Thank you to #netgalley , the #author, & the #publisher#read for allowing me the opportunity to #arc #read #byebaby by #carolalovering ! #5star book! This book will be #published on March 5, 2024. #fyp #fypシ #books #booktok #ebook #ilovereading #bookworm #highlyrecommended #mustread #youneedtoreadthis #sogood #highlyrecommended #thriller #mentalhealth #friendship #trauma #grief #loss #childhoodfriendship #adulthood

A toxic friendship. A missing baby. The lives of two women will never be the same.

Billie and Cassie were the closest of friends in their small town since they met when they were twelve, sharing fun times and helping one another through difficult ones. Now, twenty three years later, Cassie has married the very wealthy Grant, a hedge fund manager with plenty of family money, has started her own business featuring pricey curated fashions, and has a baby named Lily. Billie, on the other hand, with scars from previous relationships, is single and works as a luxury travel consultant. After all they have shared over the years, Billie is hurt and confused that Cassie has slowly been pulling away as she spends more time with women from her husband’s circle of rich friends, and is finding it hard to move on from the friendship. At a particularly low point, Billie makes a rash decision that plummets Cassie into an emotional tailspin, and which may end up costing Billie not only what little remains of their friendship but also her career, her new relationship and possibly her freedom.
Bye, Baby is part suspense novel and part exploration of toxic friendships, the pressures on young mothers, and the effects of social media. I suspect that most if not all women have, at some time in their life, been involved in a friendship where the power is not balanced….one takes, one gives. I know that I have been there, on both sides of the equation, and I found that the author has done an excellent job of showing the corrosion that this type of relationship has on the individuals involved. Although frustrated with Billie for not tossing Cassie to the curb early on, I liked her character very much (Cassie, not so much) and was eager to find out the secrets and tragedies of her background. This is less a whodunnit and instead is more of a can-she-get-away-with-it, Readers of authors like Mary Kubica, Paula Hawkins and Gillian Flynn will enjoy this well-paced story of suspense, as will of course readers of Ms Lovering’s other titles. I enjoyed the read, and thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me access to an early copy of Bye, Baby.

I really enjoyed this psychological mystery/thriller about a friendship spanning decades. The friendship between Billie and Cassie was totally warped and they shared a past secret that could wreck both of their lives. I could not STAND Cassie. But it felt like she was written that way to be over the top and obnoxious. I also liked the view of how the dependence on screens makes our lives worse and can cause a lot of issues and inflated sense of self worth. This was an intriguing story and the dual POV and dual timelines kept me coming back for more. I'd definitely recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Carla Lovering for my copy of this ARC which publishes 3/5/24.

Have you ever rooted for the criminal in a story? Well, I found myself rooting for Billie West, the baby thief?! Yes, I know, I couldn't understand it myself.

Bye, Baby was an enjoyable read that kept me interested, I'm not sure it is the mystery/ thriller it is labelled as, but more towards the woman's fiction or crime label.

In all honesty though, the e-arc was sent to me and it took a long time for me to decide to actually download it and read it. I am probably not the ideal reader of this book and should have stuck to my instincts on that and not picked it up.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read and review an e-arc of this book before publication date.

I love a good psychological thriller, but there are so many on the market, that a lot of them have become formulaic. I pick very carefully when I choose to read one.

This one is about two childhood friends whose relationship has turned sideways over the years. The “terrible thing” happens in the first couple of pages of the book. The timeline then switches to 30 days before the “terrible thing” and progresses to the present. There are also a few flashbacks to a more distant past. It sounds more confusing than it is. It works.

The author makes skillful use of subtle nuances. The reader is never sure of the direction the story will take.

The two main characters, Billie and Cassie are interesting. By design, Cassie is not particularly likeable, very shallow, neurotic and entitled. Billie evokes a lot of empathy, for reasons that are revealed bit by bit. At some point, the empathy turns to pity.
Their relationship is very complicated.

The story is fast-paced, easy to read and entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I absolutely LOVED Lovering’s Tell Me Lies, so I was so excited to receive an ARC of her newest book, and boy it did not disappoint! This was a quick, bingeable, and fun read. Lovering is back with another twisted domestic suspense with plenty of drama🙌🏻 Unlike in Tell Me Lies where there was romantic suspense, this one takes a bit of a twist with friendship drama and suspense. Best friends who have grown distant over time, only to be tied to each other through a deep dark secret🤫 the ultimate question is…who can you really trust? I loved the pacing, the character development, the alternating POVs and timelines, the drama, suspense. and the amount of pure chaos…Lovering succeeded, yet again, in making this a bingeable & addictive read. Make sure to clear out your schedule before picking this one up…because once you do you will not want to put it down!🙌🏻

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
✦Domestic suspense
✦Plenty of drama books
✦Characters you love to hate
✦Quick, bingeable, and addictive reads



𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

Bye, Baby follows two best friends, Cassie and Billie. When they were younger, they were inseparable. However, as they get older, the two very different girls grow apart. Cassie is a new mom, an influencer, with a WASPy husband. Billie has a great job, is starting to see someone, and never wants kids. They’re different, but Billie can’t let go of their friendship, even when Cassie treats her like absolute shit. These two are the definition of a trauma bond. Cassie’s character was so unlikeable, and I truly felt pity toward Billie. Even when Billie does the “unthinkable”, I still wouldn’t consider it “even” to what Cassie did when they were younger. The story did hold my attention from beginning to end, but I was incredibly frustrated many times. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, but prepare to want to shake Billie 🤣

BYE, BABY by Carole Lovering
A spellbinding thriller about an intense friendship that veers into extreme dysfunction. This story focuses on Billie and Cassie, friends since middle school, who drift apart as years pass. But secrets, jealousy and differing life paths force a reckoning between them. A shocking and heartbreaking story I couldn’t put down.#netgalley

Bye, Baby grabbed me in the first chapter and was a page turner to the very last. The book poses some thought-provoking questions for anyone who leaves home to seek their fortunes elsewhere:
• Can you ever really leave your past behind?
• Should you forget where you came from?
• Does reinventing yourself require you to abandon your family and “former” friends?

Central to the story are childhood friends Billie and Cassie. They grow up in a small town, attend college in Boston and then live together in NYC, sharing everything and celebrating their special bond. But eventually their fortunes diverge.

It is easy to see, as a reader, the moments when a bad decision or path is taken. Or when openness and honesty might be the best corrective action. But then we are reminded, through a series of flashbacks, that everyone has a unique upbringing, colored by family, friends, and circumstances. This background is critical to understanding who we are and the choices we make. So…can anyone truly judge what others do, in the moment, when faced with specific opportunities, challenges or obstacles?

Still…for all of the focus on background stories and context for the paths chosen by Cassie and Billie, I was somewhat disappointed by the conclusion of the book. The ending is the most realistic, but I was rooting for some come-uppance for certain characters. Read for yourself and see what you think!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the Advance Readers Copy.

I’m still processing...

2/15 I still don't know if I liked this book. I read the whole thing. I was hooked. I couldn't stand both characters and yet sympathized with both. I saw the ending coming and was hoping for a little bit more of a mind f*ck, but it is what it is. I'm still wrapping my head around the story.

Can we stay friends with those we grew up with? They were around for the trauma that shaped us, and yet are they the continued support we need? Or a constant link to the past? Never letting us move on. Bye, Baby is a domestic thriller with two unlikeable, unreliable characters. I suggest you read it. I feel like people will love it or hate it and I have a feeling that is exactly what the author intended.

I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I was intrigued by the description of this book. I was excited for a new hriller!
Unfortunately, this one fell flat for and missed the "thriller" mark.
I didn't care for the insane amount of needless detail throughout the story. It was unnecessary.
This book revolved around a very toxic friendship. There is jealousy, deception, and narcissism. It also definitely shows us how social media can overtake some people's lives.
Overall, unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through this one.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Carola Lovering, and NetGallery for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book sucked me in immediately! You start off right into the kidnapping of Cassie’s baby. I enjoyed switching between different timelines and point of views. I will say there were a few points in the story when it felt like it was dragging on. It does go into details about toxic female friendships. I would check trigger warnings before jumping into this book. Overall I enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC.

I loved this book! Bye, Baby is one of my favourite reads so far this year. The story is based around the childhood friends of Billie and Cassie, who are thicker than thieves when they are younger but grow to live very different lives as adults. Cassie is married with a child of her own, becomes an influencer glued to her phone. Billie prefers a simpler life and doesn’t want to have children of her own. As time goes on the friendship fades, Billie might as well just be a “ follower “ on Instagram watching Cassie’s life play out without being apart of it anymore. Is that enough for Billie? After everything they have been through together?

Told from both points of views, starting in present day, going back to the often traumatic childhood of Billie, I found this story very engrossing. I had to know what was going to happen next.
Topics include Alzheimer’s, sexual abuse, downside of social media, toxic friendships and the pressure often put on women to become mothers. This is my second Carola Lovering read, and I look forward to reading anything she writes.
I don’t want to say too much more about this one, just read it!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Mystery Thriller

"Bye, Baby" by Carola Lovering is a gripping tale that delves into complex friendships and the secrets that bind them. Billie and Cassie, at some points, are the best of friends. Things change when ambitious Cassie decides to enter a different world of fame and success and has a different circle of friends. Billie refuses to move on, and things will get really intense.

The narrative is told from the points of view of the two main characters, and there are also multiple time frames that alternate between the past and the present. The present days are all counted towards the day that Cassie’s baby is kidnapped. There is no need to worry because this is not a spoiler, as you will be aware from the very beginning of the prologue.

There is a saying that says, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. Somehow, this saying might be relevant to this story as we see how two close best friends fall apart and how things deteriorate between them. Overall, I found the book to be entertaining; however, there were times when I felt that the characters just had one dimension. Despite the fact that the author's writing style was excellent and made the book simple to read, the plot left me wanting much more, which is especially surprising given that it is a thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Wow! This book was a ride and I could not look away.

The story has all the elements that I love in a psychological thriller…multiple timelines, multiple narrators, fragile friendships, and past lives coming to light.

The two main characters, Cassie and Billie, have been friends since they were pre-teens and grew up together but after Cassie got engaged and became an influencer/boutique owner, their friendship drifted.

The book opens with a kidnapping - Cassie’s baby Ella has been taken by Billie…but why? The next several chapters unravel the history and complexity of the toxic friendship between these two women and the details do not disappoint.

I enjoyed this book and found the emotions palpable, especially Billie’s. There were a lot of details and some were a lot to handle. Trigger warning for SA.

Definitely recommend this book!

⭐️: 4/5

Childhood best friends Cassie and Billie have stayed closed and united by their secrets, but as they approach 35, they’ve begun to drift apart. Cassie is now a new mother to her daughter Ella with her husband Grant, and Billie is single, childless, and no longer fits into Cassie’s world. As tensions grow between the two, Billie will go to extreme lengths to restore their friendship.

This is the third book by Carola Lovering that I’ve read, and also my favorite. All three books have dealt in a way with the complexities of growing up and connecting with people while trying to find your place in the world, but this one focused on the toxicities that can arise within female friendships resulting from secrets, power imbalances, and differing views of what the future holds. Catty and toxic female friendships can feel a little overdone, especially because it can get tiring reading about women fighting amongst themselves, but I feel like this book goes a little deeper into the reasons why we get competitive and catty with people who are supposed to be our closest friends in the world. Both main characters were so unlikable and made such stupid decisions, but the feeling of the other shoe about to drop was done so well. I will admit, this book seemed to go on about 25% too long, and would have been a better read for me if it was just a little more condensed and fast paced. I also found myself wanting more closure for one of the storylines in particular. I did love the structure of the flashbacks and POV switches though, and I will definitely be looking forward to future books by Lovering.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this free eARC!!

Thanks for the ARC netgalley! I loved Lovering’s thriller “Too Good to Be True” and I was so excited for this one. It did not disappoint! This deep look at lifelong female friends bonded by childhood, trauma and secrets was fascinating. It examines how a friendship can change when one friend becomes a mother and the complexities of female friendship.

Billie and Cassie have been best friends since they were teens, getting each other through the rough years and attached because of their shared secret. Now 35, Cassie is a new mom and influencer, fixated on the wealthy lifestyle she loves and her daughter. She’s pushed Billie aside, as she doesn’t fit into her orbit any longer. Billie doesn’t understand why they can’t be friends and comes to holding Cassie’s baby that she kidnapped. Told in alternating perspectives and dual timelines, we see their friendship over decades from each POV.

This is marketed as a thriller but isn’t standard, as we know from the prologue that Billie has kidnapped Cassie’s baby. The structure though works and kept me on my toes. Both women are flawed, but what’s so interesting is how much I sided with Billie throughout-despite her horrific choices. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m childless by choice and have been treated by some friends as less than for not wanting children, or if that’s the angle of the book for all readers. It left me thinking about female friendships and where our limits are, how far our bonds go, and when it’s time to say goodbye to certain friendships. I highly recommend this one, just don’t go into it expecting a fast paced thriller plot. Available everywhere March 5th!

✨Trigger Warnings: Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, Toxic Friendship, Death of a Parent, Dementia

Let me start by saying that I loved Tell Me Lies (both the book and the show). I think I had big expectations because of that. I just felt like this story didn't really go anywhere. The kidnapping was only a small part of the story and it wasn't really a mystery like I thought it would be. It was more about the dynamic relationship between the two main characters, which I actually liked but there wasn't a lot of character development like I would have liked. And I would have liked a little deeper dive into Billie's step-dad and the issues going on with that relationship and with the accidental murder. I also think there were some plot holes and some unrealistic moments. I wanted a happier ending but I understand that was probably also unrealistic. I will still read more from this author, but this one was a miss.

This book takes a deep dive into a toxic friendship, some messed up childhoods, the need for approval, and the unfortunate pull of social media…and for some reason, I couldn’t stop reading to find out where it was all headed! Now I just want to put these characters in therapy and give them a hug. 😆

A decent read that took me a while to get into. The characters were not very likable to me, yet I could relate to Cassie after the birth of my first child. The toxicity of Cassie and Billie's friendship kept me wanting to read more.
Definitely a good buddy read.