Title: Can’t Look Away
Author: Carola Lovering
Publication Date: June 14 2022
Rating: 4 Stars
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.
Synopsis: It’s 2013 and aspiring writer Molly is chasing her dreams in New York City. She meets and quickly falls in love with singer Jake. He soon writes a hit song about her that skyrockets his band to fame.
Fast forward 10 years later, Molly and Jake’s love hasn’t lasted, but that hit song has certainly followed them around. Molly is now living in Connecticut with a picture perfect suburban home, husband, and daughter. With all of that in place, what could go wrong? Enter Sabrina, a newbie to town who will have Molly questioning every decision she has made in the past 10 years.

Thoughts: This book was fast-paced, thrilling, and fantastic. I could not put it down and read it in 2 days! The plot twists captivated me and I was hooked. This book will leave you in suspense and have you questioning who is deceiving who amongst the cast of characters.

For Fans of: Revisited first loves, domestic drama/thrillers, fast-paced reads, and suspense.

I wasn’t a fan of the book when I first started reading - the writing style was kind of repetitive and off putting at times. A few chapters in, the story hooked me. I was surprised by the twist in the end, but definitely thought the consequences for some characters were unfair. I guess that’s life though! I read this in a few hours, really couldn’t put it down.

"Can't Look Away" sat on my virtual TBR shelf for way too long until I finally decided to give it a whirl. I was so pleasantly surprised with this - I had expected a run of the mill thriller but that wasn't it at all. Instead, Carola Lovering spins a captivating domestic drama with a few twists and turns that kept me hooked to the end. A really fun read all in all.

This is one of my new favorite authors! This is my second book by her and I loved it too! Her mystery and thrilling aspect of writing keeps you guessing until the very end. The atmosphere and the characters the author writes really appeal to your sins and your conscience so that you become quickly invested. Highly recommend anything by this author!

I really enjoyed this! This book is definitely not a thriller. If you go in looking for a twisty thriller you will be extremely disappointed. If you want a soapy drama filled with betrayal, deception, heartache and a dash of intrigue, this is for you. I would love to see this play out through an episodic drama on Netflix. I was entertained from beginning to end and was quickly pulled into the lives of the characters and invested in the outcome of their lives. Very addictive! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my copy.

A completely accurate title. This was a quick and easy read that I couldn’t look away from, even having predicted the twists and turns that lie ahead.

This one doesn’t fit neatly in any one genre box. Part suspense, part romance, part women’s fiction, I found it a unique mix that made me ponder the connections we make over time and how we change as we age.

I flew through the audiobook narrated by Caitlin Davies, Karissa Vacker, and Zachary Webber. If you’re looking for a quick listen while you get *all the things* done, I’d recommend this one.

Also of note, this was a @gmabookclub pick in July.

Many thanks to @stmartinspress and macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies.

3.5 stars

Good and kept me interested while reading but nothing has really stuck with me since reading it. Great fall time/creepy vibes though.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for allowing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest (late) review.

If you’ve ever experienced that type of hopeless, passionate, completely head over heels in love connection to someone, you’ll recognize the relationship that Molly and Jake have. It’s the kind of love that is so completely consuming, that realistically, it has no chance of lasting long-term. And as it turns out, it doesn’t.

Fast forward 10 years. When Molly meets Sabrina, a new comer to her sleepy New York suburb, she’s very excited. She’s never met someone in her little town that she truly felt she could connect with until Sabrina. And when she shows up in the office of Molly’s fertility specialist, Molly is even more excited to have a friend who understands what she is going through. But, just as true love was too much to last, apparently it’s also too much to ask for a true friend. Things are not as they seem and someone is lying.

Lovering does an amazing job in Can’t Look Away of creating realistic characters with realistic emotions. Sure, some of them are off the deep end, but that’s realistic too. It’s a great book, an amazing page turner and it was nostalgic revisiting the feelings of hopeless love and angst that many of us felt in our teen years.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley that I took way too long to read. But I’m so glad I did! This one is available now.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I love that it was told in past and present. The suspense kept me on my toes waiting for the ball to drop. It was a great romantic suspense novel!

i feel like this genre is everywhere right now. is it domestic thriller? i'm not sure but it's definitely all about people who desperately keep secrets that inevitably get revealed anyway. they strain credulity.

Can't Look Away is just another entry in this genre. the characters feel stock but at least the pacing is good. would recommend as a beach read.

teetering between 4-4.5 stars. really enjoyed this book and it pulled me right out of a reading slump 👏🏼

this is definitely a romantic suspense—so don’t expect a thriller going it! there are twist and turns throughout, and each time i thought i guessed what was coming next, i was wrong.

reminded me more of TELL ME LIES than TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. lots of music intertwined and gave me some DAISY JONES & THE SIX and EVERYTHING AFTER vibes.

full review to come on my IG closer to pub day! thanks to St Martin’s for the gifted copy

This is exactly the type of romance novel that I crave -- unpredictable, complicated characters, and a relatable story line. I thoroughly enjoyed the escape.

👀 I expected this book to be a thriller – from the cover art and title, but also from the description and the genre it is listed under. But this wasn’t a thriller to me at all. It is definitely more of a domestic drama or women’s fiction in my opinion.

👀 While my initial assumptions probably skewed my perception of this book a bit, I still enjoyed it. I really connected with Molly. The depiction of her relationship with Jake when they were younger really rang true to me and reminded me of one of my relationships during that period of my life.

👀 I did feel like the book dragged a bit at times, but not so much that I was removed from the story. I just felt like it was a bit repetitive occasionally.

👀 The ending was appropriate and realistic, and I was personally very happy about how everything was resolved.

👀 This story is a good example of how life doesn’t always turn out the way we expect it to, but sometimes (and often) that is a good thing.

Thank you @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This one is a twisted psychological thriller. Molly and Jake were dating and in love almost 10 years ago but broke up. Now as Molly is married with a child, she runs back into Jake and he is married to her new best friend. A book where everyone has a secret. Some you will guess and some you will never see coming. A good cat and mouse game.

Wow this is a crazy intense novel of first loves & the intense way they grip your heart and mind and sometimes never let go. This is an insanely amazing book that will keep you reading long into the night. I know because I sure did!!!!!!!!

Having read Lovering's last book I went into this one rather blind and expecting a thriller. Instead this was more of a romance. However, this is a romance I really enjoyed. Rather than being a typical will they won't they style book it was more of a what could have been. I enjoyed learning the backstory of the characters as well as their relationship of the past and the present. There were some suspenseful elements, but by in large I would classify this more as a suspenseful romance. I will read anything that Carola Lovering writes!

DNF

Not a book for me. Lots of melodrama between females pretending to be friends. Lots of switching back and forth between timelines, neither of which interested me all that much. I didn't like anyone and I didn't care, so I stopped reading.

This was a very unexpected book for me - in a good way! I had no idea what the book was about so I was not ready for a semi-romance. This book takes place in two timelines - current day 2022 and 2013. In 2013, Jake and Molly meet at Jake's concert when they lock eyes. They fall fast in love and Jake even writes a hit song about Molly that shoots his stardom. Then in present day, Molly is married to someone else. As the story unfolds we find out what happens. While my description so far sounds like a romance, this book is actually a thriller and there is another woman involved.

I loved the way this story unfolded. I wanted to know what happened in 2013 for Molly and Jake to no longer be together. I wanted to find out what happened with the thriller part of the book. There were some predictable parts but also some twists I wasn't expecting. I also really enjoyed the way the story ended.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

I’ve said it a million times that my reactions could be blamed on right place/right time way more than 50% of the time. The giant banner advertising the series Tell Me Lies kept slapping me right in the face until I finally realized I had an unread Carola Lovering ARC sitting on the Kindle and I decided to give it a whirl.

First things first, I hate the cover. I mean you had to see that one coming. And a warning for anyone looking for a super twisty stabby good time, this probably isn’t the story for you. What it turned out being was sort of a love triangle . . . with a twist. Molly is married to Hunter but used to be rock star Jake’s muse. This is the story of Molly and Hunter’s present life in Connecticut interspersed with Molly and Jake’s love story from the past. I can’t imagine any of the big reveals will come as a huge shocker to most readers, but it was some tasty brain candy when my head wasn’t capable of retaining anything but soap opera style yumminess.

Can’t Look Away was a step up from Colleen Hoover’s style. Stick around 10 years and all the kids on BookTok will discover this author and tell y’all to read her *eyeroll*

3.5 Stars

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

This was boring. It is nothing like Gillian Flynn. The main plot was underwhelming and the characters were all flat.