Forget Me Not had an intriguing premise, and I was eager to see where the story would go. Unfortunately, the pacing just didn’t work for me. It moved too slowly, and I found myself having a hard time staying engaged through the middle sections. There were moments that felt repetitive or overly drawn out, which made it a challenge to stay fully invested.

That said, I did appreciate how everything came together in the end. The final reveal was satisfying and tied up the threads in a way that felt earned. Stacy Willingham’s writing style is atmospheric and polished, and she clearly knows how to build suspense—this one just took a bit too long to get there for my liking.

Readers who enjoy slow-burn mysteries with a strong payoff might enjoy this more than I did.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another great thriller by Stacy Willingham! This book took me for a ride and kept me interested the whole time. Just when I thought I knew who the killer was, the book went in a completely different direction. It was a fun mystery to read and I can’t wait for more books to come by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

More mystery than thriller! Somewhat predictable plot with enough little twists to keep you guessing.

This was my third time reading Stacy Willingham’s work and it’s safe to say she has now been added to my auto-read/auto-buy author list!

This story follows Claire, a journalist living in New York, who reluctantly returns to her small hometown in South Carolina after receiving a call from her father asking for her help with her mother. While home, she accepts a seasonal job in a neighboring town on vineyard called Galloway Farm motivated by the memory of her sister, Natalie, who also worked there 20 years ago. While working at Galloway, she finds an old diary that sends Claire scrambling to solve several unsolved crimes.

This book was wild, there were so many twists it really kept me on my toes. It was fast paced and I loved the dual pov that switched between the present and the past.
Some things that I loved:
The vivid descriptions; I felt like I was in the South with the oppressive heat and humidity!
The mystery; I was questioning everything and everyone and I was loving it.
The characters; the FMC and side characters all had really interesting backstories and worked well for the plot.
Some things I would have changed:
I would have liked to read more diary entries and/or of the past.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC of Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham.

This book was captivating and the twists kept coming! Claire Campbell is a journalist in NYC; kind of down and out as she recently left her position due to an arsehole boss. One day she gets a call from her estranged dad to ask if she could come home to SC to help her estranged mom after an accident. She hasn’t been home in 20 years. Her sister disappeared 20 years ago. The man who killed her away in prison. With blood evidence the case was closed.

She decides to pickup a job for the summer at Galloway Farms; the place her 18 year old sister worked the summer before she disappeared.

She ends up finding the diary of the mistress of Galloway Farms and begins to investigate the things that just do not seem right to her.

I picture this book as a snowball coming down a mountain getting bigger and bigger until It explodes at the bottom. The diary and the story within the story were spot on and me as the reader was left wondering what the heck happened back then. I loved Claire’s investigative skills, her tenacity and also her bravery. There were a couple scenes in this book that made me a little scared.

As with A Flicker In The Dark, I was completely here for this story. The ending tied up all the loose ends too and I felt satisfied with the fact I knew exactly what happened.

5 stars and Stacy Willingham is an author I know wait for her next book to come out!

3.75 stars

Stacy Willingham delivers another well-written thriller in Forget Me Not, showcasing her talent for crafting an intriguing premise and complex characters. The story is layered and suspenseful, and with Willingham’s beautiful prose it flows seamlessly.

That said, the beginning felt really slow, and it took me a while to feel truly invested in the story. The plot did gradually gain some momentum but I did find myself continually wishing for things to pick up pace.

Willingham weaved an intricate thriller, delivering some good twists. I was able to predict several of them before they happened but those few that caught me off guard were really well executed.

Fans of Willingham’s previous work or those who enjoy slow-burning suspense will likely enjoy this one.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The latest thriller from Stacy Willingham lives up to much of the hype - it's tense and kept me guessing until the end. While it slowed for me in some places, I really liked the setting and could see myself as Claire, living in the small quarters on the farm, picking grapes, digging to discover what happened to her sister. The twist was surprising - I definitely didn't expect the book to go in the direction it did. I'd recommend for fans of Stacy's previous thrillers and anyone who is looking for a suspenseful read this summer.

Claire is stuck in life, running away from her family and her sister's murder. when her mom had an accident, she returns home to the life she never wanted. In desperation to start over, Claire takes a job at the vineyard where her sister used to work. Claire quickly become obsessed with the farm and the people there. She gets in over her head with all the secrets she's trying to unravel.

The first 200 pages felt really slow to me. And I was thinking to myself how are we going to wrap up something that hadn't really begun in so few pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending.

3.5 ⭐

It's no secret that I've had my eye on Stacy Willingham's upcoming release for a while now. Having loved her first thriller a few years ago, I've been eager to get my hands on Forget Me Not. Willingham excels at crafting a chilling atmosphere that seeps into the reader's senses like a dense fog. The slow burn of ever-growing unease had my heart in my throat. It was utterly disturbing, and I was here for that. I did, however, feel like this one started out strong with a compelling set-up and then started to lag a bit in the middle. The closer it got to the end, the more unbelievable it became, and I struggled to suspend disbelief to the extent needed here. Forget Me Not has received a lot of early rave reviews, and while it didn't quite live up to the hype for me personally, I did still enjoy it, and I can't wait to see what Willingham publishes in the future.

The “thrill” took awhile. While the writing and prose were well done, the plot line of Forget Me Not, had a slow, monotonous trajectory. Story events often felt like a stretch - disconnected in a way. The ending rapidly picked up speed, but wish this could’ve been true for the entire premise. 2.5-2.75 star rating.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of this book by an author I have really enjoyed in the past. Our main character Claire a journalist returns home for the summer with the murder of her sister years ago looming in her thoughts. Many unanswered questions. Claire decides to start working at the farm that her sister worked the last summer of her life....Claire starts learning things she wished she didn't...a great thriller with many unexpected twists. Claire is a strong, sympathetic main character. I really enjoyed this book. Very well written.

This book was INCREDIBLE!!! I ate it up SO FAST!! It had like a zillion twists and I didn’t see NOT A ONE coming!! The number of times I yelled out WHAT!? Was unreal. Just might be her best book yet!!

This was an engrossing story about a journalist trying to find answers for her sisters death. It was an intricate story, and I found myself not wanting to put it down. There were a number of characters and twists but everything was tied up nicely at the end.

Stacy delivers AGAIN. THIS one had me stressed & thinking I had it figured out ! Did I ? Absolutely NOT😩😂😂 ! truths memory, and obsession are the 3 words I think trying to describe this story ! Like Lucy Ho is you COO?😂😂✋🏾 that's all imma say onTHAT. Her sister’s long-ago disappearance still haunts her so badly & of course another girl goes missing under the same ah similar circumstances. Lucy can't trust a THING even her damn self 😩 . This mind twist gives insanity & excitement! Just what I want in a thriller. This is my second read from her & again I wasn't disappointed! Thankyou NetGalley & Stacy !

Thank you Minotaur Books for the gifted digital ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was entertaining and kept me flipping pages, but it didn't have the same "omg I NEED to know what happens next" factor that Willingham's previous books have had for me. While overall it was a good read, it was ultimately my least favorite by this author.

There was, however, one really big twist that definitely took me by surprise! I have mentioned it in several reviews but that's always something I love in thrillers. Gotta keep me on my toes!

Forget Me Not pub date is August 26.

Wow! Stacy Willingham does it again! Knocks this one clean out of the park. Fantastic characters that kept me burning the midnight oil. This was a roller coaster ride that had me wondering who to trust. Excellent storytelling.
Thank you NetGalley, Stacy Willingham and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me the ARC of this book. Wow! What a twisty, page-turning story! The author wrote a very good book that had me turning the pages quickly, and I didn’t want to stop reading when it was time for bed. I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a Lifetime movie. I don’t watch them, but reading the story was fun.

Such a beautiful and magnetic writing style. I loved this unique style of switching timelines through the mysterious pages of a diary. So many characters intertwined in unexpected ways and a mystery unraveling perfectly. I couldn't put this book down, I had to know what was going to happen next. Really enjoyed the writing style of this author and will absolutely seek out more from her to read!

I am not sure if this one is my fault or not because I went into this one blind without reading the synopsis. I just knew I usually like Stacy Willingham’s work, so I should like this one too.
I really enjoyed the beginning 1/3 of this book. I enjoyed the characters, and the set up. At that point I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go but I was enjoying the ride. It was not until Claire, our MC, got to the vineyard that everything went downhill for me. I was so bored. I had no idea where the plot was going. I thought the book was going to be more about her trying to find out information about her sister’s death, but then we started reading these old journal entries and the story lost me. It started to go in a direction I didn’t care for. It also felt like a lot of telling us (by reading the journal entries) than showing us, or having Claire do any detective work, even though she’s an investigative journalist.
I thought that maybe the ending was going to pick up speed and surprise me, however that was not the case. The ending just didn’t have any impact on me whatso ever.
Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. I will still read this author because I have enjoyed previous works and I would recommend those over this one.

I really enjoyed this novel and would definitely recommend it. It didn’t feel as formulaic as your typical thriller novel. I also really enjoyed the two timeline perspective and found both main characters to be engaging and compelling.