham! She’s becoming a must-buy author for me. Though I’m not one for college campus settings or girl cliques, this book managed to break that barrier for me to still enjoy the book.

My one critique is that it could have been much shorter; withdrawing 100 pages in the first half of the book wouldn’t have been completely detrimental. That said, there was good character development, and looking back once you know the ending, there were many clues dispersed throughout the entire book.

I did not see that ending coming! Perhaps I should have, maybe I was slacking, but definitely did not see those dominos falling as they did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really good slow burn thriller that immediately drew me in. I loved the college setting, and I also loved the changing timelines between “before” and “after”. But, I think my absolute favorite part of this story is the overall idea of, “Would you commit murder if you knew you would get away with it?”. The characters in this book each have their own opinions in response to this question, but in the end it always comes back to the same answer… It has to be the “right person” for the “right reasons”. Someone who deserved it.
Now with that being said… I don’t think the characters in this story REALLY had the right reasons for their murders. Since this review is spoiler free, you will just have to read it for yourself and see if you agree or disagree. But, in my opinion I just wasn’t connected to these characters in a way that had me blindly supporting their decisions. And the one character I liked the best, was the one we were supposed to like the least I think? Which may just be a me issue. But she was the most interesting and had the most depth to her.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes Thrillers and honestly this would be the PERFECT Bookclub book because there is just so much to discuss, especially that ending. Stacy Willingham’s writing has a way of just keeping you guessing and I even found myself thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading. There were times where I was a little confused on where something was going, but in the end I think she did a good job of tying up all her loose ends.

I definitely feel so honored to have received an advanced copy of this book to read and review. Thank you so much NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press & Minotaur Books!

Thank you NetGalley for a preview of this book by an author I enjoy. This tells the story of Margot, a young college student dealing with a major personal tragedy when we first meet her. Her best friend died in what can be described as mysterious circumstances, and the boyfriend who she blames then shows up at her college. Meanwhile, shy, quiet Margo is trying to make new friends and falls into a friend group led by Lucy, who is not a good friend candidate and begins another mystery when she turns up missing. This is a good thriller, lots of character development but unfortunately I didn't like any of the characters very much. That didnt detract though from this being a good thriller with some unexpected twists.