Clare has always felt like a social misfit- the odd one out. So when she becomes a freshman at University of Edinburgh, she’s determined to reinvent herself and forge a whole new identity. Clare quickly hones in on provocative ‘it girl’ Tabitha and her sophisticated posse. She decides to ingratiate herself with their cliquish inner circle. But how far will she go to belong? And what happens when they unearth the unsavory skeletons in Clare’s cupboard?

The Things We Do To Our Friends kicked off with a bang thanks to a very tantalizing prologue. The first couple chapters were a little slow by comparison, but held my interest. Once you make it through that initial scene-setting, grab your popcorn because it’s a wild ride. This book will take you places you never thought possible- good, bad and ugly. Trust me, the author is not afraid to go there.

There’s so much to unpack, I think my head is still spinning. Let me take you on a brief tour- we have dark academia vibes, super toxic friendships, plenty of blackmail, sordid hunting parties, mold-infested French estates, and a little light stalking. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

The many faces of mercurial Edinburgh are on full display here. The city’s serpentine streets and gossamer fog will draw you in, beguiling and insidious all at once. Darwent managed to give me all of the feels- shock, outrage, elation, squeamishness. This might not be an uplifting read, but it certainly is all-consuming.

The characters were not exactly nice people or even likable per se, but they are intriguing. While all complicated, beautiful and manipulative in their own right, the author does hint at the ways they came to be somewhat depraved and ultimately wrapped around Tabitha’s little finger.

I learned in a Psychology of Stress class that social stress is the most harmful variety of all. The Things We Do To Our Friends is a brilliant exploration of humans, the social animal. It begs the question, what lengths we will go to in order to feel accepted? It’s clever and disturbing, bordering on quasi-horror at times. This is a novel that I won’t soon forget.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is the debut mystery/thriller by Heather Darwent. In this book, we follow our main character Clare, who is desperately trying to reinvent herself in a new city. Clare becomes intrigued by a group of friends led by Tabitha, a beautiful, talented rich girl from one of her classes. As Clare becomes a member of this group, secrets begin to be revealed and not everyone is how they seem.

This book read like Mean Girls but if it had the vibes of Cruel Intentions with a dash of dark academia. I really loved how slowly the plot unfolded. I would definitely classify this as more of a quiet thriller because even though some crazy stuff does happen, it’s not really the main focus on the story. This story is very much about the characters and how they work together and how toxic obsession can be.

I will say I was much more invested in the first half of the book while we were really learning about the characters. The second half isn’t bad by any means but I think the first half was much stronger. For a debut novel, this was super impressive. I feel like everything in the story made sense, especially because it took its time making sure the reader knew the characters pretty well.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes thrillers and mysteries that take their time and don’t need a million twists to still be enjoyable. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future because the potential is there.

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

When I first heard about this book, it sounded fantastic. I was overjoyed when I was approved for the ARC, and couldn’t wait to get started, especially since I was in the middle of a dark academia binge (and I believed this was one, though it unfortunately is not). While this book overall was quite gripping and intense, the ending fell flat for me, making it a 3-star read rather than higher.

I was pulled into Clare’s story quickly, for quite a few reasons. There’s just something constantly off about her, and the narration (done by Clare, in the future), makes nods to this strangeness, dropping small hints here and there to keep you guessing. The friends she makes are also just, extremely intense, but in a way that’s not entirely off-putting, and you can see why Clare is drawn in by them. It’s honestly just a fantastic set-up to this kind of thriller novel. The tension and my excitement was also kept up for most of the book too, but this puts even more pressure on the ending and the final reveals as well, since they need to be able to carry and be worthy of all the build-up that led to it.

For me, this is exactly where the book lost me. Not only did the ending feel off compared to the build-up, it also felt quite rushed. We suddenly got all the reveals at once: the truth of future-Clare and her current occupation, what happened to Tabitha and why, and what Tabitha and Ava had been hiding from everyone else. I think some of these reveals or some aspects of the ending would’ve worked for me in isolation, but when it was all packed together it didn’t make quite as much sense, nor was everything explored as well as it could’ve been. I felt like the book ended abruptly, with Clare shoving me off a cliff with no time to actually digest or process any of the reveals. At first glance, it just didn’t make sense, and then the story ended before it could try to convince me it did.

Overall, this book was a fun ride, but the ending soured it a bit for me. I still enjoyed my time with it overall, and I can definitely see myself trying more books by this author in the future!

Impeccably written and insanely addictive, it’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Complex characters keeping secrets from each other and an extremely flawed protagonist are usually hard to relate to, but in this case I was really invested in their lives. The plot is engrossing and very well constructed, fitting in all the pieces and giving clues throughout the novel. Clare is hiding a horrible secret, but she’s successfully reinventing herself when she meets Tabitha and her circle of friends. She is then sucked in into their orbit and roped into a weird scheme to make money. I liked the small, apparently unimportant little details inserted into the story. They may not have anything to do with the action, but they really made me visualize the plot. The relationships between the characters are complicated and, the worse things get, the faster I was reading. This is a rare book in which I didn’t mind too many details and characterizations, which is something that I don’t usually enjoy. A very solid novel.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam!

Edinburgh, Scotland-Claire, an outsider looking to reinvent herself, finds the perfect match when a wealthy clique welcomes her into their exclusive circle. Everything is working out as Claire envisioned until Tabitha, the charismatic leader of the group, reveals a project that she has been working on and needs Claire's help with. Despite her trepidation, Claire wants to please her new friends. She quickly realizes the extents to which they are willing to go to achieve their goals...there's no going back...it might be too late.

The Things we do to our Friends is a debut thriller about desire and danger. The novel follows Claire an introvert with a dark secret trying to reinvent herself in a new town. She meets Tabitha and knows she is exactly the person she wants as her new friend but Tabitha and her group of friends have secrets of their own. Claire is quickly tangled in a web of deceit and extortion with a potentially deadly endgame. This was a novel that was recommended to me based on my reading preferences and often times this is how I find debut authors that I enjoy. Although the writing style was enjoyable and the pacing was good I didn't really connect with any of the characters in this one. That being said it was an enjoyable read and I look forward to future novels by this author.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a dark suspense novel following Clare, a student who has just reinvented herself after an "incident" caused her family and former friends to cut ties with her. Soon after Clare moves to Edinburgh for her fall semester, she meets an enthralling group of friends, led by the bubbly and magnetic Tabitha. As Clare becomes more entangled in her new friend group, she learns that you can't always escape your past.

I enjoyed the dark academia this book offered, but I think otherwise it fell flat. As I read, I anticipated a climax or a big event of some sort, and it was very anticlimactic in the end. I think the writing was great, however the plot wasn't quite there to me, it felt incredibly vague. I would have loved more details and to feel less like the plot was being kept a secret from the reader. Some mystery is appropriate, but I never got the sense that the veil was lifted here, so to speak.

Thanks so much to Random House Ballantine as well as Netgalley for an eGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really wanted to like this sinister dark academia thriller. The synopsis and that gorgeous cover grabbed me right away. The writing style was intense and compelling, but I struggled to get into the story or to connect with the characters. There were a lot of detailed descriptions and yet somehow the characters didn’t seem well- developed enough. In terms of momentum, it took a long time for anything significant to happen, and even in the second half of the book, the pace felt a bit choppy.

I think there a lot of readers who will enjoy this book more than I did. If you are a fan of The Secret History, If We Were Villains, or the movie Cruel Intentions, you should give this book a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bantam, and Heather Darwent for the advanced copy of The Things We Do to Our Friends in exchange for my honest review.

I will keep my review brief because at the end of the day I'll chalk it up to me not being the target audience for this book. Early reviews are very positive for it and I would say to listen to them over myself since I seem to be an outlier.

This was far too slow of a burn, along with being too predictable for my taste. I did like that the main character was a terrible human being, it certainly made things more interesting.

The Things We Do to Our Friends will be on US bookshelves January 10!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

Clare needs to reinvent herself, and the University of Edinburgh is the place to do it. When she meets Tabitha, a rich girl in her art history class, she is swept up in her lifestyle. She immediately wants to be friends with Tabitha and her friends: Samuel, Ava, and Imogen. However, this friendship takes a dark turn when Tabitha recruits Clare into the group's project. No longer is this friendship centered around wealth and opulence, but instead obsession and codependence. Why do some people get to live a great life while others don't?

I came in to this novel thinking it would be along the vibes of one of my favorite books, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife. The synopsis gave me dark academia, secretive friend group, and definitely sinister undertones. The funny thing is that the friend group in The Things We Do to Our Friends almost reminded me of Bunny with the way they acted towards each other. I really liked the beginning of the novel as Clare meets this rich and intimidating friend group, but when we got to Tabitha's "little project," I became extremely disinterested. The book took a turn to becoming a bit more monotonous and also extremely confusing. To the point where I put this book down for almost a week and did not think about it nor feel compelled to figure out what would happen in the end. I do, however, think the writing was good and would be interested in picking up what the author writes in the future.

3.5/5

If you can get past the first third of this intriguing, dark and sometimes disturbing little thriller, you’ll discover gold. Maybe silver. Either way it’s worth something and you’re better off after.

Thank you for this opportunity! I’ll update with links once the review is live on all platforms.

When Clare arrives in Edinburgh, ready to start university and start a new life, she knows things are going to go her way for the first time - especially when she first spots Tabitha, a golden haired girl who seems to float through their shared classes. When Tabitha and her friend group take notice of Clare, she's ecstatic and quickly developed an intense, almost obsessive friendship with the group. Things heat up during the summer between the group's freshman and sophomore years when Tabitha proposes a unique business idea. But soon, things begin to spin out of control and a darker side of the friendships is revealed. Can Clare handle the pressure? Or will it break her once again?

This book is a great mix of "The Secret Society" and "Pretty Little Liars" in that it depicts toxic friendships that we just can't seem to walk away from, complete with haute couture outfits and signature cocktails. Also, there's the dark secrets that are hinted at oh so delicately throughout the book that you're just dying to know, but you have to wait for the big reveal - but oh is it worth it!

One great thing about this book is that literally everyone here has a secret. The fun part is finding out what it is and how that secret is going to impact their actions in the present. And just me, these aren't just little "I stole a candy bar in elementary school"-type secrets. They're biggies. So don't sleep on any of these characters. It's quite a cast that the author has created here and it was really exciting to watch them all interact and try to predict their actions and to try to figure out which one was the one that was going to "snap."

I also really enjoyed the setting. The city of Edinburgh was a great background for a nice, creepy tale of friendship gone wrong.

Overall, if you love domestic suspense and friendships gone very, very wrong, you're going to love this book. It'll keep your attention and keep you turning pages!

The cover art for The Things We Do to Our Friends is beautiful and immediately caught my attention. The synopsis for the book sounded interesting, so I thought I would try it. I opened this book to read it several times, but each time I lost interest. After several chapters of reading about collage age kids, I just gave up. The writing style was good, this just wasn't a book for me. Thanks to author Heather Darwent, Random House Publishing, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This one was an interesting read... it reminded me of a more sinister and twisted Mean Girls. Tabitha’s character made me think of a few girls in my life that were demanding and difficult and left me conflicted over whether I should even be friends with them, yet so irresistible. I think the author did a wonderful job with the characters and their descriptions, but “the incident” was unnecessarily dragged out. One could infer how the incident was ended, so I wasn’t shocked by the ending at all. The situation in the Highlands could have had a bit more shock value. It seemed like the circumstances and the job was swept away without enough closure for something built up so intensely.

I also thought the work wasn’t as treacherous or scandalous as the author portrayed it to be, but maybe I’m just desensitized or jaded after being subjected to misogyny for so long....

Enjoyable read overall, but this ones definitely for a specific audience.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book but it fell a bit flat for me. I thought it was a bit too slow and also the toxic friends trope (I don't know if I would call it a trope really) is just not for me. The setting of Edinburgh was probably my favorite part.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a slow burn, dark academia. And when I saw slow burn I mean sloooooooow burn.

Clare works at a bar in Edinburgh as a freshman in college, we don't really know why but it seems like she's running from something. Soon she meets a Dark History adjacent group of friends who apparently have a huge plan. I'll leave it there!

This book wasn't for me - I couldn't get into the slow pacing and the characters just weren't doing it for me.

Compelling. I think this is the best description of this book.

It is dark, it is strange, it is sinister. I didn't like any of the characters - literally none of them. The mood was dark and creepy. YET - I could not stop reading it.

If you have ever watched a movie where it is filmed "artistically" where it is so dark you can't really tell what is going on - thats how this book was written.

So what is it about? “She's an outsider desperate to belong, but the cost of entry might be her darkest secret in this intoxicating debut of literary suspense following a clique of dangerously ambitious students at the University of Edinburgh.” (Publisher blurb)

It had a Cruel Intentions vibe.

I stuggle how to rate it. I didn't like the atmosphere, I didn't like the pacing, I didn't like the characters... but again, I could not stop reading it. I am back to the question of what makes a good book? And even if I didn't ENJOY this book, I wont easily and quickly forget it. So I am going to go with 4 stars.

A strange story of toxic friendships, the main thing I have to say about it is when I had to put it down, I didn’t care that much about picking it back up.

Clare has started at a university in Scotland determined to reinvent herself. Her roommates are nice enough but not particularly interesting to her. When she does meet a group of interesting people, the hijinks they get up to aren’t your usual college-partying-too-much-type antics but turn into something far more consequential and sinister. Clare seems to have a fairly good sense of these new friends in the way she describes their interactions and her not always understanding because she doesn’t have their history. These new friends aren’t particularly good people, but then, neither is Clare.

This was so suspenseful and dark….I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing ever did. I didn’t care about the characters - I didn’t care what happened to them - I was just constantly asking what the heck am I reading.

The writing was good in the way that It kept me held in suspense…but even when things did start happening, I didn’t care about them at that point.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!

“She's an outsider desperate to belong, but the cost of entry might be her darkest secret in this intoxicating debut of literary suspense following a clique of dangerously ambitious students at the University of Edinburgh.” (Publisher blurb)

What a beautiful debut novel from Heather Darwent! There’s just something about a dark academia-themed psychological thriller that pulls me in. This story is dark, complex, and intense - following Clare to college and trying to fit in with the popular crowd but finding out it comes with a cost. Themes of toxic friendships and boundaries are explored as well.

If I had to give a description of this book I would say Dark Academia meets Fatal Attraction & Cruel Intentions. A novel about the price of obsession and desire is being driven to madness. For those who disliked the The Secret History for lack of plot momentum, I think The Things We Do To Our Friends will satisfy those needs.