Bye, Baby

Billie and Cassie have been best friends since childhood, but as adults in New York they???ve grown apart. Or at least, Cassie has grown apart ??? Billie is determined to hold on to what is increasingly a one-sided friendship. For Cassie, her old friend doesn???t fit in with her new mommy-influencer lifestyle, rich husband and jet setting friends. But the two are forever bonded by a shared traumatic past, and Billie doesn't know how to exist without that friendship - she becomes increasingly obsessed with Cassie's life, and regaining what they once had.

My rating: 4 stars

I don???t want to give too much away, but I will say I was hooked in the first couple of pages. Lovering really sets the hook in immediately, and I just had to keep reading to find out how the characters get to this point. We get POV chapters from both women and the entire time I was reading this, I found myself relating to both of them, and also yelling in disbelief at both of them. Groaning as they made one awful, painful decision after another. Cassie???s obsession with social media, growing her audience, and letting them into her life to a disturbing degree was especially relatable. I???m new to bookstagram and I???m certainly not trying to become an influencer with an enormous audience, but I still see that pressure to regularly deliver content and how it could really ruin someone???s life and relationships. And hoo boy, do some relationships get ruined. This friendship is so incredibly toxic and co-dependent, the perfect breeding ground for disaster.

I don???t think I???d really classify this as a thriller, but it???s a story about how lies, obsessions and secrets can twist lives into knots. As for the ending, I feel like half of it was believable, and half of it wasn???t. And half of it was satisfying, and half wasn???t. I???ll let you decide for yourself which was which for me, but I recommend you read it for yourself and see what you think!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy!

I loved this book in the first part. The rich people drama and the flashbacks to childhood. Billie had a rough childhood and the chapters intertwining were written in a way that was leading up to a big twist or reveal. The synopsis says how a baby was stolen, but I was not expecting the baby to be given back in the very next chapter. Also once we reach part 2, it's like the backstory of killing Wade was just included to show Billie's upbringing, it had nothing to do with the story. I wanted either (or both) Billie to run away with Ella leading Cassie on a hunt OR during the investigation, they unearth that Cassie killed Wade all along. That would have made a much better story and connected the two timelines. Also the random inclusion of Alex, and how he just takes her back at the end?????Had so much potential and on track to a 5* but part 2 on ruined it for me. 

This book was the epitome of rich people problems, not that it's a bad thing, it just wasn't want I wanted from this book. I really enjoyed that one of the main characters had a lot of trauma and it made her who she is, but the other character was absolutely insufferable. It is always difficult to enjoy a book when one of the POVs is great and the other makes you want to rip your hair out, which is exactly how this book made me feel.... and don't get me started on the MEN in this book! I did have an entertaining time, which I guess is the point of most fiction novels, but I wasn't blown away by any means. I know there is an audience out there for this book and that they would LOVE how messy and annoying the characters are but I am simply not one of those people.






Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eBook copy to review on NetGalley