Take a photo of a barcode or cover
spatterson12 's review for:
Only If You're Lucky
by Stacy Willingham
I so wanted to like this and was excited to complete my 2024 BOTM challenge, but it was meh.
It was in the Thrills and Chills category and I remember reading Willingham quickly in the past, but then one felt a bit slow. The character development was great–but maybe too many details. Maybe we could've cut out some additional characters or tighten a few storylines. I needed more drama or action in the first 2/3.
TW: sexual abuse, eating disorders.
The author's note at the end was fascinating. I don't think I could have ever lived in a house managed by fraternity brothers. That sounds terrible, but I like how she said that house was the only character true to life in the story.
This was giving Single White Female meets Pretty Little Liars and maybe a little Never Been Kissed (mostly for Maggie being abandoned).
I normally love a con story, but I don't love a surprise sibling reveal.
What's not clear, despite almost 400 pages – why did Sloan and Nicole comply to Lucy's demands? Maybe we don't know enough about their backgrounds. I could see if Nicole was solo, however, with Sloan understanding who Lucy was and being protective of Nicole you would think she would've moved out or called Lucy out earlier. But also Sloan is a murderer with no remorse, so whatever I guess.
I was also a bit over Margot's codependency nature. How she would steal from Eliza and then absorb into Lucy. The fixation on Levi. Also, I got over Margot talking about her wealth pretty quickly.
Margot's best friend died the summer before their freshman year. She spent the entire year grieving until a mysterious girl from her dorm shines the spotlight on her. Without any previous conversation, Margot agrees to move in with Lucy and her two friends. The house is on the property of a fraternity in town, and Margot's shy personality is put to the test when she's embedded in the culture.
We have flash forward scenes where we discover Lucy is on the run after a boy from home is found dead at a pledge retreat. Now, Margot has to sort through the connections between the past and the present to be able to move forward.
It was in the Thrills and Chills category and I remember reading Willingham quickly in the past, but then one felt a bit slow. The character development was great–but maybe too many details. Maybe we could've cut out some additional characters or tighten a few storylines. I needed more drama or action in the first 2/3.
TW: sexual abuse, eating disorders.
The author's note at the end was fascinating. I don't think I could have ever lived in a house managed by fraternity brothers. That sounds terrible, but I like how she said that house was the only character true to life in the story.
This was giving Single White Female meets Pretty Little Liars and maybe a little Never Been Kissed (mostly for Maggie being abandoned).
I normally love a con story, but I don't love a surprise sibling reveal.
What's not clear, despite almost 400 pages – why did Sloan and Nicole comply to Lucy's demands? Maybe we don't know enough about their backgrounds. I could see if Nicole was solo, however, with Sloan understanding who Lucy was and being protective of Nicole you would think she would've moved out or called Lucy out earlier. But also Sloan is a murderer with no remorse, so whatever I guess.
I was also a bit over Margot's codependency nature. How she would steal from Eliza and then absorb into Lucy. The fixation on Levi. Also, I got over Margot talking about her wealth pretty quickly.
Margot's best friend died the summer before their freshman year. She spent the entire year grieving until a mysterious girl from her dorm shines the spotlight on her. Without any previous conversation, Margot agrees to move in with Lucy and her two friends. The house is on the property of a fraternity in town, and Margot's shy personality is put to the test when she's embedded in the culture.
We have flash forward scenes where we discover Lucy is on the run after a boy from home is found dead at a pledge retreat. Now, Margot has to sort through the connections between the past and the present to be able to move forward.