Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham
Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham is a riveting, emotionally charged thriller that hooked me from the very first page! This story follows Claire who is freshly unemployed from her job as a journalist to pursue freelance. She returns to her hometown more than 20 years after the disappearance and presumed murder of her sister, Natalie and while in her sister’s room, she stumbles upon old photos of Natalie at Galloway Farm and can’t shake the need to investigate. One visit turns into an unexpected summer job… with living quarters right on the property.
While settling into her new living space, Claire discovers a journal that pulls her deep into the past, unraveling decades-old secrets layer by layer. I loved the dual timeline and how reading the journal allowed me to jump back in time alongside Claire, piecing together the mystery as she did. What follows is an addictive, twist-filled journey where nothing is as it seems.
This is my second read by Stacy Willingham, and she has solidified herself as a must-read author for me. Her pacing is spot-on! Every chapter kept me engaged, guessing, and gasping. The character work is phenomenal; Claire felt so vivid and real that I could practically feel her anxiety, determination, and relentless curiosity. The twists? Completely unpredictable yet wholly believable, making the reveals all the more satisfying.
I already had a couple more of Willingham’s books waiting on my shelf, but after this? They’re moving straight to the top of my TBR!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books for the ARC.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Blurb:
Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Days later, her blood was found in a car, a man was arrested, and the case was swiftly closed. In the decades since, Claire has attempted to forget her traumatic past by moving to the city and climbing the ranks as an investigative journalist… until an unexpected call from her father forces her to come back home and face it all anew.
With the entire summer now looming ahead―a summer spent with nothing to do in her childhood home, with her estranged mother―Claire decides on a whim to accept a seasonal job at Galloway Farm, a muscadine vineyard in coastal South Carolina less than an hour away from where she grew up. At first glance, Galloway is an idyllic escape for Claire. A scenic retreat full of slow-paced nostalgia, as well as a place where her sister seemed truly happy in that last summer before she vanished, it feels like the perfect plan to pass the time. However, as soon as Claire starts to settle in, she stumbles across an old diary written by one of the vineyard’s owners, and what at first seems like a story of young rebellion and love turns into something much more sinister as it begins to describe details of various unsolved crimes. As the days stretch on, Claire finds herself becoming more and more secluded as she starts to obsess over the diary’s contents… as well as the lingering feeling that her own sister’s disappearance may be somehow tied to it all.
Galloway was supposed to be a place to help her move forward, but instead, Claire quickly finds herself immersed in her own dark and dangerous past.
XOXO,
Jessica 💋
Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham
To Be Published: August 26, 2025
Genres: Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 336
Rating: 5 Stars
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