Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers
Group for providing me with an ARC of "Together We Rot" in exchange for an honest review.
"Together We Rot was a unique read that combined elements of romance and horror quite well. While it seems to be a straightforward plot of a girl trying to find her missing mother alongside her former best friend who's cult leader parents may have been involved in her disappearance, it evolves into far more than that. The characters are incredibly likable and well written. The book definitely has a paranormal aspect and the ending was not at all what I expected.

5 (fluttering) stars! This short little ya horror novel certainly packs an eerie punch! It reads like a horror short story (but extended) and just as faced paced. I couldn’t put it down!

Wil is searching for her missing mom all the while unconsciously grieving for the loss of her best friend, Elwood, since their falling out. He’s the son of the town’s church leader, the very church she suspects had a heavy hand in her mothers disappearance. But when Elwood overhears something he shouldn’t, he realizes more than just his life is in danger, but maybe Wil and the entire town.

I loved the imagery in this. It’s full of fluttery feelings, emotional vines (yes vines!), and a deadly cult that will stop at no cost. Elwood is the himbo love interest and Wil is the feral touch-him-and-you-die girlfriend and it just works so well for this story. I think the ending will satisfy a lot of people — it certainly did for me in its uniqueness!! I thought the ending was pretty perfect for this YA horrormance. Honestly, I’ve been dying to read this one for months. It did NOT disappoint. I wish it was longer. I am immediately going to pre-order the physical copy! This book releases on August 29th, don’t miss out!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy. It did not affect my views or review in any way.

I feel like I just keep running into YA horror books that are just not for me. Normally I absolutely adore YA horror, but lately there's just something that's not working for me. I was expecting this book to be along the lines of "House of Hollow" or "Small Favors," but the writing and storyline just didn't live up to my expectations. The romance was underdeveloped and relied heavily on the characters having a previous relationship. It was basically a shortcut to get them together quickly. There was also a ton of animal death at the beginning of the book and I couldn't find any content warnings relating to that, so that is a big miss.

Basically I just didn't feel connection to the characters and I think if I had, then I would have really liked this book.

Book Name: Together We Rot
Author: Skyla Arndt

ARC
Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Viking Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for an ARC of Skyla Arndt’s Together We Rot

Stars: 4.5
Spice: 2

Standalone
Plot Centric
Fast Paced
Dual POV:
YA Horror Romance
((Horror is Creepy, not Grotesque ))

- Topics
- Greif
- Acceptance
- Abuse
- Growth
- Power
- Sacrifice
- Tropes
- Friends to Enemies to Lovers
- Cult
- Dark History and Town Secrets
- Can't Fight the Feeling Any Longer
- Not Exactly a HEA
- Thoughts.
- Solid YA
- Great 4th Act Twist
- Bitter Sweet Ending
- Love That Is Unsettling Horror not Grotesque Horror
- Great Creepy Halloween Vibes

4.5/5 stars
thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for sending this arc!

if you like horror, and even if you don’t, there’s a good chance you will love this book. Together We Rot follows the POV of wil, a girl trying to uncover the mystery of her mother’s disappearance, and elwood, the son of the cult leader who wil is convinced is responsible for her mother’s disappearance. oh, and elwood just so happens to be wil’s former best friend.

this book was such an easy and incredibly enjoyable story to read. the characters are portrayed so well as real teenagers. all the teenage angst and pettiness is there. additionally, i thought Skyla Arndt’s writing was beautiful. i genuinely could not believe this was her debut novel. she uses her prose and metaphors so well to induce the goriness and horror in this book. some of her descriptions are so gut-churningly gross, and it works so well for the story she’s trying to tell. this book has bugs and cults and mystery and even dashes of body horror, and i absolutely loved it. my only complaint is that i wish it was longer. such a complex story was packed into such a bite-sized book, and while Arndt did manage to fit such a fulfilling story within less than 300 pages, i can’t help but think about how much more could’ve been done with this story had it been longer.

however, this was still such an amazing read. if you like weird, shy boys who are head over heels in love with stubborn, tough, scared-of-vulnerability girls, and if you love a little cult horror moment, i’m begging you to pick up this book.

This book was not for me. I found the plot and over all story very weird. I just felt like something was off about this book.

I really wanted to like this book. The concept was interesting but the execution fell a little flat. The character were all very one note and very typical of a YA.
The cover was absolutely gorgeous.

I really, really enjoyed this book. What a fantastic debut novel! The romance was so soft, but also so much more than I was expecting and I fully fell in love with Wil and Elwood. I felt their chemistry off the page, the grumpy and the (literal) sunshine.
I loved the cult aspect of this book. Humans are sometimes scarier than the monsters, and I felt like Elwood's father and the sheriff of the town really showed how true that is. The religious motifs were handled so well. So even though my favorite scary trope lately has been "There's something in the woods," it felt like the true horror here was what someone would do to satisfy their own ego--if that is in the name of religion.

Some other things I loved:
The cover! It's so gorgeous.
Elwood's transformation, both in his character arc and the literally metamorphosis. I loved the descriptions of him becoming one with nature, and I loved as he grew a backbone.
The friends. I definitely relate to Kevin the most, and though he seemed the most 2-dimensional of the bunch, I thought he was a fantastic supporting character and I found myself constantly rooting for him. I also loved Lucas, Ronnie, the dad, and absolutely adored Cherry and her tarot-reading session.
The book's ending was a little bitter sweet, but it also felt like the perfect ending of the story.

My only complaint, if you could even call it that, is sometimes the timeline of events felt a bit skewed. Like the characters would say two days past, when it's only been one, or maybe there wasn't mention of transitionary actions and they'd suddenly be doing something else or in a different position or place in the room.

But everything else was so enjoyable, this little nitpicky thing doesn't even matter.
I can't wait to see what else comes from this author!

When Wil's mother disappears, she's certain her best friend Elwood's family was involved. Unfortunately, he sides with his parents, opening a rift in their friendship that hasn't been resolved a year later when Elwood realizes that Wil was right. Oh, and that his parents are planning to ritually sacrifice him to a forest.

This is a fun YA adventure story as Wil, Elwood, and friends band together to try to save Elwood and figure out what really happened to Wil's mother. The plot is fast-paced and the characters are built out enough to be believable without bogging down the backstory.

This was a pretty average book. I didn't love it or hate it. I didn't have any strong emotions for it at all. I can definitely see why someone might like it more than I did though. I don't typically like books about cults,.but this one didn't bother me.

I loved this book. I was so excited for it when I saw it on Penguin's upcoming releases and was so excited when I got the arc. This was such an interesting story. It was such a beautiful gothic and paranormal story. Not only was it a great paranormal story, it had themes of parental abuse, grief, and cultism. I feel like the author did a beautiful job of blending those themes together. I love the relationship between Wil and Elwood as it is friends to enemies to lovers. This is such a great debut novel and I'm so glad I read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solid YA gothic horror book. It definitely feels comparative to something like Rory Powers or Erin Craig. This book was a solid three star book for me, I think this book is going to appeal to lots of readers who like murder mysteries as well as young love and gothic romance.

The plot was interesting -- it features the two main characters trying to take down a cult and solve the mystery of Wil's mothers disappearance. I loved the paranormal elements that were worked in, it gave very creepy vibes. I will admit the beginning of the book was a little bit slow, but it did eventually start picking up.

I also liked the writing in this book, it definitely evoked emotions and made you think, especially considering the dark topics that it touches on. And there were dark topics in this book.

The ending of this book was excellent, I very much like how it played out through the book, and the conclusion.

Overall, this was a spooky, dark, gothic horror mystery/thriller that teens will enjoy.

Two ex-best friends work together to stop a cult and uncover long hidden secrets about their town. Will the truth set them free or destroy them? Let’s find out!

Read if you like: YA paranormal romance, YA suspense/horror, town secrets, creepy stories, friends to enemies to lovers, mystery, cool magic, fast paced plot, big personal growth.

Wil’s mother went missing last year and she thinks her former bestie’s family had something to do with it. She has proof that Elwood’s father is doing some weird rituals in the forest and no one will listen to her. Elwood’s life is a ticking clock. He knows on his 18th birthday he will have to fully dedicate his life to their secretive church. But when he realizes that his role is not as a leader but a sacrifice, he turns to the only person who will believe him. Wil agrees to hide him if they also find out what happened to her mom. They soon realize that the secrets protect a strange power not only in the forest, but also growing inside Elwood…

This book was really cool and creepy. Wil and El are that classic weirdo duo with a lot of baggage and of course they’re living in a completely isolated and equally weird small town. The little homegrown cult has their hands in most of the town’s business so for everyone else it’s ‘turn a blind eye and business as usual’ until someone gets a little to close to knowing the truth. You get that familiar mystery/suspense story but all the pieces are unique so you’re constantly wondering what is real and what is imagined and just how it will pan out.

This is a short read and very fast paced. Sometimes it’s a bit too fast so I wouldn’t have minded a little more transition, background, or worldbuilding to fill out some of the edges. But your questions are answered and you are left hoping that good things will happen for our duo. Their relationship is as much of the story as unravelling the truth which makes it a good balance between downright horror and romantic suspense. A great little read when you are in the mood for something different.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyla Arndt for a copy of this book for review.

It has honestly been a while since I've read a true young adult novel and I'm glad this was my first dive back into the genre. Together We Rot is fast-paced, weird, and wonderfully written. And in all honestly, I didn't read the synopsis truly before diving in and half-expected this to be a zombie novel based on the title and cover; I was pleasantly surprised and it helped me become further immersed in the story.

Skyla Arndt's writing and prose is both beautiful and haunting. For readers searching for novels to devour during autumn and Halloween, this novel is the perfect place to start.

Although fast paced and rushed at points, the story was laid out well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just wish there were clearer moments of explanation and background but the moments got the point across and I felt connected to the characters nevertheless. The ending was beautiful and did make me tear up. I will likely reread the final piece to see how much has changed! Thank you for the opportunity NetGalley and Publisher!

I really enjoyed this book and finished it in one sitting, it was captivating and really held my interest. I loved Elwood and Wil and thought their characters were great, the plot was lovely and really pulled me into the story. Highly recommend this book!

From the moment I saw this beautiful cover I knew I had to read this. This story follows two former bestfriends Elwood and Wil. Will’s mother has disappeared and Elwood’s fathers cult like church has something to do with it or so Wil thinks. This book blends horror/thriller/romance and mystery all into one. I loved the book, the chapters switch between wil and Elwood both narrating. My favorite passage is “ Mom said dark thoughts were ships passing in the night. You can choose to watch them go. You don’t need to sail away with each one” Read this book you won’t regret it!

“Come find me in the trees. I’ll wait for you.”

if you like:
- spooky forests
- religious cults dabbling in sacrifice
- he falls first and falls hard
- so much pining
- mothman

Prepare yourself for Together We Rot by Skyla Arndt out 8/29

4.5 star rating rounded up.

Elwood is one of my favorite MMCs ever! He is so anxious and honest and adorable. Even with a demon riding passenger in him, he is just so *good*. He pines so hard for Wil. Hes just a little nerd obsessed with moths and this wild girl. I adore him.

Also Wil is up there with my fave FMC because she is simply so broken and unhinged. A wonderful combination. She got such "come at me bro" energy and she will fight to the end for what she thinks is right. She has such a one track mind that she barely sees herself falling for Elwood and its so amazing when she finally realizes.

One of my favorite things is when characters don’t forgive people. Shitty parents, friends, whoever it is. You don’t have to forgive the people who have traumatized you. Arndt gives us this with Elwoods father (and he gets the best kind of comeuppance) but she also gives us the repairing of Wil’s relationship with her dad. One had me cheering and then other had me crying, it was wonderful.

Arndt is going to be one to watch. Her writing is haunting, visceral, and beautiful. She so perfectly created the macabre air of this book. I have a hard time reading books with themes of religious trauma, and a few of the scenes were a little heavy for me but she handled them in such a perfect way.

As someone who reads a lot of big fantasy books, I was esctatic to be reading a book that was less than 300 pages. This was such a fast read, it was absolutely bingeable. The pacing was quick and easy to fall into. The plot was so perfectly crafted and I adore how Arndt chose to end the book (I cried again).

I am so excited to see what else Skyla Arndt puts on shelves! And I can't wait to grab a physical copy of Together We Rot once it comes out!

Arc received in exchanged for an honest review!

this was okay, but read a little juvenile and i didn't feel connected to the characters or what happens to them at all. i can see other reader enjoying this a lot tho!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

It totally tracks that Arndt’s mentor is Ava Reid because I was totally getting that vibe this entire story. YA Gothic Horror Romance is the genre mashup of my dreams. Cursed small town, creepy cult disguised as a church, missing parent and the daughter still searching for her, estranged childhood friends who have spent years yearning for each other. It was so good! The plot unfolds over the course of a couple days and had a gripping, cinematic quality. As with most gothic stories, this one is pretty bleak and bittersweet. I fell in love with the characters eventually but wish it was a bit longer to really flesh everything out or started at an earlier point. On the flip side, the book is on the shorter side so the action starts pretty quickly despite the romance being slow burn. Overall, an enjoyable read and totally recommend if you enjoy this genre.