Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Bye, Baby

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

11 reviews

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is a fun, easy "thriller" read - one that has a mysterious overtone but nothing really shocking or twisty. Due to the multitimeline, dual perspective writing a lot of the twists are easy to see coming. While I really liked the book and couldn't put it down, it was hard to get past the fact that the core plot is centered around main characters who are oblivious and ignorant, and nothing would have happened if people just stopped to think. The writing was really fun and vivid though.

Major major warning for sexual assault/abuse. It's really prevalent and I don't think it was exactly needed to get the point across.

Content Warnings

sstewart89's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

kimkowalski's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I selected this as one of my Book of the Month selections.
"Bye, Baby" follows Billie and Cassie two women who were once the best of friends. They were nearly inseparable in high school, but in their adult years they started to lead very different lives and drifted apart. Cassie married a very wealthy man, has a budding presence online as a social media influencer, and has recently given birth to her beautiful daughter. In Cassie's eyes, Billie no longer fits into her world. Billie has made a modest name for herself, but she is still hurt that Cassie was so quick to cut her out of her life. One unfortunate night, Cassie's daughter goes missing, and Billie has to hide what really happened to the baby.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I do not think this book can fairly be classified as a "thriller/mystery", but I do think it is a great hard-hitting contemporary. The reader knows pretty much from the moment it happens what really happened to Cassie's baby, so there is no mystery. There is a plotline from the past that arguably could be deemed "mysterious", but it is more that the true story is drawn out over many chapters.
Billie's and Cassie's friendship I found so fascinating. I am enthralled by the idea that we are friends with people when we are young because of proximity, but as adults we learn how little we actually had in common with them. Billie's and Cassie's relationship is a little more toxic than the average person's (hopefully), but that is definitely part of why it read so interestingly.
I was very pleased with the resolution of this story. I think Billie's and Cassie's friendship came full circle, and I really loved seeing both of them move forward following the kidnapping.
Once I got into this story, I could not put it down. It felt so relatable, and I felt so connected to both Billie and Cassie for different reasons.
I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to reading more from Carola Lovering in the future.

Content Warnings

arireadsitall's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

To some of this book in one word, it would be chaos. I loved that the title of the book has more than one implication within the story, and I think that that is just brilliant. The dual point of views/timelines really set the scene for how this book comes to be. The friendship between the two main characters and how broken it is, is the central point, and to be honest I don’t know how their friendship lasted as long as it did. it was built one of the characters being stronger than the other, and this protection and lie that they had. In my opinion, there’s too many characters and the side characters don’t add to the story. That being said are too many characters are very messy and have a lot of trauma. The backstory of Billie actually destroyed me, and I had to stop reading at one point because I was so sick to my stomach.

Content Warnings

rowanhill's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Features:

-Explores themes of toxic friendship, trauma bonding, motherhood, and growing apart.

-Starts at the climax

-Complicated characters coming to terms with their choices

-Multiple character perspectives

Billie and Cassie have always been inseparable…until they weren’t. This book about two women growing apart had me captivated from the start. Though there was definitely plenty of tension that kept me turning the pages, it is not really a true ‘thriller’ in my book. The main focus, and certainly the thing that I cared most about, is the past and present relationship of Billie and Cassie. In exploring this fraught friendship, Lovering covers many themes such as the decision to be a mother or not, dealing with trauma, socioeconomic status, the realities of being an influencer, and so much more. Not all of the ideas introduced are fully explored, but I loved having them there to add nuance and complexity to the characters and their relationship to one another. Ultimately, this is a book that I absolutely devoured and definitely recommend to readers who like stories focused on complicated relationships.

A relatable experience despite unrelatable circumstances

Though I found Billie and Cassie difficult to like as people, there are also things about both their experiences that I found extremely relatable. I think most of us have experienced growing apart from someone we were close to growing up. Though Billie’s fixation on her dwindling friendship with Cassie makes everything feel more sudden and extreme, Lovering does a good job conveying the parts of their relationship that will ultimately pull them apart from the very start. I am not a fan of Cassie, but I know people who have made a similar decision to leave their past, and the people in it, behind. Whether I agree with her particular choices or not, her overall desire to reinvent herself is something that I find myself sympathizing with.

Many of the other themes that Lovering explores through these characters I found very real as well. However, the more extreme actions, thoughts, and choices of Billie and Cassie that create extra tension also makes them less relatable. Despite being fully invested in the book, it took me quite a while to stop actively disliking these characters and allow myself to recognize the things that had been keeping me invested in their story. Once I did, I found a lot of beautiful work to like.

A little too ‘on the nose’ at times

This book explores a lot of different themes while the characters try to navigate their relationships and challenges life throws their way. In order to fit everything in and add additional drama, a number of elements are oversimplified and/or exaggerated. As a result, it is easy to miss the more subtle work that makes the characters and situation more nuanced and interesting. I am not someone who feels that every single thread introduced needs to be fully explored. However, there are definitely some that seem to have been added purely for dramatic effect and others that could have led to interesting development but ultimately get ignored in favor of a more straightforward presentation. Ultimately, the desire to make this feel like a thriller undermined its potential as a character novel and so it gets caught somewhere in between. Obviously, this didn’t prevent me from rating the book highly, but it does make it less than a perfect read.

Content Warnings

daniellereadslikealot_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When Cassie and Billie were teenagers, they were each other’s person. Now, as women in their thirties, Cassie is a micro influencer with a baby and a wealthy husband while Billie is happily childfree and traveling the world for her job and their friendship is hanging on by a thread, mostly for Billie. But when Cassie receives a strange message about something that happened in their teenage years and her infant daughter goes missing from her home, she realizes she needs Billie. However, Billie has a secret of her own. I love books that look deep into complicated female friendships and this one did it so well. I absolutely got frustrated with both Billie and Cassie in different ways, but with dual POVs plus flashbacks of their teenage years, I started to understand their behavior a little bit better. It’s not a thriller so much as a domestic suspense with social commentary on motherhood, friendship and trauma, but I didn’t mind that at all. I did think the ending was a little abrupt, but it did make sense for the story. One thing I really loved was how the book really emphasized that it is 100% okay for women to not want to be mothers. I highly recommend this one to anyone who loves reading about complicated women and friendships.

CW: sexual harassment, sexual abuse, murder, child abduction, death of a parent, Alzheimer’s disease

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

kimwritesstuff's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I'm beginning to think thrillers maybe just aren't for me. Or maybe I'm just really not vibing with these authors. This is another book where I just really don't like most of the characters.

The book starts with Billie having just "kidnapped" Cassie's baby. The book then moves on to tell the tale from the beginning with Billie and Cassie both narrating. There are also passages from the past that are interspersed throughout that inform Cassie's and Billie's friendship from the past.

Y'all, this book is so messy to me. Let's start by saying this: Cassie is almost never a good friend to Billie. She consistently alienates her from other people much like an abusive partner. Cassie is always vapid, and every action she takes is in her own self-interest. She takes no time to understand Billie's emotions or desires. When Billie is honest about not wanting to have kids, Cassie is not only not supportive but essentially cuts Billie out of her life because she has a baby and rich friends. Billie experiences real trauma in her life, and while Cassie does step up, she never seems to actually help Billie process.

As adults, Cassie is happy to just push Billie out of the picture. Billie isn't rich, doesn't come from old money, and isn't a mom. I get that part of the book is to show that friendships run courses and what toxic friendships look like, but I just didn't find that Cassie had a single redeeming quality. Not that Billie was a saint, but I just hated the dichotomy. It reminds me of 90s movies where the hot jock (Cassie) elevates the nerd girl (Billie) by taking her ponytail down and removing her glasses. I just didn't like it.

And finally, the crux of the story, the kidnapping. THIS IS A SPOILER. STOP READING.

Billie's boss/close friend Jane buys a new apartment that happens to be under Cassie's apartment. Jane goes out of town and asks Billie to feed her cat. When Billie arrives to feed the cat, she realizes Cassie is having a birthday party that Billie wasn't invited to. Billie is furious and hurt. While on the terrace, she can hear a child fussing. She comes to realize that Cassie and her husband have left THEIR NEWBORN BABY on the terrace in a stroller/bassinet ALONE. This baby is outside in October in New York City, SCREAMING. There is no monitor out there and a raging party full of drunk adults.

While Billie's motivation for climbing a fire escape to help the screaming baby that has been left alone is anger, she's not wrong for doing it. After the "kidnapping" and the cops are called, Billie quickly realizes how big of a mistake she made. She returns the baby at like 2 am after the cops and guests have left. The rest of the story deals with the aftermath of her actions and of course the ensuing blowback.

Here's my biggest issue with this plot. At no point does anyone reprimand Cassie and Grant. No social services are involved, none of their friends say anything, the cops don't question why a NEWBORN was on a penthouse terrace alone for God knows how long. Even Billie doesn't bring this up when her and Cassie finally end their friendship. Like Billie was mostly wrong, but Cassie and Grant put their baby in an incredibly dangerous situation and it is never discussed.

This book was an easy, quick read, but the characters weren't great, and I just didn't love the main plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Content Warnings

kelsey24's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I won this in a Good Reads Giveaway. I was hooked from page one and devoured this book. I will say I had second hand embarrassment and dread for the final 'confrontation', but it ended up not being too awful. The character growth was great, even though pretty much all of them are awful, self-absorbed people.

Content Warnings

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...