I still think Lovering can do no wrong. She’s so good at creating different voices for her characters. While an ultimately predictable story it was such a good story and shocking at moments

This book felt like a train wreck so I figured that’s why it was called Can’t Look Away. The amount of manipulation and lying was really cringey and hard to read sometimes. Having the sinister point of view made me think something much more dramatic and thrilling would happen at the crux of the novel but that didn’t really happen how I expected. I was entertained throughout the story, though. This is my second book by this author and I’d probably read more from her.

Carola Lovering is a new favorite author of mine. I first read her toxic relationship "primer" Tell Me Lies a few years ago, and just last month devoured her next novel Too Good to be True. After loving her first two books, I had high expectations for her latest release, Can't Look Away, a novel spanning a decade in the lives of three characters who are inextricably linked due to their pasts. This book turned out to be quite enjoyable, albeit a bit predictable and contrived, and will appeal to fans of domestic dramas.

Can't Look Away follows the start and end of Molly and Jake's relationship. Jake is the frontman of an up and coming band - Danner Lane - and Molly is the girl he falls in love with, his "muse." When the two eventually have a falling out in their early 20s, they go their separate ways, not knowing that their paths will cross again ten years down the line thanks to an unassuming third party - Sabrina. Just what is Sabrina's connection to Molly and Jake's past and what secrets is she hiding?

As are all of Lovering's books, Can't Look Away is well-written, absorbing, and oh so toxic. Lovering knows how to craft a good story and keeps her readers turning the pages. Admittedly, however, Can't Look Away is her weakest novel, as it is lacking that extra something special that her first two books possessed. Not to say that this story is bad, just that it is one you might have heard before if you read a lot of domestic dramas/thrillers. This story isn't wholly unique or original, thus making it likely to be forgotten once you have spent enough time away from its pages.

A little bit of drama, a little bit of thriller, a great summer read.

Boy meets girl. The boy happens to be a rock star. Boy and girl break up. A former girlfriend gets involved and things start to get a little dramatic. Although a bit predictable, I really enjoyed this novel and finished the book fast.
Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this book!

Molly and Jake meet when they are both in their 20s. They feel an immediate connection. While Molly is finishing her MFA, Jake is trying to make it big with his band. Jake swears to Molly that he has broken up with his girlfriend Sese, and is in love with Molly. However, the touring and Jake's selfishness regarding his music take a toll on their relationship.
Now, several years after their breakup, Sabrina befriends Molly. She is out to get Molly because she believes Molly stole Jake from her. Sabrina is actually Sese, and is now married to Jake, but she is out to extract revenge on Molly. While Molly is happily married to Hunter, with a daughter, Stella, Sabrina wants to destroy Molly.
Things go crazy when Molly discovers that Sabrina is married to Jake. Seeing Jake again after a few years makes Molly question whether or not she did the right thing leaving him years earlier.
This book is about revenge, jealousy, and marriage, as well as immature relationships vs. mature relationships. @carolatlovering @stmartinspress #CantLookAway #CarolaLovering #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

Ooh, I liked this one. It had me flipping pages as fast as I could because I needed to know all the things! It's definitely best described as a sexy suspense novel. Add this to your TBR!

Can't Look Away is one of those books that is told in the present and the past. While reading, you are piecing together everything to figure out all the secrets of their lives. This is about a couple that truly loves each other but perhaps found each other a little too early in life. Molly is a trying to figure out her young adult life in New York City when she meets Jake, a lead singer of a band. As they fall in love, Jake's band rises to the top. Among all of this, there is a twisted ex-girlfriend who is also pining for Jake. The goes back and forth between this time in their twenties to current day and what their lives are like now. I would categorize this book more as a relational drama then psychological thriller. I think if you go in with those expectations, you will really enjoy. This author also draws me into her books and makes it an enjoyable reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this free ePub in exchange for my honest feedback!

This was the second book I have read by Carola Lovering, the first being Too Good To Be True, which I loved and gave a 4/5 star rating! I was delighted to receive this book from NetGalley and prepared myself to be THRILLED once again. Unfortunately, Can't Look Away did not hit the mark for me.

Can't Look Away tells the story of Molly Diamond, a young twenty-something living in New York City as a struggling writer and grad student. She meets the lead singer of an up-and-coming rock band, Jake Danner, and they fall for each other hard. Jake writes a song about her titled "Molly's song" that absolutely blows up the charts and women everywhere are jealous of this ordinary girl who inspired the song and stole Jake's heart. One of those women happens to be his ex-girlfriend, Sabrina.

Flash forward 10 years, and Molly is living in a preppy, coastal town in Connecticut with her husband Hunter and her precious daughter Stella. She has completely stopped writing and she can't seem to connect with any of the bourgeois moms in her small town. One day at the yoga studio where Molly teaches, a new woman shows up and she and Molly hit it off instantly. They seem to be the perfect fit and Molly is so grateful to finally have someone she can relate to and enjoy being around. The thing Molly doesn't know is that this woman is actually Jake's crazy obsessed stalker ex-girlfriend Sabrina, and she hates Molly with every fiber of her being.

What happened between Jake and Molly? Why did she leave without saying goodbye? When you break up with someone, do you miss that person or just the person you were when you were dating them? Will Sabrina finally get revenge on Molly for living the life that she thought she deserved?

Final thoughts:
I think this one fell flat for me because I was expecting another fast-paced, unputdownable thriller. I read so many thrillers these days that I am really looking for original characters and plot lines that I have never read before. Unfortunately, I was able to foresee all of the plot twists before they happened and I didn't feel a real connection to any of the characters. Can't Look Away honestly felt like reading the script for a Lifetime movie. It never hooked me in and I honestly fell asleep a few times while reading it, so I don't know if I would put it in the thriller genre. I was disappointed with this one, but I still will continue to look for more books from Carola since I did enjoy Too Good To Be True so much last year. Thanks again NetGalley for sharing this book with me!

This book is a bit of a slow burn and feels like you're watching a soap opera. If you like that then you'll enjoy this book. Overall is was okay and something that would be good for summer.

LOVED Carla Lovering's latest: Can't Look Away. The title was fitting - I literally could not look away from this book! Its one of those late-night, can't put down books and I absolutely loved it.

Can't Look Away is an addictive domestic thriller with compelling characters and an intriguing plot. Molly met Jake nearly a decade ago when he was the lead singer of a band playing at a concert Molly attended. He writes a hit song about her that makes his band famous. It's been nearly a decade and Molly lives in Connecticut with a young daughter and her husband Hunter. She feels out of place in the wealthy suburb she lives, so when Sabrina enters her life, she's thrilled. What she doesn't realize is Sabrina has her own reasons for wanting to befriend Molly. And when Jake's song finds it's way on the radio again, Molly's past doesn't seem too far behind. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy domestic dramas. Be sure to check out Can't Look Away today!

Molly fell in love with Jake Danner years ago who is a musician. Fast forward years later Molly is married with a child, but something feels missing from her life. Molly finally makes a friend when Sabrina moves to town but then realizes why Sabrina moved to town.

This is my 2nd Carola Lovering book and I felt they were very different, but I really enjoy her books. This one is not as suspenseful like the first I read, Too Good to Be True, as it's more of a love story but not all mushy, sprinkled with some suspense.

I highly recommend this book as it was a page turner for me and I enjoyed the story. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eArc.

This is being marketed as a mystery/thriller, and It’s more a domestic drama with maybe the slightest hint of suspense.
That being said, I still enjoyed this for the most part .There are no twists and nothing surprised me and yet I wanted to know what was going to happen next.
Overall, it’s a quick and entertaining DRAMA that doesn’t require too much brain power, but nevertheless hooks with its back and forth timeline and interesting characters.

An interesting book that kept me engaged. I really enjoyed the story line and felt it was a bit romance, a bit drama, and a bit mystery. Thank you to NeGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

This was a fantastic thriller! It wasn't a gory novel, but it had the domestic suspense that kept me reading. I found the main character sometimes difficult to relate to, but that definitely reflects more on the stage in my life rather than Lovering's storytelling ability. The characters Lovering constructed created a wonderful domestic thriller that routinely kept me interested!

This is a really good suspense novel set in New York and Connecticut, spanning a decade as flashbacks show the reader how Molly and Jake’s relationship j folded in the past, and leaving you anxious to figure out how they got to the present. Definitely would recommend if you liked the TV show You or other suspenseful dramas. A perfect not-too-dark thriller for summer! Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the copy via NetGalley!

3.5...I was really bored for nearly the first 1/3 of the book. Then I could not put it down for more than the 2nd 3rd, but the ending was so MEH in my opinion. I really like this author, but only really loved Tell Me Lies. I will probably be excited for whatever she writes though because I know a good bit of it will be very entertaining. Lots of flawed, and possibly psychotic characters, and I was here for all of that bit. lol, Not a thriller. More like a drama or a soap opera.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is an emotional love story with undertones of “A Star is Born”. When non-groupie Molly ends up at a bar concert and catches the eye of lead singer Jake Danner, she thinks nothing of it, considering herself lucky for not falling for his sweet smile. But as time goes by and Jake continues to reach out, Molly decides to see just what it is that makes Jake tick. And of course, they fall madly in love. Hey, it’s a romance, okay?
As Jake’s popularity skyrockets, Molly loses sight of her desire to write a novel. What she has written shadows so closely what she knows, her relationship with Jake. And she doesn't want to dwell on that.
Flash forward a decade, and Molly is happily married to Hunter and they have a precious daughter. Through an IVF clinic, Molly befriends a soul saver. Sabrina has so much in common with Molly, and the two form a deep friendship. But things aren’t quite what they seem with Sabrina. One evening when another friend calls Sabrina by another name, the plot unwinds like a loose spool of fishing line.
I was really interested in how the author was going to settle this love triangle without crushing any of the characters that we’d grown to love. I was very impressed with her choice; it wasn’t too soupy or superficial. I got a little tired of Molly crying a lot, but I tend to forget the crushing impact of young love in these later years of my life. I enjoyed the story and I recommend it.
Sincere thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was June 14, 2022.

I was excited when I saw this title available. I was set for a thriller that was going to keep me turning pages.

This had some of the hallmarks of a thriller—Sabrina certainly established herself as a villain, one of the multiple perspectives in the story. She’s hellbent on getting close to her husband’s ex-girlfriend.

A bulk of the story comes from Molly’s perspective, in the present day living in an idyllic town with her handsome husband and in the past living with her musician boyfriend as they work through issues of a budding relationship between artists.

I was into the story, but I didn’t understand why Molly’s perspectives were third person POV while Sabrina’s were first person—written to Molly. And that dialogue to Molly wasn’t ever really explained. Why did we get Sabrina’s internal monologue but distance from Molly? Left me a bit confused about who the main character was and/or who the author wanted us to sympathize with.

Overall, this was interesting, and I thought it had some Colleen Hoover vibes! I think it will definitely find an audience.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc.

You know when you quite possibly pick up a book at the wrong time, and you would have totally enjoyed it when you were in the right mindset? For me, I'm hesitant to give any review initially (wasn't into it), BUT I'm going to try again at the beach in a couple weeks and report back since so many of you loved it!