I just started reading this book today but it is so captivating and catchy, that I am already halfway through. The characters are unlikable, the relationships are toxic, but the plot is well written and enticing, short chapters that keep the story moving quickly.
Cassie and Billie are highschool friends from Red Hook, they have a shared past but their current lives are quite different. Cassie is a married, entrepreneur/influencer with a baby and a rich husband whereas Billie is single and working. Billie feels like Cassie is cutting her out of her life - she may be right but is that possible considering their shared past... what if she takes drastic actions to be noticed ?
I'll just keep reading to find out ...
This truly is a fast entertaining read !

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. I enjoyed this suspense thriller. It was a book about friendships, family, and loyalties. We’ve all had that friend who we are more committed to than they are to us and our main character, Billie, is no exception to this. The book opens with the elephant in the room, which in hindsight is the only feasible way to have approached the novel. The interplay between past and present and the exploring of the character’s history also worked very well.

Bye, Baby is a clever mash-up between a thriller and a book about the vagaries of female friendships. I couldn’t put it down!

The book alternates between past and present and two long-term female friends, Billie and Cassie. Both from the wrong side of the tracks growing up, the two are inseparable until their paths diverge in early adulthood. Cassie married for money, and is now an “influencer” with a husband and baby daughter, while Billie is single with a new relationship with a police officer, and a dream job planning luxury travel excursions.

Since Billie no longer fits within Cassie’s lifestyle or social circle, Cassie shuns her. That is, until her baby disappears during Cassie’s birthday party — a party to which Billie was not invited. In fact, we know from the first page that it was Billie who kidnapped Cassie’s daughter.

The remainder of the novel focuses on the longstanding relationship between these two women. However, it is also a thriller as the reader is propelled forward by the question of whether Billie will be discovered as the kidnapper, and the moral question of what you would do in her circumstances. 4.5 (rounded up) out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary eARC of this book.

I REALLY enjoyed this book so much, and truly didn’t want to put it down. I am drawn to character-driven novels and this story delivered in spades. Bye, Baby is filled with tension because Lovering doesn’t hide the tipping point that the friendship may not recover from. Billie taking Cassie’s baby happens in the opening chapter in a shocking reveal. The reader knows from this point where the events are leading but doesn’t know why it happened. The premise that a woman would take another woman’s baby is a horrifying one, and you’ll start the book strongly disliking Billie. Lovering has a lot more to reveal, though. Nothing excuses Billie’s action, but the close bond and subsequent distance between the friends makes more sense as the story unfolds.

the book was good. I enjoyed reading it and being able to fall in love with the story. The story has me on the edge of my seat

I did not end up finishing this book - just a lot of triggering content, drama and a lot of toxic relationships. I think that there is an audience for this book it just happens to not be me at this stage in my life (mother of young children)

Great tale of friendship and how people can drift apart and come back together. How secrets and lies can lurk in the background of our lives waiting to snap and come back with a vengeance.

Lots of twists and turns and although we know "who did it" from page one, we don't understand the why. The why is powerful and weighty.

I highly recommend this read.

One note, however, and the reason for 4 stars instead of 5. Much of the story is told from the past and the publisher chose to use italics for those chapters. Reading long passages of italics is extremely difficult for those of us with vision issues. It is also an insult to our intelligence to think we won't understand the time shift without a font change. The chapters are clearly labeled with the year, so there is little chance of confusion. Fix that, and you've got a 5.

Sometimes friends grow apart… That was exactly the case of Cassie & Billie our FMCs. Growing up as childhood besties, these two were inseparable and promised to be there for each other always. However, now that Cassie is married and a new mother, she wants nothing to do with her past nor Billie.

It’s not until Emma, Cassie’s 4 month old is suspiciously taken that this Cassie wants to reconnect with Billie but it won’t be enough to “get that old thing back”. Billie’s rash decision was definitely the end to a friendship rekindled but at least Cassie and Billie are now even.

I liked the setup of the chapters and I enjoyed the dual POV for this story. I also listened along with the audio.

Female friendship, Motherhood. Life’s changing circumstances. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a review.

This took me so long to finish. The overall story was good, but it was not “thrilling”. Cassie and Billie, these two got on my nerves. I didn’t want to DNF the book and kept reading on in hopes of something good/thrilling to happen. This should have be categorized as a contemporary mystery Not a thriller. I downloaded the eARC from the Read Now shelf on Netgalley. Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher.

This was an interesting case of having different expectations of what I thought the book was versus what the book turned out to be. I expected a thriller about female friendship, and while this book centered on a kidnapping, it reads as more of a character study than an adrenaline filled book full of twists. And maybe it's better off for it! I found Cassie and Billie to work as friends who've drifted apart in their adult life -- Cassie is married to a wealthy man and is something of a mommy blogger, while Billie is the childless, unmarried friend who doesn't fit into Cassie's world anymore. Both women were equal parts insufferable and sympathetic, and I found their dynamic to be fascinating. It's a quick read but there's a lot of depth about why we keep people in our lives when we have nothing in common with them anymore. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc!

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the gifted copy.

Wow. I liked this book a lot more than I was expecting! At first, I thought this was going to be a mystery/thriller, but I read several reviews that said it wasn't, so I went in with different expectations. I am normally not a fan of character driven books, so I was hesitant, but I was blown away at how attached I got to both of the main characters, their friendship, and the story that unfolds as I read.

Billie and Cassie are childhood friends, although their lives are very different in the present. Billie is single, and Cassie is married with a new baby. Cassie has other friends, and Billie is a bit of a loner, and doesn't really fit in Cassie's world. When Cassie's baby goes missing in the middle of a party, Billie is the person she wants there. But Billie is hiding something...

The chapters also flash back to the past, to fill us in on Billie's past and why her and Cassie have such a strong connection even though they're very different people. This really adds a layer to the plot that I wasn't expecting, but I think it is necessary to the story.

Bye, Baby is filled with lies, secrets, and toxic friendships/characters/relationships. It sucked me in from the first chapter and I flew through it faster than I expected.

This was an intriguing book that explores teen friendships that are built on trauma bonds and poses the question if that's enough tot sustain and adult friendship when one is no longer experiencing the trauma. I enjoyed this book and looked forward to picking it up and reading it. The dual POV was done well. There's also another timeline that was very engaging. My only complaint is that the entire thing is written in italics---I prefer when the past timeline is regular font, and just noted by a date at the top. This isn't really a thriller though. There's no sense of danger or a life threat. It's more of a women's fiction with a small criminal element but the crime is not the focus just an incident that pushes the MCs back together.

This was billed as a mystery/thriller, but it absolutely is not. There are a couple reveals, but other than that, it read more like a character study on the relationship between Billie and Cassie. To that end, I was still invested and found it interesting. The writing between chapters wasn’t distinctive enough for me to know offhand whose POV it was, but the characters themselves were fleshed out and felt real. I enjoyed the plot, and appreciated the ending.

I have tried in print and audio several times each and neither format is working for me. Too much of an ick factor for me to spend more time with these characters and I have no desire to see where the story goes. DNF at 17%.

I went into this thinking it was a mystery/thriller. So, up until the very last page, I was waiting for a twist. Well, that didn't exactly happen. And I am still not sure if I am happy with the ending. But, it says something if a book still has me thinking about it hours after I finish it. Overall, the story kept me thoroughly engaged. It is well written and totally current/topical. The two points of view of the main characters are such interesting psychological juxtapositions. As flawed as she is, I was rooting for Billie. And not so much for Cassie. Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC. I will definitely read this author's other books.

This book was very intense! It was hard to put down. I love how well developed this book was! Will be reading more by Carola Lovering, for sure!

This book got me going, but it slowly left the “I love this book” trajectory. It just feels like all of the secrets or twists in this book are for nothing. The past they keep bringing up basically becomes moot and the books ends up pretty much where it started.

While I was interested the entire time, I think I was interested in a better resolution.

BYE, BABY by Carola Lovering

When I read TELL ME LIES in 2019, I fell hard for Lovering’s storytelling. It’s gripping, anxiety-ridden, and compulsively readable.

Since that first read, I’ve read all of Lovering’s books. While they’re often classified as thrillers, I feel like they’re more aptly described as books about relationships with a mystery element. Bye, Baby is the first book where the mystery was kind of flat, in my opinion. I found the story engaging and it held my attention, but the mystery was kind of secondary and didn’t feel totally believable.

That being said, I think this book is an interesting take on what happens when friendships run their course and when something happens to draw a friendship-ending line in the sand. I also appreciated that the story is told in two perspectives — the friend who is desperate to get the friendship back and the friend who is ambivalent and kind of hopes the friendship quietly ends.

Overall, I enjoyed this one but it wasn’t my favorite Lovering book (Tell Me Lies still has a tight hold on that title, followed by Too Good to Be True and then Can’t Look Away). I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy her work and like quick, engaging stories that have some mystery while focusing on interpersonal struggles.

Have you read this one? What’d you think?!

I would call this one more a domestic drama, rather than a thriller. With that being said, I was 100% invested in this story. I didn't want it to end. Bye, Baby is well written and executed perfectly.
First and foremost, YAY to celebrating the woman who chooses not to be a mother. I think we frown upon this as a society, and people need to realize that having children isn't what defines us as women. With that being said, this was a great drama centering around friendship, fame, womanhood, and motherhood. Billie and Cassie have been best friends since they were children, but as time move forward, they grew distant, and Cassie doesn't want Billie around anymore, until her child is kidnapped.
A complex story about what we do for those we love, what we do to ourselves, and how damaging we can be when we feel left behind. I loved the jumping from the past to the present, and how carefully Billie and Cassie's story came together. I love how each character grew into their own self, and I just really enjoyed the pace and the back story. Billis broke my heart, and I have never wanted to hug a character so much.

If you're looking for a quick read, Bye, Baby isn't to be missed!

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the copy to review!