I absolutely love Stacy Willingham and I was beyond thrilled to be approved to read this one!

I have to say though that I didn't love love this one. It fell a bit flat for me. I didn't like any of the characters, especially the main character. I figured out what she had done early on but Willingham is an expert at creating suspense and making you wonder whodunnit so it kept me reading.

Still read this one if you are a Willingham fan and if you haven't read any of hers, read this one first and then read her others because they are beyond fantastic!

Campus thriller? Sign me up! Willingham has yet to disappointment me. I've loved all her thrillers and Only If You're Lucky is no exception. I was immediately drawn into the story and struggled to put the book down. I loved how dark this one is and how it focuses on toxic college friendships.

I didn't love this one quite as much as her other books (which got 5 stars from me, so a high bar to meet!) but I still really enjoyed this dark academia suspense. It's definitely a slow burn, so if you go in expecting a high-pace thriller, you will be disappointed, but it's still filled with fun twists.
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Synopsis: Quiet, malleable Margot is struggling through her freshman year at college and gets invited to join a group house with three other girls she doesn't really know. Lucy, the ringleader, is the kind of person everyone loves and loves to be around, and Margot is thrilled for the attention. But all the girls have secrets, and all the girls are willing to go to extremes to protect them.
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I think what I liked best about this was the character development. She does such a great job of slowly bringing out different aspects of Margot's personality, I feel like by the end of the book I had a completely different understanding of her. It also has a fabulously tense atmosphere. Like, you know this is clearly a bad idea for Margot to move into a house with strangers, but you can't put your finger on the issue exactly, and it's just like watching an accident waiting to happen.
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One twist surprised me, and while the rest were easy to see coming, it was still fun to see how they unfolded.
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Overall a solid thriller/suspense! Definitely recommend!

I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive an advance copy of Only if you’re lucky. Willingham’s previous two novels were both a five star read for me so I was ecstatic to read this one. This book took me by surprise, I didn’t expect it have a slow pacing. I don’t think I would classify this book as a thriller, more so a mystery. I enjoyed the flashbacks throughout the book to better understand Margot. I do think some parts were a bit repetitive in terms of Margot’s obsession with Eliza and then again with Lucy. I love that Willingham tackles the topic of toxic female friendships. Overall I did enjoy the ending and all the twists along the way. All the loose ends were tied up in the end.

If you’re looking to pick this up I would advise looking up the trigger warnings.

Thank to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book about complicated, co- dependent, toxic, destructive female friendships.

This is a perfectly good story until you get just over halfway through. Then... it's fabulous! You know how sometimes, the ending ruins a book? Well, I LOVED this wrap up!

Margot is a college student that has been through a lot. Her best friend dies, she struggles to relate to her parents... it's tough. Enter Lucy. Lucy makes everyone feel special. She somehow really gets Margot. Margot finds herself being accepted by new friends and is feeling good. But... is it really good? Something seems off.

I hope you like this book as much as I did. 4.5 stars!

I have really enjoyed both of Stacy Willingham’s previous two books, so when I received a copy of her upcoming story, I was pretty stoked! Plus this one has some campus thriller vibes which is a sub genre I have always enjoyed!

The story primarily follows Margot during her first couple years of college. She’s still grieving after the death of her best friend the summer after graduation and her first year is pretty uneventful and she mainly flies under the radar. But that changes once she’s pulled into the inner circle of the enigmatic Lucy. Soon enough, Margot, Lucy, and their two other friends/ roommates all become the best of friends and it coincides with the murder of one of the frat boys next door. What follows is the unraveling of secrets, lies, and friendship. And one of the big questions from this book is, if you could get away with murder, would you do it?

This was a super quick read with short chapters that will make it easy to fly through, even if the pace is a bit on the slower side than this author’s previous work. I will say that none of the characters are very likable so at times it did hinder how much I was enjoying it because they were just do frustrating. However, I do understand that was probably the point of the whole thing because this book brings up topics like complicated, toxic, and obsessive female friendships. In addition, there is even a small side with darker theme when it comes to frat culture and privilege.

There were also two POVs, once from the present day and what Margot was up to with Lucy and Co. and then also from the past in the months leading up to the death of Margot’s best friend. It becomes apparent there’s some sort of underlying connection between the two and as the story progresses. While I did find a bit of a predictable, it still kept my interest as I wanted to really grasp everything that happened and the reasons behind it.

While this was admittedly not my favorite from the author, I can still see plenty of people enjoying the atmosphere and vibes of this one!

I liked the mystery and thriller vibe of this book, as well as it taking place on a campus with a questionable friendship. It kept me engaged that's for sure!

Absolutely amazing. I'm a sucker for some messy, toxic, female friendships and this DELIVERED. Stacy Willingham does it again, my friends.

This book was okay, I just had trouble getting into it. The ending was pretty good though. I just didn’t really care for the main character and I struggled to stay engaged for most of the book.

Margot tells this coming of age campus murder tale of toxic friendship. It moves back and forth in time- before and after the death of Levi, the boyfriend of Margot's bff Eliza, who died the summer before. Oh and Lucy, the queen bee, has disappeared. Is Margot a reliable narrator? I wasn't as taken with this as I have been with Willingham in the past (the age of the protagonists, I think) but it is a page turner, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of the campus thriller.

stacy willingham knows how to keep a reader hooked. from the second i started this book i couldn't put it down and i read it in one sitting (as i've now done with all three of willingham's books). this book was executed so well, and i loved all the twists and turns along the way. i'll definitely read anything that willingham writes

This story was so good because it felt real to me. The characters, the setting, and the writing overall was great. I listened to this one and I think this narrator is amazing!

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I really loved the author’s previous two books, A FLICKER IN THE DARK and ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS, so I was really excited when I received a copy of her up-coming thriller. I went into this one thinking that it was a thriller like her previous two books were, but it ended up being more of a mystery rather than a thriller. I do enjoy a dark academia type of book, and this one had that going for it. I feel like it was really slow moving, and too slow for my liking. I did enjoy the twists, betrayal, and the secrets…but the time it took to get to all the good stuff I was warn out and bored. This one sounded so promising, but unfortunately it left me wanting more and feeling rather disappointed.

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞?
If you like a dark academia read that is SLOW moving and don’t mind the build up to the twist at the end, then this one may be for you.

𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️3/5

I usually enjoy college campus thrillers and overall I enjoyed this but it felt very slow for anything to actually happen. I found that I often put it down and it would take me a while to pick it back up which never happens. I’ve loved her other books but this one was a bit of a miss for me. Definitely a slow burn!

I just finished reading "Only If You're Lucky", by Stacy Willingham. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

This book took me a long time to read. It started well and I was introduced to the character of Margot who is involved in a mystery involving her best friend who died. She goes off to college and meets some girls including Lucy who also has many secrets and seems overly interested in Margot. There is a lot of mystery and suspense in this book which slowly unravels and exposes all the truths in a succint way.

The part I liked about this book was the way all the characters were connected to each other in a way that makes sense. I also liked how each part of the mysteries unraveled slowly because the author took time to carefully construct each part of the novel. I liked how the book ended and that all the loose ends were tied up.

What did I not like? I didn't like the main character Margot. She seemed a bit narcisistic and self-absorbed. I didn't really feel an important connected to her and I didn't feel any sympathy for her. I felt less sympathy for Lucy. She was an awful person and her story didnt resonate any sympathy from me. I didn't like what happened to her at the end but I didnt care about her enough to feel anything more than "meh" at he end about her.

That is why the book took so long to read. It was good but not great. It was okay. But I am not sure I can recommend it.

First read of 2024 & she's a G O O D I E

Thank you St Martins Press, Minotaur Books & NetGalley for the early copy of this book. Stacy Willingham's newest publishes January 16th! Get your pre-orders in now!

***Big heads up my sweet souls!*** Please check your trigger warnings before you read this. She covers a lot of heavy topics including underage drinking to rape.

Stacy Willingham's thrillers get better every year! Her style is MUH JAYM!

I am a sucker for a university setting when I dive into any genre. I get so much nostalgia from the anxiety of starting a brand new life + the chaos dorm-style living. Willingham set the stage with the main characters lounging on the college lawn & studying from their textbooks which made me miss college so heckin much. I loved the friend groups nefarious hijinks + the tiny acts of rebellion they took part in. Living through these characters eyes really helped me step right back into my early twenties.

Willingham captured the freedom of university living well in this thriller and I think that's one of the reasons why this story enraptured my bookish attention.

The setting gripped me but in Willingham fashion, her newest didn't disappoint when it slapped me right in the face with some bomb.com twists. I was not ready for this book, you guys.

BUT I can see a lot of people being underwhelmed with this story solely because of how overdone the "it girl" having a mysterious past + the toxic college setting has become. I will say that frequent thriller toe-dippers will have an easy time figuring out a few of the twists in this one so don't go into this one thinking it's going to be this psychological...mind boggling... life changing story.

I was really uncomfortable with the scenes where Margot & Lucy watched Eliza have sex with Levi. I thought it was a very creepy action coming from a high schooler...

I thought that Margot's obsession with her best friend was a bit repetitive and extreme in the beginning. It felt like Willingham was trying to fill in some pages by continuously trying to write in how much Margot loved Eliza but in a thousand different words. I got to the point where I was thinking "OKAY WE GET IT.. she has an uncomfortable addiction to her bff. Lets continue with the good stuff...thank you."

Those are the reasons I ultimately gave this four stars but I was super entertained. It's just a good ol' fast-paced & binge-worthy palate cleansing thriller.

If you were a fan of "In My Dreams I Hold a Knife" by Ashley Winstead or "His & Hers" by Alice Feeney, you're going to want to scoop this suckah up!

Mean Girls with a Mystery Flare
College Nostalgia
Toxic Friendships
Quick Read
Good Versus Evil

Omg. Y’all this book was crazy. I kept thinking I knew who was the guilty party but then there would be a serious plot twist. I am a sucker for good plot twists and this one has plenty of them. I had a hard time putting it down and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough the last half of the book.

Only If You’re Lucky is a college campus thriller that shows you just what can happen when a shy quiet girl trusts the wrong people. It’s chalked full of drama, lies, schemes and partying that it’s no wonder things go horribly wrong. This one is dark and full of suspense with a sprinkle of pure madness that I really enjoyed reading.

Wow! What a way to end the year! This was my last book of 2023 and it was definitely a winner! Karissa Vacker delivers another stellar narrative performance and accentuates the shroud of darkness covering this cast of characters with her silky smooth voice. Dark academia is my favorite thriller trope and Stacy proves her versatility by fully embracing everything about it that I love - mystery, the more dangerous side of college life, and friendships that either make or break you.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Margot plays it safe. She's always the supportive friend found in the background, never the center of attention. Enter Lucy, dripping in confidence and catching the eye of everyone she walks by. Margot is stunned when Lucy asks her to be her roommate, even though the two have never spent time together. On a whim, Margot accepts the offer and quickly finds herself as one quarter of a group of the very best friends. Entwined in the lives of the fraternity boys next door, Margot is at the center of a world she never imagined for herself. Halfway through the semester, a boy is killed and Lucy goes missing. Now, Margot is left to put together the pieces and figure out just what to do to make it all right.

WHY I LOVED IT:
The entire story is like a puzzle, going back and forth between timelines, offering just enough information to make you think you know what's going to happen. The ending was shocking and tied up all the loose ends. I also really liked the characters and how their different personalities merged into the perfect friendships. Blending a coming-of-age story with a murder mystery and dark academia, Stacy has easily solidified her place on my auto-buy author list!

Though I enjoyed this book quite a lot (hello insane characters!!!), I felt this one was more of a slow burn than the other two by Stacy Willingham. I would definitely still recommend, especially if you like books set in college town, Greek life, etc. What a wild ride!