“‘When was the last time you saw your roommate, Lucy Sharpe?’ ‘It’s been three days, I think.’”
Only If You’re Lucky, Stacy Willingham
This has been advertised as a book about college students, friendship, loyalty, envy and belonging. And it definitely features every single one of those topics. The book follows Margot through her sophomore year at Rutledge College, the girls she lives with, and the frat house next door. In her acknowledgements, Willingham mentions that the house itself is based on her own living situation in college. And I think that is exactly what made this book so special. Her depiction of college life, of the shyness and earnestness, the trust and betrayals, all felt true, but the environment everything happened in is what made it completely realistic.
The thriller component of this story unfolds through two timelines, the summer and current timeline in the fall. The main distinction between the two is the insertion of a detective, who is looking for their missing roommate. The back and forth between the timelines wasn’t confusing, but the amounts of information given started to get annoying. It felt like each “Before” chapter was an information dump while each “After” chapter had nothing new to offer. Despite that, I really enjoyed the storyline, and thought the twists were handled expertly. Each reveal had been slowly teased through multiple chapters, and getting to the answers felt almost doubly rewarding.
Ready for my full review (with spoilers)? Continue reading here!
I really enjoyed this book, and think it hits all the standard thriller criteria. It was exciting, twisty, and had exceptionally well-written teenage characters. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for an academic thriller that doesn’t feel stuffy or pretentious!
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