Billie and Cassie have been friends for 23 years, but as they have grown up they have also grown apart. Bye, Baby follows their toxic and dramatic friendship with alternating POVs and timelines. A secret from their past has kept them together all these years, but will a secret of their present tear them apart?

Review:
First, I think it is important to understand the type of book this is. Going in, I assumed it was a thriller/mystery, but it is more toxic friendship drama with a little suspense sprinkled in. I love a good drama, so I was not disappointed by this at all. I know that some people don't like books that talk about social media, but I enjoy it. I loved that Cassie was an influencer and spoke about it often. I absolutely loved the writing; it was easy to read and kept me invested in the story line. Bye, Baby is very character driven and there were moments that I loved the characters and moments that I despised them, which I think is the whole point. I feel like I have a great grasp on who Billie and Cassie are after reading the book. I felt sorry for Billie a lot; Cassie was a HORRIBLE friend, BUT Billie didn't help her cause at all. I mean who takes their friend's baby!!!! How traumatizing! Overall, I really enjoyed the storyline of how not all friendships are meant to last, sometimes they are only needed for a certain season of your life.
Rating:
3.5 stars
Thank you NetGalley, Carola Lovering, and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of Bye, Baby in exchange for an honest review! Bye, Baby is out on March 5th, be sure to grab your copy!

I am not sure that I would call this a mystery or thriller - but still enjoyable to read. The book follows two women, who alternate telling the story from their perspective. Friends since childhood, the book follows their toxic and unhealthy relationship through adulthood. They make terrible mistakes that impact their relationship forever - and it is not until the end of the story that we learn why their toxic friendship lasts so long. I did not realy like either of them, was frustrated by their actions, their behaviors and their personalities. Their interactions made me want to scream. Opposites connected by a past that they can't let go of. All that being said, I could not look away from the disaster that they both were. I wanted to know more about them as individuals and as friends. I listed and read this and both versions were enjoyable.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader (and audio!) copy.

Bye, Baby was a propulsive read, which I finished in only two days. However, I was under the impression that this book was supposed to be a thriller, and it is certainly not one. There were mystery and suspenseful elements, but it was more of a friendship drama. Particularly a dark drama about the tail end of a friendship that's run its course and is only tethered by a nefarious secret.

The majority of the suspense came from me waiting for the other shoe to drop as I was expecting a twist to eventually materialize. However, none of this took away from the story's binge worthiness, which also had the short chapters I prefer.

Now for my gripe. I appreciate when white authors make the effort to be inclusive, but as a POC Latino woman, I'm really tired of the only time I see a Latina/o/e in a book, they're relegated to the role of "the help." In this case, it was a nanny/housekeeper who spoke very little English 🙄. Believe it or not, we do work in other professions, and I would prefer not to see any representation than one that plays into tired stereotypes. This is why sensitivity readers are useful.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Bye, Baby" was a great twisty tale from Carola Lovering.
There's themes of sexual abuse, friendship & loss.
The story is told from alternating point of views.
I would definitely read another book by Ms. Lovering.

\4.25 star

Pub Date: March 5th

This novel was a WILD F-ING RIDE. Ok so, most of the characters in this book are unhinged in some way or another. We have our main character, Billie, who is weirdly obsessed with her lifelong best friend, Cassie, who has been a not-so-best friend as of late. Ignoring her texts, bailing on their plans, the works. Now Cassie, she wants to be an influencer and has almost 50k followers on instagram so she’s doing pretty well for herself. She also married into a super rich family.

That’s the backstory. Soooooo, Cassie had a baby which is making her even more unavailable to Billie because Cassie wants to hang out with other mom friends. Valid, right? Well Billie is pissed and sad.

Then one night, Cassie’s daughter goes missing for almost 12 hours then just randomly shows up left outside their front door. This is not a spoiler because it’s in the synopsis, but you will NOT believe who took her

It’s told in dual POV as well as a dual timeline. I loved this, it kept me so engaged and I was extremely invested in every aspect of it. There were a few slow parts or some parts that I felt didn’t need to be a part of the story.

I’d highly recommend this one if you like Lucy Foley!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for my copy!

I had such high expectations for Bye, Baby. Perhaps due to the synopsis and the unmitigated potential for dark behaviors and evil motivations, I anticipated intrigue and dread rising from the pages. While there was some foreboding, it wasn’t exactly in the vein of a thriller—or even suspense. Instead, the book felt decidedly like a domestic drama with a teeny, tiny possibility for an unexpected villain.

The storyline itself was a long, slow burn right from the start. Well, after the prologue that actually contained the most thrilling piece to this incredibly uncomplicated, straightforward plot. With nary a twist or even any well-hidden subterfuge, what unfurled lacked any real surprises. Don’t get me wrong, the dual POVs and dual timelines provided deep backstories for the two central characters, but somehow that just wasn’t enough.

Speaking of the characters, I found that I couldn’t connect with either Billie or Cassie. The former actually irked me quite a bit with her dogged devotion to a friend who didn’t deserve it. As for Cassie, she felt decidedly shallow, both in terms of characterization and persona. And despite Billie being relatively well fleshed out, she still didn’t seem to ring true.

In the end, I did enjoy the exploration of female friendships and motherhood, especially given the toxicity that flowed between these two former friends. A character-driven plot through and through, this was no thriller or tale of suspense. At the same time, I was thoroughly engrossed by Billie and Carrie’s relationship which realistically demonstrated how tension can arise when people change. Even that, however, didn’t entirely rescue this novel for me, so I’m left giving this one a somewhat ambivalent thumbs up. Rating of 3 stars (just).

Thank you to Carola Lovering, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

3.5/4 stars

my first Carola Lovering read but definitely not my last!

feels reminiscent of other stories I’ve read in domestic thrillers, childhood friendships growing into adulthood, and mystery thrillers. familiar but in a fresh enticing new way, I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook to figure it out

maybe the ride was so wild the destination fell short me? the ending left much to be desired but I enjoyed the majority of the read.

There’s something I love in books about women behaving badly and that was definitely the case in this one. Childhood best friends have lost their connection. Billie doesn’t see much of Cassie in person but she sees her multiple times a day on Instagram loading her mommy and lifestyle content. They are slowly reconnecting but it’s hard. Cassie is focused on her affluent life, her husband and above all her daughter. Until one day her daughter goes missing. I don’t want to say too much but I couldn’t stop listening to this one!

Huge thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

WOW!!! What an amazing read that kept me turning the pages very late into the night.

What would you do to keep a childhood friendship going? How do you live with secrets that you are keeping.

Cassie and Billie are childhood friends that grow up together and share everything. After Cassie meets the man of her dreams their friendship cools off and Billie feels lost. Cassie has made a new set of friends and lives her life in the public eye as an Instagram influencer. When a horrible scare reconnects their bond the secrets and lies being kept threaten to ruin everything.

This book was amazing! 5 huge stars!!! Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for the chance to read and review this book!

Carola Lovering has been an auto-buy author for me for a while now and this one takes the spot as my favorite!

There is something about the way Lovering writes a thriller, especially how she gets deep down into the perspectives of each person. It's raw and real and you really feel a connection with each character even if they may be unreliable and the "villain". And it makes you ask, who is the villain here?

Bye, Baby is a thrilling story about the complexities of best friends who really are toxic to each other, and the unspoken trauma between them. I loved the back and forth POV's between Cassie & Billie in the present, and the early 2000's.

Everything meshed really well together and I read the entirety of this book in one sitting, yes it's that good!

This is a must read!

this is my second Carola Lovering book and it was nothing short of what i thought it’d be like! it gave drama and trauma. i really enjoyed the 2 different povs plus the bonus added timeline of how it was growing up together. i’m glad billie came to the realization that cassie only thought about herself her whole life and nothing cassie did was because she loved billie, but billie should’ve never taken the baby especially because she has no maternal instinct so why did she think she could help??? cassie was insufferable and was chasing something she isn’t her whole life. the baby being taken should’ve been a wake up call, but she went right back to what she was doing. i liked this book a lot!!

I was hooked from the beginning… definitely some unlikeable characters but I love stories about Rich people behaving badly! Narration was great too… I truly couldn’t put this one down. A tiny bit far fetched at times but aren’t all popcorn thrillers? I loved this one! 4.5 stars

This is a story told in two POV transpiring over two timelines of two friends, once like sisters but now estranged. Cassie is married with a baby and an IG influencer, thriving on her power from her many followers. Billie travels the world for her job to exotic locations, unmarried but dating, never ever wanting to be a mother. Childhood trauma binds them together yet as adults Cassie has ghosted Billie, who longs for the closeness they once had. But when Cassie’s baby goes missing, it is to Billie that she turns to, who laps up the immediate attention. Strange and haunting, this story will have you reading just to find out how it is all resolved. How well do you know your best friend? How far will you go for them when they need you? Cassie and Billie have an unusual relationship that I’m not even sure they understand. A solid read, this book was hard to read at times (spoiler - sexual abuse content), but a good read all the same. Many thanks to #netgalley, #byebaby, for the opportunity to read and review this book. 3.5 rounded to 4.

Cassie and Billie, once inseparable companions, have seen the bonds of their friendship slacken gradually in recent years, largely due to Cassie's evolving lifestyle. Cassie's marriage to a wealthy man and her pursuit of an influencer career have created a growing chasm between them, leaving Billie struggling to reconcile with the loss of their once-close connection.

The narrative begins with the poignant exclusion of Billie from Cassie's birthday celebration, a stark indicator of the fractured state of their relationship. In a desperate act, Billie resorts to the unthinkable, snatching Cassie's infant child. How did their friendship deteriorate to this extreme?

"Bye, Baby" delves into the intricate dynamics of their friendship's evolution. What factors led to their estrangement? Was it solely a buried secret from their adolescence that bound them together? With gripping storytelling, "Bye, Baby" captures the unraveling and reconfiguration of their bond, promising to captivate readers as they navigate the twists and turns of Cassie and Billie's friendship journey.

Billie and Cassie used to be the best of friends, after a terrible incident during their teenage years tied them together forever. Now, their lives are very different, and the two women are drifting apart. Cassie is an influencer, who owns a high end clothing store and is married to a wealthy man, who she's recently had a baby with. Billie is unmarried, doesn't want children, and is very focused on her job with a high end travel agency. Billie still wants to continue the friendship, and is confused about why Cassie seems to be pushing her away. We follow this crumbling friendship to the night where Billie stands, in an apartment below Cassie's, holding Cassie's baby, while listening to Cassie scream for her missing child. How did a friendship that was once so close, ever come to this?

I absolutely LOVED this book! If you go into this looking for a twisty thriller, you won't find that here. This is more of a domestic suspense, with a few twists thrown in. The majority of this book, however, is focused on toxic female friendship, and what happens when you can't walk away from someone you love, even when you know they are bad for you. Anyone who has ever been in a toxic friendship will feel incredibly seen by this book, and will resonate with the feelings this book brought up. The characters were so well written, and so easy to love, and hate. I had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen, and how things would end. I really loved this book, and highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars!!!

This story grabbed me from the beginning and I did not want it to end!!!

Alternating point of view between Billie and Cassie, two girls that form a strong bond in middle school and think they will be best friends forever but life takes them in different directions. Billie can feel Cassie pulling away and acts out of character in attempt to keep her friend close. Some flashback scenes from their childhood included, very easy to follow though. Superb character development that has you cheering them on even when their flaws are on display.

Most stars come from how much I think about a book when I’m not even reading it at that time and this book stayed with him, couldn’t wait to keep reading but didn’t want it to end.

Definitely reading more by this author!

Thanks to the author, netgalley and St Martins press For my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of this book. I disliked the characters, the plot was blah, and the climax happened 50% through the book. There was nothing in the last 50% of the book. I expected a plot twist or something to happen.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest thriller by Carola Lovering, perfectly narrated by Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Billie and Cassie were inseparable since they met in middle school, bonded even more tightly since they shared a traumatic event in high school. But as they've gotten older, their paths have diverged. Billie still misses her best friend, but Cassie moved on without looking back. Cassie is now married to a wealthy man with a new baby, she's an instagram influencer, and has a store for wealthy shoppers. Then Billie makes a decision that will change everything.

Best go into this one with as little information as possible for maximum enjoyment! I always enjoy Lovering's books and this one was no exception. Told in different timelines and from both Billie's and Cassie's POV, we learn about their relationship, their shared trauma, and they way they changed as they grew older. I felt for Billie - she had experienced so much trauma in her life and was desperate to have her friend back, but Cassie was a different person and Billie no longer fit her image. A page turner for sure, with themes of friendship, loyalty, trauma, motherhood, social media, and even second chances. The audiobook narration was wonderful as well.

BYE, BABY
Carola Lovering

Something in the way she twists has me turning,
Something in the way she writes has me hanging onto her every word.

Cassie and Billie have been friends for what feels like a lifetime. They met when they were twelve, young and impressionable. They bonded over unspeakable traumas, kept each other’s secrets, and created a world where only the two of them existed.

But time has passed, and things have changed. Recently their friendship has been strained.

Cassie has a lot of what Billie aspires to have, does what she aspires to do, is what she aspires to be. Cassie has the best apartment money can buy with million-dollar views. She is not only happily married but also has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl-Ella. She has a strong group of followers on Instagram that follow her beautiful life and every move she makes, including and importantly-Billie.

One day, when feeling particularly down about their friendship Billie makes a decision that will change their friendship and their lives forever.

This is my second experience with Lovering. The first (Can’t Look Away) was good, this one was great. I cannot wait for the next. I listened to the audiobook for this book and loved it. It is narrated by Karissa Vacker and Helen Laser, and both did an exceptional job at animating the characters, keeping a good pace and keeping me on the edge of my seat.

The writing in this novel is darker and edgier than what I have read before from Lovering. I enjoyed the storyline, and the suspense was perfect. I loved that our two main characters shared secrets, but not their lives. I thought this created an interesting and realistic dynamic between Billie and Cassie.

Have you read Carola Lovering before? If not, I recommend you start here.

Thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copies!

BYE, BABY…⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is a great story of a twisted lifelong friendship between two women. It was very good and hard to put down. The ending was really great too.