ALC 🎧 Review: Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham
⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: August 26, 2025.

This was beyond slow, and I felt like nothing happened the entire time. 😅 It might just be me, because lately I haven’t been loving any thrillers and have been feeling sort of slumpy, but I can’t wait to see what others think!

Thank you to @netgalley and @Macmillan.Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

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Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Days later, her blood was found in a car, a man was arrested, and the case was swiftly closed. In the decades since, Claire has attempted to forget her traumatic past by moving to the city and climbing the ranks as an investigative journalist... until an unexpected call from her father forces her to come back home and face it all anew.

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Thanks to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for this audio arc.

I was lucky enough to be approved for both the e-book and audio version arcs of this book and I was so excited because Stacy Willingham is one of my favorite autobuy authors.

I loved the audio of this. Sometimes certain voices of narrators can drive me crazy. I don’t know if it’s certain inflections they use or what, but it can just grind my nerves. That was NOT the case with this audio. I thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommended.

Forget Me Not caught me completely by surprise. The many layers and understated characters pulled me into this web of sadness and discovery. Claire is an interesting character. She is written with depth that allows the reader to feel what she’s feeling. There are twists and turns and forks in the road because everything is not what it seems at Galloway Farms. I highly recommend both the book and audio of this stellar family suspense.

I absolutely love Karissa Vactor’s narrator. Top notch!

Title: Forget Me Not
Author: Stacy Willingham
Format: 🎧
Narrators: Karissa Vacker and Helen Laser
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: August 26, 2025
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pages: 358

Aww read the Galley and enjoyed it. I am a big audiobook fan so when I the opportunity to get the audiobook appeared – I excitedly jumped to get it. I love audio performer Karissa Vacker so I knew she would be awesome at performing these characters.

I enjoy both formats. I read every evening and listen to audiobook in the car as well as in the morning while doing morning exercise etc. Totally amazing when I can do the same story in both format at the same time! It is amazing how the same story can be different! great audiobook performer can do .

Story is told from the POV of Claire Campbell-Present Day and Marcia Dalloway-1980’s

Claire Campbell has just quit her job as a crime reporter in NYC. She has been passed over for a promotion that she clearly deserved. The promotion went to Ryan a guy who really likes her.
As she is still trying to decide if quitting was the right decision, she gets a from her father that her mother has been an accident and broke her leg so is having a difficult get around as she cannot drive. He wants Claire to come home and help- but since he and her mother are divorced he asks her not to tell that it was his idea.

It has been fifteen years since Claire was back to her childhood home Claxton, a small fishing town in rural South Carolina home.
Twenty-two years ago her eighteen year old sister Natalie disappeared. Her blood was found in boyfriend Jeffrey Slater’s car – Jeff is twenty-eight and has a record. Natalie was seeing him secretly as she knew her family would object. When Natalie’s blood is found in his car along with a bloody shirt; there is little doubt that Jeff is responsible. He is found guilt and sent to prison.

Claire is seven years young than Natalie and her ‘Presumed death’ has always bothered her.
Now she finds an undeveloped roll of film that leads her to Galloway Farm the vineyard where Natalie worked the summer of her disappearance~ Thus her connection to owner Mitchell and Marcia Galloway.

I just love Stacy Willingham's stories. This is my fourth novel and I totally enjoyed the three I read.
This story is the definition of the word "unputdownable".

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for granted me the pleased of listening to this fantastic audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 26, 2025.

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham is a twisty, atmospheric thriller that delivers just enough suspense to keep you turning the pages, even if some elements feel a bit familiar.

The story follows a woman haunted by a tragedy in her past — a signature move for Willingham, who has a knack for crafting complex, unreliable narrators. Her writing style is immersive, with vivid descriptions and a slow-burn tension that builds nicely as the mystery deepens. I especially enjoyed the way she explores memory, guilt, and the question of how well we really know those closest to us.

That said, parts of the plot feel slightly predictable if you’ve read her other books (A Flicker in the Dark or All the Dangerous Things). Some twists didn’t land as hard as I’d hoped, and a few side characters could have been fleshed out more. But the ending still pulled together satisfyingly enough to make the ride worthwhile.

If you like character-driven psychological thrillers with unreliable memories, small-town secrets, and a moody Southern backdrop, you’ll probably enjoy Forget Me Not. It may not be groundbreaking, but it’s a solid addition to Stacy Willingham’s growing list of suspenseful reads.

This was an unsettling, twisty little book. While the cast of characters was on the small side, don't be fooled into thinking you know exactly what's going on! I appreciated that while this was creepy, it didn't put me into panic mode...Just enough suspense to keep me a little anxious, but still enjoy what I was listening to.

I really liked that there were 2 narrators. One narrator for present day and one for the 40+ year old diary Claire finds. Both narrators did a beautiful job at portraying their parts of the story, especially the uneasiness of the main characters.

Well, that was a total snoozefest. Should have quit while I was ahead.

thankful i got a copy of the audio arc

FORGET ME NOT by Stacy Willingham was incredibly well written, and a super enjoyable story. My only critique is that I wish things could have gone further with the cult-ish aspect, and "the family" as Lily called it. More detail, explanation of what life with "the family" was meant to look like and at what cost.

I really liked this authors first couple of books so I was excited for this one. This one didn’t grab me the same way, but I did overall enjoy the story. Claire’s sister disappeared more than two decades ago shortly after her 18th birthday. Claire has never fully gotten past this and when she goes home to visit her mother she stumbles her way into investigating the mystery of another missing young girl. I listened to the audiobook and I really liked the job the narrators did. Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars which I rounded up because I did enjoy the story overall. I found this one to not be as twisty as I hoped for and the main protagonist made some very stupid choices despite being an intelligent woman which I really don’t enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced listening copy (ALC) of this book! The narrator was excellent and I really enjoyed listening to it.

I love Stacey Willingham’s work. She does such a good job of bringing you into the characters life and really rooting for them even though they’re not perfect. This book is no exception, and the twists go until the very, very end.

I am at home with thrillers, and this is an excellent one.

This one had me on the edge of my seat the whole entire time. I have already recommended it to several people.

I was immediately pulled into this book by the synopsis alone - missing sister? Clues to what might have REALLY happened? An FMC who is maybe just a little dumb?? Sign me UP.

Claire's got trauma and as a journalist, when a case hits a little too close to home, she's just insane enough to think moving into a guest room at Galloway is a *great* idea. She finds an old diary and before she can talk herself out of it (or she just ignores that warning, lets be real) she's diving back 40+ years reading about a life long forgotten.

I really enjoyed the way this story was told and how we went back and forth between the two timelines - and watching how it all tied together. As with any thriller, there were twists and turns and I feel like Stacy wrote them really well! My jaw definitely dropped in a couple of instances.

Really enjoyed the dual narrators in this story. I found their voices engaging and they kept my attention!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

3.5 stars

Overall, this book was one of the least predictable thrillers/mysteries I have read in recent history, which was refreshing. I was not sucked into the story until about 40% of the way through, so I will say this is a bit of a slower story. But it was interesting to listen to how our FMC Claire slowlyyyy started to put all of the pieces of a multi-layered mystery together.

I also appreciated the vivid imagery the author was able to create and the dual POVs/timelines.

The narrator did a great job with this one, and was able to convey a lot of emotion, and other POVs through her narration.

This book definitely held my attention and I finished it in one day! Half way through I thought it would be a for sure five star book, but then it started to dip down and get a little lackluster, rushed and a little predictable. I give it 3.5 stars!
I really liked the narrator and I am still a fan of Willingham, although this one I just needed a little bit more from. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

After Willingham's last novel and attempt to write a more juvenile story, she's back with a grown-up novel full of mystery and family secrets.
The setting is lovely and atmospheric. The main character is easily relatable and realistic. Characters' development are on point and the conclusion, even though not necessarily original, can pass as unpredictable by less hardcore mystery readers.
I've had a great time with this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has read one (or both) of Stacy's first 2 novels and enjoyed it.
The audiobook is really well done and it makes the story more dynamic, mysterious and fun to follow. Also recommend it.
Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for allowing me to listen to a free advanced audio copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a well executed Thriller! Thoroughly enjoyed this read and audio narration. Plenty of twists and interesting characters to keep me interested to the very end. Stacy Willingham never disappoints. I call this kind of story a "comfortable"thriller. Not so suspenseful that you are on edge, but more familiar - you can easily put yourself in the main characters shoes. The length was good. The build was right. I give this 4.25 stars both on the story and on the performance.

This was an atmospheric mystery that was super bingeable. I didn’t expect some of the twists which is always fun. My biggest complaint is that I felt like there were some questions I would have liked answered in the end. Otherwise I really enjoyed this and read it in one day. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC. As usual, Karissa Vacker and Helen Laser were fantastic!

I love this author. This book was a compelling mystery with lots of interwoven storylines and characters. It was somewhat drawn out in parts but overall this is a great psychological thriller. Looking forward to more from WIllingham!

I read All the Dangerous Things and absolutely loved it, so I was excited to get the ARC for Forget Me Not. It was pretty good—though for me, it didn’t quite measure up to the first. It felt more like a mystery than a true thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. That said, it was still an enjoyable read overall, and I did like the twist!
3.7/5