The mood of the book is dark and to me felt sinister from the beginning. We are following Clare who is trying to start fresh at university in Edinburgh leaving behind a mysterious event that caused her to start over in the first place. She has no one really, her parents aren’t in her life and her grandmother feels aloof and distant. She’s interested in friendship and is attracted to a group of friends that are also somewhat mysterious. Of the group, she seems to be less vain, less polished, a misfit, but she fits right in which may cost everyone dearly. It’s a dark and creepy book.

An interesting, intense take on the dark academia genre, Heather Darwent’s The Things We Do to our Friends is a fantastic debut. Dive into Edinburgh with Clare, a first-year student with a mysterious past, and a band of equally compelling, shifty classmates. You’ll read this one in just a few sittings, as you open on one of the most gripping introductions I’ve read in a while. It’s chaotic, it’s frightening, and it’s a whirlwind of emotions as you acclimate to university life with Clare. Would recommend.

While this book was well written it was very hard for me to get into. I felt like I was forcing myself to finish it for most of my time reading it until maybe the last quarter when I was finally invested. There are a ton of great reviews so maybe it is just not the book for me!

This book was mixed for me. The ingredients were there, toxic relationships, damaged people acting out. The main characters motivations, her desperation for friendship with superior people, her need to change herself into what they wanted and her anger and willingness to blame others were at time baffling. As well as the lack of real consequences to her for her actions. So it left me thinking. It was a slow read

I really wanted to love this, but I had the hardest time getting through it. The story was really slow moving and just didn’t really hold my attention. I can see why people will enjoy this at the end of the day, but it fell a bit flat overall for me. I didn’t feel like anything happened for a good majority of the book, and the reveal of Clare’s past felt kind of anticlimactic. This was a middle of the road book for me - didn’t knock my socks off but also wasn’t bad. Just didn’t meet my expectations.

Dark, decadent and disturbing in the best possible way. Fans of The Secret History will want to get to know Claire a little better. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this stunning debut novel

3.75

i have really mixed feelings. on one hand, the writing was brilliant, the characters were toxic just the way i like them, and the vibes were solid (very secret history). but the plot… was all over the place.

their “business” never made much sense. the highs and lows of the relationships switched up a little too quickly. and while i liked the narrator in concept, some of her motivations just didn’t click. i understand that she was basically just a ball of rage but sometimes she acted like she felt absolutely nothing, and it seemed contrary? idk!

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent is one impressive debut.

This debut is a compelling thriller with plenty of surprises, keeping you guessing all the way through to the shocking end. I loved it.
The dialogue is true and the each character is brought to life.
Absolutely gripping from page one… full of twists, turns, shocks, chills, thrills and much more!
Well written, original, it definitely kept me up late flipping the pages!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Random House, Ballantine & Bantam
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

I found this one pretty indistinguishable from other "dark academia" type books. I'd recommend it to a patron looking for a campus mystery but it was nothing remarkable.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is an amazing, but dark psychological thriller. Clare goes away to college to escape her past and meets a tight-knit group of friends that slowly let her become part of their friend group. As they become closer, Clare will do almost anything to remain part of their circle. it's a truly suspenseful and well-written debut novel, and I truly look forward to reading more from Heather Darwent in the future. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the ARC.

I've read enough dark academia novels that they've all started to run together. This is a welcome departure from tired tropes and predictable storylines. When Clare gets to Edinburgh for uni, she's set on distancing herself from the "episode" that caused her scandalized family and friends to pull away from her. She's determined to fall in with a crowd that will draw a different kind of attention her way. When she meets Tabitha and Imogen and works to edge her way into their circle, she has absolutely no idea how much it will cost, or how hard she'll have to work to keep history from repeating itself.

Such a gorgeous cover! This was super slow moving and confusing for me. Unfortunately not my taste but seemingly very well written, Thank you Penguin Random House and Kathleen Quinlan for this pre approval.

I have so many mixed feelings about this book. It was well written but the storyline was dark and twisted and made me uncomfortable. There are no likable characters, in fact, they are all rather perturbed and scary.

Very interesting read! I never tire of high-school-girls-are-dark-and-evil narratives, and this doesn't disappoint. This gives boarding school/ivy vibes, as well as mean-girl and toxic-friendship vibes - all of which I enjoy! Would recommend this to anyone.

I am not sure how to review this debut novel. On one hand, I read through it very quickly and wanted to know where it all was going. On the other hand, once finished, I was left feeling unsatisfied. I have a strong appreciation for a chaotic, unreliable MC. The problem for me lies in the level of suspension of disbelief being asked of us readers. So many scenarios where mistakes were repeated, and characters without depth in my opinion. I think this author has great potential! This particular story just missed the mark for me.

An easy read that kept me engaged with thoughtful characters and storyline - I’ll keep an eye for this author, no doubt!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC opportunity!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Things We do to Our Friends is a debut novel by Heather Darwent. The story is very intense thriller - one that actually kept me guessing, although I did suspect something was very off about the young people. Clare is off to university in Scotland after leaving France. She has little contact with her family - just her grandmother, who is forgiving in a way that most grandmothers are. Clare is an outsider, not from the wealthy families of the other students. She's awkward in a way that prevents people from seeking her out. She becomes friends with an unlikely group - Tabitha and her very rich friends - and they manage to take her under their wings. The plot takes a dark turn as Clare's past is revealed slowly and the reader finds that her friendship with Tabitha is not all that it seems. It's rare to find a psychological thriller that keeps me in suspense, as a lot of them are formulaic. Heather Darwent's debut is definitely worth reading.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

***

This one was a little hard for me to get into. It took four or five chapters before I had a feel for this writer's style.

The pacing was slow, very slow. You're almost halfway through before anything really significant happens, and it's still not much. The pace never really picks up. I kept waiting for that. I will say it keeps you guessing as to where everything is going, which is always nice.

The characters were weird and mostly unlikeable, which I think was the point, but even halfway through I still didn't much feel like we knew who any of them were. There were pops and glimpses and allusions, but not a ton of concrete details to hold onto. I'm not sure the group knew one another too well, either. They were knit together for inexplicable reasons.

I do find Clare interesting. I just wanted to know her better. Is she a sociopath? Is she a manifestation of her past trauma? Does she need to so desperately fit in that she'll do anything? I'm still not sure I know the answer.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have a lot of mixed thoughts on this. I typically suspense/thrillers and while I was intrigued by this, I also finished feeling confused, as though the book wasn't fully wrapped up? It felt disjointed. The swapping between (what we come to know as) the past and present day was so unsettling. It was random the first time it happened and it took me a minute to realize that the book. up until that point, was a retelling of an old story. They majority of the time I just wanted to know what Clare had done in her past that was so bad. I loved the idea of what Tabitha wanted to do, and the idea that she was going to help women who were being scorned, but maybe this just wasn't what I thought it would be.

The story definitely has an audience and I don't want to discourage anyone who is interested in it. I just don't think this style of thriller was right for me. But, I hope the people who want to read it do!

There’s just something about an unhinged female main character that brings me comfort. When she’s the perfect amount of u reliable and unlikeable as well? Perfection. Things We Do to Our Friends is a binge-worthy gothic tale full of intriguing characters and exciting plot twists. I love the themes of friendship and how complicated female friendship in particular can be. A stunning debut from Heather Darwent!