This book was not for me. The characters were unlikable, the plot was disjointed and I felt like there was really no focus to the story. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never really did. Even though this wasn't for me, I'm sure there will be others who enjoy it.

Dark, deep, and convoluted with an entangled plot.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

An interesting premise but the pace is slow and the characters, while interesting in a despicable way, seem a bit too cardboardy. Instead of the page-turning breathlessness usually found in a thriller, this one goes flat for pages on end and then there's a shocker followed by more flat. I would definitely read another book by the same author because I think she has talent, but this novel needs a few more rewrites.

#netgalley

I think this cover is gorgeous - and will absolutely admit that it’s the cover that first drew me to this story! I also love a college setting and found myself intrigued in the early parts of the story. Unfortunately, for me that fizzled out and I ultimately decided to DNF at 76%. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

The Things We Do to Our Friends
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 1/10/23
Author: Heather Darwent
Publisher: Random House Publishing
Pages: 336
GR: 3.40

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Random House Publishing and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Edinburgh, Scotland: a moody city of labyrinthine alleyways, oppressive fog, and buried history; the ultimate destination for someone with something to hide. Perfect for Clare, then, who arrives utterly alone and yearning to reinvent herself. And what better place to conceal the dark secrets in her past than at the university in the heart of the fabled, cobblestoned Old Town? When Clare meets Tabitha, a charismatic, beautiful, and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, she knows she's destined to be friends with her and her exclusive circle: raffish Samuel; shrewd Ava; and pragmatic Imogen. Clare is immediately drawn into their libertine world of sophisticated dinner parties and summers in France. The new life she always envisioned for herself has seemingly begun. And then Tabitha reveals a little project she's been working on, one that she needs Clare's help with. Even though it goes against everything Clare has tried to repent for. Even though their intimacy begins to darken into codependence. But as Clare starts to realize just what her friends are capable of, it's already too late. Because they've taken the plunge. They're so close to attaining the things they want. And there's no going back.

My Thoughts: The cover is what drew me to this book initially. The book opens up with a dark and disturbing scene in Paris, but then the first 30% thereafter is a slow burn. Once the ‘project’ is revealed, things start to heat up and the pace was better and twisted the story into a dark, disturbing read. Clare wants to reinvent herself, including her name. She lands into this friend group that is complex, complicated, and questioning. Clare is forced to work with these friends in this project or lose everything she has worked for.

The story is narrated in first person by Clare, in her POV, however, she is an unreliable narrator. The characters were well developed with depth, mystery, and creative, while being unlikeable. The author’s writing style was complex, dark, twisty, and had a creative premise. The atmosphere was very chaotic and intense. The plot is layered in twists but also had some strangeness and weirdness aspects to it. There is some repetitiveness throughout the story. This story was more character driven than plot driven.

This is a debut novel for this author, while it had some strong parts, there were some equal weak parts. Overall a good debut novel and I would be interested in reading other books from this author. I would recommend this book to those who love a dark, disturbing slow burn thriller.

2.5 stars rounded upwards.

The Things We Do To Our Friends is a debut thriller by newbie Heather Darwent. Our protagonist is Clare, a young woman who’s studying art history at a university in Edinboro. She’s new and knows no one, but is soon swept up in a small, elite group of students she meets in one of her classes. Before she knows it, they are her main curriculum, and her classes become secondary.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Random House Ballantine for the invitation to review. This book is for sale now.

At the outset it’s easy to relate to Clare, who tells us her story using the first person limited. She has never lived here before, and she doesn’t have a lot of resources. She gets a job at a nearby bar, and the everyman proprietor, Finn, punctuates the story now and then with an objective take on Clare’s life and her new friends. She is soon invited to join a clique of students that are flashier, louder, and more confident than most of her classmates, and she wants desperately to become one of them. Tabitha is the ringleader, and it is she that Clare most wants to please.

The opening chapters here make me wonder if we are about to rehash Ruth Ware’s most recent mystery, The It Girl. The elements are certainly there. But there’s an undertone that builds here, teasingly referencing Clare’s unfortunate past. We don’t know much except that she’s estranged from her parents, who don’t want to hear from her.

That can’t be good.

The clique goes to Tabitha’s family home in France over the winter break, and Clare is thrilled to be included. But while they are there, she is pressured to join with them on a moneymaking venture that isn’t entirely legal. They let her know they are aware of her past, so she’d better cooperate.

Here is where the book starts to lose me. Clare is essentially being extorted, and yet her emotional attachment to the group only intensifies. At one point, she tells us that she sometimes forgets whose skin is whose, so tightly bonded are they, and in particular, she and Tabitha. But this makes no sense. Tabitha has threatened to harm her, as have the others. Why does she love them all the more for it?

More and more tidbits from Clare’s past are revealed, and yet Clare herself isn’t developed much. Neither is anybody else. We are told a lot, but shown only a little. I love books that are about character, and if there’s not much plot, I’m fine with that, but these characters are all static. At the 50 percent mark, I become impatient and skip to 62 percent; from there, I read to 72 percent, which is where things should begin to feel urgent, but they don’t. I skip again to 90 percent and read the ending. I seldom skip anything when reading, and on the occasions when I have done so, I sometimes find things when I skim the last half that convince me to go back and read it completely. That didn’t happen here. There are loose threads dangling, and plot elements that appear to have no purpose. Worst of all—and to be fair, this is probably not the author’s doing, but it rankles, nevertheless—is that this weak tale of warped humanity is billed as a “feminist page-turner,” which is what drew my interest initially, and as a lifelong, card-carrying feminist, I can assure you that this is absolutely not that.

I cannot recommend this book to you.

If you love twisted friendships and morally grey characters, there’s a chance this book will be for you.
The Things We Do to Our Friends is a very unique book. Clare tries to make a new life after a traumatic incident back in France when she meets Tabitha and the rest of her friends. Instantly, a toxic codependent relationship forms between the new friends and Clare’s past threatens to ruin her fresh start.
I agree with a few reviews that I have seen which point out that at times the novel feels somewhat disjointed. Although I think the disassociated prose was actually a strength of the novel, the book feels like it was written by 2 different authors.
If you want a slower paced novel about twisted girls and the friendships they make and break along the way, I would still recommend this novel. Although I enjoyed it I will rate it a 2.5/5 stars.

Clare has a secret, a secret that’s so overwhelming she feels the need to completely reinvent herself once she moves to Edinburgh for college, though she has no idea where to begin. Her flatmates are pleasant, but a bit boring, and Clare is too nervous to approach any of her fellow students for fear of being rejected. Finding a job in a local bar leads her to Tabitha and her circle of friends, whom she meets when they come in for a drink. Clare is in awe of Tabitha’s seeming confidence and exuberance and is flattered when the group (secretly referred to by Clare and her boss Finn as The Shiver, as in a shiver of sharks) embraces her and offers companionship and a distraction from the daily grind of school and work.

Tabitha, who is not as wealthy as she projects, soon has a fascinating business proposal for The Shiver, providing a way for wives to see if their husbands will cheat on them by setting the men up in compromising situations. Clare is groomed for the primary spot, and she reluctantly agrees, once she realizes that someone in the group knows her secret. As things progress from strange to downright dangerous, Clare knows she needs to get out before someone is seriously hurt.

The storyline is chaotic, the characters are flawed, the setting is cold and gray, and somehow it all works together. Clare is scary, though she projects as insecure and uncertain, while Tabitha is a manipulator who is driven to maintain the lifestyle in which she was raised, with seemingly unlimited funds. Imogen, Ava, and Samuel are also caught up in the whirlpool of Tabitha’s drama, and had been for years, kept close by the secrets they share. I would call The Things We Do to Our Friends as an excellent example of the ultimate in toxic friendship and is a book I enjoyed reading.

An interesting and overall entertaining read, The Things We Do to Our Friends, is a dark academia novel following Clare as joins a new clique of friends in college. While I really did enjoy the writing and prose, this is definitely a slow burn suspense. There were some graphic and strange scenes, and while the characters had depth and intrigue, the plot was just okay. I enjoyed reading the book, but it is not super memorable. This book would be perfect for fans of the dark academia genre, or who like character-driven stories.

Very disappointed in this as I had high expectations! The story was taking forever to unfold and I found myself confused or to be reading the same info over and over. DNF'd at 30%. The cover is so gorgeous though!

I unfortunately could not finish this book. There wasn't anything wrong with it per se, I just couldn't get into it. The premise was interesting and it drew me in, but the characters fell flat for me. I am very much a character girlie and this just did not do it for me. I think it's definitely worth giving a shot though! Just wasn't for me.
Thank you so much to PRH for sending this to me.

Keep your enemies close, and your friends, well—
keep an even closer eye on them...


The damage we do—or at least, that we can do—to each other, is horribly immense in its scope and variety.

We’ve become inured to it, frankly, because we see it EVERYWHERE. Trolls going off on someone or something, online. Hate speech. Political upheavals.

But we also see it closer to home. Family members, intentionally hurting or neglecting those they should hold precious. Lovers, seemingly forgetting all of the reasons they came together, in the first place.

And close friends, taking perverse delight in using and wounding those whose darkest secrets they carry and were sworn to protect.

Heather Darwent gives us a look at all of these in her compelling psychological suspense debut, The Things We Do to Our Friends.

Often people choose universities where they’ll feel right at home… either because the school is, literally, close to their home, or because many friends go there.

But a smaller group (including me) choose the opposite... a place where no one knows them. Where they can finally become who they really are... or at least, who they want most to be.

Clare falls into that latter camp. She selects a tabula rasa for her studies… the University of Edinburgh (a far cry from Paris), where no one knows a single thing about her.

It’s hard, setting out on your own, but it’s the only way to make a new beginning, to craft a new “you”…which is something Clare very much wants to do.

She finds a room with two other girls (nice enough, but not the sort she wants for friends). She gets a part-time job in a dive bar (and also into a “situationship” with the pleasantly-ordinary barkeep, because, well... needs must). She signs up for a typically-motley group of freshman classes.

And on the very first day of art history class, Clare spots THEM.

The girls she wants to become.

They’re so obviously the embodiment of her goal... a trio of young women radiating confidence, smelling of wealth and posh living, and exuding the assured power that only the most-privileged girls can.

The hierarchy is easy for Clare to parse: beautiful, reed-thin blonde Tabitha is The One... the undeniable leader anyone would follow (straight into an inferno or off a gangplank into the midnight depths of the ocean, most likely).

The other two, in sharp contrast, are the support staff. Imogen, the plainer and pragmatical one, who gets things done; and Ava, the exotically-foreign-born picture of elegance, dripping with money and an ineffable “otherness”.

Gradually, Clare manages to find an “in”. The three girls—along with Tabitha’s handsome, lad-about-town childhood friend, Samuel—begin to include Clare in their lives... inviting her over for dinners and fun nights in (or out).

Is she “one of them”? No, no... not that, certainly... but she’s closer than anyone else is, which is a big deal.

As the semester wears on, though—and Clare is privy to more of Tabitha-and-company’s plans—she begins to realize that she isn’t the only one with a motive other than pure, altruistic friendship.

The girls (and Samuel) have hatched a Grand Plan--a deviously-dark scheme, which smacks of everything Clare has been trying desperately to run far from--and they insist that Clare is an integral part.

And they won’t take “no” for an answer.

So, she begrudgingly goes along with them... buoyed by Tabitha’s giddy exuberance, and calmed by the casual nonchalance of the other three.

Until she reaches her tipping point, that is... the moment of real clarity, when she sees only one possible way to move forward.

One where she’s no longer under Tabitha’s spell...


The Things We Do to Our Friends is the book that finally snapped me out of a two+ month-long reading abstinence (yes, really). So, is it good? Definitely.

Darwent’s prose is powerful (and often, lyrical). Clare is a complex young woman, and seeing things through her eyes—all that she thinks, with regard to other people, certainly, but also the things she doesn’t come right out and say or ponder--offers tantalizing glimpses into the past she’s doing her damnedest to leave far behind... but never revealing too much.

My only niggling complaint, if you will, is the speed at which the resolution (The Big Reveal) happens, once Darwent gets there. After the level of suspense maintained throughout the story, the ending fell a bit flat because it was somewhat abrupt. (Nonetheless, the ending completed the story, so in that sense, it was fine.)

The Things We Do to Our Friends is a darkly-twisty
(and twisted) look at the lengths we’ll go to for friendship... and the ones we won’t. Well worth the read. 
~GlamKitty

A twisty suspenseful story about friendship and what one would do to be part of the in crowd. Clare leaves France to start the University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She takes this chance to reinvent herself and start over leaving secrets of her past behind. She gets a job at a local bar to help make ends meet while at The University. It’s here she meets a group of friends including the ring leader Tabitha. This group comes from money, wealth and have everything Clare has always felt was out of reach for her. The book is mostly told from Clare’s point of view. This story is compelling and the characters all have a past. The toxic friendship with Clare and this group of friends. How far would one go for friendship and is it worth it? Great suspenseful read with some twists. Many thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

2.5 stars

Things We Do to Our Friends is a dark thriller that focuses on the lives of a group of college students who draw an unsuspecting newcomer into their fold, not knowing that she has deep secrets of her own. When Clare arrives in Edinburgh for college, she is alone and desperately seeking companionship. Soon, she meets a group of college kids she calls The Shiver, with the alluring and enigmatic Tabitha as their leader. As the group befriends her and brings her into their daily lives, she soon realizes that they have ulterior motives and a well-developed plan for her. They seem to know a little about her own sinister past, and they’re not afraid to use it for their own gain.

I enjoy thrillers with a dark academia vibe, and had high hopes for this book. Sadly, there was too little focus on the academia side. This centered more on the toxicity of the friendships and relationships of these college age kids, whose privilege and wealth lead them to forever alter other people’s lives. Clare herself is a complicated and unreliable narrator who I genuinely did not like. I struggled to like any of the main characters in this story or feel connected to them in any way.

For me, this fell a bit flat. The elements were there: the characters were complicated and vindictive, their relationships completely toxic, with Edinburgh being the perfect ominous setting. But the climax and twists felt subdued, weighed down by a narrative that seemed mediocre. The concept was great, but I failed to connect or feel any emotion throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine, Bantam for this advanced copy, in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own.

I'm giving this book a 2.5.

We are following Clare in her first semester in college. She befriends a girl named Tabitha, and falls in with her group of friends. They are rich, privileged, and mysterious. All things Clare longs to be. To her they seem perfect, to others, they seem odd. When they are around, things just seem off. Then Clare discovers that they know about her incident in France, and plan to use it to their advantage for their "project".

This just didn't do it for me. Parts of the books seemed disjointed. There were parts where it jumped to the future with no warning. She just starts talking about her life now, which was confusing until you realized it, then goes right back into the story.

None of the characters were likable, which they weren't supposed to be, but it was a lot reading about a group of awful people, with no reprieve. I did like that Clare seemed unassuming to the group, until she flipped the script and showed her true, dark side.

This book was slow to get to the actual plot. It was mostly like reading about someones day to day activities for the first majority of the book. Even when we got to the main point, it seemed slow in parts.

If you like slower paced books with darker vibes or characters with very questionable morals, you might like this book!

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

I devoured this book! I’ve read so many thrillers in recent years that it’s hard sometimes to pick up one which surprises me but this one was so unique and the plot was so different to anything I’ve read before that I was totally gripped. It’s a story about a twisted group of friends - Clare, Ava, Tabitha, Imogen and Samuel. Each of them bad in their own way, each just as toxic as the mould that Clare imagines creeping up the walls of her mind. I had no idea how this unsettling tale would end - I just couldn’t put it down.

There were other things I loved about this novel - the settings (Edinburgh and Perigueux in France). I also loved how descriptive the author was when describing both of these places and how she described the characters and their interactions with each other.

For fans of Julia Heaberlin, Megan Miranda and the like … a must read!

Thanks to the author, the publishers and Netgalley for my advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The sudden sense of the maze of vaults below where screams echo. The dead are near in the city when night falls. They press against you but I think it’s the living who come for you.”

“It made me want to reach out and touch her and often I did because all of us felt our way around each other with touch. Where one of us ended and the other began - the boundaries were barely there anymore.”

Thank you to Heather, Bantam, and Netgalley for an advance copy of The Things We Do to Our Friends.

I unfortunately put this one to the side at 56%. The pace was much too slow for my liking. That coupled with the characters just being wildly unlikable had me at a point that I was picking up every other book on my January TBR except for this one. There are times where these slow burn mysteries are right up my alley, and I really thought this one would be a winner. I love dark academia, toxic friendships, and Edinburgh, but this just didn't keep my interest to see it through to the end.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t work for me as well as the cover did. The narrative started out well, but it felt like it meandered- and I didn’t feel compelled by any of what was happening for the characters.


Thank you so much @netgalley & @bantampub & Ballentine for the eArc! & thank you so much @prhaudio for the audio copy.

3.5 stars.
Starting off this book I felt like it was going to be one of my new favorites. The prologue is one of my favorites I've ever read. Throughout, the characters remained interesting and the writing was solid. The atmosphere/vibe of the book was also great. But this felt like the author had several scenes/ideas that she wanted to include, and included those, but didn't really know how to thread them together. All of the scenes were good but ended up feeling really disjointed.

This was an interesting and definitely unique tale of five young adults with aspirations beyond the typical college student. Clare is desperate to reinvent herself and will do just about anything to be part of Tabitha’s group. You’ll definitely want to finish this story and find out just how far these friends are willing to take things!