Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the ARC of #byebaby by Carola Lovering!! I absolutely loved Can't Look Away by this author and was excited to dive into this one.

Cassie and Billie were best friends as kids, getting through hard times and all the ups and downs of adolescence together. Now, things are different. They both live in NYC, but that is where the similarities end. Cassie is married to Grant Adler, a rich hedge fund manager from a wealthy family, and she has a four month old daughter named Ella. As an influencer and small boutique owner, her days consist of making videos, sharing discount codes, and chatting with buyers as her nanny watches Ella. She has many friends that are as plastic and shallow as she is, and they meet up to discuss their children and houses in the Hamptons.

Billie, on the other hand, works for a travel agency and lives alone. She's casually seeing a new man, Alex, but has no aspirations to have kids. She has a couple of good friends from college, as well as her boss Jane, but doesn't even have her own social media page.

She does, however, closely watch Cassie's. Billie misses Cassie. Her attempts to get ahold of and see Cassie always fall through, and she can't help but resent Cassie's new life and new friendships. Cassie has seen Billie through some of the worst times of Billie's life, and they even share a horrible secret.

One night, Billie's jealousy and resentment come to a head, and she does something awful to Cassie. Something temporary, but something absolutely awful. Not knowing Billie was behind it, Cassie reaches out to her for support. But what happens when Cassie finds out?

I enjoyed this book, I was wondering what would happen next, but it fell a little flat for me. I really thought Cassie was going to get her redemption, but it seemed like as soon as she found out that Billie was behind the "kidnapping", she forgot what was truly important and shrunk back into her vapid and shallow lifestyle. I think I was expecting a thriller, but it was more of a contemporary fiction with thriller elements. Still worth a read though!! It comes out this Tuesday, March 5th, everywhere books are sold.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc of this novel!

So! This was definitely not what I had been expecting and I mean that in a good way. I obviously thought I'd enjoy this, otherwise I wouldn't have asked to read an arc of it. I just didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. Let me try to explain... if I can, without spoiling anything.

Going in, I kind of already knew how certain things would go. In the end, I was right. However, the journey was honestly fun. The pacing was great, I was never bored. The characters were complex and while I can't say I liked any of them, there was depth that led to me understanding the things they did. Actually, to be completely truthful, I could relate to Billie in some ways. But I think it is safe to say that everyone has things they don't like about themselves.

Bye, Baby was actually crazy and had me questioning my sanity for the better part of the novel.

Cassidy and Billie grew up together and were the best of friends. They end up terminating friendship in their late 20s and Billie can’t seem to move on which leads her to questionable choices.

Billie was the poster child for mental health issues. She made some decisions in this book that will make your head spin. At times I would have to put my phone down, and just have to center myself because her rationales for what she did was just insane. Cassie was moderately insufferable to say the least but didn’t deserve to suffer like she did.

All in all, a wonderful story that kept my heart rate up, waiting to see the outcome of this thriller novel. I’m not sure the punishment necessarily fit the crime for Billie, but I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more!

Thank you Netgally for the ARC in exchange for an a honest review !

It's weird to like a book when the characters are so hateful (and not in that fun way). Cassie is absolutely horrible. When they meet as teens, Billie is so wounded she is just thrilled Cassie sees her. Watching her beloved mother fade and her new stepfather leer, it is no wonder. But Cassie is selfish and materialistic. Billie just ignores it.

Billie isn't likable either. She is obsessed with her friend, who has left her behind as an adult. She takes her baby. But I felt bad for her. She does not have a good beginning. She's actually doing surprisingly well with everything considered. Still, she does something pretty unforgivable.

The ending was a little too neat and clean for my liking. Still, there is a tenseness throughout. Will Cassie find out? Will Billie come clean?
It was enough to keep the story going.

I had read [book:Too Good to Be True|53137955] by Carola Lovering previously and enjoyed it. I chose this book because the description sounded interesting. I had to find out why Billie West took her best friend's baby. Unimaginable!

Description:
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:
This is a gripping tale of a relationship where one friend is obsessively dependent on the other. This is a good mystery that kept my attention and there is a chilling plot. I didn't like Billie or Cassie, but I did feel sorry for Billie's past experiences. The plot moved quickly and kept my attention. Secrets from the past were revealed slowly as the story built. The friendship was central to the story and learning the various nuances to this relationship kept my attention.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for and advance copy. Expected publications: March 5, 2024.

I would classify this book more as suspenseful women's fiction than thriller. I went into it expecting a twisty dual POV thriller - and while there were a lot of suspenseful moments and foreshadowing, the focus seemed to be more on the women's friendship and how it changed over the course of their lives. I loved the dual timeline and dual POV for the story. It made me loathe and like both characters in equal measure. The past POV for Billie was a bit rough to read. It was much heavier than I was expecting (triggers for dementia and SA/grooming). I understand why it was included.

The book STARTS with the twist, and the story is spent unraveling it, rather than a big reveal. Instead, you have to use the story to learn why something happened. It is a unique way to write a thriller, but is slightly less engaging for me. I felt there was a lot of buildup very early on, and then the pacing slowed down significantly over the last 75% of the book. You know what happens, and so you have the anxiety of "when is the truth going to come out" for the duration of the book. Some readers really would enjoy that.

Maybe I wanted more from the ending? The way the conflict resolved between the women was predictable. I also did not love the forgiveness by one of the characters because it was pretty unrealistic.

Cassie sucked. I'll just say it. There was not a single redeemable thing about her character (which was intended).

I will definitely read more books by this author - this one just wasn't my favorite!

Bye, Baby is an exciting, heartfelt thriller that tells the story of Cassie and Billie. Cassie and Billie grew up together and have shared a daunting past, a combative present and a sad future. Cassie has nicknamed Billie "Baby" after the character in their favorite movie, Dirty Dancing, and the title of the book can mean many things. An influencer, Cassie has married up and now have a four month old daughter. She has forgotten her past with Billie and when her daughter goes missing, Cassie wants her oldest and dearest friend. She doesn't realize that Billie is the one that took her daughter. Bye Baby can be the end of their friendship or the disappearance of Cassie's daughter.

Why are female friendships so complicated? Billie and Cassie were best friends growing up, and now, they could not have grown more further apart. The relationships are interesting and drawn out well. I've been Billie, so I could empathize somewhat with her confusion and grief, but the obsession with Cassie was tending towards creepy. In the age of social media, I guess that is expected. Overall, it's a great book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Bye, Baby is part mystery, part fiction with a focus on a lifelong friendship between Billie and Cassie, now in their mid-30s. Billie is content with her travel job, friendships, and single life. Cassie is a boutique owner/influencer who appears to be happily married with a baby daughter. They have been friends for about 25 years, but have drifted apart, largely due to Cassie's unyielding desire to social climb. Billie clings onto their friendship to an almost obsessive level. When the novel opens, Cassie's daughter has gone missing. Their dual perspectives eventually lead up to what has happened. There is some mystery regarding her daughter's kidnapping, but it leads to the deepening of their friendship and rumination on how they've both changed. Cassie's character often drove me a little batty. She's so consumed by marrying rich and appearing to have it all. I liked Billie, but she frustrated me with her reliance on Cassie and unwillingness to accept that things have changed. Overall, it kept me interested and I flew through the audiobook in a few days. The audiobook, which was perfectly narrated by Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker for each character's perspective.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for my #gifted copy of Bye, Baby!

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐁𝐲𝐞, 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was so addicting and I loved it SO much! I was honestly hooked from the first chapter and found the format to be so engaging and thought it flowed so well. I went into this book blind, so I really had no idea what it was about or even the genre. I was so surprised with how much I loved this book and highly recommend it for anyone who is hoping to read a suspenseful story about friendship, childhood, and secrets.

Cassie and Billie were best friends growing up, and were always inseparable. Now, as adults, the two have grown apart, but Billie is desperate to have her friend back in her life. Cassie, who is married, a social media influencer, and a new mother, lives a completely different lifestyle from Billie. One night in a NYC apartment, Billie hears a baby crying and quickly realizes it’s Cassie’s baby in the apartment above where she is, and there’s a party going on that Billie was not invited to. Billie climbs the fire escape to grab the baby and bring her back to the apartment to soothe her. It’s not long before Billie hears Cassie and the chaos from above as everyone searches for he missing baby. Billie will do anything to get her friend back, including hiding the truth about what happened the night the baby was taken. Full of secrets, childhood trauma, and evolving friendships, we learn about Cassie and Billie through alternating timelines and dual POVs in this suspenseful work of literary fiction.

💔Dual Timeslines and POV
💔Character Driven
💔Suspense
💔Childhood Friends
💔Social Media Influencer
💔Lots of Secrets

Posted on Goodreads on March 1, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around March 5, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on March 5, 2024
**-will post on designated date

Thanks to St. Martin Press for the early review copy!!

Love the set up of living in NYC so close to your "best friend!" But, that's about where the warm feelings end in this book.

I loved the alternating viewpoints and the multiple mysteries unraveling at once. This is a very difficult book to summarize without spoiling, but it involves a missing baby, an unraveling friendship, and a shared traumatic past. A terrific addition to an exciting month in publishing!!

Billie and Cassie have been friends for 23 years, but as they have grown up they have also grown apart. Bye, Baby follows their toxic and dramatic friendship with alternating POVs and timelines. A secret from their past has kept them together all these years, but will a secret of their present tear them apart?

Review:
First, I think it is important to understand the type of book this is. Going in, I assumed it was a thriller/mystery, but it is more toxic friendship drama with a little suspense sprinkled in. I love a good drama, so I was not disappointed by this at all. I know that some people don't like books that talk about social media, but I enjoy it. I loved that Cassie was an influencer and spoke about it often. I absolutely loved the writing; it was easy to read and kept me invested in the story line. Bye, Baby is very character driven and there were moments that I loved the characters and moments that I despised them, which I think is the whole point. I feel like I have a great grasp on who Billie and Cassie are after reading the book. I felt sorry for Billie a lot; Cassie was a HORRIBLE friend, BUT Billie didn't help her cause at all. I mean who takes their friend's baby!!!! How traumatizing! Overall, I really enjoyed the storyline of how not all friendships are meant to last, sometimes they are only needed for a certain season of your life.
Rating:
3.5 stars
Thank you NetGalley, Carola Lovering, and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of Bye, Baby in exchange for an honest review! Bye, Baby is out on March 5th, be sure to grab your copy!

I am not sure that I would call this a mystery or thriller - but still enjoyable to read. The book follows two women, who alternate telling the story from their perspective. Friends since childhood, the book follows their toxic and unhealthy relationship through adulthood. They make terrible mistakes that impact their relationship forever - and it is not until the end of the story that we learn why their toxic friendship lasts so long. I did not realy like either of them, was frustrated by their actions, their behaviors and their personalities. Their interactions made me want to scream. Opposites connected by a past that they can't let go of. All that being said, I could not look away from the disaster that they both were. I wanted to know more about them as individuals and as friends. I listed and read this and both versions were enjoyable.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader (and audio!) copy.

Bye, Baby was a propulsive read, which I finished in only two days. However, I was under the impression that this book was supposed to be a thriller, and it is certainly not one. There were mystery and suspenseful elements, but it was more of a friendship drama. Particularly a dark drama about the tail end of a friendship that's run its course and is only tethered by a nefarious secret.

The majority of the suspense came from me waiting for the other shoe to drop as I was expecting a twist to eventually materialize. However, none of this took away from the story's binge worthiness, which also had the short chapters I prefer.

Now for my gripe. I appreciate when white authors make the effort to be inclusive, but as a POC Latino woman, I'm really tired of the only time I see a Latina/o/e in a book, they're relegated to the role of "the help." In this case, it was a nanny/housekeeper who spoke very little English 🙄. Believe it or not, we do work in other professions, and I would prefer not to see any representation than one that plays into tired stereotypes. This is why sensitivity readers are useful.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Bye, Baby" was a great twisty tale from Carola Lovering.
There's themes of sexual abuse, friendship & loss.
The story is told from alternating point of views.
I would definitely read another book by Ms. Lovering.

\4.25 star

Pub Date: March 5th

This novel was a WILD F-ING RIDE. Ok so, most of the characters in this book are unhinged in some way or another. We have our main character, Billie, who is weirdly obsessed with her lifelong best friend, Cassie, who has been a not-so-best friend as of late. Ignoring her texts, bailing on their plans, the works. Now Cassie, she wants to be an influencer and has almost 50k followers on instagram so she’s doing pretty well for herself. She also married into a super rich family.

That’s the backstory. Soooooo, Cassie had a baby which is making her even more unavailable to Billie because Cassie wants to hang out with other mom friends. Valid, right? Well Billie is pissed and sad.

Then one night, Cassie’s daughter goes missing for almost 12 hours then just randomly shows up left outside their front door. This is not a spoiler because it’s in the synopsis, but you will NOT believe who took her

It’s told in dual POV as well as a dual timeline. I loved this, it kept me so engaged and I was extremely invested in every aspect of it. There were a few slow parts or some parts that I felt didn’t need to be a part of the story.

I’d highly recommend this one if you like Lucy Foley!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for my copy!

I had such high expectations for Bye, Baby. Perhaps due to the synopsis and the unmitigated potential for dark behaviors and evil motivations, I anticipated intrigue and dread rising from the pages. While there was some foreboding, it wasn’t exactly in the vein of a thriller—or even suspense. Instead, the book felt decidedly like a domestic drama with a teeny, tiny possibility for an unexpected villain.

The storyline itself was a long, slow burn right from the start. Well, after the prologue that actually contained the most thrilling piece to this incredibly uncomplicated, straightforward plot. With nary a twist or even any well-hidden subterfuge, what unfurled lacked any real surprises. Don’t get me wrong, the dual POVs and dual timelines provided deep backstories for the two central characters, but somehow that just wasn’t enough.

Speaking of the characters, I found that I couldn’t connect with either Billie or Cassie. The former actually irked me quite a bit with her dogged devotion to a friend who didn’t deserve it. As for Cassie, she felt decidedly shallow, both in terms of characterization and persona. And despite Billie being relatively well fleshed out, she still didn’t seem to ring true.

In the end, I did enjoy the exploration of female friendships and motherhood, especially given the toxicity that flowed between these two former friends. A character-driven plot through and through, this was no thriller or tale of suspense. At the same time, I was thoroughly engrossed by Billie and Carrie’s relationship which realistically demonstrated how tension can arise when people change. Even that, however, didn’t entirely rescue this novel for me, so I’m left giving this one a somewhat ambivalent thumbs up. Rating of 3 stars (just).

Thank you to Carola Lovering, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

3.5/4 stars

my first Carola Lovering read but definitely not my last!

feels reminiscent of other stories I’ve read in domestic thrillers, childhood friendships growing into adulthood, and mystery thrillers. familiar but in a fresh enticing new way, I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook to figure it out

maybe the ride was so wild the destination fell short me? the ending left much to be desired but I enjoyed the majority of the read.

There’s something I love in books about women behaving badly and that was definitely the case in this one. Childhood best friends have lost their connection. Billie doesn’t see much of Cassie in person but she sees her multiple times a day on Instagram loading her mommy and lifestyle content. They are slowly reconnecting but it’s hard. Cassie is focused on her affluent life, her husband and above all her daughter. Until one day her daughter goes missing. I don’t want to say too much but I couldn’t stop listening to this one!

Huge thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

WOW!!! What an amazing read that kept me turning the pages very late into the night.

What would you do to keep a childhood friendship going? How do you live with secrets that you are keeping.

Cassie and Billie are childhood friends that grow up together and share everything. After Cassie meets the man of her dreams their friendship cools off and Billie feels lost. Cassie has made a new set of friends and lives her life in the public eye as an Instagram influencer. When a horrible scare reconnects their bond the secrets and lies being kept threaten to ruin everything.

This book was amazing! 5 huge stars!!! Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for the chance to read and review this book!