Release Day! Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering ~ My Thoughts #ByeBaby @carolatlovering @StMartinsPress

Happy Release Day!

Congratulations Carola

on the release today of

Bye, Baby!

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

Mystery Thriller, 344 pages

Published March 5, 2024 by St. Martin's Press

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 friendship, even as she hides the truth about what really happened the night the baby was taken.

Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.

      

My thoughts about Bye, Baby ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First lines—"The baby stops fussing, settling into my arms like a sleepy puppy. The soft weight of her."

This book made me feel so many emotions. I loved the friendship that Billie and Cassie had when they were young, with each of them having each other's backs as they went through tough things. And then the adult versions of themselves, not so much. I got so frustrated with both of them, sabotaging their deep friendship. How could they do that to each other?

I won't go any further into the story because I don't want to give anything away but..... seriously? I had to keep going to see what was going to happen next. And I'm glad I did, but oh what a ride to get there. 

Like other books of Ms. Lovering's that I have read, this one had me on the edge of me seat, feeling it all, and racing to the end. Bye, Baby is an exciting and riveting thriller that I highly recommend.

I received a copy of Bye, Baby from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

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About the author

Carola Lovering is the author of Tell Me Lies, Too Good to Be True, Can’t Look Away, and the forthcoming Bye, Baby. She is a graduate of Colorado College, and her work has appeared in Vogue, The Cut, Marie Claire, W Magazine, National Geographic, and Yoga Journal, among other publications. Her novel, Tell Me Lies, has been adapted into a television series for Hulu. 

She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two young children.

Connect with Carola

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter

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Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering ~ My Thoughts #CantLookAway @carolatlovering @stmartinspress

Congrats Carola

on the release of

Can't Look Away!

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering

Domestic Thrillers, 320 pages

Published June 14, 2022 by St. Martin's Press

From the author of Tell Me Lies and Too Good to Be True comes Carola Lovering's Can't Look Away, a sexy suspense novel about the kind of addictive, obsessive love that keeps you coming back––no matter how hard you try to look away.

In 2013, twenty-three-year old Molly Diamond is a barista, dreaming of becoming a writer. One night at a concert in East Williamsburg, she locks eyes with the lead singer, Jake Danner, and can’t look away. Molly and Jake fall quickly and deeply in love, especially after he writes a hit song about her that puts his band on the map.

Nearly a decade later, Molly has given up writing and is living in Flynn Cove, Connecticut with her young daughter and her husband Hunter—who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Their life looks picture-perfect, but Molly is lonely; she feels out of place with the other women in their wealthy suburb, and is struggling to conceive their second child. When Sabrina, a newcomer in town, walks into the yoga studio where Molly teaches and confesses her own fertility struggles, Molly believes she's finally found a friend.

But Sabrina has her own reasons for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly. And as Sabrina’s secrets are slowly unspooled, her connection to Molly becomes clearer––as do secrets of Molly's own, which she’s worked hard to keep buried.

Meanwhile, a new version of Jake's hit song is on the radio, forcing Molly to confront her past and ask the ultimate questions: What happens when life turns out nothing like we thought it would, when we were young and dreaming big? Does growing up mean choosing with your head, rather than your heart? And do we ever truly get over our first love? 

My thoughts about Can't Look Away ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"Molly never would have gone to the concert in East Williamsburg if Nina hadn't dragged her there."

This is the second book by Lovering that I have read. She just gets better with each book. This is a story that lives up to it's title. I literally could not look away. Once I started it, I devoured it to the very end. It is a definite page-turner!

Molly and Jake are the perfect couple and so in love... until they aren't anymore. Molly moves on but when the past comes crashing back into her world, that's when the creepiness starts. Nothing and no one is who they seem to be anymore. 

Can't Look Away is an exciting thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. Start it and believe me, you won't be able to look away.

I received an ARC of Can't Look Away from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

About the author

Carola Lovering is the author of Tell Me Lies, Too Good to Be True, and the forthcoming Can’t Look Away. She attended Colorado College, and her work has appeared in New York Magazine, W Magazine, National Geographic, Outside, and Yoga Journal, among other publications. Her novel, Tell Me Lies, is currently being adapted into a television series for Hulu. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and son. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Carola

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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