Arriving at college in Scotland as a new student, quiet Clare is eager to start over. Clare is prepared for a quiet life as a student. Then, in one of her classes, she meets Tabitha, who is charming, beautiful, and clearly popular. Clare is drawn to her, and slowly feels herself brought into the world of Tabitha and her glamorous friends. Clare never feels fully on the inside of the group, until a trip to France when Tabitha reveals she is working on a project -- and sees Clare as a key part of the project being a success. Against her better judgment, Clare agrees to participate and soon finds Tabitha and the other members of the group are quite a bit more complex than they appeared -- and that they are all hiding secrets that may prove dangerous ... and not just for their friendships.

This is a strong thriller. At the center of the novel, Clare is completely intriguing -- both as a view into Tabitha and her friends' mysterious world and mysterious in her own right. This book will keep you engaged through the very last page.

Highly recommended!

This is an interesting debut thriller with plenty of twists and turns. The story focuses on Clare, who is studying art history at university in Edinburgh, and two women (Tabitha and Imogen) from her lecture hall who eventually let Clare into their small circle of friends. Not only does Clare have secrets she would like to keep hidden, but Tabitha and Imogen may have even more. None of the characters are particularly likable, and the storyline moves along at a very slow pace, but the excellent writing style and the surprise the reader gets from some of the twists that occur along the way make this a pretty good read. I look forward to the author’s next endeavor!

I was completely drawn in by this beautiful cover. Wow, what a ride this one was. The novel follows the story of Clare, an MC with a mysterious past who is looking for a fresh start at university in Edinburgh. She gets a job at a local cocktail bar and eventually meets Tabitha, an alluring woman from Clare's classes who takes Clare under her wing.

Tabitha, Clare, and their friends embark on a new...we'll say...project...and Clare is forced to face her past and wonder if these new friends really have her best interest.

This one fell a bit flat for me, the ending really didn't have the buildup I hoped it would have, and I thought there was opportunity for a more action-packed plot. The characters were well-written and alluring, and I liked the Mean Girls vibe of the clique of friends.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Things We Do to Our Friends.

This was a miss for me, but that's on me.

I'm not a fan of narratives featuring a clique and the outcast who wants to fit in.

I've read quite a few of those books this year and the year isn't over yet.

Also, this is the fifth or seventh book I've read set in Scotland so either Edinburgh is the trendy location for genre novels or I'm purposely selecting these types of books to read because I miss Edinburgh (it is a cool city).

Clare is a socially awkward and desperately lonely college student desperate to fit in. Hiding from a tragic past and forgotten by her parents, she quickly falls in with the 'in' crowd headed by Tabitha, a charismatic, privileged young woman.

Nothing much happens in the first 90% of the novel; unless you enjoy reading about a group of privileged, entitled white kids boozing, clubbing and eating rich food, you'll enjoy this.

Naturally, these decide to turn their antics into a money making scheme because capitalism rules and brats drool.

Stuff happens, nothing earth shattering, no suspense, no urgency.

I called each and every 'twist' and revelation before they happened so nothing surprised me.

This isn't a mystery so much as a character study of Clare. Is she awkward or a psychopath just waiting for the right moment to strike?

You decide.

Personally, I didn't care for Clare, or any of her silly, one dimensional friends.

No one was likable, and I'm all for unlikable characters. A well crafted unlikable character has interesting qualities like cunning, devious charm, or a Machiavellian personality.

Everyone here was forgettable and unmemorable. I was SOO bored.

The writing was good and I did enjoy the backdrop of old timey Edinburgh, the Highlands, and its old world charm.

I miss Edinburgh. I hope to go back and visit again.

I found this book well written, intriguing, and it kept me thinking. Of course, taking place in Edinburgh is an automatic plus for me! :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the chance to read this book!

I went into this book kind of blind. I mainly picked it up as I spent November reading dark academia stories. The premise intrigued me and I wanted to love this book but it fell flat for me. The storyline was interesting enough though since I finished it and wanted to know how the story ended. The main thing that bothered me was that it seemed like a lot of events happened off page and we only received short summaries to fill in the blanks. The characters and the events existed in a very surface level way so I didn't quite become as immersed as I wanted to.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I had no expectations about this book. The recap sounded good, I sometimes can really get into a good suspense novel, and learning about
Scotland was the cherry on the ice cream, and that is why I decided to ask for an ARC of it.

I am thinking that my age is what made me dislike these characters and the premiss so much. Why this wasn't advertised as Young Adult (18-35 years old) is beyond me because that is exactly the age of its main characters. I liked none of them, I felt nothing for all of them, and I couldn't care less about what happened to each of them. Clare and Tabitha seem to have some serious psychological problems that I just didn't feel comfortable with.


No, I did not finish this book -I'm afraid that my review might be a bit scathing had I read more of this book.

I love dark academia. I wanted to love this book, but I didn’t. I did love the Edinburgh setting and all of that worked so visually well for me. I also felt a kinship with Clare. But it just felt like nothing was happening and things were dragging. I didn’t feel this was a thriller, but rather a heavy drama. 3 stars.

The Things We Do to Our Friends was a dark, moody and extremely atmospheric novel set in Scotland. I loved the setting, the vibe and the eerie mood that Darwent set up for us. Unfortunately it sort of fell flat for me after that. I just never connected with the story or the characters. the writing was superb, I just think the story missed it for me.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a twisted story of toxic friendships, unlikeable characters, and an unreliable narrator filled with tons of teenaged angst.

Clare has started studying art history at a university in Scotland. A rather unsophisticated young woman, she decides to reinvent herself by becoming more calm, shouting less, not being so intrusive, improving her accent, etc. The book does an extraordinary job of showing Clare’s insecurities. She knows enough to not rush into friendships but is drawn toward a group of rich golden people: Tabitha, Imogene, Ava, and Samuel. The three girls live together in a fancy flat while Clare shares a dumpy flat with girls she doesn’t particularly like. Eventually “The Shiver”—as Clare calls the golden group—notices her and pulls her into their clutches. Tabitha is the sun around which the others rotate. The Shiver gets involved in Tabitha’s “project,” or le projet as she calls it in her poor French, which involves rather sinister activities in lieu of the party-hearty stuff college kids are known for.

Clare’s story is revealed slowly in flashbacks interspersed with the workings of the project and these gradually unfolding details reveal Clare to be an unreliable narrator scarred with psychological baggage from her family and from events that happened in her early teens. Edinburgh is described well with atmospheric details of the various nooks and crannies of the old city versus the new.

For young Clare, the opportunity to study at University of Edinburgh means a chance to reinvent herself. Looking to leave the shadows of an unruly past behind her, she quickly finds herself unmoved by the mystique of Scotland and longing for excitement to find its way back to her.

Enter Tabitha and her group loyal confidantes. What begins as an intriguing friendship soon proves to be much more than Clare bargained for, as their lives become intertwined in dark and devious ways.

"The Things We Do to Our Friends" tried nobly to establish itself amongst the ranks of timeless, dark academia novels. Unfortunately, it fell completely flat for me, due mostly in part to its one-dimensional character development. Despite Clare, Tabitha, and the rest of our cast of characters having the bones of what makes for a great dark academia story (morally-ambiguous, complex personal histories, a yearning for beauty & the finer things), they ultimately felt shallow and overly-simplistic; I simply couldn't connect to any of them.

As for the story itself, I'd be remiss not to say that Darwent's writing is beautiful. That alone brought the story to 3 stars for me, as it's descriptive and very atmospheric in parts. Overall though, the story felt clunky and was too much of a slow burn with minimal payoff. For someone that's read lots of dark academia and loved most of it, the plot's originality paled in comparison to what's currently out there--I'd encourage readers to skip this one.

Interesting read about toxic young adult female friendships. Heading to college and finding their way to be in a popular club. There were slow parts but picks up quickly.

This reminded me a little of a contemporary The Secret History told through a female perspective. Strange friends, toxic relationships, dark motives…

And look at that cover! 😍 Also, Edinburgh is at the top of my places I want to visit list, so the Scotland setting couldn’t be more perfect. France is also there, so that setting was another bonus.

One thing that was difficult for me with this book is how slow the pace was. It has a mystery component and there is an unsettling suspenseful vibe, but I still struggled at times and found myself wanting to skim sections.

The characters are also all unlikable, which caused me to feel detached more than I would have liked to be. I did enjoy when the book took a turn about halfway through and some of the plot is revealed a bit more.

If you like slow burn suspense and dark academia centered around complicated and unhealthy friendships, then this may be a great psychological thriller for you.

This thriller is set in Scotland. It’s 2005 and Clare is studying in Edinburgh, hoping for a fresh start and to run away from her past, ready to reinvent herself. Life feels monotonous until she meets the worldly and wealthy Tabitha in art class and is drawn to her close circle of friends. Finally, the life she’s always wanted to be living is within her grasp. But soon Tabitha’s friendship has taken Clare down a dark rabbit hole of bad choices; Clare needs help with a side project, one that forces Clare to put everything on the line. This is a thriller that takes its tension-filled time before arriving at twists and turns. I especially loved the settings in this novel, from Scotland to France. Thank you to Randomhouse / Ballantine and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

This had all the makings of a thriller.
Clare is the new girl at school, hoping to find a group of friends that she can fit in with. Those she falls in with have a variety of dark pasts, and we come to find out that Clare does as well.
I think this was a good story, but the unlikeable characters combined with the very slow pacing meant it lacked any suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC of The Things We Do to Our Friends.

I’m not proud of something things in my past, but they make me who I am now, so I don’t think I could be blackmailed with them. In this book, the main character allows something that happened in her past to allow her to be roped into something, not so nice.

This book is told from Clare’s point of view and is set in Scotland. Clare is a university student who finds herself drawn to an odd group of friends. After getting to know them, she finds herself participating in a dark and unscrupulous project. While she’s uncomfortable with it, she goes along because one of the members of the group is holding something from Clare’s past over her head. When Clare has had enough, will she be able to get out unscathed?

This book was so slowly paced. I really didn’t enjoy the writing style, it felt off to me and it seemed inconsistent – which I did not enjoy. Because of the writing and the pace, I got really bored really fast and because of this, and well what the characters did, I just didn’t enjoy, or care what happened to any of the. I also found the book overly vague – like sure I want to guess at some things, but not major plot details. I only finished this one because I wanted to find out what the characters were hiding in their past, but even that was an utter disappointment.

Thank you so much to @netgally and the publisher Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, @randomhouse, for my advanced copy. This one has reviews so please make sure to just take this into consideration – you may love this one. Not all books work for everyone

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!!!

Shocked silence. Give me a moment. This was brilliant! From the prologue to the epilogue, this was fascinating. Just the constant feeling that something is off, that something is rotting, keeping me in an almost constant state of curiosity mixed with an unexplainable unease.

The prologue opens the story with a few snippets of a scene that was left unexplained for quite a while in the book but was never far from my mind due to its disturbing nature.

Claire is the MC, telling the story from her point of view. It begins with her starting University at Edinburgh and having a desire to meet not just any friends, but a certain type. This felt unhinged to me, the way her thought process around this worked. Of course, when she zeroes in on her targets she seems to effortlessly slip into their lives. Quickly she became a favorite of the groups ringleader, Tabitha, and Claire felt a new sense of self as she basked in the rays of Tabitha's attention.

This all, of course, gets weird fast. Claire can't figure out what is really going on. And, she seems to be keeping secrets of her own. But as the plot is revealed, everything seems to happen like a wave... a major high and a huge crash.

This was really intense for me. I felt surprised with where this went and the amount this book was able to disturb me. (Is it weird that I enjoyed being disturbed? I guess that's a whole other topic, lol)

Definitely recommend this for fans of thrillers!

Out January 10, 2023!

I waffled on this one - I really enjoyed its initial slow pace and thoughtful unfurling as the main character began to plot her infiltration of a friend group. Dark academia as a genre is my jam, and I'm willing to look aside from a certain amount of slow pacing and pretension as we get into the good stuff, as long as the characters are rich. While I love the main character and her blossoming sociopathy, the friend group? Solid 'eh'. If I'm to believe that this amazing charismatic rich girl is worth ruining your life for, I've got to see her being amazing and charismatic. She just... wasn't. I had trouble continuing this one well past the halfway mark because it just felt as if it were building and building yet nothing really was going on. Alas.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a dark thriller about a group of school friend involved in a dangerous project. There's blackmail, money and sex. There's travel to the South of France, a run down house, pubs in Scotland, a dirty casino, and toxic friendships.

Basically, it's everything I could want in an academic thriller. That said, this did take a bit to get going, despite a knockout of an opening chapter. Full of terrible people - in fact, no one is likeable - and that's not something that I require - or really even look for. Terrible people, doing bad things, to each other and to outside people for reasons only they know.

While I do wish there was a bit more exploring on everyone's backstory, I enjoyed the overall story. It's different than the other mass-market thrillers that have been popular recently and it's a nice change of pace.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

I’ll start by saying I really think psychological thrillers are not my cup of tea, so please take my review with a grain of salt. But this book was utterly boring with the potential for a really suspenseful plot line. There was too much focus on describing every little thing in detail and not enough on the actual storyline. It made the book drag on whereas if it were more focused on the actual events it would’ve been a lot more intriguing. Overall, this book was not for me but for fans of psychological thrillers it may be a hit.

Thank you so much to Heather Darwent, NetGalley, and Bantam Books for an ARC of The Things We Do to Our Friends.