4 1/2 stars

I absolutely inhaled this book. I toggled back and forth between the ebook and audio version so that I was reading or listening to it all the time. The story has some obsessive behavior in the storyline and I definitely had an obsession about this book myself.

The book is told in different timelines by three different people's point of view. I would definitely classify it more as women's fiction with some great twists as opposed to mystery thriller. This story was definitely more about love and how it can build you up and then turn around and break you. It was beautiful, angsty, raw and real. Then there some other tweaks thrown into the storyline that just took it to the next level of creativity. This was completely in my wheelhouse. I loved it.

Our main character is Molly and the majority of this story is told from her perspective with some others thrown in as well to balance the storyline and give other pertinent information. Molly fell in love with a rising rockstar when she was young and living in New York. The relationship was tumultuous and gave her highs and lows. Now, years later, she's married with a daughter but still thinking about the one that got away. I'm not telling anything more. All I can say is this book is addictive. There were a few things I found far-fetched...but hey, it's fiction so I went with it.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I loved the narration. There was a different narrator for each person's point of view which makes it so much easier to follow. I thought the audio lent itself well to this storyline and style of writing. 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Carola Lovering is quickly making her way to my favorite authors! I was drawn in and kept interested the entire time. Within the vein of Colleen Hoover, she makes you feel for the characters and want to know what happened. I am impressed with her writing style and want to read more.

Can’t look away by Carola Lovering was a second chance novel that pulled me in from the very first page. The plot was overall fascinating and I did enjoy the story; however, there was some themes that seem minute to the story and were over done. Certain words, references, a lot of branding - it becomes a bit of a distraction.

I learned my lesson and no longer read the synopsis of a book before diving in because sometimes it just gives too much away, but the short and sweet of it is this is a romantic/domestic suspense that follows the evolution of Jake and Molly's love story over a decade. It's not a thriller, so don't go into it with those expectations.

I enjoyed it overall as the story alternates narration between three points of view and the past and present, providing a full picture of the characters' emotions and motivations over the years. We get a look at young love and the one that got away, with plenty of drama, jealousy, and lies thrown in to add some tension.

If you like a bit of drama and manipulation, pick this one up. It's entertaining and will keep you turning pages.

Thanks St. Martin's Press for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Can’t Look Away is described as a suspense novel but romantic drama is a better description. There was no suspense, all of the twists were obvious if you’ve read this kind of book before. I enjoyed reading about the love triangle between Molly, her first love Jake, and her husband Hunter. I could have done without Sabrina and her story as it added nothing to the plot. I would have loved for Hunter and Molly’s story to have been more fleshed out like her story with Jake was. Fans of Carola Lovering’s previous novel, Too Good To Be True, will enjoy this one.

Can't Look Away is my first from Carola Lovering but certainly will not be my last.

Molly, Jake, Serena: past, present. All three characters are intertwined in a dramatic tale. Serena first dated Jake but that didn't work out. He starts dating Molly right after and the rest.... you won't be able to look away from the pages to watch this unfold.

I had the pleasure of reading and listening to this read. After I hit the 30% mark, it was hard to stop reading and figuring out where Lovering was going. She makes you feel certain things about her characters that dives you into captivating scenes. If you like domestic dramas, this is the story for you!

Much more romantic suspense than mystery/thriller, but once I adjusted my expectations, I found this very engaging!

I love the twists and turns in this book, and it did not disappoint. I'm looking forward to the next one from Carola!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC copy of Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering! I did not like this one as much as Too Good To Be True because I felt it was less thrillery and leaned more into women's fiction.

I was thoroughly enthralled in this stalker-like obsessive story written from the person stalking’s POV as well as the people she is attempting to “ruin.”

I couldn’t wait to see how things were related and how they would evolve. I liked the whole relationship-with-a-rockstar vibe. I thought it was a good take on how that would probably be.

I was ready for the big thriller climactic scene… and yet, there wasn’t one. Not really. In the end, really not much changes from the beginning. The whole story could have never happened and everyone would be just fine and dandy. The only thing that changes in this book is feelings.

This isn’t a thriller. It is not psychological suspense. It’s more of a romantic drama - and that was disappointing. This was the story of finding out whether Molly should be with the man who broke her heart or the man who fixed it.

The title was appropriate. I just had to keep reading knowing something big was coming. Even though it didn’t, I couldn’t look away.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the early copy!

In 2013, Molly Diamond is enjoying life in New York City. She’s working on her MFA, has a circle of great friends and she's excited about what lies ahead. Her life changes when she meets Jake Danner, the lead singer/songwriter in a band that had just secured a record deal. They fall deeply in love and Molly becomes his muse. And Jake encourages Molly to pursue her dream of writing a novel.

In 2022, Molly is living a nice life in an upscale Connecticut town. While she still thinks about Jake, Molly is married to handsome, successful Hunter and has an adorable daughter who is about to turn six. While struggling with fertility issues, Molly enjoys teaching yoga and while a bit lonely, manages to put up with the snooty women of Flynn Cove, who look down at the couple for not joining their fancy country club. When Sabrina moves to town, Molly believes she has finally found a friend. But mysterious Sabrina seems to already know everything about Molly. What is her true agenda? And as Jake is about to release a new album in his quest for a comeback, Molly is forced to face her feelings about her first great love.

Can’t Look Away is a combination of domestic drama, romance and a bit of mystery with some suspense. It is a story about lost love, friendship, jealousy, obsession and the choices we make in life and its consequences. I recommend checking out Carola Lovering’s new book. It might make you wistful for your earlier days, when life was filled with endless possibilities in career and love.

GUYSS, this drops tomorrow and I am telling you, now is the time to preorder this, request it from the library, or add it to your TBR for June. This was fantastic.

This is my first Carola Lovering book just she gave me a Colleen Hoover level love story, with a lot of thrill and suspense. I think domestic type thrillers can be really really difficult to pull off but this one did it perfectly. At times, I was like "omg I love this romance book" and then BAM I was reminded some really freaky stuff was happening!!

This was so layered, and gave me so much to love. Also peep the last slide for probably my favorite quote of the year. I mean it's giving Grey's Anatomy "He's not the sun, you are" type of feels.

Seriously, go read this book. I can not recommend it enough! This is definitely the book of the summer.

The story includes three different point of views : Molly Diamond - 33 year old married mother who lives in Flynn Cove, trying to discover her passion in life, Jake Danner - former music artist and Molly's first true love , and Sabrina - clever, up-to-no-good , secret keeping woman that is on a mission.

This book was so jam packed with drama, especially girl drama. It was highly entertaining and I'm glad I picked it up! The story itself was very predictable. It reminded me of the movie 'Obsessed' featuring Beyoncé , 'YOU' the TV series or even 'The Last Mrs. Parrish' but a little more tame and less savage.

I know a lot of people thought this was to be a thriller, so just be warned that its definitely more of a domestic drama.

Thank you so much St. Martin's Press for the advanced E-book.

This book hit stores June 14th, 2022!

3.5/5 stars

I went into this book expecting it to be a thriller. And while it definitely has some aspects of a thriller it could also be considered romantic suspense or women's fiction.

This book has three POVs. And goes back and forth between the past (2013) and present (2022).

The main POV is Molly (3rd person POV). In the past we have Molly and boyfriend Jake (rock star). In the present Molly is married with a young daughter.

Then there is Sabrina (1st person POV). I found this character to be the most interesting right from the start. She is obsessive and I love getting into the mind of characters like this.

The beginning of this book was really good. But I didn't like the middle as much. Also I didn't love the back and forth (in time). I definitely preferred the present. The last part of the book was very action-packed. And I was very interested to see how the story would play out (I really wasn't sure).

The last few chapters did make me a feel a lot. So I'd say the book has a strong beginning and end. There is romance. Much more than in a usual thriller. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the epilogue. It was an interesting choice for the narrator. But I wanted to know more. Overall this was a good read.

Can’t Look Away, by Carola Lovering

Short Take: I really wanted to love it.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Hello Duckies! Time is short today, so let’s just dive right in, shall we?

Some of you may remember that I read, reviewed, and could not gush enough over Ms. Lovering’s previous novel, Too Good To Be True, and with that delicious morsel in mind, I could not WAIT to get my hands on her newest effort. I was ready for intrigue, suspicion, twists and turns, and characters that I wanted to live with forever.

It was not to be.

Can’t Look Away follows the passionate love affair between Molly, an aspiring writer, and Jake, an up-and-coming pretty boy rock star in the halcyon days of the mid 2010’s. They are super passionate and their love just burns too hot to last, so they fight and make up and fight and make up and get really really passionate throughout. Of course, we need a villain, so meet Sabrina - Jake’s ex who will do anything and everything to destroy their relationship, or at least, just Molly.

In the present day, Molly is married to Hunter, a perfectly lovely man, and they have a perfectly lovely daughter and live in perfectly lovely small-town Connecticut. Molly even has a perfectly lovely new friend and you’ll never guess who it is…

My beloved nerdlings, in case you hadn’t noticed, I just wasn’t picking up what Ms. Lovering was putting down this time. Jake & Molly literally lock eyes once while he’s singing and that’s it, they are in love forever. Molly is the pathetic friend who stays with the guy who’s bad for her, then gloms onto the Nice Guy Trope who has lingered longingly in the background just waiting for his turn to shoot his shot. No real growth, not a shred of independence, just always sobbing and letting someone else take care of her. We get way too many words about how much her writing means to her, how haaaaaard it is, how much she wants to succeed, but as soon as Jake isn’t cheering her on, she quits writing.

I also couldn’t get my head around Molly’s friend group. There are a bunch of 20-something young women in the Jake Era chapters, and as such, of course everyone is a mess, but they all just keep comforting Molly and soothing her through her moods. If she ever reciprocates or does anything for anyone else, we never see it. There’s also a bit where a never-before-mentioned “friend” conveniently materializes long enough to help Molly get a job, then disappears into the ether. It’s yet another example of how Molly treats people. The never-ending torrent of mollycoddling (heh) is kind of ridiculous.

Jake brings nothing to the table. He’s hot. That’s it. He’s overwhelmingly selfish, and when things with Molly don’t work out, his choices become even more questionable (I won’t spoil it here, but it made as much sense as anything else in this book which isn’t really much).

Sabrina’s too lame to even get into. She’s rich, beautiful, obsessive and single-minded. And again, her fixation is on a guy who’s an emotional black hole but he’s just so goshdarn dreamy.

True story, duckies: More than once, while reading this book, I wondered if a guy had written it. A fairly misogynistic, creepy, incel-forum-regular who only sees women as weepy doormats or evil caricatures, and men as either abusive jerks who get all the girls or sad sacks who just need to hang around long enough to get their chance eventually.

The Nerd’s Rating: TWO HAPPY NEURONS (and a drink made of vodka and disappointment, thank goodness I have plenty of both.)

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book. This was the first novel I’ve read by this author and I really enjoyed it.

This book tells the story of Molly & Jake’s love story. They meet in their 20’s in NYC, Molly is a writer and Jake is in a band that goes on to be pretty successful. The story alternates between the story of their relationship & the present day where Molly, now married with a daughter, makes a new friend named Sabrina. But Sabrina isn’t at all what she seems. This book is not a domestic thriller, but it does have some spooky elements of a thriller. It’s not a romance but parts do read like a romance. I’m really not sure this book fits into any genre but it held my attention and was fast paced

Carola Lovering grabbed my attention when I read her second novel "Too Good To Be True." Her writing is very gripping and will immediately suck you into the plot. "Can't Look Away" was no exception. As soon as I picked up the book, I could not put it down. The drama, the secrets and the twists. It's everything that I need in a good book.

Unfortunately, this genre always ends up disappointing me. Domestic thrillers always leave me with wanting something more, there is never enough "thrill" and too much drama. I get addicted to the story awaiting a moment that leaves me utterly shocked yet it never comes.

Don't get me wrong, I was absorbed into this story. All the characters are unreliable which I love. I was constantly suspicious of every little moment that happened in the plot. There are tons of secrets and dramatic moments that hooked me but the "thrill" never got there. I would get closer and closer to the ending wondering when something truly chaotic would happen but it was nothing but miscommunication and jealousy.

Lovering's is very talented when it comes to her writing. This one fell a little flat for more solely for the fact that I was at the end of my seat awaiting a character to be revealed as a killer. I would love to see how a murder mystery by Carola Lovering would be since I am always immediately enthralled with her adult fiction novels. Her stories are so great but I just want something extremely shocking and twisty to happen.

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering

In 2013, Molly and Jake, both twenty three, meet and immediately become a couple despite Jake possibly still being attached to someone else. He seems a bit fuzzy on that. But then Jake can be fuzzy about a lot of things, makes excuses, says he gets too focused on the group and "forgets". Despite really being into each other, Molly and Jake have a rough time of things, Jake may be selfish but Molly ends up letting him keep being selfish.

In 2022, Molly is married to Hunter and they have a five year old daughter. They live in a wealthy community although Molly really doesn't enjoy the people there. It's not until Sabrina moves into the community that she finally finds a real friend, someone she can enjoy talking to and spending time with, someone who even sees the same fertility doctor that Molly sees. Sabrina gets Molly in a way no one ever has gotten her.

We get the story from three POVs. We see things through the eyes of Molly, Jake, and Sabrina, with chapters going back and forth from the past to the present day. I was very bored with the story at first but then began to enjoy it in a gossipy soap opera-ish way although I do not like soap operas. But it drags, deep down no one really changes even though their lives have changed. Also, these 32 year old grown ups act like things that happened just 6-9 year ago happened centuries ago. Like 6 to 9 years ago is ancient history even though they are secretly obsessing about those times constantly. So by the end of the story, which does get resolved in a tidy manner, I was back to not enjoying the story so much anymore. There really isn't much going on and this is not a thriller even though it's listed as one. More like a low, slow burn that slowly dies out.

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

What a PERFECT book for the summertime! I thought this was a lot of fun. Molly was one of my favorite characters I've encountered in the thriller genre. Perfect blend of back stories and I enjoyed the alternating narrative chapters.

Nine years ago, Molly Diamond was an MFA student/barista when she met Jake Danner, lead singer in a bar band. Their connection was instantaneous and she truly thought she'd found her soulmate, quickly moving in together in Brooklyn. As his band found greater success and her writing seemed to be on the verge of publication, she learned the downside of living a creative life--Jake's moodiness and preoccupation with his own career overshadowed every aspect of her life.

Today, Molly is married to a much more stable man, with an adorable five-year-old daughter, and part-time work as a yoga instructor. While her suburban Connecticut life seems picture-perfect, Molly often feels she doesn't fit in with the other, snobbish women and keeps her fertility struggles a secret. When gorgeous Sabrina starts coming to her yoga classes and confides that she and her husband also are having trouble getting pregnant, Molly thinks she's found the friend she's missed since moving away from NYC. However, as she begins finding inconsistencies in the things Sabrina has told her, Molly wonders if she can really trust her new friend.

But there are some surprises in store for Molly as she unexpectedly has to confront her unfinished past with Jake. This is a beautiful love story about growing up, reevaluating your dreams and choices you've made. #CantLookAway #NetGalley