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.

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.