This was a tough book - disturbing in a lot of ways with very unlikeable characters. I struggled to connect with any of them and didn't understand their motivations. The story was all over the place - I wish it would have gone more in depth on any one of the characters. Clare was the most developed character but I was still left with questions about her. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a story of toxic friendship and trying to start over. While I thought this book had such potential, I was really let down by the way this was done.

We follow from the point of view of Clare who is trying to start over at university. We are hinted at something in her past but she is trying to move past this. I really wished that there was more time spent at the university - I had expected this to have more of a dark academia feel to it.

It was rather hard to get invested in these characters as I felt removed from what was happening since Clare is telling us what happened to her in the past. She seemed so passive in the things happening around her and it was hard for me to understand that with what we come to know about her. I found it really hard to want to continue reading as little was happening.

There was an interesting shift in the part 3 that I wished would have been throughout the novel.

Really wished I would have loved this one, but it had some interesting ideas and characters.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am a fan of college-based thrillers and the cover is great so I was really excited for this. Unfortunately, it missed the mark. Not an enjoyable reading experience for me, but I did absolutely love the prologue and epilogue. I didn’t really find any of the characters to be particularly believable. Thankfully Darwent had an enough twists to keep me intrigued along the way. Curious to see what she writes next because I love darker stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me to enjoy this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was so challenging for me and I did not have an enjoyable reading experience which sucks because the cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded so appealing.

This was touted as dark academia and that is just not the case. They were hardly ever at school and the events that unfolded had little to nothing to do with the academic setting.

Nearly halfway into the book, I realized that I still did not feel connected to any of the characters and since the plot was moving so slowly, there was nothing holding my interest. All of the characters were either so dull/unimportant that I didn’t care about them at all OR they were entirely unlikable to the point I didn’t care to know them better or what might happen to them.

I think the youths might say this has a dark academia vibe to it. I chose this to review as it was heavily requested at #NetGalley and it sounded similar to books by Karen McManus that I have enjoyed. Fans of books about good looking wealthy young adults behaving badly in beautiful locations should enjoy.

Short synopsis: When Clare meets Tabitha at her new school in Edinburgh she’s desperate to do whatever it takes to make friends with her and her group.

My thoughts: It’s probably just me, but the college thrillers have been a bit of a miss for me as of late.

The beginning of the book sucked me right in, wondering who this man was being tortured and why he was being tortured. I enjoyed seeing the friendships form, but was disappointed in the measures Clare took to become friends with these toxic girls.

With the friends I have, I’d never have to stoop to the levels that Clare did to be friends with these girls. You shouldn’t have to change who you are to be friends.

Read if you love:
- Psychological thrillers
- Dark Academia
- Uncomfortable situations
- Friends

I think that this is a marvelous debut by author Heather Darwent. Clare has enrolled in University in Edinborough Sotland and although she tries to fly under the radar, she falls in with a group of fellow students who have chosen her to join their exclusive clique. As we learn what the leader, Tabitha, is up to, it becomes clear to Clare that her secret past may not be so secret.
This story took a number of twists, and kept me off balance (in a good way) with the infrequent and brief flashbacks to her backstory. The reader is left to fill in the blanks frequently, and I found that refreshing, while I can see that others may find it frustrating. We know enough to know the characters' motivations, I'll leave it at that.
If there was a weak point, the exposition at the end was a little forced, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment reading this book.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a physiological thriller set around a group of fringe college friends in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the outset Clare is new to the group and has recently reinvented herself after an unknown trauma during her teens. She chooses and has been chosen by a small group from the university. A group that seems much more focused on a something else, rather than their studies.

I really wanted to like this novel but it just never got going enough to hold my interest. Clare’s past with *the episode* was always too vague and never enough of a carrot to keep me wondering how it played into the plot.

Way too much of the story was telling and not showing. It constantly told how the characters felt rather than actually creating the feeling. Once the plot go to the sinister twists the action was only a few paragraphs after chapters and chapters of set up.

Maybe the intent was a “slow burn” but the most I got was barely a simmer.

This book. Wow. A twisty web of deception that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Clare has arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland ready to tackle university. As she tries to fit in with her roommates, she sets out to find a job to expand her circle. From a distance she begins to admire a group of students who seem to have it all. Well dressed, well liked, with plenty of money to boot, this is just the group Clare longs to be a part of.

Through work and uni, Clare becomes friends with one member, Tabitha. She invites Clare into their inner fold where things start to take a darker turn. At first the group seems normal. Dinners at their shared flat, vacations on school holidays, with plenty of alcohol shared between them. Things take a dark turn when Tabitha shares her pet project; something that has the power to bring in a lot of money and destroy a lot of lives.

As time unfolds, Clare has to decide if she's truly all in or if she's ready to escape. When she does try and make the leap what secrets are uncovered will make you gasp! A dark thriller filled with examples of what money and power can do will certainly keep you on your toes.

I LOVED the plot, but, felt the beginning was a bit too long. There's a lot of set up before we really get into the good stuff, keeping my rating at a 4, versus a 5.

Really wanted to like this book but never had that wow moment nor could ever find a way to relate with the main character.

Slow-paced most of the time, narrated in first person by Claire, but a lot of thoughts all over the place, felt a little messy at times. I didn't feel I got to really know Claire or any of the characters for that matter.

Also, the book is listed as a mystery/thriller read but it did not feel quite like that. I kept reading it in hopes for it to pick up and get better but unfortunately, this was not for me.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is the debut novel from Heather Darwent.

I struggled to find anything relatable in this book. The story is familiar - a girl leaves her family for school to escape some incident in her past - she falls in with a group of mean girls - someone is hurt or killed. The book is full of unlikable characters making terrible decisions. No redeeming qualities anywhere. And the cover has almost become a trope itself. The best part is the setting of Edinburgh, Scotland.

If you like stories full of jacked-up people you might like reading this one.

I think the only reason this book didn't really work for me was it skewed more toward horror than I had realized it would. Clare as a narrator was interesting, but never really connected with me as the reader. There were a few moments I enjoyed and overall I flew through this book (very suspenseful) but I wouldn't rush to recommend this to anyone trying to avoid dark topics and dark energy. If that's your vibe then you might really enjoy though!

#thethingswedotoourfriends
#heatherdarwent
#generalfiction
#NetGalley publishing 1/10/2023
#Ballantine
#Bantam

🥂🥂🥂/5

This book is listed as thrillers/mystery. Meh. Maybe her past is mysterious. But that's about it. And in the end, even though there are almost 2 epilogues, there still doesn't seem to be a full explanation of her past. 🤦‍♀️ I kept wishing it was going to pick up for me. I didn't love it. Didn't hate it. Things just kept happening with no apparent rhyme or reason. The only thing that had a continuity was that "Clare" seemed to be willing to do anything to keep this group of friends. Especially Tabitha. The apparent leader of this clique.

I felt like the title should have been "the things we do FOR our friends". Not TO. Clare seemed like she would do just about anything. Including go along with Tabitha's hare brained scheme to make money. But I guess it seemed to be similar to an event in her past. No, I don't believe that to be a spoiler. That is mentioned right up front when the discussion of the scheme first starts.

Just not for me. I won't be trying any other books by this author.

#RandomHousePublishingGroup
#mystery
#bookstagram #booknerdbookreviews
#bookreview #booknerdigan #bookish

I wanted to like The Things We Do to Our Friends. All the elements were there, a little bit of dark academia, a mysterious past, and messy, unlikable characters, but ultimately it just didn't work for me. There were just too many threads that failed to be tied together. By saying that, it's not that I need every thread to be tied in a nice, neat bow, but it felt to me like Heather Darwent kept throwing in plot elements to see what stuck instead of following a cohesive plot. After saying all that, I am looking forward to what comes next from Heather Darwent.

2.5⭐

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent follows Clare, newly enrolled in the University of Edinburgh History of Art degree as she embarks on a new life away from Hull where she lived with her grandmother. Viewing her move to Edinburgh as an opportunity to become a new person she promptly moves into a new flat with two other students, finds a job working in a bar befriending her boss, Finn and strikes an unlikely friendship with the charismatic Tabitha and Tabitha’s group of friends (a group of people Clare privately compares with a shiver of sharks, “The Shiver” for short) whom she is drawn to, curious about and eager to fit in with.

As the story progresses we see Clare being drawn into The Shiver and groomed to participate in an ambitious venture that will push them in a direction that spells nothing but trouble. Clare, for her part, has a past that she intends to keep hidden but apparently, her new friend(s) are privy to some disturbing information which they do not fail to leverage in persuading her to join them in their project. Can Clare withstand the pressures exerted by her new “friends”? How far will Clare go to fit in? How far is too far before she breaks?

Narrated in the first person by Clare ( a complicated and unreliable narrator)who shares her experiences with Tabitha and The Shivers with snippets from her present life, we are given a window into her psyche and it is not a pleasant picture. She is by no means as unassuming or clueless as she initially projects and we see the workings of a twisted mind as she navigates through toxic (to put it mildly!) friendships and manipulation and as she shares episodes from her past, it is evident that it is only a matter of time before she shows her true colors leading to an ending that is somewhat predictable and inevitable.

The prose is elegant and the author does an impressive job in developing the main characters (each of who is unlikable in their own way) but the narrative is relatively slow-paced and somewhat disjointed, slightly repetitive and rather long-drawn. It took a while for me to engage with the characters and the story, losing interest a little after the halfway mark. I did not find the story as compelling as I had hoped. I usually enjoy character-driven stories but in this case, I did not find the character interesting enough despite her psychopathic tendencies and there really wasn’t much mystery or thrill to keep me hooked to the story. Dark and atmospheric, The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent has a lot of promise but falls short in its execution.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This book is due to be released on January 10, 2023.

After losing her childhood friends and becoming estranged from her parents, Clare reinvents herself at college in Edinburgh. She seeks connection with a foursome of friends who entice her to join their illegal business.

I had a hard time getting into the book because of the slow pacing caused by an overload of internal thoughts. The story is told from Clare’s perspective, but it jumps backward and forward in time between her childhood, her time at college, and when she is married. The time jumps, while often brief, nevertheless served to pull me from the story even more. The number of characters felt excessive and the relationship between Clare and her coworker boyfriend could have been developed more.

I did like Clare’s character arc, the setting descriptions, and the way various artworks figured into the story. Due to the slow pace and not feeling significantly invested in the characters and the plot, I probably wouldn’t have finished the book had I not gotten an arc from NetGalley. That being said, I did appreciate the ending.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

Clare arrives in Edinburgh, Scotland eager for a fresh start. Banished by her family, she has had to reinvent herself from the name up. Now she is about to start college, and she has just taken a job at a bar to help pay for things, since she has no one to fall back on for money. When Clare meets Tabitha, a charismatic, beautiful, and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, she knows she’s destined to become friends with her and her exclusive circle: raffish Samuel, shrewd Ava, and pragmatic Imogen. Clare is immediately drawn into their libertine world of sophisticated dinner parties and summers in France. The new life she always envisioned for herself has seemingly begun. Then Tabitha reveals a little project she’s been working on, one that she needs Clare’s help with. Even though it goes against everything Clare has tried to repent for. As Clare begins to realize just how far her new friends will go, it is too late. They already have her in their web, and they play for keeps.

This exciting debut was definitely one you want to check out. It left you wondering if you even knew exactly who it was that was the hunted, and who was the hunter. It made you side-eye people that you thought you had a firm grasp on their identity, and wonder exactly how you could be so wrong about someone. I almost wanted to re-read it after I was done, knowing all of the book's secrets, and see the book from a fresh perspective. The characters in the book weren't really likeable, which is usually a big turn-off for me, but this time it worked, because the book was about them being so messed up. There are a lot of trigger warnings for you though, things like assault, sexual assault, suicide. If you lke psychological thrillers, then add this to your TBR pile.

This was a wild read for me. It was more of a thriller then novel. The main character desperately wants to fit in at school and becomes part of a strange group of people that go on to do things that make the MC uncomfortable. I found myself screaming at the pages through the book going the MC would make a different choice!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy for the purpose of this review. 4 stars from me. The writing is very good just a bit winded at times.

I did not know what to expect with this novel. What I discovered is that it is definitely not my cup of tea.
I thought the characters were unlikable, specifically Clare. I wouldn’t want any of these people as friends.
This book wasn’t for me.
The only thing I did like was the name Tabitha. I’ve always liked that name since growing up watching Bewitched.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advance read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @prhaudio for a free download of the audiobook.

Q: How do you rate books that you would DNF if it wasn’t for the audiobook?
A: I’ll give this one a 1.5 stars, but round it up to 2 for Goodreads (when will @goodreads allow for ½ stars?)

Things We Do to Our Friends is a story about a girl who’s desperate to belong, even if the cost of entry is her deepest secret. I had so much hope for this book after the synopsis, but I just could not connect. The characters all felt immature and the story line lacked the thrill and suspense this book was billed. I was flat out bored.

2 stars

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