When I read Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering, I knew she would become an automatic buy author for me.
So you won't be surprised when I tell you that when I started Bye, Baby - I was entranced right from the start! This is a story comprised of friends, secrets, lies and an eventful night that changes lives.

Here's a bit of the synopsis:
Cassie and Billie, Billie and Cassie - their names just go together, they are that close! They have grown up together, but in high school, they face a traumatic event that slowly tore them apart. Now Cassie is married with a baby, a substantial social media following, and a clothing store. She is living in the moment and planning for her future. Billie is single and still thinks about the loss of her friendship with Cassie. So much so, Billie is bordering on obsession.

I love how this story is told from both ladies perspectives. Carola Lovering does a masterful job of moving through two timelines, two POV's, and keeping you engaged! There were times I could feel for both Cassie and Billie and there were times I felt both of them needed some therapeutic help!

This a well written book. I found myself not able to put my Kindle down and it really made me thing about friendships and betrayal and how I would react if I were in the character's shoes.

This book is set to release on March 5. 2024. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview Bye, Baby!

Really enjoyed this novel. The narrator was great, and the writing was smart and snappy. Very entertaining! The only problem was the ending. It just stopped. I recommend the author creates a new ending. Then it would fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Carola Lovering for an advance copy of Bye, Baby in exchange for an honest review. Bye, Baby is told from Billy and Cass’s point of views and it also takes us between two periods of time. This is a great story that deals with the complexities of long term friendships and how time changes even the strongest friendships. The narrator did a great job hooking the listener into the story and kept me captivated throughout the entire story. I enjoyed how this one wrapped up even though it may not be everyone’s favorite ending. As always, I look forward to enjoying more of this authors work in the future. This one will be on shelves on March 5th, 2024!

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to listen to this arc! I liked the narrators and was happy with how everything transpired through the book. It was a nice read.

Loved this! It was believable and I could not stop listening. My biggest issue sometimes with a novel is getting over the “reality” of my own brain. If something seems too implausible I get pulled out of the story but this was the perfect balance! Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review!

The book starts out by giving you a taste of the ending- keeping the reader intrigued and curious throughout the book. The dual perspective allows the reader to explore the inner world of both main characters. You continually go back and forth between who you feel is the “victim.” The story walks you through a very relatable journey of childhood friendship and how life circumstances can bring you together and pull you apart. Billy has gone through significant trauma throughout her life and yearns for the relationship with the only constant person she’s had throughout her life. Cassie tries to create an identity that leaves the old version of herself where it belongs- in the past. The push/pull of the trauma bonded friendship makes for a heartbreaking journey of the loss of friendship and identity.

4.5 stars

Wow, I just couldn’t get enough of this book. This is the first book I’ve read by Carola Lovering and I will definitely be reading the books she’s already published prior to

. Billie and Cassie’s relationship evolves throughout this book. From early on in life, and into their 30’s. The timeline goes back and forth from present to past. And we get a view into just how their relationship changes over time. Billie just needs to feel wanted by someone and looks for it within Cassie, but Cassie is too busy worrying about herself and her image. As this relationship deteriorates, I began to dislike Cassie a little more each day, and really feel for Billie.

This book provoked a slew of emotions for me. I really connected with Billie and wanted all the good things for her.

If you like a book with a great twist and good vs bad, I think this may be the one for you. The writing was great and I loved the story. I didn’t want to put it down once I started it! I switched back and forth between the book and the audio. The narrators did a great job and the girl who did Cassie did a great job of personifying her personality.

***Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for an ARC copy in return for an honest review ***

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel.

A thriller, told in two timelines between best friends Billie and Cassie (as teenagers) and in the present where they have grown apart. A tragedy in the past, and now Cassie's baby missing for an evening, bring their friendship to a head.

Kudos to Carola Lovering for writing such dialogue and situations and were so visceral to the reader, I had a hard time being able to stomach parts of the novel.

I enjoyed the dual narration as well, bringing more depth to the story as Cassie and Billie.

What a wild ride - Carola Lovering's writing had me feeling like *I* was the one who had stolen a baby - several scenes had me feeling sick to my stomach in the best way.

A suspenseful and juicy character-driven drama that delves into the fraught relationship between two former best friends. One obsessed with the other to the point of insanity, and one who just wants to move on from her past now that she's gotten her dream life with a wealthy husband and baby. From reading other reviews this seems like an unpopular opinion, but I loved Cassie and found her to be more sympathetic than Billie - I just need her to figure out how to make her own morning French press. Side note, I loved the many mentions and descriptions of coffee in this book.

I wasn't crazy about the ending (Billie's in particular felt undeserved) and it seemed a little long - I think I could have done without some of the flashbacks, although I did enjoy the 90s nostalgia - Limited Too, Alanis Morissette, You've Got Mail!

This was my first read from Carola Lovering but definitely won't be my last! Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!

CW: Graphic sexual assault.

Not the thriller/mystery I was expecting but rather a story of a toxic friendship between childhood friends. The ending was predictable and there was not much suspense but it was still an entertaining read.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

Never having read anything by the author I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly this book drew me in from the first page. The main character, Billie, is kind, genuine and complex and because of many unresolved issues completely at the mercy of her former best friend Cassie who she seems to use as a gage for her own self-worth. Cassie on the other hand is exceedingly shallow which Billie sees glimpses of over the years but because of their complicated past fails to really embrace and accept until it's too late.
This book had me turning the pages wondering how Billie was going to resolve things and wondering at what point she would wake up to the idea that she is deserving of what she currently has and no longer needs to chase someone who obviously values status over friendship. It was a beautifully written story about the pain of losing someone who was once so close and the self-destruction involved when not being able to let go.

I really enjoy stories involving friendships and secrets and the circumstances that create them. This story is not so much a thriller as a examination of the psychology of the relationship between Cassie and Billie in the past and present. There is also the social media aspect and how that can play a part in our own brain chemistry and the way we interact with the world. The whole book is fascinating and the audiobook is expertly narrated by Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker.

This was an interesting read. Another one that I think I may have DNF if I wasn’t listening to it via audio. Dual POV and multiple timeline with some interesting twists thrown in. A story of friendships and those friendships dissolving. A woman who struggles to fit in and then does something unimaginable. But that unimaginable thing to me seemed so odd and quick that I just wasn’t sure how a whole story was written about it. Cassie is insufferable with her influencer ways and clearly only living for status. Billie is a trauma victim and simply trying to get her best friends attention. I finished and am still kind of asking myself what was the point.

Wow! What a compulsive listen.

What at first seems like a domestic thriller about a kidnapped baby ends up being a roller coaster ride about a decades-long, toxic female friendship.

The dual perspective narrators brought the contrasting characters to life in a way that drew me to two very unlikeable characters.

I would find reasons to put in my headphones to listen.

I was, however, surprised by the content re: sexual abuse, and therefore, this needs clear trigger warnings.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Raised by a single parent,a dad that doesn’t want anything to do with her….Her start wasn’t an easy one,but just when you think that she’s got it all together she does something crazy.
This book was full of twists and turns! It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat!

This book was an incredible story of a life-long friendship that is toxic. Some ties need to be broken, but this story shows how hard that can be. Narrator was really good.

I LOVE Carola Lovering. I will truly read anything she writes and I’m just obsessed with her books. Nothing will ever top Tell Me Lies for me but I have always enjoyed each book she’s written.

Bye, Baby was another great read full of mystery, intrigue, pain and hope. There were two POVs and multiple timelines, so you really need to pay attention to what’s going on otherwise you’ll miss key moments happening in the present timeline.

I do feel like there’s one very small thing that never got resolved. Technically it did but I just assumed more would come from it?? So that’s a me issue but I wanted a bit more. I don’t love when endings of thrillers are tied up with a nice little bow, and this story was absolutely closed up so we didn’t have any more questions.

Read if you like:
🤔 thrillers where you don’t have to guess whodunit
🤞🏼 complicated friendships
🤳 social media
🎁 perfectly wrapped up endings

TW: there’s some pretty intense on-page rape scenes. Proceed with caution

A missing baby. A fraught friendship. A secret that can never be told.

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.

We all have friends we’ve grown apart from. What if you have a friend who just won’t let go? Billie and Cassie were best friends growing up until Cassie began pulling away and moving towards a different (rich) lifestyle. I found her to be very unlikeable, and left wondering why Billie just couldn’t move on.

Then you learn about their secret.

Billie tries so hard to keep her place in Cassie’s life. Then Billie finds herself in an impossible situation that left me wide eyed wondering how she was going to find her way out. Two friends who are toxic to each other - would make for a great book club discussion!

Billy and Kassie have a lot of history and time invested in their friendship, but inevitably as most adults do, they outgrow their friendship. Kassie is very superficial, and values status and wealth. Billy is more down to earth and values quality time & her career. But Billy has a hard time accepting that things will never be the way they used to be between the two, and does something that will rock both of their worlds.

Honestly, I feel let down. The dual timelines and dual POV’s were nice, but they didn’t come together as well as I felt they could have. The whole book was building and building to this one moment where we find everything out and then…nothing happens. What did I expect to happen? I have no idea, but it wasn’t that.

. Despite me as a reader feeling let down, I can appreciate the fact that there’s some fantastic writing here, and it might work for others. The characters felt very relatable, especially being written in a time where social media is everything. I really liked the narration! Karissa Vickers is a favorite of mine so I was excited to see her on this one.

⭐️4.25
Devoured Bye Baby in just two days.

Cassie and Billie are two childhood best friends who have grown apart. The story opens with Billie in horror, realizing that she has kidnapped Cassie’s baby daughter.

The only criticism I have is that I was expecting a thriller based on the synopsis.

Here’s what I loved:
-extremely suspenseful!
-very entertaining throughout
-pacing was perfection
-narrators Helen Laser and
Karissa Vacker are outstanding
-fabulous character development

Overall a very enjoyable read and had me researching this author to find her other novels.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication date: March 15, 2024