This book was so beautifully written. It was unexpected and exactly what I was looking for- thrilling! A very exciting and unique story.

In this psychological thriller, one woman’s quest for love spirals into a chilling tale of obsession and revenge. "Clair Darling" grips you from the start with its portrayal of Claire, who, after being inexplicably ghosted by her fiancé, Noah, uncovers a life-shattering truth. Her surprise visit with an anniversary lunch in hand turns into a bewildering discovery—Noah doesn’t work where he claimed, living a double life with another woman.

As Claire’s texts go unanswered and Noah remains elusive, her journey to reclaim her dream life transforms into a dark path of obsession. The narrative expertly delves into Claire's troubled past, revealing the deep scars left by a manipulative mother, which complicates her desperate attempts to find love and affirmation.

The plot thickens as Claire's pursuit leads her down a rabbit hole of deception and into the murky waters of her psyche. The author masterfully builds suspense, weaving a complex tapestry of relationships and past trauma, culminating in an ending that will leave readers questioning every twist. Was the surprise ending truly a shock, or was it inevitable given the web of lies entangling Claire’s life?
Utterly engrossing, 'Clair Darling' is a compelling read for anyone fascinated by the depths of the human heart and the dark turns love can take when mixed with betrayal and vengeance

This was a good read! Although the ending isn’t quite what I was expecting.

Claire and her recent fiance Noah are coming up to their anniversary and Claire wants to bring Noah lunch at work. Only when she gets there she is told that Noah does not work there. She tries getting ahold of him and he doesn’t respond or answer back. So where’s Noah who gets up every day to go to work? And why isn’t he answering or responding?

Pros
Keeps you hooked and wanting to know more
Themes can be related to
Very descriptive, makes you feel like you are there

Cons
Felt left with questions
Some characters weren’t fully developed

Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book!

Wow! I am absolutely blown away by this book. Once I started, it was impossible to put down.

Claire, Darling begins with lunch between coworkers, and a sweet gesture of dropping off lunch to Claire’s fiancé. When Claire arrives at her fiancé’s office building, she’s shocked to find out he no longer works there. Once her shock subsides, she attempts to locate her lost fiancé, only to find out he’s avoiding her. After doing some investigating, she learns there are even more secrets he is hiding. Has their entire relationship been a lie? Will she be able to uncover the truth?

Claire, Darling touches on so many difficult topics including narcissism, abuse, and mental health disorders. Living through Claire’s childhood memories were raw and thought provoking. Reflecting the past to the current situation Claire was going through, allowed the story to come full circle in the end. This book had me captivated through the end of the epilogue.

Review will be posted on instagram (@pageswithkels) closer to publication date!

Claire thought she had it all. A decent job, a friend Suki and Noah. Noah is Claire’s fiancé and they are planning a life together. At least that’s Claire thought. Until it came crashing down around her.
With Noah working so hard Claire decides to bring him some dinner. When Claire and Suki arrive at Noah’s workplace, Claire find out that Noah doesn’t work. She tries to call and call him no answer what can be going on. Why didn’t he tell her that he changed jobs? Well, things go from there to worse with Claire and Noah. Noah seems to be ghosting. Claire class starts to find out what is going on with him by checking social media and running her own investigation. Not everything Claire about Noah Claire feeling very, very upset and many questions need to be answered.
Claire is not giving up and starts finding out that Noah isn’t the knight and shining armor that she thought he was. He’s turning out to be just like all of the boys that she knew in high school who tortured her and made fun of her. Memories from my childhood come back to haunt Claire. She still wants to know what she did to turn her away and then she finds Lilah. How could this be when Noah is supposed to be engaged to her?
I really feel terrible for Claire. She had a horrible childhood. Her mother couldn’t stand her. She thought she found someone who really loved her. She sees that this is just a lie. Yet class still wants to know what did I do? Why is now being the way he is? We do find out. The kind of person Noah really is. While finding out about Noah, you really start feeling sorry for Claire. It seems like the perfect world. She thought she lived in. It crumbling around her.
As a debut novel, I thought this was really well written, great characters and I really felt bad for Claire. I had to find out why Noah turned her life upside down. I was very surprised at the twist at the end one I did not expect. That’s one reason I really like this novel the unexpected. I would highly recommend anyone to read this book. I think many people would enjoy it.
So thank you NetGalley,Random Publishing House ,Ballantine for the ARC. THANK YOU Callie Kazumi for a well written debut novel. I look forward to more from her.

Impressive debut! I was glued to these pages wondering what was actually happening.

Claire wants to deliver lunch to her very busy fiancée who works in finance. But when she arrives at his fancy office, he is not only NOT there….he hasn’t worked in that office for months. From there we follow Claire and her best friend, Sukhi, on a mission to solve the mystery life of Claire’s fiancée, Noah.

I really loved this story; I thought the characterization and plot line were solid. I couldn’t put this down because I NEEDED to know what Noah was up to and if Claire was going to get her fairy tale ending. While this story is not brand new, it is twisty and highly entertaining. This is an author to watch!

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on March 11, 2025

This is definitely the book for anyone who likes unreliable narrators! Claire's character was so great, and I loved the sense of slowly mounting unease surrounding Claire's relationship. Still not quite sure what the reality of the situation was at the end! I finished it one sitting!

Whewwww this book took me through it like Claire darling wake up lol like he played straight in her face but I understand because her childhood was not so great so she was looking for the love this book was an absolute page turner and I will be writing a review the day it’s released people need to read this book!!!! So good

Poor Claire. She goes to her fiancés work to bring him lunch only to find he doesn’t actually work there, that he hasn’t for months. And after a bit of detective work she finds his new employer only to be told there he’s written her off as a stalker. This is the man whose ring she wore, the man she lived with, the man she was renovating a house with to move in after they were married. And adding insult to injury she eventually finds he’s been deeply involved with another woman since before he met her. So what’s a girl to do? Well Claire goes somewhat off the edge but her journey is captivating. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the ‘surprise twist’ at the very end. That seems to be a trend in books lately and I think it detracts overall. Otherwise I liked it.

Wow, I absolutely loved this book! One afternoon, Claire chooses to surprise her fiancé Noah at work with some lunch, only to discover he hasn't worked for that company in months. What follows is a whirlwind of secrets and lies, and Claire doing whatever she deems necessary to get the answers she needs. The dreadful descent to the plot twist (which I never saw coming) sucked me in, and once I reached the 30% mark I couldn't put it down. Usually I prefer when stories are wrapped up nicely with a neat little bow, but my one wish would be that there was one last twist at the end to make the reader keep guessing which parts of the story actually happened. Other than that, this was such a great read that I highly recommend. What a way to make a debut!

The writing in this thriller unfortunately felt rather uninspired. Beginning with a prologue that could go at the front of a dozen other stories I've read in the last year; then straight into diary entry interludes that carry their own baggage. When I got to the second half, I was expecting a big twist that didn't play out nearly the way I had expected; turns out I'd imagined a much more interesting story that never emerged. 2.5 stars.

Title: Claire, Darling
Author: Callie Kazumi (Debut Author)
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Bantam
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: March 11, 2025
My Rating: 3.6 Rounded up
Pages 288

Story starts with Claire Arundale and Noah Coors celebrating their one year together. Claire planned a delicious dinner with Noah’s favorites ~Steak and Jaffa cakes (Since I didn’t know what Jaffa cakes are -I looked them – I still don’t know!). The evening was romantic and Claire felt it was a very special night and Noah was wonderful. He said his next was full and would be skipping lunch
Claire is surprising Noah at his office with a day after their anniversary lunch
—only to find he hasn’t worked there for three months.
Yikes!
Claire has had a rough childhood abandoned by her father and raised by an abusive mother however she has finally found happiness with a job she likes that included a great office friend Sukhi and she thought she had a wonderful supportive fiancé,

With Sukhi’s help they discover Noah does have a job with another company and what is worse is that he has another life! He is dating a beautiful woman Lilah Andersson who is beautiful and someone he tool to the Office Christmas Party. Noah’s work colleagues all know about Lilah but they don’t know about Claire.
Since Claire had such a terrible childhood, and we witness via flashbacks throughout the story, I also had concerns that this was all her imagination. Yet out author throws us some bread crumbs to make us consider that Claire is such a trusting woman she was taken advantage of.

Claire does confront Lilah at her home –in doing so she falls and hits her head. Now Claire is on trial for murdering Lilah.

I love good courtroom drama so I was glued.
A fast read that had me using all my armchair psychological thriller skills!

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Bantam for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 25, 2025.

An absolute delight! I loved not only the pacing of the story, but the telling of it as well. From start to end, I was given an adventure!

What a good debut!! This is a page turner that has you second guessing everything. Unreliable narrator made for a fun read I couldn’t put down!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my opinion. I believe this is meant to be a thriller but honestly, it left me very confused. Noah and Claire seem to have a very great relationship until it isn't. Is this a case of an unreliable narrator or are their liars amongst the relationship? You will be questioning the reality throughout. 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this debut novel/psychological thriller. Claire is your classic unreliable narrator. I find it a little frustrating that I didn’t have all the details throughout the book but they gradually surfaced and it made for a very readable story. The ending was unexpected but not surprising. Overall, a good thriller.

I would call this a psychological thriller, impressive for a debut novel. It's the story of Claire, who is engaged to Noah and is finally happy after growing up with an abusive mother. Noah is every woman's dream husband-handsome, attentive, and employed. One day Claire decides to surprise Noah at work with lunch, and finds out he doesn't work there, and he hasn't for months. Egged on by her friend Suki, she will not be ignored, and starts investigating Noah and why he hasn't been returning her calls. How could her fiance ghost her? And is he now with someone else? The more Claire digs into what's going on, the dire her circumstances get until it results in death and then you start finding out what really happened towards the last 3rd of the book. The author keeps us the tension and the pacing is good. I appreciate any book that is under 300 pages. I kept reading just to find out what possible explanation Noah could have for his behavior. When all is revealed, I was a bit let down. I was hoping for a more shocking conclusion, but this still was a good surprise. You feel bad for Claire throughout the book but wish she'd get a backbone and lash out to some of the people mistreating her, and she does a bit towards the end. All in all a great first effort and I look forward to seeing more from this author!

Claire is so excited to be engaged to Noah. She brings him lunch at his office then learns he doesn’t work there. Then she discovers he has another life, one with a different beautiful girl. She has to investigate and wants him to come back to her but her investigation takes her down a dark path, one from which she may not return.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A girl ghosted leads to a woman scorned in Claire, Darling, the electrifying debut by up-and-coming new author Callie Kazumi.

In this tense thriller, a young PR assistant, Claire, is desperately in love with her fiancé, Noah. However, her whole world is turned upside down when Noah apparently ghosts her. She doesn’t discover that she has been dumped without warning until she attempts to bring Noah lunch at his prestigious firm, only to discover that he left his position several months ago. Now with Noah not answering Claire’s texts, nor showing up at their shared apartment at night, Claire is sick to her stomach with worry … and the fact that it appears she has been really and truly ghosted. When Claire’s obsession to uncover the truth and gets answers leads her to digging deeper and deeper into Noah’s life, she learns that he has been hiding so much more from her than she could have ever imagined.

I could not look away from Kazumi’s knockout novel, Claire, Darling. This book became my own guilty obsession, providing me with a meaty mystery to sink my teeth into. I was truly shocked by every twist and turn, and despite my trying to stay on top of where Kazumi was headed with this searing story of love gone wrong, she managed to always stay one step ahead of me, continuously surprising me until the very last page.

Claire, Darling will appeal to readers who enjoy suspenseful multi-layered, relationship-centric fiction. Anyone who has ever been ghosted will feel Claire’s shock and pain as she tries to figure out just where her relationship went wrong. Desperate and unhinged, Claire does and says all of the things you might wish you could do and say to your ex, but never had the nerve to carry out. Twofold, this novel also examines Claire’s bumpy childhood with a cruel, narcissistic mother, and explores all of the ways her traumatic upbringing shaped her into the woman she is today.

With a first novel this taut and page-turning, I can’t wait to see what Kazumi does next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of Claire, Darling!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
💔 have ever been cheated on
✍🏻 keep a journal
📖 love debut novels
🤔 often second guess yourself

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Claire is excited to drop off a surprise workday lunch for her fiancé, Noah. It’s their anniversary, after all. But when the receptionist tells her that no one with Noah’s name works there, Claire thinks there must be a mistake.

Noah isn’t picking up her calls. Her texts go unanswered. It turns out Noah has a different life . . . one with a beautiful girlfriend, a beautiful house. Claire was never really in the picture.

Desperate to speak to Noah and convince him to return to their dream life, Claire plunges into a nightmarish journey of obsession that submerges her deeper into the murky waters of her own past—a past dominated by a manipulative mother who shattered her sense of self.

Will Claire break free from the ghosts that haunt her? Or will they become more costly than any of Noah’s lies?

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

My friend recommended this one to me, and she knows me so well, because I absolutely loved this one! The chapters were nice and short, the pacing was just right, and I enjoyed the journal entries and flashbacks to her interactions with her terrible mother. I really felt bad for Claire. She was going through the worst possible thing, and I didn’t understand why. I had a ton of different theories, but I was honestly shocked by the conclusion. I kept second guessing myself about a lot of it, going back and forth, thinking over different possibilities and what they could mean. Overall, a really twisty psychological novel that was brilliant seeing it’s a debut! Get your copy of this now!