Everyone who goes away to begin college or university can relate to the feelings of wanting to fit in and "find your tribe." Clare is no different. She heads to Edinburgh to begin her studies not knowing anyone in the city. Clare's background is also rather murky with something having happened in her past that caused her parents to disown her. She has two roommates, but she doesn't really feel any close connection with either of them. In one of her classes, she becomes intrigued by a striking girl, Tabitha, and is soon thrilled to be befriended by her and her group of friends. Ava and Imogen live in Tabitha's house, and her old friend Samuel is also around frequently. They all seem rather wealthy and Clare can't imagine at first why they want her to join their circle. When Tabitha invites her to France with the rest of the group, Clare is excited but also wary -- especially when she's told there is a "project" the group wants to propose to her.

The book moved at a glacial pace while Clare was taken into the circle of friends. Chapter after chapter of her wondering what every glance or phrase meant or didn't mean. It was very tedious. Things picked up about 1/3 of the way through the book when the group's interest in Clare was finally revealed. It took way too long for anything to be explained, and the events played out in such a drawn-out fashion that there was no tension. It's one of those books where you really don't like anyone, so there's no real investment in how any of them end up.

I thought this book had a ton of potential and an interesting premise, but very poor execution. It seemed to wander off in random directions at times and the plot was very clunky. Threads were started and then abandoned, which is super frustrating as a reader. I finished it but I question why, as the big twist was real meh.
I would not recommend this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the ARC!

DNF. Unfortunately, this was a book I started multiple times but could just not get into. I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book, it was just not a good fit for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.

Disclaimer: I received a gifted copy of this book via Netgalley and I am leaving my review voluntarily.
Girl 𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏
What did I just read??
This is definitely an unreliable narrator story through and through, and the author drops some bread crumbs, but not so many that it's obvious from the get-go. It isn't just her friends that are crazy -- she is not who she seems to be.

How far would you go to fit in? Socially awkward Clare has a troubled past and is looking to make a fresh start on her own. She's starting university in Edinburgh and is instantly drawn to a group of highbrow fellow classmates that she encounters at a bar she works at to make ends meet.

What ensues in a psychological slowburn, rife with diabolical characters and deep wounds that will linger long after the book is finished.

This novel is a tale of young college students and friends that embark on a complicated and risky business endeavor that sinks into danger and toxicity. It was a bit dark, but definitely kept my attention all the way through. I enjoyed this book, and would read another by this author.

This is a really good debut novel. Clare, estranged from her parents, begins college in Edinburgh. She soon meets and joins a group of friends, who, aside from Clare, have known each other for several years. It is a slow and dark burn, but the writing is so good! I’m looking forward to reading more from Heather Darwent. Recommended!


Highly recommend this one! This was my first book to read by this author but definitely won't be my last. The characters will stay with you long after you finish the book and you will find yourself wishing the story would never end.

I’m not sure yet if I liked this book, but one thing I can say about it for sure is that it’s memorable. It might give you nightmares, but either way, it’s planted itself in your psyche.

The plot is about a group of college friends, but it’s also deeply disturbing in an Ottessa Moshfegh/Emma Cline’s “The Girls” way. To be honest, though, because it starts out showing off exactly how fucking weird it can get, and then sort of hints at weird things to come, the ending itself didn’t quite live up to how gross it seemed like it would be. Like the end was definitely unexpected but I’m undecided on whether it was a fun shocking twist or something that felt kind of cheap/unearned/intentionally misleading.

I deeply related to some parts about wanting to fit in, feeling drawn into a group of friends, etc, but also all of the characters are so unlikeable and the plot is so fucking weird, that in the end I didn’t really know how to feel about the fact that some of it resonated with me? Idk read this book if you like feeling weirded out and confused, which I sometimes do.

Review of Uncorrected eBook file

It is September 2005 and she has a plan. She leaves Paris for Edinburgh, planning to study at the university. Always the outsider, she is desperate to fit in, to reinvent herself . . . she’s even changed her name, hoping to leave the past buried and forgotten.

She has little; a job is a necessity. Clare finds one as a cocktail mixer at the local bar where she befriends the owner, Finn. Although she does not like her roommates, Ashley and Georgia, she keeps a low profile and works at building her new life.

Then, driven by wanting to have real friends, Clare meets Tabitha in her art history class and recognizes her destiny to be friends with the enigmatic young woman and her circle of friends, Ava, Imogen, and Samuel. It’s the life she’d always imagined she would have one day.

But Tabitha has plans for a special project, one that will throw her right back into what she’s so desperate to escape.

Will Clare’s friendship destroy her chance to reinvent herself?

=========

Told from Clare’s point of view, this tale of toxic friendship is both dark and twisty, offering readers a host of unlikeable characters. Although Clare seeks to become someone new [and, presumably, better than she was in the past], both mean-spiritedness and entitlement take top honors here. Readers might well see Clare, with her childhood background, as an empathetic character, but her choices and her actions only serve to negate that view.

A sinister vibe underlies the telling of this tale, making the reader feel apprehensive throughout the narrative. The obsessiveness apparent throughout the story underlies the self-centeredness of the characters. The depravity is chilling; there’s a sort of a je ne sais quoi in the narrative that defies explanation.

Slowly revealed secrets keep the complex plot twisting and turning; the revelations in this creepy tale are apt to leave readers wondering why Clare cannot see Tabitha for who she truly is . . . her need to belong overrides her ability to see what is right in front of her?

Readers are likely to wish for more information regarding Clare’s childhood as well as her marriage [and her husband] . . . plot points that are apt to leave readers wondering. Nevertheless, readers who enjoy the dark academia genre might want to check out this story of dark schemes and toxic relationships that leads to an unexpected denouement.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley
#TheThingsWeDotoOurFriends #NetGalley

I tried very hard several times to get into this book but I just could not. I don’t know if it was the subject matter, the setting, or the characters but something left me cold. I will be looking for other things by this author. Hopefully this was a one time experience.

Dark, despairing and disturbing. There are many secrets - and even when one is revealed, is it really? You are only shown what of any of these characters want you to see, and there is always more underneath. Toxic relationships at their destructive best abound and there is no end to the depth these people will go. This is one you read looking through the hands held over your eyes and feeling rather grimy for enjoying it!!

Thrilling read! I was able to connect with all of the characters and throughly enjoyed the story the author painted.

This book captures a group of mischievous friends tangled together in a complex plot. It is filled with unexpected twists and believable characters that makes the reader remember this book – whether they want to or not.

The narrator, Clare, reinvented herself when she moved from France to Edinburgh, Scotland to study art history. She got a job at a bar and was desperate to make friends. The manager, Finn, said to her: “Those girls, there’s something off about them. They’re … mean … like sharks.” This didn’t stop her from finding a way to hang out with Tabitha, Ava and Imogen. The girls along with their companion, Samuel, were well defined in every part of the story. Clare said, Tabitha was “trapped in a world of storytelling, in a universe where we were the center of it all.”

The story is dark and edgy with characters that made me so anxious, I went into a nervous eating binge while turning the pages. Ava was “part of some kind of mob family.” I wouldn’t want her on my friend’s list. In fact, none of the characters were appealing yet perfect for this reading experience. At times I was a little confused with the sequence of the pieces but it all came together at the end.

My thanks to Heather Darwent, Bantam and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy with the expected release date of January 10, 2023.

I thought The Things We Do to Our Friends was a decent read and would be interested in reading more books by Heather Derwent. Four stars.

If you’ve ever felt like an outsider desperate to belong, this is the one for you… But be careful of how far you’re willing to go and what your friends might ask you to do 🙈

MY REVIEW:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

👉 This was a long, slow burn, but when it picked up, it PICKED UP.
👉 It was dark and twisted, but not as thriller-y as I expected (which isn’t a bad thing!)
👉 The whole novel felt like a rumination on codependent and homoerotic relationships between women, but if something sinister was the foundation to those friendships 👀

This book sounded interesting but I soon lost interest as none of the characters had a single redeeming quality. The poor girl, Claire joins up with a haughty, entitled group of young women who do nothing but complain about their rich, boring lives. Overall, I felt this story could have been developed further and had more depth to it.

A very, very slow burn thriller with a satisfying ending, this will resonate with anyone who enjoys the "dark academia" genre.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

The writing was ok, but i didn't like anything else. It's more of a slow-burn "literary thriller" than a mystery. I wouldn't have minded that, but none of the characters were interesting to me. If you like The Secret History, you might like this.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC. I was unable to get into this book so did not finish. Perhaps I am not the audience for this kind of story.