This was far too slow of a burn and felt too predictable for me. It wasn't really a thriller or mystery but more of a character study. I do think the cover is gorgeous!

I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Right from the opening page, I was captivated by this book. The way events gradually unfolded and the introduction of darker elements made it a compelling read that was hard to put down. The short chapters not only kept things fresh but also added to the book's addictive quality. The character development was exceptional, with each individual's intriguing layers keeping me on my toes. The Scottish setting added to the book's charm and made it even more enjoyable. Overall, this debut novel was excellent.

Ahhhh I'm so tired of books trying to be the Secret History!! I love a dark academia book about toxic friendship but compared to all the others I've read, this just didn't compel me.

The Things We Do to Our Friends follows Clare, a girl who’s just moved to Edinburgh to attend the University of Edinburgh. As she tries to escape her dark past and reinvent herself, Clare finds herself drawn into a clique headed by a girl named Tabitha. The usual dark academia style shenanigans ensue.

Aside from one of the twists near the end there was nothing that I liked about this book. This “review” will really just be a list of my complaints.

1. Clare wasn’t an interesting main character. Throughout the entire book it is implied that the version of her personality she’s trying to escape from will one day jump out of her. But if I remember correctly that never happens. I think in the present day the reader should’ve gotten a taste of what Clare was like when she was younger instead of only seeing it in flashbacks of the past.
2. This was the worst thing about the entire book in my opinion: Tabitha was INSUFFERABLE. Of course in books like this the characters are always unlikable, but there was nothing about Tabitha that convinced me she could’ve let what was almost a cult. There was nothing intimidating about her. I don’t think she was particularly intelligent (or able to pretend to be intelligent). I don’t know what was supposed to make her likable because to me she was just annoying. The way the audiobook narrator read her parts of the book made her especially annoying.
3. I think the big event at the end should’ve been bigger.
4. In general I think it was badly written. The sentences were awkward, the descriptions were strange and ineffective, and the plot dragged.

I’ll stop here. I don’t want to write any more. I hate reviewing books I don’t like. It’s safe to say I don’t recommend this book lol.

- "I needed to find friends who were going to make me the best version of myself, and they already had that ease with each other that felt so natural. I slotted in." - this quote kind of sums up exactly what I loved about this book. This was a tense, atmospheric read fuelled by underlying tension and an inability to imagine what might happen next- it is cleverly involving and not easily forgettable. Edinburgh is a beautifully bleak city, history towers over you wherever you go. It’s gothic and spooky with a whimsical charm - the perfect place to set a slow-burn thriller.
The Things We Do to Our Friends is toxic, vile, and manipulative. It has you convinced you know what is happening only to throw something new at you. Not only was the novel a thriller around the toxic female friends trope, but it delved into class, privilege and obsession. The ending felt slightly anticlimatic to me after the plot's buildup, but that's a minor complaint. As I mentioned, I really loved the Edinburgh setting; the descriptions of the city added a layer of depth to the story.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

I was disappointed by The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent. While the premise of exploring the complexities of female friendship was interesting, the execution fell flat for me. The characters were unlikable and poorly developed, and their actions often felt contrived and unrealistic. The writing was also awkward and difficult to follow at times, which made it hard to stay engaged with the story. While there were a few moments of insight and poignancy, they were few and far between, and overall, I found this book to be a slog to get through. Unfortunately, I would not recommend it.

2.5-ish Stars

I honestly have no clue what I just read. I found it very hard to get into and had to restart it because I felt like I was missing something (BUT WASN’T). It did have potential. There were some jaw dropping moments but overall it felt all over the place and the characters were despicable. It was really hard to rate. Wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read but doesn’t really stand with other books I’ve rated at 3 stars.

Special thanks to Random Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Oh wow this book did not do it for me at all. I really wanted to like it but it lost me by making the whole story about a bunch teenage brats entertaining themselves at each other's expense.

I just wanted it to be so much more!

This one did not do it for me. I didn't connect with the characters, and I really struggled to get through it. I felt like I was putting it off more and more when it was time to start reading, I initially felt like the story had potential and I was excited to dive in but I wasn't into the writing choices. It was very choppy and fell flat. I also did not enjoy the epilogue. I typically can find a silver lining,, but this book was not enjoyable for my taste!

This novel begins with a shocking act that sets the tone for the rest of this thriller. Clare (not her real name) has looked to friends to fill the role her parents don't and she has high hopes that going to university in Edinburgh will give her the opportunity to make friends and a fresh start. But she finds it harder than she thought. The people who want to be her friends are not the people she wants to have as friends. Then she runs into the charismatic Tabitha and her careless and wealthy friends and she is delighted and surprised to find that they want her to be a part of their group. But there's a reason they want her that reason has a lot to do with what happened in her past.

This is the kind of thriller where events and revelations occur so rapidly that it's impossible to figure out what the end game is. Clare is quiet and she works hard to blend into her new group of friends, but she's not as passive as they assume. And Clare doesn't know what is being planned when she's not there. Every few pages, a new event throws what came before into question and while there's plenty of foreshadowing, the events hinted at show little resemblance to what seems likely a few chapters earlier. Does this wild ride of a book hold up under scrutiny? Oh, certainly not! But does it matter when the whole thing is so much fun to read? Darwent's writing is never clunky or lazy. She's adept at dropping hints without them looking obvious and at creating a sizable cast of complex characters that she manages to make live and breathe, no matter how unlikely they would appear out in the actual world.

Clare is looking forward to her fresh start. She’s a new university student in Edinburgh, learning all about art history, working her new job at the bar. Then she gets new friends - even better. Life is going the way she always wanted. The closer she gets to her new friends, the easier it is to leave the past behind.

Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Clare’s new friends are actually quite creepy. A completely insane business idea and a few other odd encounters leave Clare wondering if this is really turning out as swell as she had envisioned.

The book was well-written and the author’s creativity, as well as her talent for weaving a story, can’t be denied. The tale is a bit darker than I prefer, so while I can’t say I necessarily enjoyed the book, I feel that people who enjoy darker thrillers might want to check it out.

Thanks to the author, Random House Publishing - Ballantine and Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

I would probably replace one word in the title with another to summarize my thoughts on people this book. First I was thinking more than what we do to our friends, it would be story of what we do FOR our friends. Boy, was I wrong! (and that’s not the word I would have replaced)

I find it hard to believe there are teenagers in high school or very young adults in university thinking of doing what these kids do in this book and books like this. Then I remind myself how 14 year olds look and behave older than I am on daily basis. So them starting a weird service for women who need proof of something or the other didn’t sound that disturbing.

Prologue was a good hook to pull me into the book, but it slowly lost me by making whole story sound like bunch of spoiled brats entertaining themselves at others’s expense. I’m on the fence with this book. If you are interested in books set in universities and look into friendships built there, give it a try.

When I saw the cover of The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent, I was immediately drawn to it and I ALMOST bought it, which now I'm glad I didn't. Despite the gorgeous cover, I wasn't really able to get into this book as much as I had hoped, and it was a prolonged burn without much of a payout. That being said, I loved how Darwent crafted the story; it was weird and unique, which I was here for. Also, despite being a really slow mover I stayed glued to the audiobook, and I was anxiously waiting to see what would happen next (i.e., the big payout I was hoping for). The first chapter (which was a prologue in my mind) did a great job of drawing the reader in, and the rest of the story was basically just getting us to the point where we would know why that happened and who was there.

I also loved the setting of Scotland although I do wish the author had been able to bring it a bit more to life for the reader. I knew the book was set there but I didn't feel completely immersed in the location which is what I have come to expect when I read a book set somewhere other than the US. I found the audiobook to be very enjoyable and I really like the narrator, Kristin Atherton. I'm not sure what would have happened if I had been reading this, so I highly recommend the audio to keep things interesting. Atherton is very talented, and she is someone I have listened to before, so I was extremely happy to have her for The Things We Do to Our Friends. I was hoping for more from this book, but overall, it was still a good debut, and I would definitely consider reading Darwent's next novel.

While this book starts very slow, once I was invested I couldn’t stop reading. It was dark and twisty, with dark academia vibes; I really enjoyed!


I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

I went into this book blind and it was so much darker than I expected…which is winning in my eyes!
Meeting new friends in college is exciting, however, sometimes it can be horrifying. A group of friends start a business by helping married women see if their husbands are participating in activities they should not be.

Filled with juicy scandal, debauchery, and the end twist I didn’t see coming. This one will have you second guessing if you really know who your friends are. 4.5 stars

I really hoped this book would be a slightly witchy, creepy read. Instead, it was bit like Single White Female, but for the 21st century. While I did want to find out what happened next, I also just found myself getting bored with Clare and Tabitha. I just wanted it to be so much more.

It has taken me way too long to get to this book, which i regret. it was instantly addicitive. Set against the moody backdrop of Edinburgh, where we meet Claire and Tabitha as they navigate through their complaicated friendship if you can even call it that. The book did lag at certain portions but if you keep going the payoff is worth it. It goes to show you need to keep your friends close so you can watch your back and that most friendships come with a price.

DNF at 39%. When I first saw the cover of this book, I was immediately intrigued by it. I think the cover is really pretty and it made me want to read the book. The synopsis sounds interesting, as I'm usually always a fan of academic type thrillers. A girl who is kind of nobody gets accepted into a popular group at school...what could go wrong? Unfortunately, this one was too slow paced for me. I usually liked thrillers to be fast paced. I made it to Chapter 27 before I threw in the towel, so to speak. Most of the first 25 chapters are about Clare becoming friends with Tabitha, Imogen, Ava, and Samuel. I felt like there was a lot of repetition in these first chapters, and if some of the stuff would have been omitted, it would have moved along much faster. By the time I finally got to the point where Tabitha reveals her grand plan to Clare around Chapter 26, I had just kind of lost interest in this book. According to my Kindle, I still had about 3 hours left of the book to read, and truthfully, I just didn't care enough about the characters to push through. I wanted to love this one, but unfortunately, I didn't. Thank you to the publisher for giving me a chance to read an early copy of this book.

This was a DNF for me. I just couldn't get into the story line at all like I had hoped. Maybe I'll try it again another time, but it just wasn't the book for me.