Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham

11 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The book's first half was paced too slowly, while I enjoyed the second half as secrets were revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Grief, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Physical abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Pregnancy

juanat77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Animal death, Cursing, Vomit, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Car accident, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Grief

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Really enjoyed A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things. Expected to like this one as much, but it disappointed. It felt amateur compared to the other two. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Stalking, Gaslighting, Murder, Rape, Animal death, Child death, and Grief

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Death, Child death, Drug use, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, and Bullying

katiecummings1981's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I found the book repetitive, slow and although I finished it, I struggled to do so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Stalking, Eating disorder, Murder, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal death

astoriareader's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Drug use, Stalking, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Car accident and Infidelity

amandaglowgetter's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

clairebonney's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Death, Eating disorder, Stalking, Infidelity, Animal death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Animal death is a deer and the description is extremely graphic

theoceanrose's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Death, Grief, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Infidelity

bringmybooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Child death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Animal death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Stalking, Drug use, Murder, Blood, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence