Another engrossing read by Willingham! This one read a bit more upper YA to me but can she ever write unlikeable characters! While this book was more slow burn, the flashbacks were so effective and kept me engaged the entire time. I love that this author writes shorter chapters, it really helps build the tension and keeps you binge reading. There are plenty of twists in this one to keep you guessing. I also love that this author isn't scared to dive deep into some dark and controversial subject matter - the toxic friendship in this book was very well done! Can't wait to read what this author writes next!

I went back and forth between the ebook and audiobook for this one - the narration was excellent, definitely brought the characters to life and added to the atmosphere.

Content warnings: toxic friendship, death and murder, sexual assault, infidelity, drug and alcohol use, physical abuse.

A huge thanks to Macmillan audio, St-Martin's Press, Minotaur books and Netgalley for the ARC and ALC. All opinions are my own.

Margot finds herself living off campus with three other girls. She is the quiet one she went away in hopes of coping with her friend who was killed. When Lucy goes missing Margot starts to wonder how and why knew so much about her and her friend. When the twist was revealed I was surprised I didn't see that coming. This read was good with some twists that were surprising.

This was a slow-paced book for the first 80%, but then it gets exciting for the ending. I think young adults would probably enjoy this book more than older adults. I know my 20 year old daughter would love this book because I think she could relate more to this generation of characters. I listened to this book and I really liked the narrator. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read Only if You’re Lucky.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars

Margot has spent her freshman year of college hiding in her dorm mourning the sudden death of her best friend, Eliza. She watches Lucy, a beautiful and charismatic leader who Margot wishes she could be more like. When Lucy unexpectedly asks Margot to move into a shared house with two other girls for the following semester she jumps at the chance. The four roommates quickly become instant friends and Margot is finally getting a taste of college life that she has been wanting. One draw to the house is that it is owned by the fraternity next door and the boys come and go as they please. When Levi, a new pledge, shows up Lucy is rocked... he was the last person with Eliza the night she died. Levi and Margot are not the only ones keeping dark secrets and when they begin to reveal themselves the friends will never be the same.

I am a huge fan of Stacy Willingham's previous work and was very much looking forward to her newest novel but this is a departure from her previous style, with a much slower burn and younger characters. The story is told from Margot's perspective both in the present and her past with Eliza, the problem is Margot is an unreliable narrator. Like I said its a slow build and much of the story is focused on college kids being college kids. I liked the dynamic between Lucy and Margot as a character study between friendships that can be toxic and the drama they can create. The flashbacks with Eliza were long and became uninteresting regardless of them having most of the twists. I look forward to reading more of Willingham's work this just wont be one of my favorites.

I had the audio arc read by Karissa Vacker who engaging and dynamic. I always love her work and highly recommend listening to her.

i have read two other books by WIllingham that I LOVED. I had such high expectations for this book and it fell flat. Too many characters…too manytimeline switches and overall unlikeable characters. Thanks NetGalley for this ARC audiobook of this book.

I'm struggling with this. It is such a slow burn, that I don't know if I can finish it. My attention isn't as caught as with her previous novels. I've also sped the audio up to 1.75 - unheard of for me - to try to get through the book a little quicker.



I hope to return to this one in a few weeks though - will update as needed.

This book was narrated by my ABSOLUTELY favorite narrator... literally, I will listen to ANYTHING she narrates-- even the phone book. Haha-- just kidding on that one.

This book was my third by Stacy Willingham, and I feel like it was one that I liked the least (comparing all of her books). Although I enjoyed it, I felt like her previous two were a little better. I enjoyed the characters, for the most part, but felt like the plot was confusing, at times, and really unrealistic. I feel like most people would not have allowed most of the plot of the book to happen, and the gross misunderstandings (that often were fatal) were definitely exaggerated.

Now, I realize that most fictional books take liberties, but I found that this one just had too many to be even a little big believable. This book was entertaining, and I enjoyed (most) of the characters. I felt like there were too many threads to this plot line, and it was hard to follow all of them, even (especially?) on an audiobook.

Thank you to the author, publisher, narrator and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.

This book felt much different than Willingham's others. I almost DNF'ed this one, but I'm glad I didn't. After pressing on, I really enjoyed the ending.

Thank you @minotaur_books @macmillan.audio for a copy of this book. Margot is a freshman in college and tries to be invisible and is hurting from losing her best friend the year before. Lucy who is the center of attention is drawn to Margot and convinces her to move in with her and her friends.

We see them living as college students and Lucy goes missing. The story unfolds as we learn more about who Lucy is and see Margot's past. I really enjoyed seeing how the story connected and didn't see the twist coming.

Karissa Vacker is one of my favorite narrators and she did a great job on this one.

The fact that my first read of the year was a five star read!?! Taking this as a sign that 2024 is going to be full of amazing reads. This is my third Stacy Willingham book, and while A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things were some of my favorites suspense/mystery/thrillers last year, I really think this is Willingham’s best work! She perfectly encaptures teen/young adult girlhood / female friendships / drama - something many in this genre try to do and fail. I saw some twists coming (not too far in advance) but thought the pacing / reveals were superb. I can see how some people thought it was drawn out, but I enjoyed it so much I didn’t want it to end! Also, I love Margo - the MC. I had a physical reaction to this book - the settings were so vibrant and came through the page - which is the same as her last couple of books!

This reminded me of Before We Were Innocent + Saint X - but good!

Have you seen The Sex Lives of College Girls or Mean Girls (the musical on Broadway or the new film)? Picture Renee Rapp as the charismatic alpha girl with an edge. You're not sure you can believe anything she says, but you desperately want to get to know her well enough to find out. She's fun to hang out with, turns everything into a party and makes you feel like the most important person in the room. That's Lucy. And when she invites Margot, a girl who spent her freshman year of college mourning the loss of her best friend, to join her and two others in an off-campus house for the following summer, Margot jumps at the chance. But it soon becomes clear that Lucy hasn't exactly been honest about who she is. And when a body turns up, Lucy disappears...leaving even more questions in her wake. Who is Lucy? And what has she been hiding?

I thought "A Flicker in the Dark" was so good! And this one was a compelling read, though I didn't like it quite as much. The twists and turns were still entertaining, and I will say that I didn't see the ending coming. But I wanted more of a story and less of a narrative on the potential toxicity of female friendship. Too much of the book was about Lucy, Margot and the other girls partying and going to school and dealing with the frat boys next door...and then all of a sudden it was a mystery. I wanted to get to know these girls better and figure out what made them tick, but there wasn't a lot of character development for any of them. They were just FRIENDS, but it was unclear why.

It was still really well written, and like I said, the "who-dun-it" part of the story remained a mystery to me until the end which I always appreciate. So I'll definitely check out what the author does next.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

This is the 3rd book I have read by Willingham and it feel short for me. She is one of my favorite authors, but for some reason this story just didn't do it for me. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a great thriller! I loved previous books of Stacys and this was on par with them.

I think for me i would categorize this as more of a suspense and mystery than thriller.

Margo embarks on the chapter of her life as a freshman at college. She feels out of place and lost at first because shes having to do this alone, instead of with her best friend Eliza who tragically passed away not too long ago. Margo quickly becomes friends with the “it trio of girls” and is invited to live with them off campus. She doesnt know much about them or their “head queen bee Lucy” but she is drawn to them, especially Lucy like her friend Eliza. Margo finds herself confronted by her past when Elizas boyfriend whom was the last to see her alive shows up at the frat next door. There’s secrets everyone is keeping but nobody knows how deadly those secrets are and what are people willing to do to keep those secrets?

This is seriously such mystery. I had no idea where this was all headed. I could tell maybe one part once its revealed that it made a lot of sense but the ending was such a truth bomb of twists that i was left floored! I loved the college life setting and how unreliable all the characters seemed to be. It left you questioning everyone and everything.

A question from the book that was talked about a lot and left in mind while writing this review and thinking of the story was: If you could get away with murder would you do it?

Thank you Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read and review Only If You're Lucky on NetGalley.

Narrator: Karissa Vacker

Stars: 3

I went into this with high hopes. I enjoyed All the Dangerous Things enough that I watched for a new release by Willingham, and Vacker is a favorite narrator. Unfortunately, there was just something amiss. The makings of a good story are there. I was annoyed at the ending. I was waiting for a punchline and got nothing.

I will read A Flicker in the Dark and decide if go further with Willingham. This really was disappointing.

Published: 01/16/24

First and foremost I want to thank netgalley for letting me read and review this delicious book.

This book gets a solid 4 stars. The story was exceptional the ending came out of nowhere! Looking back Stacy did leave some breadcrumbs but I definitely did not pick up what she was putting down. If you like twisty thrillers with good build up and character development then you will love this one

This author's books need to be on every single bookworm's shelf! I love everything she writes and boy can she tell a story! I loved the layers of secrets that were revealed as the story progressed. She has a way of building suspense and keeping the reader glued.

Loved it! I could not stop reading, I had to know how it ended and I did not see it coming. Great read! Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to review!

*Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced reader copy*

The synopsis of this book instantly caught my attention, and I knew it would be different from her other books, which I was a big fan of. However, dark academia is not a favorite subgenre of mine, nor is YA, which is what this book felt like a lot of the time. So I did have a harder time diving in to this one.

With that being said, I loved the creep factor between the girls' friendships, and Willingham's writing kept me intrigued enough to want to know what happened. I felt the book was longer than necessary, but there were some awesome twists... they just took a long time to happen.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan audio, and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
*
I have to say that the more books that Stacy Willingham puts out, the better she gets! This one is probably my favorite out of her books and I loved that she incorporated the dark academia into this novel. Willingham constructs a rich a complex dynamic among the roommates in this book and her writing captures a compelling exploration of friendships, secrets, and a haunting mystery. My only c complaint is that this is definitely much more of a slow burn mystery instead of a thriller like it is being targeted as, so this is just something to be aware of going into the book! I definitely loved the narrator as she did a good job engaging the listener and kept my attention during the chapters that I listened to the audiobook! Definitely a narrator I would look forward to listening to again! Overall, definitely one that if you are looking for a quick read, this is a good one!

"Only if You're Lucky" by Stacy. Willingham is a twisty psychological thriller.The characters are all young adults just going into college. A couple of the twists were easy to predict, but not all of them. The setting was very atmospheric - an old house near a college in a small college town next to a frat house. A lot of partying went on, which I could not relate to, being a lot older than college students. It was sufficient action to keep my interest,
though it was a bit slow during some parts.

The narration by Karrissa Vacker was excellent. She was able to do both male and female voices and distinguish between the different characters effectively, which made it easy to listen to.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.