I was not really a fan of this book. It was very dark and intense. I was not a fan of the characters they were unlikeable. It was somewhat relatable with the toxic friendships, to some extent. We all have had friend(s) that are not good for us. Its a dark academia filled with secretes and lies. It was intriguing at the beginning but then things got really weird really fast. It felt like there wasn't really much of a storyline. I was not a fan of the epilogue at all. I would personally not recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. Overall it was an interesting book but left many questions unanswered or should I say made you just say why? It was difficult to finish and I had actually had to stop twice to read another book before attempting to move forward with it again. Even the ending left so many questions as to what the book/author’s plot or intentions were. I hand hoped the ending would clear up some of the “oddness” throughout the book but that didn’t happen at all.

This was a thrilling atmospheric novel about a group of deeply flawed students with dark pasts that match their present. The author's development of her characters and understanding of group dynamics was truly the strength of this narrative.

If you're on the fence about this book, just read the intro. If that doesn't hook and intrigue you, are you even a psychological thriller fan? A bang up opener like that requires the rest of the book to follow through, and boy does it ever. You can't do better than Edinburgh for a gothic academic setting (I said what I said, Oxbridge!), and you won't do better than this novel for a dark, twisted, and compelling ride.

*Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for the chance to review this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review*

The Things We Do to Our Friends is tailor-made for fans of dark academia who want to repeat the feeling of reading The Secret History for the first time. The author does a great job creating a cast of magnetically compelling characters who are charismatic and also deeply and obviously bad news, and she pulls off the trick of creating a psychopathic narrator that the reader still somehow sympathizes with. I'm not the target audience for this book because I have a bit of a weak stomach (not to make a deeply tasteless foie gras pun), and the plot escalated to include a lot more descriptions of physical violence/body horror than I'd expected from the blurb. But fans of true crime podcasts and documentaries will, I think, be obsessed with this one.

While I enjoyed the book and the ending had a surprising twist I didn’t expect it was hard to read the middle. The middle was a bit slow and some things that were told in the story at the start of the book weren’t tied in until closer to the end which left me confused and at times hard to follow.

The Things We Do To Our Friends is a complex and twisty debut novel by Heather Darwent. The story follows a young woman who is searching for who she is, and trying to recreate a peaceful life. She leaves Paris for Edinburgh, searching for something new and exciting. When she meets hew new friends and they invite her into their inner circle, things take a turn and her new friendships come with a cost.

The setting and atmosphere of the book are characters in themselves. As we follow Clare from France to Scotland and into her daily life, this story hooks you quickly and keeps you intrigued throughout. It's full of twists and turns, events that will keep you guessing and at some points make you questions what you just read. This was a great story that was entertaining with a quick pace. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

The Prologue starts with a bang. The rest of this novel is a slow, repulsive, boring whimper. Including the ending and the epilogue.

The main character Clare is very unlikeable. Leaving France for school in Edinburgh, she becomes friends with Ava, Imogen and Tabitha. They, too, are extremely unlikeable with few redeeming qualities. They are the typical 'mean girls', but on steroids. None of them apparently has a conscience, soul or anything resembling empathy.

The more I read, the more I squirmed in my chair. I didn't like these characters and I did't really care to know about their lives or what they did or thought. There is very little action, but there is an abundance of prose telling you all about the action instead of letting you figure it out for yourself.

If you are feeling pretty cheerful about life and in a really good mood overall and want to bring yourself down into a deep depression filled with disgust for humanity, this is the book for you.

I was really excited about this book! Mystery, unreliable narrator, and a slight dark academia feel? YES PLEASE. The prologue was also absolutely intriguing!

Unfortunately, the story ended up being slow. I found myself bored for the majority of the book. Though once the action started, it was enjoyable, I still felt disappointed.

If you are okay with a slow build, you may still really enjoy this book- Read other reviews and give it a try!

THE THINGS WE DO TO OUR FRIENDS is recommended for fans of slow-burn suspense novels. When I say "slow-burn," I don't mean this in a derogatory way, but rather as a way to distinguish this novel from what many refer to as "popcorn" thrillers. This well-written novel is not super fast paced. Readers who like to dig deep, who like a bit of character excavation mixed in with their thrills will love this one. The writing has a lovely dense feel to it. The friend group in question is pretty odd/unusual, I was a little surprised they didn't catch on that Clare was French; it seems realistic that she might have slipped up on her accent or idioms every once in a while. The overall atmosphere of this story is pretty dark. I liked the author's writing style and the way the story wraps up.

It’s hard to give this one a rating. I wanted to keep reading, to see what happened. But it was dark and uncomfortable. None of the characters are likable and they’re kind of unhinged, but in different ways. Usually there’s some redeeming qualities where you feel some sort of sympathy, even if you can’t stand behind a character’s actions. But it’s hard to feel that here.

I don’t think it was a bad story. It’s the kind of thing that you can’t look away from, even as it makes you uncomfortable.

What a fun twisted read, it is amazing as a young woman what we do to fit in and make friends. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys this genre and I’ve had 2 friends purchase it based on our conversations around it. I don’t want to give any spoilers so I will just say it is very well written with a thought out plot!

This was a different sort of thriller/suspense for me. A bit dark, with lots of complexity so you need to pay attention. Clare is attending college in Edinburgh, far away from Paris where she called home. Longing to reinvent herself and perhaps fix past mistakes, Clare takes up with Imogen, Ava and becomes obsessed with the golden haired Tabitha .
Clare even loses her French accent so her new friends do not realize she is French. Her boss quickly nicknames the group "the Shiver:" ( the name for a group of sharks")- are they predatory?
They sure are very strange- and for the most part, very unlikeable. The friendship is certainly on uneven ground as Clare is never sure just what her standing in the group is as they one minute vie for her attention and the next ignore her completely. There are some strange (and very weird) events that happen to Clare, both past and present- and at times I wasn't sure what in the heck was happening. The gist of it was the group wanted Clare to be part of their secret "project" and she was so desperate to fit in she went along to get along. (rolling eyes)
I kept on reading mainly because I wanted to get to the end to find out what happens in the future to this bizarre group- bit of a twist ending that will appeal to suspense/thriller readers.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a first-person, slow-burn drama with thriller undertones. It is great dramatic piece told from the point of view of Clare during her years at university and the relationship she has with some fellow peers as she tries to remake herself and fit in. Clare has a complicated past and we see the events and her emotional and mental status as she becomes friends with a group of fellow students. It is an interesting story with pieces parcelled out intermittently to help keep the drama and mystery going. A good read for a rainy day.

Heather Darwent’s debut The Things We Do to Our Friends combines the setting and tone of Dark Academia like The Secret History with the pacing and plot of thrillers like Gone Girl; the brooding and female manipulation almost overwhelms you.
Clare, the protagonist, is reinventing herself in Edinburgh after a secret “episode” in France. She falls in with the charismatic Tabitha and agrees to join her “project,” with Ava, Imogen, and Samuel, Tabitha’s sometimes friends/sometimes cronies. As they get deeper and deeper into the project, resentment and fears bubble to the surface, and hints of suppressed violence start to take a very real shape. Clare navigates through increasingly complex relationships, unsure of how to escape the toxic codependence.
Darwent’s writing throughout is fantastic, propelling the story in unexpected directions. Though the plot itself isn’t particularly groundbreaking – female friendships and revenge fantasies coalescing around college-age women – the characters are eccentric and fascinating. However, for a story that hinges on characters’ psychology, the interiority of the main 5—Claire, Tabitha, Ava, Imogen, and Samuel—remains surface level. Even when Claire presses her perhaps boyfriend to explain why he likes her, he scoffs her off and their relationship remains something of a mystery.
Overall, an incredible debut that promises more exciting novels in the future!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a review.

I wish to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine – Bantam Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a very, very dark book. It is disturbing and a psychological story. It begins when Claire leaves home to go to the University of Edinburgh. She wants desperately to fit in and to form strong friendships but she comes from a very dysfunctional setting and has done terrible things that she wants to forget. She takes a job in a bar to pay her bills, and finally meets Tabitha who is very charismatic, and has an unusual circle of friends that Claire is eager to join.

This book is very slow to read and I really struggled with it. I did not like any of the characters at all and there was no one to cheer for. I kept with it to the end but never found redeeming qualities to the novel. It hits on all the dark sides of life. I like a book that is more uplifting but I am sure that other readers will feel differently. I do recommend this for those other readers..

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a great debut novel with Heather Darwent being an author to follow. Beautifully written with an undercurrent of suspense and subtlety. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction, stories about friends (both toxic and non-toxic), and readers who enjoy the question, Who can you trust? Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The writing style drew me in initially. I love the descriptive words the author chooses and the setting was beyond perfect for this dark and twisty thriller. I have never read a story with such a complex and untrustworthy narrator, but Clare was somehow perfect for this story. Her backstory was a mystery up until the very end. I enjoyed that aspect!

Each character within the main friend group has a complete and developed personality. They were all complex, flawed, and unique in their own ways to where it didn't get confusing.

I really enjoyed the twists that were revealed so nonchalantly throughout the story. I enjoy a story that I really have to read into and figure out, because it is not quite so obvious.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to others. It reminded me somewhat of The Secret History, but with a very unique and dark twist.

This was interesting. The cover is so pretty. The story is intense, dark, & frustrating. I had a hard time understanding what was happening for much of the book but overall it was different & I would recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was drawn to this book by the cover and plot and I wanted to like it, but there was not enough action for my tastes. I kept waiting for a reveal that took way too long.

The plot was good, the characters seemed interesting, but maybe not fleshed out enough. It seemed to be bordering on gothic in atmosphere. The most active scene was The Pig (no spoilers - you'll recognize it when you get there), and if the momentum was sustained for the rest of the book it might have worked for me. I couldn't reconcile the age group (young college students) with their actions (entrepreneurial and dark).

My disappointment might be with the book being classified as mystery/thriller when I would probably call it women's fiction, although it had some very dark moments.

I do appreciate the opportunity from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam to read this advance reader's copy.