I absolutely loved Willingham's first two books, so picking this one up was a no-brainer. I was not disappointed. Willingham once again knocked it out of the park with this twisty thriller.

Margot has lived her life quietly in the shadows until enigmatic Lucy notices her and brings her into her circle. Margot, like everyone else, is easily drawn into Lucy's orbit. Moving in with Lucy and her friends makes Margot feel like she's finally coming back to life after the death of her best friend before college. But being in Lucy's orbit comes with secrets, lies, and murder.

Each character has their own secrets they are hiding. Willingham seamlessly weaves their stories together to create an intriguing and enthralling mystery that highlights the human's capacity for both good and evil.

Reviews were mixed on this one, but I really enjoyed it. My husband and I read it together on an impromptu trip and it kept us entertained while we hung out at a cute, little lake house for a few relaxing days. Nothing beats the combo of a mini-vacation and a bingeable thriller.

I am SO excited to read Willingham's next book, Forget Me Not!

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Thank you to my partners, Minotaur Books and NetGalley, and the author. I appreciate the gifted paperback ARC and eARC, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

1. 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 - Just who is Lucy Sharpe. This seems to be the underlying question for much of the story. A great mystery tucked into the plot that really becomes the main element of the story.

2. 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 - A true-to-life glimpse into the what college life generally entails. I have to admit that I’m actually thankful my university did not have fraternities and sororities. Too much drama, as proven in this story.

3. 𝐃𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 - The before and the after. The way the chapters are organized are perfectly in sync with the things the reader wants to know at that point in the story.

4. 𝐏𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 - It’s like the reader isn’t even aware that there are more pieces to the puzzles until they are revealed. All of a sudden, there is a little hint to something new and it just comes out of left field!

5. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - Yep. She got me here, too. Never suspected it. I consider myself a pretty great reading detective, but Willingham continues to deceive my thoughts! A definite recommendation from me to you!

Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham is a story about friendship, grief, and betrayal. The story centers around Margot, a college student who bonds with a group of three other girls while grappling with the loss of her childhood best friend, Eliza. One of the girls, Lucy Sharpe, is magnetic—one of those people who effortlessly draws others in, despite her complex and sometimes troubling behavior. Lucy reminds Margot of Eliza, and Margot becomes increasingly obsessed with her new friend. But how well does Margot truly know Lucy? When a fraternity boy with connections to both women is murdered and Lucy goes missing, buried secrets begin to surface.

The pacing of the novel, however, felt somewhat slow. It wasn’t until I reached about the 75% mark that I was fully invested, with the story picking up momentum. Much of the narrative focuses on developing the relationships between the characters and providing backstory, which can feel a bit drawn-out at times. I believe the book could have benefited from multiple perspectives or a more dynamic timeline structure to build suspense and break up the singular viewpoint. That said, the twists in the ending were effective and definitely added to the story’s impact.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, though it wouldn’t be my top pick for a recommendation list. I read the e-copy alongside the audiobook and found Karissa Vacker’s narration to be engaging and well-suited to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am not finishing this book, I have enjoyed a few of her books, but for htis one I just didn't care about the characters and quit halfway through.

I thought this was way different than her others. I have read a couple of reviews and I agree this was young adult or teenagerish.

First, she dwelled a little too much on what happened in the past. Second, she treated people like shit. Her poor friend Maggie. Third, she whined way too much for me. Just whiny in her voice.

Great plot though. I did like the overall. Execution for me did not deliver. I think that was because it wasn’t adult. Like I got tired of listening to frat parties.

Thank you so much for letting me review Only If You’re Lucky

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was better than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed the past and present and how they weaved together leaving me with a WHAT at the end.

Lucy is the alpha of a friend group consisting of sweet Nicole, sassy Sloan and shy Margot. She encouurages the group to move out of their dorm at a small SC college and move to a rental house that is right next door to a rowdy frat house complete with a gap in the hedge connecting the two houses. Lucy leads the girls in a semester of frat boys and wild parties. It comes to a screeching halt when one of the neighbors turns up dead and Lucy goes missing. A taut twisty thriller about the secret lives of young adults .

Margot and her best friend Eliza had big plans to go off to college together. But when Eliza’s tragic death happens after their high school graduation everything suddenly changes for Margot. Spending the first year of college all alone Margot meets Lucy. Lucy is the complete opposite of Margot. Margot joins their fraternity house which is rented out by one of the college fraternities. Margot is excited to be part of a bigger social scene. A new student that has ties to Margot’s hometown and to Eliza enters the scene , Margot shares her past trauma with the girls. Lucy expresses her concern for Margot and interest in the past events and claims she wants to help her friend. Lucys weird mind games and obsessive behavior start to reveal a dark streak. It makes Margot uncomfortable. Margot finds herself and new friends entangled in a web of lies, deception, secrets, and murder and not all of them will make it out alive. Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Stacy Willingham for this memorizing book. I have read all of her books and enjoyed them. This one was a tad different than her typical. I am a bit late giving my feedback as I was unable to read sadly for several months but I wanted to take the time to note that she put her heart into this book and the mystery was present and the twists and turns made you question the missing individuals. Grab it if you want that mystery and especially if you like a plot twist.

Only if you're lucky centers around college student Margot as she tries to heal from her best friend Eliza's death. She quickly becomes enthralled with Lucy, who is said to be charismatic. However, the reader was never shown any of Lucy's charisma or appeal, we were just told about it. Margot's voice became repetitive and boring. She kept referencing Eliza's death without telling us how she died. This made the reveal near the end pretty predictable. A few of the other twists at the end seemed pretty implausible.

I loved Stacy Willingham's previous books, but this one fell very flat for me. I started reading it long long ago and only recently was able to pick it back up to try to finish it. Not much happens aside from Margot obsessing about Eliza and Lucy, and college students partying.

I am looking forward to the author's next book though and hoping this was just a fluke.

This was interesting enough, but I didn't love how it ended. This is a story of toxic female friendships in college. Margot is looking to fit in, to belong, following the death of her best friend Eliza. She finds herself in the web of Lucy and her two friends Sloane and Nicole. (Sloane and Nicole didn't really stand out as having any kind of personality at all).

There are plenty of drugs, alcohol and frat boys. Bad decisions galore. One boy ends up dead, one girl ends up missing. There's a bit of a mystery to find it out with some twists along the way. I think that one of the twists in particular was just too much. This could have been better, but it felt a bit cheap toward the end.

Okay, so you know how you have those authors you just adore? Stacy Willingham is one of those for me. I've been obsessed with everything she's put out, so I was counting down the days until Only If You're Lucky dropped. And, well…it was okay. Just okay.
Look, Stacy's got this talent for creating these super creepy, atmospheric vibes, and that was definitely there. I was intrigued by the whole "found family gone wrong" thing, and I was turning the pages, wanting to know what happened. But, and this is a big but for me, I just didn't click with the characters as much as I usually do with her books. They felt a little…distant?
And the twists? I saw some of them coming, which is a bummer, because usually, Stacy's surprises totally get me. I still appreciate her exploring those dark, twisty psychological themes she does so well. It was still a solid read, but it didn't give me that "OMG, I need to tell everyone about this!" feeling her other books did.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still a huge Stacy Willingham fan. This one just wasn't my favorite. If you're new to her, I'd say start with A Flicker in the Dark or All the Dangerous Things. But if you're a die-hard fan like me, you'll probably still find something to enjoy here. Just maybe lower your expectations a tiny bit.

“If you knew you could get away with murder, would you do it?”

Margot isn't living the college life, she's surviving it. Until, one day a girl named Lucy talks her into moving into a house with her and two other girls for the summer. Once there Margot starts to take back her life. Things are going well...until they aren't...then the neighbor boy is found murdered.

What can I say about this book? It just wasn't for me. It was a slow burn with characters I didn't really like. I called one of the twists early on. If you like slow burns in college settings this is definitely for you!!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies of the book in exchange for my review.

Another gripping thriller from Stacy Willingham! Set against the backdrop of academia, this novel follows Margot, whose dreams of starting college with her best friend, Eliza, are shattered when tragedy strikes—Eliza dies just weeks before graduation.

Determined to move forward, Margot heads to college, where she meets Lucy, a girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to Eliza—with the way she carries herself. As Margot navigates her new life, another tragedy unfolds: the boy next door is found dead, and Lucy has vanished without a trace.

Told through alternating timelines, this psychological thriller will keep you on edge with its unexpected twists and shocking revelations. A must-read that will leave you guessing until the very last page!

This book was a bit slow but as we got deeper in I was fascinated with the girl group dynamics. For some reason the missing people and past was less interesting to me. I love this authors thriller books and I was more into the characters for this one.

We follow a college aged girl group of four ladies all separate and just have their choice of college in common they are partying and meeting boys and living pretty regular/fun college lifestyles. Lucy is the leader and may be most mysterious, sloan blends in the background and Nicole is too nice for her own good Margot is the outsider with less to say but a lot she’s thinking about all the time. It is narrated from Margot’s perspective so it can be a bit timid in the way she describes things. Margot has already lost one friend in the past who she references a lot and the boy Levi that was with her friend is now her college neighbor. when Lucy goes missing Margots senses are up that something is not right they start to be amateur detectives and uncover more and more.

Closer to 60 or 70% through the book this became fast-paced and I could not put it down. Did not guess the ending which I love.

Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham is a gripping and intense psychological thriller that had me hooked from the very first page. The story centers around a young woman named Annalise, who is struggling to come to terms with her past while dealing with the sudden disappearance of her childhood friend. Willingham does an incredible job at creating a tense, suspenseful atmosphere, and I found myself eagerly turning pages to unravel the mystery. The writing is sharp, and the way Willingham slowly unravels the truth behind the events is masterful. Every chapter left me with more questions, making it impossible to stop reading.

What really stood out to me, though, was how Willingham weaves themes of guilt, memory, and the complexity of human relationships throughout the novel. The characters, especially Annalise, are layered and flawed, which makes them feel incredibly real. I found myself torn between sympathizing with her and questioning her actions, which is a testament to Willingham's skill as a storyteller. The twists and turns kept me on edge, and the book's ending had me completely floored. Only If You're Lucky is a dark, atmospheric novel that delves into the depths of friendship, trust, and the secrets we keep. It's a must-read for anyone who loves a psychological thriller with emotional depth.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I've loved every book I've read by Stacy so was beyond excited to get my hands on this. This is one heckuva story - OMG the twists and turns will make you gasp outloud. And the ending - buckle up!

Normally Stacy is 4-5 star read for me but this one I couldn’t get into, it fell a bit flat and I had to DNF it around 60%. I wanted to love it but it just didn’t hit for me.

I forgot to give feedback for this book at the time but I enjoyed it, which I’ve come to expect from this author. Twisty and turny!

Stacy Willingham has become an auto read author for me. Ever since her first novel, her books have captured me and "Only If You're Lucky" is no exception. This book feels different when compared to her two previous novels. The pacing of this one is slower, taking its time to carve out this mystery. While I personally enjoy a faster paced thriller, Willingham makes the wait worth it.