I felt like I was on edge the entire time I was reading this book. You are immediately pulled into the mystery of Clare's past and the glittering circle of friends that she covets joining. Events get more and more disturbing the deeper you go into the story, but it's like a gruesome scene you just can't look away from. Trying to puzzle out the relationships within the group, and Clare's secret, kept me turning those pages to the end of this disquieting yet satisfying thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for access to this arc.

This was a first time read of mine for this author, but won’t be my last time. I love the way she developed the main character. The book gives little pretty liars vibes/dark tendencies with in the group of friends the main character falls in with. The story just gives you enough about Clare’s past till the middle of book, that mystery keep me reading more and more.

This book was very interesting! It really puts into perspective the struggle of how far someone will go to feel like they are "normal" and that they fit in. I found some parts of the book to be repetitive and a bit mundane - but that being said, I was definitely intrigued to keep on reading. The opening of the book also immediately grasped my attention. I also was satisfied with the ending and felt like it fit the story well!

Clare travels from the small town of Hull to Edinborough to attend college. She is in a new place, living with new people - it is a chance for a fresh start. This is her first step in her adult life. She gets a job in a bar and waits on some fellow students. The group of four invites her to do things with them. Clare meets their leader, the very charismatic Tabitha. As the group bonds, Tabitha begins taking them in a new direction that will lead to the discovery of their true selves.

Heather Darwent captures and perfectly describes the fun of the first year at university. The excitement of a new place to explore and the chance to make new friends, leaving the mistakes of your past behind. She explores the formation of new friendships and the loyalty of friends. When your friends expect you to join them in an activity, do you? How does a charismatic leader shape the group? Eventually, Clare finds herself wanting to leave the group but she will find it hard to let this group go. Can she move forward independently?

These characters remind you of a type of Gossip Girls group, Entitled, and self-absorbed, they expect things to always turn out their way. When they don't, it is stunning. Will they try again or will they move on to their next adventure? One of these friends is a psychopath. The author describes the dispassionate way that a psychopath uses people and discards them much as you would paper when you were finished with it. It is truly chilling to see life through their emotionless eyes. The ending is surprising, one I never saw coming. This is the debut book for this author and she is off to a fantastic start.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is an atmospheric dark academia tale. Think of all the dark academia books you've read, and unfortunately, this just does not hold up. I wanted a lot more from this book. I wish there were more layers and more meaning/insight. Ultimately, The Things We Do to Our Friends just left me wanting more.

I don't think I like this book. I don't know. There are very few times where I have not been able to figure out how I feel about a book, but here we are. It was confusing and a lot of the scenes made me uncomfortable, disgusting, etc. but that doesn't mean it was bad. It was a good story, I suppose, or else I wouldn't have kept reading, but I feel no real connection to the story, to the character, anything.

This is such a complex, twisted, and dark debut! I honestly think I'm still reeling from the way it all happened. I think this is great for anyone who loves a slow burn lead-up, who loves twisted, sinister, and complicated characters, and who likes an ending that will leave them feeling a little disturbed. Because just you think things can't get any worse or people can't do anything more horrible...something still happens, even at the end.

I'll start by saying that the first half of this book was difficult for me to get through. I kept coming back and reading it in pieces. The friend dynamic in this novel is very complex and dark. It's also not something I fully understand, so it felt frustrating to read almost. But I think that the way things layer on each other and how the friendship builds is vital to the later half of the book, so I'm happy that I did push through because it ended up being worth it. I genuinely believe that a slow build-up is worth it as long as the book's latter half is good, which this book had. I will say that once things start happening, they don't stop. It only gets worse and more twisted. I felt so much anxiety during the build-up in the later half, and that's always a good sign things are going right with the writing.

I also think this author does really well with this slow build-up. Her writing style is very much meant to build on itself. I think that it's fascinating that Darwent both says things quite simply, yet there's so much underneath what the characters are saying, their gestures, and the overall writing. It's a lot to unpack, and I think many readers will find that appealing and satisfying. I know that now that I've finished it, I would find many things I missed in those earlier parts if I were to go back and reread it. I seriously felt like I was getting sucker punched in those last chapters while learning everything, wondering how I missed those pieces earlier. I love it when things are hidden clearly and openly between pages, and the ending reveals everything.

I also keep asking myself, is it possible to be surprised but not shocked by a book's ending? Part of me felt like I saw the end coming, and the other part was incredibly puzzled by it all. It's like I knew things were bad, I knew who these characters were and what they were capable of, I knew how dark and twisted things were becoming, and yet I get to the ending, and I'm just wholly perplexed and, honestly, put off by it in a lot of ways?! I also liked that you don't get the reveal of that prologue/first chapter/Clare's past until the end. Reading that tied it up so, so well, and I think it left me feeling more satisfied than if it had been revealed earlier.

Overall, this was a slow burn with a very satisfying ending. I liked how complex and intriguing all of the characters were. It made me think about how morally gray people can be, how we all have this side to us that no one else knows unless we tell them or show them, and how far we're willing to go to be accepted or to keep those we love around us. It left me reeling and feeling a bit disturbed but in a good way (if there can be a good way to be disturbed). I think the entirety of this was unique, and I'm looking forward to what the author comes up with next. I'm all for dark storylines with twisted, unreliable characters, and I think their writing style fits that perfectly!

And thank you, Netgalley and Ballantine, Bantam, for the chance to read this early for a review!

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent was a very dark story. I felt no connection with any of the players. Clare's obsession with Tabitha and her crew flows through out the story. In order to not spoil the story, I won't go too much in depth.
In my opinion, the story ended with an open ended story line. I wanted to know more about Clare and her life after but didnt get that. The writer brings in Clare's husband in the end but we know nothing about him or how he meets her. Over all, I did not like this story. I was led on a crazy wild ride but still I don't feel as if I understood the story.

Clare is new to Edinburgh and eager to fit in with new people at university. When Tabitha and her friends open their arms out to Clare, it’s all almost too good to be true. And once Clare realizes what Tabitha has planned, not only is it dangerous for her future, but Clare is also in danger of having her past leak out into the new life she’s tried so hard to create for herself. I wasn’t so sure about this book, and the start of it did move a little slower than some of the others, but after about the first 15-20%, I was fully hooked. Since there are a few “spoiler” situations in the book, I’ll stop and just say that I very much enjoyed it and will be very happy to read more by this author in the future. Another keeper for sure!

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an excellent debut and kept me entertained for hours while reading! It's dark, thrilling, and hard to put down!

This is a psychological thriller about a young woman looking to reinvent herself. Clare wanted to start fresh and have real friends, however ended up in the midst of toxic friendships/relationships. This novel reminded me a bit of "Mean Girls." The novel is dark with interesting characters, the most interesting in my opinion is Clare with story being from her POV. This novel did have well developed characters. I would be interested in reading more from this author.

I unabashedly loved this book. It's dark and quite intense at times, the characters are mostly unlikeable, and there's a whole element of unraveling throughout the book that I enjoyed immensely. Like things are just falling apart left and right and the MC, Clare, is getting progressively more unhinged as her past comes to light (I know that sounds like every recent thriller but I read a lot of them and didn't find it to be the same at all!).

Clare is trying to run from her past and start over at a university in dreary Edinburgh, Scotland. During a shift at her new job at a dive bar, she waits on the beautiful Tabitha and mysterious Ava. Clare is immediately drawn into Tabitha's life and finds herself wishing she could become a part of Tabitha's group. When Tabitha brings up a new business proposal, Clare is roped in and finds herself falling deeper into Tabitha's world and closer to her secrets.

I was definitely surprised at the ending. Heather Darwent does an amazing job at creating unhinged and mysterious characters. I felt myself pulled into Tabitha's world and could envision everything Heather Darwent had described. However, I'm only giving this book three stars. This is mainly due to the jumping around of the book. I'm sure it is meant to give a dramatic, confusing effect, but I found it just plain confusing. I also felt as though the beginning was drawn out and could've been shortened a little. There were a few times when I checked to see how far into the book I was and was disappointed because I wasn't that far. It felt like I should have been farther into it with all that I had read.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a creepy, gothic, edge of your seat read. I really enjoyed reading this. Very suspenseful, kept you wondering what was going to happen next. Would love to read more by this author.
Thanks NetGalley and Random House for this ARC!

I really disliked this book. To start with, it didn't reas as a thriller. The story felt like it dragged on and was quite honestly, boring to me. I was hoping to enjoy this one, but it didn't work out.

First off, what a gorgeous cover! That’s what initially drew me to the book. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started reading it. It took me a bit to get into the story and understand what was happening. Clare is interesting and the company she keeps are quite interesting to say the least. I found this dark, intriguing, intense, frustrating, and full of unlikeable yet slightly delightful characters. You will want to give this a read if you are looking for something different. Many thanks for this ARC that was provided to me via Kindle, from Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley.

3.5 rounded
Impressive debut. Grabbed me early and held my interest throughout.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Disappointing. Weird characters, boring, drawn out. I felt like this could have been a good book but the writing just wasn’t there

A really, really good book about the bounds of friendship. I loved the writing style, and honestly want a physical copy just because the cover art is so dang beautiful.

The Things We Do to Our Friends was one of my most anticipated books this year and it 100% lived up to my expectations. It’s a really fun book, it has everything you’d want in a thriller.