This was a very eye opening story into the trials and tribulations of friendship. It made me really think about the things we share with others and how vulnerable we allow ourselves to be. It’s also a sad reminder that no matter how long you’ve known someone, you may never truly know them.

I think I have become a Carola Lovering fan for life. I love the way she writes thrilling books that are not thrillers. She has this way of turning the awkward and dark parts of life into these twisted reads and I’m all about it. This book is centered on childhood friends Billie West and Cassie Barnwell. They have been through life’s ups and downs at each other’s sides, but now that Cassie is having all her dreams come true, there is less and less time for Billie in her life. As Billie feels this relationship slipping, she clings to any hope that things can still be salvaged. When Cassie’s baby is kidnapped during a thirty-fifth birthday party her first instinct is to reach out to Billie. The only problem is that Billie may have been the one who accidentally took the crying baby from the party. The Aftermath of that night brings the friends back together, but with a big giant secret threatening to tear their friendship apart how can the two of them hope to make it through. This is a character driven novel that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. The characters will make you cringe and shake your head, but the bare bones plot is relatable. The death of a friendship is hard. It’s hard to let go of the person you once knew and the person you once were, but sometimes it takes darkness to see the light to move on to the next phase of life.

📚: Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering (@carolatlovering)
⭐️: 4/5

Cassie: Internet influencer. A new mom in Gramercy Park. Married into old money. With a dark secret from her past.

Billie: Single. Childless by choice. Luxury travel consultant. Cassie's oldest friend - and best friend, or so she thought.

Once bonded together by childhood memories and trauma, Cassie and Billie find themselves going down separate paths -- and Billie is hurt. Really hurt. Hurt enough to irrationally take Cassie's baby when no one else is paying attention. (This isn't a spoiler, it happens in the first 3 pages and is in the synopsis.)

Carola Lovering is the GOAT in tacking toxic relationships and friendships - and Bye, Baby is maybe her strongest example. Completely captivating for the first 75%, I couldn't get enough of this page-turner with its new mom influencer angle, smooth flashback transitions to the earlier years of Cassie & Billie, and Billie's character development.

Ultimately a 4 star read for me - what I think is Lovering's best to date. Minus one star for an ending that didn't completely stick its landing. Big thanks to @stmartinspress via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Bye, Baby was released this week on 3/5 and is available now!

Carola Lovering brings her signature suspenseful writing to explore the highs and lows of close female friendships in Bye, Baby. Her book explores the countless lingering effects that time, life changes, childhood trauma, and the past effect lifelong friendship.

About the Book | Bye, Baby

Structure

The central event of Bye, Baby occurs on October 13, 2023 and it opens the book as the Prologue. The rest of the book is told in two timelines. The main timeline described the weeks leading up to and following the central event. Each chapter is marked with the date and the number of days before or after October 13, 2023. Each chapter is also narrated by either Cassie or Billie. The other timeline describes events that happened much earlier in time. These are marked with the season, year, and narrator (Cassie or Billie) and are presented in italics in the text version of the book.

Plot

October 13, 2023
Billie is outdoors on the terrace off an apartment, holding a fussy baby in her arms when she hears it. One floor up her best friend Cassie is screaming. A calm voice tells her they’ve called the police. Cassie is panicked, asking to talk to Billie. One floor below, Billie listens to it all unfold, not revealing her presence. Cassie wails, “Where is my baby?” And Billie understands what she is going through. After all, she took her baby…

Before
Cassie and Billie met in the summer of 2020 when they are starting seventh grade. They instantly form a close friendship. Through the years Cassie supports Billie as her home life becomes more strained and traumatic. Just before they leave for college, something horrible happens and the two are bonded together for life.

Now
Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has a new baby at home, and has a growing following as an influencer. Cassie no longer wants anything to do with her past, and that includes Billie. Without explanation, Cassie has stopped inviting Billie to things and only rarely responds to her text messages. Billie is hurt and confused by the rejection from her best friend. Every day she checks Cassie’s social media posts about her life and feels more alone. Desperate to restore her friendship with Cassie, Billie does the unthinkable and takes Cassie’s baby. She’ll do anything to hide the truth from Cassie, but even the most buried secrets always come to light…

Review | Bye, Baby

I 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.

What I liked

I appreciated that the reveal happens right at the start of the book, because the events surrounding it were much more compelling in many ways than the incident on the terrace. In fact, the kidnapping is brief and serves as a catalyst to bring the friends back together (ironic) but also shows that something so extreme and fraught with secrets may not be the foundation needed to rebuild a friendship long term. The dynamic between Billie and Cassie is emotionally charged on both sides. What first seemed like it may be one friend outgrowing the other soon is revealed to be significantly more complicated.

In the weeks leading up to the incident on the terrace, chapters from Billie and Cassie’s perspectives shine a spotlight on the disconnect between the friends. Billie’s chapters veer towards obsession, but also show the confusion and hurt that Cassie’s unexplained distance has caused. In Billie’s life outside of Cassie, she seems able to form and engage in healthy relationships (including a budding romantic relationship and a close friendship with her coworker Jane), which is the reader’s first clue that there is more to the story with Cassie.

Meanwhile Cassie’s chapters portray a selfish and insecure woman, who feels inferior to and desperate to be loved by her new best friend (not Billie) and husband. She spends her days posting on social media, selling overpriced clothing, and attending social events. She’s aware that she continues to blow Billie off at almost every turn and seems mostly uninterested in repairing their friendship. On a few occasions, Billie and Cassie meet in person and in those moments, Cassie briefly feels the pull of their friendship.

Mixed throughout the timeline leading up to the kidnapping are stories from their past. These were troubling but powerful chapters that leant context and weight to the present state of their friendship. Billie’s mother is suffering from some form of aggressive dementia or Alzheimer’s. As she has more bad days than good ones, she begins making decisions that will permanently change Billie’s life. She gets engaged to her boyfriend Wade and he moves in. He starts to take control of the finances, putting Billie’s college savings at risk. Holding her mother’s care over her head, Wade forces Billie to engage in sexual acts with him, assaulting her over and over. Billie stops confiding in her mother when she realizes that her mother doesn’t remember it the next day. Eventually, Billie confides in Cassie and appreciates her support. Eventually something big happens that bonds the two girls closer together.

Though many of the events in the past storyline were deeply troubling, I also found that I looked forward to seeing what would happen. Seeing Cassie and Billie as such close friends that they could almost be sisters leant more compassion for why Billie may have done what she did in the present story. Cassie in the past is fiercely protective of her friend and repeatedly stands up for her when Billie feels diminished. Seeing their friendship through graduation, into college, and even sharing their first grown up apartment after graduation was a striking contrast to the distance in the present. The two storylines were elegantly woven together so that the reader could feel the tension mounting towards the night of the kidnapping. The aftermath of that incident had my heart fluttering with nerves because of the emotional ramifications of Billie’s actions and lies. I desperately wanted the two to resolve everything, but I won’t spoil for you if they do!

Is it a thriller?

I wouldn’t describe this as a thriller, and that’s not a criticism (unless a reader is only looking for a thriller). The mystery/thriller genre has always been too broad in my opinion. Since I enjoy most books that fall within this category (and prefer mystery or character-driven thrillers over plot-driven thrillers), I don’t spend much time debating the nuance of whether a book should be in this genre. However, I know that other readers have stronger preferences and dislikes, so I try to give my thoughts on where I think this book should fit.

To me, Carola Lovering’s Bye, Baby is a character-driven suspense novel about female friendship and learning to see someone as they truly are rather than who we want them to be. The mystery comes in finding out what happened between the two central characters in the past and present that led up to the main catalyst that exposes them. I would call this book psychological suspense, dramatic fiction, or a character-driven mystery. I think those who appreciate a character drama will enjoy this book greatly, but it may not appeal to readers who prefer fast-paced, twist-y psychological thrillers or plot-driven thrillers.

Overall thoughts (TLDR)

This is a powerful and tense portrayal of female friendship across two decades and how it changes as people grow up. This was a portrait of this friendship and these two women, who are the biggest support for one another as well as the ones who can cause the most pain. At it’s core, this is about how trauma impacts even the closest relationships. The ending is satisfying and I thought about it long after I finished.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my copy. Opinions are my own.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting going into this book but just like her other books I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely not a thriller or mystery by any means but a great story about friendships, relationships, marriage, and coming of age. I flew through this book in less than 24 hours and I was honestly a little sad when I finished even though the ending was great and tied everything together perfectly. The drama and heartbreak in this book was almost hard to read at times but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I especially loved getting to see the characters lives in the past and how much they had grown and changed over the years. Both of the characters got on my nerves multiple times throughout the book but I really wasn't in this box for the characters, I enjoyed the plot a lot more.



Many thanks to St. Martins Press for the gifted copy for my honest review.

I was so pumped to see a new release from Carola Lovering this year, I jumped at the chance to get an early digital copy. Unfortunately, it fell flat. The premise asks, what happens when a lifelong friend changes and stops being your friend? Billie and Cassie are from a small town and met while they were very young. They've been inseparable throughout life, but after college Cassie sets her sights on the upper class lifestyle, marrying a very wealthy man and becoming a famous social media lifestyle mom-fluencer. She no longer makes space for Billie in her life, which makes Billie obsessed. Her whole life is consumed by Cassie: what she's posting, who she is hanging out with, where she goes to yoga, etc. It all blows up when Billie learns she wasn't invited to Cassie's birthday party and she makes an impulse decision that could ruin her life for good. Surprisingly, the first person Cassie calls for help is Billie. The story looks at motherhood and friendship, and society's expectations of women. It had the makings of a good domestic thriller, but there weren't any big surprises. Also, I just didn't care about either of these women. They both seemed immature and petty. The ending was unsatisfying and unrealistic. This was a miss for me.

Carola Lovering writes relationship complexities unlike any other author I'm aware of. She captures darkness, twists, and complexities of navigating friendships and relationships in a gripping way. Just as with Tell Me Lies and Don't Look Away before this, I was unable to put this down. Fingers crossed that all she does comes to the screen!

This was a super quick listen. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for both the ebook and audio version.
Cassie and Billie grow up together, Billie always following her friend, wanting to be her best friend and many years it appears she was. College and adulthood separated them some but at 35 they are living in different worlds. Cassie married money and had a little boutique, she’s working to be Instagram famous and she now has a baby. Billie is single and while successful still longs to be in Cassie’s life. A tragedy as teens has bound them to secrecy and silence.
When Billie does something foolish it becomes another drama they are involved with. Does it bring them closer or do things change?
I was super invested in this book until the last few chapters and then some outcomes seemed implausible.
Still 4⭐️ because it was interesting and showed the far reaches of a lie and how it will trip you up every time.

This book was not a thriller about a missing baby. It was more an examination of a childhood friendship that was waning as Billie and Cassie grew apart. Cassie’s baby does go missing for a brief period, bringing Cassie and Billie back together for a short time.

This book is told from alternating viewpoints, with flashbacks to key points in the history of their friendship.

Cassie and Billie have a friendship that goes back to middle school. They are inseparable throughout high school and college, growing apart only when Cassie meets and marries a tremendously wealthy man. Billie is left watching Cassie’s evolution away from their friendship on instagram, where Cassie is an up and coming influencer. When Cassie’s baby goes missing, Billie is the person she wants - Billie is her foundational friend, the one who has been with her through everything and who can provide the comfort she needs at her worst moment. I was grappling with whether this was a toxic friendship, and if so, did it fall the way it was initially presented?

This book made me reflect on friendship, specifically the question of whether childhood friendships are formed because of proximity, and whether they can last as people grow up and change. Is friendship like a rubber band that keeps pulling people back together unless a force causes it to snap? How do you gracefully end a friendship? At what point is it most healthy to just cut somebody off and block them?

I think all of us have been the friends growing in different directions in a friendship, so will find something that resonates in this book. However, Carola Lovering covers a lot of ground and different traumas and experiences that have shaped Billie and Cassie’s growth - I think the story could have been far simpler and still struck the same chords. To me, it seemed that the breadth of topics made it more superficial in the coverage.

This is pegged as thriller but really is more dysfunctional friendship. Billie and Cassie are childhood friends who find themselves at opposite ends of life currently. Billie single and jet setting around the world for her job and desperately trying to get her friendship tied to Cassie. And Cassie a stay at home mom who married a hedge fund guy and revolves her life around her social media. Who is desperately trying to pull away from Billie. An incident between the two happens that brings their relationship to a head. The story goes back and forth between the present time and aftermath of the incident and their past which begins to make a more clear picture as to why Billie is so obsessed with staying connected to Cassie.

This was engaging and entertaining enough but never really connected fully to the characters and frankly didn't really care for either one of them which took away from caring about the resolution.

(Thanks to @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress #gifted.) Do you ever read a book and walk away with a big revelation about yourself? That’s what happened to me while listening to 𝗕𝗬𝗘, 𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗬 by Carola Lovering. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
This is the story of Billie and Cassie, friends since childhood. Friends who share a dark secret that forever binds them. Friends who at 35 are both living in New York, but also living very different lives. Cassie has married into money, recently became a mother, and is building a large Instagram following for her business, and also her life. Billie is still single, has a successful career she loves, but is distraught that Cassie seems to be pushing her away. She’s desperate to revive their connection.⁣⁣
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The revelation? I’m over stories of twisted female friendships. They just feel too unreal and this story was a perfect example of that. Though I loved the alternating narration of Billie and Cassie, I just didn’t feel like either character was believable. One was pathetic and the other a mean girl, more caricatures than characters. I’ve read all of Carola Lovering’s books and each has been either a 4 or 5 star read for me, so I’m sad that her latest has me wanting to say “Bye, baby.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣⁣
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For some additional reviews, including many who enjoyed the book more than me, go to #byebaby. Plus as a BOTM add-on, you’ll likely be seeing many more opinions soon!

Whew, what a wild ride! As I mentioned to another reader, I really disliked all of the characters, questioned many of their decisions and behaviors, but felt completely engaged and entertained throughout. By the end of the novel, I’d gained so much more insight into the two women who dominate the story and had a much better understanding of the motivations behind their actions. I think that author Carola Lovering is great and piecing all of these elements together to create a thought provoking and insightful narrative and this novel is no exception.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC of Bye, Baby.

Bye, Baby was truly the ride of a lifetime. I went in expecting a thriller but instead got a story of a toxic friendship lasting decades and a scandal or two. This was told in POV and in present and past timeline and I really enjoyed all aspects of the story telling. Carola's writing always grabs me in and keeps me hooked until the end. Both main characters, Billie and Cassie, were hard to like. I thought they both were very realistic people but I probably wouldn't be friends with either of them to be honest!! The pacing of this book was fast and the main plot takes place at 50% and then you watch the fall out which I wasn't expecting. If you go in expecting more of a story of friendship and growing apart than a thriller I think you'll really like this one.

TW: sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping, murder just to name a few!

Billie and Cassie have been friends for more than two decades, but once best friends that knew everything about one another, they’ve grown up and grown apart. Now in their mid-thirties, Cassie is a thriving Instagram influencer with a clothing shop, handsome husband and adorable new baby. Billie is in the travel industry, helping the wealthy book their dream destination getaways, newly dating an NYC cop and childless. Despite their distance, Billie is determined to stay connected to Cassie, devouring her Instagram stories every chance she can get. And when Cassie’s daughter goes missing, Billie has the chance to reconnect with Cassie. But how does she tell Cassie she was the one that took her baby?

I really loved the premise of the book and the author’s style of writing, and was engaged in how the whole course of events would play out. I did struggle to like the characters, mostly Billie TBH. I felt like she made some really irrational decisions that frustrated me. I liked the author’s commentary on women and motherhood and society’s pressures to conform. While this wasn’t my favorite book by the author, I did enjoy the ride.

Thank you to Carola Lovering, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this book for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this fast paced book and did not want to put it down!!! This is a great story about friendship and how that changes over the years. I loved how the story flipped between the two main characters and also weaved the past and present to understand the full dynamic of their friendship. There are some very messed up things that happen throughout the book, but it makes the plot that much more interesting. This is a great read and you will not be disappointed!!!

My first 5 star read of 2024. I loved the writing style throughout this book- the use of alternating timeline was effective, and the pacing was excellent. Still unsure how I feel about the two main characters- sometimes I couldn’t stand them and sometimes I really rooted for them- Lovering does a great job at creating complex characters. Themes the book tackles that I found interesting include outgrowing friendships, the use of social media in today’s world, and wealth/class divides. If you’re looking for a good story that you can read quickly but also stay entertained the whole way through, this book fits the bill.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.

Some people stay friends from childhood. Others don’t. But a nascent friendship whose closeness is predominantly cemented by shared trauma cannot survive unless the parties evolve together. They far more often evolve separately and on plateaus whose timelines differ markedly. But this novel involves the latter, not the former. Instead, as the protagonists grow apart, one desiring distance, the other closeness, a friendship is grossly betrayed by an act irretrievably vile albeit regretted. One wonders at the speciousness of the characterizations. The conclusion seems intended to be an HEA, but instead is the worst outcome possible for healthy emotional people. You cannot pretend as they do that all is okay just because the vile act was regretted and then admitted to. Bring on the shudders.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering was a tense ride. The story follows two women who have been friends since they were teenagers. Although they’ve drifted apart, Billie is obsessed with getting back into Cassie’s life. After a fateful, impulsive choice one night, Billie is the one person Cassie reaches for…but what if Cassie finds out the truth about what Billie did that night?

This one drew me in right away but then took a long time to develop. There was a lot of back story and I almost gave up because it was going slow, but I stuck with it and the last 30% was good!

I’m not sure where to go with this review? I think i loved this book because it really had me empathizing with the “bad guy.” Both of the main characters sucked, but the snobby one (Cassidy) sucked the most. Some aspects were not my usual read; and others were. It definitely kept me coming back, and i would totally recommend to friends.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering is an interesting read. I'm not exactly sure how to describe this book. At first glance, there are quite a bit of psychological elements with some suspense. Then you realize it's a study on very dysfunctional, toxic relationships.

I mean just look at the description.

"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."

As soon as I read that description, I needed all the juicy details on what brought Billie and Cassie to this point. What follows is the entire disintegration of a lifelong friendship. How did these two friends who would have done ANYTHING for each other get to this point?

Using alternating POVs and dual timelines, Lovering reminds us of the strong bonds we often make in adolescence. But sometimes those same compelling connections between friends can lead to desparate ends that rip them apart.

Read this if you like:
• Friendships formed through trauma
• Morally ambiguous MC
• Friendship fiction with suspense and drama
• Fast-paced, captivating reads

Available today! Many thanks to @stmartinspress for the digital ARC!