Book Review: Claire, Darling by Callie Kazumi

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Claire, Darling by Callie Kazumi  was published on March 11, 2025 by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine / Bantam. It opens with Claire finding out that her fiancé, Noah, isn't working where he said he was and is now ghosting her. Claire must find out why. Book Review: Claire, Darling by Callie Kazumi Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine / Bantam for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Claire Darling by Callie Kazumi for free in exchange for my honest review. I was absolutely thrilled when my request for a copy was approved because the synopsis was so good. From the beginning, I absolutely loved the main character of Claire and her work friend named Sukhi. Throughout the novel, we learn about Claire's past and how terrible her mother was towards her. I kept hoping that somehow we would learn who Claire's father was and would eventually connect with him. It's really no wonder Claire had no self confidence as an ad...
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Book Review: Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25) by Janet Evanovich

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book review look alive twenty five janet evanovich

Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25) by Janet Evanovich opens with Stephanie Plum and
Lula being assigned as the manager and assistant manager at the Red River Deli in Trenton, NJ because the managers keep disappearing. The only clue is that they leave one show behind. Police have no leads, and Lula thinks it alien abduction.

One of the things I love about the Stephanie Plum book series is that it follows the same formula each time and that it doesn't have any cliffhangers. I know this is a big complaint of many long time readers, but it doesn't really bother me too much because sometimes I just need to read something that I don't have to think about too hard. This particular book made me laugh out loud in several places, and I didn't try to figure out the culprit or motive behind the disappearances, so I didn't really see the ending coming. However, it did reuse the reality television show angle again that we saw in a previous book so that was a bit disappointing.

Ranger and Morelli both are featured quite heavily and actually work together well in an effort to keep Stephanie safe, which was a nice thing to see.  Typically, one or the other character is featured, but I am getting a bit leery of the love triangle. I just want to see her end up with one of them, but I don't see that happening any time in the near future. I was glad to see that Grandma Mazur barely made an appearance this time as I needed a break from this particular character. It was nice to see mention of Stephanie's sister and family because she doesn't get mentioned too often. Something that was a good change of pace is that Stephanie's car doesn't get blown up, stolen, wrecked, etcetera, and her apartment isn't damaged either. It was also great to see that none of the scenes included the funeral home. These situations are a bit overused in my opinion. With all this being said, it doesn't bother me too much any more because as I mentioned previously, it's nice to know what you're going to get with this series.

I gave Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25) by Janet Evanovich five out of five stars, and I will continue to read the rest of the series. If you like this book series, I recommend the High Heel Mysteries by Gemma Halliday.

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