When does romantic love cross the line and become an obsession?

Can’t Look Away explores a love triangle that begins in 2013 and concludes in present time, weaving the lives of three people struggling to overcome childhood wounding to fulfill their dreams.
Plagued by insecurity and self-doubt, Molly Diamond longs to be a writer, but can’t bring herself to even say that out loud. She meets Jake Danner, an upcoming musician/singer/songwriter, and their chemistry coupled with their artistic talents creates an instant attraction. When he writes a song about her, it seals their bond. Unfortunately their relationship has more than its fair share of ups and downs with an emotionally tumultuous ending.

Fast-forward 5+ years. Molly is now living in a quiet Connecticut suburb with her daughter and husband, having abandoned her dream of a writing career. While her life may look idyllic, she hasn’t found her niche in this community and has undergone multiple infertility treatments without success.
At one of Molly’s yoga classes, a new student appears. Sabrina, a recent New York transplant, seems to be everything Molly is looking for in a friend. As they become closer, secrets are revealed that threaten to unravel Molly’s life as past passions are rekindled.

The book is told artfully from the perspectives of Molly, Jake and Sabrina. None are particularly likeable, but they are believable and realistic characters doing their best to love and be loved. At times the shifting back and forth in time made the storyline feel a bit disjointed. Additionally, the pacing was slow, providing much detail in setting the context for the present day circumstances. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book and found the conclusion satisfying. I would characterize it primarily as a romance with an overlay of suspense.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the multiple perspectives throughout the book because they gave a lot more depth to each character. I would say this book is more of a romance than a thriller and reminded me a bit of watching a lifetime movie! I would recommend this book.

You (& You & You)
This book would be perfect for a flight. It’s engaging from the first page but not too stressful. One of the three narrators uses the second person, addressing the object of her obsession directly. It’s a fun technique and is very reminiscent of the narrator of You. The tone of the book is similar to You as well. It’s soapy and fun with just enough reality to keep it from floating away.

The book is also pretty low stakes and is more interested in developing the characters than in the plot. It spends most of its length establishing the characters and building the background for the denouement. And when the moment of reckoning comes, the main characters are primarily mature and face the conflict head-on. When I was considering the rating for this book, I gave it four stars instead of three because, in similar novels, people usually avoid confrontation or the author keeps people from figuring things out for too long. But Lovering paces the novel well. She uses Sisi/Sabrina/Caitlin’s to keep the novel from getting too weighed down in depression (Jake’s failed music career and Molly’s fertility problems.)

I would suggest this novel to anyone who liked You or who likes Lifetime movies (although I feel that this novel is superior in plotting, pacing, and dialogue to most Lifetime movies.)

This novel had me hooked the entire time. I just couldn't put it down. I would categorize it under fiction/romance rather than a thriller. However, it had a bit of mystery (but a bit predictable).

The book had the right amount of mystery that I wanted to finish in one day. I loved the multiple perspectives throughout the book because they gave a lot more depth to each character. Molly and Jake had such an exciting love story that I reminisced about Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hunter and little Stella stole my heart. Finally, Sabrina was just an interesting character all around.

Wow. This book was absolutely amazing. I literally could not read it fast enough. The chapters switched between the present and the past and I can’t tell you which I loved more, both stories had me completely consumed. I usually only read psychological thrillers but I’m thinking I should venture into some romance because the love story in this book made me feel so much and I was so invested in every aspect of it. I’m sad this is over and I will genuinely miss the characters. Excited to read more by the author!

So far, so good. I really liked Carola’s Too Good To Be True and think this book has a similar pace. The twists, while not shocking, were well planned and added to the overall story. I think the author’s writing is great and her characters are brought to life well. I’ll definitely be checking out her future work!

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

I absolutely LOVED this book. My fingers are tripping over themselves trying to decide what to say first! I am just obsessed with the way Lovering writes. I loved the alternating chapters and nonlinear timeline. I loved the first person perspective from one character. Most of all, I loved how I Just. Could. Not. Stop. Reading!!! I read until my eyes crossed and I had to fall asleep. When I woke up after a couple of hours (insomnia is SO fun!) rather than rolling over to fall asleep, I instantly thought about Molly, Jake, and Sabrina so I grabbed my Kindle and picked right back up to keep reading. The ending was absolute perfection.
Lovering’s last book, Too Good To Be True, was one of the very first books I read in 2021 and it stayed one of my favorites all year. I can easily see Can’t Look Away being exactly the same for 2022!
Carola Lovering is definitely one of my auto buy authors. I don’t even need to read the synopsis to know that I need to buy her next book!

I recently read “Can’t Look Away” by Carola Lovering after getting a review copy. It’s my first “starred” book on my 2022 list - meaning it’s one of my favorites of the year. I’ve read Lovering’s most recent book, “Too Good to Be True,” and it was a good mystery. What I loved about “Can’t Look Away” is that it’s a great mix of a compelling thriller/mystery and a romantic drama. It also switches between the present and about a decade prior, and I love books that are set in a couple timelines. (Planning a blog about that soon.) This one follows Molly, who’s unexpectedly reunited with her musician ex, after she’s moved on and married. The ex’s wife is pretty much just focused on the past. It all combines to form a seriously addictive story that also forces an examination of the past and, in some cases, why we left it behind. I really liked this one, and can’t wait to check out Lovering’s first novel, which I bought a couple years ago. “Can’t Look Away” will be published on June 14, 2022. 📚

Love can be complicated with two people. It's even more confusing when two couples are intertwined giving this book a rush until the end.

It's all about Molly Diamond and her love affairs from 2013 to 2022. It begins when she goes to a concert in NYC and makes eye contact with the lead singer, Jake Danner. Soon afterwards, he calls her and -- you guessed it, there's a heated romance between them. Didn't anyone tell her to steer away from hot rock stars that women chase after? Of course there was the words, "I trust you." During the band's tour, she gets an e-mail with a photo of Jake with another woman causing jealousy.

Molly is beautiful so it's no surprise when she meets another good-looking guy at a coffee shop, Hunter O"Neil. At first, she decides just to be friends with him. Oh come on -- she must have seen the movie, "When Harry Met Sally?" Naturally, it evolves into a love affair. She removes her belongings in an apartment that she shared with Jake (leaving a note on the table) while he was on another tour and moved in with Hunter. Soon afterwards, things move quickly. They get married, have a daughter, Stella, and she seems very happy in their lovely Connecticut home. Hunter and Molly decide they want another child and she goes to a fertility specialist only to meet a new best friend, Sabrina, in the waiting room. This is where the story gets interesting.

Both Molly and Jake have passions that they are desperately trying to reach. Molly struggles with being a writer and working with a literary agent while trying to pay the bills as a yoga instructor. Jake needs to release another album under pressure from his manager. It has to be better than the last one -- the greatest of all times.

The book is a page turner. I really enjoyed Carola Lovering's previous book, "Too Good to be True," and couldn't wait to read this one. The characters are well defined, the words flow easily and even with some repeats and predictabilities, she has a way of getting your attention and keeping it until the final chapter ends. This story involves a lot of issues amongst love: trust, fertility difficulties and emotional ups and downs. Women especially in their 30s and 40s will be talking about this book - definitely on the beach.

My thanks to Carola Lovering, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with the expected release date of June 13, 2022.

O.M.G. This is one of those books you cannot put down. Main character Molly lives in a small town in Connecticut with her daughter and husband, Hunter. When newcomer Sabrina moves to town, she befriends Molly. But as more and more time passes, Molly wonders if Sabrina is all she says she is. This book was not at all what I was expecting - I will say there are some TW in here (infertility for one), so keep that in mind if you may be impacted by it.

I loved how throughout the book, music plays a huge role. If you've ever had a crush on a rockstar, you will love this book.

An0ther thing I loved was how it dives into if you can truly ever get over your first love. As Molly explores her relationship with Jake and Hunter, it can forces the reader to examine their own lives - and how sometimes you blink and aren't exactly sure how things turned out the way they did.

Really enjoyed this book - thank you for the early copy!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Carola Lovering for the chance to read Can’t Look Away before publication.

Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering is a compelling read from start to finish. While aspiring musician Jake Danner is in the midst of breaking up with his serious girlfriend, Sabrina, he meets Molly. Jake and Molly begin a whirlwind passionate love story of their own - one that is tested by time apart, romantic temptation, and baggage from their respective childhoods. With Molly in her psychological crosshairs, Sabrina takes extreme measures to reclaim and solidify her place in Jake’s heart. A tangled love story that explores themes of passion, jealousy, friendship, infidelity, forgotten dreams, and the one that got away.

The author engages her readers by alternating between timelines and points of view (helpfully, the year and character “in the driver’s seat” are clearly identified at the outset of each chapter). Lovering cleverly plays with narration and the effect it has on readers by writing chapters from Jake and Molly’s points of view in third-person and Sabrina’s chapters from a second-person perspective, positioning Molly as her hypothetical audience. By differentiating Sabrina in this way, the reader is invited into the inner workings of this complicated character’s mind. The result is effective and reminiscent of the chilling inner monologue of Joe Goldberg in You (Caroline Kepnes, 2014).

Can’t Look Away? Couldn’t put it down! 4 Stars.

2.5 rounding up

To start off with, this wasn’t a bad book by any means, it just wasn’t for me. I was expecting a slow burn suspense novel and more so got a family drama.

This centers around Molly in two different time frames roughly a decade apart. We navigate through Molly’s relationships In each of these time intervals. In the present timeline we meet Molly’s family along with her new friend Sabrina. Something seems a little off with Sabrina but what, we do not know. Everything is certainly woven together well, there just isn’t much more to the novel then explore the relationships between these two families. This is set in a ritzy part of Connecticut so gave a little bit of Big Little Lies vibes but the depth wasn’t there.

I did like Too Good to be True, but this one fell flat for me. Just going to chalk it up to expectations were not in line with the content of book

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for my copy in exchange for honest review

Thanks NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've read all three of Carola Lovering's books and this one I would say is maybe the second best (I loved her first one).

I thought this book was really good, but once one of the plot twists came to light, it became pretty predictable. Not predictable enough to stop me from seeing it through because I still had no idea how it would truly end.

A few overdramatic parts but nothing too out of this world. Overall it was good.

This book was ok, full of toxic friendship, long-held secrets, the one who got away all wrapped up in one story!

This is a good summer thriller - in the suburbs of New York, secrets come to the surface and nothing is as it seems. I loved following the 3 perspectives of Molly, Sabrina, and Jake over the last 10 years. They're real characters that make mistakes and raise questions like "What if you had another chance with the one who got away?". I wish that it had more thrills, since the few twists in the book were so well-foreshadowed that I knew they were coming. But overall it's a nice book for fans of thrillers but not gore or violence. However if miscarriage or infertility are triggers for you, I'd shy away.

*Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

My last book of 2021 … what a year in books. 2022 is looking to be even better, with books like this one coming out!

This novel isn’t listed under the romance genre, but it definitely needs to be. I knew this was about relationships, but it turned out to be more on the dramatic romance side than psychological thriller. Even though I don’t like romance stories, this was a pretty gritty one, so it still gets my seal of approval!

The book is about three people: Jake, handsome and charismatic lead singer of the group Danner Lane, Molly, his ex-girlfriend, and Sabrina, his wife. Jake and Molly had a tumultuous relationship when he was trying to get his band famous, and she left him after he ghosted her while on tour. Years later, they reappear in each other’s lives, but the meeting wasn’t exactly by chance.

Sabrina has always known that Jake considers Molly the one who got away, and soon her jealousy about the love they had starts making her act irrationally. Danner Lane’s hit, “Molly’s Song”, is constantly on her nerves, and now Jake is working on an acoustic version for an upcoming solo album. Finally, her resolve cracks and she goes to Molly’s yoga class, striking up a friendship with her nemesis, which opens a huge can of worms that changes everything forever.

During Sabrina’s parts of the book, you’ll see the lengths some people will go through when insecurity (even warranted insecurity) strikes. Why was she obsessed with this past relationship? During Jake and Molly’s parts, you see how people grow so much between their twenties and thirties. Was timing what ruined their relationship, or was it all Jake’s young, selfish, rockstar ways?

I wish this was more of a thriller - it is a (light) thriller, but like I said, it is also a dramatic romance story. It could’ve been much crazier than it was, but it stayed understated and I would have preferred more crazy. I enjoyed this quite a bit though, and the characters were a huge part of that. 3.5 stars rounded up, and I’d recommend it even if you’re like me and romance isn’t really your thing.

(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Carola Loverling, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

And here she is with another hit! I have adored every book Carola Lovering has so far authored and this one is just adds to the list.

There is just something about the way she is able to write the feelings and emotions we’ve all experienced with such clarity and realness. This isn’t your fake emotional nonsense or romantic rubbish. This isn’t characters with no flesh making shallow and silly choices. This is raw and grit and love and pain and it all feels so real because it all has been for those of us who know. Somehow she makes you feel gut-wrenching heartache in a way that leaves you only wanting more…and I always want more.

I'm a big fan of Carola Lovering's novels. This was no different! I found it to be very similar to her other novels, so I did end up giving it a 3.5 stars out of 5. I loved the storyline of having Danner Lane and Jake at the center of the novel with Molly being our protagonist. Part of why I loved this book is I felt like there was a lot of honesty & genuine connection between her and her husband Hunter. It wasn't one of those suspense relationship novels where I felt like it could have all been resolved in one conversation. I did find the ending to be a bit predictable, but overall definitely enjoyed it and it was a fast read!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of Can’t Look Away. This book is a solid 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

The reader is introduced to Jake and Molly, two young New Yorkers who are trying to find their footing in their chosen careers. Jake, a budding musician is instantly attracted to Molly, who attends one of his gigs at a local bar. The attraction is mutual and as Molly finishes her degree in literature, Jake’s band continues to gain national popularity, eventually garnering a number one hit. With each of them trying to pursue their own passions, the relationship eventually begins to unravel. The plot as such is fairly straightforward, until the character of Sabrina (Sisi) is introduced. She is obsessed with rekindling her relationship with Jake and (long story, short), stalks Jake until she gets him back . Eventually through a set of calculated events, Sisi and Molly’s lives intersect. Molly is now married with a child as Sabrina inserts herself into Molly’s circle of friends. The adventure then begins.

The strength of the novel is in the twisting of events which finally leads to Molly and Sabrina becoming friends. Although there are different timelines written from different character perspectives, the writing flowed and I did not find it laborious to flip from one timeline to another. The plot, up until the end, will keep you wanting to find out more about these three characters and how their lives evolved. The ending however left me wanting more. Sabrina assaults Molly but no charges are laid? No police are called? No consequences? Jake leaves Sabrina and after calling her a pathological liar, carries a box out to her car and bids her well? It feels as if the author tried to tie up loose ends which resulted in a ‘happy ending’ for all. Sometimes a happy ending is not what is needed because the reader is left with a saccharine taste in his/her mouth. A pathological liar with mental issues does not simply walk away from a relationship which she has been obsessed with for most of her life. I truly did not care about Sabrina’s happiness nor Jake’s. I want to read more about Molly and the author did give us a glimpse of her in the epilogue. So… don’t be dissuaded from reading this novel, it is interesting, just be aware that in an effort to ‘tie up loose ends’ the author may have missed the mark.