This reminded me a little of a contemporary The Secret History told through a female perspective. Strange friends, toxic relationships, dark motives…

And look at that cover! 😍 Also, Edinburgh is at the top of my places I want to visit list, so the Scotland setting couldn’t be more perfect. France is also there, so that setting was another bonus.

One thing that was difficult for me with this book is how slow the pace was. It has a mystery component and there is an unsettling suspenseful vibe, but I still struggled at times and found myself wanting to skim sections.

The characters are also all unlikable, which caused me to feel detached more than I would have liked to be. I did enjoy when the book took a turn about halfway through and some of the plot is revealed a bit more.

If you like slow burn suspense and dark academia centered around complicated and unhealthy friendships, then this may be a great psychological thriller for you.

This thriller is set in Scotland. It’s 2005 and Clare is studying in Edinburgh, hoping for a fresh start and to run away from her past, ready to reinvent herself. Life feels monotonous until she meets the worldly and wealthy Tabitha in art class and is drawn to her close circle of friends. Finally, the life she’s always wanted to be living is within her grasp. But soon Tabitha’s friendship has taken Clare down a dark rabbit hole of bad choices; Clare needs help with a side project, one that forces Clare to put everything on the line. This is a thriller that takes its tension-filled time before arriving at twists and turns. I especially loved the settings in this novel, from Scotland to France. Thank you to Randomhouse / Ballantine and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

This had all the makings of a thriller.
Clare is the new girl at school, hoping to find a group of friends that she can fit in with. Those she falls in with have a variety of dark pasts, and we come to find out that Clare does as well.
I think this was a good story, but the unlikeable characters combined with the very slow pacing meant it lacked any suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC of The Things We Do to Our Friends.

I’m not proud of something things in my past, but they make me who I am now, so I don’t think I could be blackmailed with them. In this book, the main character allows something that happened in her past to allow her to be roped into something, not so nice.

This book is told from Clare’s point of view and is set in Scotland. Clare is a university student who finds herself drawn to an odd group of friends. After getting to know them, she finds herself participating in a dark and unscrupulous project. While she’s uncomfortable with it, she goes along because one of the members of the group is holding something from Clare’s past over her head. When Clare has had enough, will she be able to get out unscathed?

This book was so slowly paced. I really didn’t enjoy the writing style, it felt off to me and it seemed inconsistent – which I did not enjoy. Because of the writing and the pace, I got really bored really fast and because of this, and well what the characters did, I just didn’t enjoy, or care what happened to any of the. I also found the book overly vague – like sure I want to guess at some things, but not major plot details. I only finished this one because I wanted to find out what the characters were hiding in their past, but even that was an utter disappointment.

Thank you so much to @netgally and the publisher Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, @randomhouse, for my advanced copy. This one has reviews so please make sure to just take this into consideration – you may love this one. Not all books work for everyone

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!!!

Shocked silence. Give me a moment. This was brilliant! From the prologue to the epilogue, this was fascinating. Just the constant feeling that something is off, that something is rotting, keeping me in an almost constant state of curiosity mixed with an unexplainable unease.

The prologue opens the story with a few snippets of a scene that was left unexplained for quite a while in the book but was never far from my mind due to its disturbing nature.

Claire is the MC, telling the story from her point of view. It begins with her starting University at Edinburgh and having a desire to meet not just any friends, but a certain type. This felt unhinged to me, the way her thought process around this worked. Of course, when she zeroes in on her targets she seems to effortlessly slip into their lives. Quickly she became a favorite of the groups ringleader, Tabitha, and Claire felt a new sense of self as she basked in the rays of Tabitha's attention.

This all, of course, gets weird fast. Claire can't figure out what is really going on. And, she seems to be keeping secrets of her own. But as the plot is revealed, everything seems to happen like a wave... a major high and a huge crash.

This was really intense for me. I felt surprised with where this went and the amount this book was able to disturb me. (Is it weird that I enjoyed being disturbed? I guess that's a whole other topic, lol)

Definitely recommend this for fans of thrillers!

Out January 10, 2023!

I waffled on this one - I really enjoyed its initial slow pace and thoughtful unfurling as the main character began to plot her infiltration of a friend group. Dark academia as a genre is my jam, and I'm willing to look aside from a certain amount of slow pacing and pretension as we get into the good stuff, as long as the characters are rich. While I love the main character and her blossoming sociopathy, the friend group? Solid 'eh'. If I'm to believe that this amazing charismatic rich girl is worth ruining your life for, I've got to see her being amazing and charismatic. She just... wasn't. I had trouble continuing this one well past the halfway mark because it just felt as if it were building and building yet nothing really was going on. Alas.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a dark thriller about a group of school friend involved in a dangerous project. There's blackmail, money and sex. There's travel to the South of France, a run down house, pubs in Scotland, a dirty casino, and toxic friendships.

Basically, it's everything I could want in an academic thriller. That said, this did take a bit to get going, despite a knockout of an opening chapter. Full of terrible people - in fact, no one is likeable - and that's not something that I require - or really even look for. Terrible people, doing bad things, to each other and to outside people for reasons only they know.

While I do wish there was a bit more exploring on everyone's backstory, I enjoyed the overall story. It's different than the other mass-market thrillers that have been popular recently and it's a nice change of pace.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

I’ll start by saying I really think psychological thrillers are not my cup of tea, so please take my review with a grain of salt. But this book was utterly boring with the potential for a really suspenseful plot line. There was too much focus on describing every little thing in detail and not enough on the actual storyline. It made the book drag on whereas if it were more focused on the actual events it would’ve been a lot more intriguing. Overall, this book was not for me but for fans of psychological thrillers it may be a hit.

Thank you so much to Heather Darwent, NetGalley, and Bantam Books for an ARC of The Things We Do to Our Friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication: January 10, 2023

I really struggled with this book. I picked it up wanting a thriller and would put it down because it was so slow and vague. It felt like I was moving through mud and ended up giving up because I couldn't do it. Based on other reviews, I believe it falls on preference because some readers really enjoyed it while others found it so-so. Maybe I've outgrown academic thrillers because this isn't the first one that fallen flat for me.

I love the dark academia genre. I recently finished Ruth Ware's It Girl and I was reading the physical copy of The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell at the same time as this e-arc of The Things We Do To Our Friends. That said, I don't think Darwent did this one *as well* as others in the genre. This book dragged for me. TTWDTOF was a little too "vague for the sake of suspense," which is fine for the start, but when I'm halfway through a book and I still feel confused, its irritating.
Darwent definitely knows how to excellently write a flawed main characters, though, and the way she drew Clare in to this troubled group while trying to fit in during her first year at school made the connection between these "friends" feel very real. The need for friendships made sense, but the general obsession with Tabitha was somewhat lost on me and I didn't totally buy that everyone simply went along with all her plans, which seemed far too mature for a group of college freshman. It just felt like some depth or building was missing.
I did definitely connect with Clare's relations and general discomfort with men and her constant feeling/descriptions that she was basically prey in her female body. Darwent captured that uncomfortable aspect of feminine youth very well and also painted a beautiful - if not dark and erie - picture of the city of Edinburgh.
This book is an examination of Nature vs. Nurture with familial relations and friendships as well as a character's ability to adapt to her surroundings. While it felt incomplete, it's still an interesting, twisty read.

There are some elements of a really great book here, but they are tangled up inside this book, which I found overly complicated and fairly slow moving. After so many hints of tragedies past, and yet to come, I just wanted to get on with it and find out what was going on. In the end, it is a pretty sordid, ugly story, and I’m not sure reading it was time well spent. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a Scottish dark academia suspense novel that is very moody and atmospheric, perfect for winter! The beginning is quite slow, but ramps up as the book goes on and gets dark, weird, intense, and chaotic. To be honest, I didn't think the I would be surprised by anything in this book, but one of the twists near the end proved me wrong. I am always drawn to thrillers with toxic female friendships/psychotic narrators, and this one hits the mark for sure. I didn't know what foie gras was before this book, and you better believe I would never touch it after this book 😳.
"Secretely, I quite liked it - the idea of us as witches. Something to bind us, something wicked"
Also, I am in LOVE with this cover. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine books. e-ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dark and clever, this book will leave you feeling creeped out…👀

Heather Darwent is an author based just outside of Edinburgh near the sea. Her debut novel, The Things We Do to Our Friends, will be published by Penguin in January 2023.

Since I was born and grew up in Edinburgh, this story personally appealed to me. The author’s descriptions were accurate and immersive. I loved reading about the places I frequent often when I’m home and thought it was clever how the setting was used to create an eerie suspense throughout. The Things We Do to Our Friends follows Clare who, after moving to Edinburgh for school (and to reinvent herself), juggles student life, a part-time job, a boyfriend, and most importantly, finding a new group of friends. An unusual bunch from the University befriends her, quickly inviting her into their inner circle where they enjoy lavish dinner parties and trips to the French countryside. She wants nothing more than to be accepted, to finally belong. But at what cost? When Tabitha, the leader of the group, invites Clare to be part of a secret business venture called, ‘Perfect Pieces’—a honeytrap service for cheating spouses—she accepts, no questions asked. But things quickly take a sinister turn, and Clare is left with no choice but to distance herself from the group.

The cast of supporting characters is unique, and I enjoyed trying to figure out who the real enemy was. It was obvious to me that Clare had an inner strength that was unshakable, I just didn’t expect it to be so dark. I found the scenarios in which the girls found themselves very tense, especially one particular scene set in a remote house in the highlands. A risk they took and one Clare unknowingly agreed to take part in. Afterward, the confrontation between the girls left me shocked and ultimately left the book on a very dark note—something I loved. This book is definitely more of a slow burn but I enjoyed it and was gripped throughout.

4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For readers who love revenge, dark academia, and slow-burning suspense.

It wasn’t until the last 40-50 pages that this book became interesting and grabbed my attention. None of the main characters were likable in any way so it was hard to care. Every time I put the book down, I struggled with wanting to pick it back up. The book had all the ingredients to be really gripping, but the slow burn took too long and I stopped caring. I know this book is loved by other reviewers so perhaps I’m just the wrong audience. I do think the writing style was poetic and the author has great potential.

I’m not sure if I’m getting tired of psychological thrillers or I’m too old for university dramas. But either way, this one fell flat for me.
Clare is trying to find her way at university in Edinburgh when she falls in with a group of louche students. The cliche revolves around Tabitha, a beautiful, entitled girl. As Clare’s co-worker describes them , they’re “a shiver of sharks”. None of these characters engaged me. They all came across as damaged goods, in one way or another.
Clare is hiding a secret from her teen years. The story is told from her POV and it doesn't help that she comes across as almost simple and way too malleable. I kept waiting for her to actually ask some questions. Instead, it was like she sleepwalked through most of the story, despite supposedly having a violent temper.
It’s not a good sign when the word that comes to mind when describing the plot was boring. It dragged for quite a while without much happening. Then Tabitha comes up with “a project”. And what Tabitha wants, Tabitha gets. She’s a user. In other words, with friends like her…
I didn’t find that the twist at the end held together very well and there were also holes in the logic of the plot.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Clare meets a new group of friends while trying to reinvent herself at college. Soon though, everything that Clare has been trying to run from and change about herself comes back into her life. I found this book twisty and confusing. It was hard to get through and I was not running to pick it back up again.

dark academia is truly such a treat, and I really enjoyed the Edinburgh atmosphere for this book. It took me a while to get into it, but after I did, I was hooked. There is something about stories with toxic friendships and morally grey characters that always draws me in, and this book has both. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves dark, suspenseful stories!

I received an ARC from the publisher on NetGalley. Thank you for allowing me to read this one early! Great debut novel :)

I am a sucker for a cover that will draw me in and The Things We Do to Our Friends definitely did.
This is an academia story that features Clare, a woman looking to recreate who she is in the college setting, but the friends she makes could turn her life in a direction she never expected.
The description of this debut psychological thriller spoke to me and I was intrigued. Unfortunately the pacing of the story was too slow for my liking and didn't keep my attention for the first half or so.

I was pulled in quickly with the first chapter, but then was curious where it was going to go after that. The pacing and build up was soooo slow. Clare is befriended by fellow students and their crew, Tabitha, Ava, and Samuel. By the time things start to unfold with the friend group, Clare is in too deep. And that's when the story started to pick up again. By then, I already disliked most all of the characters and I just couldn't put my finger on why I couldn't connect with our protagonist, Clare.

WIth the promise of more, I kept on. I had to know more about Clare and her history and how she got caught up in everything.

Overall, this wasn't the story for me, but I felt it had potential. The pacing was too slow and I just wanted more from the story as a whole and I really wanted to root for someone, but just didn't feel any connection to anyone. I still think it has intrigue, suspense and twists that will appeal to others. It just wasn't exactly for me.

I love a book with unlikable characters, and this book was definitely no exception. This book was gripping and so so interesting; I never wanted to put it down. It took a while for me to get into the book, but the dynamic between Clare and the "friends" that she makes was so complex and dark and interesting to me once the book picked up.

I found the unwinding of Clare's back story to be particularly interesting - the delay in getting it and also the fact that as readers we didn't get all the details at once made the story all the more enthralling.

The only thing holding me back from giving this book five stars is that at some points I felt like the pacing was all over the place - especially at the very end, where I think that some of the reveals and twists were dragging on for a little too long for the sake of trying to be surprising.

Overall, I really liked this book - it kind of gave me the same vibes as Bunny by Mona Awad.

This was a psychological thriller about a extremely unlikeable group of college “friends” (I use this term lightly as these are really just toxic bully relationships) who embark on a honeytrapping scheme and the consequences that come about from it.

The main character Clare is morally grey for much of the book. I don’t know that anyone would find her to be overly sympathetic but enough of her backstory is given that the reader is at least able to understand at least partially why she became the person she is.

Clare has never fit in so when the “mean girls” (and Sam) befriend her she is thrilled. A tale as old as time, the most popular girl is actually a psychopath and she leads them down a road that leads to inevitable ruin.

I think this book was well-written. It wasn’t one of my favorites but I couldn’t put it down once I started. I especially enjoyed the author’s descriptions of Edinburgh which is one of my favorite places I’ve ever visited.

I would’ve liked to learn more about Clare afterwards. More about the man she married, more about her relationship with Ava, etc. I also felt that the final resolution happened a little quickly and I don’t think the reason for Ava’s behavior that we were given (that everything she did was for Tabitha) was sufficient. Honestly, most of the characters used that excuse throughout the book but they were all adults and blaming Tabitha for everything was a cop-out. Though maybe this was on purpose as part of the psychological profile of the group dynamic.

Kudos to the author for getting in my head! I’ll be thinking about this book for awhile.