“Bye, Baby” by Corolla Lovering tells the story of childhood best friends Billie and Cassie whose friendship has grown stagnant in their adult years. While Billie does everything in her power to hold on to what they had Cassie is the polar opposite; she tries to cut Billie out of her life and focuses solely on her new baby and her up and comng career as an influencer. What keeps Cassie from completely cutting Billie from her life is the dark secret that they share, one that can ruin both of their lives if it ever comes to light.

Throughout the book we see just how painfully one-sided Cassie and Billie’s friendship is. Every coffee invite that Billie extends to Cassie is met with a lukewarm response. During the times Billie angles for an invitation to one of Cassie’s many functions, she faces cold indifference. One particularly cringeworthy scene occurs during a dinner party that Cassie actuallly deigns to invite Billie to. As all of her friends are gathered around the dinner table, of course the idea of a group photo op pops us. Cassie does the honors and takes the picture. However, before she posts the picture on her Instagram page, she crops out Billie and her date. Naturally, because Billie has been religiously stalking Cassie’s Instagram page, she sees the post, and when she does, it only adds to her simmering resentment.

As the story progresses Lovering provides an explanation for how Billie and Cassie’s friendship got to be so complex. When they were teenagers Cassie was both Billie’s best friend and her protector. This and the dark secret shared between the two women forces a bond between them and it cannot be severed despite Cassie’s best efforts.

Things finally come to a head when Billie finds out that she has not been invited to Cassie’s 30th birthday party, a party whose existence that Cassie had lied to her about. Coincidentally, during the night of the party, Billie happens to be cat sitting for a friend, who happens to live a story below Cassie and her husband. On the night of the party she cannot help but hear the angry wails of Cassie’s baby out on the terrace. In a fit of what can only be described as madness, Billie climbs one floor up from the terrace and absconds with the baby.

Things take an interesting turn when Billie sneaks Cassie’s child back to her. Billie is now at the center of Cassie’s orbit and she laps it up. She leans on Billie to help her deal with her traumatic experience all the while not knowing that it is Billie who is responsible for what happened to her. Given their history it only makes sense that Cassie immediately turns to Billie after what happens. However, this is a tense setup because I just kept waiting for Cassie to find out what really happened and for the blowback that was sure to follow.

Even though Billie can come across as a villain I sympathize with her character. When she takes Bille’s baby she immediately realizes the wrongness of her actions and immediately tries to fix it. Unfortunately, she gets caught up in her situation and she can do nothing but wait for the other shoe to drop.

Although, Cassie is definitely not my favorite because of the way she strings Billie along, I can at least understand why she is the way she is. All of her life she was influenced by her wealthy grandmother to look down on others and unfortunately, when Billie no longer fits into her own wealthy lifestyle, she simply becomes collateral damage that must be distanced from.

“Bye, Baby” is definitely an engaging story that provides a thought-provoking plot and excellent characterization. This is Carola Lovering’s best novel yet! Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

<i> special thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free, electronic arc of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

expected publication date: mar. 5, 2024 </i>

carola lovering is 2/2 and i'm here for it!!!

i think an unexpected thing that has come from both of lovering's books is finding the thriller in the mundane - similar to <i> tell me lies </i> this book is not the oversaturated kind of thriller - it is a careful and intricate exploration of obsession, toxic friendships and parenthood that doesn't need to go over the top with twists and jumps in the night to make you feel something.

i would say i preferred her previous novel, but that may be because i went into it with low expectations and with this one i came with a blank slate. nonetheless, i'm here for anything lovering publishes at this point.

This book had excellent character development - I really cared about their lives! Best new book I've read all year!

This book was crazy good. Soo addicting that I didn't want to put it down. Stephen and Lucy's characters are soo different and how the story is told from each of their perspectives is intriguing. This is a great book to discuss at a book club. So many twist and turns to the plot!

3.5/5

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book, but I just didn’t love it for some reason? I enjoyed reading the POVs and I appreciated how flawed both our mains were. I honestly felt bad for both of them - I know Cassie isn’t getting a lot of empathy in the reviews, and with good reason tbh, but I still felt for her a few times. There was a lot in this book and I don’t think every subject needed to be broached (to be honest, I don’t think the Remy subplot added a whole lot for me personally) but the main aspect is this toxic friendship that has long run past its expiration date, and it was really interesting to see.

Cassie and Billie are the best of friends throughout childhood. They experience everything together, some good and some very bad. As they get older, though, they start to drift apart. This book was so well-written and I was hooked from the first chapter. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. You could feel so deeply the emotions of the characters. I really enjoyed this.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Bye, Baby" and all opinions expressed are my own. Overall okay. Billie was just so desperate, she just couldn't let go of her friendship with Cassie. I really didn't care for either one of them. The was also a lot of different issues going on in the book. Just not the book for me, but giving it an ok.

This book covered motherhood, friendship, and what it is like to be abused or grieve. It went to some deep places that really moved me and made me think. Billie and Cassie are the two main characters and their friendship days are mostly over, but Billie remains glued to Cassie’s expertly curated social media feed. Cassie is self-obsessed and a new mother, while Billie remains stuck in perpetual singledom until she meets Alex. Cassie and Billie each go through a lot to become who they are and what will always remain is their lingering bond because of what they went through in the past. The writing was strong and hard-hitting and really got to the heart of what it is to be a woman and the pressures that come along with it. I could relate to Billie a lot because of how my friendships too have come in phases and sometimes naturally come to an end because of time and circumstance. Sometimes you want to just preserve time and place, especially of a friendship, and it can be hard to let go when time, place, and people change, which is what Billie finds. I thought the writing cleverly captured what it is to grow up and find ways to move on when things aren’t working or flowing as intuitively. It isn’t always easy to change or start anew, but when it is necessary then it is the right course of action. The characters in this story were real, flawed, and unquestionably relatable and I think my largest takeaway was that life can go to some ugly, uncomfortable places, but it is all about how we choose to come back from its struggle and strife.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I love Loverings writing style. That being said , this book got on my nerves!! The characters were plain awful people and the storyline was a bit too predictable. Female friendship at its worst.

I couldn’t put this book down, and read it in 48 hours! Cassie and Billie grow up as best friends in upstate New York; now, they live very different lives in NYC. Billie is single and loves her career, while Cassie is married to a wealthy banker and is a stay-at-home-mom and Instagram influencer. Billie still desperately wants to be best friends with Cassie, but Cassie seems to have moved on to a more sophisticated friend group. The opening chapter starts with a bang: Cassie’s baby goes missing, and though she’s been dismissing Billie, she now reaches out to her for support. Although the novel seems like a psychological thriller, it’s more of a drama that has some suspenseful elements – but since I thought it was a thriller, I was waiting for some big twists that never came. The plot is told through alternating points of view between Billie and Cassie, and it also delves into flashbacks to their childhood, but it somehow manages to be extremely cohesive in spite of all the info. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, but loved the rest of the book. I would just suggest not reading the blurb (which gives away too many spoilers) and not expecting a typical thriller.

Will forever recommend!! I feel in love with this plot! And I will forever love the characters, the perfect twist and turns to keep my attention

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for the audiobook of Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering in exchange of an honest review.

Carola Lovering's 'Bye, Baby' is a deeply enthralling exploration of friendship, envy, and the power of social media. The story revolves around Billie and Cassie, childhood friends who drift apart after college. As Cassie marries into wealth and becomes a doting mother, Billie, still single and childless, feels excluded from Cassie's seemingly perfect life. The narrative delves into the complexities of their relationship, capturing the essence of jealousy, one-sided obsession, and the bitter tastes of resentment. Lovering masterfully portrays the impact of social media on modern-day friendships, poignantly highlighting the facades and comparisons that can strain even the closest bonds. With fully realized characters and a storyline that unfolds with razor-sharp tension, 'Bye, Baby' held me captive. I found myself mesmerized by the flawed yet relatable characters, yearning for answers to why Billie couldn't let go of her connection with Cassie. While I was deeply immersed in the book and could have finished it in just a few sittings, the demands of work and life kept interrupting, a testament to its ability to captivate my attention. 'Bye, Baby' is an engrossing and thought-provoking read that explores the complexities of friendship in the digital age.

Thank you for the ARC! I was completely sucked into this story, especially Cassie’s bougie NYC elite lifestyle. Loved the NYC references galore!

I love books with toxic and twister friendships. This definitely hit the spot. It took a while to get into, but after a while, I was hooked and couldn't put this down!

Oh my god. There are so many things that happen in this book that shocked me and disgusted me and honestly none of them were the baby being kidnapped.

First of all, content warning and trigger warning for pedophelia, sexual assault and sexual harassment. There’s explicit scenes of pedophelia and sexual assault so please be mindful while you read. I almost had to DNF because I was so repulsed.

None of the characters in this book are likable - this is an understatement. They’re all basically insufferable and very hard to feel bad for. There are like two side characters I can think of that were fine but really all our main characters are awful people and it made the book such a drag to read.

We follow Billie, who has had an incredibly rough, traumatizing upbringing with a sick parent and an abusive step father. Billie has a best friend Cassie. Cassie went to Harvard and now has a husband named Grant and they had a baby named Ella. That’s about all I can say before shit hits the fan.

**SPOILERS AHEAD** Billie is borderline obsessed with Cassie. Like genuinely a concerning amount of obsession going on. There’s so much we could unpack but I just. Don’t have the energy.
So if Billie doesn’t want kids, why didn’t she just tell Remy? You basically wasted seven years because Billie doesn’t like controversy. Girl what.. you’re supposed to be a grown adult who loves people! Crazy. ALSO it doesn’t help that Billie is our mc who doesn’t want to have children. I don’t know if this book was set out to be some social commentary, but Billie is creepily insane. She thought Cassie was HERS (a literal quote from the book). Women who don’t want children just don’t want children. There doesn’t have to be this sick twisted backstory behind it. If there is, completely understandable but if there isn’t that’s still so valid. Sometimes people just don’t want children!!! Why is it such a big deal!! And why do we have to watch Billie the deranged lady be the one to not want kids!! It comes off like women who don’t want kids are “crazy / unhinged / somethings wrong with them!!” Why couldn’t we just have a normal person who doesn’t want kids! It was just so upsetting and ridiculous how that whole perspective was framed. I understand that Billie was a complex main character, she definitely exhibited childish and immature behavior like obsessive and possessive and easy to get jealous/to feel rage, while also acknowledging Billie’s been through hell and back growing up and reconciling that you can still have trauma and be a decent human being! You can take accountability for your actions! But alas she does not do that lol I’m getting a migraine thinking about her.

Cassie was ALSO an awful human being lmaooo. Like the way she basically crafted her way into building her life picture perfect the way she wants to, only dating guys who were from wealthy families and only talking to her rich grandma for the material benefit of it all. And then the social media stuff her brand stuff the money stuff with her husband. Her stupid friends. I got a headache so many times reading this it’s actually ridiculous looking back how did I even finish this book. I also feel like Cassie learned literally nothing from this experience LOL like I thought she was going to come out of this a better person and I might like one of our main characters but no! She doesn’t.

Why was Cassie the only one therapy was suggested to. Billie needs therapy ASAP probably more than Cassie does. And now I need therapy! Phewww this is so long wow this is one of the worst books I’ve read this year.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the arc in exchange for my opinion.

Wow. What a head spinner. A story that shows how messed up and twisted people can be, and how that affects all the relationships they have. A showing of how shallow people can be, and how that affects the people around them. I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

I really loved "Too Good to be True" and "tell me Lies" by Carola Lovering. When I was given a chance to read this early and review it, I was super excited. I expected it to be a thriller however, it was more of a Contemporary Fiction/Women's Lit.

I was definitely drawn into the characters and Carola got me to deeply care about Billie. This is a story about decades old friendship, secrets and lies that can build and break down them down.

A solid 3.75 stars.

I loved Carola Lovering's book, Too Good to Be True, so I clicked request on this one immediately! While I did not enjoy it as much, I would still recommend this book. Nothing shocked me too much, but I liked the character development. This book is not so much of a thriller and more of a drama. This novel explores the complexities of friendship and how we grow with or away from childhood friends. 3.5 stars rounded up. I'm excited to read more Carola Lovering in the future!

The way I devoured this book!! This one starts out like a thriller then delves into the history of a rocky but long-winded female friendship. While I do wish it was a little more of a thriller near the end, I think it was fabulous nonetheless!

Honestly, I'm not sure I've read a book that so seamlessly made me shift my opinion on a character like this one. At first, I thought Billie was insane and she was totally set up to be the crazy, obsessed friend. As the story progressed, I realized that Cassie had her own flaws and Billie's questionable but somewhat understandable actions were not as evil as I thought.

Wow. This was the most addictive book I've read in a long time. If you are getting ready to start this book, go ahead and clear your schedule. It's that enthralling. I was completely immersed in the complexities of Billie and Cassie's relationship, and Carola Lovering created such dynamic, three-dimensional characters that I couldn't get enough of! It's definitely one of the top books I've read this year.