This book was so unexpectedly good, and not from my usual genres that I am struggling to even describe it.

Plot: We have Andrew and Thomas who attend a boarding school together and are very codependent on each other. Something is happening at the school but neither of them can figure it out. This book really made you think about your own nightmares and if they could come to life. This book includes horror, romance, angst, queer rep, etc. It honestly has it all.

Thoughts: I have never been the type to highlight books or write down quotes but this book was so beautifully written I found myself wanting to do so. This book was creepy, unhinged, and toxic. I loved it. I loved the representation in this book. All around it was so well written, I was just shocked. I haven't read anything like it before and it really has turned me on to read more like it.

READ THIS BOOK!

He spends his days escaping into the fairytales he's written and hiding his crush on his best friend, with the only other person he lets in being his twin... except with the new school year she's kept a cold distance and strange things have begun to happen... and terrible monsters have begun to appear. Andrew Perrault has severe anxiety and finds refuge in the twisted fairytales he writes. Andrew is in love with his best friend, Thomas Rye, a boy who is a talented artist but has an abusive household... and who is accused of murdering his own parents. Andrew has a twin, Dove, who he has gotten into an argument with and is now keeping him shut out. Andrew begins to notice strange things about Thomas and how Thomas seems to be haunted by something.... and when the nightmarish monsters in the school's off limits forest begin to appear... monsters that resemble Thomas's drawings, Andrew begins to question how well he truly knows his best friend. As Thomas and Andrew grow closer as they try and fight the monsters, their obsession with each other grows. Can they find a way to stop the monsters for good or will they die trying? This was a very atmospheric and twisty romance, especially since Andrew is an unreliable narrator and the "horror" moments were rther just kind of soft gothic horror vibes rather than out right horror. It's a slow build story and one that has an interesting ending. I definitely think it would make a good atmospheric read.

Release Date: October 29,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book was heartbreaking and depressing and beautiful. Not only is this a story about overcoming monsters, it is a story about overcoming your past and your inner demons, and to find a way forward when everything seems hopeless. I absolutely loved the characters in this story; the representation of anxiety, depression and asexuality were amazing. The relationship between Andrew and Thomas is incredible as well and I was rooting for them so hard the entire time. There wasn’t a big cast of characters, and I enjoyed that because I felt like I really got to know the ones who we did see. Lana and Chloe were more of my favorites, and I wish we had gotten to see more of them.

The atmosphere in this story is so bleak and spooky, and I felt like I was really there during the scenes out in the forest and in the grounds of the school. There is a mystery slowly unfolding throughout the book, and the plot twist is very well done. I was so excited when I figured it out before it was explicitly stated. The ending had me staring at a wall for a while just to process what the heck had just happened.

Overall I enjoyed this book immensely and will definitely pick up anything I see from this author from now on. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

I’m not going to lie: this one takes a bit to get into. The writing is atmospheric and enchanting, but I wasn’t yet invested in Andrew and Thomas, nor their past. Andrew writes stories and Thomas illustrates them … but what he draws has a strange knack for being absolutely horrifying. They’re the two outcasts at school, bonded by their love of the macabre but separated by … something. Something happened last year between Andrew, Thomas, and Andrew’s twin, Dawn, but Andrew just can’t quite remember what. And therein lies what slowed my immersion: we follow a boy who’s following Thomas—admittedly a somewhat unlikable character towards the beginning—even though the boy has no idea why he should care about whatever’s going on with Thomas.

I am glad I pushed through, though. The story is entirely different from anything you’ve ever read, and yet I found so many echoes of other queer works I’ve loved. The first comparison is to Andrew Joseph White’s The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, which is one of the highest compliments I can give. The main characters of both would get along, and the gory, visceral writing packs a complementary punch. I also saw fading whispered of Simon Snow from Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On in Andrew, despite the two stories being tonal opposites. Overall, a really pleasing books that stands on its own pages amongst recent queer “greats.” A must read for anyone who loves monster in the woods vibes.

I was provided a free e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

i was reminded me so much of bridge to terabithia while reading but with a beautiful queer storyline and gut wrenching horror elements. i rly enjoyed the author’s lyrical prose and how the romance was a perfect blend of soul crushing angst and fated soulmates.

some of the descriptive phrasing got a bit repetitive so i found myself skimming more than i’d like especially given how truly stunning the author’s prose is. some of the plot got a bit muddled from this so i was confused with how things ended but still content with the characterization and some of the twisty moments incorporated.

tw: eating disorder, gore

Once, Thomas, Andrew, and Dove were an inseparable trio. But something happened last semester to break that trust. Only, Andrew can't seem to remember what that SOMETHING was.

You know I'm loving a book when I'm recommending it at 33% - and that is exactly what happened with Don't Let the Forest In.
I had an amazing time reading this! It's weird and creepy with just the right balance of lyrical to concrete description to make it an easy, compulsive read. The characters felt so deeply real in a very specific way - the very specific late teenage, uncomfortably obsessive queer relationship is featured so masterfully in this book, at once realistic and relatable while also being amped up to 11. And the inclusion of an asexual spectrum character is just *mwah* chef's kiss. I really ate this book up, especially in the end.

I made a Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater comparison when I first started this book, and I certainly stand by that. This has a bit more concreteness to it, though, and it's much more of a horror novel than magical realism. But I would certainly recommend this to anyone looking for a darker version of that series. And, really, to any dark academia fan who loves horror.
There's some pretty gruesome stuff in this book, while still being just this edge of YA appropriate. I really loved that this book didn't pull any punches horror-wise. It really dug its teeth (pun intended) into the scary weirdness of nature-inspired horror. While I understand and appreciate the market for that, I know there's a strong subset of older teen readers who want a bit more blood and guts, and this book will certainly fill that gap!

This book makes me so incredibly excited to read more from Drews, especially their recently announced upcoming books in a similar horror vein!

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I'm being so freaking serious when I say that Don't Let the Forest In is my favorite read on 2024; I don't care that the we still have two months left. This is haunting, terrifying, creepy, eerie, heart-wrenching, and life changing. I'm not typically a fan of horror, but C.G. Drews drew me in with their phenomenal and heartbreaking writing. I annotated more of this book than any other book I've read. I can't stop thinking about it. It haunts me in a way very few other books have.

Starting with the characters, Andrew is completely, achingly, brokenly obsessed with his best friend Thomas. He writes twisted fairytales full of dark and dreary monsters, and Thomas draws those monsters in his sketch book. They're messy, chaotic teenagers experiencing the worst parts of teenage-hood and making bad decision after bad decision. I love them both so much for that. Teenagers, especially queer teenagers, should get to exist as they are without having to be the perfect representation at every waking moment. I love these two toxic boys with all my heart.

They are fighting off the physical manifestations of the fictional monsters they've created. The haunted forest surrounding the campus is destroying them piece by piece. Andrew's asexuality is a huge part of the plot, because he's so terrified that he will never loved. He's also dealing with all of his feelings for Thomas and what it means to be in love with his best friend, especially as they are fighting with each other, because nobody can hurt you worse than the person that knows you the best. The plot is so easy to get hooked into (even scaredy cat me wanted to keep reading).

The person I was before reading DLTFI was a husk. I will never be the same.

This was the queer dark academia of my dreams. Almost like a young adult These Violent delights. I loved the boarding school setting, the budding romance, and the coming of age aspects so much. Can’t wait for release day!

“May this one haunt you.”

Whoa.

This was dark and tragic and insidious and incredibly captivating. I couldn’t put it down.

I have no words but I feel like this captures the visceral, eerie tone of the book pretty well:

“For a vicious moment, Andrew thought about slipping his fingers into Thomas’s cut. Taking hold of his rib and breaking it. Pulling the soft crumbling bone from his chest and sewing it into his own. They’d be forever together, rib against rib, fused in gore and bone and adoration.”

Great October read.

Thanks to Macmillan Children’s for providing an advanced digital copy through NetGalley for me to review!

The entire book is angst and panic and monsters and forest. The horror elements in this story are so beautifully grotesque, and at the same time I don't think any other book has so thoroughly emotionally wrecked me. I cried my eyes out. As soon as I finished the book, I wanted to start rereading it. It's an unhinged review, but Andrew wrapped himself in my heartstrings, and I loved this story so much I don't really have coherent words.

Angst. Panic. Monsters. Forest.
I loved it.

C. G. Drews' new novel follows the desperate spiral of two young boys as the monsters they have imagined for years take on a brutal, bloody life of their own. It's horrifying and lovely, and is sure to draw you in like a fly to a honey trap.
The prose of this novel was an absolute pleasure to read. Flowery and visceral, the language lends itself so well to the internal voice of Andrew, our main protagonist, as he begins doubting his own grip on reality. So much of the novel is spent questioning whether or not we can trust what Andrew (and every other character, for that matter) reveals to the readers, and the mystery of it all had me hooked from beginning to end.
I genuinely didn't guess The Big Twist of this novel, and, after its reveal, it was so satisfying to sit back and piece together all the breadcrumbs that had been scattered throughout the story. 
As a lovely bonus to a compelling story, there is some fantastic ace representation in this book! Nothing about Andrew's sexuality is implied, which, as an ace person myself who has been surviving on crumbs of representation in media for years, was really lovely to see.
Anderew's struggle with the articulation of his own sexuality and its intersection with his fears of other people's expectations was so incredibly true to life. This book had no well-worded coming-out, but rather depicted the honest, terrifying feeling of spilling your heart out on the table in front of you and hoping the ones you love don't see its mess and recoil.
This book also doesn't shy away from the topic of mental health and Drews does a fantastic job of relaying the anxiety pulsing through Andrew at every step. The story is tense and harrowing and a clear step away from the idealized protagonists who never suffer the mental repercussions of their situation. 
Don't Let the Forest In releases on October 29th and I hope everyone who loves horror, disastrous MCs, and copious hurt/comfort scenes (it's me, I'm everyone) picks this title up and sits down to enjoy it in time for Halloween!
Thank you to NetGalley and Fiewel & Friends for the advanced reading copy.

тιтℓє: Don’t Let the Forest In
αυтнσя(ѕ): C.G. Drews
яєℓєαѕє ∂αтє: October 29, 2024
яαтιηg: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
му тнσυgнтѕ:
Dark, troubling, intentionally vivid, sorrowful, heavy, unforgettable.
A 5 star read before I finished it.
I felt like I highlighted the entire book.
My heart ACHES.

“𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 … 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.”

It’s THAT friggin good.

Andrew Perrault writes macabre stories and is obsessed with Thomas Rye.
Thomas Rye draws those macabre stories and holds his secrets close.
Dove is Andrew’s twin and the one that holds the three together, but something isn’t right during their final year of school.
Dove keeps disappearing, Thomas is avoiding him, and Andrew can’t eat.

Y’all.
This. Friggin. Story.
It’s dark and disturbing and raw and painful.
Nothing about this journey was easy.
Even the ending.
So much pain I don’t even know what to say other than I’m completely and forever changed because of it.

𝗛𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗺𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀.

The writing is spectacular.
Like a gothic, sad tale brought to life.
Hands down a favorite of all time.

𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣.

I am a big fan of C.G. Drew’s previous novels. I am also a big fan of their Instagram page, @paperfury, and have followed them for years. Now…anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a fan of scary things. I don’t do scary movies or tv shows. I can occasionally stretch myself to read scary books though, so I decided to give this one a shot. I’m glad I did, because it was just as beautifully written as Drew’s previous works.

I will first say, I absolutely loved the vibes of this story! The boarding school deep in the forest. The angsty teens getting up to mischief. The unrequited love. The vibey descriptions of the scenery. A+, highly recommend.

I enjoyed the romance in this book. It certainly had the very YA appropriate, angst-filled, communication problems tropes that fit so well with this age. I also enjoyed how the narration was a bit unreliable, so you were never quite sure if they each had feelings for the other or not. It was very well done. Chef’s kiss.

If you are looking for a spooky, skin-crawling kind of story for spooky season, this is the book you should pick up. I am not big into scary, but I was able to read this with only minimal disturbed sleep. If you are a big scaredy-cat like me, I think this is a good pick to stretch your legs into the horror genre. If you are a big horror fan, this is a light-horror for you, but the vibes and mystery are top-notch.

All of that to say…the ending of this book left me scratching my head. I really am unsure of what it meant. I know lots of people where that is totally their jam, but I am not one of them. So, because of that, and because horror is hard for me to read, I am giving this one a 4 star rating. Beautiful prose, fantastic vibes, shiver-inducing story.

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave Don’t Let the Forest In 4 Stars!

This story is forest rot at it's finest! I knew I would love it from chapter one. The main characters are lovably flawed and I loved getting to know them. The descriptive language is simply stunning. I highlighted so many lines that I read over and over again because I just felt like they were beautiful. The language reminded me a lot of VE Schwab's writing. This story also managed to get a twist by me that I usually pick up on in books! I was completely shocked! Overall, I loved this book and I think it's the perfect fall read. I highly recommend!

A dark, nightmarish fairytale with hauntingly beautiful descriptions. Very atmospheric. I’m still not sure what to believe was real or imagined, which I loved! Definitely eerie and will be on my mind for a while to come.

Highlights
~floral body-horror
~asexual angst
~prose i want to lick
~Australian snacks ftw
~who’s the monster?

If you don’t follow Drews on social media, you really should – they’re one of those rare voices who are a joy to hear, especially if you have any interest in books and writing. Not because they’re fount of practical publishing-industry wisdom, but because they’re constantly making entirely-too-relatable pronouncements that mix bookworm vibes with deliciously gothic/spooky/forest-y imagery. Such as;

>why write your book when you could simply rot down in the forest amongst the moss and mushrooms. burrow between tree roots and brambles even, nest quietly there for a while disguised as a leaf. do what you must so your book cannot find you.<

Extremely relatable!

Drews’ ability to be funny, nail a widely-experienced feeling perfectly, and work magic with phrasing and imagery all made me incredibly excited for their Horror debut, Don’t Let the Forest In.

AND IT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN I’D HOPED!

While I loved everything, two things especially stood out to me: Drews’ incredibly gorgeous, eminently quotable prose, and the otherworldly horror of the monsters. Very often in YA, I come across monsters who are either not that frightening, or are described in such a way that it leeches the horror from them. (Andrew Joseph White’s Hell Followed With Us is a perfect example: much is horrifying in that book, but the monsters really aren’t.) But Drews’ monsters are perfect, uncanny and nightmarish with an air of ancient folklore about them, sort of primal-fairytale-meets-plant-body-horror, and the way they’re described makes us feel their presence, makes them far too easy to imagine.

I adored them. Would run screaming if I came face to face with any of them, obviously. But from the safety of the reader’s chair? Adored them.

>A stark winter forest, every tree burned white with frost. A boy with horns and roses grown from his eyes held a knife, and he was midway through carving the heart out of another boy with moth wings who knelt in the leaves, his face tilted upwards in supplication. Vines blossomed around them, tangled and unruly.<

Andrew and Thomas are both artists – Andrew writes, Thomas draws and paints – and the way in which they feed each other’s art, the way their art comes together – with Thomas illustrating Andrew’s stories and Thomas’ drawing inspiring Andrew’s writing – is a wonderful metaphor for their relationship. It’s symbiotic and obsessive, the two of them inseparably tangled up in each other, to the point that cutting one away would destroy both. The wrong reader will clutch their pearls at how intense and feral these boys are for each other; personally, I don’t care if it’s not perfectly healthy, it’s interesting, and the intensity is so believable (don’t you remember how intense Feels were during puberty?) and so beautifully expressed.

>Everyone saw Andrew as shattered and fragile, and maybe he was to them. But when Thomas looked at Andrew’s sharp edges, he thought them dangerous and beautiful–not weak.<

Andrew in particular is such a brilliant character – I loved the dissonance between what everyone else sees, and what’s going on inside his head, under the skin. I don’t know how many teenagers feel like monsters, but I know I did, and I know a lot of YA doesn’t talk about that – I suspect many adults have this idea that teenagers are innocent in an animal way, potentially obsessed with sex but having no darkness in them, which just isn’t true. That Drews dug into this was delicious (and validating); as was the exploration of how people have no idea what’s going on inside the quiet ones, what’s buried beneath the meek exterior. Don’t Let the Forest In came along just as I was thinking about the kind of bullying victim who becomes infinitely more dangerous than their abuser/s later, which: excellent timing.

>A horribly delicious feeling flooded Andrew’s chest. He could taste pain in the air and for once it wasn’t his, and he loved that.<

Plus, this has to be some of the best anxiety rep I’ve ever seen. I’ve known so many people with anxiety who functioned excellently in genuinely high-stress or dangerous situations, but still struggled with ‘basics’ like making friends or being stared at, and I’m glad Drews went in this direction when writing about Andrew. But what’s really special is how well Drews managed to capture what that kind of anxiety feels like, how perfectly they put things I’ve never been able to explain into powerful lines and images.

>His skin was a fevered oil slick and they all held matches.<

Drews’ signature humour is on full display here too, and somehow, the moments that made me laugh strengthen the horror, make the whole story – with all its many, many supernatural elements – feel much more real. Because people are like this! Even amidst the worst things we can ever experience, someone will crack a joke, someone will laugh inappropriately loudly, it’s one of the best things about humanity. And sometimes the sense of humour here is reasonably dark, and that feels true and correct as well. People who’ve never been through hell are often appalled at the jokes survivors make, but that’s a very human thing too, so scattering that kind of comedy through this horror story drives home how much Andrew and Thomas are going through. It’s a subtle thing, but I doubt I’m the only survivor who’ll notice and appreciate it.

>She’d be fine this senior year; she’d own it. Andrew suspected this year would beat him up in a back alley and leave him for dead.<

This book probably isn’t going to keep most Horror fans awake at night – although I had plenty of trouble keeping some of the mental images Drews summoned from haunting me! – and I suspect there are ‘proper’ Horror fans who will unravel The Thing way faster than I did. But Don’t Let the Forest In sure as hells delighted me – I stayed up until 7am to finish it! – and I don’t think it’s really the monsters that Drews wants us to linger over. As beautifully horrible as those are (and they really are), it’s the rabid obsession-love between Andrew and Thomas that is the heart of the book; that, and the fervor of being seventeen, the horror of it, the painful intensity of every emotion and thought. And both those things are exquisite here, captured absolutely perfectly.

>To write something nice, he’d need something nice to say. But his ribs were a cage for monsters and they cut their teeth on his bones.<

Which undersells the monsters, and I really don’t want to do that. The monsters are epic! Magnificently horrible! The supernatural horror made me wince and rip at my lips and hold my breath, made my skin crawl, broke my heart. The mundane horrors of bullies and cruel teachers and ooc siblings heightened both by contrast. It’s a love story – between an ace boy and a probably-pansexual one – but my gods, it is far from only a love story!

>Moths ate holes in his mind and their wings beat a frantic migraine behind his eyes.<

(Except for how the horrors are part of the love story, really, and honestly, this book makes me want to try writing poetry again.)

So whichever you’re looking for – feral queer love story, or gorgeously-horrific monsters, or BOTH – I can’t imagine you won’t be eminently satisfied with Don’t Let the Forest In.

From the moment I picked up Don’t Let the Forest In, I was entranced by C. G. Drews's masterful blend of dark academia and haunting psychological twists. The story revolves around Andrew Perrault, a high school senior who navigates his tumultuous emotions through the twisted fairytales he writes for his closest friend, Thomas Rye. Andrew's loyalty to Thomas—rooted in a deep, almost obsessive love—forms the heart of this gripping narrative.

The dynamics between Andrew and Thomas are beautifully rendered; their relationship evolves organically, reflecting both their vulnerabilities and strengths. As they delve deeper into the mystery surrounding Thomas's disturbing transformations and the nightmarish monsters that emerge from his artwork, the tension escalates, making each page turn a thrilling experience.

Drews excels at creating an eerie atmosphere, especially with the enigmatic forest that becomes a character in its own right. The psychological elements are cleverly woven into the fabric of the story, leaving you questioning the reliability of Andrew as a narrator. His journey through self-doubt and loyalty is both compelling and relatable, making his struggles resonate deeply.

The supporting cast is equally engaging, from typical high school bullies to unexpected allies. Andrew’s twin sister, Dove, adds layers of intrigue, her distant demeanor hinting at her own secrets. The world-building is rich, with vivid descriptions that draw you into the haunting landscape of Wickwood Academy and its surrounding mysteries.

The climax is nothing short of shocking, leaving me breathless and with my jaw hanging open—an ending that’s both unexpected and profoundly impactful. For fans of dark tales that explore the depths of human connection and the monsters we create, Don’t Let the Forest In is an absolute must-read. C. G. Drews has crafted a hauntingly beautiful story that lingers long after the last page is turned.

This is such an excellent debut, just very well done all around. The writing feels very polished especially considering this is a debut, and the horror and character relationships very appropriate for a YA audience. I thought the asexual and queer representation was thoughtfully depicted, especially for teenagers still figuring out their identities. Would love to see more novels approach sexuality as honestly and as skillfully as Don’t Let The Forest In does.

Definitely more of a horror-light (but again, appropriate for the target audience) but I enjoyed reading about the weird forest monsters, and the disaster queers Thomas and Andrew.

This is one that may be easy to spoil for yourself if you read a lot of reviews, so I would just tread with caution if you like to go in not knowing anything.

This book started off very interesting but ultimately fell flat for me. Not sure if I overhyped it or if I expected something different, but overall it was only okay for me. I wish the characters were a little bit more developed, and I wish the plot gave us a little bit more clarity. I like how the fantasy and the monsters were interwoven with real life and at one point it was difficult to decipher with what was real and what wasn’t. However I wish the reader left with more of a clear understanding of everything and I wish some plot points felt more resolved. This book does get bonus points for having an interesting twist but unfortunately lost some points for leaving me wanting a stronger ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and CG Drews for allowing me to read this e-arc.

Oh my goodness isn’t this cover so stunning?!!

I loved that the author included so many important themes. I also am obsessed with Drew’s writing style.

Don’t let the forest is portrayed as a YA psychological thriller. I was so excited to be thrown into a world of creepy, scary, and horror.

Unfortunately, that’s not what we got. The romance aspect and sexual identity flowed really well. There were tiny snippets of horror and it just felt like to me it was randomly thrown in there.

It just kind of felt like the kitchen sink everything thrown in there and to me the horror just didn’t fit well.

I was super disappointed sadly.

I also felt like it was ridiculously slow until the ending and it was just done.

Eh…. It was definitely not a horror.

2.5/5 stars


Thank you to the publisher for my copy.