Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC about friendship through the years, secrets, lies, heartache, and all that good stuff!

This book had a bit of a thriller vibe in first quarter then more women’s fiction for the rest. Excellent read no matter how you classify it!

4/5⭐️

This was quite the page turner! Several twists and turns throughout that definitely kept me engaged till the end. Not quite a traditional thriller per se, but more of a dramatic look at adult female friendship and moving on.

Cassie and Billie are old childhood friends who have drifted apart as they’ve gotten older. Cassie is building her entrepreneurial brand as an influencer - sharing her seemingly perfect life with her wealthy husband and young baby with thousands of followers. Billie travels the world to provide exclusive vacations for the wealthy elite, not leaving a lot of time for a partner or child. Cassie thinks that she has outgrown Billie and is desperate to leave her - and her dirty secrets - behind, even if Billie tries to make it work. Everything comes to a head when Billie finds herself holding Cassie’s baby - her missing baby - in her arms and realizes she has shattered her best friend’s world. Told in snapshots of the past and present from Billie and Cassie’s perspectives, this novel examines friendship, growing up, secrets, and what it means to be a woman.

I love the way Lovering writes. I was absolutely rapt the entire book! I definitely enjoyed the complex relationship between Billie and Cassie - and how their friendship evolved over time. Their character progression was very well done throughout. While I was definitely more invested in one of the main characters over the other, I appreciated seeing them both evolve over time. I also liked the deeper look at social media/influencer culture. I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed, and I wanted a bit more out of it. Overall, it was incredibly engaging and I’m still thinking about it, days after finishing it!

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

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC! This book really impacted me and I found it completely fascinating!

I couldn’t put this book down!! This is for anyone who’s ever been rejected by their best friend. A best friend is hard to let go of when you don’t understand the reason for the rift. Billie and Cassie have always had each other’s backs but Cassie is moving on and Billie just can’t understand.

This book dives into the complex nature of friendship, loyalty, rejection, honesty and finally letting go of what is not good for you. A thriller but really a heartbreaking tale of loss.

This was a hard book to put down. The evolution of a childhood friendship can be very complicated, especially when one friend has moved on and the other can't let go. A moment's unthinkable impulse steers the friendship down a spiral road. Trigger warning: sexual abuse.

Carola Lovering is a really good writer and she always has a good story to tell. This is the third book I’ve read by this author. This story takes place in NYC and is about a friendship between two old friends, Billie and Cassie, and their lives then and now. No spoilers! This is a terrific book!

An apt depiction of the waxing and waning of a long-standing friendship. Billie and Cassie have differing views of what it means to be a friend in thick and thin and whereas one has moved on, the other still clings to what was. The story was told in both real time and flashbacks and this added to the depth of the story. I think many women will be able to relate to the changes in a friendship that has lasted decades, albeit not in these exact circumstances. I especially appreciated the ending.

I really enjoyed this character-driven drama that delved into the evolution of friendship and self.

Cassie and Billie are unlikely best friends, but from the second they meet at the pool in junior high, they’re attached at the hip. They are there for each other through life’s highs and lows despite their differences, and their bond is cemented through a traumatic event that neither can truly leave in the past. Little girls grow up eventually, however, and the two drift apart until one seminal evening when Cassie’s infant daughter goes missing, and Billie finds herself holding the child, wondering how she ended up there.

Told in alternating perspectives and timelines both before and after the night that changes everything, this is a gripping novel that explores the depth - and limits - of friendship. If you’ve ever had a friend that was closer than a sister or felt the pain of losing a friend you thought would be by your side for the rest of your life, you’ll feel this one deeply. The descriptions of Cassie’s role as a microinfluencer were also right on point and gave me some laughs.

To avoid disappointment from unmet expectations, I think it is important going into this one to understand that it is not your typical thriller full of twists and turns. I’d characterize it more as a domestic drama with suspenseful elements. There are also pretty heavy trigger warnings for sexual assault (it’s not a trigger of mine and even I was pretty queasy reading those scenes) among others.

Pub Date: 3/5/24
Review To Be Published: 2/20/24
eARC received from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been seeing rave reviews for this one and now I know why! I found the drama in Cassie and Billie’s relationship surprisingly addicting. I really felt for Billie throughout the entire story and thought the author did a great job developing the main characters. If you like domestic suspense, you should definitely get your hands on this one as soon as it comes out!

4.5/5

This thriller was so twisty! A kidnapping is my own personal worst nightmare. I read this book in one sitting and I still think about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy. I mostly enjoyed this book. Since you start off knowing the main plot and antagonists, it is all in the details here which are a bit twisty. But...the ending was terrible for me. I really hoped for more by the end, but I also wasn't sure where else it could go.

What a twisted story of friendship! Cassie and Billie are best friends with a massive secret between them. They graduate and go off to separate colleges and try to have separate lives. Cassie is looking for a Richie Rich and isn’t happy until she lands one. Their friendship becomes one sided with Billie always going to Harvard to visit Cassie and not the other way around. Their friendship really changes and Billie is left behind. Enter the twisted part of their friendship. The story bounces between these two characters and the past and present. I really enjoyed this story! 4.5 stars

Bye Baby

So I wanted to start by saying that I really enjoyed Carolas books and was so happy to receive a copy of Bye Baby both eARC and ALC.

I ended up listening to the audio and while I was very intrigued from the beginning the ending left me like thats it?

I was excited to get the dual POV and multiple timelines. I think it added a lot to the story and learning about Cassie and Billies relationship made the story so interesting. Carola did a wonderful job of going into detail of their friendship without making it feel too detailed or boring.

I think the plot point was good but it just fell kind of flat towards the end. One plot happens and then that basically it.

Needless to say this wasn’t my favorite. But her writing is amazing and made a great story but I needed more from it to give it a better star rating.

3.75 🌟

If you read this book hoping for a good thriller, you'll be disappointed - it's a drama.

I feel bad rating this book because it wasn't what I expected - at all. I went in thinking thriller and it was drama, all drama. The book itself is written well. One of the characters I didn't care for, but that's the point of her character. I think if you go in knowing it's not a thriller, you'll like it more.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

This is an excellent read! Definitely written for people of the 21st century. There is a perfect mix of “social media influence” style of writing that was super relatable. This book read very well, the author has an excellent writing style that made reading very smooth. Would definitely recommend this to an audience of fast paced thrillers!

My favorite Lovering yet. This book is so incredibly gripping. I loved the exporation of female friendship and the toxicity of evolving out of a friendship with someone. A true standout!

This book was a great read. It was heartfelt and well written. The character development was well done, with elements everyone can relate to. I think students will be able to relate to the characters as well as Cassie’s obsession with social media. Her choice to go back on social media after knowing the truth will definitely lead to interesting conversations in a classroom.

What an enjoyable book!

This book is one about a toxic female friendship between Billie and Cassie that has spanned over 20 years. The book is character driven as opposed to plot driven. It develops the characters of the 2 women with chapters with alternating POV of each women. The book also goes back and forth between present day and the past, giving the women’s POVs over different periods of time.


Thank you to Carola Lovering, NetGalley, and Macmillan audio for providing me an advance copy of this audio to review for my honest and voluntary review!

This book was not what I expected. Allot of twists and turns I was not expecting. The ending was perfect and well worth the wait.

So it took a second for me to actually get into this book. I didn’t really understand what they were actually getting at, and the whole dynamic of Billie and Cassie’s relationship. But once the book started to pick up, it really sucked me in to where I couldn’t put it down. Quite a few plot twists, and a few moments will have you screaming at the book. But definitely a great read. :)

This book kept me on the edge of my seat right from the end of the first chapter. The title is telling and while I wouldn't say this is a mystery the tension in the prose is palpable. This is a story of toxic relationships and obsession. It hones in on what happens when life takes two friends in different directions as they move through adulthood. Carola Lovering did a great job in developing the characters and the concept is something that women can relate to. Billie and Cassie have different goals and aspirations and their lives have gone in two different directions. Cassie has made her peace with this, but Billie is left feeling powerless, neglected, and abandoned by her former best friend and her new life. Billie continues hanging on to each of Cassie's social media posts which creates a sense connection and insight to her former bff's life, when in reality everything she sees is careful curation.. Overall, this book was well written, timely, and relatable. It's a bit of a case study into how female friendships change from young adulthood to adulthood with the undercurrent of suspense and urgency from chapter 1. The story also has important implications about social media. The breeding ground for obsession that can occur when people have unfettered access to the lives of past relationships. This is a definite must-read for lovers of psychological suspense novels. 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨
#netgalley #carolalovering #netgalleyarc #ByeBaby