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: The Big Empty by Robert Crais

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NetGalley ARC Suspense Book Review of The Big Empty by Robert Crais
The Big Empty by Robert Crais falls into the Mystery & Thriller genre and has an expected publication date of January 14, 2025. The story opens with Anya calling to remind her mother Sadie to pick her up from the skate park. When Sadie arrives, Anya is missing. Fast forward to Traci Beller hiring private investigator Elvis Cole to find her father Tommy Beller, who abandoned her and her mother almost ten years previously. What will Elvis Cole discover?

I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Big Empty by Robert Crais from NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest review. I was excited to be approved and receive this novel.

The main character, Elvis Cole, was an instant hit with me. He's just an extremely likable character. A somewhat insignificant character that I absolutely love is Cole's semi feral cat since I am a huge cat lover. Cole taking care of the cat is probably a huge factor in me liking him so much. I also really like his partner Joe Pike because he's a man of few words, very direct, and has Cole's back. As for most of the characters in this installment, I didn't care for Sadie, Anya, Kevin, Georgina, Lori, or Charley and his friends. It wasn't until I got much further into the story that I changed my mind about a few of them.

As for what I thought happened, I knew that Tommy had to been involved with Anya going missing. However, I wasn't sure what happened to him. At one point, I halfway thought he was still alive. Once all the details came together, my heart was pounding to have it put together. I didn't quite figure it all out, but the entire book played like a movie in my head. I also found myself wanting to do nothing but read the book and thinking about it when I didn't have time to read. That makes Robert Crais a fantastic author and story teller in my opinion.

Five out of five stars is what I gave The Big Empty by Robert Crais. I would love to see this book series turned into a television series. If you haven't read anything by this author, you need to buy one of his books stat.

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