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.

WHEW this is not for the lighthearted. This one is heavy. I kind of wish there was more of a warning for what you were getting from reading this. It’s good, the writing is great, but it is a book that will weigh you down for sure.

3.5
It’s been Cassie and Billie for twenty-three years. There friendship an inseparable bond against the world. From the tender age of twelve all the way until Cassie married Grant it was just the two of them. Love evolves and grows and with time that love changes but never dies.
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For three years Billie watched Cassie’s life just like her thousands of followers from her phone and app where Cassie posted her life events on social media. Billie knew Cassie was destined for a difficult life she watched her friend desire the finer things in life. After college she knew Cassie was on the hunt for a man with old money. Billie thought there would be room for her at the top. Cassie cut her out so easily while Billy watched McKay take the spot she once held.
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Then something remarkable happened and Cassie began to need Billie again. Billie pushed aside everything that mattered to her because Cassie is her number one priority.
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Bye, Baby is a story about motherhood, friendship, and loyalty. As Carola Lovering explains each one of these topics readers learn how Cassie and Billie made pivotal choices that altered their lives. I admired Carola Lovering for broaching a topic about motherhood in both aspects because Billie’s story isn’t one that gets enough attention and it matters.
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Carola Lovering writes with a flourishing passion about motherhood. Her writing style is unique and original. Threaded within the story is a subtle thriller aspect regarding the missing baby. For the most part this story deals with the relationship between Cassie and Billie from the age of twelve up until they are thirty-five and how there friendship withstood the test of time until life carved new paths for them in ways that redefined the relationship.
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While the opening scene is misleading making readers believe your about to read a story about a missing baby that’s not what happens. It’s true Billie takes Cassie’s baby. Before readers begin to understand why Carola Lovering delves into the past as well as the present to show how Cassie has treated Billie over the years. Billie wanted to be recognized as a loyal friend. This was the way she knew could garner that attention. What you are solving is the reason why Billie chose to take Cassie’s baby.
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Usually people experience this type of love and devotion in a committed relationship, yet Billie holds the same respect for Cassie as she did when they were twelve year old kids. While live comes in many forms this friendship is a true testament to how love is expressed between friends.

I was intrigued to read Bye, Baby because I couldn't stop watching Lovering's Tell Me Lies on Hulu. I got the same sense of drama and relationships in this book. I could no without all of the Influencer stuff because that makes my stomach turn. I enjoyed the parts about the friendship and how it changed. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.