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Book Summary and Reviews of Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering

Can't Look Away by Carola Lovering

Can't Look Away

A Novel

by Carola Lovering

  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2022, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the author of Tell Me Lies and Too Good to Be True comes Carola Lovering's Can't Look Away, a sexy suspense novel about the kind of addictive, obsessive love that keeps you coming back––no matter how hard you try to look away.

In 2013, twenty-three-year old Molly Diamond is a barista, dreaming of becoming a writer. One night at a concert in Brooklyn, she locks eyes with the lead singer, Jake Danner, and can't look away. Molly and Jake fall quickly and deeply in love, especially after he writes a hit song about her that puts his band on the map.

Nearly a decade later, Molly has given up writing and is living in Flynn Cove, Connecticut with her young daughter and her husband Hunter―who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Their life looks picture-perfect, but Molly is lonely; she feels out of place with the other women in their wealthy suburb, and is struggling to conceive their second child. When Sabrina, a newcomer in town, walks into the yoga studio where Molly teaches and confesses her own fertility struggles, Molly believes she's finally found a friend.

But Sabrina has her own reasons for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly. And as Sabrina's secrets are slowly unspooled, her connection to Molly becomes clearer––as do secrets of Molly's own, which she's worked hard to keep buried.

Meanwhile, a new version of Jake's hit song is on the radio, forcing Molly to confront her past and ask the ultimate questions: What happens when life turns out nothing like we thought it would, when we were young and dreaming big? Does growing up mean choosing with your head, rather than your heart? And do we ever truly get over our first love?

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Weaving together several distinct timelines...Lovering unspools a taut, twisty, humdinger of a plot that encompasses the vagaries of true friendship as well as those of true love. A slow-burning literary tease that plumbs the heights and depths of young love, creative ambitions, friendship, and betrayal." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[G]ripping...Lovering's nuanced characterizations and interweaving of different voices and timelines add depth to her story of obsession. Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will enjoy this one." - Publishers Weekly

"Carola Lovering delivers another winner with Can't Look Away, a propulsive page-turner about young love and second chances. You won't be able to put this down." - Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

"Sexy and tense, Carola Lovering's Can't Look Away is the kind of book meant for an all-night binge read. Obsession in all its forms tangles with ideas of first love, frenemies, and that most haunting of questions-–What if?–– to create an especially sophisticated and complex thriller." – Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs

"Get ready for rock and roll, heady nights, and the sting of unrequited love that marinates into a dangerous obsession. Can't Look Away is part love story, part domestic suspense, and Lovering weaves her characters tighter and tighter until the tension is ready to snap. You won't want to put this one down!" - Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight

This information about Can't Look Away was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Carola Lovering

Carola Lovering is the author of Tell Me Lies, and her work has appeared in W Magazine, National Geographic, Outside, and Yoga Journal, among other publications. She graduated from Colorado College and currently lives in Connecticut with her family.

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