this book is somewhere around a 4 to 4.5 star rating! i think i have to sit with it a bit longer to solidify my rating, but i can confidently say that i loved my experience reading this book!

this book definitely more of a drama than a thriller, but i feel like it’s not trying to be a thriller but more of an examination of the two characters’ lives. there’s sort of a mystery/thriller element for part of the book, but i would not classify this as a thriller. this is just a heads up, because i don’t want people to go into this book thinking they’re going to get a fast-paced thriller.

however, it is a well-executed character study of two women bonded by a deep secret. this book features two points of views, Cassie and Billie, in a past timeline and present timeline. the timeline was well-executed, and the audiobook narrators did a fantastic job distinguishing each woman’s voice. both characters were well fleshed out and felt like such real people. you get an understanding of the troubles each woman went through in the past or present, and both sympathize yet question the characters. they’re both flawed in their own ways, and their backstories gave us a full understanding of the characters’ motivations. there were times where i was rooting for the characters and other times where i was conflicted about them. if you liked the aspect of two women’s flawed lives coming together in None of This is True, i would recommend this (even though i’d label that book a thriller, unlike this one)

the characterization in this book is excellent and is what drives the story. it’s not plot-heavy, but also didn’t feel slow to me because i was curious how things would pan out. there is some VERY dark content in this book that i wasn’t expecting (i don’t really get triggered by things in books but some parts were hard to listen to). big TW for SA of a minor.

the audiobook was really well done and i would recommend listening to it. i would recommend this book if you like:
- complex, flawed characters
- character-driven books
- commentary on motherhood
- toxic female friendships
- new york city settings

Bye, Baby releases March 5, 2024. thank you to Macmillan Audio, Carola Lovering, and Netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This really isn’t a mystery — in the very first pages you find out that Billie, once the teenaged bestie of Cassie (bonded together by a long ago awful secret), has crashed her former and now very successful best friend’s 35th birthday and kidnapped her 4 month old daughter. To return her 3 hours later. The story then alternates between POVs to let us know why this happened and reveal what bonded and then unbounded them. More like dark women’s fiction about a toxic friendship.

I was unsure who to like or dislike and I definitely was not engaged in rooting for the relationship to be healed after the kidnapping occurred, although author Lovering gives great depth to her characters through the flashbacks. A better understanding was helped by narrators Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker, whose voices let me interpret the differences between the characters (who seemed flat when I was reading the book). The story was not my cup of tea at the moment, but it could be interesting to readers who like to dissect longtime friendships gone bad 3.5 stars.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Alex has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Not beyond Cassie’s wild dream of losing Ella in wildflowers.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced ebook and audio copies in exchange for an honest review!

Bye, Baby is a story about the evolution of friendship. Billie and Cassie have been friends for over 20 years and in Bye, Baby, both main characters tell us the story of their friendship. The book gives us each characters perspective from different points in time. This helps weave together how their relationship has changed and why it is where it is when the book opens.

I enjoyed the book and the suspense that it brought. At first, I THOUGHT I had an idea of how it was going...but I was wrong and I was glad it wasn't what I was personally predicting. The book was engaging and entertaining. I listened to the audio version of the book and appreciate that the two main characters were read by 2 different actresses. It was a pleasure to listen to.

This book deals with friendship, motherhood, secrets, relationships, molestation, and Alzheimer's. Be aware of this if these may be triggering to you.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital review copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

I loved this sorry! It follows 2 female best friends who encounter ups and downs from their teenage years into adulthood. One character is very likable, while the other you will most likely not care for. ☹️😆

While growing up, Billie and Cassie are close and inseparable, but as they mature Cassie pulls from Billie. Billie becomes almost non-existent in Cassies’s life, as Cassie’s goal is to marry rich and be amongst her new wealthy friends.

Billie yearns to have her old friend back, as basically her only connection to her is watching Cassie through her influencer page on Instagram. Billie soon gets her wish when one night something traumatizing happens to Cassie and suddenly Billie is the ONLY one Cassie wants around…. But Billie is hiding something. Something that will definitely turn Cassie away from her forever.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a bit longer than I felt it should have been but I still enjoyed it. I looked forward to listening to it daily!

***SPOILER: My only complaint is Cassie not getting what should’ve been coming to her. To find out that her husband is a cheat and for Billie to be done with HER! Not the other way around. 😤I hope Lovering writes a second book where Cassie’s world comes crashing down! (I couldn’t staaaaannd Cassie Can you tell?)

This was an exciting and engaging read start to finish. It explores the different layers of female friendship especially the kind you grow up with. The plot revolves around two childhood friends Billie and Cassie, who have both grown apart in the recent years, and how this change in their relationship has affected them. Its a beautiful piece of women fiction and how relationships change as we grow mature. The dynamic between Billie and Cassie reminds you of how we grow into different people as we move through life and how challenging or easy these changes in relationships/friendships can be for different people.
The story starts with the kidnapping of Cassie's baby by Billie and the plot develops as we move through the dual povs and jump back and forth through multiple timelines to see Cassie and Billie's friendship evolve and dissolve over time.

Overall, this was a great read and kept me entertained. It keeps you engaged to see how the story unfolds and what will come of their friendship in the end. My only issue with the book was that the ending left me wanting something more, a better resolution, a greater sense of resolve.
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this quick read.

My rating is 3.5 rounded up to 4.

Thank you Netgalley & St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the digital ARC and audiobook to review in exchange for my honest review and comments.

I enjoyed listening to this story. I did not want to put it down! The narrators did an excellent job and the author wrote an interesting story. I wouldn't classify this as a mystery or thriller, really. There wasn't as many "twists" as I thought there would be. I had a love/hate relationship with the main characters because of the author's ability to show us why they are who they are. I could relate to both at different times. Unhealthy relationships are a main theme in this book. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Carola Lovering takes on toxic friendship! The premise here is great and she does a good job of distinguishing the voices of Billie and Cassie. I liked the backstory and their history, particularly learning Cassie’s villain origin story. The tension ramps up higher and higher but eventually the ending fell flat for me—I wanted more craziness, more toxicity! The mom stuff and namedropping in Cassie’s chapters was also a LOT (I get that this was sort of the point but I did find myself skimming).

I went into this book blindly and it wasn’t at all what I expected. I was expecting this to be a suspense/thriller book based on the title and synopsis but it was actually about a life-long friendship that becomes toxic over the years.

Cassie and Billie are two childhood friends who are forever bonded by their past. As they got older and their lives went in separate directions, they eventually drifted apart. Billie was still holding on to the love she has for Cassie, while Cassie had moved on from their friendship. When an event occurs, leaving Cassie ruined, the only person she wants by her side is Billie.

The author did a great job with building the characters and engrossing the readers in their lives. I really enjoyed this book and the way each character made me feel different emotions towards them.

This book is a very quick read. I finished it in less than 24 hours and would definitely recommend it to others. However, I would recommend not expecting what the synopsis describes the book to be. It comes out on March 5th for those who are interested

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC. This was my first read by this author and I can say I enjoyed listening to it. Both narrators did an excellent job, although I didn’t care for either of the main characters. I found the story easy to follow even with dual narrators and timelines.

All and all, I’d say this read like a popcorn thriller but the ending fell flat for me. I would read more from this author in the future, I enjoyed her writing style.

One word, obsessed. I'm obsessed with the authours storytelling, I'm obsessed with the book, and I'm obsessed with the narrator and how she brought the book to life!

A tale of two best friends that have drifted apart because of life and circumstances. What happens one night will bring them back together, but for how long. I listened to the audio version, and I couldn't stop listening. She was fantastic!

Thank you, Carola Lovering, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley, for an audiobook version of this book in return for an honest review.

Despite the fact that I wanted to scream in frustration at the end of this book - this will still get a good rating from me.

Bye, Baby is a binge-worthy, multi-perspective, story about two friends. I wouldn't describe this as a thriller, but I was so gripped by wanting to see how this would all turn out that it was really hard to put down. The main storyline takes place over a few months with flashbacks going back a few years. Carola Lovering does a great job at writing characters you absolutely love to hate. One of these characters makes a terrible choice, and another is a terrible person. Although this book is so different from Tell Me Lies, I find similarities in the relationship dynamics between the two friends in this book. I also think an additional 'character' in this book is social media and some of the insights about exposure are really relevant.

This was a fun immersive story that will frustrate readers in the best way.

This was a good one! I like the dramatic side of that story and trying to find out where it was headed.

4.5 Stars!

Cassie and Billie were best friends in high school, but as they got older, Cassie drifted away and into another life. Billie and Cassie have a secret that bonds them for life and Billie can't let Cassie go. She obsessively follows Cassie's life on Instagram and makes every effort to stay connected to her.
When Billie discovers that she hasn't been invited to Cassie's birthday party, she does something that she knows will get Cassie's attention. Cassie invites Billie back into her life, but when the truth comes out - will they stay friends or will it sever the relationship for good?

This book was excellent! It was a story of obsession and took a deep dive into the dynamics of complex female friendships. I am a huge Carola Lovering fan and she's not disappointed me with this one!

I listened to the audio version and the narration was great too. Definitely an all-around winner!

thank you MacMillan for the review copy of Bye, Baby! I requested this based on some early reviews from some trusted book reviewer friends and it did deliver some solid suspense. I love stories that explore complicated, and messy, female friendship themes and Lovering does this so well in this layered story where pieces of the plot and puzzle are revealed in ways that kept me engaged, not sure who was the "bad guy" . The plot resonates with emotions as well, clearly anything to do with a kidnapping and motherhood is going to pull at emotions and the past timeline is filled with themes related to Alzheimer's and complicated decisions, actions, and challenges to what friendship is, can/should it persist into adulthood, and how the past can become present.

This is my first book by Lovering, and it did not disappoint. I loved that it was a two person POV book, and also had flashbacks so that you could understand the whole picture. There were some point where the flashbacks got a little confusing as to remembering the time period they were in.

It is a story about friendship, and how things can change as we grow older, and sometimes those friendships grow apart.

The story follows Cassie and Billie, who were once best friends and always together, to becoming adults and rarely getting an answered text. They had been very close for years, but when something happens while they were teenagers, they formed a closer trauma bond. As they got older, and Cassie found her husband, that bond wasn't enough to keep their friendship close, until one night when Cassie turns to needing Billie rather than anyone else she has in her life.

Bye, Baby puts you through a lot of emotions, and has you really feeling for the characters, especially Billie.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Carola Lovering for the copy of this audio for an honest review.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering
Pub date: March 5, 2024
Narrated by: Karissa Vacker & Helen Laser
Duration: 11H 24M

Billie is 35 years old, fairly comfortable in her profession and not so comfortably single. Her once best friend Cassie is living the dream; married to a wealthy man, a new baby and a whole new set of perfect shiny friends. Billie feels put on the back burner and somehow, just not fitting in to Cassie’s new life – instead, she obsessively watches Cassie’s Instagram to see what she’s up to and who she’s hanging out with. This leads to nowhere good for Billie until one night after just one more slight from Cassie, she finds herself with Cassie’s baby.

Told by both women in the past and the present, it offers a perfectly blended narrative; giving the reader a good idea of how the women got to where they are. The trauma of friendship that ends or becomes toxic is perfectly illustrated in gritty detail along with the painful drama of gossip and mean girl behavior.

While there’s a lot of gossip and drama in Bye, Baby, it’s not without a more serious focus on sexual abuse, dementia, grief and loss. I think these issues were handled beautifully by the author while still shining a light on their grim reality. My own husband has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in May and it means something to see it represented accurately. Another focus is the influencer life – the onscreen perfection and then the gritty reality. Again, I think there’s a lot more depth than I can cover in my review without giving a lot of the plot away but I’d urge any fan of Carola Lovering or the above genres to read this one!

Narration: Karissa Vacker and Helen Laser hit this one out of the park. Both complimenting the other and moving this story forward beautifully. Well done, ladies, and bravo!

My thanks to both @MacMillan.Audio and @StMartinsPress for these gifted copies to review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Billie and Cassie have been friends since they met in high school..They were always there for each other in the good and bad times. Billie had a tough life at home and when her mom develops early Alzheimers things get much more difficult at home with Billie and her deadbeat stepfather. On a night when Billie needs Cassie more than ever, she steps up and together the girls will keep a secret for the rest of their lives. As the girls continue to move on Cassie gets married to a wealthy socialite and has a baby. Cassie's life is much more different than it was back in her high school days and as she continues to make friends with the elite crowd the more and more Billie is pushed out of Cassie's life. Then one night Billie hears the gut wrenching screams coming from Cassie's apartment and the only person Cassie wants to see during this horrible ordeal is Billie.....Enjoy!!!

Just how much CAN your oldest friendship sustain? Carola Lovering has the reader trying to figure this out and so much more. Who is the villian? Who are you pulling for? Can you handle it if they both turn out to be the same answer? This was a wild adventure through teen turned adult friendships. This book was full of relationships I hope never to have but was a book that I was glad I did.

#netgalley #byebaby

I could not put this book down. If you’ve read (and devoured) Tell Me Lies, gear up for the toxic friendship version. Two friends grow apart and become very different women in their mid thirties in NYC - their paths are defined by those around them, and their circles have also taken wildly different forms from the time they became friends as young teens. Lovering explores a number of issues including sexual abuse, motherhood, classism, Alzheimer’s disease, and more, which felt heavy at times but drove the severity of the narrative forward. This book will be on my mind for a long time…

I feel like this was greatly paced and kept you guessing and engaged almost the entire book but the ending fell flat for me. I cannot pinpoint what exactly, but i felt like it ended so abruptly and she got off "too easy" and just continued on with her life even though i understand why it ended that way. However i did enjoy everything else about this book and gave it 4 stars for me!