This book took the “unreliable narrator” aspect and upped the ante! I loved the journal entry format to gain perspective of the main character’s state of mind. This was equal parts infuriating, informative and saddening. It’s hard to believe this is the first book from Callie Kazumi it was THAT good. I can’t wait to read more from her in the future.

I loved this book!! Great read. Kept me enthralled and entertained, throughout. I loved the suspense and really liked how it ended ! Pick it up. Great read.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Random House Publishing Group for the arc in exchange for a fair review.

I did the audiobook of this one. It was a binge worthy listen, but unfortunately I thought it was very predictable.

Claire, Darling will startle you! Its story a combination of mystery, romance, childhood abuse but especially surprising secrets! You will fall in love with Claire and sympathize and empathize with her to get her happy ending.

Claire has never really been in love. She spent her childhood being abused by her mother a single parent, and narcissist, as well as being bullied by quite a few girls from school. But even though she had a turbulent childhood Claire has always been a hopeful romantic thinking someday...

So when she meets Noah an investment person and they begin to date she falls madly in love and so does he! The relationship moves quickly and they decide to move in together although in the back of Claire's mind she continues to hear her mother's terrible voice always making her feel as if she's not worthy to be loved.

And then unbelievably Noah proposes to Claire! She never imagined her life could be so happy! She's finally found the love of her life. Her happy ever after.

Until on their anniversary of meeting when she goes to Noah's job to surprise him with a lunch and discovers there is no one there with that name. She is shocked and doesn't quite understand. She's called him there many, many times. She thinks it's a mistake but suddenly realizes as she tries to call his cell phone and he doesn't answer that something has gone terribly wrong. She's being ghosted.

Then, she finds out the painful horrible truth about the man she loved. He has a girlfriend. A beautiful one and a very rich one. Why on earth did he do this to Claire? Was this a sick terrible joke? To hurt her as she has been hurt in her past.

Claire then begins to go down a terrible rabbit hole which she can't get out of and starts to make irrational decisions she never thought she could imagine. Now, Claire feels like she must delve deeper into their relationship. She becomes obsessed.

Are there really any winners when lies are told? Claire's abusive past suddenly merges with Noah's horrible deeds. What good could ever come from this type of bad relationship. Well, none.

Claire darling is a story of emotions, heartbreak, innocence and revenge! It will have you on the edge of your seat as you learn the outcome and many other hidden secrets. Oh, Claire darling!

Thank you #NetGalley #BantamBooks #CallieKazumi #Claire,Darling for the advanced copy.

I absolutely loved this book. I can't wait for more my Claire. I loved the character development and the storyline. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Claire and Noah just celebrated their anniversary the night before so Claire decides to surprise Noah with his favorite lunch at his workplace and finds out he hasn't worked there for several months. She doesn't understand why he wouldn't have told her about this major decision so she calls him immediately but he won't take her calls and then Noah never comes home to their apartment that evening or every day afterward. Claire is beside herself. with misery so she secretly follows him and discovers he is leading a double life with a beautiful woman that Claire had no idea of him ever cheating on her and now he won't even see her if only to give closure to the relationship and happiness that Claire thought would be her forever life.

Claire can still hear her mother's hurtful words saying she would never find a man to love and take care of her. She is just devastated, hardly able to function but her wonderful friend (Sukhi) from work won't let her wallow and drown in her sorrow so she helps Claire get back.on her feet to take the next steps to getting on with her life without Noah although Claire isn't willing yet to give up on her relationship as she would be happy to forgive Noah everything if he would just come back home to her.



What a wonderfully fun and twisted psychological thriller this book was to read! The writing was fast-paced with well developed characters and flowed smoothly when transitioning from past to present. I was very surprised to find this was a debut book because the storytelling and writing was very, very good. I also enjoyed the different little twists which made this book stand out from other novels with similar storylines and the unexpected twist at the end of the story made reading "Claire Darling" a real.treat.

I am looking forward to reading more books in the future from 'Calorie Kazumi' and I definitely recommend this book to everyone who enjoys dark but fun, psychological thrillers!

I want to thank the publisher "RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING - BALLANTINE" and NETGALLEY for the opportunity to read this digital copy and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 4 SHARP AND TWISTED 🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!

If I'm being honest, I read about 50 pages of this book, then abandoned it for several weeks. I didn't love it at first, and wasn't that interested. I then saw it being talked about online, so decided to come back to it. It turned out to be much more interesting as I continued reading, and once I got going on it, I was hurrying to the end to see what could possibly be going on. This book is clearly a case of an unreliable narrator, but also one where it's very unclear how they could be so...which is the fun and mystery of the book. There is a huge twist near the end that explains it all, and will question your feelings about each of the characters as you were reading it. This was a fun ride, just not a favorite.

Claire and Noah are celebrating their first anniversary of being together. Soon after she decides to bring a surprise lunch to Noah at his office, but he is not where she expects him to be. After he doesn't respond to her many calls and messages,she realizes he is ghosting her, which is not a sign of a healthy, loving relationship and not what she expects from her soon-to -be fiancé.
We also learn about her difficult childhood with her abusive alcoholic mother.
What will she do? What would we do? She is devastated. I guess crying one's eyes out necessitates getting up and doing something to make oneself feel better .
The story is exciting and Claire's reactions seem to be common until they aren't. The ending shocked me. This was a great read.
Wow.
Special thanks to the author and the publisher for giving me a copy of the ARC. All opinions are strictly my own.

Claire Darling immediately pulled me in. I had to know what happened between Claire and Noah and could not stop reading. It was an excellent book and I cannot wait to read more by this author!

4.5 stars - rounded down! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a debut! This is one of those psychological thrillers that really messes with your head. What is real and what isn’t?

The story quickly pulls you in with a murder in the prologue. A fast-paced, page turning read full of suspense and a highly entertaining plot!

Claire gets ghosted by her fiancé, so she starts stalking him to find out why. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Claire’s troubled childhood and tumultuous relationship with her abusive mother. The first half of the book is Claire’s obsessing over her failed relationship and the second half is a courtroom trial.

I had a feeling about where this was going, so I took off .5 star. However, I had a hard time putting this down. The epilogue was superb!

I’ll be looking forward to Callie Kazumi’s next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for my advanced copy to read and review.

Claire, Darling was a fascinating read about a woman who is totally unhinged and I loved it. Claire decides to drop off lunch to her hardworking fiancee, but he doesn't work there. This was a wonderful tale of an unreliable narrator and the impact of growing up with a self obsessed mother. There were many twists and turns of any good psychological thriller.
Thank you to NetGalley, Callie Kazumi and Random House. This book is available now so don't hesitate to read it.

Claire is dropping off a surprise lunch for her fiance, Noah. Its their anniversary, but the receptionist says theres no one working there with that name. How can that be? Noah isn't answering Claire's calls or emails. Unknown to Claire, Noah has a beautiful girlfriend and house that they share in another town. Claire ends uop following Noah, and begins spying on him. What she finds is similar to life she lived with a manipulative mother. Can Claire be free from her past. Thanks netgalley

Claire Darling was fast paced and easy to read! You were sucked in to the main character’s world and left wanting to know the truth. A nice debut!

Really great twisty domestic suspense. I found Claire's character highly realistic. The story is told in alternating timelines between Claire's childhood, her recent past, and her present. I think the suspense could've been turned up just a notch of the first half of the book had had more forward flashes to what was happening in tune second half. But overall a most enjoyable, fast-paced read.

Claire's fiance has seemingly ghosted her. He's left his job, won't answer his calls, and seems to have completely ditched her. Claire and her friend Suhki are on a mission to figure out how and why Claire was so unceremoniously dumped and how her past may be presenting itself in the present.

This was a quick thriller, fast-paced with short chapters that made it hard to put down. While it was predictable at points, the writing and character-driven story made it a solid read. I am looking forward to reading more from Callie Kazumi!

Claire, Darling by Callie Kazumi was so good!! If you like woman scorned, psychological thrillers, revenge, flash backs, and an unreliable narrator then you will love this book!!

This is my first book from Kazumi and I was in no way disappointed. Kazumi did a great job with the storyline and plot. She does a great job of giving us detailed backgrounds and we learn about Claire and Noah’s relationship through her journal entries. Claire grew up in a dysfunctional family and suffered from childhood trauma. Claire meets Noah they fall in love, and move in together. It’s their anniversary so Claire and her friend Sukhi, decides to surprise Noah with lunch. While at his office they realize that Claire has been ghosted and soon learn Noah is not the man she thought he was. There were twists and turns that keep you hooked in this fast paced story and I loved it. This is a must read and can’t wait to read more by Callie Kazumi!! Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Ballantine for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion thoughts and opinions.

Hold on tight, because "Claire, Darling" by Callie Kazumi is a psychological thriller that will have you questioning everything and everyone.

Imagine a seemingly perfect life unraveling at the seams, a facade of normalcy shattered by a series of unsettling events. Kazumi masterfully crafts an atmosphere of creeping dread and mounting tension, drawing you into a mystery that's as intricate as it is disturbing. The protagonist's world is a labyrinth of secrets and hidden agendas, where trust is a dangerous commodity and nothing is quite as it seems. With each page, the suspense builds, revealing layers of deception and manipulation that will leave you breathless. You'll find yourself second-guessing every character, every interaction, as the truth becomes more elusive and terrifying. If you crave a thriller that's smart, suspenseful, and utterly gripping,

"Claire, Darling" is an absolute must-read. Prepare to be taken on a wild ride through the darkest corners of the human psyche, where the line between reality and delusion blurs, and the consequences are deadly.

This is a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page, leaving you with a lingering sense of unease and a desperate need to unravel its mysteries.

Check out this teaser :

She’s been ghosted. But she won’t be forgotten.

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?

For a debut thriller, Callie Kazumi writes like a seasoned pro. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Claire Darling kept me guessing. Was she the victim of gaslighting or an unreliable narrator.

Claire’s fiancé ghosts her and she goes crazy trying to find out what the heck happened. Through diary entries, flashbacks and present day events, the reader gets an idea what is going on. I had second hand embarrassment for Claire as she confronts the fact that Noah isn’t who she believes him to be.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read a preview copy of this book. I liked it a lot more than I expected to. From the first page I was drawn in and really excited to keep reading to see what would happen. I’ll admit I began to suspect where it was going soon into the first few chapters but that really didn’t change my enjoyment. I found it well written, an easy and fast paced read, but not seeming like a young adult novel. The ending doesn’t disappoint while having the potential for a sequel. A really nice job for this authors first novel. I’m a fan!

Poor Claire has had a really rough childhood being raised by a single narcissistic mother.

As an adult, she is struggling at making friends, and dating seems impossible. While at work, she makes a friend, and outside of work, she meets a dreamy guy who, she can't hardly believe after a few dates, is her boyfriend!

Life is really looking up until one day she decides to bring her now fiancé lunch at the office, and he refuses to see her. Now she must find out what what is going on.

Soon, she finds him with another woman, and her world is flipped upside-down...

I wasn't too surprised by the resolution, but it was an enjoyable fast read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in an exchange for an honest review.