Stacy Willingham has easily become one of my favorite authors! I loved A Flicker in the Dark and knew this one wouldn’t disappoint. Now I need to read her other two books 🤗 Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy.

Claire has spent more than twenty years trying to forget the disappearance and supposed murder of her older sister. After loosing her job in the city, Claire goes back to her childhood home where time has stood still. She decides on a whim to accept a temporary job at Galloway Farm where her sister spent so much time all those years ago.
Once there, secrets start to unravel and when a hidden diary is found the pieces of the puzzle come together in shocking ways.

This book was slow to start for me but once she got to the farm, I was hooked! The secrets and twists were so shocking to me and I was flying through the book desperate to know more. Claire’s sister Natalie was such a mystery that even Claire herself didn’t know much initially about where she could have gone. I enjoyed how the connections were revealed and the short chapters left me on the edge of my seat so many times.

Thank you so much to Stacy Willingham, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for this ARC of Forget Me Not.

Stacy Willingham is the queen of atmospheric reads. Every time I pick up her novels I feel like I’m being transported to these small southern towns and that I’ve known these characters for years. This book follows Claire, a journalist, who is trying to feel closer to her sister after her disappearance and presumed murder 22 years previously.

I love how the majority of this story followed Claire but was interrupted by pieces of Marcia’s journal. The dual POVs and timelines made this book easy to fly through. I love how Willingham was able to weave this story and I truly didn’t see the final twist.

This book was amazing, I will definitely be thinking about it for weeks to come. I think this is Willingham’s best work since her debut novel. 5/5 stars!

Absolutely amazing! This is my second book by this author and I loved this book as well.

Here we have our main character Claire who just lost her job and her dad calls her home. She is still grieving her older sister’s disappearance and going back home will only hurt but she decides to go. Once she goes back home she gets a job offer at a local farm where her older sister worked the last summer before she disappeared. Claire takes the job and what seemed to be very straightforward but then she finds some diary and starts reading it. What seems like a sweet and loving story turns dark very quickly and Claire now is thinking if her sister disappearance is somehow linked to this. Absolutely loved it!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC.

Another 5 star read and I honestly didn’t expect anything less. I absolutely loved the dual POVs between the 80’s and present day setting in motion a series of disappearances spanning over decades. The plot was so addicting and there were so many mysteries to solve throughout and realizations that I wouldn’t have expected. And of course, everything was tied up in the satisfying ending! I’ve been a fan of Stacy’s writing since A Flicker in the Dark and I’ll continue throwing out 5 stars for every book she publishes 😎

4.25 stars. One of my favorite things about Stacy Willingham is her ability to create atmospheric and Gothic Southern settings! She also has a way of developing compelling characters and I was immediately drawn into Claire’s story. Told through alternating past and present timelines, I enjoyed Claire’s relentless search for her sister, especially as she uncovers clues in the diary that connect both past and present crimes.

Confronting her own past, Claire’s grief and unresolved trauma over the loss of her sister played a central role in this story. As someone who is also close with my sisters, I could understand her determination to find out the truth. This story is packed with so many layers of secrets and lies and I was surprised by several of the twists at the end!

If you’re looking for a Southern thriller filled with unreliable characters, family secrets, a decades-old-disappearance, and an unsettling cult vibe, definitely consider reading this one!

**4.5 Stars**

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s sister Natalie vanished just after her eighteenth birthday. Blood was found, a suspect was arrested, and the case was closed—too quickly. Since then, Claire has buried her trauma and built a career as an investigative journalist, far from home. But when her father calls unexpectedly, she's drawn back to confront the past she tried to forget.
With a long summer ahead in her childhood town and tension at home with her estranged mother, Claire takes a seasonal job at Galloway Farm, a vineyard not far from where Natalie disappeared. What begins as a peaceful escape soon unravels into something darker. Claire discovers an old diary belonging to one of the vineyard’s owners—what starts as a tale of young love spirals into chilling references to unsolved crimes.
As Claire digs deeper, the lines between past and present blur, and she begins to suspect that Natalie’s disappearance may be connected to secrets buried at Galloway. What was meant to be a fresh start turns into a haunting journey into a mystery far from over.
𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
As a fan of true crime, I was really drawn to the eerie, cult-like elements woven throughout this story. The book is packed with twists—some I saw coming, but others completely caught me off guard (in the best way!). The setting was atmospheric and the author’s descriptive writing really brought it to life.
The suspense built steadily as the plot progressed, keeping me engaged the whole way through. Toward the end, a cascade of secrets and revelations tied everything together perfectly, answering all the lingering questions.
This isn’t a jump-scare kind of thriller—it's more of a psychological slow burn that gets under your skin with its creepy undertones.
If you enjoy a story full of secrets, plot twists, and mystery with a chilling psychological edge, this one’s worth picking up.

Thank You @Netgalley and @St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for allowing me to review this book.

What a wild ride!! This book somehow managed to intertwine all of the storylines and characters into a beautiful web that I didn't want to leave. I never knew where we were headed which is my favorite feeling when reading these types of books. The characters were intriguing and complex and constantly kept me wondering and on my toes. Exactly what a thriller should be!!

Another winner from Stacy Willingham! I was hooked from the start. The Southern vineyard setting was moody and mysterious, and the alternating chapters between Claire’s story and the old diary added such a fun (and creepy) layer to the mystery.

I loved how the past and present slowly started to connect—just when you think you know where it's going, something twists. Claire’s return home to face her sister’s disappearance pulled me in, but the diary is what really made things addictive. The suspense just builds and builds.

If you're into small-town secrets, buried pasts, and stories that unravel one clue at a time, Forget Me Not is one to put on your list.

Huge thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Stacy Willingham does it again. While A Flicker in the Dark still holds the top spot for me, Forget Me Not came very close. I’ve heard people call this one a slow burn, and I’d agree—but don’t mistake that for boring. I was on edge the entire time because I knew something wild was coming. And when it all came together? My mind was blown. Even the hunches I had didn’t come close to revealing the full picture.

This book is heartbreaking, stressful (in the absolute best thriller-y way), twisty, and just flat-out amazing. Stacy Willingham knows exactly what she’s doing, and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

This was another excellent thriller from Stacy Willingham. It was exciting and engaging. I couldn't wait to figure out what happened next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book! I have to admit, it took me a few chapters before I was hooked but once I got further in this book had me in a grasp. A definitive must read, Forget Me Not should go to the top of your TBR come August!

After previously reading two other works by Stacy Willingham and loving one of them, I had high hopes for Forget Me Not. The plot description checked all the boxes - mystery, flashback with diary entry, creepy Southern farm, but the book really fell short. Most of the story revolves around the inner monologue of Claire, an unemployed journalist living in New York, as she works through solving the mystery of her missing sister. Claire's sister has been missing for 22 years and when her mother suffers an accident she returns to her hometown to help her. Claire ends up leaving her mother's house to live and work at the same vineyard where her sister spent most of her last summer. The story got a little more exciting once Claire discovered the diary of the wife of the vineyard owner hidden in her guesthouse; however, Claire's character remained unlikeable - consistently missing important clues and making ridiculous mistakes throughout. The plot really picked up at the end, but by that point it was almost too late and there were many things that did not make sense. Spoiler alert: If Liam read the diary, how did he not know that his real mom was dead? If Liam knew Marcia was buried underneath the shed, how did he not know his real mom was dead? If there were three bodies buried beneath the shed, why didn't it smell? Everything just worked out a little too conveniently in order to make the plot twists sustainable. Willingham's writing is overly descriptive to the point where it's a bit much including her overuse of figurative language making paragraphs drag out, phrases with the word "still," "bubbling up," and once using "vastly different" twice within the same page. Hopefully her next novel will live up to her book All the Dangerous Things instead of falling short like A Flicker in the Dark.

Let me wade through my brain fog-inducing book hangover to string together coherent sentences to describe what just happened (I.e. how much I enjoyed this book...).

22 years after the disappearance (and presumed murder) of her 18 year-old sister, Claire Campbell gets a call summoning her back to her hometown. The timing is right - she's just quit her job at a journal to go freelance - so she begrudgingly heads "home" for the summer for the first time since she left for New York after high school graduation.

While her stay is much shorter than planned, an old shoebox in her sister's room - full of long forgotten memories and an even longer forgotten roll of undeveloped film - leads her to Galloway Farm, where her sister worked during the summer before she disappeared. With lots of time to spare (she can't head back to the city so soon and the film, she's learned, will take weeks to develop), Claire takes a job on the farm: a decision which sets off a domino effect she could never have foreseen. A forgotten diary cracks open Claire's world and leads her down a clue-riddled trail towards answers she never knew she needed, and, reader, is it ever a wild ride.

Forget Me Not is an electric, fast paced thriller that you will not be able to put down. Just when I thought I knew where it was headed, Willingham pulled the rug from under me in the best way and left me guessing (and surprised) all the way until the end. The characters were so well written and fully developed that they felt like familiar friends or people from my own hometown. The writing was great, per Willingham's usual, and the dual narrative was effective and really added to the story. Honestly I have not been able to stop thinking about this one and it's been a few weeks. 10/10 recommend for fans of the author and the genre more broadly. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Stacy Willingham is an auto buy for me. Unfortunately, 2025 has mostly been misses with my auto buy authors so I approached Forget Me Not with caution. Fortunately for my will to live, Stacy Willingham delivers again. I love a sister book. I love her writing and love love her story telling. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to NetGalley and the publishers for the gift of this book. Please pre-order. Read and listen to this if you haven’t yet. Trust me on this giving me the hope of it all or at least of my tbr.
Thank you Stacy for writing this book and for your continued consistency 🥹

Forget Me Not is about a young woman, Nathalie, who has been missing and presumed dead for 22 years and the remaining sister, Claire, who hasn't been able to come to terms with it in all that time. Claire returns to her hometown and gets a job at a nearby farm where Natalie had worked before her disappearance. Claire finds an old diary at this farm and finds some possible connections to Natalie.

This was such a page turner and although much of the plot is deliberately predictable, there were enough twists to the predictability that it was not always clear where everything was going to end up. More mystery than thriller, this story had many secrets to discover to keep me interested.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Thanks netgalley for the ARC!

I have to say, this was not my favorite of Stacy Willingham’s books. This was very slow paced, and I didn’t really find myself getting hooked until I was about 80% done with it. Even then, I wasn’t dying to know what happened next. I was kind of just trying to finish it so I could move onto the next book.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This had a slow start but it definitely didn't stay that way. There were times when I wanted to reach into the story and slap some sense into Claire lol but the story definitely had my heart rate up. Good twists, good story (cult vibes which I LOVE) and great ending. Stacy Willingham has yet to disappoint me! Go ahead and add this one to your tbr.

A must-read author favorite of mine - Willingham does it again. The story contains suspenseful moments and details about the crime you want to pay attention to. It's a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I love Stacy Willingham’s books so when I saw this was on NetGalley I had to read it! This was so good! It did a great job keeping me guessing! There were a good amount of twists throughout the book. But the ending?? Oh my goodness! That had even more good twists I did not see coming! I’m also big on closures and this book did a pretty good job at giving me all the closure I needed. I would definitely recommend this book!