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

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Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham

21 reviews

shawniejo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.25

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amandabales's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

College settings in books somehow simultaneously bring me comfort and anxiety. I can only read so much of them. It felt like this one dragged on a bit too long - too many Eliza flashbacks. Switching between the before and after affected the pacing. I also didn’t really like any of the characters. So many toxic individuals obsessed with drinking, partying, and each other…

With that being said, I didn’t see the twists coming. It was a quick read and there were some enjoyable moments. I could vividly picture what was happening in the story. I’m still a Stacy Willingham fan, but I recommend her other books over this one.

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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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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Out tomorrow [Thank you to the publisher for providing me an eARC to review!]

Rating: 4/5 stars

Margot is grieving the loss of her best friend when she gets pulled into the orbit of the magnetic Lucy Sharpe—and set on a collision course that will change everything.

I genuinely think Stacy Willingham is one of the very best thriller authors out there right now, so this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year! Only If You’re Lucky is definitely a bit different from Stacy’s previous books, but I really enjoyed it.

Academic thrillers are some of my favorites, and this one felt like a pretty unique take on a familiar dynamic. I figured out some of the twists but was completely blindsided by others, which is always the ideal mix, in my opinion! I definitely recommend this one if you want a twisty psychological thriller in a college setting.

CW: Death/murder/blood; sexual violence

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amandaglowgetter's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Only If You’re Lucky is fundamentally a thriller about friendship between young women, and how far we’ll go for our friends. I really connected with the main character, Margo, and I think that a lot of people will too. That feeling of not quite belonging, of being on the outside, looking in, of being in a friendship where the affection feels asymmetrical… Margo gets wrapped up in the lives of her charismatic besties to the point where she wants to be more like them and less like herself, and I think that that expresses our desire for belonging when taken to the extreme.

The book starts a bit slow, but I guess that’s to be expected when you have to build background story for characters. It quickly picks up and the mystery and how all the pieces connect kept me reading. Willingham is queen of the twisty thriller, and this delivers exactly that.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advance review copy.

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booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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daniallreads's review against another edition

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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? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First read of 2024 & she's a G O O D I E

Thank you St Martins Press, Minotaur Books & NetGalley for the early copy of this book. Stacy Willingham's newest publishes January 16th! Get your pre-orders in now!

***Big heads up my sweet souls!*** Please check your trigger warnings before you read this. She covers a lot of heavy topics including underage drinking to rape.

Stacy Willingham's thrillers get better every year! Her style is MUH JAYM!

I am a sucker for a university setting when I dive into any genre. I get so much nostalgia from the anxiety of starting a brand new life + the chaos dorm-style living. Willingham set the stage with the main characters lounging on the college lawn & studying from their textbooks which made me miss college so heckin much. I loved the friend groups nefarious hijinks + the tiny acts of rebellion they took part in. Living through these characters eyes really helped me step right back into my early twenties.

Willingham captured the freedom of university living well in this thriller and I think that's one of the reasons why this story enraptured my bookish attention.

The setting gripped me but in Willingham fashion, her newest didn't disappoint when it slapped me right in the face with some bomb.com twists. I was not ready for this book, you guys.

BUT I can see a lot of people being underwhelmed with this story solely because of how overdone the "it girl" having a mysterious past + the toxic college setting has become. I will say that frequent thriller toe-dippers will have an easy time figuring out a few of the twists in this one so don't go into this one thinking it's going to be this psychological...mind boggling... life changing story.

It's just a good ol' fast-paced & binge-worthy palate cleansing thriller.

I have a few "icks" that I will update my review following pub date to keep this with minimal spoilers. <3

If you were a fan of "In My Dreams I Hold a Knife" by Ashley Winstead or "His & Hers" by Alice Feeney, you're going to want to scoop this suckah up!

🎳 Mean Girls with a Mystery Flare
🍺 College Nostalgia
🎓 Toxic Friendships
🔍 Quick Read
🎳 Good Versus Evil

Shout out to my friend, Bethany (@illstoptheworldandreadwithyou), for buddy reading with me & dealing with my late night word vomits.

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clairebonney's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.25

3.25 stars - this one hurts me so much to rate so low (per my rating scale), but I think many people will really enjoy this novel!

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theoceanrose's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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bringmybooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Thank you to Edelweiss, Minotaur Books, & Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

✨ 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 ✨ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

WOOF THIS WAS NO JOKE but in the absolute best way.

If you could take the entire ethos of the saying, “What’s your damage, Heather?” and then make it even more twisted and then put the girls into a college setting living in an unauthorized off campus housing right next to a v questionable frat house, then you’d have this book.

Willingham takes all the worst parts of female friendships and ratchets up the tension in disturbingly believable ways - I loved (hated) watching all of the drama unfold and genuinely was blown away by how everything came together at the end.

This makes 3 wins for Stacy Willingham (also really liked All the Dangerous Things and Flicker in the Dark) and I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

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