This was just like a mid thriller. Didn't get any anticipation from it. There was no aspect of it possibly being any other way and that just was irritating. prefer when there is more "ifs"

Estranged best friends are reunited by a terrifying event. It seems like a friendship reset, except one doesn’t know the other is responsible for her horror. Author Carola Lovering builds characters and her plot with nuance and deft in her latest thriller, Bye, Baby.

Billie West knows that most people would probably envy her life. As an employee at a boutique luxury travel agency, she zooms around the world with her boss and good friend, Jane. They live and work in New York City, but Billie has seen enough Instagram-worthy sites to make any influencer drool.

Except the influencer who matters most to her: her one-time best friend, Cassie Adler. Ever since Cassie married her hedge fund-manager husband, Grant, she dropped her maiden name and Billie as a friend too. Now Cassie has a gorgeous husband and home and a brand new baby to boot. She’s also a lifestyle influencer with nearly 50,000 followers, and Billie is one of them. It’s the only way Billie can stay current on Cassie’s life, because Cassie is the type of person to share everything with the internet: how many times she had to get up with her baby; the brands she wears and, therefore, endorses; and updates on her chic boutique where it costs $600 to buy a blouse.

Cassie is well aware of Billie’s desire to reboot their friendship, but she’s over it. Why doesn’t Billie get the hint? Cassie has ignored enough texts and calls that anyone would have figured it out. But Billie keeps calling, keeps texting, keeps asking to get together.

That includes for her birthday, and Cassie doesn’t want to deal with the secondhand embarrassment she feels in front of her friends when Billie’s around. So she lies when Billie asks if she has anything planned and then goes ahead with the birthday bash Grant wants to throw her. Except she gets so involved in the party that she forgets that Billie will see her constant updates on Instagram.

By one of life’s cruelest coincidences, Billie ends up in Cassie’s swanky building on the night of her birthday. She discovers there’s a huge party in full swing and is furious. She’s also in a position to change Cassie’s entire life with a single impulsive move: Billie takes Cassie’s baby right from her balcony.

When Cassie gets word that her baby is missing, she’s frantic and reaches out to the one person who she knows will be there for her the way she needs: Billie. She needs the one person who knew her before she was Cassie Adler, before she had all this money and this rich life. Because Cassie knows that, thanks to the secret they share from when they were teenagers, Billie will be the one person to fight the hardest to get her child back—never guessing Billie might be responsible for her greatest pain.

Author Carola Lovering balances chapters between the friends with ease, giving readers the opportunity to get to know both of them. As the story unfolds in real time along with how the women became friends in their tween years, Lovering will keep readers engaged as to what happens after Cassie’s baby goes missing. Unlike some books, Lovering surprises readers with the choices both Billie and Cassie make.

Although Billie is the clear protagonist, at times it’s hard not to wince at her neediness. Lovering carefully puts Billie in a position where even readers will roll their eyes at her and occasionally sympathize with Cassie. Despite Cassie’s shallowness, there’s no doubt she loves her child and wants to take care of her. The element of groundedness is a masterstroke on Lovering’s behalf, leaving readers wondering whether Billie really does deserve sympathy all the way through the story.

If the book can be faulted anywhere, it’s for the slight lack of backstory development on Cassie. Readers will learn firsthand what binds the two friends to one another with Billie’s experiences taking the lead. Cassie’s backstory is shared but needed more in order to feel as lived in as Billie’s story does.

Still, for the most part the book is an immensely satisfying read both as an analysis of friendship and as a sometimes-thriller. Readers who enjoy clever back-and-forth between characters, particularly those in forced proximity will enjoy this one.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3.75⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: contemporary fiction📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I know this one was labeled as a thriller but I wouldn’t call it a thriller, there is no mystery or suspense for most of the book so I would keep them in mind when going into this one. If I had known that I think my expectations would have been a little lower.

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Domestic drama
Dual POV/ timeline
Flashbacks
Women friendship/ motherhood
Heavy topics
Character driven stories
Social media influencer
Thought provoking reads
Unlikable characters
NYC setting

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
I’m always here for all the drama

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
I’m not really of fan of reading about influencers I find it kinda boring

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this whole story! There are lots of memorable moments I won’t soon forget! The only thing I wish was changed is the spoiler at the beginning so you go into the book knowing right off the bat who kidnapped the baby. Other than that, it was written very well and I found myself relating to much of the parts about children changing friendships. If you like psychological thrillers and drama, be sure to check this book out!

Bye, Baby is a slow burn psychological thriller about 2 best friends who grew apart in recent years - one is an influencer and other feels pushed aside. Oh, this book was so bingeable. It opened with a missing baby and it sucked me in from there. The way it slowly unfolded created so many doubts and so much stress and I ate it up. I love how the characters had so many layers that were peeled back, I loved how the flashbacks to their childhoods really showed how the past shaped them and I loved the little digs into the world of social media and influencers.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering is a story of obsession, toxic friendships, trauma bonding, and codependency. How far can someone go to get back a relationship?

Billie and Cassie were best friends as teenagers and in their twenties as well. But they start drifting apart because both of them have different life goals. One starts a family, and the other still misses their bonding. Set in the past and present, this story is a slow burn drama.

This book goes into several issues of toxic relationships, trauma bonding, sexual abuse, social media influence, motherhood, and alzheimers. I was invested in the story because it did keep my interest till almost 60% when I wanted to put it down. But I prodded on, and it tied up well at the end. Since this is fiction, these morally gray characters make sense, but in real life, I would say that both Billie and Cassie need major therapy.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press @stmartinspress , for this book.

CW: Postpartum challenges, talk of motherhood, trauma bonding, gaslighting, sexual abuse, kidnapping, toxic relationships, Alzheimer

Billie and Cassie have been best friends since the summer before 7th grade, brought even closer by a tragic, unspeakable event in high school. But now they’re 35, living very different lives. Cassie has married rich, owns an upscale boutique clothing store in New York, is a new mother, and is rapidly gaining a following as an influencer. Billie is single and childless, feeling more and more like an outcast in Cassie’s life. It all comes to a head when Cassie’s daughter goes missing during a party, and Billie is responsible. After feeling hurt and rejected for so long by Cassie’s changing priorities, Billie is now the one Cassie is turning to again. She’ll do anything to restore their fractured friendship, while hiding what really happened the night of the kidnapping.
This story is written in alternating perspectives of Cassie and Billie, as well as flashbacks from their friendship, starting with their first meeting and building into how they became so close and then slowly drifted apart. I think Lovering did an excellent job of making the reader empathize with these characters even when they were doing really messed up things to each other. I really felt for Billie even though we know going into the story she’s literally a kidnapper. (Not a spoiler, it’s in the book description.)

I also felt this was unique in that the assumed climax comes pretty early, but you just know there’s more to come. That suspense felt like watching a car crash in slow motion. Even though I mostly predicted how it would end, the anxiety propelled me through and I couldn’t look away.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

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.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.

First off, I would not call this book a thriller. This is more of a suspenseful drama but I think going into it thinking this is a thriller sets you up to be disappointed. However, the beginning starts off with a bang and I'm immediately interested in what's going to happen. This story goes back and forth between Cassie and Billie's POVs, two semi-estranged best friends and all of the events that lead up to a kidnapping case that turns both of their worlds upside down. Sounds like a thriller right? Again, it's really not so I'd keep that in mind.

I had a hard time connecting with this book because both main characters are frankly very annoying. Not even just unlikeable but instead unrelateable to the point where I just didn't get their motives? Billie is obsessive and offputting and Cassie is incredibly shallow. I understand the concept that they were connected through their pasts but the dynamic just didn't flow very well. I was waiting for either of them to be redeemed throughout the story and unfortunately the ending was just not very satisfying. (Semi-Spoiler) but I've noticed that Lovering's books tend to have a lack of consequences for the severity of her character's actions. I feel like I'm still trying to understand her writing style but based on this and other books I've read they might not be for me.

As others who have read this book will say, this book is NOT a thriller, but rather a retrospective on the lives of 2 women, once childhood friends, whose lives are forever entwined but have drifted apart over the years. Billie and Cassie have both endured hard years of their childhood and young adult lives, albeit in very different ways. As their adulthoods take shape in wildly different ways, Billie feels threatened by others who have taken her place as Cassie's "best friend." She struggles with the thought of not having Cassie in her life as much, and with her own feelings as she attempts to move on in the world. Grappling with the unspeakable act she's committed, we learn of the girls' shared past and try to identify how they can exist together in the future.

While it's not a thriller, it certainly read as one, and as such it is highly readable. You're kept on the edge of your seat as you seek to find out what happened to each of the girls together and separately as the juice in the book is squeezed. I haven't read any other books by Lovering, but after reading this one, I'm adding to my list.

This was my first read by Lovering and wow I had a difficult time guessing where the story was headed! That's a great sign! The premise was unique, the characters' joined backstory was murky & unexpected, and their present emotional state left everything a possibility. I especially loved the portrayal of both characters and how realistic most of their actions were. My attention never waned, and I clung to hope that the story would have a good ending for these former best friends.

Bye, Baby starts with the kidnapping of an infant by one friend, while the other friend panics from the loss. Going back two months it's clear Billie and Cassie have a strained relationship (mostly nonexistent) as their lives went in different directions after high school. They both have found success in their respective careers but Cassie has the additional adoration of tens of thousands of Instagram followers. When Cassie's baby disappears, the only person she wants by her side is Billie. The one person that knows what happened in high school. The one person that can tame her paranoia. And the one person that can ruin everything.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an E-ARC

I really enjoyed this one! Definitely not a thriller but it reads almost as fast paced and propulsive as one and I loved Billie and resonated with her feelings towards Cassie. Carola Lovering writes and gets inside her characters heads so well and I can’t wait to read Can’t Look Away as well! Absolutely now a must read author for me.

Bye, Baby begins with Cassie’s baby missing and her best friend, Billie, hiding the baby. This novel travels through many years of friendship, heartache, and secrets.

I enjoyed the timeline of this novel, and it was interesting to see the friendship of Cassie and Billie evolve and change over many years, as female friendships often do. I enjoyed the dual perspectives that allowed both characters’s viewpoints to be known. While there were a couple of suspenseful moments, there wasn’t anything too surprising that occurred. I personally would have enjoyed this more if there’d been some more suspense and some less unrealistic plot points.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Bye, Baby is a dual timeline tale about two friends that saved each other in different ways.

Billie and Cassie became friends in school. Cassie was more outgoing and Billie the quieter one with issues at home with her step father. As they grow older and attend different universities, they grow apart. especially after Cassie meets the man she's going to marry.

Interactions between the two women become strained and awkward when they run into each other on the street until the unimaginable happens and Cassie's newborn is kidnapped. The first person she calls for comfort is Billie who is more than happy to try and comfort her friend once again.

As we learn what has happened, we return to their own childhood to find out more about them and their friendship. At times there are a few unbelievable incidents in both timelines, but I overall enjoyed the book and it did keep me reading.

“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 book was filllled with toxic relationships and drama. And when I got near the end, the suspense had me covering my eyes. Told from a dual point of view and past and present, this book was fast-paced, but left me wanting more. I also wouldn’t really consider it a thriller, maybe suspense? So keep that in mind if you are looking for a thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Cassie and Billie are childhood friends. They grew up knowing each others darkest and deepest secrets, and putting each other first. What started out as close twelve years olds growing up turns to late twenty year olds growing apart.
Cassie is now living the life of luxury. She's married to a trust fund husband with a new baby. Billie is watching Cassie's life through Instagram posts. She's single and child free. One night, Billie hears Cassie scream that her baby is missing. When Billie looks down, she's holding a baby, Cassie's baby.

This book was told switching POVs between Cassie and Billie, and from past to present. As the story gets unvealed, we learn of past secrets and the reason behind the kidnapping. The plot of the book was a very interesting and grabbed my attention right away, but I felt like the story was kinda slow and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. This book took me a long time to read, more than my normal turn around time for a novel.

Thank you to Netgalley, Carola Lovering, and the publishers for this free ebook. This review is 100% my own and honest opinion.

A woman kidnaps her friend’s baby and chaos ensues. The alternating time periods reveal the two women’s tenuous relationship from childhood and the reasons behind the ups and downs of their relationship. This was an interesting character study and the author was good at revealing details throughout to make this enjoyable and surprising.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, for the digital advance reader copy of Bye, Baby.

Cassie and Billy have been friends since childhood. They were inseparable until a falling out causes them to be estranged in adulthood. Until... one night. Cassie is celebrating her birthday with a party at. A party to which she did not invite Cassie. At some point during the party, Cassie realizes that her baby is missing. And just a floor below, Billy holds the baby in her arms. Billy becomes Cassie's lifeline in the trauma of her baby's kidnapping, rekindling their bond. But Cassie doesn't know that it's Billy who is responsible for the kidnapping.

This very readable page turner is told in multiple timelines and dual perspectives.

There were thrilling moments for sure in this thriller. But the interesting, complicated friendship between the women and following the stages of their lives and what they went through had the book leaning more to women's fiction.

The compelling supporting characters kept the story moving and added to the well formed plot.

There's heartbreak and gossip and even a little humor swept into the story and I found myself enjoying it from start to finish.

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!