Every time I read a Stacey Willingham book, I get the same vibe: she writes thrillers for older white women who sip Chardonnay, pop Xanax like breath mints, and start snooping around the neighborhood because their kids just left for college—and honestly, I love it.

Once again, she’s delivered a fun, fast-paced thriller that had me completely hooked. I finished it in a single day. Her writing is sharp, the tension is well-paced, and even when I think I know where it’s going, there’s always a little twist waiting for me. I truly don’t have a single negative thing to say about any of her books—she knows her lane and she absolutely owns it.

This was a ride that I was fully invested in, but the ending/answers felt anticlimactic and non-sensical.

When the fmc goes on a retreat, she finds herself in a web of mystery and begins to wonder if its not a coincidence. She notices things may be closer to home that she initially thought. She tangles herself in a diary she found that has clues scattered throughout. As true to this author's style, she keeps you engaged.

Forget Me Not is another master mystery. Stacy Willingham knocked this one out of the park. Narration was great!

4/5
This was a wild ride. I enjoyed how everything kind of connected and most people you met played some part in moving the story along.

This was a well written and twisty thriller. The atmosphere was so well done and I kept wanting to turn the page (figuratively as it was an audiobook). It was a tad bit unrealistic which is the reason for the not perfect score but overall I would definitely recommend and it was super enjoyable.

It’s been a long time since I got a mystery thriller that delivered a plot that surprised me with a twist that I didn’t fully see coming. But Forget Me Not delivered that! I found that the plot was woven very well together. I really like how the background of our other character we see was told via a diary and how that played out in the end. Claire really just wants to know what happened to her sister and I can see that her wanting to find out the truth led her to become a reporter and searching for the truth by being one.
I have had this author on my radar for a while and I don’t know why I have put her off this long. Now it makes me want to go back and read the rest especially via audio.
The audio production was fantastic. I forget when listening to Helen Laser that her voices are so good that the switching between voices are so seamless it tricks me into thinking it is more than one person. And then when we got to the parts where they use the second narrator for the diary, I really enjoyed that as well! A fantastic audio overall and one I would recommend!

Thank you to Macmillan audio for the complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Stacy Willingham does it again with “Forget Me Not”. From the beginning of this audiobook it captivated my attention. Nostalgia, regret, remorse Claire seeks to find what happened to her sister, who previously went missing 22 years prior. I enjoyed Claire as she uncovered the suspicious nature of her sisters disappearance, the time on the farm, and those that surrounded her. The diary entries of Martha kept my attention and made me want to try to figure out what happened. So many twists and turns, this definitely was entertaining and enjoyable to read! For those of us that have lost a loved one, it remains impressed upon us and no matter what kind of closure we seek, there are those we hold dear who we cannot forget. Thank you MacMillan Audio for this ARC, NetGalley, and Stacy Willingham! Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker also did a wonderful job of narrating this audiobook and they were entertaining as the story unfolded! I will be recommending to my friends for a good slow burn, suspense, and cold case mystery!

Karissa vacker is my go-to for thriller audiobooks. I love her male voice too. This book was fantastic. I love Stacey Willigham and this was just another great thriller by her. The end literally had me so stressed i love when that happens.

Another great thriller by Stacy Willingham! This is an excelletnt slow-burn mystery that has a constant sense of unease from start to finish. I was fortunate to get the audiobook for this which has two narrators who are both fantastic and enhance the story.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies of this book.

Stacy Willingham books have been on my TBR for a while and I’m so glad I snagged an ARC of her upcoming release!

Forget Me Not centers around Claire, whose sister disappeared 22 years ago. After quitting her job to go freelance as an investigative journalist and going home to help her mother after an accident, she finds herself with a temporary job at Galloway Vineyards and immersed in the same world as when her sister disappeared. As Claire uncovers clues and details from that final summer, she finds more than she bargained for and she quickly realizes just how dangerous of a game she’s playing.

I really enjoyed this thriller! It immediately had my attention and I found myself swept up in the story. Willingham’s writing is incredibly descriptive, really setting the scene and making you feel like you’re there. Written in alternating timelines and dual POV’s including diary entries, this book is a complicated family drama, pushing boundaries and questioning what it means to be a family. An underlying sense of dread pervades this book and I thought I had the story pegged, thinking it was predictable until suddenly it wasn’t and I was left reeling.

Forget Me Not has me hooked on Stacy Willingham’s style, and I can’t wait to read more of her books!

🎧: I’m so glad this was dual narration, alternating based on the two POV’s in the book. The narration was excellent, both perfectly cast to the characters and making a complicated story appear seamless.

Claire lost her older sister Natalie and later she was found dead. This crushed her family. Her parents divorced, she left South Carolina to work in NYC when she was an adult. But after her mother had an accident and needed help, her father called her to come stay with her mother. Reluctantly, Claire returns home.

She snoops a bit in Natalie's old room finding some interesting things until. She overhears her mother tell her father, she doesn't need or want Claire home. So Claire decides to work nearby on a farm.

At times, I couldn't read/ listen fast enough as I desperately wanted to know what was going to happen. Described as "pulse-pounding" was accurate!

My thanks to Net Galley and Minotaur Books for an advanced copy of this e-book. And to Macmillian Audio & Net Galley for an advanced copy of the audiobook. I appreciate the male and female narrators which enhanced the storytelling of this book!

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. I will say, the audiobook narration was extremely well done and very compelling, which is probably the main reason I stuck with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Twenty-two years after her sister vanished, a woman returns home to South Carolina to confront her past.

WHERE'S MY WATERING CAN????

Soooo much flowery prose.

As a result, this book dragged.

And dragged.

And dragged.

I enjoyed Stacy Willingham's earlier releases, so perhaps my expectations were set too high.

I listened to the audiobook, expertly narrated by Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker.

Both narrators did a superb job.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

Fresh out of a job and still grieving the loss of her sister, Natalie, who went missing twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell leaves New York and returns home to South Carolina, where she is confronted with unresolved questions about what really happened to her sister that fateful summer. When she decides to take a job at the local vineyard, the last place her sister ever worked, she has no idea just how many buried secrets she may unearth there.

This story is incredibly haunting. The prose, atmospheric nature, dark themes, and setting all make for a really eerie backdrop within which to drop these very interesting characters. The characters themselves are fully fleshed out and could just as easily exist off the page as on; pretty scary considering one or more of them may be murderers.

Willingham keeps the reader on their toes consistently. There were so many fantastic twists and turns along the way, many of which I did not see coming. When it is over, you can look back and see the breadcrumbs missed; everything making sense when all is said and done. If I have just one small criticism, it is that the pacing was slightly wonky, with a few chapters feeling much slower than others. That said, I was able to quickly push past that issue because of how engaged I was with the overarching story.

Of note, there is one aspect of the writing itself that I am still incredibly confused about. The journal Claire finds and reads is told entirely in the 3rd person, not 1st. I have never seen that before, and I am still questioning the decision to do so.

I had originally given this book a solid 4.5 star rating rounded up, which I felt good about. But given the fact that I cannot stop thinking about the plot or characters, I had to bump it up to the full five stars.

Read if you like:
▪️domestic suspense
▪️true crime vibes
▪️family dramas
▪️southern thrillers
▪️isolated settings
▪️binge-worthy books

🎧 The audiobook is just as fantastic as the ebook. Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker do a fantastic job of keeping these characters distinct and bringing the story, especially the eerie aspect of it, it life.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.

In Forget Me Not, journalist Claire Campbell returns to her coastal South Carolina hometown years after her sister Natalie vanished without a trace. Hoping for a quiet summer, she takes a job at a nearby vineyard, only to discover a hidden diary filled with chilling details about unsolved crimes. As Claire unravels the entries, she begins to suspect a connection to her sister’s disappearance. What was meant to be a peaceful escape quickly becomes a gripping search for answers buried in the past.

I was given an advance copy of this audiobook to review, and I found it completely engaging and enjoyable. Lately, I’ve been feeling fatigued by thrillers that recycle the same tired plots or rely on protagonists who make frustratingly poor decisions. But not this one. This story is smart, layered, and perfectly paced, with a mystery that unfolds in such a satisfying way. Claire is a thoughtful and capable protagonist who pieces together the truth bit by bit, and I loved following her logic as the tension steadily built.

Nothing about the plot felt obvious, and I truly appreciated being kept in the dark, allowed to experience the reveals without the pressure to constantly guess what was coming. That’s what I crave in a great thriller, trusting the story to lead me somewhere worth waiting for.

The audiobook narration was also a standout. Karissa Vacker and Helen Laser each gave distinct, expressive voices to the female characters, adding another layer of depth to the experience. It’s refreshing to see more audiobooks using multiple narrators to fully bring the story to life, and I really hope this trend continues.

This was such an enjoyable listen and exactly what I hope for when picking up a thriller. It’s atmospheric, smart, and filled with the kind of slow-burn tension that keeps you hooked from start to finish. I highly recommend this to anyone who’s been craving a well-crafted mystery with heart and substance. A solid 4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance listening copy. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ALC. This one was full of twists and turns that kept me guessing. It was also very atmospheric and did a great job setting the scenes. Another win for Stacy Willingham!

Stacy Willingham has become a must read author for me ever since I read and loved A Flicker in the Dark. Her books always have so many layers, and characters that you have strong feeling about one way or another, Forget Me Not was a slower burn than her previous books but still had me hooked.

Claire Campbell returns to her hometown for the first time since leaving when her mother has a fall. But when she gets there, her mum clearly doesn’t want her around so she finds herself looking into her sister’s disappearance from 22 years ago. It leads her to a place Natalie used to work, Galloways Farm, where Claire finds an old diary and the journalist in her can’t help but investigate. The clues are there, and she soon discovers a connection to her sister.

This was a different kind of book for this author but it still had her usual intrigue and eeriness. The isolated farm, the mysterious diary and creepy landlords all built the tension and I was there for it all.

A fantastic read once again from this author. Brilliantly narrated by Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker, a fabulous job as always.

Thanks so much to St Martin’s Press for my early copy of this book to read and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. Published in August 26th.

Stacy Willingham is officially on my “if she writes it, I’m gonna read it” list. This woman NEVER misses.

This one had me spiraling in the best way.
I thought I had it figured out like forty different times and I was wrong every. single. time. I second-guessed myself so much that by the time I hit the ending, I was literally STUNNED. I mean I seen some of it coming because let’s face it the creeper vibes were strong but the rest?!?! Yea… NO!

Stacy knows how to write some psychological tension. The way she gets inside the mind of someone unhinged and lets us peek behind that curtain? LOVE!!!!

And on a personal note, the sisterhood storyline really hit home for me. The bond between the sisters in this book reminded me of the one I have with my own sisters and having experienced the loss of a sister myself, this book pulled at my heart in ways I didn’t expect.
It made me ask myself how far would I go for answers if it was my sister? And that emotional connection made the story all the more powerful for me.

I literally devoured this book in under 24 hours. I couldn’t stop. It’s raw, twisty, emotional, and just SO well done.

Mark your calendars for when this one hits the shelves this summer!!!! August 26th!!!!!

Forget Me Not is a masterclass in psychological suspense. From the moment Clare arrives at the eerie Galloway Farm, the tension ratchets up and doesn’t let go. Willingham creates a claustrophobic, anxiety-inducing atmosphere that makes it nearly impossible for me to put this book down. I was constantly on edge, afraid for Clare and desperate to know what would happen next. The pacing is tight and relentless, and the sense of dread builds with each chapter, making this one of the most emotionally intense thrillers I’ve read in a while.

I read the ebook ARC in tandem with the audiobook, and the voice performances by Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker added even more depth to the experience. They skillfully brought out the emotional tension and unease, amplifying the suspense and making the characters feel even more real. The audio production heightened the overall impact of the story and made the dread even more palpable.

I’ve read one of Willingham’s previous novels and enjoyed it, but Forget Me Not hit even harder. The rural setting, the psychological unravelling, the uncertainty of who to trust—all of it combined to keep me completely gripped. The twists are smart, the characters layered, and the writing sharp and immersive. If you're looking for a thriller that will get under your skin and make your heart race, this is it.

Highly recommended for fans of dark, twisty reads with an undercurrent of fear that doesn’t let up.


Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for ALC -This is my honest review.