A lackluster thriller. Frustrating characters. The book wasn't all bad but it was nothing special. Forgettable.

I loved this book! Definitely one of my favorites of the year! This was marketed as a thriller but I would say it's more romance suspense and I LOVED it! I could not wait to see what happened and there were twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I also really enjoyed the alternating POV of Molly and Jake that allowed so much backstory and character development that made me feel very connected to the characters. I truly was thinking about this book until the very last page and love how Lovering ended the whole story. Definitely a beach read, pool read, plane read, couch read you will devour in one sitting! Out 6/14!

5 Stars!

In 2013 Molly and Jake Danner lock eyes during one of his performances with his band, Danner Lane. The two quickly begin a whirlwind romance. The pair are deeply in love, but faced with issues of trust and communication when Jake begins touring the world and gaining fame. Fast forward to 2022 and Molly is now married to Hunter and raising their 5 year old daughter. Molly's life looks picture perfect, but she's unfulfilled with her job, having trouble fitting in in ritzy Flynn Cove, and struggling to conceive a second child. When Molly meets Sabrina, who has just moved to town with her husband, the two become fast friends and Molly finally feels like she has someone to turn to in town. But Sabrina is here for a reason and soon her secrets, and connection to Molly, will become very clear.

I really liked this book! I love when chapters bounce back and forth between characters and time periods. It was great getting insights to the perspectives of Molly, Jake, and Sabrina and understanding how everyone ended up how they are in present day. I thought the pacing was great and I read through this book in two days because I could not put it down! That said, I would not consider this one a thriller. It was more of a domestic drama, with some suspenseful secrets waiting to be uncovered.

I will definitely be picking up more books from this author. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 Stars!

This is my first Carola Lovering but I can say it will not be my last. I was SO intrigued by this book from the beginning, and devoured it within one day.

In 2013, Molly is a barista who dreams of one day being a writer. She falls head over heels in love with Jake, a musician in an up-and-coming band, and they are inseparable. What Molly does not know, is that she has taken him away from Sisi, who is obsessively and passionately in love with Jake as well. Fast forward a decade, while living in the suburbs and married to Hunter, Molly befriends Sabrina, and happy she has finally found someone to connect with. Until a couples' dinner with Sabrina and her husband changes everything, and Molly is thrust into her past.

I absolutely love a twisty, suspenseful read, and I thoroughly enjoyed this. In the beginning, I was intrigued but not quite yet hooked on where this was going. When a twist happened about 1/3 of the way through, I could not put it down. Sabrina's secrets and kniving ways kept me wanting to read more. That, along with the intense love between Molly and Jake, and just wondering how everyone got to where they are. Full of secrets, lies, and suspense, in a writing style that was smooth and gripping, this is a novel that had me wanting to read more.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Full review to be posted on my IG @manis.and.manuscripts on 6/13/22 in advance of pub day!

I really enjoyed Lovering’s third book. With alternating timelines between Molly and Jake we learn about their love story. Enter Sabrina, Molly’s new friend, and Jake’s wife. While Molly thinks she finally found a friend in Sabrina, she (a little too) slowly discovers Sabrina has other plans. This was a suspenseful read that was a little easy to guess but still left me needing to figure out how it unfolded.

I couldn't get into this one. I never got the big ah-ha moment that hooked me. I loved Too Good to Be True by Lovering but this one didn't really make the same splash. It felt like more of a romance than a thriller to me.

This book was an ABSOLUTE BANGER. I love a book with solid character development, consistent characters, a believable story, and no loose ends. I absolutely loved the dual timelines for helping move the story when I had questions, and I enjoyed the multiple perspectives. The actual plot was excellent and while I didn't see the first 2 twists coming (at all) I saw where we were going and was in suspense to see it take place! Carola Lovering is now on my auto-buy authors list because this was just excellent.

This was a fantastic book that I definitely recommend to others. The plot kept me engaged and I really connected with the characters.

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering is a well-written novel centered on the lives of young adults intersecting across a time span of 10 years.
It unfolds in 2 timelines—2013 and 2022—and is told from 3 persons’ POVs in alternating chapters. This arrangement is a strength of the book, as it gives depth to the characters, and provides perspective and back stories.
Molly is a likeable, naïve but determined, aspiring writer, Jake is an impulsive, glamorous lead singer in a rock band on the rise, and Sabrina is the devious rich girl, who can’t look away from Jake, and interferes with Molly and Jake’s romance. While I liked the dual timelines and POVs, I could not empathize or sympathize with any of the characters. They seemed like players in a soap opera or a Lifetime movie—lots of drama, angst, and head-scratching behavior.
Originally, this book was marketed as a thriller, but I notice that now the publisher’s blurb on Goodreads calls it a “sexy suspense novel.” It is closer to being accurate, but it contains little suspense, some mild sexual scenes, and lots of complicated interpersonal relationship drama.
While I was disappointed by the lack of mystery and suspense, I believe many readers may enjoy this book as a literary, character-driven, romance novel.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Omg what a book! This is a page turner since page 1! You won’t want to stop reading this book and when you have to you will think about it all day! This is a must read!

Ready for a short & sweet review?! I did not love and I did not hate author Carola Lovering’s newest thriller 𝐶𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑦. The synopsis calls this story a thriller; however it is not. This is a domestic drama with no suspense in my opinion.

Simply a three star read. Did the drama entertain me? Yes. Did I really connect and care about the characters? No. Will I read this author again? Yes because I’ve found her earlier books much more likeable.

If your into love triangles, friendship/ relationship dramas, college lifestyle drama- this might be your book.

SYNOPSIS: “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.”
•

Life doesn't always work out how you think it will. And love isn't always enough.

I think it's good to say up front that I didn't find this to be a mystery or a thriller. I was almost disappointed with this book because of the top MPG tags but this is an introspective look at a relationship and I caught that early on so held my expectations there. You have Molly, our main MC. She was young and got swept up in a heavy relationship with a guy in a band. There are two time lines, so the other timeline is Molly many years later. The two POV are Jake, the young Molly's boyfriend, and Sabrina who is young Jake's ex-girlfriend. After teh many years, Sabrina and Molly meet and become friends and that's where the story kind of starts. It's a slow burn as it is slowly revealed what happened to the relationship and where everyone one is now. It was interesting and definitely held my interest but I didn't love any of the characters.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Love with all its complications: romantic page turner with a sinister twist💔

4.5🌟stars
Can't Look Away was a great story, with realistic flaws in almost every character. I could not stop reading because I was just waiting to see what new obstacles would fall in the path of Molly and Jake's intense romance and then threaten Molly's suburban family life.

The voice in this novel is a bit unusual. It seems to be told in the third person from several different character perspectives but then one character's chapters come out in the first person. The author alternates present with the past and sometimes describes an event and later goes back to set the scene. It was not at all confusing and the technique gave a good explanatory picture of how one of the characters manipulated events to foment mischief and distrust.

There's no excessive use of description here so the story keeps on at a good pace. All in, this was a treat to read!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering
Published: June 14, 2022
St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 314
Genre: Thriller
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Carola Lovering is the author of the novels 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.

“What a small, small world.”

Molly has a whirlwind romance with an up-and-coming musician that spans several years. They weather several bumps along the way, but they try to make it work. Until it doesn’t. Sabrina has loved Jake for years and is willing to stop at nothing to get him back. When she finally succeeds, she has to make sure it’s final. So she sets her sights on exposing what she thinks she knows and plops Jake right back in Molly’s life.

I enjoyed how this story was told. The alternating narrators and timelines was engaging. I enjoyed the build-up and the characters.

I found the way relationships were handled in this novel interesting. The toxicity, the gas lighting, and the manipulation were well represented. I also found the way young love was expressed was accurate and raw.

I enjoyed how this story was revealed. There was a very “You” element, which was well executed. The way everything was eventually connected was interesting.

While there was always something happening under the surface, for a majority of the book, I would say this was a slow burn. Things picked up for the last several chapters, but it was a lot of cat and mouse games.

I enjoyed the plot and found the themes relevant and well done.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought the storyline was decent but sometimes the writing was trite. The story was a mix of a romance novel and thriller. But the ending did tie it up and explained some of the reasons of the characters’ behavior. Not a terrible read but wouldn’t recommend to a friend. Thanks to #netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think this book was solidly written but it is definitely NOT a thriller!! Yes, there's a lying, manipulative MC but to call this a thriller is a stretch. I felt like this definitely belonged more in women's fiction. Good book though, thankfully, but nothing to write home about.

In Can’t Look Away, Molly is at certain stage in her life when regrets begin to fester. Should she have stayed with her rock star boyfriend ten years ago? Should she have started her family with her husband Hunter earlier to avoid the fertility issues that she is having with conceiving their second child? I would sympathize more if Molly was older than her early thirties. Just wait until she hits her fifties.

After loving this author’s twisty plot in Too Good to Be True, maybe I expected too much from Can’t Look Away. This book is rather one-note with almost no twists. It is more of a domestic suspense than thriller. Lifetime movie fans may enjoy it, but I admit I didn’t. 3 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for this ARC.

I adored Carola Lovering’s Too Good To Be True and signed up for Can’t Look Away without closely reading the blurb.

This is not a thriller but I see now that it is marketed as a “sexy suspense novel.” I would describe it as a “romantic suspense novel.”
I do not enjoy the romance genre but I found myself forgetting my resentments and really becoming sucked into the story. It is about past and present, dreams and desires, revenge and loss, and what really constitutes true love.

It is written in three POV: Molly, Sabrina, and Jake. It appears initially that Molly is the main character but it is not until a few chapters in that we learn that Sabrina is really the protagonist of the story. I related to her flawed character the most, as I could empathize with how emotional pain and loss can degrade a character into manipulative desperation. She provides the suspense of the story.

I also felt she had more depth than rock-star Jake and sweet Molly. They seemed like “Lifetime” characters, typical of what I know of romance novels. That stated, their relationship made me nostalgic for that intangible magic of young love.

Four stars. The story did captivate me and I wanted to know how it all worked out in the end.

This is the best psychological thriller/romance I have read in awhile. I loved the character development with Jake and Molly and because of his fame the relationship ends. Molly moves on years later and marries someone who is not Jake, but the memories and feelings for him are still there and she goes to yoga to forget things. Enter Sabrina, who becomes a friend and confidant but becomes obsessive.

The addition of Sabrina into the storyline is great and as a reader you slowly learn more about her background and motives. So many great twists and the big climax... O- M-G!!!! WOW!!!!

Highly recommended. I am getting this at the publishing date and I look forward to more from this author in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley, Carola Lovering and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 6/14/22

I really enjoyed this book- particularly good as an audiobook. Molly is a very relatable, layered protagonist who truly was shaped by the romance of her life-- with rock star Jake Danner... But life happens, and a lot of problems arise that are devised by another woman in Jake's life. The secrets, the lies and the deceptions make the plot thick and juicy, with Sabrina singularly focused on getting the guy and making sure he doesn't have any lingering feelings for Molly. This is a fun quick read that really made me think about relationships in our twenties and the ways our needs and love languages change as we mature. Everyone has a breakup story, but not everyone has the relationship made into a hit song, and the idea of that stirs too many feelings.
I would read another book by this author!