Clare wants to reinvent herself in Edinburgh, Scotland. There, she meets the wealthy Tabitha and her circle of friends and is immediately drawn in. She is now part of an elite group, everything she ever wanted. Tabitha has a project she needs Clare's help with, which threatens to undo all of the work she did to change herself. But she's too entwined with Tabitha and her friends and wants this new life too much to turn back.

Chapters are short and punchy, little snapshots of moments in Clare's life. She wanted so badly to be someone better and flashier than who she used to be, and getting noticed by Tabitha fueled the envy and desire to be more. Even Tabitha's friends understand there's an undercurrent to that friendship: "Whatever happens with Tabitha, it just happens, and you have to go along with it." Clare writes off other people she knows as not worth friendship, which only further pushes her into Tabitha's orbit. In time, it's easy enough to fall in line and participate in Tabitha's project, essentially creating a honey trap for men if their wives doubted them. From there it becomes a revenge operation, and Clare does whatever is asked of her, even after she wants out.

Clare wants friends so desperately, and we eventually find out exactly what her past is, and what led her down that path in the first place. She wants to impress others and feel a connection and friendship, and it's unfortunate that Tabitha was the one to find her and capture that need. Tabatha wants to be important and have the world work the way she believes it does, but of course, nothing in life goes according to plan. The novel progresses down a darker path until we get to the twist and we find out it wasn't the way Clare thought it was at all. Events suddenly gain a clarity that makes it that much more shocking, and the ending had me reading with my mouth dropped open in surprise. Even the past wasn't exactly what I thought it was, and neither was the future that had been implied. Very well done, and very chilling to the end.

I wanted to love this one!

I LOVED The Secret History/If We Were Villains vibes--yes and amen, and that prologue is one of the most cleverly written and disturbing things I've read recently. I love love LOVED how misleading the first few chapters were, and how Heather turned the tables near the end.

My main comment is that I think the story took way too long to really begin, and so many pieces that we spent a lot of time on earlier never came back in the end. Tabitha's 'plan' took a long time for me to piece together, since it takes them a long time to come out and say it, and I wasn't entirely sure what all the training and 'working hard' meant. I think I would've loved to see some more concrete examples of their process and how they were training, besides the couple lines we got.

So a mixed bag, but I do think lovers of slower, more literary suspense/drama will enjoy this.

Grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

-A

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I think the premise of this book is dark and creepy, but I just couldn't get into it. The characters fell a bit flat for me and I just didn't like the way they came across. I think if I were closer in age to the characters, I would have found it to be a bit more enjoyable. But alas, I am more than twice their age. :) I think this would be a great read for someone who likes dark and twisted novels and feels a bit more connection to the characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for gifting me a digital ARC of this debut novel by Heather Darwent - 4 stars!

Clare arrives at university in Scotland ready for a new start after an incident in her past. She doesn't fit in well but is so flattered when Tabitha, the head of a popular clique at school, made up of Samuel, Ava and Imogen. Tabitha has a pull over Clare and soon enlists the group in a new project - one that makes Clare uncomfortable yet she can't stop or she risks losing everything, including her past being revealed.

I'm always intrigued by books revolving around universities and that fragile time in so many people's lives. This is a book of unlikable characters, told in Clare's POV. You can definitely feel the hold that Tabitha has over Clare - she's rich, she knows the right way to do everything, she is transforming Clare into her likeness - and Clare is powerless to resist. This is a dark book, more of a slow burn, with an ending that ties everything up. I'll be looking forward to more from this author!

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley, Random House Publishing group - Ballantine, and Bantam Books for my honest review.*

Clare is running away from her life and runs to Edinburgh for university. She is alone and it seems like she has anxiety or panic attacks. And she hooks up with a group of friends led by Tabitha. They are all horrible people. They do horrible things to others for money and to each other for fun. Quite a gothic feel to the novel. I finished only to see what happened in hopes that karma would get all of them.

As someone who loves thrillers and their interplay with higher education, I was a bit disappointed with this book. Perhaps it was just me, but I found the story a bit hard to follow and disjointed. I could just never get invested into this one and it failed to excite me when I would return to it. Therefore, this one unfortunately is only 2 stars ⭐️ for me. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy for review.

A dark telling of obsession, friendship dynamics and how quickly everything can go wrong. I wasn’t a fan of Clare but her unsurety and awkwardness really shone within the story making her blind faith in Tabitha all the more palpable. With friends like that who needs enemies,

Thank you netgalley for this arc

It took me a long time to write this review… and a long time to get through this book, if I’m being honest. If you’re expecting a page-turning thriller, you’re not going to find it here.

“The Things We Do To Our Friends,” is a slowwww burn. It has a strong beginning and end, but the rest of the book drags, and at times, I found it hard to pick it back up. That being said, I think this book is powerful in how it depicts the crippling impacts of childhood trauma and mental illness.

It was the book jacket that first drew to this book. Seriously, it’s beautiful. But, it was the promotional description that made me commit. I’m a sucker for a good psychological thriller. My bookshelf is dominated by stories penned by Gillian Flynn, Riley Sager, Ruth Ware and Simone St. James, and I was excited to welcome a new author to the genre. And this book had so much potential!

As I cracked open the pages, I was eager for a dark academia thrill along the lines of “Ninth House” or “For Your Own Good.” Instead, I found a slow-paced, somewhat disjointed, slightly repetitive, drawn out story that lacked the twists I’ve come to expect in a good psychological thriller. Simply put, it fell flat for me.

While this book didn’t hit the mark for me, I think the author has a lot of promise. Her writing is very atmospheric and thematic, and she did an excellent job of settling us into the narrator’s madness. If she pens another novel, I’ll definitely add it to my to-read list.

It's obvious from the beginning of the book that this will be a dark, twisted thriller. Solid read, looking forward to more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the ARC!

This book was a real page turner and it captivated me from beginning to end! It's dark and thrilling with each chapter revealing a new layer to the story which makes you not want to put it down til you've finished. I look forward to see what Darwent writes next!

When Clare starts college in Edinburgh, she doesn't know anyone. Then is one of her classes, she is swept into an elite group of students that make her feel special. As they begin to hang out together, Clare realizes that there is more to just being their friend, she is now part of their group, which is starting a new business.

This is a dark story of getting caught up in the wrong crowd.

This book caught my attention because the title is amazing. It was a great dark twisty book. It felt dark academia-ish which isn't always my favorite.

But I am not mad that I read it. It was different and I always appreciate that.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, Clare is starting university as an Art History student and trying to figure out how to befriend the elite while coming from a working class background. After slowly melding herself into the ideal prospect, she is seemingly accepted into a friend group consisting of 3 girls and 1 boy. All of whom talk in mysterious ways, never letting Clare know too much about any aspect of their life. Not that it matters as Clare is hiding a secret that will destroy her if anyone were to find out. This book pushes the boundaries of how far would you go for a friend and delves you into a year of planning and orchestrating a grey area revenge plot that soon becomes a regretful one. The storyline jumps between present day and university Clare, while revealing bits and pieces of her pre-uni days as well. This provides us with the full picture of why Clare was willing to continue scheming with her friends even when she wanted to stop. It is reminiscent of The Divines by Ellie Eaton and worth the read.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

right off the bat: this book was freaking insane. reading it felt like a fever dream and i consistently felt like i had to reread passages to figure out what the f*ck was going on.

this book felt like a lot of combinations of other stories; the two that come to mind were The Likeness by Tana French (the suspicious communal living situation) and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (the unreliable narrator). ultimately, it felt like there was a lot of lead up before getting to any semblance of a main plot.

the book was creepy; mostly unsettling. it also made me feel frantic. i really wanted to like it but i think there was too much going on and, despite how much i wanted to quit reading the book, i still wanted to figure out what the relevance of the harrowing first scene was. the second half of the book felt disjointed and it is probably why this wasnt a total "certified snoozle". it was also mildly satisfactory.

“Things We Do To Our Friends” is the debut novel of Heather Darwent. Edinburgh, Scotland is a dark and dreary city filled with mystery. This is a perfect place for our protagonist Clare, who decides to study at the University of Edinburgh. Clare decided this is the best place to reinvent herself and run from her past. At university she’s able to make a seemingly great group of friends. But soon it seems these friends may be just as dark as the past Clare is trying to outrun.

The setting of this novel was wonderful. There was such a specific atmosphere that the author was able to capture. This book could also be considered dark academia, which I personally love. I will say that the story does focus more on the characters than it does the university. Some of the scenes in this book are a little more graphic, which I think could put some people off, but as an individual I was ok with this. There were parts that were a bit repetitive, but for a debut novel I think this was a great start.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group (Bantam) for the ARC of this novel.

This book made me moody. This book is characters driven and has so many unlikable characters. The story is unique and it is for you if you like to read about obsessive, toxic friendship.

This book was a slight struggle for me to read, it was very slow and would pick up slightly enough for me yo want to keep reading. Not much on the main protagonists background so I found her hard to follow. Her and the other characters interactions felt forced. The premise of the book is very interesting and I really wanted to love it.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Bantam and the Author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing! I couldn’t put it down. Absolutely terrifying and thrilling at the same time. One of my favorite books!!

I did not enjoy this one at all. It may be that it’s for a younger group or maybe just not that good. To me it just dragged.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.