Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. This was a slow burn thriller, about young adult collage age friendship and life in college. I liked it, but kept wondering when the reveals would occur. It was overall, a fun read.

Margot and Eliza are besties forever, they do everything together and don’t keep secrets from one another, until one does, and it impacts their friendship forever. A year later, Margot is starting college and history begins to repeat itself….

Loved the dark academia. Loved the twists. Loved the unlikeable characters (but there were A LOT to keep track of). Fun thriller.

After losing her best friend in a tragic accident the summer before college, Margot heads to college in small town south Carolina excited to start fresh, but still mourning her best friend she was supposed to room with. While there she befriends Lucy, an outgoing and mysterious girl in her hall, whom she eventually moves in with sophomore year, along with two other girls.

💕I loved Willingham's book A Flicker In The Dark so I had high hopes for this one, and it was pretty good! Slower in parts and definitely more character driven than action packed, but I felt it was super relatable which was fun in a sense. If you went to college in a small town, that was very traditional with frats and off campus housing, (S/O Miami of Ohio!) living with friends in run down little houses you rent and become besties with your neighbors through the back yard, you'll be able to picture this book perfectly. Willingham took al lot of this from her own experience at UGA and it really came to life with this book and brought me back to my college days and fond memories.

✨It flashes back to past and present, where you find out more about Margot in high school, and present day where there is a murder and a person missing. It was so different from her first two books and felt very YA/new adult. It was on the slower side but overall, I was interested to find how it ended. Wrapped up nicely with enough twists to surprise you but not give you whip lash from too much happening at once.

⭐️Not going on the favorites list but I still definitely recommend!
--THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE ADVANCED COPY!!

I’m a HUGE fan of Stacy’s first two books! They are some of my very favorite thrillers. Unfortunately this one did not live up to those two.

The first 60% of this book is slow. It picks up in the last 40% and REALLY picks up in the last 25%. There were a lot of twists I didn’t see coming. So I settled at 3.5 stars between the two different parts. I was hoping for more creepiness and mystery in the first half and it was lacking. It felt very YA, probably mostly because it was about girls at college living next to a fraternity house.

I’m still a huge Stacy fan and can’t wait for her next one but this one a bit of a disappointment for me. 😕

This book is gripping from the beginning, and fans of Ruth Ware and Gillian Flynn will enjoy it. After her best friend since kinder, Eliza, dies in a freak accident, Margot heads of to Rutledge by herself where she finds she doesn't seem to fit in. At the end of freshman year, she's approached by cool girl Lucy, asking her to be the 4th in their fraternity adjacent house. Margot can't believe her luck...why her? But Lucy is an enigma to say the least, with lots of secrets, narcissistic behavior, and manipulating like no other. Even her "friends" seem to keep her at arms length. Then, freshman Levi joins the fraternity and Margot can't believe it. The same Levi who became friends ( or maybe more) with Eliza right before she died is not here at Rutledge? And Lucy is intrigued. Who is Lucy really? What is she hiding? And is Margot who she claims to be? How far would you go to protect the ones you love? Lie? Cheat? Steal? Murder? Told in "before" and "after" timelines, this book is a page turner with twists galore. Not quite 5 stars for me, but more than 4!

Thank you NetGalley, McMillian and McMillian Audio for this ARC and ALC.

Stacy Willingham has a gift when it comes to integrating twists that the reader would not necessarily see coming. In her new release, Only If You're Lucky, she delivers yet another surprising twist that lovers of the thriller genre expect. Though the mood of this novel was at times reminiscient of young adult, a genre that is not one of my favorites, the true expertise of this author's plot construction comes at the end of the novel, where there are not one, but multiple twists. Bravo, Willingham.

This was a fun one. I enjoyed the small college setting and how very different the characters were. The codependency of the roommates was very realistic. The character development was strong - Willingham captures the impulsivity of young adults so well. Karissa Vacker narrates so I know I wanted to listen on audio as I find her audiobooks wonderful. She, as always, did a fabulous job so I highly recommend the audio for this one!

I struggled so much with this one. I ended up having to quit 10% in. It felt very YA and there was just tooooooo much description. I wanted to get to the point so bad.

The story is a winding story told both from two different times. I was intrigued right from the start. The pacing was good as the story unfolded. The book was interesting, and I was absorbed in the story wanting to know what happened next. I didn't want to put it down.
At times, I thought I had it figured out, but I was still shocked by the way the story was resolved. Definitely well worth the read. This is definitely an author I will watch for in the future. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

𝟮.𝟱 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡
Gets a bit messy (in a good way) towards the end, but was mostly boring the whole way through.

As always, I love Stacy Willingham’s prose. I feel like she has the most well-written thrillers on the market in terms of eloquence. However, this book was super lacking when it came to the plot. The plot of “who is responsible for the death of my best friend?” in the BEFORE timeline and “where is Lucy?” in the AFTER timeline were both so uninteresting to me. I just felt the stakes couldn’t have been lower for such a high stakes type of situation, because it dragged the entire time. I should have cared about both mysterious aspects, but I was just waiting for something to happen for most of the book.

Really enjoyed this one! Alternates from past to present, leaving you with lots of questions from one chapter to the next. I definitely did not predict that ending!

This one was a bit too slow paced for me! The last 15% was good + I enjoyed the twist but overall I couldn’t stay invested.

3.5 stars. I loved so much about this: the campus setting, dual timelines, and short chapters. A few things didn’t work for me. It felt dragged out and repetitive. I wanted more from the ending to make the slow burn worth it. The twists you could see coming and there was too much of an information dump at the end. I do enjoy Willingham’s writing style and enjoyed this overall, it just wasn’t my favorite of hers.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this eARC!

I will upload my review to Instagram on publication day.

I'll start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of Stacy Willingham and All the Dangerous Things was one of my favorite books of 2023, so I was incredibly excited to read her newest book Only If You're Lucky.

What starts off as a typical dual timeline story, you're slowly walked through everything that's happened to a group of 4 girls as they start their sophomore year of college. Lucy, the charismatic one, Nicole, the shy one, Sloane, the cautious one and Margot, the nice one. How did these four women go from best friends to Lucy's disappearance and the rest of the girls speaking to the police about a murder?

Margot is our main character, and she is reeling after the death of her high school best friend, when she starts her freshman year of college. She's had a boring first year and looking for something exciting when Lucy invites her to live with the other two girls for their sophomore year. What starts out as a way to break out of a rut turns into a year she, or the rest of the women, will never forget.

While there are times I wanted to yell at some of the characters for making awful decisions, it's easy to understand the motives when you remember that they're all recent high school graduates. Let's be honest, I think everyone has made some bad decisions early in their college years, so that part actually felt very realistic.

I was able to pick a couple of the twists throughout, but there were some big twists that kept me engaged. Once again Stacy Willingham has crafted an engaging and exciting story that you won't be able to put down.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin's Press / Minotaur books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

After losing her best friend Eliza, to a tragic accident a year prior, Margot continues on to the college they were both planning to attend. Upon her arrival she realizes she is just surviving instead of thriving. That is until she meets a girl named Lucy who has all the qualities that made Eliza her best friend in the first place. Margot seems to have somewhat of an obsession with both of these girls. Lucy invites Margot to be her roommate along with two other girls at a house they rent from a fraternity. Margot jumps at the invite despite not knowing any of these young women.
The four of them quickly become best friends and Margot feels herself coming out of the depression she was in and enjoying life again. That is until Eliza's neighbor and ex-boyfriend, Levi, pledges for the fraternity next door. This brings up all of the emotions she has been trying so hard to avoid. She tells the other girls of her issues with Levi and warns them to watch out.
When Levi turns up dead at a camping trip Margot and the other girls attend with the fraternity, suspicions start to run rampant. Margot and her roommates begin to discover that they know very little about Lucy and scramble to connect the dots. But as it turns out, Margot has secrets too.

I enjoyed this book. I wouldn't necessarily call it a thriller like Stacy Willingham's other novels. It is a character driven mystery, I felt some of the characters could have used a little more development in order to really invest in their stories. Margot was a little boring, especially when describing her and Eliza's relationship. It seemed a bit one-sided and somewhat emotionless besides her obsession. I also wish we got a little more insight into the backgrounds of Nicole and Sloane. But overall I enjoyed the plot points and twists. Everything was pretty much wrapped up at the end which leaves the reader feeling like the story is complete. I was very excited to receive and eARC from Netgalley. Even though this one wasn't my favorite, I am still intrigued to see what Stacy Willingham comes up with next.

This book is such a slow paced book and I was not here for it! I wasn't surprised about anything that happened in the story, and I would say what was supposed to be the twists weren't a twist to me. I honestly just could not wait for this long, drawn out story to be over with. I did not care about what happened to Margot's best friend or why she did not like the boy next door.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this ALC

How well do you really know someone? An even more important question, how well do you know yourself and trust yourself? When it comes down to it, what would you do to protect yourself? These are just a few of the questions the characters in Only If You’re Lucky by Stacey Willingham should consider.

This was my first book I’ve read by this author and I absolutely loved it. The timing on the storytelling was actually perfect because it had you guessing all throughout who did it? I was so convinced I knew how everything was going to work out in the end and the author, Stacey Willingham proved me wrong! So so wrong. There are some bread crumbs throughout the book that I didn’t catch on until later, and it just blew me away. Little things that you just don’t think twice about.

If you want a good mystery book that keeps you guessing, I highly recommend Only If You’re Lucky. I’m looking forward to reading more of her books.

Thank you NetGalley, Saint Martin’s Press, and Stacey Willingham for sending this Book for review, and consideration. All opinions are my own.

First, I was so excited to be approved for this ARC! I have absolutely loved other books by Willingham, and this story was no exception. I enjoyed it so much that I may end up buying a physical copy just so I can add it to my bookshelves.
With that being said, my main complaint was the seeming stupidity and blind trust all the characters placed in Lucy, I understand the attempt to portray her as a charismatic personality who was able to effectively create any identity she wanted/needed, but I wish Sloane and Nicole had been written as slightly more intelligent. I was also very bothered by Margot just blinding taking a pill Lucy offered to her without even slightly questioning what it was. Again, I understand the need for this part of the story to form Lucy as manipulative and conniving character, but I found myself wanting to shake some common sense into the three girls who Lucy befriended.
Aside from that semi-problematic issue, this book delivered everything I like in a suspense/thriller. I especially enjoyed the smaller reveals throughout the story as "breadcrumbs" leading to the big conclusion. The characters rallied around Nicole and supported her (albeit in a very shocking way) and it's clear that these three will be life-long friends. As for Lucy, I more felt incredibly sad for her then happy with her ending, but as far as "satisfying" endings go, this conclusion was excellent.
Overall, totally worth the read and a great way to conclude my 2023 year of reading!

Thank you for allowing me to read!

This was an awesome thriller centered around the lives of 4 college roommates. This author is an auto read for me and her newest novel lives up to her past books.

You don’t know who to trust and just know that you can never believe we are all “little girls”.

5 stars!!

I liked this one a lot. The story was a bit slow but I was engaged the whole time. Enjoyable twist. Multiple time lines. An enjoyable thriller overall.