Skip to main content

Member Reviews

๐—ข๐—ป๐—น๐˜† ๐—œ๐—ณ ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚'๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜†
๐™ถ๐šŽ๐š—๐š›๐šŽ: ๐š๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐š•๐š•๐šŽ๐š›
๐™ฟ๐šž๐š‹ ๐š๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ: ๐™น๐šŠ๐š—๐šž๐šŠ๐š›๐šข ๐Ÿท๐Ÿผ, ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿถ๐Ÿธ๐Ÿน
๐™ผ๐šข ๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š—๐š: ๐Ÿบ ๐šœ๐š๐šœ๐š›๐šœ! โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ

๐Ÿค๐šƒ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š—๐šข ๐š๐š’๐š๐š‹๐š’๐š..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 missingโ€ฆ..

๐Ÿ˜‹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.

๐Ÿ’ญ๐™ผ๐šข ๐š๐š‘๐š˜๐šž๐š๐š‘๐š๐šœ...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. ๐Ÿ‘ŒOkay, 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! โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ

Was this review helpful?

Just like her first two books this was incredibly bingeable with some excellent twists I didnโ€™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 couldnโ€™t pull myself away! This is officially my favorite the three sheโ€™s written and I canโ€™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 canโ€™t go wrong with either option!

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

Was this review helpful?

My Rating - 3 stars

Margot is looking for a fresh start with the commencement of her her college life. She runs into Lucy who is a larger than life personality and bears uncanny resemblance in her mannerisms to Margot's childhood best friend Eliza. Eliza has been dead for a year now and there is still an air of mystery around the consequences leading to her death.

Margot takes on the opportunity to be friends and roommates with Lucy and as the their bond goes stronger Margot starts to realize that nothing is as it seems on the surface. In their sophomore year, a freshman boy with ties to Eliza is now dead and Lucy is missing.

This book is written in multiple timeline and POV formats and is pretty fast paced. I definitely found a bit of a YA vibe to story, with it being based in college life, lots of truth or dare, frat life etc. I did find it more interesting that Stacy Willingham's other novel - A Flicker in the Dark.
This book has a more Jekyll and Hyde underlying premise, and makes for a quick entertaining read.

The audiobook narration by Karissa Vacker is on the point and she is able to build an engaging environment.

I thank NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, Stacy Willingham for providing me with the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I did not really care for this. The narration was good but I could not get into the story line. Is Margot shy and timid? You are supposed to think so at the beginning. Not sure what happens along the way but that is not at all how she winds up being. All of the characters are unlikable with few, if any, redeeming qualities and I found the twists more confusing than exciting.

2.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Was this review helpful?

This is exactly what I was looking for in a thriller. I liked how it melts you guessing from beginning to end. Thanks netgalley for my first advanced copy audiobook!

Was this review helpful?

Wow, this audiobook captivated me right off the bat and kept me glued to my seat the whole entire time!

Was this review helpful?

๐“๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž: ๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐‹๐ฎ๐œ๐ค๐ฒ
๐€๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ: ๐’๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐–๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฆ
๐๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ: ๐Š๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐š ๐•๐š๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ซ
๐๐ฎ๐› ๐ƒ๐š๐ญ๐ž: ๐‰๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ”, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ

Thank you Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for my #gifted copies of Only If Youโ€™re Lucky!

Wow! What a masterpiece! I enjoyed this book so much and I had no clue how it was going to end! This book is truly about friendship, secrets, and lies and I just found it to be flawless! I love how this book is told in dual timelines, and felt like it added so much to the storyline.

Margot, she and yet to come out of her shell, meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year. Lucy and Margot are complete opposites, with Lucy always being the center of attention and so bold. When Lucy asks Margot to room with her over the summer, she canโ€™t say no. Together, Lucy and Margot live with Sloane and Nicole at an off-campus house next to a fraternity. On top of her new living situation, and trying to fit in, Lucy is grieving the loss of her best friend, who died shortly after graduating from high school. As Lucy and Margot start to become closer, it doesnโ€™t take long for tragedy to strike. Levi, who lives next door, is murdered and Lucy is missing without a trace. Who killed Levi? And what happened to Lucy?

๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐‹๐ฎ๐œ๐ค๐ฒ
๐Ÿ”ฅDual Timeline
๐Ÿ”ฅPsychological Thriller
๐Ÿ”ฅDark Academia
๐Ÿ”ฅSlow Burn
๐Ÿ”ฅTwists and Turns

I alternated between the physical book and the audiobook. However, with Karissa Vacker as the narrator, I found myself gravitating mostly towards the audiobook. She has quickly become a favorite of mine and I just loved the way she brought Margot and the rest of the characters to life. If you havenโ€™t listened to a book narrated by Vacker, do yourself a favor and have this one be your first! Her pacing was perfect and I just felt so drawn to this listening experience!

Posted on Goodreads on January 2, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around January 16, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on January 16, 2024
**-will post on designated date

Was this review helpful?

This was my first book by Stacy Willingham and it will not be my last. The writing kept me engaged and I like the dual timeline, the Before sections provided information and a frame of reference for what was going on in the story. The re were twists that I never saw coming!

Margot has survived her first year of college on the fringe and didn't make any friends. It looked like next year would be more of the same until Lucy appears and draws Margot into her orbit. Now Lucy lives in an off-campus house attached to a fraternity and friends in Lucy, Sloane, and Nicole and is in the middle of everything. It is just what Margot needs after the tragic death of her best friend Eliza. All is perfect until Levi, Eliza's boyfriend shows up at the fraternity and Lucy starts to get close to him. Questions are asked and secrets are shared but are they shared with a person that can be trusted? When the fraternity and the girls are involved in a tragedy you wonder who can be trusted and what is really going on?

Was this review helpful?

Stacy, you surprise me with every book you write. This was a fast paced novel of college students behaving badly. I could not get enough. Karissa Vacker is one of the best audiobook narrators around.

Was this review helpful?

4 stars!

Stacy Willingham does it again! The way she's able to weave the story just giving you little nuggets at time willing you to figure it out for yourself is just perfect. Right when you think you're getting a handle on things, a new nugget of information is provided and you're knocked back a few pegs trying to figure out what you're still on the right path from and what you're on the wrong path from. As always, I feel like I came to the correct conclusion about 1/2 through the book, but also as always, I got some things right and some things VERY, VERY wrong.

Karissa Vacker is always a solid choice for audio narration and this was no different. I listen at 1.65x and her voice is almost better sped up because that vocal fry she sometimes gets is just perfect. Sexy when it needs to be, frantic when it calls for it or just youthful when needed.

I can't wait to see what Stacy comes up with next because I am never disappointed!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Was this review helpful?

Stacy Willingham has done it again! "Only If Youโ€™re Lucky" is a bit of a slow burn that reads like a well developed YA novel, due to the college setting and quirky characters. This one is for fans of dark academia submerged in the Greek/Sorority life. It has dual timelines, enigmatic characters, secrets, lies, drama, and surprising twists. Stacy Willingham's writing is like a jack in the box, she builds tension and suspense while placing twists at just the right spot to shock and awe the reader.
I listened to the audiobook which really made for an immersive experience. This audiobook is narrated by the fabulous Karissa Vacker who always does an amazing job. The story and the characters truly come to life and have you invested until the very end. 4 stars!
Thank you Macmillan Audio via NetGalley for this ARC!

Was this review helpful?

So many twists and turns! I love that this story kept me on the edge of my toes. While I found it to be a little bit unbelievable, I enjoyed escaping the world with this audiobook.

Was this review helpful?

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I will say the first two books by this author completely blew me away. This one wasn't in that category for me but I still enjoyed the story and highly recommend it! Super excited for this one to publish and for others to get to read it!

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this one and review it, the review will be posted to my instagram @manymerrybooks. This review has been added to storygraph, amazon, goodreads, and Barnes & Noble.

Was this review helpful?

Only If You're Lucky was a slower paced mystery. It felt more YA to me and I struggled to enjoy the story or get into it. I have seen some great reviews so I might be the minority.

Was this review helpful?

Very much enjoyed this college based story. Some aspects seemed completed unrelated but the author did a lovely job buttoning it all up.

Was this review helpful?

Iโ€™m saddened to give such a low rating to a book by the same author who wrote A Flicker in the Dark. Ninety percent of the book was agonizingly boring until the very end where I feel everything is revealed. It read more like a new adult novel.
I had extremely high expectations and they were more definitely not met.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC! Stacey Willingham has become one of my go-to thriller authors and this is her best yet! This novel had me gooped and gagged. As someone who reads thriller regularly, I couldnโ€™t predict the twists or ending. This felt fresh and different compared to other thrillers Iโ€™ve read and as usual Carissa Vacker killed the narration!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillian Audio for an early audio copy. The following comments and review are my honest opinion. 3.5 Stars
Lies, deceit, obsession and murder are all included, but this story was a slow burn and I only kept listening because I have thoroughly enjoyed other books by this author. It did get better, but unfortunately not till at least 90% through.
The narrator, Karissa Vacker was very good and had just enough inflection in her voice to distinguish the characters.
Because of the author, Stacy Willingham, others may find this book to their liking. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me.

Was this review helpful?

As a HUGE fan of Willingham's previous novels, I was THRILLED to receive early access to her latest, Only If You're Lucky. This ended up being a quick read (with lots of twists around the 75% mark), however, I'm realizing that the "college campus thriller" trope isn't my favorite. If you're a thriller lover, you'll probably like this one. It won't be the most memorable book for me, but I'll keep picking up this author's books to see what she does next. I did find the Author's Note to be really interesting!

Was this review helpful?