Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham is that kind of book you start thinking you’ll read a chapter before bed… and suddenly it’s 3 a.m. It’s about Claire, who goes back to her hometown after her sister disappeared years ago, and of course, everything gets super creepy. There’s a vineyard, some cult-ish vibes, and so many secrets you’ll want to scream. It starts slow (like, annoyingly slow at times), but once it picks up, you’re stuck. Some twists I guessed, others totally got me. A few emotional moments felt a bit rushed, but overall, it’s juicy and addictive. Definitely a good one if you want something dark and twisty to binge.

This is the perfect slow burn, southern, summer thriller. The story unearths decades of deep, intertwined family drama and secrets. It is twisty, well written, very atmospheric, and has an unsettling, haunting tone throughout.

The book alternates between present and present chapters. In the present, we follow Claire. In the past, we get excerpts from an old diary that Claire found. I enjoyed this set up and the way the story was told, but I cannot understand why the diary chapters were told in 3rd person?? I figured this would be resolved/ addressed at the end, but it never was. It didn't make sense that we were reading someones written personal account, but in 3rd person. Not a big deal, but it was something that took me out of the story.

I didn't guess the twists or the ending (!) because the story felt very layered and complex. With that being said, I never found it confusing or hard to follow. It is definitely slower paced, with lots of explanation and detail, though the story is still gripping enough to hold your attention.

Overall, this felt very well done and thoughtful. I enjoyed my time reading and definitely would recommend. I don't think this story will stick with me or is something I will continue to think about, but I enjoyed my time reading and would definitely recommend - especially if you've liked Stacy Willingham in the past.

This was an excellent southern gothic thriller full of suspense and mystery. I loved the lush southern setting and her descriptive and immersive writing. It was extremely atmospheric with a very eerie vibe. I really enjoyed the dual timelines and how the story came together. I did find the ending slightly predictable, but I was always engaged in the story and was still surprised by several elements.

I love a good southern thriller. this one is very slow to start and honestly a little too wordy, but the plot was generally interesting. there were some genuine twists (in my opinion) at the end, even though they were a little weird, but I will say I was surprised at the end.

didn’t love the main character either but didn’t hate her. just didn’t find her super interesting. wish there had been a littleeee more creepiness to this book, but it was decent overall. I think Stacey’s debut is still her best.

thank you to netgalley and minotaur books for the arc! out 8/26!

Stacy Willingham does a great job building suspense and keeping you guessing. This book is full of twists, super creepy and hard to put down! The past and present timelines are woven together really well, and the main character's struggles pull you in right away.

If you like thrillers with emotion, mystery, and tension, this one's definitely worth picking up.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to ARC read this book for my honest review.

Stacy Willingham has drawn me in since her debut novel "A Flicker in the Dark." She keeps you on guessing throughout her stories and her novels don't seem to repeat themes with new characters. "Forget Me Not" is not an exception.
Claire Campbell has ongoing inner struggle with the fact her sister went missing 22 years ago and whether she could have done things different to prevent this from happening. After not receiving a promotion and changing jobs, she goes back home to see her mom after she fell and needs assistance. She ends up taking a job at Galloway Farms where her sister worked in the summers hoping to find some connection to her. After finding a hidden journal she starts questioning the owners of the Farm. Could they have been involved in her sisters disappearance? Is the wife, Marcia, a victim like her sister as well?

Claire has been avoiding her past for 22 years since the disappearance of her sister Natalie. She left home for NYC and keeps her contact with her parents minimal, but what happens when your new life isn’t going as planned? Claire quits her job as a journalist in hopes of going out on her own, but it’s not going as she hoped. She’s running out of money and options around the same time her mother could use some help back home. The reunion and the proximity to the memories of Natalie and her past prove to be too much and it’s short lived. On a whim she heads out to a farm her sister used to work at and volunteers to work there for the summer. The gig comes with room and board, a sizable paycheck, and some connection to her older sister so why not? Turns out she is a lot closer to Natalie than she thought.

I enjoyed this one! It’s one of those books where you take some time to get hooked, but once you’re in you’re in. It’s also one of those where if you’re a thriller gal like myself you think you have it all figured out but oh my… no you do not. Well done and interesting a bit more of a slow burn mystery than a true thriller in my opinion. Definitely worth the read.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Forget Me Not is a rather atmospheric and twisty tale of a woman who, after a couple unfortunate events, goes back home and ends up digging up the past in order to get answers to all the questions she's had since that terrible day.

Although, I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, I did not love it. I never really connected with Claire's character and found myself questioning many of her decisions. Also, I felt like it was TOO much of a slow burn. For a rather short book, it felt too long and wordy at times. I'm not the most patient reader, in case you can't tell. And finally, I did not like the way the story ended at all.

Thank you to NetGalley for the gifted ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Forget Me Not had me hooked from the beginning! A woman struggling in her journalism career receives a call from her father encouraging her to visit and spend time with her mother who recently got hurt. As her mom refuses her assistance she decides to visit the farm her late sister worked at many years ago. Not only does she feel her sister's presence, she is offered a job which leads her to use her journalism background to uncover details about her sister's death, and so much more history than she ever expected! Such a great read that keeps you hooked from start to finish! The characters are thoughtfully introduced, developed and intertwined throughout!

Forget-Me-Not by Stacy Willingham is a beautifully written, emotionally heavy thriller with layers of psychological suspense and grief woven throughout. The tone is undeniably sad, which added more weight to the story than I expected—but in a way that really worked.

The main character was flawed and fascinating, and the plot kept me on edge. My favorite part was how many twists came at the end in such a short span of time—it made the final chapters impossible to put down.

One small thing I noticed: the early mentions of the main character’s nightmares seemed to taper off about halfway through the book. It made me wonder if that was intentional—possibly tied to her being drugged into a deeper sleep—but I would’ve liked to see that thread explored a little more.

Overall, this was a gripping and well-crafted read. Highly recommend it to fans of twisty psychological thrillers with a somber, emotional undertone.

Once you start reading, you have to keep going.

It’s engaging with a story about Claire Campbell. After graduating, she left the small town in South Carolina and headed to NYC to be a big-time journalist 15 years ago. She didn’t get the promotion she thought she earned at The New York Journal with police reports and decided to leave to do freelance work.

It was July in 2024 when her dad called and asked her to come home to SC. Her mother was recovering from an accident and needed her help. She hesitated with the haunting image she still had of her older sister who had died when she was 11 years old.

Yet her good friend encouraged her to go with the hope that she could resolve some issues of guilt. Claire was able to arrange a short-term rental with her NY apartment and headed south not realizing that this trip would change her life.

I found myself glued to the pages while relating to Claire’s dread of the hot SC summers. It was good she had bug spray for the nasty mosquitos and spiders that were eager to cause misery. As she was walking around at night, I cringed. I could feel her tension.

However, I had some unanswered questions with the story. I’ll never know some of the details of this mystery but I’ll remember the characters and racing through to get to the end.

My thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of August 26, 2025.

This was a good one! Definitely not my favourite of this authors, but I did enjoy it. I did find it a bit confusing since there were so many characters and storylines. But overall I did really enjoy this one!

I liked this book! It was a slow burn and at times I wished the pace would pick up but overall, I enjoyed it

I really enjoyed everything about this book! It kept me guessing the whole time. Thanks NetGalley for the arc!!

In Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham, Claire Campbell returns to her South Carolina small town after resigning from her city job as an investigative reporter. Her return isn’t easy, stirring up memories of the disappearance of her own sister twenty-two years earlier. Soon, she takes on a temporary summer job at a vineyard where her sister had once worked. With little money left to Claire’s name, a job in solitude will provide food and accommodation in a small cottage on the property. What does she have to lose?
Something about the vineyard owners is unsettling; she just can’t place a finger on it. After discovering an aged diary in the cottage, Claire is more determined than ever to unravel this mystery as well as the ones from her past.

Willingham’s prose paints an atmospheric setting which captures the eeriness of this Lowcountry thriller but also creates a slow burn to complement Claire’s need to get away from city life and go back in time. While Claire is from the South, being away in New York for so long has changed her, perhaps making her a bit more tenacious in her research as she reads further into the diary. Her time away allows Claire to see everything with fresh eyes—from the smallest details to the people tied to the original investigation. The novel’s pace starts off slowly, but Willingham’s writing gains momentum with the storyline alternating between present day and entries from the found diary. Some twists were expected, but others genuinely surprised me. I did enjoy the almost cult-like vibe given at the vineyard. A solid Southern thriller that will keep you turning the pages.

Thank you to Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and Stacy Willingham for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Stacy Willingham is one of those suspense writers that knows how to keep her readers on the edge of their seats with twists and turns until the very last page. With her newest thriller we follow Claire Campbell, a journalist currently in between jobs, who leaves NYC for her childhood home to visit her mom. With her visit, Claire is haunted by the memory of her sister who disappeared over 20 years ago. Claire goes on the hunt to retrace the steps of her sister to Galloway Farms, where she discovers a hidden diary that provides clues to the disappearance of other missing girls. This book was an excellent thriller! 4.5 stars for Forget Me Not. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press/Minotaur Books for the Advanced Digital Copy of this book for sharing my honest review.

I love this author's thrillers, so I was so excited to read this book! This book follows Claire who has just quit her job as a journalist and is going back home to help her mother. When she gets there, everything from her past comes to light and Claire must sort through all of the mysteries. This is a dark, twisty thriller. I could not see the twists coming, which makes this an amazing thriller in my mind. This might be my favorite book of hers.

The smell of salt lingered in the air as the rain made the marsh waters rise. The wind began gusting as the storm picked up its violence as she trudged her way across the muddy ground. Something sinister was lurking in this place and she felt like she going to be sucked into its vile presence.

Forget Me Not is a thriller following Claire, a freelance journalist who is struggling with her career. When her mom gets injured in an accident, she returns home to her small town… the small town her sister disappeared and was presumed murdered.

This book starts off really slow, the thriller aspects not truly kicking in until the 50% mark, reading more like a contemporary fiction with a mystery element in the first half. But the second half… wow! Definitely had me hooked and kept me flying through the chapters. Love Stacy’s writing and will say this one is worth the read even after a slow start.

Read if you like:

• Sister Relationships
• Amateur Sleuthing
• Psychological Thrillers
• Dual Timelines
• Small Town
• Cults
• Cold Cases

Enjoyable and fast-paced thriller. If some of the circumstances feel a tad too connected, there are enough surprising twists within the plot to keep the unraveling mystery interesting.

I have enjoyed books by this author, and really liked Flicker in the Dark, but unfortunately this one felt like a lot of other thriller books I've read in the past. There wasn't a ton of unique aspects in the storyline or the writing. Maybe I read too much of this genre and it takes a lot of creativity to impress me now? Idk. Portions were a little predictable, and I just felt like I struggled to want to pick it up and continue the story.