Bye, Baby
A Novel
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4.3 • 139 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A March 2024 Indie Next and LibraryReads Pick
"Powerful, relatable and crazily addictive, Bye, Baby takes an unflinching look at the battling forces of toxicity and love which define so many female friendships. I couldn't put it down." ––Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of Ghosted and The Love of My Life
Every friendship has its shadow...
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The mercurial dynamics of female friendship take center stage in this disappointing standalone from Lovering (Can't Look Away). Thirty-five-year-old travel consultant Billie West is devastated by her fraying bond with her childhood best friend, Cassie Adler. Though Billie makes regular attempts to mend their relationship, Cassie often ignores her, and blames her new roles as a social media influencer and mother to three-month-old Ella for the distance. When Cassie's husband, Grant, throws her a birthday party at their New York City penthouse, they have no idea an uninvited Billie is pet-sitting for her boss in the apartment downstairs. After hearing a baby scream upstairs, Billie climbs the fire escape to find Ella alone on the Adlers' terrace, and brings the baby into her boss's apartment. Soon enough, she hears sounds of panic from the floor above—and is pleasantly surprised to be the first person Cassie calls for help, leading her to consider whether Ella might be the bargaining chip she's needed all along. Toggling between Billie and Cassie's perspectives, Lovering doles out details that reveal the disturbing truth behind the women's estrangement. Though Lovering's stylish prose keeps things moving, she never generates convincing stakes for Cassie and Billie's fallout or reconciliation. Given the author's past successes, this is surprisingly limp.
Customer Reviews
So much wrong here.
So much wrong with this story, and I truly tried to like it, but fell short. Hard to review without giving away the storyline. Suffice it to say, my sense of right and wrong was strained by this book. All seemed to be right by the end, even that seemed wrong. Giving it a good rating, because it is my opinion only and some will love this, just not me.
Disappointing ending
Really hard ending to grasp given what Billie did. Cassie only asking for no further contact made sense given her prior role in Wade’s death. But Billie’s boyfriend being a cop and still accepting her despite what his girlfriend did is a little far fetched. Cassie was not a very believable character.
Loved it
A beautiful book about friendship, mistakes, trauma, desperation, joy. A page-turner as well as a very interesting character study. I related to and rooted for both main characters even as I disagreed with the complicated choices they made.