Mmm, I have mixed feelings on this book. It didn’t really feel like a thriller. I never felt on the edge of my seat or shocked. It just reads like a fiction story with some light thriller elements. It’s like a thriller lite.

I didn’t dislike the story. It was just weird to have the 3rd person and then the first. It would throw me off when added in with the time jumps. I didn’t care for either Molly or Sabrina. The reveal about their connection was meh, and the other thread was also lackluster. I think this author has the potential for more thrills, it just didn’t happen with this book.

Thank you NetGalley and SMP for the digital review copy.

Wow! What an enjoyable quick thrill read!
Can't Look Away had the perfect combo of romance, plot twists, frenemy drama that keeps a plot moving fast. Highly recommend for an escapist thriller! Thankful for the ARC !

This is my second Carola Lovering thriller and it definitely won’t be my last! I was enthralled throughout the course of the story and was blown away by the unexpectedness of the ending. It makes you wonder the lengths some people are willing to go for love. Definitely recommend! Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

My heart rate while reading this: 📈

👀 REVIEW: CAN’T LOOK AWAY 👀

By Carola Lovering

📖 SUMMARY: In 2013, Molly was an aspiring writer who had just met and fallen madly in love with Jake Danner, the lead singer of the up & coming band Danner Lane. But in 2022, Molly is a yoga teacher living happily in suburbia with her husband, Hunter, and her daughter… though with a new version of “Molly’s Song,” Danner Lane’s biggest hit, on the radio, she can’t help but think of Jake from time to time. She doesn’t feel she can relate to the country club women in Flynn Cove, so when new-in-town Sabrina starts attending Molly’s yoga classes, the two women quickly become close. Sabrina, though seemingly nice, had ulterior motives for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly. Interwoven with second-person POV chapters from Sabrina, this novel explores the dark side of obsession, and what lengths people will go to in order to get what they want.

💭 THOUGHTS: What a wild ride!! This was the first book in a long time that I stayed up late to finish because I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened in those 9 years between 2013 and 2022 and how exactly Sabrina was connected to Molly. We also get some chapters from Jake’s POV, which helped to reveal different sides of characters. I knew I liked Carola’s writing from reading TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, and I thought this book was even better! Throughout the whole book there were twists and turns that I didn’t expect, and my heart was beating so fast because I was anxiously anticipating the next thing. I don’t want to say much about the plot because of spoilers, but you should definitely be prepared to pick this one up this summer.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the arc! This one comes out on June 14th.

✨ RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🥰 YOU’LL ENJOY IF: you like domestic drama/suspense

It’s taken me over a week to even decide on a star rating for this book. Something about just left me feeling super ambivalent.

The good:
• Easy and fast read
• Molly was an interesting, flawed character
• Definitely a few touching moments

The not-so-good:
• NOT a thriller. NOT a mystery. And these aren’t my own expectations clouding my enjoyment of the book; it’s legit categorized under those genres on Goodreads. And lemme tell you, it was no such thing. There’s certainly some suspense, but it’s way more family/romantic drama than anything else.
• Sabrina was annoying af. Oh no baby, what is you doing??

I see Can't Look Away as straddling a few different genres: part domestic drama, part women's fiction, part romance, part suspense/mystery. I'm always eager to explore how obsession drives us to do crazy things, and I hope you'll love being along for this wild ride.

Molly’s life did not turn out the way she had planned. She has given up on her dream of being a writer and is instead raising her daughter in Connecticut with her husband Hunter. She befriends a woman named Sabrina who she bonds with quickly but it’s possibly that Sabrina has a different motive for befriending Molly than what Molly suspects…

Can’t look away is the most endearing story I’ve read all year. I wish it was a series! The storyline is reminiscent of stories by Taylor Jenkins Reid or Catherine Center. An absolute page turner, I read it in one sitting. Young love. The ups and downs of life with a popular musician that just got his first record deal. Hard and unexpected choices. Friendship blooming into new love. Reconnecting with a past love, while putting the future in jeopardy. The character development was superb and I fell in love with the characters early in the story and loved watching them as the years went by. A perfect beach read or just because…. 5 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Big TW for miscarriage, infertility, loss of a baby

I had not read either of Lovering's previous books, only knew her to be an author in the thriller genre, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I did overall enjoy this one, though it is much more of a low simmer of suspense and a slow burn. This was a really unique blend of a lot of different genres; I would be hesitant to market it as a thriller as it also brushes up against women's fiction and a decent dash of romance.

In this book, we get to see from Molly, Jake and Sabrina's point of view from a variety of different points in their weird love triangle. Alternating timelines and perspectives can sometimes be a bit unwieldy, but I thought that it was done well here for the most part. I did think it lagged a bit in places and I wish there had been a bit more oomph in the ending-- I kept waiting for a big reveal or something dramatic but this leans much more domestic.

I think this book would be perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and You on Netflix as it has similar vibes.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've read Carola Lovering's other two books and flew threw them, so I was excited to be approved for this Netgalley!

The story centers around Molly, a twenty something writer in NYC and her boyfriend, Jake, a front man of a band who becomes pretty popular. It alternates between two timelines of them dating (and eventually breaking up) and then Molly moving to the Connecticut suburbs with her husband Hunter and daughter. Molly befriends a woman named Sabrina who is super friendly and unlike the other snooty women in their rich town. Soon Molly realizes exactly who Sabrina is and why she moved to town.

I enjoyed the dual timelines and the alternating POVs of Sabrina and Molly. The dates did get a little confusing and this book took me little longer to get through than her other two, but still enjoyable. It might have just been me not being in the mood to read it as quickly though! I enjoy the conniving obsessed characters that she dreams up and look forward to her next book.

This didn’t feel like that much of a thriller to me, at least not until towards the end, but still very much enjoyed this book! This had me wanting to find out the truth of what happened and what was going to happen next. Following the story of Molly, Jake, and Sabrina and how their lives intertwine from their early twenties to early thirties, I like that the story plays out through multiple POVs and multiple timelines, especially because some of the chapters felt a bit long. (Nothing against the book, all just a personal preference for short chapters).

’m not sure why I’m ambivalent about this novel. Maybe because I didn’t love the characters or identify with them.

When Molly is 23, she has a great romance with Jake Danner, who becomes a successful musician whose band lands a popular song on the radio. Though Molly and Jake withstand some of the challenges of having one of them on the road much of the time, like so many young loves, it doesn’t survive. But Molly does well for herself, falling in love with a successful man and having one child. Though Hunter makes money by regular people’s standards, since they’ve moved to Flynn Cove, they are on the lower end of the economic spectrum, particularly since trying to get pregnant a second time has involved a lot of expensive medical science.

Also, Molly doesn’t fit in with the wealthy women in the area. Teaching yoga used to be meaningful, but it was never her life goal, and now it’s become just something to do. When a woman named Sabrina walks in the studio, they become friends. Though Sabrina is wealthy and beautiful, she also seems down to earth. The key word in that sentence is “seems.”

It’s so hard for me to understand Sabrina’s motivations. Yes, she experienced trauma and loss, but so does everyone who survives any part of life. I could say more, but then I’d be giving too much away.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JUNE 14, 2022.

Carola Lovering is quickly becoming an automatic read author for me. Can’t Look Away is about the long-ago love affair between Molly and Jake. Their connection becomes strained as Jake’s singing career takes off (despite the hit song he writes about her). Years later their worlds collide again when Molly, now a yoga instructor and suburban mother, meets a new friend in town. It turns out Sabrina is Jake’s wife and their meeting is not as coincidental as it would first seem. This book was identified as a thriller but I would say it is more of a domestic drama. There were twists and turns I did not see coming and couldn’t wait to see how the story would wrap up. I really loved the exploration of the power of young love and the reckoning of how our dreams change as we grow. This is a great read.

Thank you to Carola Lovering, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, however I would not categorize it as a mystery or thriller. It was more of a domestic drama with POV's of Molly (past and present), Jake (past) and Sabrina (present).

Molly had an amazing love affair in her early 20's with Jake, the front man for a band that was just starting to take off. When they see each other across the room, they can't look away. The relationship has it's ups and downs, and is one neither of them will ever forget. Nor will Sabrina.

Now Molly is married to Hunter, living a mundane life in the suburbs. She's never really fit in to their affluent community, so when she meets Sabrina, they strike up a friendship built on not fitting in to Flynn Cove. There are definitely a lot of secrets being kept, so it's all about the drama of these relationships. Nothing sinister happens. Just a lot of drama, gossip, secrets revealed, and relationships tested. Overall, a dark romance with deep characters.

I normally love this author, but this one didn’t do it for me. There was nothing wrong with the structure or plot twists, although a bit contrived. I just didn’t like the Brooklyn singles & music scene setting.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc
DNF at 46%, This isn't really a thriller, it's more of a fucked up romance

This story was told in 2013 and present day 2022. Molly lives in an affluent community but has a difficult time making new friends. She had many friends almost 10 years ago in Brooklyn and an up-and-coming singer named Jake, who was Molly's boyfriend. Jump to present day. Molly is married, but not to Jake; she also has a young daughter. She meets Sabrina and thinks that, at last, she has found a good friend, as they are both going to a fertility clinic, and Sabrina joins Molly's yoga class. Everything is not as it seems, though, as Sabrina has her own plans and agenda, which she has been plotting for years.
This book was interesting, but I did hope for more mystery and a bit less romance.
I thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I got the chance to read and review Carola Lovering's latest, Can't Look Away, I could not refuse. I absolutely loved both Tell Me Lies and Too Good To Be True. 5 stars all around for those two!

This is the story of Molly and Jake. And Sabrina. We flash from past to present, person to person. Who is really the "villain" here? I honestly...couldn't look away...from the car crash of relationships. With the exception of Hunter, all of these people are just awful in their own ways (some way more than others) and they all had it coming to them in the end. But, yet, I couldn't put this book down...and that says something.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Excellent read! All the feels about first love, bad, good, ugly. Well written, hard to put down. Very emotional and easy to connect to almost every character. Definitely makes you think about life, and all the past loves in your life.

First, I hope that readers will go in to this book with an open mind. While the cover has the feel of a thriller, the story is really a domestic drama. That being said, I loved this story! Lovering has a knack for setting up a story and subtly building tension and drama in an engaging manner. There is a twist in this one that I did not predict, and had me racing back to see where I may have missed clues along the way.