Claire has spent 12 years building a career as a journalist, hiding in other people's stories from her own tragic past: her older sister, Natalie, went missing in 2002 and is presumed dead. Crime scene evidence sent Natalie's then-boyfriend to jail for life. But when Claire's mom needs help recovering from a car accident, Claire heads home to the sleepy small town she happily left in her rearview after her sister's disappearance. Being back brings up all kinds of memories, and she starts spending time at the Galloway vineyard where Natalie worked during her last summer. The journalist in Claire starts asking questions immediately, about the vineyard owners, why they don't hire "outsiders" anymore, and whether Natalie's disappearance might have had more to do with her time there than the guy she was seeing. Can Claire uncover the truth behind Galloway or will she become its next victim?

This was an engrossing mystery that kept me guessing all the way to the end, which doesn't happen very often. It got a little convoluted at times when the side plots bogged down the progress, but those all tied together eventually for a pretty satisfying conclusion that answered all my questions. Some of the characters had more depth than others, though that was likely the point so as not to reveal too much too soon.

Now, will I remember this one in a month? Probably not. I'm not sure it's one that will stick with me, unlike Willingham's first book, A Flicker in the Dark. However, her writing draws you right in and makes you want to keep going to find out what happens next...and in a mystery, you can't ask for much more than that.

**Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!**

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

The story follows a young woman with a dark past. Claire has been living in NYC ever since she graduated high school, however, she is forced to return to her hometown to face the past. She uses her journalism background to uncover the truth of what happened to her sister 22 years ago, as well as other dark truths lurking under the surface of the idyllic southern town.

The thriller felt a bit slow in the beginning, however, many many details were later pulled in and added to the plot. The story and plot twists were very satisfying and didn’t seem outlandish (aka not just for the shock value). The FMC does do some questionable things, however, it stayed within the realm of possibility. The last 25% of the book did a fabulous job tying together all of the small clues sprinkled throughout the book.

Overall, great read!

I LOVED this book! I am so grateful to receive an ARC for this and it was so good. The plot, the characters, the suspense. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! I love a good thriller in between reading my fantasy novels and this hit perfectly!!!

Historically speaking, I have really enjoyed Willingham's novels. I wasn't the biggest fan of Only If You're Lucky. It jut fell a bit flat for me. But I was very excited when I began Forget Me Not. And it didn't disappoint. I really liked the journey. And there were several jaw dropping moments that I truly, TRULY, didn't see coming. I thought for sure that I had so much worked out. I was starting to get a bit annoyed at how perfect it was all playing itself out. And then, WHAM, I was gasping and shaking my head.
It's giving southern familial dynamics meets the Mason family meets badass girl journalist/detective vibes. I was thoroughly invested in all the characters and their storylines. And although it's only written in two different perspectives, all of the other characters are fully fleshed out and so complex. Our main character is on a journey to discover truths that have been expertly hidden for decades. In the end she ends up finding so much more than truth. She finds herself and is able to mend and heal.
Overall, this was a solid read. Since it is an ARC there were some grammatical issues that I came across. But in the end this was a great book for me and I am excited to see what Willingham comes up with next.

Great storytelling and character development. Full of emotional dilemmas, mystery, and suspense. The attention to detail made me feel like I was there, like it was a true story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Synopsis: NYC journalist Claire returns home in the summer to South Carolina when her mother is injured. Claire is forced to face the memories of her sister who went missing 22 years prior. When her mother's unease to have Claire home becomes apparent, she is drawn instead to the place her sister was last employed. Claire is fascinated by her sister's time at Galloway Farms, the owners, and an offer to work there for the summer.

This book was intriguing from start to finish. The author goes between our FMC's POV and a diary she finds. Claire uses her journalist skills to try and work through the mystery of the people her sister worked for and ultimately what happened all those years ago.

The character essentially going undercover at such an isolated, cut-off from the world, farm is a bit frustrating but believable as she is a journalist. It helps add to the suspense and build up for the conclusion. The twist wasn't too easily predictable and leaves the reader satisfied with the outcome. I really enjoyed the book and am happy to have gotten this ARC.

Solid 4 star read ⭐⭐⭐⭐

though I’m not very good at solving mysteries I still try and this book was no exception. Stacy added in multiple timelines this time and I was not sure how enjoyable that would be in a thriller, but I found that the flash backs sucked me so deeply into the story that I couldn’t put the book down.

What if you could look into someone’s diary? What if you found that diary hidden in a vent? Would you read it? Would you tell them? Claire had a choice of make and she chose to let a story unfold. This book had murder, missing girls, broken families, found families and so many lies. Lines were crossed and secrets were uncovered in the most wonderful and chaotic way.

I cannot wait for you guys to get your hands on this book! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

I enjoyed her other books and wanted to read this one. It was an ok read. I would encourage others to read it. My one critique, I found it to be slow. This is not a bad thing because it was a decent read.

Sharp twists and secrets you won’t see coming.
Thank you, St Martins Press,  for the gifted copy of Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham {partner}
 
Genre: Mystery
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date:   8.26.2025
Pages: 336
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Ohhhh, y’all—this book is SO good. You do not want to miss Willingham’s newest southern thriller.

I genuinely had no idea where the story was headed, but it pulled me in from the start and didn’t let go. I found myself trying to savor each chapter while racing through the pages to figure out what would happen next.

And let me tell you—I never could’ve predicted where it would go. Willingham knocked it out of the park with Forget Me Not. I honestly want to go back and reread it just to catch all the clues I must’ve missed the first time. That’s one of my favorite things in a thriller: when an author plays fair but still manages to surprise me.

It’s truly an art to create a story with a setting that’s both eerie and magnetic and characters that are layered and completely compelling. This one had all of that and more.

Read if you enjoy:
🎭Family Drama
😳 Isolated Setting
🤯 Dark & Twisty
👏🏼 Atmospheric
📖 Southern Thrillers

I recommend adding this to your summer reading list, as it won't disappoint you!

It was slow at times, but I didn't mind that at all. That eerie feeling of the Farm and its occupants, always following you, made this much more thrilling. I loved the present and the past timelines.
While I did see the outcome of the story coming, which is why I took away a star, the writing was compelling enough to make me enjoy this story very much.

This book was pretty good, not my favorite Stacy Willingham but I think she will always be an auto-buy author for me. I was engaged the entire time but wasn't fully in love with the cult like aspect.

Stacy Willingham’s best yet! I’ve read her other two thrillers and Forget Me Not is my absolute favourite. Going to have to call a chiropractor after all the whiplash this plot gave me. Sooooo good!
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Claire Campbell’s sister Natalie disappeared 22 years ago, just after her 18th birthday. A man was arrested, the case was closed, and Claire did everything she could to forget it all: moving to the city and throwing herself into her work as an investigative journalist. But when her father calls her home to coastal South Carolina for the summer, she reluctantly returns and ends up taking a seasonal job at a local vineyard.

Galloway Farm seems peaceful at first… but then Claire finds an old diary, and what starts off as a story of young love turns very dark, very fast. Unsolved crimes, buried secrets, and a creeping suspicion that her sister’s disappearance might not be as settled as she thought.

If you love a moody Southern setting, layered family trauma, and twists that actually land, you need this book on your TBR.

Forget Me Not started slowly, and I was more that a bit irritated with the main protagonist, Claire Campbell. Claire has just been passed over for a promotion, her freelance writing gig is non existent, and hrer dad has called and asked her to come home to South Carolina to help take care of her mother. When Claire arrives home, she immediately begins to think about her older sister, Natalie Campbell, who went missing 22 years ago. When Claire finds a box of photos in her sister's mausoleum of a room, she decides to go to her last place of employment - a winery called Galloway Farm. She decides to take a summer job there, earn some extra cash, and try to pull herself together. Of course, the farm is strange from the get-go, and Claire just continues to investigate with no internet, a dying phone, and a strange owner that gives her the creeps. When she finds an old diary hidden in the guest cottage she is staying in, she finds the story of a young woman named Marcia, who ran away from home to live in a commune called "the farm". Reading the diary, Claire begins to piece together the story, and realizes her sisters disappearance may have an entirely different ending than police though. The last quarter of the novel was exciting, but I don't enjoy plot devices that rely on smart women doing stupid things. An entertaining summer mystery if you can stick to the end. Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.

This book started out and felt like it could almost turn into a romance, but then it slowly got dark. It was a slow burn mystery that kept me guessing until the end. There were some twists and turns and a satisfying ending. It was a great read!

Make no mistake- even though this is a slow-burn thriller, it will haunt you. I've come to depend on Stacy Willingham for wholly unique and fascinating thrillers and this one is no exception. The dread will settle in your bones and in your heart

Stacey Willingham never misses. What a great book to get me out of my reading slump. Twists at every turn and wonderful descriptive writing. I can’t wait to read another.

One of my fave stories of the year so far! It’s a slow start but once the diary is found it’s hard to put the book down. The characters and the decisions they make are so interesting and complex with the twists that come along making sense while still being a twist. Truly one of her best works!

I loved A Flicker in the Dark so I was very excited to receive this ARC. Stacy has an amazing writing style, her stories are outlined well and the pacing is fantastic. All of this is true in Forget Me Not. The setting was also immersive, and I felt fully engrossed in the story from the beginning. However, all that being said, I did find the plot to be predictable, which is what made this story fall a little shorter than 5 stars for me. Overall I would still recommend this one!

Forget me not by Stacy Willingham

Claire’s older sister had disappeared shortly after her 18th birthday. This has haunted Claire since she was a small child. She remembered everything about her older sister idolizing her, and she felt like it was all her fault that she never mentioned anything to her family after the disappearance of her sister.

Now decades later, Claire is still haunted by the trauma of her childhood and she is living her dream as an investigative journalist and gets passed over for a job opportunity Claire decides to take a job at the Galloway farm. Which is a vineyard that her sister worked at prior to her death. Hoping to take some sort of a reprieve from her trauma she comes across a journal that plunges her back into her dark traumatic past.
The first part of this book was fantastically written, and I was immersed wholeheartedly, but then it seemed like the remainder of the book fell flat. I suggest this to readers that enjoy that slow burn and the thriller aspect but it just hit wrong at the end for me.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martins press for this arc.

Stacy Willingham stuns in her new southern thriller: Forget Me Not!

I am no stranger to Stacy Willingham's novels; needless to say, this one did not disappoint. Forget Me Not was a slower thriller than her previous books, building the suspense through seemingly mundane domestic interactions rather than the pulse-racing plot devices of her last books. While it was a slow pace, I was just as engrossed when she finally peeled back the layers to reveal the truth behind Galloway Farms and Natalie Campbell's disappearance. I especially LOVED the sort of dual timeline used in the novel. The flashbacks reminded me much of A Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, if it were a thriller. Regarding characters, I enjoyed Claire Campbell as a narrator and the intricacies of the secrets surrounding the supporting characters. My favorite Stacy Willingham book will forever be Only if You're Lucky, but her books will receive five stars from me until the end of time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this novel. Forget Me Not is out everywhere books are sold on August 26th, 2025!!