Bye Baby by Carola Lovering, 5 Stars

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.

Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be in their small Hudson Valley hometown. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind—including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. But Billie knows the worst thing Cassie has ever done, and she will do whatever it takes to restore their friendship…

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 Review:

I’m kinda in love with Carola Lovering’s books right now. First there was Tell Me Lies, which was made into a series by Hulu (with a few small changes of course). I can’t quite explain my obsession with this series. Except to say it really made me feel all the things I felt about relationships when I the characters’ ages (the good and the bad!) If you want to return to teen/early twenties angst, Lovering has created a time machine to do that!

Can’t Look Away brings all the past ex-boyfriend resurfaces vibes, and then if we throw it back to 2004 (of course I just read it after the other two), Too Good to Be True is also amazing cover to cover. Lovering just really gets love and desperation and co-dependent relationships so right!

So on to Bye, Baby. Again, she does it. This time the topic is best friends. Which if you’ve ever had one, you know that it can be complicated. Sometimes after being friends for so long, we can fall into unhealthy patterns with our friends. And they become almost like siblings, in that we love them unconditionally, even if we don’t always like them. Or even when we try to destroy their lives (on accident of course?).

I don’t want to give too much away, but Bye Baby is another masterfully written story that you don’t want to miss. I kinda see Emma Roberts playing Cassie in a future show, but maybe that’s just because of seeing her in AHS: Delicate as a mother figure.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s for an advanced readers copy of this one. It’s out March 5!