DNF

Not a book for me. Lots of melodrama between females pretending to be friends. Lots of switching back and forth between timelines, neither of which interested me all that much. I didn't like anyone and I didn't care, so I stopped reading.

This was a very unexpected book for me - in a good way! I had no idea what the book was about so I was not ready for a semi-romance. This book takes place in two timelines - current day 2022 and 2013. In 2013, Jake and Molly meet at Jake's concert when they lock eyes. They fall fast in love and Jake even writes a hit song about Molly that shoots his stardom. Then in present day, Molly is married to someone else. As the story unfolds we find out what happens. While my description so far sounds like a romance, this book is actually a thriller and there is another woman involved.

I loved the way this story unfolded. I wanted to know what happened in 2013 for Molly and Jake to no longer be together. I wanted to find out what happened with the thriller part of the book. There were some predictable parts but also some twists I wasn't expecting. I also really enjoyed the way the story ended.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

I’ve said it a million times that my reactions could be blamed on right place/right time way more than 50% of the time. The giant banner advertising the series Tell Me Lies kept slapping me right in the face until I finally realized I had an unread Carola Lovering ARC sitting on the Kindle and I decided to give it a whirl.

First things first, I hate the cover. I mean you had to see that one coming. And a warning for anyone looking for a super twisty stabby good time, this probably isn’t the story for you. What it turned out being was sort of a love triangle . . . with a twist. Molly is married to Hunter but used to be rock star Jake’s muse. This is the story of Molly and Hunter’s present life in Connecticut interspersed with Molly and Jake’s love story from the past. I can’t imagine any of the big reveals will come as a huge shocker to most readers, but it was some tasty brain candy when my head wasn’t capable of retaining anything but soap opera style yumminess.

Can’t Look Away was a step up from Colleen Hoover’s style. Stick around 10 years and all the kids on BookTok will discover this author and tell y’all to read her *eyeroll*

3.5 Stars

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

This was boring. It is nothing like Gillian Flynn. The main plot was underwhelming and the characters were all flat.

I always look forward to Carola Lovering's books and was really excited to read this one. i enjoyed it alot! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this one. Can't wait for the next one!

I read this book in 1 day. I was racing to get to the end. I was on the edge of my seat. Part love story part suspense. This book was a winner.

Felt very formulaic and predictable but I still enjoyed the story and most of the characters. It makes for a good quick beach read.

This story is not a thriller. The title and cover photo make you feel there might be “more” around every twist but nope that’s not this kind of story

On the other hand I did like The story. It’s follows Molly and the love of her life Jake back when they were 23 and present day of Molly and her husband Hunter. The story is told from 3 perspective in two different time lines. The 3rd narrator is Sabrina who is obsessed with Stella and not in a good way.
I don’t want to give too much away but I am happy with the ending.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc copy of this story.

I was totally drawn in by this domestic suspense!! It was hard for me to put down. I loved the different POVs of Jake, Molly and Sabrina. I also enjoyed the past/present time line. I do wish it would have been a little more twisty, but that’s a personal preference!! I could totally see this one as a movie.

I’ve been a big fan of Carola Lovering ever since I read and loved Tell Me Lies. For some reason her books always get marketed as thrillers, but I’d say they’re all (this one included) more of a domestic drama/suspense.

Things I loved:
-multiple narrators and dual timelines. You get POV from Molly, Jake and Sabrina - the three that have a complicated web of a story weaved among them
-SO good on audio with multiple narrations
-don’t know who to trust - lots of sketchy decisions made by the characters - some made me roll my eyes, some made me happy about the way it took the story
-loved that Jake was a front man in a bad, loved hearing about touring, the band politics etc
-was surprised by some parts of the ending and loved how it all unfolded

Things that weren’t my favourite:
-didn’t love the epilogue and I don’t know what I would have preferred instead, but it was just underwhelming after such a fun ending

I really enjoyed this novel, personally I would highly recommend it. It was interesting and entertaining. It kept me wanting more throughout the entire book!

A story of love gone wrong. It is a psychological thriller x10. Jake Danner is the dream guy- singer/songwriter that makes all the girls swoon. At a concert one night him and Molly lock eyes and it is love at first sight. Unfortunately, he is a musician and travels all the time. Now, years later she has moved to another town and meets a new friend. This friend though is out to dig up all her secrets. It was a fast read although predictable.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

I feel like there wasn't anything very suspenseful or thrilling about this book. It's frustrsting to me when I start a book expecting a thriller and I don't get one (thanks Goodreads. 😂) I would classify this as a domestic drama.

Some things I actually enjoyed: the author referenced neighborhoods and actual places in Brooklyn that I actually know (many of them being in my old neighborhood!) I also visualized this book turning into a Netflix series the entire time I read it.

Now, here's where I started to take issue: because I think it'll make for a good TV series, I felt that the writing for a book was a bit contrived. You ever get that feeling where an author has a hunch that their book will be picked up for screen time? That's how I felt reading Can't Look Away.

This was an entertaining read, but that's about it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Carola Lovering for my ARC of Can't Look Away in exchange for my honest review!

Ooh time goes by and if i don't write the review right away...sigh. I'm trying to be better. The best i can do right now is give a star count...

This is an interesting domestic suspense story. It's billed as a thriller, but falls a bit short in that area. The story of Molly, Jake, and Sabrina is told through their three points of view, which worked well for me. The storyline also jumped between 2013 and 2022, which provided important context to the character development and relationships. The dual timeline kept the pace up, and set up an ending full of emotion. I enjoyed it - but as a domestic drama, not a thriller.

I'm stopping at 60%. This is a Lifetime movie, not a thriller. This is messy, crazy, rich, white people who are all painfully selfish. I cannot read any more infidelity masked as "impossible to stop" or another sentence talking about how bone-meltingly hot the male lead is. I do not like any of the characters, other than maybe Hunter and Stella, and I don't want things to work out for any of them. I skipped ahead to see if I knew the "twist" and yeah - if you've ever seen a Lifetime drama, you know how it ends. Too easy to guess, to annoying to read, I'm calling it quits.

**Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC**

3 stars because this didn’t read like a thriller. I was expecting more twists and turns and suspense but the story was very straightforward and not surprising. The characters’ actions were frustrating and there wasn’t a lot of page turning action here.

2.5 stars. Despite the description calling this book "sexy suspense" and the slightly ominous cover and title font, make no mistake: Can't Look Away is a domestic drama, not a thriller, and it is a fairly standard domestic drama at that. At the center of the story are Molly, Jake, and Sabrina. Molly and Jake were together for a few years in their early 20s, but their passionate love couldn't withstand the everyday trials that tore it apart. Years later, Molly has settled with her husband and daughter in an upscale Connecticut suburb, when she meets Sabrina during one of the yoga classes she teaches. Sabrina has recently moved to town with her husband, and Molly doesn't know it, but their meeting wasn't by chance -- and she's keeping explosive secrets that threaten to upend everything Molly holds dear.

Carola Lovering is adept at writing realistic, complicated relationships, particularly the "first love" or "twin flame" sort that ooze toxicity. She did this best, in my opinion, in her first novel Tell Me Lies, but these types of relationships are at the center of all three of her books. For me, Can't Look Away was the least successful, although there is still a lot here to appreciate. The characters are complex and authentic, if frustrating, and although this is a plot that feels recycled in an over-saturated genre, it's still a compulsively readable book. It's thoughtful and poignant in its exploration of toxic relationships and old wounds. Lovering's writing so clearly conveys the complicated, overwhelming emotion that is love.

Can't Look Away is, essentially, a soap opera in book form, and just like on TV, there are characters that behave in infuriating ways. My issues with this book mostly center around those characters: Sabrina's motives and actions don't really make a lot of sense, and Molly is frustrating because she defines herself entirely by her relationships instead of pursuing her own life goals and ambitions. And the angsty melodrama of it all wore on me after a while -- the book could have been quite a bit shorter if there wasn't so much arguing and then rehashing of those arguments later.

Here's hoping Lovering's next novel can recapture the unique, special qualities of her first. But regardless, I'll continue to read her books; even if I've been disappointed by her recent offerings, there's something so compelling in the way she writes about love.

I received an ARC of Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
I give this book 5 stars! This was a well-crafted domestic drama about how far someone is willing to go in the name of love and obsession. I enjoyed how the author wove the story, the chapters going between the past and present tying into a crazy ending. This was a one-sitting read for me. A perfect summer read!

This was a great quick read. Molly and Jake met and fell in love but events led to their breakup. The story takes place in the past (2013) and now (2022). Molly is now married to someone else and has a child with him. They live in a wealthy suburb where Molly teaches yoga, which leads to her meeting Sabrina. They become fast friends but Molly doesn't know Sabrina's true agenda.
This book definitely kept the suspense coming and the ending was great. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.