I first want to thank St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to read this book. It was an intriguing yet very frustrating read. The book is split between 2 points of view both Billie and Cassie. The two leads grew up together in a typical American small town and a trauma ties them together. It is a toxic relationship but no true pay off at the end of the book. Friends do drift apart but it was odd that Cassie just decided to break away from Billie without telling her her true feelings. It felt at times exhausting reading Billie’s journey of pleasing Cassie when the feelings were never returned. It was also just odd to me that people still feel extremely pressured to having children There was no trigger warning so please be aware if you are a survivor of sexual assault. Trigger warnings include sexual assault, kidnapping of a baby, abortion

Thank you St. Martin's Publishing Group and NetGalley for this arc. I loved it and can't stop thinking about it. Cassie and Billie grew up together and were super close as kids sharing their hopes and dreams and family problems. However, Cassie had a rich grandmother and was drawn to that lifestyle. They both move to NYC after college and live together for a few years, then Cassie meets a rich WASP similar to her grandmother. At this point, Cassie jumps on that bandwagon and distances herself from Billie. When Cassie's baby goes missing, she needs Billie and reaches out to her. This book shows the dynamics between friendships at different times in our lives and growing part versus growing together. Cassie was as a tough character to like and there abuse father stuff was hard to read, but overall the book was a very good.

Trigger warnings: kidnapping baby, abuse father figure.

This one was disappointing. Ultimately pretty forgettable, anxiety-inducing without much payoff, and not at all the mystery/thriller I'd been led to believe. I don't think it's a bad book, but this story wasn't what I was looking for. I will say that it was a three star read for most of it, but the way it ratcheted up my anxiety in the last 20%....I just finished it feeling tense and bad.


If friendships gone awry, hidden secrets, and dealing with consequences of impulsive bad decisions sound good to you, you might be the right audience for this book

Absolutely incredible thriller! This book hooked me from the very beginning and I just had to finish it asap. I loved the alternating POV, the characters and the way the author switched from previous to current day. Such a twisted thriller, but seriously so so good. I loved hearing about Cassie's rise to the exclusive old moneyed lifestyle and reading about all of the perks that brings. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Let's start with the title - it's perfection and I rarely have strong thoughts either way about a title! And it doesn't mean exactly what you think which I LOVED! There were so many layers to this story but an overarching exploration of the relationships of our past and what our responsibilities to them are as we grow and change. Themes of friendship, trust, secrets and growth along with navigating relationships as we evolve. A definite page turner it kept me engaged until the last page. The only negative for me was the handling of a character being childfree by choice, it was so dramatic and given that so many women make that choice it felt out of place. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book in advance.

You can count on Lovering for the drama! A missing baby, a fraught friendship--what more could you want? I don't know if it was a "thriller" or a mystery like I expected, it was more of a story of a toxic relationship. I felt like it would have been better served with a more fleshed out plot, it felt a little superficial.

Billie and Cassie were the best of friends in high school. They've bonded over trauma and an unthinkable moment in their shared history. Now that they're older, in their 30's, they couldn't be more different. Billie is unmarried and career-driven while Cassie has finally found her golden goose- her rich husband who comes from family money and her baby girl. They have grown apart as their lives go down completely different roads. Billie is a bit obsessed with her old friend. Not that Cassie isn't asking for obsession, she's become an "influencer" sharing the most minute details of her life on social media and lapping up the attention from adoring strangers.

Billie can't understand why Cassie has all but cast her aside as a friend. They share a twisted past with a deep secret that keeps them from fully moving on from each other. Billie is so hurt that Cassie never calls anymore, but she can keep tabs on Cassie from her social media. Cassie has everything she needs and ever wanted-finally. On the night of Cassie's birthday, her daughter is abducted, and she becomes paranoid and fearful.

This is a story of desperation, obsession, toxic relationships, the influencer life and it has it's TW warnings. It will generate good discussion among book clubs. There were frustrating moments and neither main character is particularly likeable. It's a good read but not quite a thriller. 3 stars. Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley!

★ ★ ★ ★ //5
𝐁𝐘𝐄, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘
by Carola Lovering

Pub Date: March 05, 2024

THOUGHTS:
I had never read anything by Carola, this was my first read by her. I enjoyed this book. I loved the multiple pov and the timelines that change. Some of my favorite things! We follow good friends Cassie & Billie. Their friendship is an old childhood friendship. I loved seeing the dynamic between the two as they are older navigating some challenges through the book that bring these two back together, it shows how things change through all the years. I thought the author gave us well developed characters and a good plot. I felt like a little more than half through it it could have been ended and I would have been just as happy but regardless I enjoyed this read, just felt a little unnecessarily long.

If you love :
- best friend tropes
- multiple POV
- influencer characters
- multiple timelines

Thank you to netgalley, st martins press, and carola lovering for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

Incredibly easy to read, couldn’t put it down. The dynamic between Billie and Cassie was intense and believable with both women having dark sides that made their relationship take the turn it did.

Best friends with some intense secrets between each of them make this suspenseful novel good!
Cassie and Billie are kids growing up in the same town, and same school. They are glued together.
They would do absolutely anything for each other!
Life continues until they have a falling out as adults and Billie is heartbroken. Cassie has her Harvard friends, but Billie is trying to understand why now she is not included in things with her bestie.
But..... when Cassie's infant suddenly is kidnapped at Cassie's party, Cassie realizes she needs Billie now! She feels better when Billie comes.
Billie will understand, won't she?
The secrets continue........

I definitely enjoyed the psychological suspense that grew within these pages and would recommend this book especially as a beach read.
Thank you to #NetGalley and to #St.Martin's Press for this ARC and allowing me to provide my own review.

This did not seem like much of a thriller so I think I was expecting a different story? Once I started and realized it was more suspenseful and less thriller I enjoyed it more. I really disliked one of the main characters but it made sense for her character! Overall just okay for me.

3.75. Bye, Baby was a tense and emotional novel about what ultimately was a toxic friendship between two women, Billie and Cassie. Important content warnings include rape and sexual assault, Alzheimer’s, body shaming, kidnapping, and PTSD. Billie and Cassie had been friends since they were twelve, and the book swaps through the timelines of their younger years building up and the present, where they are no longer close and we learn where things broke down in bits and pieces. They both have different outlooks on life, but have experienced both shared and separate traumas. They’ve also treated each other poorly at various stages and IMO were toxic for each other. As a reader, I went back and forth saying “who did worse things in their friendship overall”? And ultimately, I cannot come to a solid answer. It was a fast paced and really well thought out story. I loved all of the very real references to NYC, Long Island, and Westchester. Many books based in NY tend to exaggerate what it’s really like. Critically I think the awful thing Billie does was a stretch, maybe there could have been some other big focal point. The title felt a bit lazy to me, and didn’t really hold incredible meaning. It also may have dragged a bit towards the end. But overall there were many important lessons about friendship and the consequences of your actions. I hope to read other books from this author in the future. Thank you @netgalley for granting me a copy!

I really enjoyed Tell Me Lies and Too Good To Be True so I was excited to read this new one. I felt the story started off strong and I was itching to see where things went. It’s a dual POV with time jumps which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I had to dnf this one around 56%. The main characters were insufferable and it felt like the story was ruined by the prologue. You also find out the second twist/secret around the half way mark and it just felt pointless to keep reading. Would there have been another twist, if I kept reading? Probably but I couldn’t bring myself to continue on. You may still enjoy this one if you’re a fan of Carola’s other work but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you @stmartinspress @netgalley for the #gifted copy of this book!

Billie and Cassie have been best friends childhood. Billie has has a rough upbringing and Cassie has been fiercely loyal trying to help guide her along the way. One night an unspeakable event happens which binds them together for life.

Now grown, Billie travels around the world for her job but always yearns for the closeness in friendship she had with Cassie. Cassie, now married to a rich man and newly a mother finds herself amongst new similar friends not having or craving any time for Billie. She has zero time between being a new mother and her online influencer role. She always seems to scoot Billie to the side.

Cassie’s husband plans a birthday party for her and Billie is it not invited. During the party Billie, nearby, hears the guttural screams of her best friend. Her daughter has gone missing from the party. Billie looks down and sees the baby in her arms wondering how it happened. Billie watches as Cassie’s life unravels and she wonders just where in this madness did things go wrong. 😱

Talk about a stressful read! 😳 I was certainly on the edge of my seat the entire time! It wasn’t even because the baby is missing. We know the baby is missing and who took her but the after the baby was taken and watching it unfold was like watching a slow train wreck. I could anticipate what was going to happen as the ending neared and I was cringing the entire time.

I felt like certain aspects of this book were completely relatable. Hanging onto a friendship long after you need to let it go being one of them. It was hard and uncomfortable to watch Billie in this book. I understand why she behaved the way she did being that she lacked family in her life but it bordered on too strong of an infatuation. 😬

I could also relate to some of the aspects of motherhood and when you have a new baby…the want to surround yourself with other new mothers. That being said I couldn’t excuse Cassie’s behavior. She was so unlikable she made me mad! That wasn’t even the worst of it…Wade, Billie’s step dad was absolutely appalling! Loverling wrote him so well that I feel his character could be triggering for some. Make sure to read up on it before you go in blind! Overall, a great book and can’t wait to see what she writes next!

I was so excited to get such an early copy of Carola’s latest, so special thanks to the publisher and netgalley for for copy of this for a honest review.
I’ve loved her other books and this one did not disappoint
Toxic relationships at its best! This toxic friendship will keep you turning the pages for sure. I loved how the chapters focused on the Billie and Cassie from now to then storyline I like formats like this when you are figuring out what happened with the past to effect the present like this.This one had me guessing to the very end of how the whole story was gonna play out. Not out until March 2024 but you are gonna wanna get this one on your radar!

This was another hit from Lovering! I’d definitely recommend as it kept me guessing till the very end. I loved this book so much!

I can summarize for you: Friends with a somewhat complicated relationship. That’s about it.
The first half of this book was suspenseful but the second part fell flat for me. I had high hopes for some amazing twist to make me be like WOW! But it just never came. I enjoyed it overall but wasn’t very “thrilled” I guess.
I’d give it like. 3.4. First half of the book a 4,… second half maybe a 3.

Another great read by Carola Lovering. I’ve now read all of her books, and they are all fantastic. No two are alike and I love that! I really liked the main character of this story, she was likable, relatable and real. Her BFF on the other hand was not. It was hard to sympathize with her when you were supposed to, I didn't but really, she didn’t deserve it.

I liked this so much more than I expected! It's definitely not a thriller to me. The baby is only missing for a short time but it was just told so well that I was on edge most of the time. It felt like I was transported into their story and I felt stressed out. As a mother, I related to both characters at different points in my life. It can difficult to maintain friendships once you have children. The only thing that bothered me and this bothered me in Can't Look Away as well is including so many themes into the story: alzheimer's, motherhood, abortion, not wanting kids, social media influencers, rape and sexual abuse, miscommunication. It felt over the top. I'm giving it 3.5 stars rounding to 4 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read this advance copy!

I wouldn’t necessarily put it in the mystery/thriller category— It was a slower read but in a “don’t want to keep reading but also need to know what happens” kind of way.

This book shifts POV of childhood friends, Billie & Cassie, alternating between their past & present. The story is mostly about the changes in their friendship over 23 years. As they grew older, Cassie started to push Billie away to escape who she was growing up & their relationship becomes one-sided, unhealthy, & toxic causing Billie to momentarily snap & kidnap Cassie’s baby. When the book talks about their past, it explains how and why their relationship changes; when the book talks about the present, it tells the story of the days leading up to the kidnapping & what follows.