This book was gripping from the very first page! I read the four page prologue and immediately, without question had to finish the book to find out what happened. Was it a comfortable read? Absolutely not. And I could not put it down. I think the most impressive aspect of this book was how seamlessly you switched your loyalty from main character to other main character from each alternating viewpoint chapter. It was a totally wild rollercoaster. And details that were small at first got larger and larger and what you thought was going to be a major plot was actually just the tip of the iceberg. Just a masterfully done thriller that wasn’t scary or creepy yet has the power to keep you up at night, thinking about it. I knocked a star off of my review because this book bordered on too intense for me personally, but I’m a wimp.

This is the first book of Carola Lovering’s that I have read, and while I’m hesitant to read more just based on the indigestion that this one caused me, she is really a talented writer and I will definitely pick up her previous books and look forward to the next one!

Billie and Cassie are best friends with deep dark secrets, but they’ve grown apart as their careers and personal lives have flourished in different directions. Cassie is a successful influencer married to a one-percenter with a new baby, and (mostly) happily single Billie explores the world for the luxury travel company she works for. But when Cassie’s birthday party goes horribly wrong, she turns to Billie for comfort without knowing the massive secret Billie is hiding…

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

Bye, Baby
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Carola Lovering

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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 friends

My Thoughts: Happy publish day! This is a story of two friends, thick as thieves in high school, where the secrets began, and lose touch as adults. It begins with a woman screaming, Cassie, because someone has taken her daughter. Billie looks down holding Cassie’s daughter. Then we go back to the beginning, right before seventh grade when they met and became thick as thieves. Through school, the secrets begin, intertwining them together. They go through life together until about their twenties when they get separate apartments. As soon as Cassie meets and marries a wealthy man, their relationship begins to dwindle. Cassie wants higher class, where Billie is content with what she has. Cassie desperately wants to put the past behind her, does that mean Billie too? Will Billie be hurt by this and retaliate? The story has sexual abuse, Alzheimer’s disease, gold digger, social media, and influencer ups and downs.

The story is narrated by both Cassie and Billie, in their respective perspectives. The storyline flips between past and present, to fill in the gaps of what happened to lead them to this point. Their relationship has a big secret in the middle of it that seems to lock them in together, however, as life does, we grow and sometimes falter away. The supporting characters were fantastic and really elevated this story to another level. The characters were relatable, while being liked and hated at the same time. The characters were well developed with depth, were mysterious, yet intriguing, and creatively spun throughout the story. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, twisty, and just brilliant. Lovering is a master at writing psychological thrillers that will keep you guessing and turning the pages until the end. This was more of a women’s literature, but I can see the thriller components in there. The plot had multiple twists, secrets, and betrayal.

I had the pleasure of having both the digital and audio versions. I preferred the audio version. This was my second Lovering book and I love her writing style. The story captivated you from the prologue and kept you glued through the epilogue. It was everything you want in a psychological thriller, it was captivating, gripping, twisty, and kept you on the edge of your seat. I highly recommend picking up this book!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

One fateful night....2 long time friends...estranged at best...will find out just how much the friendship can handle.

Billie and Cassie were super tight in high school - until an incident happens that causes them to drift apart as they grow into adulthood.

Fast forward, and Billie's baby has been taken for a short period of time. What does Cassie know, if anything about the disappearance?

I was excited to read Bye, Baby, as I love twisty thrillers, which is what I was expecting of Carola Lovering's latest novel. While it didn't meet my expectations, it didn't disappoint either. It just wasn't what I had thought to be. Much more a domestic drama with emphasis on friendships, how they evolve from childhood to adulthood, and how trauma and secrets bond people. The characters are unreliable, not very likable, but somehow, I found myself rooting for them. It would make a good pick for a book club, it's one that has stuck with me long after reading.

Bye, Baby
Carola Lovering

Happy Publication Day to Bye, Baby!

One night in NYC, Billie West hears the screams from the apartment above of her beloved best friend Cassidy Adler, who’s just realized her infant daughter is missing. Billie is shaken when she looks down and discovers the cooing infant in her own arms, realizing she is the cause for her friends agony. Bonded by their past secrets, this is the story of their friendship both past and present and the highs and lows that led them here.

A missing baby. A fraught friendship. A secret.
These are the taglines for this book and the missing baby plot, the initial hook from the beginning ends up being so minor it throws this out of the thriller category. I was actually more into the buildup in the first half, but, once the storyline of the kidnapped baby ends, the rest of this book doesn’t have much drive for me. There’s nothing for the reader to try and figure out except just wait for Billie to get caught in her own lies about what really happened the night Cassies daughter disappeared. I do however, love all the NYC references, it’s a special place for me and holds great nostalgia but, this story overall not what I was hoping it would be!

Beverage rec: white burgundy wine, a favorite in the friendship 🍷

Lovering does a great job of describing two individuals who grow apart as they reach for their dreams.

As teenagers, Cassie and Billie become closer and closer as their family lives disintegrate. They experience the bonds that can only happen when two girls love and care for each other’s welfare. The story is told in first person by both characters and changes timelines as their history is shared.

As they age, this early time in their lives takes on a different meaning for each girl. And even a childhood secret doesn’t bond them in the same way.

While my description doesn’t sound overly exciting, let me assure you that the characters and their development within this unique story have me captivated throughout. It was hard to put down after the initial character introductions during the early part of the book. And even that was interesting, but not as much as the last half.

This story was quite thought-provoking. It even caused me to think about the effect that small missteps can have on our own lives.


Final Thoughts
Bye, Baby wasn’t overly twisty and thrilling, but more a thought-provoking story that was hard to stop thinking about.

Topics that could be triggers for some, but for others, they will bring a wide range of depth to the story.

Friendship
Murder
Influencers
Motherhood
Molestation
Abortion
Relationships
Secrets
Ostracism
Alzheimer’s
Lies

This would be a wonderful title for book club discussions.

Bye Baby, by Carola Lovering

Short Take: Fun & fast-moving, but also kind of ridiculous.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Duckies, it has been a LONG week, and it’s only Tuesday. A “hey, why don’t we rearrange the furniture in the den, and get rid of the broken chair?” quickie project turned into going through my bookshelves, dusting, organizing, and donating part of my collection. Do I need to tell any of you how draining that can be to someone like me?? Also I’ve been trying to get back on the “daily walks” train after some health stuff kept me down for a couple of months, and I am still the object at rest that wants to stay at rest.

A good book should help, right? Or at least, a book that doesn’t make too many demands on my worn-out brain. So let me introduce Bye, Baby…

Billie and Cassie have been the best of friends, closer than sisters really, since they were 12. Now 35, their lives have diverged somewhat: Although both of them are hashtag-thriving in the Big Apple, Billie is single and a luxury travel planner, jetting all over the world to check out first-class accommodations for her clients. And Cassie has married old-money (old MEGA money actually) Grant Adler, started her own boutique, and has a beautiful four-month-old daughter, Ella.

Not all childhood friendships survive adulthood, even when the friends in question share a huge, dark secret. So when Billie sees that Cassie is drifting away into mom-friends and Instagram fame, she does the only sensible thing: she kidnaps Cassie’s baby.

Duckies, this book is so over the top insane that it almost circles back around to “oh yeah, that makes sense.” I mean, OBVIOUSLY you don’t renew a friendship by stealing someone’s baby (!!!!). That’s like Besties 101 - you don’t borrow her stuff without asking, whether it’s that silky lavender top you also look great in, or that Coach bag, or oh yeah, HER CHILD.

But the baby borrowing is almost the most minor bit of craziness here. First, Cassie’s social media obsession is hashtag-insufferable. She plans out every minute of her day not for what will make her happy, or bring joy to her family, but what will look best on the ‘gram. (And yes, I’m an old person who doesn’t even have an Instagram account, so maybe I’m just not getting the allure?) But then there’s also the big-money lifestyle she leads, where every item she eats/owns/wears/uses has a name and a price tag that is meant to impress other people who have the exact same priorities.

It’s a weird kind of ouroboros, where the person and the image are the snake and the tail, and the constant need to be the absolute best at the things that matter least is maddening to read.

And then there’s Billie. Her story is tragic - a fatally ill mother, the worst kind of stepfather, limited means that create an almost Dickensian childhood. Her choice to not have kids, to enjoy her admittedly fantastic career and life in the city is treated as a 1950’s style aberration, where the neighbor moms in their high heels and pearls whisper over their perfectly trimmed hedges about Poor Sad Billie who will never know the Joys Of Motherhood. (of course, now it’s moms in their high-end athleisure whispering over oat-milk lattes, but the principle remains the same). Like…. Ok, boomers?

Billie’s as fixated on Cassie as Cassie is on her hashtag-momboss life, even when Billie meets Alex - an adorable cop and perfect-boyfriend stereotype who moves the plot along in his bland, perfect-boyfriend way. Of course, being a kidnapper, having a policeman boyfriend might just wrinkle things up a bit, but hey, anything for your bestie, right?

So on the plus side, the story moves fast, and kept me hooked enough for a 24-hour binge read. But honestly, you guys, I just could not with these characters. There’s nothing about any of them that felt real or true at all. I mean, Cassie was deliberately as fake as they come, but Billie was also so ridiculous, so needy and obsessive and really kind of pathetic. She has a life that she built from scratch, a fulfilling career, a new but great so far boyfriend, and all she can do, all day every day, is sigh longingly while watching Cassie blather about eye cream on social media.

I wanted to shake her. And to flush Cassie’s phone down the toilet. They both just sucked. Still, I enjoyed Bye, Baby in the way you like a trashy reality show - you know it’s terrible and ridiculous, but somehow, that’s part of its charm.

The Nerd’s Rating: THREE HAPPY NEURONS (and a Kale Caesars, I’m intrigued by the idea.)

Bye, Baby is another gripping and intense novel from Carola Lovering 🌟

Lovering expertly weaves relationships (and their accompanying drama) into her plot-heavy thrillers and Bye, Baby is no exception. This story follows the fraught friendship of Cassie and Billie, a pair who grew up in the Hudson Valley and now live increasingly separate lives in NYC.

I love the way Bye, Baby captures the evolution of a female friendship from childhood to adulthood. The ebbs and flows of closeness, the romantic relationships and friendships that interfere, the resentments that form like cracks. Cassie and Billie’s friendship is depicted in the extreme - this is a thriller after all! - but is also made up of elements, like a childhood traumatic event that bonded them, that make this extreme plausible.

Aside from the relational aspects, the story hooked me from the start, but left me unsatisfied at the end. Without giving anything away, the resolution felt overly coincidental and yet also predictable.

I also wrestle with the character development. Cassie is an influencer and though that created great potential, she instead embodies almost every negative quality touted about the profession and consequently feels like a caricature. I don’t expect a ton of nuance in thrillers, but even this surprised me.

This was an entertaining book. I did not think it was much of a thriller but there was some suspense and a bunch of drama. A story about two women who were best friends in high school and through college and who drifted apart after college for a variety of reasons. Billy and Cassie's characters were not very likable, Billie being too obsessed with Cassie and Cassie being very shallow and snobbish. It made for a great story, though. I liked how the point of views of Billie and Cassie were written and also the flashbacks to the beginning of the friendship and going forward. Overall, it was very enjoyable.

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

Thank you to NetGalleh & St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

The author of TELL ME LIES is back with another bingeable, friendship themed suspense/mystery! This book was totally different than what I thought it was going to be but I enjoyed it so much. It’s advertised as a mystery/thriller but in my opinion it’s not so much a thriller as it is suspense. Even so, I quickly found myself sucked in to the world of Cassie & Billie. I thought Cassie’s POV was particularly interesting and also so cringeworthy at the same time. The character development in this book was top notch. There are so many layers & secrets to Billie & Cassie’s friendship that are slowly exposed. It makes it hard to put the book down!

This story made me so angry & so frustrated but I feel like when a book can elicit that kind of emotion then it’s a sign of a really good book. Carola Lovering does a great job of writing characters that are so incredibly frustrating but also somehow make you want to root for them. I really enjoyed this read but unfortunately I was a little bit disappointed by the ending. There was a lot of build up & I was expecting something more dramatic. However, I have to applaud the author for the incredible writing & a story that made me want to read the whole book in one sitting. Definitely one to add to your TBR!

This ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I devoured this book! I was nervous to read it based on the synopsis and my personal postpartum issues, but I’m glad I did. I really liked the examination of life long friendship and obligation vs. true friendship. I actually liked the characters as well. I found them generally likable and it was interesting to examine social media and wanting to have kids or not.

While this won't be a best book of the year, it absolutely held my attention and I couldn't put it down.

While Bye, Baby is advertised as a Thriller/Mystery, I would argue it's more of a psychological suspense. There's not a LOT of action but if you read it knowing it's really more psychological, then you can really enjoy it!

I thought it was a bit slow in the beginning, but it eventually picks up and I got sucked in!

This was mostly about the relationship between Cassie and Billie and how it's evolved since they were kids. They don't get along as much anymore as adults, but they share a traumatic event in their past that will link them forever.

In the last 30% or so, I was definitely on the edge of my seat, a bit stressed out for the characters and really invested in what was happening.

I don't want to say too much so I don't spoil anything, but I definitely recommend if you're a fan of psychological suspense and mystery!

I did enjoy this book. There are a few parts in the slower side but overall a good read.
It deals with a lot of different types of trauma and whether friendships can withstand all of this.
I didn’t really bond with the characters that much. But the storyline was interesting.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this one.

Book review!

Billie and Cassie have been friends since childhood, but at 35 years old, their friendship has seen better days. For over twenty years they meant the world to each other, and although their desires didn’t always align, they had each other’s backs- or at least, Billie thought they did. But now all they have between them is a secret they can never tell, ignored text messages, and Cassie’s new circle of friends that are too highbrow to ever include Billie. When Cassie’s baby goes missing from a party Billie wasn’t invited to, the pair leans on each other. But Billie has another secret.

My only real complaint about this book was that it is marketed as a thriller when I feel it should have leaned more into selling it as a book about toxic friendships. The main even happens about halfway through the book and then the thriller element disappears. The focus absolutely is on the twisted relationship between Cassie and Billie, and if I had known that before had, the book would have read differently.

Overall, solid read.

Thank you to @netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so hesitant to read this book in the first few pages, because I'm a mother of two and I've found that I have such sensitivities to any storyline that contains children. But I'm so glad I pushed through, because this was so much more than just another thriller. It was actually the story of female friendship and how it waxes and wanes over the years, and how even though one friend may grow apart, the other one doesn't necessarily feel the same. It was written in such a way that both main female characters were flawed, yet so relatable and sympathetic. I'm curious to read other feedback to see which woman readers identified with and sided with, because I could see it going either way. That, to me, is truly genius storytelling and writing.

I really enjoyed this book! It had me hooked from the beginning and I really enjoyed all the different themes of the book. The reason for 4 stars is because I thought it was supposed to be a thriller, but it wasn’t very thrilling lol but still very good!

This is my third @carolatlovering book and I’ve loved all three. The plot of Bye, Baby really intrigued me. Lifestyle influencer Cassidy Adler’s young baby is taken from her apartment the night of her birthday party… by her best friend Billie. We learn all of this right away, so the experience of reading this one is different than that of other books in the genre - instead of wondering who did it, we’re exploring the reasons why. What happened that led Billie to make such a terrible decision?

Told from the perspectives of both Cassidy and Billie, I really enjoyed how this book broke down the intricacies of female friendships. It’s a topic that isn’t explored enough; how deeply we love those friends who have shared such a huge part of our lives, and how heartbreaking it can be when that relationship changes or ends.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced copy of this book, it comes out today, March 5!

This was my first read by Carola Lovering, and it definitely won’t be my last! It was a quick read and definitely kept me interested, and I liked the different POVs and timelines. There were so many secrets and lies right from the beginning! The ending was definitely not what I expected, but I liked how it ended with both consequences and redemption. I will say that the story gets a little dark a times, and definitely be aware of trigger warnings going in. 👇🏻

TW: sexual assault, Alzheimer’s

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read before pub day! BYE, BABY is out now!
ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books that you question, what did I just read and why did I finish it? I really don’t know what I expected the ending to be, but the toxic friendship was doomed from the beginning. I don’t believe anyone in the story learned anything from any of their mistakes. I’ll give it two stars because I did continue to read it but I had more anxiety from reading it than hoping for a good ending. My other issue is foul language. Maybe I live in a hole, but is this the way people commonly talk? All I can say is, I’m grateful that my life has very little drama! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.