Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: January 10, 2023
Clare is an outcast, hoping that a fresh start at a university in Edinburgh will give her what she craves- friendship, and a sense of belonging. When she meets Tabitha, charming, beautiful and exceptionally rich, Clare is surprised that Tabitha seems so willing to welcome Clare into her clique. But Tabitha’s friendship comes at a cost. Tabitha knows things about Clare’s past that no one knows, and Clare must cater to Tabitha’s seemingly careless whims or else her entire future and everything she’s tried so hard to forget will be thrust into the spotlight.
Heather Darwent’s debut novel, “The Things We Do for our Friends”, is a powerful look at toxic female friendships, the desire to belong, and, above all, revenge. Creative and masterfully written, Darwent’s novel is unique and addictive, bringing the dark side of friendships into the light.
Right away, it is evident that Clare has secrets. Although right at the beginning, Darwent gives us a snippet as to Clare’s past, it is just enough to keep the reader invested. Throughout the remainder of the novel, Darwent slips us breadcrumbs, slowly feeding us tidbits of Clare’s disastrous childhood, her cold and unloving parents, all leading up to the “event” in France which Clare works throughout the novel to keep quiet. It is an epic cat and mouse game between Darwent and her readers, all concluding with a gripping and shocking finale.
Clare is not exactly likable, but she’s definitely relatable. Awkward, eccentric and considered “odd” by mostly everyone around her, it is obvious why she is so susceptible to Tabitha’s spell. Each and every one of Tabitha’s “shiver” (as in, a shiver of sharks, which is how Clare refers to Tabitha and her group of friends) are vapid and deplorable, yet they still manage to create sympathy, and to generate a genuine concern for their outcomes. Each chapter is relatively short, told completely from Clare’s side of things, with easy to follow flow and a unique writing style. Add to that my favourite setting (Scotland), and Darwent’s debut novel is one not to be missed!

I was transfixed by the description and cover of The Things We Do to Our Friends, without any real expectation for the novel. That being said, Heather Darwent completely knocked my socks off with this one.

Everything from the locations -- moody Edinburgh, dilapidated houses in the South of France -- to the characters, especially the main characters Clare and Tabitha -- I could not put this one down!! It really has the quintessential "be careful what you wish for" sentiment, with a bunch of twists and turns along the way. A great book to cap off the year!

Our main character goes away to Glasgow for college, where she wants to reinvent her life. She meets an intriguing group, not unlike Richard finding his friends in The Secret History.

I enjoyed this story, but never quite connected with the main character. The twisty plot never really felt particularly twisty, but overall I think it was a fun read.

Dark academia and toxic friendships are usually hits with me but this one fell flat. I wasn't invested in any of the characters and it felt very surface level to me. The writing was good and felt more literary than thriller to me. If you liked The Secret History this might be one for you.

Definitely one of the strangest books I've read in a while, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I suppose the only turn-off - and it's a slight one - is that it took longer than it probably should have to confirm what I suspected almost from the beginning.

But the learning process was an intriguing one despite almost totally unlikable, unrelatable characters - starting with story narrator Clare, a beautiful woman who appears to be in some kind of exile in Scotland to escape serious transgressions in France. In school at Edinburgh, Clare meets Tabitha, a beautiful, rich and totally annoying young woman (or was it that Tabitha meets Clare - whatever) and her small cadre of snobby friends. Clare is both repulsed and drawn to the fiercely loyal group, especially Tabitha, but for the most part her distaste turns sweet when she's admitted to their inner circle.

The bond becomes even stronger when Tabitha decides that they'll start a business - a big-money "project" that turns the group into, well, you'll have to read it to find that out. Despite misgivings all around - except for Tabitha - they all go along with the plan, because, well, what Tabitha wants, Tabitha gets. Readers, though, get only limited glimpses into their activities - I'd love to have been privvy to more - but most of Clare's recollections focus on her and her interaction with the others. Interspersed are hints as to how horrific her youthful transgressions really were and what the ending holds; those who pay attention will have a pretty good idea what that is by the time they get there. Overall, it's a well done debut novel and a treat, I think, for those who enjoy head games. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent is a dark academia book that has a lot of promise and atmosphere.

The desire to have what is seemingly desirable, possibly in reach (but never really is, like tantalus's grapes) is a powerful theme in this debut that blends ambition with what can only for me be called chaos faux friendship.

It's an ode to all things The Secret History and brings to mind recent books such as Ware's The IT Girl, Henkel's Other People's Clothes, and Barasch's A Novel Obsession (so if you liked those recent reads this one is for you!).

The book falls short though for me in comparison to The Secret History (a personal favorite read) as the book leans into mood and style and the uneasy feeling that a book/character isn't grounded and is floating through bad decisions/poorly reconciled actions without really developing the draw of the circle of friends ("friends") that Clare yearns to join. There is also limited placement of the story/characters within an academic setting; Tartt's Secret History manages to blend the messiness of academics and college and young adulthood effectively but this book doesn't for me hit that mark. I wanted less moodiness and style and more development of Tabitha and Clare, more cat and mouse, less codependence.

It has the promise though and for me these themes of obsessive friendship and secrets and darkness always remain such a draw.

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. This one was a very slow burn, which is not my thing. I need more excitement in the first half, or I'll never get into it.

Thank You to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine for an eARC. Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me and I DNF. I will definitely give the author another try though.

Disclaimer: I was invited by Random House to review this book.

Unfortunately, I have to DNF at about 19%.

The first chapter was amazing! I wished the rest of what I read held that same energy. Instead, it felt like I was strolling through someone’s life who would over-describe some situations and doesn't provide enough descriptions for ones that need more.

There are hints of something happening in Clare’s (the main character) past, but at this point, we should have been given a kernel of information. The slow burn involved with this novel was taking too long to keep us under a blanket of vagueness.

I didn’t get far enough for the characters to bug me except for Clare who judged everyone but wanted to be in the group with those she judged.

This one was a very slow burn, which is not really my thing. I need more excitement in the first half or i'll never get into it. I liked the Cruel Intentions type vibe, with the creepiness, darkness, and people generally just being bad but wish the pacing was a bit more fast.

I wanted to like this one so badly. The cover, the setting (I've been dreaming of going back to Edinburgh every since I went in 2018), the campus setting. Maybe I'm getting tired of psychological thrillers, but I found myself not wanting to pick it back up when I put it down (which was often). I probably should have DNF'd it, but I really wanted it to work for me. If you decide to read this one, go in knowing that even though this takes story focuses on college students, there is very little atmospheric academia that the premise make you think there will be.

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent is an electrifying thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It follows university friends as they struggle to survive in a world of deceit and manipulation. The characters are so well-developed and the plot is so suspenseful that you won’t be able to put it down. The story is full of twists and turns and you will never know what’s coming next.

Unfortunately, for me to classify a novel as a "thriller" I need an element driving me to keep turning the pages, and this one fell flat there. I thought author Heather Darwent did a good job of creating an atmosphere, but for me, the characters fell flat.
While this is a personal pet peeve, I really dislike a story where everyone except the reader knows a big secret. I believe knowing more about Clare's "incident" and background by around 25-30% of the book would have made her more relatable/interesting.
While the story definitely picks up at the end, there is a long drag to get there.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine, and Heather Darwent for an ARC of this book!**

“If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.” ― Aesop

Most students head to university to come into their own as adults, to find new meaning in their lives, to broaden their horizons, and to leave their childhoods behind...but none with such laser-focused intent as Clare. Heading to dark and brooding Edinburgh to attend the aptly named University of Edinburgh, she is a on a mission: to leave her secrets behind and integrate herself into student life posthaste...and of course, finding herself amidst a group of the wealthy and popular wouldn't hurt either. She finds her targets in Ava, Samuel, Imogen, and ringleader Tabitha, when the group captivates her at a bar one night.

When they gravitate towards Clare in return and invite her to join their "shiver of sharks" (this is how Clare refers to them in her mind, anyway) she can't believe her luck. After a few weeks as part of the 'cool kids club', however, she gets invited to participate in a scheme with Tabitha at the helm and her fellow sharks all too willing to acquiesce. Though their games seem harmless to start, Clare soon learns that their status comes with a price and their devious plans have only just begun. Will Clare become hooked on the adrenaline and excitement this new life brings and succumb to the 'bad deeds'? And is a certain member of their little group privy to information from Clare's past...the same information she's been so desperate to hide? Will Clare stop at nothing to keep her past IN the past?

I was so hopeful going into this book that it would give me the dark academia thrills I've been missing in the past months, probably ever since I finished the fabulous For Your Own Good. However, this debut read as though the author put ALL her energy into trying to create atmosphere and scenes rather than focusing on creating an actual PLOT. I'm all for bizarre, when it's appropriate. But when I have to question HOW and WHY this plot would even work over and over again...that to me says that the author didn't really think it through in any practical sense of the term.

First off, Clare is so DESPERATE to keep her secret past safe...and yet she is simultaneously desperate to throw herself in the middle of a new friend group she knows almost nothing about, EVEN THOUGH her spidey sense is tingling from the get-go. Forgive me but...this doesn't make sense. There are arbitrary throwaway characters, like Clare's boyfriend, who sort of flit in and out of the narrative but could easily not exist. The whole group of these 'sharks' is frankly unlikable and really not that interesting. They all are sort of boring, stuck-up children which I guess was sort of the point...but didn't make them any more fun to read.

And though this book is supposedly a dark academia read...SCHOOL IS HARDLY MENTIONED. This drove me crazy. All of these students are in college together, yet they are rarely ever there, and other than some discussion of the art they are studying...that's about all you're going to get to remind you they think about anything other than power and their schemes. With the type of lifestyle these friends are leading, this honestly could have been a bunch of twenty-something roommates sharing an apartment and it wouldn't have made a difference. Not sure why this bothered me so much, but in some respects I think it just made all the events taking place even more unrealistic.

There are also spots of clunky and odd word choices: "I heard him stretch my name like he was chewing the the vowels up, like they all did---Clareeeeee." (Yes, there are that many 'e's.) For most of the book, it felt like the author caught very caught up writing scenes and sentences rather than a plot that took me from A to B. Sure, we finally get the 'big reveals' towards the end, but they are just a bit out there. There is also a very disgusting scene involving someone climbing inside a pig carcass. I'd really rather not think about it again, but you've been warned. Again, some of this weirdness would have played better if it was presented in a more believable or cohesive way, but I was so checked out by Part 3 (I think, the book was split up sort of arbitrarily) that it honestly didn't matter. To cap everything off, there's one of THOSE epilogues...

Though this is a debut novel and there's certainly a possibility I would enjoy another book from Darwent down the line, this book reminded me of a Sum 41 album title. But rather than "All Killer, No Filler" I'd probably call this one "All Filler, No Thriller."

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3

An odd book of toxic friendships. I was never quite sure where it was going. I liked the idea of reinventing yourself but some of the choices she made were puzzling and not fully examined. I guess the author wanted to move the plot along so it would be more of a "thriller" but I would have liked a little more character depth. Why is Tabitha so alluring? I'm not sure. I did like the backdrop of Edinburgh.

Clare is new to Edinburgh. She is lonely and feeling a bit sad. She hopes she makes some new friends soon. Before too long she has a job at a bar and has enrolled in the university. One evening, she observes a group of college students. They look fun, charismatic, and mesmerizing. She wonders what it would be like to have them for friends. Their leader is a beautiful, mysterious woman who draws the others toward her like moths to a flame. She is beguiling and Clare can’t believe her luck when this woman takes an interest in her.
Tabitha quickly takes Clare under her wing and introduces her to the others in her group, Samuel, Eva, and Imogen. At first the others are not sure about her but as time passes, they all grow close with Tabitha at their center. Tabitha is generous with her time and with gifts. They would all do anything for her. The next time they are all together, Tabitha announces a business proposal. Each person will have a role. The idea is scary and titillating at the same time. What could possibly go wrong?

This was a very twisted novel – I loved it! The characters were all dark and needy and selfish. The toxicity of the friendships made me think of sharks circling a tiring swimmer. Nobody leads the frenzy – they are all out for blood. The negativity of the characters reminds me of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl – all of these people are despicable and I would never want to meet them in a dark alley. This book is intoxicating and you won’t be able to put it down.

The setting of this book is perfect for an air of intrigue: Edinburgh, Scotland, a rambling university with meandering hallways, cold stone construction, and views inhibited by fog most of the time. Clare felt like it would be the perfect place to reinvent herself, keeping her past a dark secret.
But for an enterprising group of friends, nothing is unknown. As they go out of their way to befriend Clare, they slowly reveal to her that secrets aren’t possible. They use their sleuthing to attack philandering men, and their methods become more and more violent with each assignment.
Fast-paced, but a little “untied” in the logic process, I enjoyed this book and would love to see more from this promising author. A 3.5 rounded up to 4.
I sincerely thank Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is January 10, 2023.

2.5 stars, rounding up. Clare arrives in Edinburgh to start university, quickly falling in with a toxic friend group that she dubs "The Shiver." At first, they partake in normal young adult shenanigans, but their nefarious business ideas quickly start to spiral into dangerous waters and Clare begins to feel trapped. Her friends won't let her walk away without a fight, however, and she'll have to play their game to get herself out unscathed.

This book was super flat for me. I don't know if it's the case here, but I've seen a handful of authors lately using "my main character is a psychopath" as an excuse to make their MC completely unlikeable, unrelatable, and possessed of zero character depth. It's bothersome to me to spend multiple hours with a character I feel nothing for — neither like nor dislike, just apathy. That's how I felt about Clare and the rest of the characters in this story. There was no twist or reveal that added anything to the story here either, so that was disappointing.

I think younger readers may find this story more enjoyable, as I am well past university age in my mid-thirties. The writing itself has no flaws, though I found the pace to be excruciatingly slow in some places. The cover is stunning, obviously, but it's not enough to redeem the narrative itself in my eyes.

Nonetheless, thank you to Heather Darwent, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Loved the cover art and the short preview of the book. Sadly I just couldn't get into it after that. I pushed myself to get at least 20% into the book, but there wasn't the hook that kept me. The "what happened and how did it happen" never came, or at least not quick enough.

This book has the makings of a contemporary Secret History, but from an all female perspective. Were it not so slow-paced, I would have enjoyed this a bit more.
Even still, the larger problem that I had was that I couldn’t find a single character worth rooting for.
I think this book has an audience, but it isn’t me.
I appreciate the opportunity to read an early copy and hope it finds the right reader.