My mother heart was completely torn open from the start. I was completely sucked into the toxic relationship between Billie and Cassie. This book tells the story that some actions can never be forgiven. There are those who cling onto the past and those reaching into the future and when mixed can create a toxic bomb. Consider adding this to your future TBR! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for this ARC!

Pub Date: March 5, 2024

Bye, Baby centers around two lifelong friends Cassie and Billie. On the night of Cassie’s 35th birthday, Billie hears terrifying screams coming from the party above. Billie soon discovers the cries are coming from Cassie’s infant daughter. A party is going on and no one is caring for the child. Billie grabs the child and takes her downstairs to comfort her. Billie realizes what she's done and soon after Cassie is hysterically trying to find her missing daughter. What follows is how these best friends, ended up in such a dark place.

Cassie and Billie met 23 years ago in a small Hudson Valley town the summer before their 7th-grade year. Growing up the pair was inseparable as they were closely bonded by a dark secret, but as they grew older, they grew apart.

Cassie married a society man from a wealthy family and she is now a fashion and lifestyle influencer on Instagram. Since Cassie recently became a mother she finds herself having less in common with Billie. Billie is a single, childless, free-spirited world traveler but she desperately wants to reconnect with Cassie and become close to her like they used to be. But even more desperate to keep the secret that she was the one who abducted Cassie’s daughter.

Bye Baby was a brilliant character-driven novel that I found myself completely engrossed in.
The book explores the friendships we hold onto, even the toxic ones, and how complex friendships truly are. Filled with suspenseful and thought-provoking moments, Bye Baby was a very compelling read.

I didn't expect it but Billie turned out to be my favorite. I empathized with her character in so many ways and I related to how she felt trying to hold onto a friendship when the other person is trying to push you away. I think every woman will be able to relate to this story and one of the characters.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering will be available on March 5, 2024. A massive thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the gifted copy!

DNFing at 15%. This is not “thrilling” or suspenseful to me at all. There is wayyy too much description of influencer life and completely shallow things like followers and a trust fund husband and I don’t care about those things at all. Thanks but no thanks. Very interested to see how other reviewers fall on reviews of this one as pub date nears.

I tore through this book in two sittings and know the subject matter will resonate deeply with a lot of readers, especially women. If you've ever had a best friend you've slowly drifted apart from because your lives took different directions, this book will hit you hard.

Cassie and Billie have been friends forever, and both thought the secrecy of the terrible event that happened in their teens would bond them forever. But now at 35, Billie is single and childless, and Cassie has married a wealthy man, has a new baby, and is building her following as a lifestyle influencer. Billie doesn't fit into Cassie's life anymore, and the author was so incredibly adept at describing the pain that comes with being shunned by "your person" that I found myself with tears in my eyes at times.

One terrible night, everything comes to a dramatic climax. Billie is one floor below Cassie's apartment, seething over the sounds of a loud party that she wasn't invited to, when she hears Cassie scream. Her baby is missing, and when Billie looks down, the baby is in her arms. Did she black out and take her in a fit of jealousy? Whatever her motivation was, she's pleased that the first person Cassie screams for is Billie.

This was a deeply personal story that went back and forth in emotions...the bristling anger, the dejection, the desire to be relevant to the person that knows you so well. The alternating points of view worked beautifully in this tale of broken friendship. Highly recommended! Thank you so much to St. Martins Press for this early read. BYE, BABY will publish March 5, 2024.

I’m not sure whether insomnia was already inevitably creeping in before I picked this book up, or if this book induced my insomnia-in either case, I literally stayed up all night reading this, because once I started I couldn’t stop. I have been anticipating this one ever since it was revealed and wasted no time diving right into it. And it did not disappoint! I was completely enthralled from the very beginning. I just finished it a little while ago, and i’m still sitting on the edge of my seat, breathless. Lovering’s books are always so satisfyingly twisted, and this one was no exception. It was the perfect delicious blend of heart pounding twists and turns. Even better is the fact that it’s a double edged sword: both a thriller, and also an intriguing, insightful glance into influencer culture. This book contained so many elements that I find satisfying in a story: old friendships sprinkled with toxicity, characters that you hate but love at the same time, and tension that’s so present and thick that you could cut it with a knife. The friendship featured in this book was fraught with just that; it was so unhealthy, toxic, and damaged and made for an amazingly compelling read. My thoughts are still all over the place right now, as my mind is still racing, because apparently that is what Carola Lovering’s writing does to me. Definitely one of my favorites of hers so far!

(review to be posted on my blog and instagram closer to publication date)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞. 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.

I tore through this book in two sittings and know the subject matter will resonate deeply with a lot of readers, especially women. If you've ever had a best friend you've slowly drifted apart from because your lives took different directions, this book will hit you hard.

Cassie and Billie have been friends forever, and both thought the secrecy of the terrible event that happened in their teens would bond them forever. But now at 35, Billie is single and childless, and Cassie has married a wealthy man, has a new baby, and is building her following as a lifestyle influencer. Billie doesn't fit into Cassie's life anymore, and the author was so incredibly adept at describing the pain that comes with being shunned by "your person" that I found myself with tears in my eyes at times.

One terrible night, everything comes to a dramatic climax. Billie is one floor below Cassie's apartment, seething over the sounds of a loud party that she wasn't invited to, when she hears Cassie scream. Her baby is missing, and when Billie looks down, the baby is in her arms. Did she black out and take her in a fit of jealousy? Whatever her motivation was, she's pleased that the first person Cassie screams for is Billie.

This was a deeply personal story that went back and forth in emotions...the bristling anger, the dejection, the desire to be relevant to the person that knows you so well. The alternating points of view worked beautifully in this tale of broken friendship. Highly recommended! Thank you so much to St. Martins Press for this early read. BYE, BABY will publish March 5, 2024.

I loved Carola Lovering's other book. Cant Look Away, its one of my favorite books! But this was not as amazing for me, but still a really great read.

I think I just didnt love the FMC, Cassie. She was pretentious, shallow and so judgemental. She's just worried auot marrying rich and living the good life. She is an instagram influencer and her image on that app is everything to her. Having said all that, Billie, her BFF, was not much better. She was comletely OBSESSED with Cassie. It was borderline creepy!!

Billie's life is hard and she has had to endure a lot, but the decision that she makes in a fit of rage is unforgiveable. Their whole friendship dynamic just seemed twisted.

I really liked the pacing of this book! It was so hard to put down and the suspense of it all was great! The long buried secret between the women was a good one (that was my favorite part of the book!)!

Read this if you l ike past/present dual POVs, NY setting, women's friendships spanning over time, flawed characters and pop culture refferences.

I really enjoyed this book and all the twists and turns throughout it. There was a good balance of suspense and friendship elements, and I wasn’t sure how it was going to end.

I disliked most of the characters, which can often be a big turnoff, but it wasn’t in this book. Carola Lovering never disappoints!

Bye, Baby- Carola Lovering(author of Tell Me Lies)😍😍😍
I was SO grateful and fortunate to receive an early copy of this book. Thank you @netgalley and
Billie and Cassie have been the best of friends their entire lives…until they started to drift apart over the years. What happened to their friendship? Why does Cassie, a social media influencer, keep pushing Billie away? Why is Billie so desperate for Cassie’s friendship…willing to do just about anything for it? What secret are they hiding from their past? And why can’t Billie remember why she’s holding Cassie’s missing baby who was kidnapped?
The book alternates between both girls’ points of view and past/present. I truly felt for both women throughout the entire book, seeing both sides of story! It was really hard to pick just one side.
I loved this book so much!!! It was just such a good story and I couldn’t stop reading it to find out what would happen! This is a perfect beach read or one to curl up with at night!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is definitely one you won't want to put down! Billie and Cassie have been friends for most of their lives. When Billie hears Cassie scream that her baby has been taken she is surprised to look down and realize that she is holding the stolen child and indeed she is the person who has stolen it. Told from alternating perspectives the story moves at a brisk pace with strong characters and comments on social media and the decision to have or not have children. It makes you want to skip through to the end and see what happens to Billie, but of course you know you can't do that,right? A great read!
#ByeBaby#NetGalley#StMartinsPress

Bye, Baby had me gripping the edge of my seat, literally. Clutching my baby, heart pounding, chewing all my fingernails down to the quick. It was heart-pounding and it did not let up once. I do have to say, this book is not for the faint of heart. There are a lot of triggers in this book, so if you’re interested in knowing them, just send me a message. Overall, Carola Lovering did it again. She is an autobuy author for me, right up there with Ruth Ware and Riley Sager. Highly recommend this one.

Thank you, St Martin’s Press, for the gifted copy of Bye, Baby

Genre: Fiction
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date: 3.5.2024
Star Rating: ☆☆

Okay, let me start by saying that I typically really enjoy Carola Lovering’s book, and while I do think that Bye, Baby had its moments, it was not the book for me.

For starters, it is not a mystery; it is not a thriller; it is more a look at the relationship between childhood friends and how they grew apart over the years. Bye, Baby hit home for many reasons, and unfortunately, all of those reasons made me feel uncomfortable and added to my dislike of the book.

There will always be characters in books that aren’t lovable or likable. But, I think something is to be said for an author who creates a character who goes too far over the edge of unlikeable. Lovering did that when she created Cassie. I didn’t like her from the start, and then I was not too fond of her stance on children and her lack of understanding of why Billie didn’t want to have them. When a character like this exists, it's hard to find any redeeming qualities and it can cause your reader to feel isolated from the story.

Another issue I have is that the book is marketed as “A missing baby. A fraught friendship. A secret that can never be told,” it opens up with the baby missing. But, halfway through the book, the baby is returned, the friendship is still fraught, and the secret has been revealed. It seemed like all the cards had been played, yet the book still had over 100+ pages left.

Overall, Bye, Baby was not for me, and I probably should’ve DNF’d, but I kept hoping there would be some redeeming quality. If you’re looking for a Carola Lovering book to read, I might try Too Good to be True.

Whoo, baby, was this a tense read. In the best way! I couldn’t look away, even though I was holding my breath most of the time. Luckily, I finished it in one sitting. This book straddles genres between thriller and drama and I think it does it well, raising plenty of questions about the past while showing us how Billie and Cassie become who they are now. I love the “x days before the event/y days after” and time jump ways of storytelling and Lovering uses best well. Altogether a v satisfying rainy day read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Carola Lovering & St. Martin’s Press for an arc of Bye Baby in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own (except for any quotations) and may not be reproduced.

Synopsis (quoted) – Review Below

“A missing baby. A fraught friendship. A secret that can never be told.

On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.

So begins the story of Billie and Cassie's friendship--both in recent weeks, and since they met twenty-three years ago, in their small Hudson Valley hometown the summer before seventh grade. Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, including a traumatic, unspeakable incident in high school, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a fashion and lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind--including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. Hurt and rejected by Cassie’s new priorities, Billie will do anything to restore their friendship, even as she hides the truth about what really happened the night the baby was taken.

Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.”

This is actually my first Carola Lovering novel!! I know – GASP!!! The story just sounded to amazing to pass up. Old friends who were bound by secrets, but now as adults, don’t really fit into each other’s lives and then one does the unspeakable!

This story was so consuming – I started it and ended it all in one day with very few breaks. Don’t come to my house this week, you can definitely tell what got put on the backburner while I read nonstop!

This story is told from multiple POVs and multiple timelines, which I don’t always enjoy, but it worked here. Not only is the story extremely suspenseful, but it also dives into the world of influencers and toxic friendships.

If the fact that I read this in less than 24 hours wasn’t a hint, this story reads extremely fast and will keep you gripped from start to finish. The characters were written to perfection. The twists, turns, revelations, ending – none of them disappointed.

Now, excuse me while I go add other Lovering titles to my TBR!

4.5/5 Stars – HIGHLY recommend!

Lovering does it again with her latest novel. She does complicated, toxic relationships like no one else; truly. The central relationship in this is complex, at times one-sided and immensely frustrating yet deep and sincere. It’s like (and unlike) many of my younger friendships and it’s fascinating to read. I will read anything and everything this author puts out. She’s never missed for me.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. Will recommend it to everyone I know!

ook review of my latest read!
Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @stmartinspress
and @netgalley for this early release copy.
I started this one night and finished it the next day! I loved the last book I read by her as well, Too Good To Be True.

She sets such a suspenseful book that you will want to get to the end to see what happens to all your characters.

Billie and Cassie are long time friends and this story is told from both points of view and with looks back into the past as well as the present to see how they have gotten to this point. They have drifted apart but how did they drift to the point that Billie has kidnapped Cassie's baby?

You will love both characters and feel desperately for both. Friends and friendships evolve and change. This is the complicated story of two best friends.

This will be out March 5th, 2024. Grab it!

#crazybooknerd
#bookstagram
#netgalley
#byebaby
#suspensefulreads

This new to me author nailed it. Right from the start I connected with story and characters.
Billie and Cassie are friends since childhood. But in recent years, even while living in the same building, Cassie moved on, wants to leave Billie behind. On a fateful day her baby daughter is gone missing and a wild ride begins.
Bye, Baby by C. Lovering, published by St. Martin's Press is a mystery thriller of its finest, full of unexpected twists and turns the book tells a story of growing, social media in all its forms, of friendship and more.

Dark secrets come to light in this twisted psychological thriller. I enjoyed the back story of the two friends to bring together the details of what happened on the fateful night that Cassie’s baby is taking. It takes the whole book for everything to finally click into place. 3.5 stars

Teenaged Billie and Cassie are the best of friends, doing everything together...including sharing a terrible secret about Billie's abusive step-father. Once the two girls go off to different colleges in Boston, things start to change as Cassie pulls away from Billie. A shocking event pulls the two friends together again, now in their 30's, but the truth starts to leak in and both women may finally see the truth.

First, I love Carola Lovering and scooped up this ARC immediately. Bye, Baby focused again on complex female relationships, throwing in interesting twists and character development that I've come to love in Lovering's books. I kept oscillating between liking and disliking both Cassie and Billie as the story progresses. The chapters from the past were perfectly placed to help lay the foundation of who and what shaped both characters and made them who they were in the present day. While there wasn't a huge thriller vibe here, this book was more women's fiction to me, I still adored it and would recommend for readers who enjoy authors like Celeste Ng or Mary Beth Keene.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and provide my honest review to Bye, Baby. Pub date March 2024.