Loved this story! Felt like I was living in Molly’s world right with her. You never forget your first love
Quick story with multiple points of view. Kept my interest and left me looking for more!

I should start off that EVERY Carola Lovering Book I have read, I have thoroughly enjoyed! This was about a new friendship that quickly turns weird, and uncomfortable. This new woman definitely has ulterior motives and her new friend, Molly is about to be SHOCKED. Clear your day because once you sit down with this book you will NOT put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley for my free advance reader copy in exchange for my review.

This is a book about obsession. It's well written and I read it quickly. I enjoyed the characters and the story, although I always have a creepy factor with obsession.

Molly and Sabrina have one thing in common that pulls at them in life, it's Jake. Obsession and thinking one is completely in love no matter what in our early 20's is real. It's something that most people go through. This art imitates life. It does bring back some uncomfortable memory for me as a reader. I do feel a connection to the characters whether it be good or bad.

However, the story is slow to develop, and getting to the ending was a winding road that was unnecessary. Sabrina is too much like Joe from the book "You" by Caroline Kepnes. Which is all I can think about when I finished the story.

Thank you to Martin's Press and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5. SOOOO good! I was hooked from the start. The story weaves past and present and a few different voices. The book has a mix of everything: rock star youth, suburban mean moms, scandal.

I didn’t give it a 5 cuz honestly most of the characters are unlikable (besides maybe Hunter). Even if you are rooting for them, it’s hard cuz of their poor decisions. I think the author got it right in the end.

I went in to this book expecting a thriller and that isn't totally what I got, but I still really enjoyed it! I love stories about two people who were once in love colliding back into each other's lives after a long time apart. This was exactly that but with a bit of a thrillery vibe. Some of the stuff I found pretty unrealistic, but I wasn't expecting that. I got lost in this story and read it in three sittings!

This was a journey. It was a journey through past and present, through several points of view, of love, loss, and a little bit of crazy. Haha, okay, a lot of crazy.

Molly and Jake were in love. The hot guy in the band, the young woman with big dreams of a future as a writer. But you know how that kind of thing goes sometimes. Now Molly is happily married with a precious young daughter and living the peaceful life. It can’t be that simple can it? Of course not. I can’t say too much without giving things away. Just read it.

Yes, there was some mystery and a little suspense and a couple little twists. But I really felt like this was almost more of a story of love and relationships. I enjoyed it for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this ebook and to Carola Lovering for taking me on this journey.

Molly and Jake - now theres a love/hate relationship. Hes a lead singer in a band and she wants to become a writer. Can this relationship survive? They fall in love, he writes songs about her but alas, a decade later we find Molly married to someone else in Connecticut with a young daughter.

The story then shoots back and forth giving us a little bit by bit of info on what went wrong, and also how they will meet up again. Throw a woman names Sabrina into the mix and we find a very tangled web indeed.

Thanks to #Netgalley I got to read this one before its release and I am sorry you will have to wait until June 2022 to get your copy. But please put it on your TBR list because once you start reading you wont be able to put the book down.

I want to preface this review by saying that I will forever read anything Carola Lovering writes. Legit, she could write about the life cycle of the slug and somehow make it the most interesting thing I’d ever read. Can’t Look Away was not my favorite novel by her, but I still loved it. Like I said, Lovering is extremely talented at her craft. While her books are more domestic suspense than anything, they have a tendency to read with the urgency of a thriller, which I love. While this story is not my typical read, I enjoyed it immensely.

★ ★ ★ ★ ½

WOW! My first ever ARC & I started off with a bang!! I went into this book expecting a thriller based on the authors previous works and the cover but it was so different from what I was anticipating!! This story follows the love story of Jake and Molly with jumping years between 2013 & 2022 and the trials of their relationships, friendships, ex’s & new romances. I find that a lot of novels have what I call the “Carrie Bradshaw effect” in which I HATE the main character & simply adore all the side characters but Molly was so incredible, so relatable; I loved her so much! There wasn’t a single character that I hated (I even loved to hate the villain!!) This ending was not like your typical love stories and I was so thankful for that but it also had a very dark & sinister side to it all which I also appreciated because the incredibly cheesy and predictable romances are SO old! Without giving away spoilers, there are some heavy moments surrounding pregnancy/fertility issues so please be aware of that before reading!! I have 2 other books by Carola Lovering that have been on my shelf for awhile now but after reading this book I HAVE to start then ASAP! Lovering is an incredible writer!! official ruling: you NEED to read this book!!
thank you SO much to Carola Lovering, St. Martins Press & NetGalley for this advance copy!! Make sure you read this book when it is published June 28, 2022!!! You won’t want to miss it!!!

@brunette_bookclub on Instagram!

Hmm… This didn’t really fit the thriller bill for me. It was bit of a romance, bit of a drama for me. Obsessions and possible mental issues of one character made things hard for a lot of people who happened to be in her way, but it didn’t make it page turner.

Youngsters fell in love, thought that world wouldn’t go around the sun one more day if they break up, and eventually made bunch of decisions that youngsters make. I didn’t go through that phase (not sure if I’m lucky or not), but I’m sure this love and promises that came with it were the meaning of these 20 somethings’ lives. Being a rockstar’s girlfriend with songs dedicated to her and possibility of publishing a book just like that made this main character felt like million bucks. As days went by, she, along with her other friends, started to see true face of life and maturity hit like a 16 wheeler. Unfortunately some of them continued to live in this fantasy, this expectation that they created. And having the means to do so, they brought destruction wherever they went.

I didn’t love this story, but I didn’t hate it either. It was a somewhat realistic depiction of tsunamis that come with growing up, finding what works for you, and beginning to conform with anticlimactic nature of life. It will be a good summer book to read on a beach.

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering

4/5 🌟

This is the second book I have read from Lovering and I love her style and the dynamic relationships she writes. She uses different perspectives perfectly to give you just enough information for the reader to make judgements even if they are not where she is going with the story line.

This book follows Molly, her first love and rocker Jake, and his first love Sabrina. It flips back and forth from each character in 2015 and 2022. In her youth Molly is an aspiring writer and her twin flame is Jake a hot musician with a parting and deep side. They are in love and it is all encompassing. They move quickly and have a nearly perfect relationship except that Sabrina his ex can’t let him go. This along with the musician lifestyle being less than stable is the cause of many problems for these two lovers.

In 2022 Sabrina and Molly meet by accident in their wealthy neighborhood, both married, and at their first couples dinner you learn to who each has settled down with. I don’t want to give anything away so I will stop here.

The setting and style of writing gives this book real lift and flow. This is a very similar premise to Too Good To Be True so the author is really carving out her lane with this type of story. I would say less suspense but domestic mystery feels right. Her use of misdirection and stalking made me question if the characters were stable, which adds to the mystery of each characters true intention. I wish there was a bit more about sabrinas backstory and she showed some remorse, but overall this story kept me entertained to the end.

If you like the silent patient or the good sister this book is for you!

Thank you St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Wow! Five stars to Carola Lovering for Can't Look Away. This book was not what I expected, it's more of a romantic suspense than a thriller, but exactly what I needed. I binged this book and absolutely couldn't put it down - hands down a favorite read of 2021.

This book perfectly intertwines suspense and obsession, packed into a romance story that will have your heart pulled in so many different directions. This book had me thinking and feeling very deeply.

The characters are extremely well developed, and the alternating timelines and multiple POVs will keep you turning the pages until the very end - where you really don't even want it to end. I recommend going into this one blindly and diving right in. Thank me later!

A domestic drama novel that explores the tension between what is right and what is it “we” want. With alternating timelines, drama is naturally built in to the story.

However, I expected a true mystery thriller and on that end…this did disappoint a bit.

I recommend this novel less the mystery thriller lovers and more to readers of domestic drama.

I loved To Good to Be True, so I knew I just had to read this one! We love a good nostalgia story filled with secrets, and with those you won't be disappointed!

Can't Look Away is a story of great loves and obsession. I read this in 2 days and when I had to put the book down, I kept thinking about the characters.
The main 3 characters were well developed and I found myself cheering for each one at different times.
This book was amazing and I know I will be reading others by Carola Lovering.

Molly and Jake have a love that seems impossible to break. But what happens when it does, and she finds herself disappearing from her former life and stepping in to a new life? And more, what happens when a new friend is trying to dig up secrets from the past she left behind?

Can't Look Away is a partial love story and a partial stalker mystery. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying all of the aspects and points of view! The story weaves from past to present and back, all from the differing points of view of Molly, her ex Jake, and her new friend Sabrina. I do wish we would have had some perspective from Molly's husband, Hunter, but we did hear part of his story through everyone else's. Overall, this was a quick and easy read that was filled with a touch of nostalgia, some "what ifs," and a will she or won't she?

I loved the start of the book—it was an intriguing set up with interesting characters. The flashbacks were well-placed and bolster the reader’s understanding of the protagonists’ motives. I read it quickly, but the ending made me want to throw the book across the room, and not in a good way.

Overall, I liked this book A LOT. I read it QUICKLY, and was very interested to see what was going on. That said, it felt like it was almost two different concepts that were interspersed rather than one cohesive narrative. Another reviewer compared it to You and I see that comparison - many of the secondary POV chapters felt rather out of place with the story coming together otherwise. That said, it wouldn't stop me from recommending it to someone, I'd just tell them to avoid the blurb and go along for the ride.

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering was a great read. I usually read Domestic Suspense. This was a mix of romance and psychological suspense (maybe?) You follow the love story of Molly and Jake. I really don't want to put too much in the review. There was a little twist at the end. However, I figured out halfway through where this was going.
Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC.