Bye, Baby is a great psychological thriller. What exactly binds Billie and Cassie for so many years? Their friendship is quite unique and definitely not the healthiest. We know from the first chapter that Billie kidnaps Cassie’s baby but learning why she does it and how it affects their friendship kept me turning the pages.

I LOVE this author and freaked out when my request got approved on NetGalley. Thank you SO much to the publisher for the ARC of Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering!

She is an auto-buy author for me and this book did not disappoint. My favorite elements were the 'influencer' commentary and the descriptions of New York City. I'm obsessed with books that bring in current topics and 'influencer' culture is a big thing nowadays, so I really appreciated the commentary in this book about it. And as someone who's only been to New York City in passing, I am also intrigued when books are set in or mention the New York ways of living.

Beyond that, I thought the two main characters were really fleshed out and complex, and I liked that neither were characters you wanted to root for 100% - I switched back and forth so many times on who was 'right' and who was 'wrong.'

This is probably my favorite Carola Lovering book I've read thus far, with Tell Me Lies being a close second. I can't wait to pick up the finalized copy in March!

I absolutely loved this twisty novel told from alternating perspectives. Bye, Baby, while completely fiction, touches on how sometimes the friendships we treasure from our younger years, are not what they want them to be as we grown into adulthood and people change. A perfect suspenseful novel about the trials and trbulations of friendship and what happens when you make poor decisions.

Billie and Cassie were best friends as kids. But besides being bound together by their love for Dirty Dancing and by one horrible secret, they’ve otherwise largely grown apart. Nowadays, Cassie is a mom and popular influencer, married to a wealthy man-Billie not fitting into her posh lifestyle. Billie, meanwhile, is single and childless, yet missing the bond that she and Cassie used to share, still hopeful they can get it back.

Then one day Cassie’s child goes missing. Suddenly Cassie finds herself seeking out her childhood best friend for comfort. While Billie is ecstatic to be remembered, she also knows more about the incident than she’s letting on. But the closer Billie and Cassie become, the harder it is to hide the truth. Can their friendship be saved or perhaps more importantly, should it be?

Bye, Baby is thriller author, Carola Lovering’s latest offering of her now signature blend of twisted relationships riddled with insecurities and narcissism. I remember having similar lukewarm feelings after reading her previous offering, Tell Me Lies (although this was turned into an excellent series). However, this isn’t as much a fault of the writing as it is the characters themselves being largely unlikable people, something that Lovering does well. This story kept me going, but without giving too much away, I found myself a bit letdown by the ending. This aside, if complicated friendships with dark undertones are your thing, you might consider checking this one out.

Bye, Baby is the second novel that I’ve read by Carola Lovering. While I did enjoy the novel, I feel that Lovering has potential to be more.

The novel is touted as a mystery/thriller. But I found it to be more in line with women’s fiction with a touch of domestic suspense.

The story follows best friends Billie and Cassie through high school and adulthood. Told through dual points of view over dual timelines (past and present,) I was taken on a journey through an every evolving friendship between besties that over time morphed into an unrecognizable relationship. Proving that people can and do outgrow each other, especially when social status, marriage, and parenthood are added to the mix.

The novel should be read at face and entertainment value. I say that because there are some scenes in the narrative that may raise a few questions — especially for those readers that are fans of crime scene and investigative thrillers.

The characters are well developed, and I enjoyed how Lovering captured all of the characters’ personalities through high school and beyond. It just highlights the author’s ability to flesh out her characters and bring them to life on the written page.

Overall, Bye, Baby was a very good suspenseful read worthy of four stars.

I received a DRC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an arc copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! This story had me on the edge of my seat! We know the premise. ... A woman kidnaps her best friend's baby! What!?! yes, it happens and I loved every angstful , twisty part of it. At one time cheering for one woman and then switching teams and routing on the other woman. This story hops back and forth in time, slowly unwinding the past to lead up to the point of now.
Really well done and like nothing else I've read. Only halfway through and the baby is kidnapped, I couldn't imagine where it would go from there. But it did! and I was NOT disappointed!
Great for fans of psychological thrillers !

Bye, Baby isn’t a psychological thriller, as I was expecting. I would consider it psychological suspense, though, and it is an intriguing psychological study of the two main characters, Billie and Cassie, separately and together.

There aren’t any likable characters - they are all flawed and need counseling for big and small reasons. Billie and Cassie tell this dual timeline story in somewhat unreliable ways alternatingly. The past timeline seems unimportant, but clues are hidden to Billie and Cassie’s psychological state in each flashback, making it essential to understanding the current timeline and choices.

I enjoyed the few surprising twists and the fast-pace. I also found the evolution of a friendship tragically intriguing - as both characters progress in their life in vastly different ways. The ending is delightfully thought-provoking, and I bought into it as a possibility, considering everything.

I also enjoyed the social media aspect. It wasn’t a vast aspect, but it is very now and fits Cassie’s psychological framework - it filled her need to present the perfect picture to the world. If you like psychological studies - you will love reading this story and dissecting the main characters!

Bye, Baby was such an interesting read. I told myself I would read this closer to the release date, but I read a few chapters and was hooked. I finished this book in less than 24 hours, the story was realistic, and I was on the edge of my seat wanting to read what led Billie to do what she did. This story is told in a dual pov, switching between the main characters Cassie and Billie. It also alternates in past and present timelines giving us insights into how Cassie and Billie's friendship started and how it got to where it is in the present.

This is about friendship, gossip, drama, and the lengths characters go to keep people in their lives and feel like they belong. The characters make mistakes and decisions that are not good, but I came out of this book empathizing with Billie and her actions. The author did a good job weaving everything together, and the writing was great. I was distracted by the past timeline, it was helpful in knowing how the friendships came together, but I think there was so much going on that I focused a lot on the present. I liked the end because it showed that some friendships aren't meant to be, and some people are toxic to be around.

Overall this was a compelling story about unraveling secrets, drama, and the history of a friendship. It wasn't really a thriller, but it was still an interesting and suspenseful book.

Full disclosure: I finished this book last night and am reviewing it today, so I didn’t take the time to let it marinate like I usually do. My gut reaction on books is sometimes different than how I feel days later, but here we go anyway.

I didn’t dislike this book, and I’m actually surprised by that. First things first, this is not a thriller. I don’t know why it’s being marketed that way. Psychological fiction, sure, but not enough happens in this to be a thriller in my opinion.

That being said, I was palpably anxious reading it. Lovering splits opens the dynamics of friendships and reveals them in all their messy dysfunctions. I really enjoyed the writing and character exploration in this book.

My main issue is, again, not a lot happens. One of the two MCs doesn’t develop at all by the end of the novel, while the other kind of does, it just wasn’t enough for me. Not enough has changed in the lives of either woman by the end to justify the 350 pages on said lives. Plus, while I think Lovering did a really good job portraying both of the MCs, and getting deep into their motivations and personalities, every other character was very one-note.

But as I said, I didn’t actually dislike this book. I really enjoyed reading it, it kept my interest the whole time, and I found both of the MCs truly intriguing characters. I just wish a bit more had been done with what I think was a very interesting premise.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Bye, Baby will be out 3/5

3.5/5

This book was so predictable and honestly just unbelievable, not in a good way. Most of the time I was reading it I was like ‘seriously?’ . This book would be good for a newbie to the thriller world.

Bye, Baby is a slow-burn, suspense novel about two lifelong best friends who have recently had a falling out. As Cassie becomes rich, a mother and a wife, she decides she wants to leave her other life behind - including Billie. Billie is not married, never wants kids, and is middle class.
What I liked about this book is how relatable it was. I think everyone has friends that they grew apart from as they moved or entered a different season of their life.
This book is not a thriller. There are no twists and turns. It's a book filled with stress and tension. Though the book was relatable, it didn't feel like that much happened in the book either.
I did like how this story was told from the perspective of Billie and Cassie and in different parts of their life. The reader gets a good understanding of who they each are and their history.

Enjoyed this story of a broken friendship and the over the top toxic psychological games that the main characters go through. Beyond the story of kidnapping is the evolution of a friendship and its downfall. Not what I was expecting, but then that became the intrigue.

DNF - Just too over the top for me and had to quit with the sexual assault of a minor. Self absorbed rich women who put themselves over their husbands and best friend . 40% in and no thriller or mystery yet. Just a sad description of those addicted to social media and self-promotion.

Features:

-Explores themes of toxic friendship, trauma bonding, motherhood, and growing apart.
-Starts at the climax
-Complicated characters coming to terms with their choices
-Multiple character perspectives

Billie and Cassie have always been inseparable…until they weren’t. This book about two women growing apart had me captivated from the start. Though there was definitely plenty of tension that kept me turning the pages, it is not really a true ‘thriller’ in my book. The main focus, and certainly the thing that I cared most about, is the past and present relationship of Billie and Cassie. In exploring this fraught friendship, Lovering covers many themes such as the decision to be a mother or not, dealing with trauma, socioeconomic status, the realities of being an influencer, and so much more. Not all of the ideas introduced are fully explored, but I loved having them there to add nuance and complexity to the characters and their relationship to one another. Ultimately, this is a book that I absolutely devoured and definitely recommend to readers who like stories focused on complicated relationships.

A relatable experience despite unrelatable circumstances

Though I found Billie and Cassie difficult to like as people, there are also things about both their experiences that I found extremely relatable. I think most of us have experienced growing apart from someone we were close to growing up. Though Billie’s fixation on her dwindling friendship with Cassie makes everything feel more sudden and extreme, Lovering does a good job conveying the parts of their relationship that will ultimately pull them apart from the very start. I am not a fan of Cassie, but I know people who have made a similar decision to leave their past, and the people in it, behind. Whether I agree with her particular choices or not, her overall desire to reinvent herself is something that I find myself sympathizing with.

Many of the other themes that Lovering explores through these characters I found very real as well. However, the more extreme actions, thoughts, and choices of Billie and Cassie that create extra tension also makes them less relatable. Despite being fully invested in the book, it took me quite a while to stop actively disliking these characters and allow myself to recognize the things that had been keeping me invested in their story. Once I did, I found a lot of beautiful work to like.

A little too ‘on the nose’ at times

This book explores a lot of different themes while the characters try to navigate their relationships and challenges life throws their way. In order to fit everything in and add additional drama, a number of elements are oversimplified and/or exaggerated. As a result, it is easy to miss the more subtle work that makes the characters and situation more nuanced and interesting. I am not someone who feels that every single thread introduced needs to be fully explored. However, there are definitely some that seem to have been added purely for dramatic effect and others that could have led to interesting development but ultimately get ignored in favor of a more straightforward presentation. Ultimately, the desire to make this feel like a thriller undermined its potential as a character novel and so it gets caught somewhere in between. Obviously, this didn’t prevent me from rating the book highly, but it does make it less than a perfect read.

At first glance (and from the first chapter) this seems like it might be a mystery/thriller about revenge and a missing baby. But once you dig in, you’ll discover there is so much more happening. This is a novel exploring friendship, nostalgia, love, loss, status, and social media. I thought the structure of the novel was well done, there are alternating POVs and timelines, and despite all of that, it’s never confusing. I really enjoyed this novel!

as with all of carola lovering’s book, i couldn’t put this one down. the tension is high but predictable the entire time. cassie is the worst. i felt bad for alex.

Bye, Baby looks at female friendships as they change over life stages while keeping the reader wanting to know what happens next.
Billie West hears terrified screams in the apartment above: it's her longtime best friend Cassie Barnwell whose infant daughter has gone missing. Billie and Cassie’s friendship has changed over time. From their Hudson Valley hometown, fiercely bonded by their secrets, to college and even a shared apartment in New York. But the women’s lives have gone different ways. Cassie has a rich husband, a new baby, and a job as an influencer. Billie lives in a small apartment, works at a posh traveling agency, and has no desire to have kids. This hurts Billie to the core and she doesn’t want to give Cassie up. With Cassie’s baby missing and Casie begging Billie for support, she may just have worked her way back in.
Carola Lovering looks at how friendships change over time and life stages. Billie is set up as obsessive but as you look more at childhood trauma the reader can truly see how that can cement some people while making others flee. Facing truths they have been pushing down, for Billie and Cassie the events become a catharsis of letting go of the past and setting them on a new path of growth. This isn’t a beach book about friendship but glances at the dark underside of life and bonds.
The book alternates in perspectives allowing each woman to express themselves and how they feel for one another. The book slowly picks at a big secret-- one that explains everything. The reader must rethink what they know about each woman and if their feelings changed based on past and present actions. Despite this, I personally sided with one of the women. After you read the book, tell me if you rooted for one over the other!
Both chilling and emotional Bye, Baby isn’t just about a missing child; it’s about trauma and friendship. I recommend you give this a read.

Publication Date: March 5
I received an ARC for review; all opinions are my own.

I was hooked at the beginning with the premise and promise of a mystery/thriller, but the book didn’t quite live up to that. It’s ultimately a story about a toxic female friendship between two characters whom I often didn’t like or want to root for. Cassie was shallow and unlikeable and displays zero character development throughout the story, reverting to the same social media-obsessed woman we originally meet. Billie was easier to relate to and root for but made too many frustrating choices to fully invest in her victory. The multiple POVs/timelines mostly worked but sometimes didn’t sound distinct enough from one another. I was invested enough in the story and Billie to want to know the outcome but think the book will be ultimately forgettable.

I struggled a bit it on how to rate this book as I enjoyed it for the most part, but as some who reads 5-6 books per month, at times it just seemed to be a recycled story of a toxic friendship. There were times where I could like Billie and definitely sympathize with her, but some of her choices as an adult left me annoyed as well. Cassie was just overall an unlikable character, but you find yourself wanting the friendship with Billie to work due to events that happened in their past. All of that being said, I will settle on 3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the digital ARC of “Bye, Baby” in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately this book was not a favourite of mine. I enjoyed the second half of the book and the way that the author set up the prologue but I found the first half REALLY dragged. The story overall was just okay not the twisty and shocking book I was looking for. Thank you for the opportunity!