This book blew me away. I chewed through it in two sittings and loved every moment. Drews's prose was lush and magical while dealing out some of the most brutal, gory fairy tale imagery imaginable. I look forward to reading more from Drews in the future.

Don’t Let the Forest In is dark and twisted with a side of achingly beautiful sweetness. I love the story line. I loved the relationships between the characters. Unfortunately, for the first half of the book, I found it somewhat hard to follow. Take note: this book is only in one perspective; Andrew’s. Andrew is the “poet” who is riddled with anxiety, often “saved” by his best friend Thomas and his twin sister Dove. Thomas is the dark artist, a “bad boy” with only a soft side for Andrew. He fiercely protects his friends and is often accused of causing more trouble than he is capable of. Throughout the first half of the book I thought the perspective was shifting chapter by chapter. Moments seemed to blur at the edges so I could never really tell when a new moment was beginning, separated from the last. Maybe that’s the point though. Maybe this little horror is supposed to feel like a fever dream when it’s over.

Andrew Perrault, who’s from Australia, writes beautiful, grim fairy tales. His roommate at his American boarding school, Wickwood Academy, is the talented artist Thomas Rye. Thomas brings his stories to life in paint. Andrew’s twin sister, Dove, is all but ignoring him, so he has plenty of time to focus on Thomas’ increasingly odd behavior. Thomas’ parents disappeared just before the new school year started, and Andrew notices blood on his roommate’s sleeve on their first day back. When he follows Thomas into the forest one night, Andrew discovers him fighting one of the monsters that Thomas has drawn from these stories. The boys soon find themselves coping with bullies by day and fighting monsters by night. At the same time, Andrew struggles to reconcile his feelings for Thomas. The sinister Antler King breaches Wickwood’s walls, Andrew realizes that he and Thomas may not survive their own creations.

This novel is written in rich prose, which features portrayals of disordered eating, self-harm, bullying, and mental illness. Andrew grapples realistically with his sexual identity, and the story has several creepy moments with the monsters. I liked this novel as I enjoyed Andrew’s discovery of Thomas fighting monsters that had come to life due to both Andrew’s stories and Thomas’ artwork. It is an angsty, queer, horror novel written perfectly by the author.

There aren't proper words to express how much I was moved by the way that C.G. Drews wrote this book. I read this over the summer and now that it's released others can experience these stories that I've been so eager to yell about!!

The story is beautiful and terrifying in its imagery and prose. Every creature and story that Thomas and Andrew write are vivid and lingering, enriched by the haunting illustrations that just make it even more visceral. Overall they are just such good, good boys. You couldn't ask for a better story to enjoy for Halloween, and I found myself re-reading it just to experience how impeccable the energy is during the fall as well.

This year has been top tier for queer horror, especially in YA spaces but this one is truly special and shouldn't be missed. If you were a fan of how the crawling, festering horror of T. Kingfisher's "What moves the dead" you'll find yourself getting lost in the vines and trees here in all of the best ways.

Don’t let the forest in was a grotesquely beautiful psychological thriller of two boys who love each other past the point of obsession.

“Because here was the truth about his friendship with Thomas Rye: Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him.”

The story follows Andrew, an Aesexual boy with extreme anxiety, and his best friend Thomas. Andrew and Thomas find comfort and solace in the dark and twisted fairy tales they write and illustrate, until the monsters they create come alive to torture them. Faced with the task of confronting these monsters every night to keep their school safe, the 2 boys become more and more codependent to the point of self destruction.

“He needed Thomas, needed their lungs sewn inside each other so he could remember how to breathe. He needed to take words from Thomas’s mouth and put them in his own so he had something to say.”

Full of desperation and an endless need for each other, Andrew and Thomas slowly lose themselves piece by piece to the monsters while struggling to navigate their obsessive relationship. CG Drews manages to make horror and violence poetic in this beautifully haunting tale about facing our monsters, both internal and external. Full of death and gore, but also love and friendship. Beauty and destruction. This book has an undercurrent of suspense that will fray your nerves and have you constantly second guessing everything you think you understand.

*check trigger warnings

Thank you so much NetGalley for the advance copy!

I think the strongest component of this debut is the writing style and the prose, it has a beautiful, lyrical, and visceral quality. I enjoy queer horror as a genre and I think this is a wonderful addition. It represents mental health struggles in a way that is not to literal but feels very accurate to the real life experience of people who are experiencing anxiety, self destructive behavior, and eating disorders. The only aspect I struggled with is that the reveal of the twist felt like it took too long to develop and I believe would have benefited from being reveled much sooner. Overall, the writing style really stands strong and this author has their strength in lyrical storytelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan children’s for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

4.5 stars rounded up

I feel like my emo, melodramatic teenage self would have eaten this up. This is a story for all the weird, awkward, dark teens dealing with getting bullied and finding a first love that feels like the world is ending. And it has asexual rep, which is cool! I know there are people trying to find more of that.

Don't Let the Forest In is a macabre story where the lines between reality and fantasy blur. They follow two boys at a boarding school with lots of trauma and family baggage, and a fraught relationship. One of them writes dark fairytales and the other draws monsters. But what happens when the monsters become real? This is dealing with depression, anxiety, self-harm, and familial abuse, but through a somewhat fantastical lens. And it doesn't offer any easy solutions or wrap things up with a neat little bow. I kind of loved it, and I especially love it for the teens going through it who need something like this to feel seen. I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.

"If you've turned the last page and are frowning at the wall, then everything is as it should be" -Author Acknowledgements
Umm, excuse me? This was a lot. The prose is very flowery, pun definitely intended. It reads like a fever dream often, reality blurred where I honestly don't know if anything in this book was real, and herein lies the problem: if there is no grounding in a novel, what can possibly be the point of it?
This is not the worst novel I've read this year. There is great representation for the LGBTQIA community as well as a variety of cultures. Everyone is very rich because boarding school, but there is an odd moment where money IS an issue that is dealt with very awkwardly.
If you are asking what happened in this novel, I haven't a clue. There were fairy tales and monsters and panic attacks. Some people died, but I'm not really sure who.
2.5 stars that I'll round up because I was engaged throughout
Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for this ARC!

rating: 4/5 stars

I was really drawn to this book because of its LGBTQIA+ nature and I'm a sucker for horror. I found that this book was deliciously gorey and creepy, and I liked the premise of the story. I did somewhat struggle with the writing style at first, as it felt very juvenile at the start with blatant angsty statements. I eventually fell into the groove of the story as I allowed myself more time to read it. Overall, I did enjoy this book, and as an asexual myself, I appreciated the representation!

The atmosphere of this book is it's stand out point and it really delivers when it comes to unique and unsettling descriptions of woodland monsters, the gothic-esque boarding school setting, and even plant related body horror. I enjoyed reading about the (at times toxic) codependence between the two main characters since that is one of my favorite tropes. Some of the lines they used to express their feelings for each other were so dark, twisted, and lovely. There honestly were a few instances where I found myself wondering if high schoolers would really talk that way...but Andrew and Thomas seemed to be in their own imaginative world and the book reads like a dark fairytale so for the most part the author made it work. The short snippets of Andrew's writing also added so much to the reading experience, as well as the images of Thomas' drawings which look exactly as described in the book. The book could have benefitted from a few more scenes of Andrew, Thomas, and Dove interacting before the drama of the current school year started so we could see just how inseparable the trio used to be instead of being told mostly after the fact. I think it would have made the ending even more impactful, but the story's dark and twisty conclusion still really worked for me. The author mentions that if you find yourself staring at the wall after finishing this book then they did their job, and that was exactly my experience! Overall this was a very enjoyable spooky season read. Absolutely perfect for lovers of dark fairytales and all things folk horror!

C.G. Drews creates an LGBTQIA+ story wrapped in a nightmare of forest creates and bad writing Don’t Let the Forest In doesn’t live up to the hype that proceeds it.
High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales he writes for his best friend Thomas Rye, the bad boy with perpetually ink-stained hands. His twin sister Dove used to be the last member of their little trio but after a fight with Thomas, she chooses to keep her space. As the school year starts, he notices something wrong with Thomas. His abusive parents are missing, and police have questioned him starting rumors at the school. Worse still, he has lost interest in his drawings. To find out what’s going on with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the forest by the school and finds Thomas battling familiar monsters—monsters that Thomas himself has drawn. What was now Thomas’ problem was now his.
This book was written poorly which is so sad because the idea behind the book is fascinating. I have always been intrigued by what brings an idea to life” the idea in a person’s head? Writing it down? Making it into a visual medium? The X-Files has a brilliant episode on this that leaves too much discussion. This book though….it once again makes mental illness dangerous. And there is no back story to lead to the school or forest feeding on those who are so fragile (though the author makes a one-off statement that this is it; no, you can’t fix what you’ve already done like that).
Now to the writing itself. Drews makes no clear transitions and the story jumps around. I couldn’t understand what was going on or why. There was a hint of something dangerous in the forest from the adults, but it was never divulged. There was an investigation into the disappearance of one of the student’s parents, but it disappears halfway into the book. About halfway into the book, we got some Silent Hill 2-like spots but that was momentary. And the twist? Really? There is no way Andrew could have lived in that much denial with that many people around.
There is one shining thing about this book is the queer romance and the inclusion of asexuality. Talking sexuality is a spectrum and sexuality and romance are two separate things that were brilliant. Andrew learned that he could kiss someone and not want sex was ok. Seeing that he could want that from Thomas was beautiful. Seeking love to bloom was beautiful and if anyone reading this helped them and their identity I am all for that.
Any Acknowledgements where the author hopes the reader is “now frowning at the wall” should tell you a lot about the book. While Drews probably means something else that I do, this sums up how I felt about Don’t Let The Forest In.

Don’t Let the Forest In was eerie, gory and at times gruesome. I felt Andrew’s anxiety and need for comfort. His fears and hopes were all so relatable.

Drews plays with teen angst and mental health to create a creepy private school monster thriller that will unsettle the reader’s understanding of reality. Focusing on the school’s outsider, Andrew, a writer of dark fairytales, struggling with mental health, grief and questions of his identity, flails through his senior year. Building and losing relationships in times and ways that makes the entire world of the book feel unsteady. Andrew’s bestfriend, roommate and the artist who brings the dark fairytales to life, first on the page and then in the forest just outside of campus.

Drews created a truly YA/Teen horror story, written not for the adult who reads YA market, but for the teen market. The themes have the same chaos of identity and reality that will resonate with younger readers. The dark academy setting is familiar, but played with in interesting ways. The horror is somewhat simple, but it is the deeper psychological elements that had me devouring the last half of this book.

One of my favorite covers of 2024 😍

I was a little skeptical going into this since I haven’t had the best experiences with YA horror in the past, but thankfully this book is not just a pretty cover. I loved everything about this. CG Drews reminded me a lot of K Ancrum, especially in terms of their writing style and characterization. This book had such an ominous ambiance, but also so much heart and intrigue at the same time. The characters felt tangible and incredibly flawed, to the point you couldn't help but be entranced by them. Familial, platonic, romantic…all of the relationships just made me feel so deeply. I’d highly recommend picking this up over the fall/winter season!

CWs for homophobia, bullying, body horror, gore/death, disordered eating, death of a loved one

Wow this book...

I'm honestly pretty mad at myself for putting this book off as long as I did because this was the best book I've read all year. Hands down.
To start, the writing is beautiful. There are so many lines I could highlight and emphasize again and again. It's Gothic, morbid and beautiful. I loved every aspect of it. It have me The same feeling I got reading The Great Gatsby for the first time. I mean, is a lot different than that book and it's writing but they scratch the same itch.
The characters in this book were wonderful, The horror was visceral and bloody and I loved it. Also the yearning. It was phenomenal. It was very "In a Week" by Hoizer vibes. The slowburn and angst was just great.
Honestly the only thing I'll dock is the ending. It's not bad but it kinda hurt my heart after reading everything these characters went through. But aside from that this book is amazing! Best read of 2024 hands down. 10/10 highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan for the ARC is exchange for an honest review (And I apologize for this being late, I was busy with work)

Don’t Let The Forest In is easily one of my favorite books that I’ve read this year.

The writing style is both poetic and gruesome, and I just truly don’t have the words to say how much this story affected me or how much I loved it. I fear I may never recover.

This book was so much more than I expected. It was full of imagery that made me gasp and cringe! The boys were disturbed in the best ways and that ending made me think and wonder… I will read anything and everything CG Drews writes.

This is a book that will linger with me. From the earliest pages, I sense that Andrew is an unreliable narrator. The only question is just how unreliable his POV is. How much is happening and how much is the result of trauma or deteriorating mental health? Somehow not knowing what is real and what is imagined makes me love him and want a happy ending for him even more. Is a happy ending truly possible in a dark fairytale though? Maybe. For once, I’m okay accepting a story’s thorns and not expecting the HEA.

That was dark and that was depressing. Those are not necessarily bad things. It was confused and it was riddled with toxicity. It was hard to tell if the author meant to romanticize these controlling and abusive relationships. It was all just unsettling.

This is going on the favorites list for 2024.
The way it is written is so poetic, romantic, and beautiful that it almost makes you forget that it's a psychological horror. One sentence from the synopsis instantly made me want to get the book and it did not disappoint.
"Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him."
In this sweeping tale, you follow twins Dove and Andrew and their halestorm of a friend, Thomas. Thomas is pure passion shaped into a human being. He lets no one talk down to his friends and finds himself in trouble constantly due to his complete lack of rule-following. Andrew has crippling social anxiety and finds it difficult to do pretty much anything without the help of his sister and his best friend. When Dove decides that she isn't wasting her senior year, and finds less and less time for Andrew, he and Thomas attempt to coast through the school year.
This is made difficult by his trying to overcome his social anxiety, his feelings for his best friend Thomas, realizing that he is Ace, and trying to survive killing the Eldritch forest-like terrors that have begun to attack the boys in search of payment that they're due.
It's Amazing, Queer, and Terrifying all at the same time, and I've already ordered my physical copy.
For all that is holy read it!~