CAN'T LOOK AWAY

SYNOPSIS

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?

Title: Can't look away

Author: Carola Lovering

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication date: June 14, 2022

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐💫

Nothing annoys me more that when a book is marketed as something it is not. Did the person who decided to market “Can’t look away” as a mystery/thriller really read the book? Let me tell you this is not a mystery/thriller at all, not even a domestic suspense. It is a domestic drama with some soap opera vibes that stretched quite a lot for a such a thin plot.

2013: When Molly meets Jake Danner, lead singer of a up-and-coming band, she can’t look away, falling madly in love with each other.

2022: Now, Molly is living with his husband Hunter and her daughter in Flynn Cove, a wealthy suburb. She feels out of place until Sabrina, a newcomer, arrives to town and finally she feels like she can click with someone but, are Sabrina’s reasons to move to Flynn Cove and befriend her as honest as Molly believes?

At first I enjoyed this. The past and present back and forth implied some juicy secret would be coming out sooner or later but, what was my surprise when they never came. What you see is what you get and there was not a single twist that made me say…”oh, things are getting interesting! Can’t wait to see how this unfolds”.

It was basically the story of a jilted woman that, once again, misplaces her anger on the new woman (whom is not to blame), instead of focusing that anger on the one person that had a commitment with her. I must say I found this whole thing pretty frustrating. Also, the story seemed to drag quite a bit, repeating the same patterns again and again.

I was hoping for at least a firework ending but it was merely a firecracker one. Yes, there was a revelation, but it was done in a pretty lackluster way, and some actions were left unpunished, and I’m not really sure how believable that was.

The writing was good and the narrators in the audiobook version managed to hold my interest with their performances even though the general story was a bit lacking. I loved Ms. Lovering’s Too Good To Be True so, despite Can’t Look Away made my eyes stray more than I would have liked, I’ll still give her next book a chance.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.