This book surprised me! A YA queer dark fantasy, this book follows two boys who develop a deep friendship rooted in camaraderie and darkness. Andrew is a writer who like writing fairytales with a dark twist, and Thomas is his best friend who makes these stories lifelike through their drawings, It is a story about the growing love between two boys but also the darkness of codependency. Overall, I found this book to be both fresh but haunting. It is definitely a page-turner and is great for fans of Dark Fantasy,

Andrew goes back to boarding school for his senior year. His two friends at school are his twin sister Dove and his roommate, Thomas. Dove and Thomas seem to be fighting, both of them seem to be pulling away from him and he thinks they're spending time in the out of bounds forest. Suddenly odd things start happening to Andrew, things that seem to be coming from the forest. Thomas reveals that the monsters that he draws are coming out of the forest and Andrew is determined to help Thomas kill them, despite his constant anxiety. Thomas and Andrew come up with ways to destroy Thomas' drawings, hoping once all the monster drawings are destroyed, the monsters will stop. Meanwhile Dove is becoming more and more avoidant of Andrew. But the monsters seem to be getting worse no matter what Andrew and Thomas do, will they manage to keep themselves and their school safe?
Honestly, this had a plot twist I was not expecting, and I'm typically really good about predicting plot twists. This book took me a little while to get into but it was quite good once it got rolling. I really enjoyed how creative it was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the ARC copy of this book!

I enjoyed this book even more than I expected to, it is dark and haunting in the best ways. To me I feel like if T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead, Holly Black's Elfhame and Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle series had a book baby it would be something like this. A haunting sentient forest, dark fairy tales and art come to life all wrapped up in a boarding school setting. I loved having Andrew's stories sprinkled throughout the book I found it really added to the whole atmosphere as well as depth to his character.

So many times lately I have found authors to be a bit ham-fisted with the representation in their stories and it was so refreshing to find a book where it is actually relevant to both the tone and core of the story.

The ending had me staring off into the void going "Hmmm." Usually I wouldn't think that to be a good thing but I honestly cant imagine a better ending for this story. C.G. Drews you have made me a fan and I am already salivating to read Hazlethorn next year!

Andrew has always relied on his twin sister, Dove, and best friend, Thomas, to get him through life at Wickwood Academy. This year, something is different. Dove keeps pushing him away, and there is something terribly wrong with Thomas, but he doesn't know what it is. Struggling to figure out this new normal and get things back to how they were with the three of them together, Andrew discovers what terrors Thomas is dealing with: the nightmarish drawings he has been creating based on Andrew's stories have come to life. Now, it's up to Andrew and Thomas to keep the monsters at bay, figure out a way to stop them from destroying Wickwood Academy and restore the friendship the three of them once had.

This book was beautiful and haunting. From the very first pages, I was pulled in by the lyrical quality of the writing. There was something that both put me at ease and also on edge. There was the familiarity of Wickwood Academy as Andrew returned for his senior year, but the strangeness of how things had changed. This otherworldliness existed immediately and made me wary of what Andrew would find around the corner, deep in the forest, or within his own room.

Another aspect of the story was focused on these feelings of suffocation, but they came across in absolutely beautiful (yet also terrifying and horrific) descriptions and imagery incorporating the forest and plants and earth. Andrew describes someone with the following: " his mouth was crammed full of thorns and lies." Later, he "dreamed of brambles wrapped around his throat and a briar rose resting on his tongue." As the story goes on, the references to the mouth and throat and suffocating are more apparent. To avoid spoiling anything, I won't go into my thoughts on these images and how they helped enrich the story. Just know that this was one of my favorite aspects of this novel.

Finally, I kept guessing how the story would end. I had many theories that changed multiple times. I continued to go back to my original again and again—only to be incorrect! I truly love a story I can't figure out before the ending. I did, at one point, correctly guess what was going on but then dismissed it and moved on. The twists and the uncertainty built in the reader were so well done!

What I liked: Everything! I didn't have one negative note or question.

What I disliked: Nothing. I loved this book, which will stay with me for a while.

If you like earthy, creepy fantasy books set in prep schools with forests that are off-limits and monsters around every corner, then definitely pick up Don't Let the Forest In. Be prepared: You will NEED to finish reading as soon as possible, but dread doing so, knowing the next chapter will only bring more horror for the characters!

“Their story had begun in the forest, a collision both violent and beautiful.”

Something in the forest is harming the children. Thomas thinks it might be his fault. Andrew is willing to do whatever it takes to absolve him. At their private academy, Thomas, Andrew, and Dove stick close together. Thomas is a painter, Andrew is a writer, and Dove has all the brains. They make the perfect team, until the new year begins and the forest unleashes cruel monsters across the campus. Suddenly, their friendship seems to be hanging on by a thread, and dark secrets threaten to tear them apart limb by limb. 🌳

Do you ever want a story that feels like the forest is creeping in, vines and twigs and leaves brushing up against your skin, depositing soil? This book is exactly that. Gothically romantic, fantastically alluring, Don’t Let the Forest In is a YA horror for the tender yet brave at heart. The writing, although heavy handed at times, does a wonderful job at evoking sights and smells, the waft of loam and petrichor. 🌧️

Although I loved the atmosphere, the characters got on my nerves at times. I’m not a fan of miscommunication as a conflict and there was much that could be resolved if these characters just TALKED. The ending is rather ambiguous so expect some brain fodder to mentally munch on. But otherwise, the pacing, vibes, writing are all exquisite. I recommend this to my botanist enthusiasts who aren’t afraid to enter the forest at night. 🌿

Rarely do I experience such a visceral attachment to a book in the way that I have with Don’t Let The Forest In.

If there is anything I can promise you, it’s that Don’t Let the Forest In will haunt the walls of my flesh prison for centuries to come. CG Drews outdid themselves with this one.

I will admit that I did, in fact, request this book simply from the cover alone. Luckily, “hauntingly macabre” and “distinctly emotional” are just the first words that come to mind.

I loved the characters. I felt a true sense of unease as the story progressed. CGD is a master of pacing and a warlock with words.

What are you doing? Preorder this book immediately.

“𝙉𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚’𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮.
𝘽𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘼 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣.
𝘼𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙮.”

This is one of those situation where I definitely did judge a book by its cover. I mean, it’s gorgeous. The blurb is capturing. And I’m so honored to have receive an arc of this book!

“Don’t Let The Forest In” is a single POV based around Andrew and his best friend, Thomas. Andrew, his sister Dove, and Thomas have been the three amigos since attending boarding school. After an argument between Thomas and Dove the year before causes a summer of silencer, Andrew doesn’t see his best friend til after summer vacation. But now Thomas is acting strange, avoiding Andrew, and also shows up to school with blood on his sleeve.

Andrew and Thomas have this deep connection with feelings of being an outcast and unwanted. They connected through their share of horror. Andrew writes stories unlike any kid his age should, and Thomas illustrates them in exquisite detail. But what happens when those drawings come to life and now haunting the forest? Is this really happening or is it all made up in Andrew’s head as he battles who he is and his feelings for Thomas?

I don’t read much YA, but this story is so unique and intriguing. I found myself unable to put it down and needed to figure out the mystery that is the forest. This book makes you think and even after finishing it, I’m still left pondering the ending. I honestly loved this read. The book reads like poetry and the detailed descriptions make you feel like you’re right along with the characters. You’ll be second guessing yourself til the very end and then some.

“All my stories are about you. They will always be about you.”

WHAT. A. BOOK! Don't Let the Forest In is beautifully haunting and unhinged. It's got queer angst and toxic codependency, and it had me feeling unsettled with my head spinning throughout! The book is gorgeously written and it left a lasting impression that still has me feeling on edge!

"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."

Don't Let the Forest In has a killer opening line, and I was immediately hooked! Reading it gave me a sense of unease, that something's not quite right, that eerie, angsty, "what's happening?" feeling that I love. Andrew and Thomas are two toxically codependent boys at boarding school where something is so clearly wrong but neither they nor you know exactly what that something is. It has you feeling unmoored, questioning reality, your own mind, and wondering if the monsters of your nightmares might be real.

"If the trees belonged to Thomas, midnight was in love with Andrew. It made him braver somehow, invisible, hiding his delicate edges and leaving behind a lean and hungry shadow. In the dark, no one could see his hollow and empty places. Instead he looked like he could have teeth."

The book reminded me of The Wicker King, Summer Sons, and These Violent Delights, and if you love those vibes, you'll love Don't Let The Forest In! The book also gets bonus points for excellent ace rep in the mc Andrew.

"They were beautiful together; they were magic and monstrous, and they had created a whole vengeful world between them."

Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews // ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to Macmillan for the ARC. Don't Let the Forest In is out October 29

A twisted and heart-wrenching horror, this YA debut is a strong and terrifying start for C.G. Drews. Not once did I figure out where things were going, but once the reveal happened all the clever clues floated up to the forefront of my mind. Rarely, if ever, did the tension ease up, and that kept me glued to the story the whole time. I don’t seek out YA these days, but I am so glad I gave this one a chance. The ages of the characters and the prestigious boarding school setting added to the plot and tension, rather than detracting due to frustrating hand-waving of rules and exaggerated understandings of teenagers. The monsters were genuinely horrifying, but equally so were the adults failing a student - a child - who needed help over and over again. A sad truth grounded in reality that the story desperately needed.

I do feel like the ending left some pretty important questions unanswered and had a fairly loose idea of consequences. As a reader who appreciates realism even in her horror, this frustrated me a bit. I will be asking “why” and “how” every time I think about this book, and I will be thinking about it. In the acknowledgements the author tells readers “I hope this one haunts you” and I am happy to report that it already has.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley, C.G. Drews, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The writing is just gorgeous. It's so.. tangible... if that makes sense?? It's dark, descriptive, weird, and magical, and there are these little stories within the larger story, because the MC (Andrew) is himself a writer of short dark fairy tales.

We get everything from Andrew's POV and you can tell from the start that there is something a bit off about him. He is a senior in High School and has a twin sister named Dove. He's in love with his best friend Thomas, but he's afraid to share his feelings because 1) he doesn't want to jeopardize their friendship and 2) he's asexual and worried he won't be "enough" for Thomas.

All the characters attend a boarding school in the US (although Andrew and his twin are from Australia). Andrew and Thomas have this incredibly close and intimate relationship where Andrew shares his dark fairytales with Thomas, and Thomas draws the monsters from Andrew's tales. But then one day, the monsters start coming to life.

And so begins a lot of monster hunting, some blood and gore (not excessive though), and just a lot of mystery and strangeness as Thomas and Andrew try to figure out how to stop the monsters from destroying everyone and everything that they know and love.

The problem I had with DLTFI, was that after a while the monster battles started to feel a bit repetitive. At the same time, I felt like there was not enough effort put in to the character development to make me really care about Andrew or Thomas However, horror isn't my normal genre (romance is) so I am used to a bit more focus on characters and relationships... ymmv. But overall, I did enjoy DLTFI.

Dear CG Drews,

Thank you for giving the world a book about queerness and strangeness and horror. It's absolutely INCREDIBLE and filled with strange boys with sharp teeth and a forest that wants to take back. If I were to say one thing to potential readers, it's this: buckle up. This book is one that deserves to be read and loved and raved about, and I think the world might not be ready for it yet. I will be screaming about this from the rooftops for a very long time, and I think my friends will as well.

Sincerely,
An absolutely enraptured reader

As always, all my thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me the chance to read this ARC. Buy this book!

This book felt like it started off a little slow but towards the middle it started to pick up! It threw me for a loop several times and I had to reread the twists because I couldn't fathom what was happening. This book felt so real and I can't wait to read more for this author!

Maybe I wasn't in the mood for this kind of novel or I didn't connect with the characters but I didn't care for this one. I found it slow at some points and it was hard to keep my attention.

I freakin' LOVED this book. The cover pulled me in, but on reading the synopsis I thought maybe I'm too old for dark academia and almost passed it up. I've since preordered the B&N special edition for my trophy shelf.

A few grammatical errors were found, hopefully to be fixed in the final version that will be published, but otherwise the writing style was engaging and kept me questioning the motives and sanity of each of the characters. I would like to read more by this author in the future, but hope this story stays a standalone book.

I wasn’t planning on starting and finishing this book in one night, but I was obsessed from the start.
This book is dark, emotional and macabre. I honestly didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did, but now I’m scouring the internet (and the authors instagram page!!) for similar recommendations because this book scratched an itch I didn’t know I had! Thomas, Andrew and Dove are all such beautifully well-developed characters. The dynamic between the three of them is interesting and frustrating and wonderfully fleshed out. There is no lack of detail in this book. I have been wanting to dip my toes into more horror-leaning books and this delivered!
I hate to give too much of the plot away in my reviews because I think going into the book blind is the best way to experience it. If you don’t mind gore, can appreciate twists that you’ll never see coming and want to see more asexual representation in your reads PLEASE pick this book up! I can’t wait to read more books from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing group for allowing me an early copy of Don’t Let the Forest In by C. G. Drews.

A very entertaining, unsettling read. It was fast-paced and I can safely say there wasn’t a moment of reading where I felt bored. I found it easy to get invested in the characters and their world. I think this would be a perfect read for autumn, as it has quite a spooky vibe to it. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into it, but I can definitely say that, having now finished reading it, I’m pleasantly surprised.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=4 | 😘=2 | 🤬=3 | ⚔️=5 | 15+

summary: so this boy goes back to this creepy school and he writes scary stories and his friend draws illustrations for them and there’s a creepy forest that’s coming alive with monsters that look suspiciously like the ones in his stories (this is a kind of basic and very bad explanation bc it’s more complicated than that but also makes sense)

thoughts: I was really really liking this (intrigue, quick pacing, creepy prose, mystery, interesting character, the LGBTQ of it all). however, it tried to do a double take thing once it got to the Big Reveal (which was foreshadowed quite well btw), and that didn’t work for me. I don’t really know how to describe what happened, but basically there was a moment that a thing should have been immediately revealed (in my opinion) and it was dragged out longer. this is a kind of picky, specific thing that I’m calling out, because overall this was very, very good!! yes!

(there were also a couple of moments where the plot and author’s style would, like, screech to a halt so we could (literally) have a GSA meeting and explain what asexuality is, and like, yeah, that’s annoying, but I get that this is YA and at least a semi-function of the genre. like I can work my suspension of disbelief around those parameters yk)

i loved this books prose and overall writing. it really captured the eerie feelings and i loved the dark academia vibes.

thank you netgalley for the e-arc!

This haunting and unsettling horror novel will have you on the edge of your seat. The atmospheric writing and the descriptions are on point and the characters and absolutely unreal. What a great novel.

4.5 ★

What made me like this book is that it gives justice to psychological horror, painting an eerie dark academia aesthetic and carries a haunting form of storytelling through striking prose. C.G. Drews’s writing style is very beautiful and descriptive so that I could easily create the scenes in my mind from her words alone. To add, the characterization of the main character Andrew was well done, especially as we read through him traversing through the spectrum of asexuality and he had a delightfully dark dynamic with Thomas that keeps a reader going. Moreover, it took me through the experiences of having ED, panic attack/ disorder, and anxiety. As someone that fits one of these boxes, it was very realistic to read and allowed me to empathize with him. Overall, this book is deeply rooted in gothic fiction and is a dark and twisted tale about loss and grief and I greatly recommend!