3.5 stars. I was so excited to get an ARC of Stacy Willingham’s new book, but it was very different than her first two book. It’s not as original as her first two books. The story of female friendship and jealousy and abusive men is one told over and over again. But Willingham truly writes thrillers while many others’ write mysteries mislabeled as thrillers. She knows how to create drama and tension. I’m always surprised by the twists!

These 19-year-olds’ shortsightedness was hard to read. I tried and failed to remember being 19. Not that I lived at all like these girls but it showed me how much life experiences change you in 10 years.

Margot was a hard character to relate to. For most of the book I felt like it wasn’t really about her even though she was the narrator. I wish we got more about why Margot is the way she is. What happened to her?

There were sort of three timelines and in the beginning I had a really hard time keeping them straight.

I will always love any book written by Stacy Willingham! What I love about this story is that it begins with three mysteries- what happened to Eliza, who killed Levi, and where is Lucy?

Thank you Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for an eARC of Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham. A Flicker in the Dark was one of my favorite reads from 2022, so I could not wait to get my hands on Willingham's upcoming novel as soon as the approval came through! Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

This book is so well written, Willingham truly has a way with words that makes the plot she drives home all the more powerful. Margot is shy and careful. When she meets Lucy, a bold, dangerous and addictive young woman at college, Margot agrees to rooming together to see what happens. She's no longer playing it safe.

A true psychological suspense, I was kept guessing until the very end and really did not see THAT coming. I love books with a college setting and there have been so many thrillers with this setting lately, sometimes they start sounding a lot alike. This is a really unique story and I'm sure will be a hit in 2024!

I was SO excited when I saw that Stacy Willingham had a new book coming!
I loved All the Dangerous Things and A Flicker in the Dark. Her writing is so good, and both books kept me guessing until the last pages!


Only if You’re Lucky was good, but I thought the first 80% was reeeeally slow - which is fine, if you like slow burn thrillers. I usually prefer the past-paced ones. The plot twist is also quite predictable, and I figure it out in the first 10%.


Also, I feel like I didn't relate to this one as much because it’s a college thriller. Frat house parties, young people being stupid, secrets and more secrets… I feel like I've passed this kind of plot, and I’ve read way too many books like that.


The end was pretty good, and that was my favorite part by far. Unrealistic, but still good!

Let me start off by saying I absolutely love Stacy Willingham's novels so far! She is a great author and keeps you at the edge of your seat! Only If You're Lucky did not hit the mark for me as well as her other 2 novels but it still had some great twists and turns.

Only If You're Lucky is a little slower paced. It's set at a college, a little younger audience. The story goes back and forth between present day and the past. I would say things start to pick up around 60%-70% through the book. Very great character build up to that point but on the slower side especially if you're comparing her previous novels.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone but caution to not expect the same as the previous books!

Only cause your lucky, and only 20% of the book was good I’ll give you 2 stars

80% of this book is a slow burn character build with not much going on. We go from repetitive nothingness to a bunch of twists and turns and a rushed ending.

And then once it gets good they rehash everything that has happened, really? I just don’t get this book. Keep the momentum going, don’t just rehash everything I just worked so hard to get through. I stuck with this book to find out how it would end… and finally, after all that the ending is just okay.

Obviously I am not a fan of this one which is disappointing. I went into this book super excited, having recently reading (and loving) Flicker In The Dark. This book is nothing like that one and I’m honestly surprised it’s by the same author.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc of Only If You’re Lucky. I really enjoyed this book although I found the middle 40 to 60% to drag. The beginning was fast paced and the end was as well but for some reason I just had a hard time getting through the middle. The ending surprised me and was awesome just like all the rest of her novels.

I overall enjoyed this book. It was slow paced to begin with but picked up about halfway through. I liked the before and after timelines and the twists! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

4⭐️

I’ve read and enjoy all of Stacy Willingham’s books so far, but this is my favorite. Her characters always feel so real, and this book was no exception! This story had so many intricate details that all connected in the end. The twists kept coming, and what I enjoyed about them most is while they were unpredictable, they didn’t seem too far fetched or unbelievable. I rarely give out 5 stars, but this book deserves it!!

Thank you for this arc!

Another masterpiece by Stacy Willingham!

Big thank you to NetGalley & Minotaur Books for my gifted galley in exchange for my honest review.

While I really did enjoy this book- I did find it hard to keep up with at times with the alternating timelines. There were basically three. Margot and Eliza's timeline, Margot and Lucy's timeline, and then after Lucy- the roommates and Margot's timeline. It just got a bit confusing.
I also felt like there were quite a few secondary characters, and that got a bit confusing to keep up with, too. I get it, though, it was set on a college campus and there's lots of kids that go there.

I also think this was a bit more of a slow burn compared to her previous two novels, I didn't get hooked on it until about halfway through. It did take me quite a bit to read this, and I kept feeling like I needed to reread certain parts of it because it didn't quite "click" if that makes sense?

In conclusion, though, Lucy and Margot's characters were not all that different from one another. Margot bothered me because she truly was obsessed with Eliza- and it really made me question Margot's sexuality. Because then she became attached to Lucy, and developed the same obsessive tendencies. It was just weird, to me. Was Levi really that bad for Eliza? No. He probably wasn't. Margot was just being selfish.

I have more thoughts brewing about it, for sure.

3.5 - I was very excited when I was approved for an ARC copy of Only if You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham as I am a big fan of her last two books.

This novel is a psychological thriller written with a dual timeline. You are initially given a glimpse of what has happened in the end, but you have now idea how, why, or who. The storytelling was a slow build with the plot unfolding via pieces of the “before” and pieces of the “after” until those pieces all come together in an unpredictable, twisty conclusion. The characterization was detailed and strategic. Unfortunately, none of the characters were really likable. Nevertheless, I was invested in figuring out the characters and finding out how the story unfolded. While I appreciate the slow build, I believe it might have been a little too slow and slightly repetitive at times. Overall, I enjoyed this novel and I would look forward to reading whatever comes next from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Stacy Willingham for this free ARC digital copy.

Margot and her best friend, Eliza were supposed to attend college together till Eliza unexpectedly dies the summer before college. Margot attends the college and manages to get through her freshman year then at the end ends up meeting Lucy, Sloane and Nichole; where she goes to live with them. Margot is drawn to Lucy's personality reminding her of her best friend Eliza. Tragedy strikes Margot again when Lucy goes missing and another college kid is found dead.

I had high hopes for this book but it took me awhile to get through it, the pace in the beginning is slow and boring, it was hard to keep my interest. The before and after timeline for Margot and Lucy seem to take a really long time to get through and nothing there that really jumped at me to make me not want to put the book down. Really nothing to exciting, the ending seemed to have a little more excitement but felt rushed and it just ended.

The book seems to have been written well just not enough there to keep my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley, Stacy Willingham and St Martin's Press for this ARC

Stacy Willingham is one of my auto-buy authors! She has yet to let me down.

While this was a little slower than her other books, it did not disappoint.

I loved the college setting with glimpse into fraternity house life. It definitely took me back to my college days! The friendships and relationships between characters were very unique, and kept me wanting to know more.

I wish there was a little more suspense throughout the book. Sometimes the slow-burn was a little too slow for me, but the ending made up for it!

Stacy Willigham has earned a spot as one of my top authors. All three of her books have been knockouts for me. This one was different from the others because of the college age FMC. Stacy does such a good job at writing a tense unsettling atmosphere. I felt like i was there with them in that cold, college house. I was surprised by a few of the twists and guessed the other. This dark academia thriller is perfect for fall. I cant wait to shout this one out on my bookstagram pagesinpittsburgh!

** Thank you for this ARC! **

Oh, I loved this book. I read it in one sitting. I was already a fan of Stacy Willingham, so it didn't come as a surprise.
I loved the character developement, the storyline, the events. Even though I kind of guessed the twist, it still was very well written.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books & St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book is definitely a slow burn but the ending is worth it. If you enjoy college/ high school friendships this book is for you. Stacy Willingham's has such a beautiful writing stile. I enjoyed the fact that the description of the house was taken from her real college life experience. Events and characters are so realistic in this book. Margot is a very relatable character for a lot of people. We all know someone like her in our life. She is never a center of attention but she always gets friends who are complete opposites. Margot feels jealous, sad, depressed, obsessed etc. You will enjoy her story! I am giving this book four stars. Can't wait to see what is next for Stacy Willingham.

This was much more fun than I expected! In my head, I thought this would be the typical shy girl-meets-bad girl story I've read so many times before, with an appropriately bland protagonist who loves reading and hates college life, and an inappropriately seductive newcomer with skimpy clothes, red lipstick, and a drinking habit to rival a sailor's. I was kind of right, but kind of wrong as well.
Originally, the two girls are portrayed as the stereotypes I've already outlined, and my hopes fell. But as the story developed, I wasn't sure what to think about the characters anymore. They kept surprising me. I couldn't fit them into the boxes I'd laid out in my head. The mystery was full of twists and turns, and I had no idea where it was headed. I loved the ominous atmosphere- it felt very different from other bad-girl thrillers I've read in the past. It made me take the novel a little more seriously. Obviously, there's some parts in the book that really need you to suspend your disbelief, but I expected that. It never got to the point where I couldn't enjoy the story anymore. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to read Willingham's backlog!

I finished this book late last night and I'm still reeling from all the twists that this book had. The first half of the book is a lot of setting the stage and could be perceived as slow, but I promise the payoff will be there. If you are like me and are trying to figure things out, there are a lot of twists in this story. I could not put this one down. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for a chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: January 16, 2024

Rating: 2.5 stars

This is my second book by Willingham and her first one that I read (All the Dangerous Things) fell right in the middle for me. Not terrible but not the best I've read either when it comes to thrillers. Unfortunately, this book fell a little lower which makes me think that this author and I don't mesh.

Things I liked:
- The setting (felt very 60's/70's but was aiming for 22/23)
- The writing style

Things I didn't enjoy:
- Very slow plot
- Toxic young women
- Dual timeline with the sluggish pace

Perfect for fans:
- Unreliable narrators
- Slow burn
- Mystery readers
- Big Little Lies vibes

This was my second Stacy Willingham book and the one that official made me a fan! I loved A Flicker in the Dark, but this is one of the best thrillers I’ve read, ever. I have found it very rare to come across a thriller that is both a page turner that you just can’t put down and also beautifully written but this was the exception for me. Her metaphors give the reader visuals so vivid I had to pause several times simply in awe of how real it felt. Stacy Willingham has a way of transporting her readers so deeply into a world she created entirely on her own that when you put it down it takes a moment to adjust back to reality.

Only if You’re Lucky was a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. I will be ordering copies to gift to all of my thriller loving friends for the holidays and I’m excited to have found an author who “does it all” and doesn’t sacrifice writing quality to just push best selling books out faster for more profit. You can tell she takes her time and perfects her craft and it pays off.