Really liked Claire, Darling! Fast paced and twisty, it kept my attention and I read it in just 2 days. I was able to predict the ending pretty early on, but the story made me want to keep reading just to see if I was right. Would definitely recommend!

Claire, Darling by Callie Kazumi

A confusing book, by design, we get caught in Claire's world, her diary, her things, her work, her relationships, and more and things just did not make feel right to me. Claire details the wonderful one anniversary of meeting dreamboat Noah and the time they spend together that night. Noah, handsome, smart, with a high powered job. As we learn of Claire's past with her abusive mom and how she didn't seem to manage functional friendships growing up, it's hard to understand how she came about to snag this prize in the form of gorgeous Noah.

And then when Claire decides to drop in on Noah's workplace the next day, Claire's world falls apart as if it was made of cotton candy dissolving in the rain. It seems Noah has someone else, has an entirely other life, and Claire really didn't know that Noah was living another life apart from the one Claire describes.

Not to be deterred, Claire is going to bring Noah back into the fold, remind him of what he is missing when he's not with her, let him know she forgives him and they can continue with their dreams of marriage, a house someday, kids, growing old together. Nothing will stop Claire and she will not let Noah's "other" life destroy the one they have together. Something has to give it and won't be Claire's dreams of a lifetime with Noah.

Claire's friend, Sukhi, who I adore but think of as almost too kind and naive, gave the story much needed backbone that can't be provided by Claire. What a sweet friend, someone in Claire's court, when Claire needs someone the most. Everyone needs a friend like Sukhi.

I really had my doubts about Claire and there comes a time in the story where reality is revealed to us in a formal setting. I enjoyed the story but read it with dread. Secrets are exposed and they are not pretty yet I could not stop watching, thinking a train wreck was coming but hoping it could be averted, somehow, someway.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam and NetGalley for this ARC.

This captured my attention on the first page and held it until the last! Claire has her world fall apart when she decides to surprise her fiancé by bringing him lunch at work. She discovers that Noah no longer works there and hasn’t for months. How could he keep something like this from her? She tries to call, text but he ghosts her.

I thought I knew where this was going but partway through I got the rug pulled out from me and was pleasantly surprised as things went a different direction. Claire endured a troubled childhood filled with abuse and being bullied. These helped form who she is now.

I liked the past and present journal entries from Claire’s perspective. Suki tries to help her figure out the truth about Noah.

Hard to believe this is a debut novel.

This is absolutely one of the most mind-bending thrillers I have ever read in my life. The twist....THE TWIST. Phenomenal. Could not put it down. WIll be purchasing for libraries.

Claire, Darling by Callie Kazumi was a tense, fast paced thriller that I plowed through in one afternoon, I couldn't put it down!
My only complaint is that I was able to predict the twist very early on. That said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the ride and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
For a more indepth review you can check out my spoiler free youtube review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWGKpd4G3iM

thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review!

I want to give this book four stars because it's an absolute blast. I finished it in like two hours and was absolutely glued to it. but I do think it's a bit preoccupied with like... debut book jitters. like the twist in this book is so obvious, though Kazumi definitely did a pretty good job making you doubt what exactly was happening, and again there's something really absorbing about this book even when the plot is obvious. that said, yeah, "don't trust the diary" is like rule #1 of a thriller like this. I do also think it had some truly comically OTT evil characters that were just so evil and terrible that I couldn't take them seriously.

still, if you want to spend an afternoon reading a true blast of a thriller, this ain't a bad choice at all

This book was so good and twisted! I loved the suspense and truly couldn't put it down. A little bit dark because of some heavy topics, I was sucked in from the first page and read it in 24 hours.

This one had so much potential, but in the end I found it predictable I’m sorry to say. It was an entertaining read, but I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Disclosure I received this as an ARC.

The story was extremely interesting, it just felt entirely too slow paced for me.

If you love unreliable narrators and twisty stories this might be for you!

I won’t say anymore to keep from spoiling but I feel like if you’re a fan of Gone Girl or a Simple Favor you would enjoy this as well.

I enjoyed this one. It touches on some serious and traumatic topics like bullying, ghosting, break ups, abuse, etc so please make sure to read the trigger warnings before reading! Break ups can be messy after all!

I enjoyed it and definitely would recommend to other readers!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Oh Claire Darling!
If a man walks away, hold your head high and LET HIM!

Claire is excited to drop off a surprise workday lunch for her fiancé Noah on their anniversary, but the surprise is on her when the receptionist tells her that no one with Noah's name works there.

Suddenly, he isn't picking up her calls or answering her texts.

She has been ghosted!

With her new friend Sukhi by her side, Claire is determined to get answers. In fact, she becomes OBSESSED.

But, she REFUSES to believe the things that they find!

This psychological thriller opens with a MURDER, and ends with a Courtroom TRIAL, but in between you will learn about all of the ways Noah has humiliated her in the present and all of the ways her MOTHER has abused her in the past-IF you can believe everything that Claire (and her diary entries) are telling you…..

As a reader of MANY books in this genre, I could predict some of where this was going -BUT despite that- the story DID hold my attention throughout and offered up a fun, memorable ending!

A promising debut! I will definitely pick up the author’s next!
3.75 ⭐️ rounded ⬆️

A buddy read with MarilynW. Be sure to watch for her review to see if she had fun with this one too!

Available March 13, 2025.

Thank You to Bantam for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts!

This Book grabbed me from the start and I was hooked till the end. Claire fell hard for Noah when she met him in a market one day and they began dating. He was in her eyes the Perfect Man. He always did the right thing, said the right thing, pampered her and met all her needs. Almost too good to be true right? No wonder she said yes when a year later he proposed.

However Claire began to find things about this perfect man Noah that wasn't so perfect and she was very upset. Claire spirals and things go from bad to well really bad.

This was a good book with lots of twists that you might wonder what is really happening up until the end.

Even though I knew where this book would lead me, the getting there was just 𝗦𝗢 good. I could not get enough of it. The unreliable character (Claire) had me gripped with her past and present narrative and while having to read about her abusive mother was at times difficult, it really made the story what it was. I was strangely getting Eileen by Moshfegh vibes and I was not at all upset by it. Loved this debut novel and would definitely recommend it!

A really fun psychological thriller that grips you within the first few chapters. It’s easy to get through and we switch back and forth between Claire’s past and present timeline. Her diary entries were interesting to say the least. We navigate through Claire’s past with her overbearing, abusive and controlling mother and present time where we see claire clearly spiraling more and more ever chapter as she finds out what happened to her Fiancé to make him disappear out her life.

I did get the twist 20% in which is really sad, so the ending wasn’t surprising at all and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending entirely. However, I did finish it quickly and enjoyed my time doing so.

Will be picking up more from this author again!

3.5 Claire is ghosted for seemingly no reason and I had no clue where this was going. I kept coming up with scenarios for why he did this and I wasn't even close. Parts of the book are really sad and harder to read. Seemed a little rushed at the end.

amazing book! so glad I read this one and can’t wait for future books. This book was very fast paced and had a jas dropping plot.

Claire, Darling was quite the unexpected trip. I was not sure what to expect, and truthfully, was not sure which way it was going to turn out during the entire first half (the joys of reading on a kindle and not flipping ahead).

I really looked forward to reading this book based on the summary. A woman who thinks she’s found “Mr. Right” discovers she was in love with an illusion. Mr. right ghosted her after her discovery leading to her need to pursue the truth. While the plot showed promise in the book’s beginning, I felt like I had already read this book before. I reached midpoint. The plot became very predictable and almost repetitive.I guessed the conclusion prior to the halfway mark and had to make an effort to finish reading the book. I received a free advanced reader’s copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Claire, Darling is a fast read, but it is mismarketed as a thriller. The tagline suggests Fatal Attraction vibes, but it's far from it. This is a sad book about delusion, mental illness, and an abusive childhood. Now that I've read it, the UK title "Cuckoo" makes sense.

This was an interesting read for me. I was lead to feel bad for Claire. I wondered why a man would do such things to a woman he loved. The total twist at the end had me in awe. I couldn't believe that I had missed any signs of that being the case. I think this is worth a re-read to see what signs I didn't pick up on the first time.