this was solid! I think the characters were really well done because for a while I really couldn’t decide whose side I was on/who I was rooting for more, like did I hate Cassie or feel bad for her? we love nuance! the pacing of this book is what lost me. it felt like by 50% the story was kind of over and the rest felt a little pointless. also, Billie lowkey infuriated me, like the whole kidnapping felt so DUMB. I loved her and felt so bad for her and also….. girl. overall though flew through this and enjoyed it, my favorite @carolatlovering book so far. this is definitely more domestic suspense than thriller.

This psychological thriller/mystery follows two best friends bonded by a dark secret from their teen years. As adults, their lives take very different paths — one marries into wealth, becomes a mom and influencer, while the other stays single, child-free, and carves out her own way. Told in alternating POVs, it’s a tense story of estrangement, obsession, and toxic friendship that pulls them back together after a tragic event. Suspenseful and addictive!

Bye, Baby is a sleek, compulsively readable thriller that probes the darkest corners of female friendship, envy, and motherhood. Carola Lovering layers tension and emotional complexity with precision, delivering twists that feel both shocking and psychologically true. It’s gripping, stylish, and leaves a lingering chill.

Waffling between three and four stars here. The overall tone and story were good, but it was really less thriller and more contemporary by the end.

This is was very inthralling and captivating, had me hooked and waiting for what was next! I really enjoyed the flip-flop between both the female characters

3.5 stars. I picked this book up and read the first few chapters multiple times before actually finishing it. I found the beginning confusing until we got settled into the dial POV and timelines. Once I understood what was happening, it was an enjoyable ride but nothing super memorable. I did like the commentary on toxic friendships and the role of social media on motherhood. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

A suspenseful, emotionally charged novel about friendship, betrayal, and the lengths we go to protect our secrets. Dark, smart, and gripping.

I freaking love her writing style. It's so addicting and highly entertaining. I will devour everything she writes.

I got completely sucked into Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering—it starts with a gut-punch: Billie holding her best friend Cassie’s baby, who’s gone missing, and you instantly know it’s Billie’s fault . Their friendship unravels as we follow split timelines, and both women are achingly flawed yet deeply human—you find yourself rooting for them even as things spiral .

Billie’s unfiltered obsession—and Cassie’s transformation into the glossy influencer—felt raw and painfully relatable. The tension between wanting connection and pushing it away runs so deeply, you feel every twitch of desperation .

The pacing pulled me through in one breath, even if the big “aha” twist didn’t land as hard as I wanted. Still, the way Bye, Baby examines how childhood trauma echoes into adult friendships? Unsettlingly spot-on.

If you want a domestic thriller that’s as much about heartbreak as it is about suspense, this one hits hard—and leaves you unsettled in the best way.

It's a lighthearted, funny and relatable book. It's easy to read and I like the characters and their different and unique personalities in the story.

This book was so GOOD! It grabbed ahold of me at the very first chapter and did not let go!
•
Cassie and Billie have been best friends all their lives, but since Cassie married up and had a baby and got involved in influencer life on Instagram, she has cut Billie out.
•
We’ve got a then/now timeline and secrets and tension. I loved the flashback timeline! It gave us a lot of insight into the girls’ relationship, but I also loved all the 90s references! Dirty Dancing plays a role and that movie is an all time favorite!
•
I wanted to shake both Billie and Cassie multiple times but it was like a car crash you can’t look away from. I thought the ending was satisfying and wrapped up both their stories well.
•
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the arc! Solid four stars! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Bye Baby cause I’m dead after this book. I didn’t expect to feel the way I feel after reading this book. Gosh it was a rollercoaster ride. I still need a second to process it.

Talk about a toxic friendship! 🤯 This psychological thriller follows two friends - besties who have grown apart - we learn about their tangled and codependent young adult lives that led them to the distance and the current family emergency that thrusts them back together. Not everything is quite as it seems and both women have skeletons in the closet.

I hated both of these women, but it was also the reason I couldn't look away. The train wreck that is this novel kept me hooked. Overall it was a good book that ultimately reminds you that maybe there is darkness in everyone.

Thanks to Carola Lovering, St Martin's Press, & Netgalley for the eArc of this novel! 💖

It didn't grab my attention the way I want a mystery/thriller to. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my review.

illie, feels her friendship slipping with her childhood best friend Cassie Barnwell after she marries up, has a baby and becomes an influencer. But when Cassie’s baby is taken their fraught friendship is rekindled because they hav always been there for one another during life’s hardships. Secrets from the past and present threaten the relationship and everything Billie holds dear to her.

My thoughts:
I loved this book and I am so glad I finally made time for it! My loyalties lied with Billie even though she was a very flawed character. I loved her loyalty and how she overcame so much from her difficult childhood. I couldn’t stand present day Cassie but she was a better person in the past before she let money and appearances rule her life.This book deals with friendship, greed and secrets. TW there are some cases of sexual assault in this book.

I really enjoyed this book! It was exciting and thrilling and well paced, I was never bored. Very suspenseful and dramatic, but not in an unrealistic way. Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

I do wish we could do 1/2 stars. This was a solid 3.5 star story for me. I rounded down because most of the characters rubbed me the wrong way most of the time. Cassie and Billie have been friends forever. As many of us older people know, some friendships are not meant to last. Both were holding on because of a secret they both held on to from their teen years, but they lived in different worlds as adults. Some suspension of disbelief must be taken in order to accept how the story ends. This story is a dual timeline story going back and forth between their childhood and the present (starting before the kidnapping of Ella). Most of these characters were just "cringe" for the most part but I'm sure there are people like them living among us in the "real world". In any case, not super suspenseful since you pretty much know who done it from the blurb but the story is more about the relationship between these two and what one would do to still be everything to the other.

I really have enjoyed past works by Lovering, however, this one was not for me. I do not think it should be labeled a thriller, it's more like women's fiction. Mostly just friend tension. I didn't really enjoy the characters and I couldn't connect or find a reason to care about them which made it difficult to want to continue reading.
I will still read more of Lovering in the future, this just didn't work for me.

I tried with this book. I tried twice, as a matter of fact. I really hoped it was just a mood thing and that I’d be able to appreciate it more at another point in time. Round two did not yield different results. I don’t think I like the overall setup, but what I really could not get past how inauthentically the characters were painted. Ultimately, the story felt comical, not thrilling.

I am immensely grateful to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

A twisty thriller, with no real thrill, but also sort of a thrill?
Two friends from adolescence have fallen out, changes in privilege, circumstance and status.
Can they get back together?
Should they?

Billie, our protagonist, is a strange bird. A lot of the time I wanted to slap her. Get some self worth Billie!
Anyways, overall easy and fun to read for the most part.