I have loved Stacy’s other books and this one was no exception. I think one thing she did really well was the setting the way she described the house and the fraternity neighbors painted such a clear picture for me. She once again made the characters just unlikeable enough to where you believe anything could have happened. I also love how she weaves everything together so well! I would have love an epilogue set when the new school year started or the house had new occupants!

4.5 stars rounded up! 🌟 Only If You’re Lucky follows three college girls through a rollercoaster ride of friendship, college life, trust, deceit, and endless mind games. I loved Stacy Willingham’s first two novels and knew I would enjoy this one too.

I’ve said this before about the author but I’ll say it again - her writing is so realistic and so believable. Specifically the off campus housing to me was so well described and illustrated in my mind. I really felt like I was there myself at one point in time as I dove deeper into this story. The way the “good vs. evil” references were played into the character development was very well done and I loved it!

This was more of a slow burn mystery for me but it completely paid off. I really thought I had it figured out but the twists kept coming! Stacy is just so good at keeping readers guessing until the very end.

A HUGE thank you to NetGalley / St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books / the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was my very first ARC I have received and I feel so lucky to have been able to spend it with another killer Stacy Willingham mystery ❤️

-Pub date Jan 16, 2024 -
-Review also posted to my GoodReads profile on 8/14/23-

Stacy Willingham is easily becoming one of my favorite authors. This is a college murder mystery that will not disappoint. This book kept me guessing the whole time and to see how all the puzzle pieces given throughout came together at the end was just ✨chef’s kiss.✨

Thank you net galley and author Stacy Willingham for providing me with the e-ARC of this book!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and Stacy Willingham for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


❝ 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓊𝓈𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈. 𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝑒𝒻𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝑒 𝑔𝓁𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓅𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝒸 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓁𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇'𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒾𝓃 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝒶𝓉𝓎 𝒷𝒶𝓇 𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓂𝓈, 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓅𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓊𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝓈𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓂 𝒷𝑜𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓈. 𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓈𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑜𝓉-𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓇𝓊𝓂𝑜𝓇𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒽𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓊𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝓁𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈, 𝒶𝒾𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝒷𝓊𝓁𝓁'𝓈-𝑒𝓎𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸𝓀. ❞

Whew! THAT was quite a ride! This is a dark academia novel that offers a glimpse at (some) female friendships, how manipulative, secretive and dependent they can be. How we can deeply envy, despise or strongly admire our closest friends and often portray it as something else. I found this to be very reminiscent of Pretty Little Liars (The show, I haven't read the novels) except much darker, much more sinister.

❝ 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒹𝑜, 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁. 𝒟𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉. ❞

❝ 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝒷𝒶𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝒷𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝑒𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈, 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉? ❞

We follow Margot who is just starting her freshman year of college after recently experiencing the questionable death of her best friend Eliza. Margot and Eliza grew up together, did everything together, had many secrets of their own. Right around their senior year in high school they start going through a bit of a rough patch and start to drift apart, but are unable to resolve things prior to Eliza's death.

Freshly traumatized and ready to start her first year at the liberal arts college she was supposed to attend with Eliza she soon finds her self in a familiar situation of not being noticed, having any friends except her roommate that was chosen for her, just basically going through the motions but not really living.

From afar she notices Lucy Sharpe who is everything she is not.. and eerily enough, everything that Eliza was. Outgoing, dangerous, seductive, popular, powerful. Quickly becoming completely entranced by her, and on the off chance gets the opportunity to become friends with Lucy and her entourage- at the start of summer between first and second year they move off campus together. Margot just wants to live a more interesting life.. to put the past behind her and move on.

Finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend passed. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.

❝ 𝒮𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓎𝒷𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝐼 𝒶𝓂: 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓁𝑒𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈. 𝒜 𝓂𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝒻 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑜𝓊𝒻𝓁𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓃𝓋𝒾𝓈𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒. 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓅𝓊𝓉𝓉𝓎; 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝓊𝓃𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂. ❞

❝ 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝐿𝓊𝒸𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝑒, 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝓂𝑒. 𝑅𝒾𝓅 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓅𝒾𝑒𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇. 𝒩𝑒𝓌. ❞

I've read all of Willingham's books so far and I've really enjoyed them... I think this one is probably my favorite. It was truly twisted, and unsettling... dark and unnerving.

I stayed up way too late reading this and then couldn’t sleep when I was done. My mind racing with answers leading to more questions.

Thank you for allowing me to read this early. The twists and turns made me not be able to set this book down. The mystery at the surface was excellent but like all Stacy books, I liked what was under the surface. A look into the dark side of female friendship was so fascinating. The line of friendship and obsession. You nailed it!!

* Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. *

"They'll just think we're naive... Just a couple of harmless little girls."

I've read all of Stacy Willingham's books, and I've liked all of them, too. Only If You're Lucky isn't my favorite of the books, I think, but it might be the most memorable to me. This is a story about 5 girls connected by friendship, death, and secrets. I don't want to give too much away, because this book is especially good if you have very little understanding of the overall plot before you head in, but this is the kind of loitering, sticky thriller that keeps you invested from beginning to end.

Stacy Willingham, if you read this, please never stop writing creepy-crawly mysteries.

Stacy Willingham has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and this book is just another example of why I love her writing so much.

Margot has been fascinated by Lucy during her first year of college. She is outspoken, free, and admired by all in a way that Margot yearns to be. When Lucy asks her to move in with she and two of her friends, it is an easy yes for Margot. They live next door to a fraternity house and spend the majority of their time with the frat brothers, drinking, partying, and playing games. Before the year ends, one frat brother will be dead, and Lucy will be missing….

This story of female friendship focuses on Margot and her friends during college, during that time in our lives that we are trying to figure out who we are and what we will do with our lives. The vulnerability and anxieties of that time are captured perfectly, along with the way that girls in college bond to each other in a deep way, intertwining every element of their lives. It almost gave me a twinge of nostalgia for my own college days, parties at houses where your shoes stick to the floor, instant best friends, and the feeling of total freedom.

Margot’s past and present curl up together throughout the book, and, as always, Willingham wraps everything neatly together by the end. The ending was shocking, with multiple twists and red herrings along the way. The author is a master of misdirection, writing brilliant slow burning thrillers that always leave me in awe. She plays a lot with the concepts of good and evil in the story, writing plenty of characters in shades of gray. The atmosphere remains tense throughout the book, as pieces of the puzzle are slowly dropped.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for this fantastic ARC! All opinions are my own.

Margot’s life has not turned out the way she expected since losing her best friend. Doing her best to live the life her friend would have wanted, she befriended Lucy. Lucy brings so much life to Margot. Things were looking up until a guy from Margot’s past enters the picture. Forced to deal with the past, Margot discovers a lot more than she expected.

Another winner from Willingham. The book follows a set of college girls and one in particular who clearly is hiding a nefarious past. The main character as well as luminous Lucy were compelling. I enjoy a thriller where the author doesn't try to confuse you too much but keeps you guessing. This book had me hooked into the girls characters while also keeping me on my toes.

I've always loved storylines that revolve around a group of girls finding their way in college. Margot, still reeling from the loss of her best friend, finds herself moving into an off campus house with three essential strangers. As Margot starts forming connections with everyone, her suspicions arise as to who is her friend and who is out to get her.

One of the things I loved about this one is that sense of belonging and what someone would be willing to do, or even become, just to feel included and a part of something. As someone who has always felt like a bit of an outsider, this portrayed that feeling immaculately. The past and present were seamless, telling a story with a haunting, heartbreaking undertone. As with a lot of mysteries, there were a few twists but they weren't overdone as with so many we see lately with the author trying too hard. This was a highly enjoyable read that I recommend to any of my fellow readers. Four Stars.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for this ARC.

I was excited to read this book as I loved Stacy Willingham’s two prior books: A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things. Her novels are exciting, engaging and page turners. However, while reading this story, I felt like I was at a college party a few decades back, clearly feeling out of place. The author is writing this book for a younger group of readers.

Three girls – Lucy, Sloane and Nicole -- are living off campus together and Margot has been invited to join them at a college in North Carolina. She notices how Lucy reminds her of her best friend, Eliza, who died recently in a freak accident. Lucy is the character to watch. She wants to play “truth or dare” at a fraternity party. She asks Levi, who was in love with Eliza, “If you knew you could get away with murder, would you?”

The author jumps back and forth in time which she manages to do without it feeling choppy. The characters were full of life and ready for a night of fun. The plot was easy to follow and beautifully written. However, it wasn’t hard to figure out with a few clues what was going to happen.

My thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of January 16, 2024.

Okay. Where to begin? This was an extremely slow burn but once I got to chapter 50, I HAD to finish it immediately. The beginning was a little rough to get through and I had some predictions that were close but I was not ready for the ending. I went in completely blind so when it was a book about college kids I wasn’t quite sure about it. The drinking and the partying was a bit much at first.

I felt so sad for Margot as she seemed broken and weak. I had many thoughts about Lucy but we all have met a Lucy… manipulative and conniving. There were so many characters and with that came an unbelievable amount of twists. It felt like thriller whip lash and I was here for it.

First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the arc version of this book.

This was probably my best read of the year.

I absolutely LOVED Stacy's first two books, especially All The Dangerous Things; it was in my top reads last year! I was highly anticipating this one from the moment I saw it was announced. I saw Stacy say that this was different from her first two and while that made me nervous, I was here for it!

There was so much I enjoyed about this one: memorable (and insane) characters, creepy houses, and a truly surprising twist! I haven't seen this one before and certainly didn't predict it!

While there was much I enjoyed, there were a couple things I struggled with, mostly the unlikability of almost all of the characters. I don't need to love everyone, but I usually like to at least be rooting for someone and in this case, I didn't care much what happened to any of them. I do think that was the point though! I think the struggles I had were definitely personally preference issues and I think this one will be a big hit!

Thank you so much to Minotaur Books for the ARC! This will be available on January 30th.

3.5 Rounded up for GR

Stacy Willingham DOES. NOT. MISS.

I think it's an incredible feat to take such a popular trope (toxic female friendship) and create such a twisty, shocking, suspenseful, original story.

Slow-burns don't usually work for me but ohhhh man it sure did this time. I loved everything about this story. The switching timelines, the dialogue, the inner monologue, the TWISTS. Seriously. That ending. I am still thinking about it.

Convinced Willingham is only capable of writing 5-star books. Even though I was lucky enough to read this now, I'll still purchase it in January because I need it on my shelf!

I loved this third novel from Stacy Willingham! So many thoughts of how this would play out, who was responsible for what and constantly wondered who was telling the truth and who was lying. The characters were amazing and each had their well built traits. They all fit so well together and of course all had their difference that kept you on your toes. The friendships are deep and the secrets deeper!

Another 5 star reading from Stacy Willingham!! After reading and loving both previous books from Willingham, I was so excited to see a new book from her! I devoured this book. It was incredible, so well written, and very different from her last two books. I loved the mystery in this book, especially as someone who went to a small liberal arts college in the south. The first half was a little slow with all the background information being given, but it wasn’t unbearably slow and that background information is a necessary part of the story. The before and after chapters were done in a way that left me wanting to keep reading because I HAD to find out what happened next. This book dives into the darker sides of friendship and what people are willing to do for their friends. Loved this one and highly recommend it if it’s not already on your radar!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I just couldn't really get into this book. I thought about abandoning it several times but ultimately ended up finishing it. Lucy, Margot, Sloane and Nicole just felt like empty characters. I never connected with them or felt like I cared what happened. They seemed shallow and false. The overall plot just felt boring. Sorry I didn't like it more!

Well that certainly had a few twists I wasn’t expecting at the end! I wasn’t quite sure where this book was going for awhile as it started off rather slowly. I loved Stacy Willingham’s first two books so I knew I needed to give it a chance, and I’m glad I did! I enjoyed the dark academia and the dual timeline as well as some of the classic. It was a little different from her earlier books but still very good.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Stacy Willingham for this arc!

4.5 stars! I really enjoyed reading yet another book by Stacey Willingham! The story definitely started off a bit slow, but I liked the dual timeline pov, and liked the premise and story. The reveal was good, but I didn’t like it as much as her other few books. However, I think that it could just be that I wasn’t particularly in the mood for a thriller. I think I will reread when the book comes out!