this was fun and twisty, just like Stacy has done before! I loved the pacing of this, and found the story to flow nicely, but I just felt like some of the plot points fell flat for me. LOVE the southern gothic feel to this though, I felt very unsettled throughout.


Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for providing me with a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

🗓️ August 22
🎧 Dual: Helen Laser & Karissa Vacker

Expect 👉🏼 More Mystery than Thriller, Small Town South Carolina, Atmospheric, Less Twisty more Unravelling, Diary Full of Secrets, Dual Timelines

Claire has never been able to move on from the tragic disappearance of her sister, 22 years ago. Fleeing her life in the south and putting as much distance between her past and herself hadn’t worked. When her mom has a fall and needs Claire’s help, she goes home and immediately starts investigating all over again. Taking a Summer job where her sister once did starts out as a way to pass the time, but after stumbling across a journal full of secrets, things take a sinister turn.

I loved this book. The way the story was slowly revealed in the diary while Claire was figuring things out in the present was so much fun. My heart rate wasn’t sky high but I felt immersed in the book. The descriptions of the weather and the landscape were marvelous. And I loved how it all played out.

🎧 both narrators were incredible. Distinct voices navigated me through past and present and truly brought the story to life.

Thank you Macmillan for the gifted alc.

One question…HOW?! Seriously, HOW does Stacy Willingham, in every book she writes, find a way to have me on the edge of my seat constantly questioning every character in her books? She so effortlessly weaves in such vividly poetic descriptions of characters, surroundings, and overall details. It’s so easy to place myself in the story…I seriously stress for the characters! I swear I’m that person in the movie theater yelling, “Don’t go back there!!” Okay, let’s move on to what this book is actually about.

This story follows, Claire, an unemployed and almost broke journalist hoping to get some freelance work. She often keeps to herself because she doesn’t always want to be known as the girl who lost her sister, Natalie, 22 years ago. After celebrating her dear friend Ryan’s job promotion (one she should have had), Claire receives a call from her father asking her to come back home to take care of her mother. Keep in mind, they’ve been estranged for 15 years.

Claire finds her way back to her home town and is instantly flooded with memories of her sister. Feeling somewhat nostalgic, she ventures off to a farm they visited as children - only to find out it is now closed to the public. However, as she turns around to leave, a man (Liam) comes out expecting a worker they had hired to help them pick grapes in the vineyard. Upon finding out that Liam needs help with this task, and the person who does so gets a good amount of cash as well as room and board for the month, Claire eagerly volunteers herself for the job.

As with any thriller, good things don’t happen at farms…or in small towns! EVER. If you take any life lesson away from this book, it’s to always be honest with people about your whereabouts and SERIOUSLY follow the buddy system! The way Stacy Willingham writes her characters gives plausibility to every decision and inner monologue they have - even when you want to scream at Claire for her choices!

I received an ALC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Stacy Gillingham delivered yet again! Karissa Vacker is the main narrator of this book, and she has so much emotion in her voice at all the right parts. I purposely buy books that I know she narrates!

I highly recommend this book for so many reasons - all the good ones that make an amazing thriller - believable characters, descriptive scenes, and clues that keep you guessing. You will not be disappointed if you listen to this book!

Claire Campbell goes back to her hometown and gets a job on a farm that is somehow tied to her sisters disappearance 22 years ago.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did, but I felt the story line was so forced with her going back to her hometown and how convenient it is that she is somehow linked to this farm through her sisters disappearance. Also, there are other things that come up that I don't want to spoil but I thought was just too coincidental. This was just an okay read for me. I liked the audiobook narration and that is basically what compelled me to finish the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC for this book!

Loved this book! The narrator was excellent and the story was suspenseful. The author did a good job with the pacing. I was able to guess a few of the twists, but was surprised by the big reveal. There were a few things that didn’t seem believable and one detail that I still have questions about but overall the ending was very satisfying!

Sooooo freaking good!!!! Wow! I genuinely had to pick my jaw off the floor at certain parts! The way the story was pieced together was immaculately done. Little pieces here and there to keep me interested and wanting more. The writing was fantastic and I loved the flashbacks through the diary entries!

Absolutely loved this book! Stacy Willingham can write a thriller like no other. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for an advanced copy of this book.

This novel follows Claire as she is kind of at a crossroads in life. Heading back to her hometown without a job, she finds some pictures of the last summer her sister Natalie was alive. Claire is finally ready to confront her sister’s death and along the way unravels a shocking storyline that I definitely didn’t see coming.

I love how the author is able to keep you guessing until the very end and there are multiple twists that you never see coming. I absolutely love reading her books and this one is no different. Highly recommend!

Stacey Willingham AND Karissa Vacker? Yesssss.

If Stacey writes it, I’m gonna read it. Usually I’d give a line or two about what happens in the book but I went into this one blind and I think you should too.

This book was entertaining and kept my interest the whole way through. Claire and I had questions and boyyy did we get answers. The atmosphere Willingham created was definitely added to by the amazing narration done by Karissa Vacker. I would recommend this audiobook to anyone looking for their next “what the heck is going on here” read.

Thank you as always to Macmillan Audio and the author for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Claire is lost in her New York life. She is haunted by the memory of her older sister, Natalie, who went missing twenty-two years ago. Pulled back home, she has to face her difficult relationship with her mom and is drawn back into her sister's history. Finding refuge at Galloway Farm, an idyllic coastal vineyard where her sister spent time, Claire finds herself more and more isolated and more and more obsessed with finding the answers to Natalie's disappearance.

Stacy Willingham's writing is accessible and intriguing. I let myself go with the flow and enjoy the ride. This is right up there with A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things for me. I enjoyed every moment of this and didn't find any of it to drag. A great summer mystery!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for ARC.

3.5 rounded up to 4. It was definitely more mystery than a thriller. I do wish the journal entries were in first person though, but it was nice that it was a separate narrator at least. Great narration. It’s definitely more of a slow burn story that kept me interested enough to finish it.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Stacy Willingham has delivered us yet another page-turner here. The dual timelines were executed masterfully, the characters were well-developed, and the story kept me engaged.

This was a slow-burn thriller with an interesting setting, though I'm not sure how successful a vineyard would be with only one employee until Claire showed up. Still, I'd have liked to know more about the ins and outs of the upkeep.

There were a lot of points in this book with what I refer to as don't-do-that moments, when the main character sneaks into somewhere they aren't allowed or the group splits up or someone makes a horrible decision that you know will forward the plot, but the secondhand anxiety is too much for my little brain.

There are twists and solutions, some of which I'm still not entirely okay with, but such is life. Pretty mediocre overall.

I've enjoyed this author in the past. I really liked Only if You're Lucky and All The Dangerous Things. This one didn't thrill me as much. It was definitely tense and had some suspense, but it just didn't draw me in the way her stories normally do. I felt the same way about A Flicker in the Dark by this author as I did about this one. It was a decent story, but the execution just didn't grab me.

I’m calling it right now, this will be my favourite thriller of 2025!

FORGET ME NOT is everything we have come to expect and love from Willingham; it’s a story that is meticulously put together, featuring engaging characters and twists you will never see coming! There were so many moments that gave me the heebie jeebies, in the best way possible and I just couldn’t put it down, totally bingeable!

The audiobook was so well done, the narration in combination with production gave the story a cinematic quality… I felt like I had been placed inside an episode of Criminal Minds. I would highly recommend reading this book in audio format.

I enjoyed both the story and narration on this book. It was interesting and easy to listen to. The story was well planned out and had a great flow.

5 stars!! one of my favorite thrillers i have read!

*thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital advanced reader's copy of this book. i received this e-book in exchange of an honest review. all opinions are my own*

claire campbell is freshly out of a job as a journalist when she is unexpectedly called home, a place where
she hasn’t visited in 22 years, to take care of her mother. her sister, natalie, went missing over two decades ago and she is thrown back into the past as she finds old photos and visits a place that she worked the summer she went missing, galloway farms. she quickly discovers while staying on the property that there is a lot more to galloway than it seems and her sister may be tied closer to this place by more than just a job.

i absolutely loved everything about this story. the mystery elements along with the secret cult storyline was so gripping. i loved the way all the puzzle pieces slowly started to slide into place as the book progressed. the characters were so interesting and it almost felt as though no one could be trusted, and element i really enjoy in a good thriller. i loved the concept of the hidden diary and learning the real story behind galloway through various journal entries.

i am so grateful to have been able to experience this book and highly recommend it to anyone searching for a great thriller.

This book had me on my toes! Just when I thought I had figured out what happened I couldn't have been more wrong! The story was easy to follow but not overly predictable! The narrators did a good job of keeping the story engaging. Overall I really enjoyed this story!

🌲📖🍇☕️🌾🚌

This is the first book I’ve read by Stacy Willingham but it definitely won’t be the last! Placing holds on all her other titles on Libby as we speak 👩🏻‍💻 I really liked Claire’s character, she was such a badass and followed her gut even when she knew things would get messy. The isolated vineyard made for a perfectly creepy setting with its lack of cell service, lone employee, and less-than-friendly owners, plus it was one of the last places Claire’s sister Natalie had been which gave it another layer of allure. I could really sympathize with Claire and imagine her trying to solve the mysteries of Natalie’s disappearance and Marsha’s strange behavior all on her own. I sometimes struggle with time skips, but the flashbacks from Marsha’s diaries were really neat and definitely added to the suspense of the story. This one was a 10/10 for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!!

📚 Forget Me Not
✍ Stacy Willingham
📖 Mystery/Thriller
⭐4/5
📆 Out 8/26/2025
➡ 22 years after the mysterious disappearance of her older sister and 15 years since she's been home, Claire returns to the small southern vineyard where she last remembers her sister happy and unexpectedly uncovers decades of secrets that may lead to answers about her sister.

🙏 Thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and the author for the advanced listener copy of Forget Me Not. All opinions are my own.
◾
🎯 What I loved: Like Willingham's previous novels, Forget Me Not is atmospheric. It's incredibly descriptive and prosaic and the southern farm where much of the story unfolds almost feels like it holds its own as a character. I love multiple timelines that wind themselves together seamlessly and loved the the dual timeline in this book was generated via diary entries. Though I put some of the pieces of the story together, I still found the twist really satisfying and liked most of the way things unfolded in the end. The writing on this was wonderful and the narration was fantastic- I adore Karissa Vacker's thriller audiobooks specifically and would definitely recommend this one on audio!

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: Surprisingly, it was the male characters that left me wanting more from this one. I thought that Claire's father needed to have a bigger role in the book- especially toward the end and found it odd that she didn't even communicate with him once she was back in her hometown. I'm also not really sure what role Ryan served and don't think he added much to the plot.
◾
Read if you love:
*characters coming home after a long life interlude & something pushed them away
*unresolved or potentially falsely solved cases
*dual timelines + two mysteries
◾
See also: The Return of Ellie Black, A Flicker in the Dark, No One Can Know

I am a big fan of Stacy Willingham’s books! They are always twisty, and leave you stunned at the end. They also always have a southern, gothic vibe. This one is no different. Five stars for the story about a family that was torn apart years ago and the sister still searching for answers.

From the beginning of this one, I really liked Claire Campbell. She had just left her job at a newspaper to freelance. She gets a call from her Dad that her mother has fallen, and he asks Claire to come home and help her out. But Claire hasn’t been home in many years. She has never recovered from losing her 18-year-old sister Natalie. Claire still has a lot of questions and a lot of unresolved feelings.

When Claire gets home, things don’t go the way they were planned, and she ends up on Galloway Farm - a place she visited with her family. She found a picture of a trip when she returned home. She takes on a job there for the summer. And then, she finds a diary, and events are set into motion.

This book has so many twists and turns. I listened to a large part of it on a road trip. The miles flew by, and I had to get to the end - which does not disappoint.

While this book is a thriller/mystery, it is also a story of grief and trauma. It handles both magnificently. The secrets are shocking. That is all that I will say.

Karissa Vacker and Helen Laser do a phenomenal job with the audiobook. If you prefer audio, this is a winner!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for my digital and audiobook copies! I am grateful for the chance to read/listen early. Stacy Willingham is an auto buy author for me, and this book is fantastic! Preorder this one now - it is out on August 26th!