This book was interesting, don’t get me wrong, but it was anticlimactic at best. The ending had no twist, nothing. The whole premise of this book is a woman kidnaps her ex best friends baby, only to return her a few hours later. Now the ex bestie wants to be friends again… because she’s the only person she can trust. Then she just confesses and the besties like …. Ok cool. The end. There was no twist no reveal that would make this book a mystery or thriller. If this had had a twist, I probably would have rated this much higher. Boring.

Such a fun, fast, readable story! You don’t know whether to love or hate the characters, to feel sorry for them or just say WTF.

Billie is the most unlikeable character, and frankly the most stalkerish MC that I can remember. I can only assume that she is trauma bonded to Cassie, as that is the only non romantic case I could think of to explain her behavior in this book. She is constantly ignored, belittled and bullied by Cassie, on Cassie’s ride to the top of influencer fame and fortune. Heads up girl, that’s your gross husband bankrolling this life, not the Instagram stories of your avocado toast.

It’s always a good time when you just CANNOT guess what the ending is going to be, and maybe it ended the only way it could. Billie could confess all she wanted, what was Cassie going to do, take the chance that she would be exposed for Wade’s death? Not likely.

The only character I felt anything for was Alex, who had the misfortune to get wrapped up with Billie. But the fact he forgave her for being a psycho? Maybe he deserved it in the long run.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! The suspense build and the characters. The author did a great job with the characters. I HATED Cassie, McKay, and Wade. Alex and Jane were a breath of fresh air. I felt bad for Billie as she couldn’t recognize it was time to let go. This book will keep you interested for sure. Thank you NetGalley

This is my absolute favorite type of thriller!! Right from the beginning I was hooked. There is the one main character who is the overly jealous/obsessive type and then the other is the typical rich, appears happy but is actually miserable, one. They have been friends for years but after something awful happened when they were younger it has been a secret they both have carried with them. Told in dual POV and timelines I found myself quickly turning pages. Both characters are unlikeable, yet at different points I found myself feeling sympathetic to both. This is a book that would make a great Tv series.

A friendship that has soured with time and growing apart is featured in BYE, BABY by Carola Lovering. I was immediately sucked into this story, and I could not put it down! What I really liked about this story is that it studies this friendship currently and through time. We get to really savor the dynamics. Surprisingly, this novel is fairly low stakes, which might not work for some readers. I, however, savored the writing and characters in its achingly realistic portrayal of Billie and Cassie.

Billie and Cassie were friends as kids. Cassie always had her eye on the prize: a rich husband. Billie took a backseat in the friendship and almost became Cassie's whipping girl. Now, as adults, Cassie is a social media influencer/business owner with a rich husband and new baby. She no longer "needs" Billie like she used to for affirmation. Billie is successful in her own right working with Jane at Jane's exclusive travel agency, but she can't help but be spurned when she's unceremoniously dropped as a friend by Cassie. How can she get back in Cassie's orbit again?

I haven't read Carola Lovering before. I HAVE watched the Hulu series based on her book Tell Me Lies. I *think* the author writes about toxic relationships instead of murder, which I just learned is a sweet spot for me. I can't wait to check out her backlist!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars.

I don't know if I would classify this as a thriller as there is nothing "to figure out", it's more of a suspense, but it is a very compulsive read. Every time I put it down I wanted to pick it back up and see how it played out and ended. I LOVED the multiple POV'S and timelines. Billie and Cassie each had their own voice that if you didn't look at the chapter headers you would still know who's pov and which timeline you were in. This only lost a little bit from me cause I would have liked a little bit more drama at the end, although I do like how everything wrapped up.


Thank you to Netgalley, Carola Lovering & St. Martin’s Press for an arc of Bye Baby in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review.
The queen of toxic relationships is back! This time with a toxic one sided obsessed friendship. This book really absorbed you into the story even if it is a far fetched idea. This book will stress you out, enrage you in places and pull you into the drama.

Thanks @netgalley for read number 92 of 2023. I really enjoy @carolatlovering’s books, and this one was no exception. This was a book about friendship, love, and babies, but with a darker twist. I got caught up in the writing and the dual timelines. I found it a really hard book to put down. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 read in my books. (Please note that there are definitely disturbing elements to this book, which may be triggering for some people.)

A fascinating domestic thriller with an ominous setting of a disappearance of a child is Carola Lovering’s latest thriller. It is a compelling novel showing the dark sides of human relationships that I would recommend to all those loving a good mystery.

This book was good, but nothing I’ve read by this author has topped Too Good To Be True. This book alternated between the points of view of Cassie who is essentially a status hungry wannabe influencer and Billie her childhood best friend. It also flashes back to fill in the backstory for their relationship.

We know something has happened to fracture their friendship several years before and the relationship has become very one sided as Billie longs for her best friend who has moved on without her. We also know from the flashbacks that some difficult things happened to Billie while growing up. I can certainly appreciate the idea that friendships evolve and one person can be more invested in than the other, but I mainly felt sad for Billie not recognizing it was time to let Cassie go.

The reveal for the cause of the fracture in their relationship didn’t feel satisfying enough for me. It was already very clear that Cassie was selfish and a gold digger so her behavior wasn’t really a surprise,

I think looking at this book as a character study about friendships makes it more successful that thinking of it as a psychological thriller. As much as enjoyed the book, I thinking I was hoping for something that packed a bigger punch.

Woah, I loved this story. It had me on the edge of my seat. I knew that Cassie would find out, but I was curious how and when. I really liked the dynamics between the characters and really displayed how people change and grow within their friendships over the years. I haven't read any other books by the author but I now plan to go back and do so !

I think that calling this a thriller is a disservice - it’s a fun “why” done it but I didn’t find it especially thrilling.

This was an awesome thriller with captivating twists and turns!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review

The first book I've read by this author, it came highly recommended by a trusted blogger friend so I was eager to read it.

Billie West and Cassie Barnwell were best friends for years, but they've drifted apart. Cassie is a social media influencer, is married to a wealthy man and has an infant daughter. Billie is mainly single, childless, though she has an enviable job with a luxury travel company.

Cassie's world is set to implode when her baby disappears from her penthouse apartment.

Told through alternating chapters from both women's perspectives, past and present counting down to the incident. There's a lot of history to unpack, it took me a while to get into it, though I got really involved later on.

It's a suspenseful New York friendship / character drama, with very well developed characters. I was reminded of Liane Moriarty and Ashley Audrain.

Excellent character writing, an unpredictable plot and some very original angles. I was shouting 'No! No! No!' at my kindle a few times, gasping out loud and shaking my head. I was also moved to tears in a few places.

It's a very good book, and I recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press

Bye, Baby is another one of Lovering’s domestic dramas that feature a pinch of thriller. The book centers upon Billie and Cassie, friends since adolescence who have had an intense relationship marked with ups and downs. Linked by a tragic event, Billie and Cassie’s friendship is not always healthy and occasionally co-dependent. As they grow up, they grow apart with Cassie dreaming of a highbrow husband and the accompanying upperclass lifestyle, and Billie content to live child-free and explore the world. Cassie begins cutting Billie out of her life as she tries to escape her past, but Billie is desperate to hang on. The second half of the story unfolds after one night changes their friendship forever.

Lovering’s books often have themes of love, loss, and longing and she writes them with precision. Bye, Baby was an exploration of female friendships, romantic relationships, and childhood traumas that shape people’s lives. I remain unable to put down her books, as they suck you in immediately no matter how selfish and unforgiving her characters are. While this book overwhelming sad (and a challenge to like any particular character), I still very much enjoyed reading it!

I loved this book! I have never read books by this author before but after reading this one, I plan to read more of her books. This was a hard book to put down and I didn’t want it to end.

Whew. Heavier than expected. Great book, but not my usual vibes. And ugh, Carol Lovering does an amazing job at creating a very unlikable character.

Thanks for the advanced copy. Gotta move along to something a little puffy and fluffy now.

1–after reading the book, the cover and the title are perfect.

2-would’ve been five stars if there weren’t so many issues/topics sprinkled throughout the book: influencers, social status, trauma, Alzheimer’s, several content warnings that I don’t want to list bc they are potential spoilers. But it was a lot.

3-you will love/hate all of the characters for so many different reasons, you won’t know who you were rooting for in the end. I cringed so hard at both Billie and Cassie but also had moments where I was impressed with them.

4-when it’s all said and done, Cassie and Billie were trauma bonded and oh so toxic. I was very satisfied with the ending. Didn’t even need an epilogue.

It's a five ⭐ for sure. Carola Lovering always delivers an edgy story with messy characters and she's unflinching in pulling back the covers on all of the ways humans are so less than perfect. She throws her literary light on Narcissistic behaviors, the toxicity and pull of female friendships and exactly how far people are willing to go for what they think they need. The writing is flawless. Annotators rejoice this book is full of so many passages that will make you stop and think and breathe. If you've ever loved someone so fiercely ( and maybe for the wrong reasons ) that you lose sight of yourself, if you've ever outgrown a friendship or known the deep pain of being outgrown this one is for you. I wanted to shake Billie multiple times and honestly if this was a paperback I would have thrown it across the room more than once I also wanted to throat punch Cassie, though I felt for her and what she was put through. Even though some of it felt deserved. I read the last 20 percent with my heart in my throat. There's a scene in a late night pizzeria that had me literally cringing for Billie. Ultimately, Lovering leaves us breathless and spent in all the good ways. Put this one on the top of your TBR piles for March, 2024! Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for an early ARC of this.

I don’t even know what to say about this one! Told in flashbacks and present day, it’s a story of two friends and how they’ve grown apart. Cassie is a micro influencer, married to a hedge fund manager and busy being a mom to a 4 month old. Billie is a single travel agent to the rich, jetting off on business trips, and casually dating a cop. There is “before” and “after” Cassie’s baby is taken. And the story unfolds from there.

Cassie was insufferable! I truly disliked her from the start. She was clearly someone obsessed with money and superficial things. She doesn’t even seem to like her husband that much, and she treats Billie horribly. This is especially prevalent when the story goes into flashback mode. Billie is a complicated character as well, bending to Cassie’s every whim, dealing with the clear distaste. It’s exhausting.

But the book itself was a page turner for sure. I’d recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.