The Things We Do to Our Friends - Heather Darwent

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For young Clare, the opportunity to study at University of Edinburgh means a chance to reinvent herself. Looking to leave the shadows of an unruly past behind her, she quickly finds herself unmoved by the mystique of Scotland and longing for excitement to find its way back to her.

Enter Tabitha and her group loyal confidantes. What begins as an intriguing friendship soon proves to be much more than Clare bargained for, as their lives become intertwined in dark and devious ways. 

"The Things We Do to Our Friends" tried nobly to establish itself amongst the ranks of timeless, dark academia novels. Unfortunately, it fell completely flat for me, due mostly in part to its one-dimensional character development. Despite Clare, Tabitha, and the rest of our cast of characters having the bones of what makes for a great dark academia story (morally-ambiguous, complex personal histories, a yearning for beauty & the finer things), they ultimately felt shallow and overly-simplistic; I simply couldn't connect to any of them.

As for the story itself, I'd be remiss not to say that Darwent's writing is beautiful. That alone brought the story to 3 stars for me, as it's descriptive and very atmospheric in parts. Overall though, the story felt clunky and was too much of a slow burn with minimal payoff. For someone that's read lots of dark academia and loved most of it, the plot's originality paled in comparison to what's currently out there--I'd encourage readers to skip this one.

Rating: 3 Stars
Publication Details: Out 1/10/2023, Random House

*Huge thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing my review copy!*


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