I would say this is more of a dark contemporary than a mystery or thriller. It's well written and fast-paced and I would have given it four stars if it wasn't for the fact that every character is absolutely awful. There is no character growth or lessons learned. Just page after page of terrible people acting like trash and doing trashy things.

Cassie Adler is the very busy mother of a four-month-old daughter. More than that, she runs a boutique and is well on her way to becoming a major social media influencer. Seemingly happily married to husband Grant, what more could Cassie ask for in life.

In order to understand what Cassie stands to lose, the story goes back to her younger years when Cassie and her friend Billie West were the best of friends. Things remained that way for years, but something pulled the women apart and their lives have taken on different directions. As far as Billie is concerned, Cassie should want to be a part of her life and has never been able to let go of that desire.

While I first got Bye, Baby as an eARC, I was approved for the audiobook ALC, and boy did this make this engaging story all that more compelling. With three narrators, the story flowed easily from differing perspectives and brought the past and present together in spectacular fashion.

This story of friendship, secrets and very sad childhood trauma had a powerful impact on me as a reader. As a survivor of the trauma that this book contained, the choices both Cassie and Billie made were easy to understand. However, the choices they made at one time in their lives would no doubt have a powerful impact on their lives as adults.

While this latest offering from Carola Lovering did factor in Cassie's missing baby, the story told so much more. In fact, I loved how the women in this book were written. There was not much to love about Cassie, yet you just had to find out what happened. Billie and her story was incredibly sad and many times I wanted to reach through the pages and to give her a hug. Kudos to Ms. Lovering for writing a story that grabbed me from beginning to end.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This book had me on the edge of my seat!
I’ve heard some people say this isn’t technically a thriller, which in reality maybe it’s not, but I think it is a very different take on a thriller. This certainly isn’t your run of the mill who killed who thriller, but it absolutely has its mystery and dark secrets and I think it is a thriller.
I was definitely thrilled by this book and honestly, couldn’t put it down.
Billie and Cassie were extremely vibrant characters and I love the dual POV, as well as getting to hear their complete back stories. I think it gave a lot of weight to both characters and made me really connect on a deeper level with them.
The whole premise of a baby getting snatched had my jaw dropping and wishing it hadn’t happened. I loved how intricate this story ends up getting and all the tangled webs that are woven throughout.
This was a really fabulous book and I would definitely recommend!
Thank you NetGalley for my arc copy, I am leaving this review on my own.

this book is a RIDE and I loved every twisty turn. I think the thing that stands out most for me was the character development — Billy and Cass felt SO REAL. I related to both of them, their friendship struggles, their changing lives, etc. — in ways that I really wish I didn't LOL.

Bye, Baby was a wild ride. It follows two friends, Billie and Cassie, from the moment they meet at age twelve to years later when Cassie's daughter goes missing but is returned several hours later. The whole relationship and book are messy with a need for a lot of content warning like sexual assault and abortion. I really love/hate when a book makes me root for a villain. Not that anyone in the book was a hero or very likeable except for Jane, Billie's boss. Everyone else was extremely problematic. I wondered how the book would wrap up and I think Lovering does it nicely with the best possible outcome. This was my 2nd read by Lovering and both books were equally demented in plot, lol. If you like a psychotic thriller with problematic characters, check our Bye, Baby.

I was hooked by the first page! I loved seeing how the friendship between Cassie and Billie changed as they aged. I felt a lot of sympathy towards Billie because of all she experienced growing up and her struggles into adulthood. Very well done.

Bye, Baby is such an addictively built, impossible to set down puzzle about the messy dynamics of friendship and what happens when those fragile bonds are tattered by growing up.

I was completely sucked into this story, and I stayed up well into the night to see how the tangle of drama would play out. I absolutely love that the story jumps back and forth between character perspectives, and past and present day, unraveling and revealing bit by bit all the cracks that ever existed in Billie and Cassie's relationship and driving towards what you know will be an explosion if Billie's secrets come to light. The pacing in this one is spot on, and each chapter leaves you salivating for more juicy details.

Carola doesn't shy away from creating characters that are complicated and heavily flawed, and I deeply appreciate how well rounded and honest each character is steeped in those flaws. As a reader you're landed in the midst of rooting for people to get away with bad deeds, and simultaneously rooting for others to fall flat on their too-perfect faces. It is deviously delicious drama that you can't look away from. Reality tv has nothing on these women.

No spoilers, just know that this leans more to character drama with a drizzle of mystery rather than a thriller - but is all the rollercoaster entertainment you could ask for either way.

Definitely one to spice up your spring reading list!

Many thanks to St Martins Press for the copy.

This story began with great promise, capturing my interest with its portrayal of two characters and their intertwined history. The narrative unfolded through a dual point of view and timeline, gradually revealing facets of their friendship as they navigated the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Despite the engaging setup, neither Cassie nor Billie emerged as likable characters. Cassie, an influencer who shaped her life for online content, appeared overly materialistic and self-centered. Meanwhile, Billie, a travel guide, has a weird fixation on Cassie stemming from a shared trauma bond.

The tension between Cassie's desire to sever ties with her past, including Billie, and Billie's determination to prevent that separation fueled the dramatic core of the book. While I found myself engrossed in the majority of the book, the story lost momentum towards the end and concluded with an anticlimactic resolution. Despite the underwhelming finale, I did find enjoyment in the overall reading experience. Just okay overall!

I was really excited about this book when I got approved for it. I loved her book “TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE” but this was not it for me. The beginning was ok as it was building up the suspense and helping us get to know the characters. I thought Billie was fine but I HATED Cassie- and not in the way I’m sure the author intended. She was the worst person and friend and I was not rotting for her at all. I ended you DNFing this book at 60%. Once I thought something exciting happened it was over and that was it, nothing really happened.

I will say, the narrators of the book were great, but the story itself, not so much.

Bye, Baby

The plot of this novel centers around a missing infant..but it really is about female friendships. Cassie and Billie grew up together but have seemingly grown apart. Cassie is happily married with a new baby, while Billie is focused on her career and her budding relationship with someone she is newly dating. Billie and Cassie are living completely different lives and see each other less and less. Until Cassie's daughter goes missing and Billie is her first call.

What I loved about this novel was that there was a dual timeline. As the present day kidnapping unfolds, we are also sent back to where Billie and Cassie's friendship started..and all the secrets they are keeping. I really thought that although I wouldn't classify this book as a thriller, it had enough drama and suspense of the story that it kept me on the edge of my seat. Lovering did a great job really creating complex characters. Their friendship and backstory was very realistic.

This one is out next week 3/4

I would recommend it if you like dramatic relationships and slow burn mysteries.

4 stars

Talk about a toxic female friendship! Billie and Cassie have been BFFs since Cassie moved to Red Hook at age 12. But they've definitely grown apart and if not for the secret they share, Cassie wouldn't have anything more to do with Billie.
Billie is having a hard time letting go and when Cassie throws herself a 35th birthday party, and doesn't invite Billie, the stakes really ramp up. The story is told from both POVs and timelines going back to the early aughts to now. No one writes a thriller quite like Lovering.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

» Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering «
★★★★ 4/5 stars
Pub Date: March 5, 2024

“A wise friend once told me, “You can’t f*ck up what’s meant for you.”

» synopsis
Billie & Cassie used to be inseparable, but now in their 30s, their lives have taken different paths & friendship has become strained. But when Cassie's infant daughter goes missing, she turns to Billie, her oldest friend, for help.
Told in dual POVs & timelines, Bye, Baby explores how friendship changes over time,
uncovering the dark secrets that bonded them together, & the events that pulled them apart in the present.

» Read if you like :
- Dirty Dancing
- cats named Willie Nelson
- Character driven stories
- 90s/2000s nostalgia
- NYC setting
- Dual POV / Dual Timeline
- Toxic friendship drama
- Influencer trope
- Themes surrounding motherhood

» my thoughts
Although this one is marketed as a thriller, I'd call it more of a domestic drama that explores complex (& sometimes toxic) female friendship. What it lacks in twists, it makes up for in nail-biting suspense!

The flashbacks were well placed & relevant, adding depth to the current timeline. I found it so easy to empathize with the characters, especially Billie - from having a “boys” name, to feeling a little left behind in life. Even if I didn’t always agree with her actions, I appreciated the character development.

I was so anxious while reading, I had no idea where this story was going. I couldn’t imagine how on earth there could be a satisfying resolution, but I was pleasantly surprised! It wrapped up nicely in a way that felt realistic.

I highly recommend the audiobook too! Helen Laser & Karissa Vacker did an excellent job narrating.

I like the writing style & I definitely want to read more by this author! If you’ve read any of Lovering’s other books, drop me a rec!

*I would suggest checking trigger warnings

Thank you to netgalley, st martins press and macmillan audio for the opportunity to read + listen to this ARC ◡̈

When the hook sells you on your “Best Friend” stealing your four-month-old baby and not for a fun day out, it makes you question what kind of friendship these people have or what type of person would do that. Since we already know that there’s a kidnapping involved, I was interested in how the author would play it out. Did the girl have psychological issues? Jealously problems? A friend posing as a good friend, but in reality, she is a stranger out for greater gains? The possibilities were endless. Neither one of those outcomes was chosen.

Billie and Cassie. This is a classic story of childhood friends bound together by a shared history and unmentionable secrets.

I enjoyed that this story is told via multiple different timelines. The book begins when Cassie discovers her 4-month-old baby is missing. From there the story takes us on a flashback journey to Billie’s and Cassie’s pre-teen and teen years in Red Hook, New York as well as the periods of time immediately leading up to the baby’s disappearance. The present timeline encompasses the days immediately after the disappearance.

My feelings about this book are complicated. I liked this book. I didn’t like this book. I liked Billie. I didn’t like Billie. I liked Cassie. I didn’t like Cassie. My feelings are a mess and, I suspect they are supposed to be. Billie’s codependence issues with Cassie were maddening and crossed a line into almost stalker level. Cassie’s self-absorption with wealth and status was equally maddening. It was hard to like either of them. Cassie treated Billie like trash, and Billie in turn was an equally bad friend to others in her life due to her obsession with Cassie.

At the end of the day this book is a tangled web of actions and decisions that invoke some degree of empathy for the characters, but potentially not enough to redeem either of them. I wanted to shake both of them and yell at them to just grow up already. They both had such tunnel vision surrounding their respective obsessions that they were blind to the positive factors that were present in their lives.

So, clearly, I didn’t like this book, right? Honestly, I am not sure. The degree of emotions that Lovering drew out of me about these characters, combined with the haste at which I turned the pages to find out what was going to happen regarding the baby snatching, makes me think that the author got me in the end.

Carola Lovering's latest thriller is told from the viewpoints of the two main characters, Cassie and Billie. The story starts off with the kidnapping of Cassie's baby and then alternates between different timelines both before and after the kidnapping. I was very hooked by the opening chapter of the book but for me the middle of the book seemed to drag a bit. The ending was very good but overall this was more of an in depth character study rather than a thriller. I still enjoyed this book but wished I would recommend it to friends with the warning not to expect non-stop twists and thrills.

Thanks to St. Martins Press, NetGalley and Carola Lovering for the ARC in excange of my honest review (Anticipated published date 3/5/24)

What drew me into reading this book was the title and the summary regarding a stolen baby from a best friend.

However, this story is really about the friendship and demise of Cassie and Billie. I really enjoyed the alternating points of view from both characters and going back and forth from past and present day. This book also constantly shifted me from liking and disliking each character at various times throughout the book. It was definitely a page turner and the ending left me wanting to know more.

I feel that this book is very relatable regarding friendships, parenting, trauma, and much more and that is another reason why I enjoyed it.
5 stars all the way (and I am picky about giving out 5 star ratings) Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you so much to St Martin's Press for the advance copy!

"That's the problem with trauma. You can decide to change how you think about it, time can fade it, but it's never going to disappear."

This is my 3rd book by Carola Lovering and once again I am just amazed at her skills. She has such a way of pulling the readers into a world where you are just pulled into this world of lies and deceit.

We learn the whole premise of the book in the prologue and it sets the stage for the rest of the book. I wouldn't say that there was a clear villain in the book as both characters are unlikeable at different parts throughout the book. Though I will say I did not like Mckay at allll even if her intuition was spot on. I did feel bad for Cassie after the kidnapping and her paranoia as a result of it.

Even with the crime of the kidnap and the fall out after it, the root of this book is the deep friendship between Cassie & Billie. Billie had such a sad teen years and what she had gone through no person should have. Though it made the bond between the girls stronger it also led to a lifelong secret that was always a dark cloud over them. This also shows how some friendships tend to grow apart as adult which is normal but when the kidnapping of her baby happened, the only person she wanted by her side was Billie. I don't want to go into too much detail of what happens in the book as it would take away from the fun in reading but its a ride.

"You're my best friend, Baby."

I like that we got both point of views from each of the characters as well as chapters that had stories from their past. It gave the readers a sense of their relationship and how it shaped them as adults. And this is also a reminder that friendships are complicated.

I think I was waiting for some other shoe to drop and there was a small plot point that I felt didn't get a satisfying enough closure for me.
It was addressed and then kind of tossed aside but I thought maybe that could have been played with a little bit more.

The whole premise of the book was so fascinated and I just couldn't stop reading because I needed to know how it ended. And this is my reminder that I still need to go back to read Carola's first book Tell Me Lies.

If you are looking for a book about toxic friendships that just builds and builds - give this one a try!

4.5

This book!!!! Everything about it was amazing. I didn’t want to put it down. The first book in a while where I was like okay another chapter. Ugh everything about this book was 10/10!!

4.5 I LOVE Carola Lovering’s books!! She is so consistent at delivering propulsive books and messed up relationship dynamics.

This story centers a toxic friendship instead of a romantic relationship and I ate it up. Cassie and Billie are childhood friends who have definitely been through it all together. They have drifted apart as they’ve entered adulthood, and Billie doesn’t want to accept that. I was STRESSED from about the halfway point and I did not want to put this down. All of the characters are deliciously terrible, which Lovering always excels at.

I always want to point out that her books are not typical thrillers- they feel much more like dramas but there was a hearty serving of suspense in this one.

Another hit by this author!!

I really enjoyed this one! The story centres around Billie and Cassie, childhood best friends who are connected by an event in their past but currently have a strained relationship, largely due to Cassie’s marriage to Grant (who is loaded with old money), their months old baby, and her focus on documenting her entire life to her 40k followers on instagram. The plot switches between Billie’s and Cassie’s POVs, both in the past and current timeline, uncovering the ups and downs of their often tumultuous relationship.

I thought Billie and Cassie were so well developed and complex, and I could understand their psyche and motivations for their actions. I also thought the secondary characters were well done and added a layer of realism to the story. There was really good pacing and while there weren’t any huge revelations or twists, the story was intriguing, engaging, and I was fully invested in what would happen. I liked that nothing was black and white and again, each situation was quite complex, and I could see both perspectives (even if I didn’t agree with one or either of them lol). I will note the trigger warning for sexual abuse/r*pe.

Overall a really enjoyable and quick read and a solid 4/5. Thank you to net galley and the publisher for the ARC!