I was absolutely OBSESSED with this book! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and devoured it. Just as good if not better than her previous two books. I will be recommending this to everyone I know!!

Last year I read and devoured Carola Lovering's Too Good to Be True and was hoping that her latest book, Can't Look Away would pull me in just as much. Yeah, not so much. I'm still not sure if I even liked this one though to be fair, I did read it almost compulsively but not in a "Woah, I LOVE this kinda way" but in an "I can't look away because it's a trainwreck" kinda way!

The book is marketed as a "sexy suspense" but I personally didn't think it was sexy or very suspenseful. It was dramatic, yes. There was obsession, obsessed love, but it was more angsty than anything, and I couldn't understand the motivations that fueled one of the characters. Maybe my expectations were too high, but it just fell flat.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

-Review posted to Goodreads and Twitter on 6/1/22 and on major retail outlets on publication

If you're into books that are a bit over the top, a bit crazy, a bit saccharine, that are like reading a Lifetime movie, or if you are looking to escape reality for a while, this novel just might meet your needs.

Can't Look Away is a domestic drama centering on the lovestruck, can't get enough of you, can't deal with you, I'm out of here, I can't forget about you, (read and repeat, read and repeat...) relationship of Jake and Molly.

Since any relationship affects others, we also have Sisi, Sabrina, and Hunter to add some extra dimensions to the story. The author titled this book perfectly, because like a train wreck or accident you know is coming, you can't look away. What does that say about us?

A 2.5 star rating rounded up to 3 because you're not permitted to give 1/2 stars and I was interested enough in the story to want to finish the book.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for permitting me to read an ARC of the book via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given. The book is scheduled for publication 6/14/22.

I really enjoyed this one. I went in blind, expecting a thriller and was pleasantly surprised with a romantic suspense novel!

You know I love me some romance, throw in some darkness or suspense and I’m sold.

This was a quick read, that had me biting my nails at times, with twists and turns I wasn’t quite expecting. The characters seemed real and flawed, which I always enjoy. The villainess; is that the term for a female villain? Definitely gave Joe from You vibes in female form.

Stella was cute as pie and a feisty little thing!


Molly was torn between two lovely but so different men Jake and Hunter. I also got a little bit of Daisy Jones and The Six vibes from Jake which I really enjoyed !

Would you choose the stable, handsome business man who adores you or the sexy rockstar, who was so in love with you, you were his muse but he consumed you, and it wasn’t always for the best?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went back and forth between reading and listening because I let this story consume me and the narration was fantastic too!

Thank you @stmartinspress for an ARC for my honest review.

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering-

What a fantastic story about life and love in your twenties and the true hardships and triumphs that come with life. I loved how the writing was done in multiple perspectives over an alternating time line because the story revealed itself completely through the different narrators and time frames. It was a very easy to read but addicting story that I couldn't wait to finish so I could find out what happened in the past and how that affected the present! I found it to be quite the page-turner, not your typical mystery type but also not a romance; it was something more in the middle of both of those categories. The core of the story deals with never ending love and how it truly saturates your entire life, affecting future relationships and passions. I enjoyed this advanced reader copy of this novel and look forward to reading more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.25

The multiple narrators really made this story come alive, each portraying their characters perfectly. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys reading about suspenseful and intense relationship.

I went into this believing it was a thriller but it’s really more of a domestic suspense. I think it’s important to go into this expecting a slow burn suspense and not a fast paced thriller. Doing that will definitely help the enjoyment of this very one.

All the characters were really well developed and there’s a love story in the midst of this that really had me feeling so much for the characters. It was such a testament to relationships that I had in it 20s. Oh the drama! 😂

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

When you get obsessed with a book about obsession ....
⁣
Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for a gifted eARC of “Can’t Look Away” by Carola Lovering. It doesn’t come out until 6/18 so I’m breaking my own rule of sharing a bit far from the publication date. I needed a new Kindle book (I always have a physical book and an ebook going) and this one just grabbed me, as I knew it would. I liked “Tell Me Lies” by this author and LOVED “Too Good to Be True.” This is my favorite of hers!⁣
⁣
⭐️ rating: 4.5⁣
📚genre: suspense ⁣
#️⃣ length: 320 pages ⁣
🗓 pub date: 6/18⁣
⏳pace: fast ⁣
🫣 the vibe: obsession and the #firstworldproblems of rich white women⁣
⁣
If you liked this author’s others books, you’ll love this one. It needs a trigger warning for what I know is a sensitive subject but I feel like it would be a spoiler in this case. ⁣
⁣
Laura Dave, who wrote “The Last Thing He Told Me,” blurbed this one. I think if you liked that book, you’ll be into this one as well. ⁣
⁣
From the publisher: “In 2013, twenty-three-year old Molly Diamond is a barista, dreaming of becoming a writer. One night at a concert in Brooklyn, she locks eyes with the lead singer, Jake Danner, and can’t look away.
⁣
“Nearly a decade later, Molly has given up writing and is living in Flynn Cove, Connecticut with her young daughter and her husband Hunter—who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Their life looks picture-perfect, but Molly is lonely; she feels out of place with the other women in their wealthy suburb and is struggling to conceive their second child. When Sabrina, a newcomer in town, walks into the yoga studio where Molly teaches and confesses her own fertility struggles, Molly believes she's finally found a friend.⁣
⁣
“But Sabrina has her own reasons for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly. And as Sabrina’s secrets are slowly unspooled, her connection to Molly becomes clearer––as do secrets of Molly's own, which she’s worked hard to keep buried.⁣”

It's 2013 in New York City, and Molly Diamond is a 23-year-old barista and wannabe writer when she meets Jake Danner, the lead singer of an up-and-coming band. They fall fast and hard for each other. Molly fuels his songwriting as he becomes the inspiration for her first novel. Their love for each other is all-encompassing, but trust issues and time apart as Jake's band grows in popularity start to crumble the foundation which was shaky to begin with.

Interspersed with chapters from 2013, we learn what's happening in the present. Molly now lives in an uptight Connecticut suburb, married to a man who is decidedly not Jake Danner, with a 5-year old daughter named Stella. She’s given up writing entirely and teaches yoga to help cover the cost of the IVF treatments they've been trying for years. When she hears a new acoustic version of “Molly’s Song”, the breakout hit from the band back in 2013, on the radio, she can’t help but remember him, not that she ever really forgot.

Coincidentally, Molly makes a new friend in town, something she's been hard-pressed to do in the years they've lived there. Sabrina and her husband have recently moved to Flynn Cove, and after she attends one of Molly's yoga classes they become fast friends. But nothing is as coincidentally as it seems to Molly. Sabrina has an agenda all her own, and Molly is her unwitting target.

This is certainly not what I would call a thriller, so get that notion out of your head before you start the first chapter. It’s a domestic drama with the barest hint of suspense, but that doesn't mean it isn't an engrossing story. It's not particularly twisty, and yet I wanted to know what was going to happen next. If you enjoyed Carola Lovering's past books, you'll probably enjoy this one. It felt very similar to Too Good to Be True - the setting, the back and forth narrative, the rich people.

This is a quick, fun, easy listen - but it’s a drama, not a thriller. I really enjoyed the dual timelines and multiple point of views. The characters and the narrators were great, and I really like this author.

Can't Look Away, by Carola Lovering is being marketed as a thriller. I absolutely disagree with that genre for this book. Can't Look Away seemed much more like a family drama/women's fiction novel to me. So, if I ignore the marketing, I will say I really enjoyed this book for what I thought it was.

Molly fell hard for Jake in her early twenties while she was trying to be an author and he was a rising music star. It was apparently love at first site for both of them and they made a go of the relationship in NYC. Cut to the future and Molly is married to someone other than Jake, Hunter. Hunter and Molly are raising a precocious little girl together outside the city in an affluent suburb where Hunter grew up.

The novel unfolds non-sequentially, jumping back and forth between when Molly and Jake were together and current day where Molly is a part-time yoga teacher seemingly having given up writing for some reason. A new woman attends Molly's yoga class, Sabrina. Sabrina has reasons for hunting Molly down and the reader finds out fairly early on what those reasons are.

I am giving this book 4 stars because I found it to be incredibly relatable and believable how relationships were described and how they played out. The only weak point in the book was Sabrina. It seems like Sabrina was a device used to make the book seem like more of a thriller than a straight up romance/women's fiction novel, but her motives were completely bizarre unless she was full-on crazy, which she was not ever portrayed to be. Jake and Hunter were pretty standard male leads, with Jake being portrayed absolutely realistic given his age and career. Hunter was a tad too unrealistically perfect, but not enough to complain about.

I read one reviewer compare this novel to a Colleen Hoover novel and that is 100% accurate. This one had a lot of her 'Can True Love overcome personal demons?"-vibe. Can't Look away is a quick, thought-provoking novel that keeps the reader wondering how it will all turn out for Molly all the way to the end.

The story is told from several points of view and different times. The story moves slowly revealing a little at a time from the past and the current settings. The secrets that are finally revealed are a bit shocking. The book did a good job showing young love and adult love. The twists in the stories were done well. I received an advance copy and am voluntarily leaving a review.

In Can’t Look Away Molly meets Jake an up-and-coming lead singer. They are both in there mid twenties, still young and the cusp of finding who they are.
Molly and Jake have an insta-love that is intense and passionate. Although, it’s a difficult period of time as Jake’s band starts to get recognized. Jake finds himself immersed in his world of music while Moly tries her hand at writing.
As time wears on Molly feels the foundation of there love crumbling. She spends time with a new friend. Eventually, time carves different paths for the both of the.
Five years later, the past collides with the present and Molly and Jake are once again faced with unresolved feelings of love.
Can’t Look Away is constructed of multiple points of view alternating between the past and the present. Carola Lovering is a new to me author. Caitlin Moss recommended this book and based on her positive review I took a chance on this book. I requested both the ebook and audiobook on Netgalley.
Can’t Look Away explores first love with deception, secrets, and lies. Can’t Look Away is dubbed a thriller, yet I found it was focused mainly on the relationships between Molly, Hunter, Sabrina, and Jake. The drama meter was high and tad bit over-the-top in certain areas. The story came alive around the seventy percent mark. Early in the story I thought this was going to be a rockstar romance. Jake was a musician and his career played an intricate part of the story, but it wasn’t just about his music career. The story focused on family and friendship.

Narrators:
Caitlin Davies
Zachary Webber
Karissa Vacker
Three narrators perform Can’t Look Away. I’m only familiar with the voice of Zachary Webber. The two female narrators were pleasant to listen to although I couldn’t tell you which performed which characters.

I’m pleased to have the opportunity to listen to these amazing narrators perform this book for me. I’m growing more spoiled wanting to invest in both the audiobook and ebook. Having narrators read the story to me adds an extra layer to the story that I cherish.
I listened using the Netgalley app at 2X speed. This is an unabridged audiobook allowing readers the opportunity to follow along with the ebook.
These narrators enhanced my listening experience. Eventhough I imagined a different type of read I still found the story to be fulfilling.

Another suspenseful and incredibly quick read from Carola Lovering! She is a master of toxic and twisty relationships. The most impressive part of this one is her handle on shifting timelines and POVs. It never got confusing and I enjoyed reading all of the different perspectives.

CAN’T LOOK AWAY by Carola Lovering

If you like your thrillers dipped in romance, I have a book for you.

We’re first introduced to Molly. Molly used to be a writer but currently makes her living as a yoga instructor. One day Sabrina walks into her studio and the two become friends.

As the book progresses we learn there is more to Sabrina than it seems and the two women have much more in common than Molly could ever imagine.

I liked this one. It was extremely easy to read and ingest in big chunks. There were lots of twists and turns. And it kept my attention throughout.

In my opinion, it is heavy on the romance side and light on the thriller.

This would make a fantastic book for newbies to the thriller genre or fans of the romance genre looking to dip their toes in thriller waters.


⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio St Martins Press for this advanced copy!

This book had me hooked from the first chapter! I went into it thinking it was a thriller, but it turns out that it is more of a domestic/romantic suspense book, but still just as enjoyable! Just do not go into it expecting it to be a thriller, because it may lead to a bit of a disappointment in that case.

There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout. The themes of this book are centered around love, obsession, and secrets. It was a quick and enjoyable read that had me feeling as though I was watching a Lifetime movie unfold on the pages as I was reading.

We follow Molly, who lives in New York and works as a barista, but has a longing to become a writer one day. One day she locks eyes with a handsome, dreamy stranger-Jake Danner, who happens to be a lead singer for a band. The two quickly fall for one another.

Fast forward nine years later and Molly is living in Connecticut, married to Hunter, and has a five year old daughter. Her dream to become a writer has dwindled. Life may appear to be perfect for Molly, but she still finds herself dreaming of Jake. One day she meets one of her neighbors, Sabrina and her husband, who are new to the area. Sabrina and Molly quickly become close friends, but little does Molly know that Sabrina has some secrets she is keeping, which includes a secret agenda that will destroy Molly.

The drama pulled me in, but I will say that this one lacked the suspense, twists, and surprises for me. Despite this, I still found myself to be thoroughly engaged in this book. I enjoyed the ending, and the amount of drama. Overall, this was a fast paced and entertaining read.

This one kept my attention for sure! It wasn’t the thriller I was expecting but it was a good, twisty, drama.

I loved Too Good to Be True when I read it last year, so naturally I snagged Carola Lovering’s newest novel when it was “read now” on NetGalley and requested the audiobook version as well. I read the first half and listened to the audiobook for the second half.

Molly is a wannabe writer and yogi who ends up in a whirlwind romance with an up-and-coming musician, Jake, lead singer of Danner Lane, after locking eyes in a New York City bar one fateful night. Eventually, Molly is faced with the decision of a lifetime - she must decide between the rockstar’s erratic lifestyle or the comfort and stability of a close friend who confesses his love for her and is ready to start a family. Years later, her decision comes back to haunt her and her family in the form of a jealous, stalker ex-girlfriend, Sabrina, who sets the stage for an unanticipated reunion between all involved parties in an attempt to dig up the past and the secrets buried there. What will Molly do when faced with her past decisions and when her secrets start to air out? Would she make the same choice all over again?

This story is told between Molly, Jake, and Sabrina’s perspectives, both “then” (2013ish) and “now” (2022).

Carola does domestic/romantic suspense with stalker ex tropes the best!! I thought I had the whole plot figured out but the twists just kept coming! Brb, going to add “Tell Me Lies” - Carola’s first novel - to my tbr! She is an auto-read author for me now, for sure.

I enjoyed the narrators a lot. They were very entertaining, which was mostly why I switched to audio for the entire second half of the book. I sometimes struggle with audiobooks where there are multiple POVs, especially ones that shift between males and females, but the quality and sufficient quantity of narrators in this one was great.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and the author for an e-galley and advance listener’s copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest book by Carola Lovering, beautifully narrated by Caitlin Davies; Karissa Vacker; Zachary Webber. 4 stars!

In 2013, Molly is young, living in Brooklyn, working as a barista and trying to write. When she goes to a show and locks eyes with the lead singer of the band, Molly and Jake begin. He writes a song about her that becomes popular and the band's greatest hit. In present day, Molly is married to Hunter, they have a young daughter and are living in Hunter's hometown in Connecticut. Molly feels adrift from her life and the women in town. She works as a yoga instructor and is desperately trying to get pregnant again. When she meets Sabrina at the fertility clinic, she finally feels like she met a kindred soul. But does Sabrina feel the same?

This is being promoted as a mystery/thriller which may leave readers a bit confused. To me, it's a really good domestic drama, heavy on the characters, which is a good thing in my book as well. I really felt a pull towards the characters and their thoughts and feelings were easily relatable. It's a story of first love, obsession and growing up. I ended up mostly listening to the audio book because of the great job the narrators did, and I was always finding a minute to listen. Another good read by Carola Lovering!

An enjoyable story told through the points of view.

Not very thrilling for a thriller, but still kept me interested and reading until the end

I always love a good thriller with twists and turns to keep you on your toes!

Molly Diamond is an aspiring writer when she meets Jake Danner of Danner Lane, and up and coming band. Their connection is instant, hurtling them into a whirlwind romance. But years later, Molly is married to Hunter with a beautiful daughter when Jake comes back into her life in her new town with his new wife, who has secrets of her own. What unfolds is a story of lies and deceit that's been bubbling up for years.

Molly is an interesting protagonist. She clearly hasn't gotten to where she wanted in her writing career, but on the outside her life looks perfect. Hunter is the ideal husband and she loves her daughter Stella. It's obvious that she wants something more, though she isn't sure how to get it. When she meets Sabrina, she feels like she finally has a friend, but when she finds out Sabrina is married to Jake everything seems to fall apart. The story is woven between the past and present, breaking down Jake and Molly's failed relationship and how they both ended up where they are. I love duel timelines and the insight they can provide into the characters' backgrounds, and it was really effective throughout this book.

What I really loved about this book was that I never really had a handle on where things were going. Even when it seemed obvious, the plot never went that way leaving me surprised. The plot points seemed predictable, but there was always a small twist making it exciting. We never get too deep in the weeds with the characters, but it didn't affect the overall story for me.

There was also this creep factor with Sabrina. It really made me think about how people can come into your life so innocently. You might never know someone's true intentions, and that in itself is scary.