Reviews

The Things We Do to Our Friends is the debut mystery/thriller by Heather Darwent. In this book, we follow our main character Clare, who is desperately trying to reinvent herself in a new city. Clare becomes intrigued by a group of friends led by Tabitha, a beautiful, talented rich girl from one of her classes. As Clare becomes a member of this group, secrets begin to be revealed and not everyone is how they seem.

This book read like Mean Girls but if it had the vibes of Cruel Intentions with a dash of dark academia. I really loved how slowly the plot unfolded. I would definitely classify this as more of a quiet thriller because even though some crazy stuff does happen, it’s not really the main focus on the story. This story is very much about the characters and how they work together and how toxic obsession can be.

I will say I was much more invested in the first half of the book while we were really learning about the characters. The second half isn’t bad by any means but I think the first half was much stronger. For a debut novel, this was super impressive. I feel like everything in the story made sense, especially because it took its time making sure the reader knew the characters pretty well.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes thrillers and mysteries that take their time and don’t need a million twists to still be enjoyable. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future because the potential is there.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

mouwwie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

oh my fucking god this book felt like it would never end.

see i had more things to say about it earlier on. that i hated the main character, no matter how much of an unreliable narrator she is supposed to be, i hated being in her head. i was weirded out by the writing style that would chop sentences randomly in places they really shouldn't end, and ut pissed me off. i hated how this book tried to be atmospheric but instead just felt like three times longer than it should've ever been.

but in the end this book was just boring and a slog to get through, and the ending tries so badly to be gone girl and doesn't pull it off nearly as well as it tries to pretend.

in the end, if i had a nickel for every goth bitch named ava in a trippy dark academia book, id have two nickles but bunny has done it much better.

pavsbookbird's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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