Reviews with content warning for Rape - Only If You're Lucky

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham

42 reviews

lizjames's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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editorsel's review

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mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This psychological thriller sounded promising, but I think the slow pace and overly flowery writing at times made it just an okay read for me. While I was pretty surprised by the turn of events in the last 10 or so chapters, I felt the before/after timelines were tiring, making it so that I really only kept going to hear more of the after timeline. When both timelines finally started to come together in the last hour or so of the audiobook, it redeemed the book a bit more.

As for the flowery writing, I suppose it’s supposed to reflect Margot as an English major, a constant observer, but because every other sentence is described by some metaphor or simile, it feels disingenuous and unrealistic to someone who’s just a college kid. All in all, it’s not a bad read, definitely something you can just listen to with just enough interest to keep going.

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shawniejo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.25

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pammyslifestyle's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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trishsmelody's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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zippysherman's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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erinbrady's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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melissatrew's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

”They’ll just think we’re naïve… Just a couple of harmless little girls.”

2024 is going to be the year of the fantastic new thrillers, I can tell already! This was twisty and manipulative and so fun to read - think Mean Girls meets Inventing Anna. Stacy Willingham is an auto-buy author for me, and she’s staying at the top of that list after this book. The story got a little slow in places, but all of the twists & turns & deceptions pulled me back in and kept me hooked. 4.5 stars.

”We got away with murder, not just once but three times over.

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honey_coated_chapters's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.0

°:. *₊ ° . ° .•

𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 2/5

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔: 384

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: thriller/suspense

𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔:

•female friendships

•alternating timeline (before/after)

𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆: watching Riverdale unironically and really jiving with the fact that it’s hard to keep up with because so much is happening while the plot is actually not progressing.

———————————————————————

I was really excited to get into this, but it was so boring and I’ll say that off the bat. I was enjoying the setting – college, mean girls, underage drinking. it had all the ingredients for a solid thriller but unfortunately, it fell flat. it took me forever to finish, and felt like a chore to pick up. We follow Margot as our main character, and her tone of voice is so bland and monotone that it was hard to get behind. The side characters, her other friends, Sloane and Nicole seemed so interesting, but we didn’t hear anything from them since we were stuck with just Margot’s POV. She was obsessive, and a lot of the story was repetitive. Nothing happened until the last 30ish pages and even then I couldn’t care less. It read more like a family drama. It lacked tension and suspense, and it wasn’t compelling. I like Stacey’s other books, so this hurts a bit, the writing was good, but the story was really lacking for me.

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astoriareader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

SYNOPSIS

Margot grew up in the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and she is starting her freshman year at Rutledge in South Carolina. Prior to starting college, her BFF, Eliza, died.
In the summer before sophomore year, she befriends a trio of girls, Lucy, Nicole, and Sloane. She moves into their rental home, which the girls rent from a fraternity that’s adjacent to the rental.
At the beginning of the book, there is a time jump to middle of sophomore year, where Lucy is MIA & something has happened to a frat boy next door. The police are investigating.
What happened to Eliza, Lucy, and the frat boy?

MY THOUGHTS

This is Willingham’s third book, and so far, I’ve read all three & love her writing style. This one, however, was my least favorite of the three.
This was a slow burn with multiple timelines. The chapters are short & digestible.
The characters weren’t very likable, and there’s a lot about toxic friendships.
The ending was okay. It wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t great.
Side note: the cover of the book was really pretty!
I did think this was a compulsive read. I ended up finishing in one sitting because I wanted to see what happened.
The reveal of the mystery about what happened to Eliza was predictable, and I expect readers of the genre to feel the same way.
I enjoyed the book, and it is well-written.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️suspense/thriller. slow burn. college setting with short, digestible chapters. toxic friendships.

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