Review: A Flicker in the Dark - Stacy Willingham - January 2022 Sometimes the best reads come from the most unexpected places. This psychological thriller had been lingering on my want-to-read list for ages, taunting me from my digital shelves. Then serendipity struck at a recent bookstagrammer event here in Tauranga – you know how these events go, where one person's unhauled treasure becomes another's page-turning obsession. A fellow book lover was clearing out her collection, and there it was, practically calling my name from her pile of discards. What a find it turned out to be! From the moment I cracked open the spine, I was transported into a world that immediately reminded me of The Prodigal – that brilliant TV series that keeps you guessing until the very last scene. Stacy Willingham has crafted something equally compelling here. We're introduced to Chloe Davies, now a practicing psychologist carrying the weight of an unthinkable legacy. Twenty years ago, when she ...

Review: Only If You're Lucky - Stacy Willingham - January 2024 Today was the perfect weather for reading outside on my porch swing so I decided it was a great time to make a dent into my TBR physical pile and Stacy's book had been sitting there for about a month. I was a little nervous reading it as I hadn't enjoyed All the Dangerous Things. That was a DNF for me. Only If You're Lucky though caught my attention right from the beginning and I think it was mainly to do with the setting of the university housing and college-aged kids. This is one of my favorite themes in books. The book starts with their friend and roommate Lucy missing and Levi is dead. It then jumps back in time to the previous year when Margot is at Rutledge College and sitting on the grass with her roommate Maggie and Margot spots Lucy. She radiates and is the center of attention. She reminds Margot of her now-deceased friend Eliza. At the end of the first year, Lucy invites Margot to be their fourth r...