Genre: Thriller

Format: Audio/E-book - thanks @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the complimentary copy!

4.25🌟 - I enjoyed it!

I love a campus thriller! This one was so fun. This felt like a lot of drama, more character-driven, and had more suspense building up to the plot! I felt really invested in the story and finished it within a a day!

Thank You to #NetGalley,,#Minotaur Books, #StacyWillingham for the free audio ARC #Only if you're lucky

Stacy Willingham has become a new favorite author. Her books usually have a lot of thriller and suspense, but this one is more mystery and drama. The first 100-200 page area a slow burn. The story can become confusing between the before and after and then all the characters. I liked some of the characters, but not all of them.

I enjoyed the narrator's voice and could listen to her all day. She added drama well and helped the reader know who was talking since there were so many characters.

After her best friend Eliza dies weeks after graduation, Margo, heads off a liberal arts college in South Carolina. She is very shy, keeps to herself, and stays inside the little shell she has created for herself. Eventually larger than life, charismatic, bold, and center of the attention Lucy Sharpe notices her towards the end of freshman year.

Lucy asks Margo to be her roommate. She finds herself living in off-campus housing with Lucy, Sloane, and Nicole. Margo starts coming out or her shell and starts to share her trauma and become close friends with Lucy. Half-way through sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys living next door is murdered and Lucy goes missing. .
Will they ever discover the truth? Were their relationships real or fake? How well did they really know each other? Can the heal after everything they've been though?

Unfortunately, for me, Only If You’re Lucky felt incredibly forced. I loved the narrator of the audiobook, as she kept me engaged, because I don’t know if I could’ve stayed engaged if I was reading the physical copy: No super shocking ending here, just a drama of friends and the woes of being a female in college.

I was so excited and lucky to be accepted into Rutledge College, dark academia and campus thrillers are my absolute favourite trope!

I became a fan of Willingham after her last two books and she continued to impress with this one! It was cunning and chilling and just oozing with sinister and salacious secrets! It’s an exploration of female friendships and I relished in the obsession characterization!

I found the alternating timelines of past and present incredibly intriguing and engaging and Willingham perfectly executed short but concise chapters to continually drive the suspense!

While this one was a bit more of a slower burn than her last two and it did have a bit of Young Adult feel to it as well but still a spectacular twisty mystery!

It got chaotic with too many "twists" that were only middle of the road. Would have preferred few or one big and the focus on uncovering instead of people just stumbling on info and "presto" The mysteries were okay but again too many so no gut punch. I like the authors writing and will read future work.

Thankful to netgalley for this eaudible of Only if You’re Lucky. I love the narrator of this book, as she has read several books that I have listened to. There are several things going on in this book, which is told in two time periods, the past and the present. The past also reflects back on the past before the past. Highly entertaining..the ending shocked me and I never saw it coming.

Good, solid listen.

“Just a couple of harmless little girls…”

3.5 ⭐️

Listen, I’m bad with synopsis so just read the book description bc this is not gonna do it justice… It’s the end of freshman year and the FMC/narrator, Margot, finds herself ushered into an unexpected friendship and roommate scenario with Lucie, a charismatic, shifty, enigma. The reader is introduced into a dual timeline—both with mysterious deaths that are somehow connected. The reader unravels the story and discovers how complicated the connections truly are.

This is my third Stacy Willingham book and I’ve *loved* her other mysteries—the twists were twisty and I somehow never saw them coming, plus the writing is so descriptive that it’s easy to get sucked in based on the prose alone. In this case though, I felt it was a little too slow and dawdled along. The language used almost felt overly descriptive and unnecessary, there were times where I found myself bored because not much was happening in the story but did enjoy the language being used. I was surprised in the final 20% of the book by its twists and enjoyed where the author took the story, but I wish it would have gotten there a little sooner. I also found the end a smidge unrealistic, but eh, what do I know. Lastly, I really enjoyed this book being focused on female friendships in the early twenties of college. I haven’t been reading much from that slice of life lately and I felt myself transported to my own college experience at points (though thankfully, people dying under suspicious circumstances wasn’t part of my college experience).

TLDR: Overall, I enjoyed this book—I was surprised at the twists in most places (i only saw 1 of them coming) and I love Stacy Willingha’s writing, but this was a bit too slow for me personally.

I listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed the narration. The voice actor did a great job changing up her voice across characters, so it was a unique and thoughtful experience.

I received an audiobook arc of this from Netgalley and MacMillan audio.

What a tangled web that slowly unfolded as the story of Lucy, Eliza, and Margot was revealed. Margot played the role of the meek, lost soul who, after losing her best friend Eliza, was befriended by the enigmatic Lucy on the college campus. Their lives overlapped in multiple ways and the year at college seems to be exacerbate some existing fissures. Very little of college life was explored beyond the frat parties and a lot of the story was unbelievable, but it was interesting nonetheless. The narrator did a great job as well.

Stacy Willingham absolutely scratches the modern who-dun-it itch for me-- great pacing, mysterious characters, and a setting that is full of danger. Nice audiobook production too.

I was kind of disappointed with the storyline. I was expecting more of a murder investigation to be going on, but the plot seemed to revolve around Margot’s party life in college. Although some creepy things happened over the course of the story and the flash-forwards suggest that something ominous does happen in the end, it was more a slow-building suspense novel building to the ultimate reveal.

Part of the problem is that Margot didn’t seem to do much during the story. I didn’t feel a sense of urgency to pursue a potential murderer, or really anything. She got drunk and partied, wallowing in guilt and grief while revolving her life around Lucy. The final plot twist was certainly unexpected, but overall, I was kind of bored while reading and frustrated with Margot.

I enjoyed this twisty campus novel. Most of the characters were likable and the plotline was believable. I liked reading about the friendship between the girls. The twist was good and I didn't see it coming until the last minute.

I loved this authors first two books. A Flicker in the Dark was my absolute favorite and kept me on the edge of my seat. I remember flying through that book. This one was not quite up to that 1st book thrill. It was a creepy story about female friendships starting when they moved into college their freshman year. In my opinion it seemed like it was written for more of a YA audience than her previous books. It was a tad slow in the beginning during character building but overall a good story.

Thank you Net Galley and publisher for providing me an advance copy to review.

I wanted to sample the audio as I was having a very difficult time getting into the physical copy. My review stays the same. I also found the narrators voice to also be monotonous. First off, I absolutely loved both of her previous novels and raved about them on my page. She is a fantastic writer. However, with that said, this book is very different. The main character Margot proves uninteresting with her monotonous voice and a tedious obsession, overshadowing potentially intriguing side characters whose appeal is lost in her lackluster narrative. The story adopts a before/after structure that fails to captivate in either timeline.
The plot unfolds slowly, lacking significant events until the unexpected drama at the conclusion. Despite the engaging atmosphere, particularly in the ending, my overall rating is 3 stars. Although eager to delve into this new one by Willingham, a favorite author, I found it disappointingly reminiscent of other cookie cutter female friendship books—replete with a college setting, a group of students, atmospheric elements, and a monotonous tone, but lacking the requisite tension and suspense.

Def a fan of this author! This was a solid slow burn mystery. Probably 60-75% through I thought I had parts figured out, but I was still surprised by this book. Entertaining throughout. Recommend to mystery fans. Audio was excellent.

I really enjoyed this mystery by Stacy Willingham. I was suspicious of so many of the characters, so it was fun to see how the story unraveled and related to the FMC's past. I enjoyed Stacy Willingham's debut novel, and this was does not disappoint either.

I enjoyed this book! I was able to guess quite a few of the twists but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment. I couldn’t wait to see if my predictions were accurate or if the story would take another unexpected twist. Thankfully, I was surprised a few times throughout the story. I found this page-turner to be very entertaining.

Margot moves in with a new friend, Lucy, and her two roommates during her second year of college. She is unhappy when someone from her past moves into the fraternity house next door. Margot never liked Levi and blames him for the death of her high school best friend, Eliza. I was never quite sure which of the characters in this story and I was very eager to learn just how the events from the past were connected to what was happening in with Lucy now.

I listened to the audio and thought Karissa Vacker did an amazing job with this story. I am becoming a huge fan of this narrator’s work and this book was no exception. She did a great job with the various character voices which helped to bring the story to life. I thought that she added just the right amount of emotion to her reading which heightened the listening experience. I am certain that her performance added to my overall enjoyment of this exciting story.

I would recommend this book to others. I had a great time trying to figure out all the twists and turns in this captivating story. This is the second time that I have picked up this author’s work and look forward to reading more very soon.

I received a review copy of this book from Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio.

An exciting and twisted story!!

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham's two previous novels and was excited to read this one too. I had both the audiobook and ebook which made it even better. Right from the start the story pulled me in.

Margot spent her freshman year at Rutledge College playing it safe. She shared a quiet but comfortable life with her roommate, Maggie. Lucy Sharpe was a very outgoing woman who lived on the same floor as Margot and Maggie. Margot was always very aware of Lucy but didn’t think Lucy had a clue who Margot was. So Margot is beyond surprised when Lucy suddenly introduces herself and then asks if she would like to room with her in a house off campus. Suddenly Margot isn’t going home for the summer and she won’t be following through on her previous plans to room with Maggie again the following year.

Lucy reminds Margot of her best friend, Eliza. Margot and Eliza had applied to the small liberal arts school together. Eliza had convinced Margot that Rutledge was where they were meant to be and they were thrilled when they were both accepted.

“It all felt so perfect, so according to plan…”

Until one night changes everything. All of a sudden Margot was at Rutledge without Eliza.

“I spent the entire year floating, totally unmoored, completely removed from not only my body but from reality, too.”

Rooming with Lucy brings about many changes and it’s not long before Margot starts coming out of her shell. She’s enjoying her new friends and her sophomore year is going great.

Unfortunately, things will soon take a deadly turn...

A dramatic and suspenseful story about friendship, acceptance, loyalty, and betrayal!

“Only if You’re Lucky” is excellent psychological suspense novel. It was a fast paced story with plenty of twists and turns that kept me gripped from start to finish. The chapters alternated between “before” and “after” as things from both the past and present were slowly revealed.

It was a very enjoyable read and the audio was also excellent! It was narrated by Karissa Vacker who is one of my favorite narrators.

I can’t wait to read more from Stacy Willingham!



I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

I’m conflicted. I felt bored 3/4 of this book, but the twist at the end was actually great. I have loved Stacy’s books in the past, but Only If You’re Lucky felt like a whole different author wrote it. The college setting was relatable, but also I’m way past that stage of my life and it just wasn’t for me personally. I felt like the story just dragged on and on with not much happening until the last 20% of the book. I was definitely skimming. The twist at the end was fantastic in my opinion. It was interesting to learn Lucy’s story. What I really love about Stacy, though is her writing skills. I love the detail and how her sentences read so lyrically.

Read if you enjoy:
🔪 The book “In My Dreams I Hold A Knife”
🏫 College setting
✨ Slow burn thrillers

This is my 3rd book by Stacy Willingham and she’s easily becoming a favorite author. I really enjoyed the college lifestyle and the roommates. Lucy was my favorite character. She was just so messy and I loved that. The twist through me off. I love when a book does that.

Karissa Vacker is a favorite audiobook narrator of mine. I always love the books she narrates.

Only If You're Lucky is the third book from the talented Stacy Willingham.

Four women, all with very different personalities, backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses, are rooming together in a house on the campus of their college. Well, some of them have weaknesses. But Lucy seems to have it all - a natural leader, people are drawn to her - male and female and her strong personality. But is she really the person she lets you see? The answer to that question is pursued by Margot....

Willingham takes readers along with Margot as a guide, an interpreter, a detective and more. It is her narrative we hear and see. The timeline flips back and forth from past to present - a story telling style I really enjoy. Things get more convoluted - and downright dangerous for more than one character.

An excellent plot, strong characters and well described settings. Another five star read from Stacy Willingham!

I chose to listen to Only If You're Lucky. I was quite happy to see that Karissa Vacker was the reader. She has performed the previous two books from Willingham and did a fabulous job. And she's done the same with this latest. She speaks clearly, enunciates well and is easy on the ears. I am so impressed at the voices she has come up with for the characters - male and female. They're absolutely believable and suit the character speaking. The voice for Lucy was so perfect. You can hear and feel that 'extra' Vacker puts into her readings. She has captured Willingham's plotting and does an excellent job of capturing the emotions, action and undertones of the book. Vacker is certainly on my list of favorite narrators