Not your typical college murder/thriller mystery - it is set next door to a frat house and the main characters are college students rather than a student/professor vibe. The first part of the book moved a little bit slow, but then it really picks up mid-way through. The twist is a big one and I never figured out all the plot moves until they were unveiled to me, which I enjoyed. Would recommend.

Stacy Willingham is quickly becoming "the gold standard in psychological suspense" (Goodreads review).
Margot and Lucy become fast friends when Lucy invites Margot to live with her at the end of their freshman year of college. What occurs during their sophomore year will send the college into a tailspin.
Another great read by Willingham for me! It is a story of growing up during a young woman's college years, and the loyalties between friends when disaster strikes.

Margot arrives to college without her best friend. That wasn’t the plan, they were supposed to go together. While at college, a popular girl, Lucy Sharpe, befriends Margot, asks her to move into her off-campus house with her and two of her other friends, and they quickly become best friends. But somebody moves in to the frat house next door, somebody from Margot’s past that she would rather forget. And something is off about Lucy, and Margot is going to get to the bottom of it, especially after one of the boys next door is murdered.

Stacy Willingham is a captivating writer, and I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book. This book did not give me that heart-pounding creepy feeling that I loved in Willingham’s other book, A Flicker in the Dark. The book is a dark psychological thriller with secrets and lies, but I felt like it was missing something. I liked the story, it was refreshing and different from a typical thriller’s storyline (almost like a YA book). I actually surprised myself when I figured out the twist, and it was a good twist with everything nicely coming together in the end!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and @NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Being that this is a Stacy Willingham book, I did fly through it. Her writing enraptures your attention until the very end. I will say, out of all her books, this one might be my least favorite (even though I did like it)! However, the twists and turns didn’t cause a shock factor and the ending came too quick.

This story follows Margot, a young college girl trying to find her tribe after the death of her best friend. When she meets Lucy, she starts to feel herself coming out of the darkness. Lucy is spontaneous, fun, and mysterious. She moves in with her, as well as two other girls, Sloane and Nicole. She starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel, until she bumps into Levi. The boy who’s responsible for the death of her best friend, at the frat house next door. When Lucy ends up missing, what follows is a before and after timeline leading up to and following her disappearance.
Thank you to netgalley for an ARC of Only If You’re Lucky! Coming out on 1/16/24!

Another great mystery from Stacy Willingham to get the year started!

After the death of a college student, Lucy Sharpe is missing. Her larger-than-life personality is what drew Margot to her at the end of her freshman year at Rutgers. Finding herself living with Lucy and two others (Sloane and Nicole) in an off campus house the summer before her sophomore year will change Margot forever and will also make her face the death of her best friend Eliza, which has haunted her since before she left for college.

I primarily listened to the audiobook and the narration is fabulous. Karissa Vacker is quickly becoming one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Even though I’d just listened to her narrations for two of Kate Alice Marshall’s books, I find she does such a great job of bringing characters to life with a unique sound for each.

I enjoyed Willingham’s debut A Flicker in the Dark and then really enjoyed All the Dangerous Things earlier this year but this one is my favorite so far. It does have a more YA / New Adult vibe to it, which I attribute to the college atmosphere and settings. However, with references to more sensitive topics such as: domestic violence, anorexia, and toxic friendships, it’s definitely not for a younger audience. I found that Willingham did an excellent job of portraying the need to ‘belong’ that teenagers and college students tend to feel.

I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting the ending and while the pacing was a bit slower than her previous books, I still found myself hooked. If you enjoy dark academia stories and unexpected twists than this book is perfect for you.


Only If You’re Lucky comes out January 16, 2024. Huge thank you to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for my advanced copies in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

I’m a big fan of psychological dramas centered around groups of young women and the author has created a terrific novel set at that pivotal time of life when girls turn into adults but are still fragile and brittle while working out their identities and their personal rules.

Margot is at the end of her first year at college having drifted through most of it still grieving for her dead best friend Eliza. When she is picked out by the magnetic Lucy Sharpe, everything changes: instead of moving into an apartment with her dull but comfortable dorm-mate she moves into a rundown house owned by a fraternity with Lucy and her two friends Nicole and Sloane. Suddenly, everything is in technicolor as she fiercely bonds with these young women and joins their whirlwind social life.

But there are two flies in the ointment. Eliza’s death was called an accident but Lucy blames it on Eliza’s boyfriend, Levi, and now Levi has joined the fraternity next door. Secondly, we know from the present day sections that Levi is now dead and Lucy has gone missing.

The novel moves between Margot’s pre-college life and her intense friendship with Eliza, her life at the house with the three young women leading up to the Incident, and the aftermath with the police investigation of the death and disappearance.

It’s all very thrillingly done and the revelations of what has really happened are nicely worked in with some nifty twists. Margot is well-drawn: the eternal sidekick who can’t quite believe her luck to be scooped up by charismatic Lucy and has some dark secrets of her own. Lucy is the instigator, the girl who gets bored and wants to create drama, but needs an appreciative audience. The rest of the cast, both young women and frat boys are a little more sketched in, but play their roles as required.

Unlike many of the other reviewers, I found this much more satisfying than the author’s previous thriller, A Flicker in the Dark which struck me as not particularly original.

Recommended for fans of Megan Abbott, Kara Thomas, and other authors who believe young women are the most dangerous demographic.

Thanks to Minotaur and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

4.5 rounded up to 5

This was an unexpectedly twisty and sinister read, giving me Inventing Anna and We Were Never Here vibes. I'd say this falls into more of a suspense novel rather than what I would consider a traditional thriller as it's a bit of a slow burn with a lot of every day, arguably mundane moments, to get to know the characters.

Margot is our main character and her story is told through multiple timeframes. The summer after high school graduation her best friend dies. Now, she's just completed her freshman year of college and has been invited to live with some other girls by the magnetic Lucy. The 4 girls become fast friends but there's always an underlying tension and you are never quite sure where they really stand with each other. Then someone dies.

I really enjoyed this book and the ending took me completely by surprise. The college setting took me back (minus the death) and I love a book where you are never quite sure who to believe...or if perception is actually reality in the end. This was great and I am looking forward to checking out other books by this author!

Only If You're Lucky made me feel tense from the start. All of the feelings and bad decisions of late teen/early adulthood were brewing on page one, leading up to mayhem, death and a missing girl. Great writing with a very satisfying ending.

Full of twists and turns, a surprising ending, and no clue who to trust throughout, what more could you want in a thriller?
 
Margot had a difficult first year of college after her best friend passed away in an apparent accident the summer before they were meant to head to college together.  At the end of her freshman year, she is invited by one of the most infamous girls in her dorm, Lucy to move into a house with two other students.  Deciding to engage in her college experience more, Margot accepts, but it turns out that things are not quite as they seem.
 
This boo gripped me from the very first page and I just needed to know what happened and how everything tied together.  The middle did slow down a bit and I wished that the pacing had been consistent throughout, but overall, this was an amazing read with an ending that had my jaw hitting the floor.
 
I have loved every book that Stacy Willingham has written and this is no exception.  She has cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.
 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book.  I leave this review voluntarily.

3/5⭐️
I was absolutely thrilled to be selected to receive this book as an e-arc. I absolutely devoured Stacy Willingham’s first book, A Flicker in the Dark. I was hoping for more of the same-a distraction from the hectic holiday season-but the thrills did not stop coming until the last 20% of the book. I was surprised because A Flicker in the Dark grabbed my attention from the first 5 pages. I honestly thought I was missing something because the first 80% of the book was so completely boring. It literally put me to sleep when I would sit down to read it.
With that being said-the last 20% of the book was more in character with what I have come to love and expect from this author. Swipe left for a synopsis.
This title will be released January 16, 2024.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

This story took me back to my college years when we didn’t have a care in the world. Except my college experience didn’t include murder. Right off the bat Lucy came off as too good to be true. Her timing was just too perfect when she swept in to save Margot who is still reeling from her bff’s death.
Alternating chapters between past and present I admittedly had no idea how it would all end with Eliza’s death that kept coming up so you knew something was amiss, Levi’s murder and Lucy’s disappearance. It all comes together at the very end, but not in a way I thought it would! Now that was a good twist.

I wanted to love this one so much, but it was way too slow and way too wordy for me. It took me until chapter 46(!) until I was hooked enough to want to keep reading. I'm not sure if it was the age of the characters or the writing itself (likely both), but it felt like this book was aimed at a much younger audience than her previous two releases and unfortunately (but really fortunately), I'm no longer that young. The last quarter definitely picked up, but it just wasn't enough to make me sing all the praises like I did for her other books. If you haven't read those yet, I suggest you start there!

Thank you St. Martin's Press, & NetGalley for my ARC. This one releases January 16th, 2024!

This one was a slow burn for sure. It took me a while to warm up to the plot. The characters were immediately unlikable and whiny. But it gave just enough intrigue for me to keep going and I am glad I did! I definitely predicted one of the twists (Mago's personal twist). But the big twist with Lucy. Wowsers. I feel like the last few chapters really went brought up my rating to 4 stars. It was twisted, calculated, and the characters were not who I thought they were. I really enjoyed it!

Margot, a Rutledge college student, is getting over the loss of her childhood best friend, who was supposed to be attending college with her. She had imagined their college lives together but now she needs to find herself. In doing so, she meets Lucy, who invites her to live with her and two other students, Nicole and Sloane. During Margot's sophomore year, freshman, Levi, pledges to the neighboring fraternity house but Margot and Levi have a past. While the four girls get along, Lucy causes suspicion and is elusive with her past. This story, keeps the reader on their toes. I enjoyed this book but felt like it was a little slow and drawn out. However, little bits of information dropped throughout the story made the conclusion all come together in the end. I am grateful for being lucky enough to read this advanced reader copy and would recommend this book to younger psychological thriller readers.

What to Expect:
🛼Dual timeline
🛼Slow burn
🛼Plot twist I didn’t see coming

🫶🏽What I enjoyed
I can see the pacing of this book being slow for some people, but every scene was intentional and it was fun to see how all of those moments came together to paint the full picture in the end. At about the 75% mark it got intense and I had to finish the rest in one sitting!

🤷🏻‍♀️What didn’t work for me
I’ve read and enjoyed all of Stacy’s books so far, but the writing style in this one got to me. There were a lot of descriptive details I could have done without because they didn’t necessarily move the plot forward. There were several moments I found myself skimming ahead trying to get to the point. Certain topics are talked around in both timelines and it takes a long time to find out what actually happened. It makes for a serious build up, but I know this style of writing annoys some people (if you’re a fellow romance reader, think People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry and the question of “What happened in Croatia”). Despite these aspects bothering me, overall I still very much enjoyed this book and will continue to read more by Stacy!

This is a twisty suspense that takes place on the college campus of Rutledge. One of our main female characters is reeling from the tragic death of her best friend who was supposed to be with her at the same college. She carries pain and heartache with her to campus, but that’s not all that follows from her past and soon she wonders whether there is more to the story of Eliza’s death than she knows. Great plot and storyline with twisty turns and enigmatic characters.

This is a really good mystery/thriller. I thought I had it figured out and then was proved wrong by a couple of twists. It’s fun to be wrong when it’s a twist in a mystery plot! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy!

🔥 BOOK / REVIEW 🔥

It's unlike me to post reviews on a holiday, but I just #onlyifyourelucky by @stacyvwillingham by the fire this evening, and I couldn't wait to share my thoughts!

Be sure to save your #bookish giftcards or run to #preorder this novel because you do👏not👏want👏to👏miss👏it.

What an AMAZING #thriller - like I can't say enough about this book. I was immediately engrossed, and it was nearly impossible to put down. I have read all of Stacy's books, and this may be my favorite.

I loved this trip down memory lane to my college days and all of the intricacies of female friendships and finding your place in the world. I also loved the authors note (I won't spoil it!) and how her own experiences helped shape the setting and characters in the novel. The twists, turns and secrets were fantastic!!!!!! And the ending 😰🥵😱.

Loved loved loved loved this book. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Merry Christmas all - 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 from me!

Only If You’re Lucky was good company as an audiobook for an afternoon puzzle. It was slow burn and for a while I wasn’t sure I was going to finish - it lost me a bit in the slow middle. The ending sped up a lot and I’m glad I finished but not sure I would recommend this one. Thank you Netgalley for the free audiobook to review - narration by Karissa Vacker was excellent.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC! I’ve become a fan of Stacy’s after enjoying her last two books, so I was excited to read her newest thriller.

I enjoyed the Southern college setting and how Stacy based the girls house off her real life house when she went to college! I found this to be a bingeable read with the short chapters. I thought the ending was very clever and although I’m not the biggest fan of slow burns, I think this one was done well.

I’ll be looking forward to Willingham’s next book!