Shortly after I started this book, I realized it was not for me. I did not connect with any of the characters at all. Instead of a thriller, which is what I was expecting, it's more of a YA book and I really just didn't care what was going to happen next so for that reason, I threw in the towel early. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Without a doubt, this was one of the most exciting books I have read in a while! There were so many times throughout the novel that I was left completely shocked by what happened. The pacing of it was great, and I felt as if I was watching a drama unfold on a show or movie. This is definitely a novel that you won't be able to put down until you find out how it ends!

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering

Molly is young girl trying her best to become a writer when it happens, Jake Danner. He falls into her life and Molly's life with never be the same. Jake is trying to make it big with his band Danner Lane. It was on stage that Jake's eyes met Molly's eyes in the audience and he knew he had to know her. As Danner Lane has more and more success, it just becomes harder and harder for Jake and Molly. Jake just doesn't know how to prioritize between the band and Molly. Unfortunately Molly just seems to get left out.
Fast forward a few years, Molly has married Hunter and they have a daughter named Stella, living in the beautiful Flynn Cove. Molly and Hunter moved here to be closer to his mom and it was where Hunter grew up and learned to sail. It is perfect for young families but Molly just can't identify with any of the women. Until Sabrina moves in. They instantly have a connection and its exactly what Molly has always wanted. Sabrina frequently comes to Molly's yoga class, they have lunch together and she quickly becomes the girl Molly goes to for anything. And then, Molly meets her husband. How can it be that Sabrina is married to her Jake?! How did Jake end up married and in Flynn Cove?! Can Molly remain friends with Sabrina?

Carola Lovering writes Can't Look Away from Molly, Jake, and Sabrina's point of view. Lovering also goes back and forth between the past and the present. She does label each chapter with the character and the date so there is no confusion. I really enjoyed the first third of the book, got bored in the middle and then the last third gained momentum back up again. Women are crazy and some will go to any length at getting what they want. I would definitely be interested in reading other works by Lovering. Special thanks to NetGalley, Carola Lovering, and St. Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 3.5 stars for me.

It was April 2021 that I was first introduced to @carolatlovering with #toogoodtobetrue-one of my favorite books of 2021. Can’t Look Away was an excellent follow up.
It’s 2013 and Molly and Jake are in love. Jake is the frontman of an up and coming band which is gaining traction with their hit, “Molly’s Song.” Meanwhile, Jake’s ex-girlfriend Sabrina is keeping close tabs on Jake and Molly. Fast forward to present day when Molly is married to someone else and Sabrina mysteriously befriends the unsuspecting Molly. Unraveling Sabrina’s motives as well as catching up with the devolution of Jake and Molly’s romance made this a page-turning novel that was hard to put down.

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this ebook, which will be available on June 14.

I received an ARC of Carola Lovering’s latest, Can’t Look Away. I found it super interesting and suspenseful! She went back to her Tell Me Lies roots with this one, so if you loved that book like I did you’ll love this too. It explores topics like the dynamics of toxic relationships, what life could have been like if you’d chosen a different path, “the one that got away”, and some obsessive stalking. I read it in a few sittings because I couldn’t put it down. Comes out June 2022!

Trigger warning: miscarriage and infertility

Carola Lovering's "Can't Look Away" was like a breath of fresh air. This novel about the complexities of relationships when you're in your 20s is captivating from the start. Each character is so well drawn that it's easy to empathize with their choices (even when they're bad ones). This was my first novel by Lovering and I'll definitely be seeking more of her work.
Fast-paced, engaging, and full of captivating characters, this book was a definite win for me.

They met at a concert. Their eyes locked in over the maddening crowd. Danner Lane was the act for the evening and Jake Danner was the lead singer/musician. Molly Diamond, an aspiring novelist, didn’t want to go to the concert, but she couldn’t say no to her best friend, Nina. Through the music emanating from the band and the clamoring from concertgoers, Jake and Molly made a connection.

That was ten years ago. Molly Diamond is now Molly O’Neil and not Molly Danner. Molly gave up her aspirations of becoming a novelist. Instead, she now teaches yoga and is raising their daughter with her husband Hunter. Everything is seemingly perfect. And just when life couldn’t get any better, Molly is befriended by Sabrina – a student from one of Molly’s yoga classes. Little does Molly know that behind Sabrina’s friendship lies an alterior motive. A motive that could undermine everything that Molly has worked for.

Can’t Look Away is an interesting read. Not fully absorbing but there is enough substance that kept me engaged till the end.

I wasn’t too particularly fond of the characters since most of them were too shallow personality-wise for my tastes. That being said, the author did a fine job of fleshing out the characters to capture their personalities and subtle nuances.

The story unfolds from three points of view — Molly, Jake, and Sabrina. However, each view is from a third person perspective. This method of storytelling did take a little getting used to, but eventually the narrative begins to flow nicely.

I wouldn’t say that there weren’t any hitches to the storyline because to me there were at least a few. I won’t mention them there since that would give away the plot. I will say that there were some “Seriously?” and “Are you kidding me?” moments.

Overall, Can’t Look Away is an acceptable read. A solid three stars.

I received a digital ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

First off, thank you to St Martin Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this digital ARC of Can't Look Away (hard copy also received)

Carola Lovering has done it again! I enjoyed this story about love, loss, and obsessions. The main characters are Molly, Jake, and Sabrina - well developed and relatable. Lovering tells the story giving the reader chapters dedicated to each of them. and the stories span over several years. The mixture of romance and thriller gave this a fresh feel and excited moments both hair raising and romantically! Really enjoyable read!

Molly has a great husband in Hunter and a darling five-year-old daughter, Stella. The snobby beachside town where they live makes Molly long for her college friends, so when Sabrina turns up, Molly believes she finally has made a local forever friend. Sabrina, however, has a calculated agenda that threatens Molly’s world.

This book definitely has vibes of Caroline Kepnes’s YOU in that Sabrina thinks of Molly in second person you, much like YOU’s protagonist Joe Goldberg thinks of Beck, the object of his obsession. And like Joe, Sabrina is very much the hero of her own story, and in her version, Molly stole something precious. The fact that Sabrina’s chapters are told in first person, while Molly’s are in third, and Sabrina gets the last say with the epilogue in her perspective makes the case that she is the protagonist.

Sabrina drives the story from her actions. Her all-consuming obsession with Molly and her desire to get back what she believes was taken from her creates tension. I really liked how each bit of information that she gained was shown adding plausibility to the tale.

Molly is a likable character with her bonds to her brother and mother and her dreams of becoming a published author. However, she has given up on her dreams and instead teaches yoga. I liked how her writing dreams are worked into her character arc.

The male characters of Hunter and Jake feel less lovingly crafted than the primary female characters. While Jake gets a bit more backstory to explain his complicated feelings around family, Hunter mostly seems to go with the flow. However, I liked how the women are in the spotlight, and Hunter gets a great moment at the country club which hints at him being a fully realized character.

While Hunter comes close, none of the characters are perfect people. They make bad decisions and act on their impulses. They each try to make the best out of their situations as they seek connection.

I devoured this book. I loved the way it was structured and the awesome epilogue. For me, this is a four and a half star read, rounded to five.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

I’m on the fence on how to rate this. The novel was okay, however, it’s marketed as a thriller and I don’t believe it was one. Not one twist was unexpected and I really didn’t love any of the main characters. Molly and Jake’s relationship was toxic, but so was her marriage to Hunter. There was a lot of stalker vibes from multiple characters.

This was a fun, suspenseful book! You follow three main characters through their twenties as they meet, fall in love, fall out of love, and try to figure out what is going to happen. Sabrina befriends Molly years later, and we come to find out that Molly used to date Sabrina's husband years earlier. Why is Sabrina so intent in meeting Molly? What are her intentions? I flew through this one in less than a day! I had to know what happened. Loved the NYC setting, as well.

I am a huge fan of Too Good to be True but this one wasn’t for me. While it was a good book, I thought that it would be more suspenseful. Overall, very well written! Thank you net galley for the arc!

“...a sexy suspense novel about the kind of addictive, obsessive love that keeps you coming back––no matter how hard you try to look away.”

The book is written in dual timelines and from the perspective of the main character, Molly, and two other important characters, Jake and Sabrina. The past timeline helps with building the history of all three characters and how they relate to each other in the future timeline.

This book gave off slight “You” vibes when it came to Sabrina’s POV chapters! Her chapters definitely made me think of Joe Goldberg talking to Beck while he’s spying on her, so I read those chapters in my head as if Joe were narrating (LOL)!

Some aspects were predictable while others were uniquely well-written and suspenseful. The entirety of the novel comes across as more of a romantic drama than a suspense novel, but still an entertaining read. It was a bit cumbersome for me to stomach the obsessive-love type relationships the characters experience but this is typical of a lot of early-20s relationships.

The ending was sensible and there weren’t any loose ends! Overall, an enjoyable read!

Be forewarned, this book is not a thriller, it is a romance with some domestic drama. I have read a lot of reviews where people were expecting a thriller. If you go into this story knowing the genre, you will be very satisfied.

I loved every minute of this book!! The story starts out in 2013 when 23-year-old Molly Diamond locks eyes with the lead singer of a band, Jake Danner. They fall hard and fast for each other but being in a relationship with a Rockstar is difficult for Molly and she ends her relationship with Jake after he ghosts her during a European tour.

Fast forward and Molly is married to Hunter whom she befriended while she was dating Jake. They live a comfortable life in Flynn Cove with a 5-year-old daughter named Stella. Enter Sabrina, the new resident of Flynn Cove and someone Molly likes and relates to. They quickly become close friends. Molly does not realize Sabrina is obsessed with her and has an agenda. I particularly liked Sabrina’s chapters told in the first person.

This is a very entertaining story about obsessive love. It was so well written, and the character development on point. I loved how the chapters went from the past to present. I will be thinking about this book for a long time and will be recommending it to anyone looking for a romance with a touch of domestic suspense!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my e-ARC.

I read her last book Too Good To Be True and after going into this one blind I was surprised in a good way. I really enjoyed this one. The writing was enthralling I need to know what was going to happen. The DRAMA the drama was great, a woman scorned is great for drama. I do kind of wish that the antagonist got more handed to her at the end.

⚠️ miscarriage, infertility,

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

OOOOH this was good!

I went into this thinking it would be more of a thriller and it definitely is NOT! So now you know. This was labeled as a sexy suspense and after laughing at that sub-genre, I actually think I totally agree with it. This was romance, mystery, suspense, intrigue, emotional, maddening and a little bit desperate housewives all rolled into one. And. I. Was. Here. For. It!

I read this with two of my girlfriends and they felt similar to me - we couldn't put it down, we were intrigued the entire way through and overall really liked this latest from Lovering. I will say...the ending felt a smidge too tidy and perfect for me, but I also REALLY liked it too. I found the characters to be pretty relatable, while also wanting to yell at them and be like...but why must we make such poor decisions?!

The Sabrina angle also gave me major "You" vibes, which is funny because I did not at all like You, but really enjoyed this book. Overall - pick this up! If this is truly a sexy suspense novel, then sign me up for this sub-genre!

Thank you St.Martin's Press for the early review copy.

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering #jaylammreviews

I hate to say it but this one didn’t work for me. After reading Lovering’s last novel, I was expecting a fast paced thriller. This was not that. This was mostly a romance with a dash of domestic suspense thrown in. I think if I knew that going in, maybe I would have enjoyed it more but I can’t say for sure.

I really disliked all the characters and became really frustrated with the choices made by the main character Molly.

Even tho this wasn’t for me, I will definitely read more by Lovering in the future. I enjoy her writing style!

This is out in June!

Can't Look Away is the newest novel by Carola Lovering. I enjoyed this story about love, loss, and obsessions. The main characters are Molly, Jake, and Sabrina. Lovering tells the story giving the reader chapters dedicated to each of them. and the stories span over several years. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy to review.

This was a good book. I enjoyed the alternating viewpoints and timelines that allowed me as the reader to see a fuller picture of the story as it all collided together. While it wasn’t as much of a thriller or suspense feel as I was expecting, it had a good overall story. It definitely felt like more of a romance to me with unresolved past issues.

Favorite Quotes

“Maybe happiness is what you surrender to, not what you fight for.”
“I chose you then. I choose you still. You’re my husband.”