This is the second book by the author that I have read, and I am really enjoying her work.

This book wasn't as suspenseful as the previous, but I found it very interesting and entertaining. Reading it, you almost don't realize it's a thriller until you are hit with plot twists like a smack in the face. Lies, secrets, manipulation, yep, it's all there. You see it throughout the book, but it just makes so much sense when you find out why. Definitely a page turner for me.

I will say, this felt a tad Young Adult for me. That is not a knock in any way, as I love YA suspense (less descriptive). Maybe it was just because the characters were college students, I'm not sure.

I had the digital and audio versions of this book from NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and MacMillian Audio in turn for an honest review.

3.5⭐️
If thrillers have a slow burn, this is the queen of them! College drama, frat house style with a touch of Mean Girls, multiple timelines. Once the good stuff came, I was pretty invested and the twists were definitely shocking, but it wasn’t enough to live up to her previous 2 novels for me.

College is tough enough, but at Rutledge College playing games takes on a new meaning. ⠀
⠀
Shy, smart, careful, always a sidekick and never the center of attention, Margot craves the kind of friendship she once had before her best friend died. Lucky for her, the magnetic Lucy Sharpe finds Margot at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina, and invites her into her orbit. But what drives Margot to Lucy is more addicting, more freeing , and more dangerous than anything she’s ever experienced before. ⠀
⠀
Now someone is dead, someone is missing, and someone has to pay. ⠀
⠀
This is my first Stacy Willingham thriller and I enjoyed it in audiobook form while following along with the physical book. The short chapters, descriptive settings, and gripping dialogue are keeping me intrigued. I was never sure where the story was going, but excited to be along for the ride! ⠀
⠀
Appreciation goes out to @stacyvwillingham , @minotaur_books, @netgalley, and @macmillanaudio for the opportunity to enjoy 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘐𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺. Stay warm and safe, but get your hands on this one soon! It will definitely have you on the edge of your seat this week!

Eliza was supposed to go to college with her best friend. But her friend was killed the summer after graduation. Now Eliza has finally made some friends at college. But when a boy next door is murdered and a roommate disappears, she realizes her past hasn't finished with her yet.

This was a slow-burn, character-driven novel with a lot of unlikeable characters. It was enjoyable.

Only If You're Lucky kept me guessing through the story what was going on. It was a fun read and I would recommend it to others.

"I love him."

"I'm your best friend you're supposed to love me too."

Oh we have all been there; best friends growing up then one falls in love and you are sharing them. It's even worse if you know the guy is no good for them but they can't see it and slowly your friendship starts to die...well something...or someone...dies.

Only If You're Lucky by the remarkably creative jaw dropping twisty author Stacy Willingham is a tale of college students who find themselves in the middle of deadly lies, missing people and murder.

Told from the point of view of Margot, who enters college alone and vulnerable dealing with the unexpected death of her best friend Eliza three weeks after their high school graduation. Luckily (?) she is befriended by the wild Lucy who asks her to be roommates with two other girls. Soon Margot has new friends and even tolerates the frat boys who live next door. But after a party, the police are questioning Margot, Lucy is missing and a frat boy is dead.

What this writer does so brilliantly is slowly build a story that you comfortably believe you know is leading in a certain direction and then gives you whiplash at the end with a jaw dropping twist.

Once again voice actress Karissa Vacker is perfection as the traumatized Margot, the unabashed Lucy and a varied cast of collegiate characters. Reading and listening to this third book by this must read author I am just left feeling very lucky to be in her thrilling orbit.

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to @stmartinspress @macmilianaudio for the #gifted copy.

Only If You're Lucky transported me right back to my college days. It was a stark reminder of how well do we really know someone! If you are a fan of dark academia, this one is for you.

Margot lost her best friend, Eliza in a tragic accident and spends most of her first year in college moping around until she meets Lucy. Lucy is everything Eliza was not. She is outgoing, loud and in your face. Soon they are moving into a house with several other friends across from a frat house. Then someone gets murdered. Who did it? Who exactly is Lucy? It all starts to unravel and she isn't the person she thought she was!

It took a bit to get into this one, but once I did there was no turning back! I enjoyed this one on audio. The narration was perfect!

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @stmartinspress and @macmillian.audio for the ARC/ALC!

🔹 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🔹
This is a first of this type of dark academia book that I’ve read. It has slow building twists and turns, and I couldn’t have guessed the ending and the twists!

Margot is our main female character and she is off to Rutledge for her first year of college. When she moves into the dorm, she immediately meets Lucy, a charismatic girl who is a sort of ringleader wherever she goes. Lucy invites Margot to live with her, and two other girls in off campus housing that is connected to a fraternity house for their next year of living. Margot is drawn to Lucy, and wanting to fit in so she readily agrees.

Margot has also been healing from some recent past trauma of losing her best friend Eliza right before going off to college. Her new roommate Lucy seems to step up to fill the role of Eliza in Margot’s life for her.

This story has alternating timelines, where we learn that halfway through their sophomore year one of the frat boys has been murdered and soon after, Lucy is missing. Secrets and lies come to light back and forth in this story, as we learn what led up to the murder and what is happening present day.

I couldn’t have predicted the ending to this book, and it left me not knowing what to think of all of the characters! I definitely want to read more from this author in the future!

🎧 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 🎧
Karissa Vacker did an amazing job narrating this single POV book, and differentiating the characters from Margot’s POV. Her voice for Lucy was chilly and on point for the type of character I thought she sounded like.

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🔹 Slow Burn Suspense
🔹 Alternating Timelines
🔹 Greek Life
🔹 Pretty Little Liar Vibes
🔹 Dark Academia
🔹 Unexpected Twists

I have read everything by Stacy Willingham and knew I had to read
🔥 Only If Your Lucky
✨ Publication Date: January 16, 2024
🎧 Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
👏🏼 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Magnetic, addictive. Bold and dangerous. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina.

Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined.

Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.

Thoughts:
- Not my favorite Stacy Willingham novel but it was enjoyable.
- Strong female characters but I didn’t necessarily like Margot as a character. I know she been through a lot but she came across as too much for me and not enough all in one.
- The audiobook kept me going but I do not think I would have had that much motivation to finish the novel without it.
- Overall, a slow burn thriller that some may love more than me, but I definitely loved Willingham’s other two novels way more.

This book told the story of 4 college age girls and how their friendship began and grew and the secrets some of them were keeping. I enjoyed the dual timeline and how it gave glimpses of how the story resolves, but not enough to fill in the whole picture. It kept my interest and had some good twists and turns. The reason I give it a 3 instead of a 4 would be because I didn’t necessarily enjoy the frat party/college scene and that took up quite a bit of the book. Otherwise it was well written and had the right suspense to keep things moving.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and the author for an ARC of this book which I had the pleasure of reading. All opinions are my own. Publication date: January 16, 2024

Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham was intriguing and kept me guessing. I like this author and have found her work engaging and superior throughout. However, this book is a little slow and has moments of intrigue but the big moments happen at the end of the book and it has already lost my interest. Great audio quality and narration.

Willingham's All The Dangerous Things is one of my all time favorite thrillers, so I went into Only If You're Lucky with high expectations. I thought that this was decent and avoided the really unbelievable plot twists that absolutely ruin thrillers for me. However, I did find that this wasn't as good as Dangerous Things. The dynamic between the girls was good, the suspense for the first half built very nicely, but the ending for me just felt a little bit out there.

One thing I enjoy about Stacy Willingham's novels is that she truly throws a twist I don't expect. Throughout the reading of Only If You're Lucky, I was constantly changing my whodunnit and what happened and finally when I thought I figured out what went down, I was thrown into a tailspin of "now I see the clues" "this makes sense" "how did I miss that." Another repetitious element that I enjoy in her books are the unreliable characters. Lucy Sharpe is a well-thought protagonist who I doubted in various scenarios and was not wholly reliable. All the characters in the book were developed and realistic and I probably thought all of them were the killer at one point (I am no Sherlock Holmes). While I enjoyed this thrilling read, it was not a five star for me was I got bored of the college setting/frat house element and felt the ending/wrap up was sped through/forced. I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the narrator and tone voiced.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really disappointed about this one. I think I may of went in with my hopes too high after the last release of this author, but I just wasn’t a fan. The story was odd and while I kept up with the flashbacks it felt more like whiplash.

The standout feature of this audiobook is undoubtedly the superb narration and while I did enjoy watching the story unfold, I think it's fair to say that the story itself may lean toward predictability. The narrative unravels in a manner that might be familiar to avid readers of the genre. Despite the predictability, the novel manages to maintain its allure through its charismatic characters and the entertaining twists and turns along the way. 3.5/5 stars.

I extremely thankful by this ARC, but unfortunately I am also disappointed. And this makes me so incredibly sad, because I loved all of Stacy's work so far. Specially the conversations she was able to bring and her twists for all of her previous novels. She's incredible and will continue to read her work, I just disliked this particular story.
I thought it would be an adult thriller about women's friendships and obsession, but it turned out to be a YA mystery that could easily be turned to a tv show by The CW. It felt rushed and lacked maturity for my taste in thrillers.

My thoughts on this one will be short and sweet.

It was fine. Not good but not bad. Kinda forgettable really. I was initially drawn in the story but it didn't hold my attention super well. By the halfway point, I was looking forward to finishing.

The narrator was good but I did find some of her voices were very similar and I had to really focus on who was speaking.

I've really enjoyed this author's previous books so if you're interested in her work, I recommend A Flicker In The Dark over this one.

Stacy Willingham fans will not be disappointed! Great narration, a narrator we're not sure if we trust, best friends with secrets, and twist after shocking twist! Loved it!

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham's first two books, so was excited to dive into this, her third novel. I expected twists and turns and she certainly provided both in this dual mystery. It centers on four college girls who end up sharing a house while attending their small college in a coastal South Carolina town. It bounces between "now" and "then", with "then" being just a couple of years before. But "then" is of course pivotal to the events of "now".
If you could get away with murder, would you do it? That's the question at the heart of this book - and we know early on that someone has died, and someone has disappeared. Was it murder? And if so, murder by whom? And why? I can't say this is my favorite of her books, and that's mostly due to the age of the characters - I haven't totally aged out of reading about college students, but I suspect I'm approaching that point. But still, the unexpected turns here kept me interested throughout. And Karissa Vacker's narration, excellent as always, certainly contributed to my enjoyment.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narration and production of this audiobook is done really well. I didn’t notice any obvious re-records and the narrators voice was consistent. There was also personality given to each character.

This story moved a little slow, but by the end I could appreciate all of the story building. This story is pretty intricate and the ending was very twisty. I could appreciate that it was suspenseful and surprised me until the very last page. This is not a book you will say “I saw that coming”. Lots of surprises!