This is extremely dark academia, with a lot of twists to keep the reader guessing. I wanted to see how it would all come together - a propulsive plot!

Initially I was super excited to pick this one up, as Edinburgh is my favorite city and the plot sounded intriguing, like The Secret History meets The World Cannot Give. The synopsis also reminded me quite a bit of the British TV show Clique, which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, this book was underwhelming to say the least.

First, the setting reads like Darwent looked up Edinburgh on Google Maps and wrote about the city based on that, for all the energy and ambiance it's imbued with. I was shocked to learn that she actually lives there! For a city with such old mystery and odd, dark soul, it doesn't carry over into the writing whatsoever. That was the first major disappointment for me.

Second, the characters were just... odd, and I don't think that's intentional. Clare, the narrator, is supposed to be a psychopath yet she's easily manipulated and doesn't seem very clever. Early in the story, I thought she was meant to be autistic because of her difficulty with reading people and fitting in, as psychopaths are meant to be quite good at adapting. Clare was needy, awkward, and desperate. Halfway through the book we learn that she's very pretty, which seems like the only reason Tabitha was interested in her in the first place. Tabitha herself is, as a character, inconsistent - she acts like a drunk sorority girl half of the time, blatantly desperate for attention, yet we're told that she's 'elegant' and 'magnetic'. The roommates and the boyfriend are just cardboard cutouts - I'm not entirely sure why they exist, except as a foil to the Shiver, but as they have no personalities, histories, or anything remotely memorable about them they are not very good foils.

The plot was... okay. I think a more skilled/experienced writer could have handled it better. This reads very much like a debut novel and sadly falls into many of the pratfalls of one. I couldn't believe Darwent got a $600k advance for this! It'll be marketed to death, surely.

There's no dark academia to speak of because the characters don't go to class after the first few chapters. Any comparisons to The Secret History stop at 'gang of bored rich kids at university get up to nefarious shit' and even The World Cannot Give was more compelling. A lot of the storyline and characters seem ripped right out of Clique, so just watch that and save yourself the trouble, it's far more satisfying.

This novel might appeal to readers who enjoy novels where things are very unclear at the start and you have to work as a reader to figure out what is happening. For me, however, it did not work well. While I expect to have questions as a reader (especially in a thriller), this novel was frustrating in its level of confusion. The main character presents herself as under construction, working to become the person she wants to be, but I had no sense of who she was at any point in the story. I often found myself wondering if we had switched narrators, as the character shifted so much from one point to another. I also found the plot events difficult to understand on their own, or in the whole of the story.

Overall, this wanted to be a novel that explored toxic friendships, but for me was just a study of confusion.

Great debut. Dark twisty view of friendship. What is the price for fitting in? How much do you need to change yourself to make and maintain friendships? I love a twisted dark novel with a complicated protagonist. This is a fun, albeit slightly disturbing, read.

"Edinburgh, Scotland: a moody city of labyrinthine alleyways, oppressive fog, and buried history; the ultimate destination for someone with something to hide. Perfect for Clare, then, who arrives utterly alone and yearning to reinvent herself. And what better place to conceal the dark secrets in her past than at the university in the heart of the fabled, cobblestoned Old Town?

When Clare meets Tabitha, a charismatic, beautiful, and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, she knows she's destined to be 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.

And 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. Even though their intimacy begins to darken into codependence. But as Clare starts to realize just what her friends are capable of, it's already too late. Because they've taken the plunge. They're so close to attaining the things they want. And there's no going back."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Clare is an outsider that has arrived in Edinburgh for a change. Her name isn't her given name, but Clare is the name she has chosen to escape her past. A past that has left her parents to shut her out and act as if she never existed. As a teenager she had made a choice that could never be forgiven. A decision that made her and her two friends forced to change their names and move away. Damage was in the rubble of her destruction but all Clare wants now is a fresh start.

Clare is determined to start fresh and make a change for herself. She wants to be a better person and have friends and do right. Yet sometimes life just doesn't let that happen. The Things we do to Our Friends is proof of that as Clare is drawn into a group of friends she finds hard to resist. Especially Tabitha.

Clare's fascination with Tabitha is near borderline obsessive but not quite single white female thankfully. The rest of the group: Ava, Imogen, and Samuel in their own ways are as fascinating and unique. However, as the story continues Clare begins to realize all that polish and shine is just a rub off from the presence of Tabitha.

Tabitha is always planning and plotting. A lot of the time her plans and plotting do not include Clare until one day they do. As the friendship develops more so between the four, Clare is pulled deeper into Tabitha's near madness which she eagerly seems to go along with. Until it becomes too much.

A plan becomes too much for Clare and as a result she is attacked viciously by the person the group is after. The group had decided to take on the 'job' of helping wives that suspect their husbands have been cheating to reveal the betrayal. This time though is all too much for Clare and she decides she wants out.

When it comes to getting out for Clare though, it isn't so easy. Clare starts to spiral into near madness that she feels is inflicted by Tabitha. Clare decides she has to do whatever it takes to get away no matter what the end result.

The Things we do to our friends is a spiral twisting from the past where Clare's story and what she has done is revealed. From there we are brought in to the times in Edinburgh with the four and in between this all the reader gets random twists of the present where Clare is married now and reflecting on the past. The book itself in some parts was a difficult read as there never seemed to be a rhyme or reason to some of the actions of the characters. The reader is just left to assume that these characters are implied psychopaths and just leave it at that. In the end I am still not sure what I think of this book. It was not my favorite and not a book that lingers with me for any positive reason. However, for a debut it is certainly a unique jump into this world. Until next time, happy reading!

SO GOOD! Basically from the first page I couldn't put this down. Darwent is an incredibly talented writer and I was dying to know what happens on every page. This book is weird- the characters and the storyline are equally bizarre but I loved it nonetheless. I cannot wait to force this upon my customers in our little gay bookstore next year!

This book took A WHILE to really get going. I didn’t get really invested in the story until about 50% of the way through. I wasn’t necessarily bored in the first half, but I was antsy for something to happen. Once things started happening, it became a lot more intriguing and I started flying through the pages. There were some interesting twists and things I didn’t see coming, but there was no big shock for me. But even still, I liked where the story went. It made perfect sense to me. Character wise, Claire and Ava were the two standouts for me. I found them very interesting and complex. I did not feel the magnetic pull towards Tabitha that I think I was supposed to. I will say, I REALLY enjoyed the prologue and epilogue. They were a perfect set up and ending to this book. Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. I think it was a very unique story. I just think the pacing was a little slow at the beginning and I needed more from certain characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my! I couldn't put the book down. However, it was so alarming and bizarre that I don't know how to give it accurate feedback.. Definitely, it s well written; the characters come to life as does the story. I appreciated the opportunity to read it and I hope I don't have friends like those in the book AND I know I'm not like them.

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent is a dark, atmospheric literary suspense novel. We meet Clare, who recently moved to Edinburgh, and clearly has some secrets from her past. She meets Tabitha, and the rest of the clique, and is suddenly admitted to the group. As they build their relationships everything goes off the rails.

This book is a slow slow burn with a lot of chaos. It was unique and enjoyable at parts but overall feels like more of a slog for me. The characters being so vicious and unlikable made it difficult to want to invest in them and their stories. The cover is fantastic though - very enticing and eye catching.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for three ARC - The Things we do to our Friends is out now!

The Things We Do to Our Friends was a dark, strange, twisted take on toxic, obsessive friendships and how far we’ll go for our friends. While I wouldn’t classify it as a thriller, there were some strange twists and turns that kept me reading. The story of Clare and the Shivers felt uneven, at times I couldn’t wait to keep reading and other times I found myself getting bored. There was not enough character development or background given for me to get invested in any of the characters and what happens to them. I’m still not sure how I feel about this book but if you like dark books set in the world of academia or stories of toxic friend groups, definitely give this book a read.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

This book is, woah. Clare is looking to start over after a past that is only hinted at. She looks for an ideal group of friends and slowly falls in with charismatic Tabitha and her group of friends. Clare does everything she can to become part of the group and finally Tabitha brings her in on “the project.” While not exactly what Clare wants, she dives in and joins, and even thrives. Until she doesn’t. Then Clare’s past starts to pop back up and her life spirals. And then, one final twist at the end. This is a dark, twisty thriller that explores obsession, belonging and constantly striving for more. While the main part of the story is when the group is in college, it’s the “current” timeline that really brings the entire story together and kind of sends shivers down your back. I would definitely recommend this one.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is an atmospheric (sometimes dark) read with twists and turns and a pace that keeps you turning the pages.

The book is compelling and well written and delves into toxic female relationships and is full of secrets and the wanting to belong.

I cant forget revenge.

Clare is not the nicest person and yet you cant help but feel empathy for her.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a great debut that I wont soon forget and I am looking forward to seeing what Heather Darwent has in store for us in her next book,

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine , Bantam for an unforgetable but good read.

Clare is ready to leave her old life and dark secrets behind to start school in Edinburgh. Soon Clare is drawn in by Tabitha and her group of loyal friends. Clare is eager to be their friends even if it takes her down a dark and twisty road that she thought she left behind. Schemes and plans are soon hatched and Clare is in too deep to get out.

This was one of the most unusual books I have read in a long time and I mean that in a good way. I enjoyed knowing that I didn’t know what was coming next. Everything from the locations to characters were dark and broody and I loved every minute of it.

Clare is new to the university life in Edinburgh but is doing her best to fit in with the others. Until she comes into contact with Tabitha, a beautiful rich girl who has a close circle of friends. As Clare does her best to make herself part of the group, she’s slowly brought into the plots and schemes of Tabitha, including a secret project that they need Clare’s help with. But by the time Clare realizes that she’s gotten involved with more than she bargained for, she also discovers it’s too late to back out, especially since it seems that Tabitha has learned about her hidden past.

This was an interesting read that wasn’t quite what I expected. It ended up being less of a thriller or a mystery, but more of a portrait/character study of Clare. This wasn’t a bad thing, and I found it to be just as fascinating. However, it was a very slow burn and took plenty of time to build up to the unsettling and more suspenseful parts of the work. The author excelled at creating a darker and moody atmosphere, which added to my enjoyment of this work.

The characters left me wanting more. Aside from Clare, they felt relatively interchangeable for most of the first half of the work, and even after we got to know them better, it felt as if they were lacking much real depth, development, or personality. It was almost as if the author gave them each a couple of personality traits, then left it at that. I did mostly enjoy the way toxic relationships was examined in this work, though there could have been a bit more of an exploration and emphasis on that aspect.

Overall, I did enjoy this easy read and recommend it to those who are interested in slow burn somewhat suspenseful reads. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read this work, which will be published January 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

3.5/5

What a strange read this one and my experience with it overall was odd as well. My feelings were mixed the entire time I was reading it and I flipped back and forth between being interested in these toxic and obsessive relationships and then being kind of bored. There were so many times I wondered where the whole thing was going and wondering if it would be worth my time in the end and I’m still not sure if I have a straight answer to that question. I did like parts of this bizarre tale and I always like when an author veers into dark and dangerous territory but there were aspects of the plot and the characters behavior that just frustrated the hell out of me. So overall I’m somewhere in the middle here, but I would definitely read more from the author because some of the darkness was pretty good.

Wow, "The Things We Do to Our Friends" by Heather Darwent is an intense, dramatic novel. A group of college girls, drawn to dysfunction, dark, revengeful actions, team together, with much conflict and unrest, to create an interesting venture. This book was certainly unsettling and unique! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the early reader copy. All opinions are my own.

The cover is gorgeous, the writing is great, but the characters are utterly unlikeable (perhaps intentionally so).

Her descriptions of the locations are beautiful and poetic:

“The land up close had a sharpness to it, as if someone had taken one of those undulating hills and torn chunks from it, bitten off sections hungrily, stripped it to the bone to reveal craggy rocks and water and marshland. The peaks stretched up away from the road, like we were buried deep in the valleys.”

However, the characters and the storyline just left me feeling gross and depressed. I struggled to finish the book, even though I think the author is very talented.

I would be interested in reading books from her in the future, but this one missed the mark for me.

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #thingswedotoourfriends

I was very excited to read this one, but despite an intriguing start, it just didn't work for me.

The redeeming qualities to the characters are pretty non-existent. I don't mind unlikeable characters, but the destructive codependence of the friend group was more annoying than intriguing. There were suggestions throughout of why Tabitha was so captivating and had so much sway over the group she created, but it just didn't ring true to me.

The story moved along slowly and at times seemed disjointed. You would get glimpses of the "business" activities of the group, and hints of our main character Clare's past, but it didn't come together in a satisfying way for me in the end.

I tore through this beautifully written dark and haunting book in no time. Narrated mostly by an isolated student at uni who in 2005 is now going as Clare, who spends hours practicing her tone, pitch and delivery so as to mask who she once was. This is girlhood drama at its utmost.

The story takes place mainly in Scotland and France, shifting back and forth between Clare's friendship with shark-like Tabitha, Imogen and Ava at the University of Edinburgh and with her more innocent childhood friends Adrienne and Dina who she went through a horrible ordeal with. This book is about fitting in, power dynamics in friendship, bad parenting and about struggling with consequences; also it's a mystery that comes together quite satisfactorily in the end. I loved everything about this wicked story, can't wait to read more by Heather Darwent.