Heather DarwentResenhas

The Epilogue is based in France where we discover is how the story ends and we have to read Clare's account of the events which leads to the disturbing scene of girls dancing and force feeding some guy until he chokes and has convulsions. So, it starts on a dark note preparing you for a twisted tale of unreliable characters with secrets and devious minds.

Clare was sent to live with her grandmother by her parents before she eventually moves on to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Her plan is to reinvent herself including her dark past. She wants nothing more than to blend in with the college experience studying art history. She needs to make money and finds a job at bar where she befriends her boss, Finn. It seems fortuitous that Clare should encounter a group of obvious "popular" wealthy students while working at the bar. She recognizes Tabitha from her art history class and is delighted when she is welcomed to spend time with her friends Samuel, Ava and Imogen. Eventually, what felt like a privilege being accepted into the group, it doesn't come without a cost as she discovers her initiation has a connection to the sordid past she thought she buried. The story is filled with suspense and foreboding as you wait for the story to unfold revealing sinister obsessions and alluring toxic characters.

Unfortunately, this story resonated as a familiar story for me which held my interest but felt like the characters needed more dimension. I'm rounding my review up to help balance the many 3 star reviews as it has potential.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Random House for providing access to this digital review copy. This review contains my personal, honest and unbiased opinions.½

Friends Forever


This book is a must-read for avid thriller fans who enjoy being swept away in a fast-paced story. Although I'm a bit late to the reviewing party, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to fans of Lisa Jewel's work.

The story starts with a shocking event that sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Clare, who uses an alias, enrolls in a university in Edinburgh hoping to make new friends and start afresh. However, it's not as easy as she thought, and the people who want to befriend her are not the type she's interested in. That is, until she meets Tabitha, a charismatic girl, and her wealthy, carefree group of friends. They invite Clare to join their clique, but she soon realizes their motives are not entirely pure and are linked to her past.

As the story progresses, the author, Heather Darwent, skillfully keeps readers guessing with every revelation and event. Although Clare is initially quiet and seems to blend into her new group of friends, she's far from passive and has no idea what plans they're making behind her back. Every few pages present a new event that throws the previous ones into question, and while there is foreshadowing throughout the book, it's difficult to predict how the story will end. Darwent's writing is subtle, dropping hints and creating a cast of complex, unlikely-but-believable characters.

Overall, this book is a wild ride that's worth reading, even if it doesn't hold up under close scrutiny. I'm a new fan of Darwent's writing and would like to thank NetGalley and all those involved in granting me an advanced copy of this book.

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.

2.5⭐

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent tells the story of our protagonist Clare from when she was a newly enrolled student in the University of Edinburgh History of Art degree embarking on a new life away from Hull where she lived with her grandmother. Viewing her move to Edinburgh as an opportunity to become a new person she promptly moves into a new flat with two other students, finds a job working in a bar befriending her boss, Finn and strikes an unlikely friendship with the charismatic Tabitha and Tabitha’s group of friends (a group of people Clare privately compares with a shiver of sharks, “The Shiver” for short) whom she is drawn to, curious about and eager to fit in with.

As the story progresses we see Clare being drawn into The Shiver and groomed to participate in an ambitious venture that will push them in a direction that spells nothing but trouble. Clare, for her part, has a past that she intends to keep hidden but apparently, her new friend(s) are privy to some disturbing information which they do not fail to leverage in persuading her to join them in their project. Can Clare withstand the pressures exerted by her new “friends”? How far will Clare go to fit in? How far is too far before she breaks?

The story is narrated in the first person by Clare (a complicated and unreliable narrator) in the present day. As she shares her experiences with The Shivers during her University days with snippets from her present life, we are given a window into her psyche and it is not a pleasant picture. She is by no means as unassuming or clueless as she initially projects and we see the workings of a twisted mind as she navigates through toxic (to put it mildly!) friendships and manipulation. As she shares episodes from her past, it is evident that it is only a matter of time before she shows her true colors leading to an ending that is somewhat predictable and inevitable.

The prose is elegant and the author does an impressive job in developing the main characters (each unlikable in her/his own way) but the narrative is relatively slow-paced and somewhat disjointed, slightly repetitive and rather long-drawn. It took a while for me to engage with the characters and the story, losing interest a little after the halfway mark. I did not find the story as compelling as I had hoped. I usually enjoy character-driven stories but in this case, I did not find the character interesting enough despite her psychopathic tendencies and there really wasn’t much mystery or thrill to keep me hooked to the story. Dark and atmospheric, The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent has a lot of promise but falls short in its execution.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review 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

This novel begins with a shocking act that sets the tone for the rest of this thriller. Clare (not her real name) has looked to friends to fill the role her parents don't and she has high hopes that going to university in Edinburgh will give her the opportunity to make friends and a fresh start. But she finds it harder than she thought. The people who want to be her friends are not the people she wants to have as friends. Then she runs into the charismatic Tabitha and her careless and wealthy friends and she is delighted and surprised to find that they want her to be a part of their group. But there's a reason they want her that reason has a lot to do with what happened in her past.

This is the kind of thriller where events and revelations occur so rapidly that it's impossible to figure out what the end game is. Clare is quiet and she works hard to blend into her new group of friends, but she's not as passive as they assume. And Clare doesn't know what is being planned when she's not there. Every few pages, a new event throws what came before into question and while there's plenty of foreshadowing, the events hinted at show little resemblance to what seems likely a few chapters earlier. Does this wild ride of a book hold up under scrutiny? Oh, certainly not! But does it matter when the whole thing is so much fun to read? Darwent's writing is never clunky or lazy. She's adept at dropping hints without them looking obvious and at creating a sizable cast of complex characters that she manages to make live and breathe, no matter how unlikely they would appear out in the actual world.½

#FirstLine ~ FRANCE -Three girls dance in front of him.

Well, I have to admit that I enjoyed this book but it did take me a bit to get into it. But once I did, it was fantastic. I would describe this as more of a slow burn story. I did like how the story unfolded and was engaged in the characters. Not everyone is likeable, but everyone is important to the story. A good book for a book club because a lot of discussion will come from reading it!

2.5 rounded up to 3

From the description to the beautiful cover, I so couldn’t wait to dive in to revisit the beautiful city of Edinburgh. I will say it is well written, descriptive and disturbing at times. But the story itself left me cold and unable to connect with or like any of the characters.

Clare is headed to college to find herself and find a group of friends where she can belong. She feels like an outcast and always on the outside looking in at the beautiful people. But, looks are often deceiving. She thinks she found her people, and falls in head first ready to please. What happens is a crazy ride that might just leave you shaking your head.

This debut novel just wasn’t for me, but I would be interested to see what the author does next. The writing is so well done that I’d read her again.

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.½

What an intense, compelling story. I felt uneasy from the first chapter through the last. All of the characters in The Things We Do to Our Friends make you wary of them: you think they have secrets, are lying and deceitful and any one of them could be capable of violence. The story starts with a chilling description of something happening between three young girls and a man. You the reader are purposely left uncertain if this is then or now and who these girls are is not clear. It doesn’t become clear until far, far into the story, at which time it’s more confirmation than revelation.

The author refers to The Things We Do to Our Friends as a campus thriller but it isn’t really. Very little of the action takes place on the campus or even involves more than passing references to school, and Clare is not the typical shy, nerdy little girl on the outside wanting to be part of the popular girls’ clique. Instead, she has anger issues and a past, a very creepy past if the oblique references to “the episode” tell you anything. Her childhood does not seem to have been happy. And her determined, methodical approach to becoming part of Tabitha’s gang is impressive. She works her way into the group, or do they manipulate her into becoming one of the chosen few? What they get up to after that is truly disturbing.

The Things We Do to Our Friends moves back and forth in time and keeps your interest throughout. It is hard to like or even feel sympathy for any of these young people, but it is harder to turn away from their lives. Clare seems to have a plan and be adrift at the same time. Tabitha has that mesmerizing hold over people we can only marvel at. Samuel, Ava, and Imogen are supporting players but they all have their own issues and objectives that come together in a dark, sinister tale you won’t soon forget.

I was sent a free book from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a tough book - disturbing in a lot of ways with very unlikeable characters. I struggled to connect with any of them and didn't understand their motivations. The story was all over the place - I wish it would have gone more in depth on any one of the characters. Clare was the most developed character but I was still left with questions about her. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent is a so-so debut psychological thriller.

Clare is attending the university in Edinburgh, Scotland while reinventing herself. She has changed her name and hopes to distance herself from her past while studying art history. After she finds a job at a bar, she notices Tabitha, a rich privileged young woman, and her group of friends. Soon enough Clare is drawn into their group and Tabitha reveals a project she and her friends have been planning.

The characters are all unbelievable, unreliable, and unlikable, which I could go with but they are also undeveloped beyond the surface traits. Simply put they are all caricatures of a type and none of them are portrayed as realistic individuals. There were plenty of red flags to avoid this strange, annoying group of people and never any compelling reason presented for Clare to want to join them.

Honestly, I struggled to finish this novel but pushed through hoping the ending would redeem it. Adding to my lack of motivation to finish reading it was the uneven pace and very slow start. Sure, the opening grabs your attention, after which the pace is akin to a leisurely stroll until later in the narrative. When the excitement finally does pick up, it is still uneven. I realize I'm an outlier on this one, but the plot could have been better planned out and tightened up considerably. The twist at the end did not help. Perhaps this is more of a new adult novel and one I should have avoided. Gorgeous cover, though. 2.5 rounded down
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Bantam via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/01/the-things-we-do-to-our-friends.html½

Clare has had a difficult childhood and is harboring a deep secret, but now she is set to reinvent herself as she starts college in Edinburgh. Working in a local pub, she becomes fascinated with some other students she meets there who, in her view, seem to have it all. Desperate to be accepted, she clings to them, even going along with an unsavory “project” they propose. To what extents will she go to be part of the group?

This debut novel is dark, touching upon obsession, toxic dependency, the effects of poor parenting, and what I would view as mental illness. The language is evocative, especially when describing scenes such as Edinburg in January. It is well plotted, but I just didn’t take to any of the unlikable characters or their stories. I read the book quickly just to get through it. By the end, I felt like, “so what?

The things we do to out friends, I wasn't crazy about the novel. It was an interesting idea. The story is of a young lady heading off to college and trying to fit in with the "right" friends, not just any group. The book was well written and not bad for a debut novel.
In the beginning of the book, unfortunately I found it to be quiet boring. For the longest time I couldn’t tell what the book was supposed to be about. But it gets better and I Wanted to continue to read the book.
There was some suspense and you have to read the whole story for it all to come together and make some sense.

Really enjoyed this book! It tells the story of Clare, who moves to Edinburgh to attend university, and the group of friends she falls in with. None of the main characters is particularly likeable, and usually that would be enough to turn me off. But they are so interesting, and the plot moves along so quickly, that I found myself unable to put the book down. The author does a great job of hinting at things that happened in the past and teasing them out bit by bit while making connections to the events taking place in the current day. Very cleverly done, especially for a debut author!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I was gifted this eARC in exchange for an honest review, so thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for this read!

With undertones of dark academia, this is a mystery story that revolves around Clare, a young woman who embarks on her undergraduate degree at the university of Edinburgh. She has a dark past that is constantly alluded to throughout, but not entirely revealed until the end; a secret that has left her practically emancipated from her parents, and fairly alone in the world. Her life gets more complicated when she finds herself befriended by a strange but glamorous group of friends, with wealth, prestige, and a lot of secrets themselves.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. It was well written and very accessible to most readers. The pacing was mostly good, though there were some parts that felt a little too slow, and a little too long. I enjoyed the fact that we were fed bits and pieces of Clare's history, rather than being introduced to the truth of it from the very beginning. The prologue was particularly strong, and really engaged me as a reader; it left me wondering and wanting to discover more.

The whole concept was interesting, and I think Edinburgh was absolutely the perfect setting for this kind of tale. The dynamics of the group were fascinating, and the underlying ominous tone that was a constant throughout the novel was compelling.

Though parts of this were very good, the ending felt a little rushed and underwhelming to me. Clare at times felt too naive, too easily drawn in, when we do consider her past. Her absolute need to be liked and to make friends was at odds with the disinterest she had in anyone that wasn't a part of this glittering group, in some ways. More than that, although I found the characters interesting enough, I didn't particularly like any of them. I also felt some of their motives were not fleshed out enough; namely with Tabitha. So much of what she did was incredibly unhinged, but I also couldn't understand where she was coming from with her actions a lot of the time. What drove her? I truly don't really know.

I would give this one a 3.5 out of 5, all things considered. An enjoyable read, and I would recommend it for those who like this genre. One other note - I really liked the cover (with the snake), but having seen the other cover (the girl, the flowers) I wish they'd stuck with that one! It's gorgeous.

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