I enjoyed this story. I really like this author, and this one didn't disappoint. I read a lot of thrillers, so I kind of saw the twist ending coming, but it was an enjoyable read. I like this author's style, and I feel that she writes authentic characters. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

After her first 2 books, Stacy Willingham became an auto read author for me. I was so excited to get an advanced audiobook copy from Macmillan Audio, read by one of my favourite narrators, Karissa Vacker. She absolutely nailed this book, and brought the characters and the scenes to life. Always a pleasure to listen to one of her narratives.

Only If You’re Lucky is a slow burning mystery but well worth sticking with. It is a story of friendships, real and toxic ones. A story of finding out who you really are, of love, of grief and so much more. So many characters were hard to like, but that was the point.

There were plenty of surprises along the way, twists that you certainly will not see coming. I love that about this authors writing. She created this world of college and it felt like you could be there. I wouldn’t want to be friends with these girls…. Or the boys!!

Published on January 16th, highly recommend the audio.

Stacy Willingham thrillers are officially addicting! I will gladly read all of Stacy's books after her last 3. 'Only If You're Lucky' is a twist on her normal family drama thriller, focusing on young college girls as they navigate death, friendships, and finding themselves.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

A Flicker in the Dark is one of, if not my favorite thriller so I was so excited to get the ARC of this book.

This book is quite different from the tone of a Flicker in the Dark but was still done so well and really shows how talented Willingham is. Even though it’s a pretty slow burn, the writing in this book is captivating and keeps you drawn in.

This book is full of unlikable characters but for good reason. I was shocked as every secret is unraveled and I didn’t see the twists coming. This book was a wild ride.


If you enjoy a character driven thriller that is slow burn you’ll definitely like this one. I could also see fans of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife loving this one!

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted ALC. This book releases on 1/16/24!

Audio version--It was ok--College setting where the main character Margot is just existing as she still grieves the death of her best friend who was suppose to go to school with her. She gets singled out by Lucy Sharpe to move into a house (that is owned by a fraternity) for the next year. This move brings new excitement into her life as well as new friendships with a side of game playing, accusations, and drama. In addition, Margot is now confronted with her deceased friend's boyfriend, The one she blames for her death. This prompts much curiosity by the roommates As the story slowly progresses (and I do mean slowly) it seems Lucy becomes quite interested in the former boyfriend as well as just being closer to Margot. But what secrets does Lucy hold? And why does Margot need to belong so much? In addition to the mystery, there is also the idea of friendships in the backdrop of this story. For a story that slowly unfolded, the twisty end was quickly uncovered. I would have preferred more to connect that ending as opposed to it thrusted upon.
3 stars

✦Only if You’re Lucky by Stacey Willingham✦
★★★ 3/5 stars

“You’re only young once, & only if you’re lucky”

⟡ Synopsis
Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; & Nicole, the nice one. It's a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died 3 weeks after graduation. Margot & 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..& Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.

⟡My Thoughts
I can definitely see how his slow burn mystery with unlikable characters, toxic friendships, & dark academia vibes could be exactly some people’s jam - but unfortunately it fell about middle of the road for me.

👍🏼 the good
-I really enjoyed the dual timeline of “before” & “after” & how the end ultimately came together. While the first half was quite repetitive, the last few chapters were full of twists that I didn't see coming.
-Narrator Karissa Vacker did a great job, I loved listening to her!
-I always love when the actual title of the book makes an appearance in the book.

👎🏼 the not so good
-It was a S L O W burn, so I had a really hard time staying engaged in the story, until about 80% of the way in. When it finally got to the twists - they were good, but I wished the action came sooner with less unnecessary buildup.
-The use of similes was exhausting - “arms hooked together like a chain-link fence” & “transforming in her hands like soft, wet clay” were so overused (like a broken record, you get the idea 🙈)
-It read a bit like YA, which isn’t my favorite but I think this was just due to the college setting.

⟡Read if you like:
- dark academia vibes
- South Carolina/Outer Banks setting
- Slow burn with lots of ending twists
- Single POV but dual timelines
- College frats + friendship drama
- In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

I consider myself very *lucky* to have been given the opportunity to both read & listen to this ARC, it publishes on 1/16!
Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, St Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio ◡̈

This is the third of Stacy Willingham's books I have read but the first audio book.

This book follows Margot as she navigates her second year of college. She makes friends with three girls who are best friends, Lucy, Sloane, & Nicole. They invite her to live with them in off campus housing and as she has struggled to find her way in her first year of college, she jumps at the chance. She is doing her best to become one of the group but then unexpectedly one of the boys in the fraternity house next door is found dead and Lucy is no where to be found. We are taken on a wild ride of trying to figure out what happened and where is Lucy.

This one missed the mark for me. The last couple of chapters was great and there were some twists and turns I didn't see coming but I found it too wordy and descriptive for an audio book. I might have connected more if I had read it instead of listened. The author does a great job of painting a picture but there might have been too much focus on painting the picture. Every chapter had too many descriptions - she looked at me like a . . ., my head felt so heavy like . . . that it was hard to follow along sometimes It unfortunately fell flat for me in audio.

I did like the person who read the story. I think she did a great job of creating character voices so you could differentiate who was speaking as well as giving Margot a voice that was different then her inner thoughts so you knew when she was talking and when she was thinking.

Thanks Netgalley & Macmillian Audio

I struggle to DNF books but I was close to it with this one. It found it boring until the last 15% or so when everything happened.

This story follow Margot, a college girl grieving her best friends tragic death. She finds new friends in college, and ends up next door to someone she has a bad past with from her hometown.

This is one of mysteries that feels unrealistic. The plot did not have a lot going on, and when the twists come up it just stretched what I would consider believable. I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the characters and just overall was not engaged in this one.

I’ve read All the Dangerous Things last year and loved it and A Flicker in the Dark is a booksta favorite. So obviously I got super excited when I received an early copy of this author’s newest book!

This one will take us to Rutledge College and its Greek life so insert more excited emojis here because dark academia is one of my absolute favorite thriller tropes!!

This one is definitely bingeable: short chapters and cliff hanger chapter endings that build the right amount of tension and intrigue to make you keep the pages turning.

I loved following the investigation behind the mystery of the murder of a student and the disappearance of another. I find it to be more of a slow burn at first but then got very twisty at the end and the reveals were 🤯

I have to also note that Stacy Willingham’s writing is just so creative and tasteful! And I feel like that’s hard to pull off when writing a thriller because if you’ve read enough thrillers, you’d know what I mean 😂 Some authors can be very graphic sometimes 😅

There is a before and after storytelling timeline here that was a little bit hard to follow on audio because I feel like the transition wasn’t as smooth, so please let me know if you’ve read this on a physical format and if it was better!

I still enjoyed this one and would recommend it to any dark academia lover out there but I definitely enjoyed her book from last year more! Or idk I might be too old to enjoy reading about dark academia characters anymore. 🤷‍♀️😂

𝑶𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑰𝒇 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
comes out 𝐉𝐚𝐧 𝟏𝟔!!!
“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙮”

Thank you so much @minotaur_books for sending me a physical copy!! Also thank you to @netgalley for the free audiobook!

#stacywillingham #onlyifyourelucky #minotaurbooks #newthrillerbooks #thrillerbooks #thrillerbookstagram #darkacademiabooks

💭 Now that we are all going to be a year older, how’s everybody’s tolerance to young/ new adult characters? 😂
☕️ They’re all making me reflect so hard if I still want to be a parent in this lifetime 😅😂

Oh my goodness, where do I start? Let’s just talk about the twists and turns for a second. They had me on the edge of my seat! Each chapter ended with me wanting more, so I did! Just one more chapter was my motto. The deep, dark side of a fraternity is brought to life in this exhilarating thriller! Not to mention the links girls will go to experience friendship in a way, they have never before. I could not stop reading!

It took more than half the story for this slow burn of a book to heat up, but when it finally did, it became a roaring blaze. If you start reading it and are getting bored and thinking about giving up, I urge you to keep turning those pages, because soon you will be gasping out loud at the bombs Stacy Willingham drops.

Our unreliable narrator, Margot, is a college student traumatized by the sudden death of her best friend Eliza the summer before school started. After a year of isolating herself in her dorm room on campus, Margot feels ready to be social and befriends the extroverted Lucy. She’s rapidly taken into Lucy’s circle of hard partying friends and housemates, which is fun at first, but turns horrifyingly hostile within a few months.

I liked all the unexpected moments in this book and how most of the characters had dark secrets. The references to Jekyll and Hyde were thought provoking, as were the conversations the students had with each other about conscience and morality. It’s a clever plot that has me going back through the story mentally now that I have finished to review how all the different scattered parts fit together perfectly.

Thank you Netgalley for the free audio arc for review consideration. The narrator was an excellent fit for this story.

𝖨 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒𝖾𝖽 𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝖠𝖫𝖢 𝗈𝖿 𝖮𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝖨𝖿 𝖸𝗈𝗎’𝗋𝖾 𝖫𝗎𝖼𝗄𝗒. 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗈𝗋 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗆𝖺𝗓𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗃𝗈𝖻 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗏𝗈𝗂𝖼𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝗉𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌. 𝖨𝗍 𝗆𝖺𝖽𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝖾𝖺𝗌𝗒 𝗍𝗈 𝖿𝗈𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝖺𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗁 𝗆𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍. 𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗉𝗌𝗒𝖼𝗁𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗅 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝗋𝖺𝗉𝗉𝖾𝖽 𝗆𝖾 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗅𝖾𝖿𝗍 𝗆𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗆𝗒 𝗆𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗁 𝗐𝗂𝖽𝖾 𝗈𝗉𝖾𝗇 𝖻𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽. 𝖧𝖺𝗅𝖿𝗐𝖺𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁, 𝖨 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖨 𝗁𝖺𝖽 𝗂𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖿𝗂𝗀𝗎𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝖺𝗌𝗍 20% 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝗌𝗅𝖺𝗉𝗉𝖾𝖽 𝗆𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝖺𝗂𝖽, “𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗁𝖺𝖽 𝗂𝗍.” 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝖼𝗒 𝖶𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗁𝖺𝗆 𝖽𝗂𝖽 𝖺 𝗐𝗈𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝖿𝗎𝗅 𝗃𝗈𝖻 𝗍𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈𝗀𝖾𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽. 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝖼𝗒 𝖽𝖾𝗅𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗈 𝗐𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗇’𝗌 𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗎𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗍𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗉 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖻𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗈𝗋 𝖽𝗈𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗆𝖺𝗓𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗃𝗈𝖻 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗌𝖾 𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗎𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖾𝖺𝖼𝗁 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗏𝗈𝗂𝖼𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗈𝗇𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗒. 𝖨 𝗁𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗅𝗒 𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖺𝗎𝖽𝗂𝗈𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄.

𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 @𝗇𝖾𝗍𝗀𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖺𝗇𝖽 @𝗆𝖺𝖼𝗆𝗂𝗅𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖺𝗎𝖽𝗂𝗈 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖠𝖫𝖢 𝗈𝖿 𝖮𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝖨𝖿 𝖸𝗈𝗎’𝗋𝖾 𝖫𝗎𝖼𝗄𝗒.

The ending is what got this book 4 stars. Up until the end, it was fine, a little boring, but nothing too bad that would have made me put it down. The beginning felt very YA, but by the end, I almost forgot I was reading about college students. The cunning and brutality of these characters were insane. It definitely makes you stop and think, do you really truly know anyone? The audiobook was very good. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing this story to life. So, all that's left to say is... If you could get away with murder, would you do it?

Thank you MacMillan Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this e-arch in exchange for an honest review.

Karissa Vacker, the narrator, did a fantastic job reading this book. She did a good job of changing her voice enough for each character to be recognizable. While the book itself wasn't a stellar five-star read, I did enjoy listening to the audiobook more than physically reading it. I would highly recommend the audiobook and look forward to listening to more narrated books by Vacker.

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

Do any of you remember the movie Thirteen and how absolutely magnetic and enticing Nikki Reed’s character was, and how meek and malleable Evan Rachel Wood’s character was? If so, you’re in for a treat because they were all I could see when reading this book. Margot was Evan Rachel Wood, and Lucy was Nikki Reed!

This is a female friendship centric story that focuses on themes of jealousy, loyalty, identity, and self-preservation. We have Margot (the main character & sole POV) recanting her past events of when her best friend Eliza died. Then, we have the present day chapters slowly unraveling the mysterious death of her best friend’s boyfriend, and the disappearance of her new best friend, Lucy.

This takes place at a college so there are many parts that involve college antics. Spin the bottle, truth or dare, drugs, parties, etc… I really enjoy Stacy’s prose and even though these are tired themes, she definitely made this story intriguing & feel fresh.

The eventual reveals were largely predictable for someone who reads many books like these, but some twists still took me by surprise & I found the ending to be unique and satisfying! Much of what is revealed seems improbable and is a stretch for plausibility, but I still enjoyed it overall.

If you’re looking for a fast paced story with likeable characters this isn’t it, but if you enjoy suspenseful + character driven psychological suspense books, this may be a winner for you.

✨ Read this if you enjoy books like Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins or One Of The Girls by Lucy Clarke & if you loved movies like Thirteen & others with similar themes of adolescence, rebellion, + coming-of-age experiences.✨

🎧 I also recommend this on audio! Karissa Vacker is the narrator and she always does an incredible job. My only issue is that there are many characters so it can be hard to get into at the beginning, I suggest pairing the audio with the text 🫶🏻

Thank you St. Martins Press & NetGalley for the ARC & MacMillan audio for the ALC. This publishes on 1/16/24!

Margot gave up her parents’ dream of sending her to Duke in order to follow her bestie Eliza to the smaller and less prestigious Rutledge College. Shortly after their high school graduation, Eliza dies tragically, leaving Margot to take on Rutledge on her own. Margot quietly makes her way through her freshman year, until she’s noticed by “it girl” Lucy Sharpe, who invites Margot to move in with her and her roommates Nicole and Sloane for sophomore year. Lucy is magnetic, exciting, and maybe a little dangerous, and Margot is thrilled just to be in Lucy’s orbit. But by the second semester, things have started to spiral out of control and taken a very dark turn.

I loved both of Stacy Willingham’s previous books (A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things), so I didn’t even bother reading the blurb before eagerly adding this one to my TBR. All of the things that made her an instant favorite of mine are expertly used in Only if You’re Lucky – dual timeline, a potentially unreliable narrator (which I love!), and an immersive, slow burn, twisty plot – but in a completely fresh way compared to her first two books. This time, the author takes us deep into the heart of dark academia and the sinister side of Greek life and toxic female friendships. Willingham is a queen of misdirection, so even when I thought I had something figured out, I was constantly second guessing myself because the twists and turns are so deep and multi-layered. Suffice it to say I enjoyed the heck out of this bingeable thriller!

I had already started reading this book when I saw that the audiobook version is narrated by Karissa Vacker, who is on my very short list of favorite narrators. Seriously, I would listen to this woman read the phone book to me! Her voice absolutely captivates me and she brings so much emotion and nuance to the story. She kept me totally hooked on this story of friendship, frenemies, murder, and betrayal.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Stmartinspress for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @macmillian.audio for a free download of the audiobook.

Another solid thriller by @stacyvwillingham . Nervous vibes is how I would describe the feelings I had from reading Only If You’re Lucky. Something bad is going to happen and my attention was hooked. This book has many layers of mystery that are revealed in good fashion.

I think I was let down a bit by the lack of character development outside of Margot, the main character. I wanted to know more about how the other three females got to be so close. I feel it would have made Margots character a little crazier, which I also think I was missing.

Overall, I would still recommend reading…I couldn’t put it down!

4 stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #stmartinspress #macmillianaudio #ltbreaderteam #onlyifyourelucky #stacywillingham #smpinfluencers

Another solid thriller from Stacy Willingham. I loved the college setting.
The first half of the book dragged for me for a bit, but the second half really picked up. I loved how complicated all the characters are. I loved the focus on friendship and sisterhood. Stacy Willingham has become an auto read author for me.
The narrator of the audiobook was excellent. I highly recommend this version.

𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛
𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟷𝟼, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟹
𝙼𝚢 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝟺 𝚜𝚝𝚜𝚛𝚜! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝..You have Lucy..wild, carefree, center of attention. Then Margot..shy, always the sidekick. They meet freshman year in college. Lucy singles her out & they end up moving in together along with 2 others. Secrets galore. A student is murdered. Now, Lucy is missing…..

😋I never like to say too much since I always go in blind but this one was hard for my teeny tidbits & all of this is in the synopsis but much shorter.

💭𝙼𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜...I thought it was great! I love this author so much already from the fact that she lives just down the road from me. She always writes about South Carolina in ways I can literally picture perfectly. 👌Okay, so this one gave me Pretty Little Liars vibes..in a good way! My oldest & I are binging that show now & we love it!! This book, too has drama galore. Four girls. Dark, academia setting. Frat boys. Someone missing. Someone murdered. All a slow burn. None of this is spoilers, I swear. I was hooked right away. This one comes out in 2 weeks & deserves a read or listen to! I did the audio version & thanks, @netgalley @minotaur_books for my advanced copy! A solid 4 stars from me! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just like her first two books this was incredibly bingeable with some excellent twists I didn’t see coming! It was a wild ride from the very start with secrets and drama galore. I started it one morning and finished it by that night.I couldn’t pull myself away! This is officially my favorite the three she’s written and I can’t wait for whatever she writes next.

I actually did a combo of audio and digital and the audio, with Karissa Vacker, is excellent! You can’t go wrong with either option!

Thank you Minotaur Books for the arc and Macmillan Audio for the alc!