LOVE this book. It was incredibly fast paced and kept me guessing from the beginning. It was extremely well written and a great quick read.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is about Clare, a young woman who is new to university in Scotland. She makes a friend named Tabitha in one of her classes. Soon she is sucked into the world with Tabitha and her group of wealthy friends. This all takes a dark turn in many ways.
I found the book to be a little bit slow, but I enjoyed the overall story. The way the author writes is very descriptive and beautiful. I can definitely picture all of the settings that she writes about. I say it’s worth it to give this book a chance, and I will more than likely read more books by this author. Thank you NetGalleyand the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions on my own.

This was not the psychological thriller I was expecting. Dark academia yes, but too slow paced and repetitious for me. I had a hard time relating to the characters and the back and forth timelines was disjointed in places making it hard to follow.
The writing was good & the storyline line compellingly but overall not my cup of tea.

Thank you #TheThingsWeDotoOurFriends, #NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, & Heather Darwent for the ARC. My review is strictly voluntary.

Clare is desperate to reinvent herself and hide from a dark secret that she is trying to keep. When she arrives at school in Scotland, she quickly falls in with a posse of exclusive friends so different from her past life. But things are not as they seem with the group, especially after Tabitha asks for Clare's help on a project that threatens everything that Clare has tried to move past. This was a dark, twisty, psychological story. I loved the setting and greatly appreciated the way that Clare's history intersected with this new group of enigmatic friends.

The cover was beautiful and I love dark academia and a good thriller, but this just fell flat for me. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish it.

A thriller with a dual timeline will always have a place in my heart. I appreciated how twisty this book is and the concept of how these women were trying to bring down men was very intriguing.

The cover and title intrigued me but I just couldn't get attached to the story enough to finish the book. I was expecting Sally Rooney characters with thriller energy--and maybe I would have gotten there--but I couldn't engage enough with the early pages to get to that point. A better-paced beginning might have helped me buy in sooner.

Not every book about psychopaths at a university needs to be compared to The Secret History!!!!!!!

This was a bad book and I did not get past 50%.

Thank you so much for the early read! THE THINGS WE DO TO OUR FRIENDS was an enjoyable thriller. I love anything with dark academia undertones and liked how the reveals of MC’s mysterious past played out.

Thanks to Ballantine & NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one was just kind of ... meh. We have Clare, a university student looking to reinvent herself after a sordid secret from her high school past leaves her disowned by her parents. She sees this friend group, endlessly referred to as a "shiver of sharks," from afar and sort of hangs around their edges until they accept her. They're all pretty gross but beautiful, and she gets way too caught up with them, especially their de facto leader, Tabitha. Tabitha gets them all involved in a scheme that seems way too mature and complicated for students that age. No one does any schoolwork.

This was basically a CKOne commercial brought to life. If you like reading about pretty people doing shitty things, this one is for you!

The cover for this is absolutely beautiful and it drew me in, but unfortunately the story fell flat for me. I ended up DNFing this at 77% because I didn't care where the story was going or what was going on with the characters. I will give the author props for writing such a dark debut, but the main character felt like a classic "I'm an awkward and ugly weirdo, but everyone loves me for no reason" YA trope. I would absolutely check out what this author writes in the future, even if it is similar to this.

If you enjoy dark academia settings, this is for you. Honestly confusing to follow despite being repetitive and just seemed dark and vulgar for the sake of it.

I did not end up reading this novel. The rating is not a reflection of the story itself, but rather an indication that other books/stories dominated my interest and reading time. Which I think is an important factor when selecting your next read.

I wanted to love The Things We Do to Our Friends so badly but I just didn't. I found it so boring and unnecessarily long. Just not a fan of it.

this book was definitely not made for me, I had a hard time getting into it, maybe it's my fault for knowing whats types of books i alr like and STILL trying to get into something else.

Friends Forever

This book is a must-read for avid thriller fans who enjoy being swept away in a fast-paced story. Although I'm a bit late to the reviewing party, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to fans of Lisa Jewel's work.

The story starts with a shocking event that sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Clare, who uses an alias, enrolls in a university in Edinburgh hoping to make new friends and start afresh. However, it's not as easy as she thought, and the people who want to befriend her are not the type she's interested in. That is, until she meets Tabitha, a charismatic girl, and her wealthy, carefree group of friends. They invite Clare to join their clique, but she soon realizes their motives are not entirely pure and are linked to her past.

As the story progresses, the author, Heather Darwent, skillfully keeps readers guessing with every revelation and event. Although Clare is initially quiet and seems to blend into her new group of friends, she's far from passive and has no idea what plans they're making behind her back. Every few pages present a new event that throws the previous ones into question, and while there is foreshadowing throughout the book, it's difficult to predict how the story will end. Darwent's writing is subtle, dropping hints and creating a cast of complex, unlikely-but-believable characters.

Overall, this book is a wild ride that's worth reading, even if it doesn't hold up under close scrutiny. I'm a new fan of Darwent's writing and would like to thank NetGalley and all those involved in granting me an advanced copy of this book.

I absolutely love the recent trend of toxic friendships, secrets, & dark academia vibes! When I saw this one being promoted, I was so excited - and it mostly lived up to the expectations I had, although I wish the pacing were a little more quick. There were points where I felt my attention waning slightly -- mostly around the middle, although the beginning and ending were definitely worth 5 stars!

A dark academia moody mystery set at a university in Scotland with a group of complicated, privileged friends? Sign me up!

I was very excited to reach “The Things We Do to Our Friends” by Heather Darwent, and while it did not fully meet my expectations (which were high), it was a very entertaining read.

The story follows Clare as she starts university, leaving behind a past filled with dark secrets and many regrets. Clare soon meets Tabitha, a charismatic and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, and her friends rakish Samuel, shrewd Ava, and pragmatic Imogen. Wrapped in the mesmerizing cocoon of her news friendships, the life she always envisioned for herself seems to be in reach. But things begin to rapidly spiral out of control as the group’s reckless actions, inspired by Tabitha’s secret project, start to cause irreparable damage.

Admittedly, I want every dark academia novel to live up to “A Secret History,” which simply is not possible. But I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys this genre and especially liked “Catherine House” by Elisabeth Thomas “All Girls” by Emily Layden, “Madam” by Phoebe Wynne, or “The Truants” by Kate Weinberg.

The writing was especially enjoyable for me, some of my favorite passages included:

“September is a month that has a special anticipation associated with it. As the leaves turn and the nights darken. The first time you open a book, cracking the spine and smoothing down the pages so they can't spring back up.”

“It's a month that means fresh beginnings, and that only happens a few times in life when the slate is wiped clean, and the story is ready for you to begin and tell it how you wish.”

“I couldn't stay away from them. They were a drug that builds in effectiveness as it accumulates in the bloodstream.”

“We can't help gathering information on our friends. Everyone does it. Even if we don't think we're storing it all away, we do it instinctively.”

“I hoarded the fragments to use as some kind of currency later, kidding myself that I knew all of their secrets.”

“I am capable, but also different, and I cannot be fixed by anyone or anything however hard they might try.”

“Behind closed doors, you see the cracks if you care to look.”

I went into this blind and wanted to read it because of it's beautiful cover. I didn't expect it to be dark. This book, I felt was a slow burn and had some twists as well. It has scandal, dark secrets, college settings and more. 


Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this ebook for an honest review.

This book has major The Secret History vibes! Overall, I enjoyed it and the underlying aesthetic; however, I felt that it was a tad drawn out and slow at times. I didn’t get the point of some of the side characters. The writing was really intriguing and made a lot of commentary on human nature which I found interesting.