This one was surprisingly dark for being for teens/YA which I know I would have loved at that age! It was creepy and gory without being overly mature. I didn't see the end coming which was nice - it was a good twist. It took me a little bit to get in to the story, but once I did I was totally hooked! Well written, diverse characters, and thought-provoking. Overall I really enjoyed this one and would happily hand it to the teens in my life.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Words can not describe how much I loved this book! I may or may not have been sobbing at... one point (not saying where because of spoilers).

This story is just as beautifully twisted as any tale written by Andrew himself! The horror elements were perfect and kept me guessing about what would happen next (as well as what exactly was happening). The pacing was perfect, neither dragging nor going too fast, allowing for tension to build, but not going so slow that all that tension goes to waste. The story itself, I would say, is pretty unique, I haven't seen a lot of horror quite like this one.

When I finished this book, I had to put it down and just sit and process it for a few hours. Needless to say, this book was very hard to put down (even when I was only 6% in!)

I appreciate that there was a content warning in the beginning, so I knew to keep checking in with myself to make sure I was okay.

I definitely recommend this book!!

I feel like I need some time to really out my thoughts in order for a thought out review, but in the meantime, let me leave you with this:

Did you just finish reading Kelly AndrewMs My Blood, Your Bones and think to yourself, “wow, I can’t wait to be hurt all over again!”??

Are you looking for a psychological horror where things don’t quiet make sense until it does and by then, there’s
no going back?

Are you looking for spooky times in the middle of a summer month? Well then have I found the book for you!

I was hesitant to pick this book up as horror/thrillers are not my usual cup of tea, but there was something about this… something calling to me, deep in my soul. I think the high rating may be a product of mood reading, but this perfectly quenched a thirst I didn’t know I had.

I really enjoyed this book! I have enjoyed all of this author’s books. I would love to see this book adapted to film and would love to read more but it’s like this one.

I'm incredibly thankful to have read an advanced copy of this book. I completely fell for the two main characters, Thomas and Andrew. I was starting to envision who would play them in a live-action adaptation of this book. The setting was interesting to me and I loved the vibe of Wickwood.

I enjoyed the incredibly detailed descriptions in the book but found that some were overused. Specifically, descriptions about the forest or things that Andrew felt *internally* because of it. I also enjoyed the "vultures" comparison for Bryce's clique at first but it was then used many times after, leading me to enjoy it less.

The twist within the story was perfect and all of the hints leading up to it were easy to remember *after* the big reveal. I loved putting the pieces together retroactively and realizing that it was there all along for me to discover. I'm sure many other people will enjoy this aspect of the mystery, too!

Some characters weren't given much for me to latch onto, like Dove. While I understand why that decision was made for the story's sake, it was difficult for me to connect with the character because of that. If a bonus story was ever added in the future with a special release, I'd love to know more!

What can I say about this novel to do it justice? The atmosphere is beautifully moody. The horror is imaginatively cruel.
The emotions are intoxicatingly raw. The author tackles many heavy topics such as bullying, abuse, homosexuality, grief, love, and anxiety. These conflicts play out in the common day to day of the MC’s school life while reflecting them again when the boys must do battle with the monsters of the forest. I loved this novel and will probably read it again. I’ve already been recommending it to close friends!

This book was like an a horrifying love child between The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and The Wicker King by K. Ancrum and I loved every single minute of it.

I don't have enough words for how perfect this book was for me. I love books about obsession (especially with queer characters) and quite frankly this is one of the best co-dependent/obsessive relationship dynamics I have ever read. The setting was palpable, the descriptions were phenomenal, the writing as a whole was remarkable, and the ending had my jaw on the floor. It's definitely an older YA as the horror aspect does get quite dark, but I'm always looking for more eerie and dark YA horror. I will absolutely be purchasing a physical copy of this one when it comes out because I NEED this in my personal collection.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book.
The writing style was beautiful, I did not like the third person POV. It's personally not my favorite, I find it makes the story a little harder to follow.
I enjoyed this book, however I do not feel that I was the target audience. There is a reader for every book and a book for every reader.
Loved the story though, it was suspenseful and kept you wanting to read more.

The appeal of the book will certainly start with the fantastic cover reminiscent of [book:Wilder Girls|42505366] and then set in a boarding school with the dark academia vibes like [book:The Forest Demands Its Due|75668283], this book hearkens to others yet is entirely its own as well. Early reviews also share that the asexual representation felt real, which I can't attest to as someone not in that category.

Either way, the book's atmospheric psychological horror leaps off the page from the start. However I needed a little more grounding throughout the book to really believe what was happening that I didn't get but quickly realized was never going to come based on how Drews began to unfold the book. So I rode the wave. Which, only taking Drews writing to start is worth the ride because Drews' mashing of words creates a vivid picture of the characters, the situation, and the setting.

I was most drawn to this line about twins Andrew and Dove "stood out painfully with their Australian accents and strange phrases and the way their edges melted together. They weren't used to wealth, to listening to kids talk about their opulent homes and extravagant vacations and famous parents. But Dove could be tossed into anything and she'd bounce. Andrew was a glass figurine. Drop him and he shattered" which sets up the dynamic between Andrew and Thomas Rye. The tempestuous relationship, monsters, feelings, writing, and general visceral heartache in their connection where others are the collateral.

It's almost difficult to explain and I would air on the side of less words to talk about the book than more so that anyone can engage with it themselves. Psychological horror to the max.

Let me first start by saying the writing in this novel is absolute poetry. There are several turns of phrase used that are positively lyrical and I honestly just adore the author's use of imagery in the way they told this story. The story itself is fresh and unique, I haven't read anything like it and it constantly kept me wanting more. There is definitely an aura of mystery that pervades the entire book and I found myself reading well after my bedtime to try to get to the bottom of it. This ended up being a really refreshing and slightly horrifying read that I personally loved and would highly recommend.

I do not have the words to describe this book and how well it is written. I was on the edge of my seat almost immediately. I never saw the ending coming, and it brought me to tears.

Very intriguing plot! The ending had me staring at a wall for 5 minutes. The writing is beautiful and haunting. The forest, the monsters, the obsessive co-dependent relationships. Everything about the book drew me in and I was not able to put it down. I even found myself not finishing and trying to stretch out the last 30 pages. If you enjoyed “If we were villains” by @sureasmel you will love Don’t Let the Forest in 🖤🖤🖤 I also loved the LGBTQIAP+ representation as our main character Andrew is asexual (hell yeah!)

Mood: Read when you’re feeling like you want to be haunted by a moody, sinister plot. Also read if you feel like getting attached to characters and then worrying about their well being for 200 pages.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan for the ARC. This was beautiful and terrifying. I think this book will haunt me for a while. Beautiful prose with the most tender, heart cutting emotions that make this a read I will never forget. I loved following along Andrew and Thomas as they dealt with the monsters. This book is a very beautiful form of angsty horroromance. The underlying mystery added to the tension and I just could not put this book down. It was creepy and I was desperate for answers. The romance was also really cute and moving, I love how well the romance was woven into the plot, the balance between romance and horror was perfect. CG Drews has such beautiful heart aching prose, I need a physical copy of this book to annotate. The anxiety and panic was so relatable and beautifully written in a very real and visceral manner that felt like the author had examined my heart and studied it. Also, I loved all the fairy tales!! I need an anthology with more stories like that from CG Drews. More papercuts please!!

I don't even know where to begin with this review. I'm not generally a horror reader, but I heard great things so I dived right in.

Andrew is a sensitive boy who writes disturbing stories. Thomas is his best friend who draws disturbing things. Along with Andrew's sister, Dove they are the best of friends. Something happens between last school year and the start of this one, Andrew has panic attacks and scars on his hand, Dove is avoiding them and Thomas' abusive parents have disappeared and he's being secretive about it along with the forest being overrun by monsters.

This story has an Ace main character with a bisexual love interest and lesbian side character. It deals with anxiety, panic attacks and grief.

I had no idea where this story was going from start to finish. It was both disturbing and creepy and I couldn't put it down. The boys devotion to each other borders on co-dependent and it was lovely seeing the evolution of their relationship. The ending had me literally gasping!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“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.”

I follow the author of this book on IG and had been so excited for this book for months. So when I received the eARC of it, I could not wait to jump right in… and I was not disappointed.

This book has everything I want; dark academia vibes with a private boarding school isolated on the edge of a forest, said dark, mysterious forest, sibling dynamics, friend group dynamics, found family dynamics, MC’s who love art and literature, monsters, horror, and queer rep. What more could you want in a book?

I will absolutely be reading this again come spooky season and I cannot wait for the stories this author gives us next.

You know a book tested me when I feel the need to start a review with “Lord, where do I begin?”

The premise of “Don’t Let the Forest in” is an interesting one, what would happen if the monsters in our head became real? Interesting enough! Let me start with the positive, CG Drews can CRAFT the arcs to a story. Even though this book really tested me, I couldn’t put it down, and, to me at least, that proves this authors knows the ebbs and flows of their own story. More or less, lol.
In the last ~15%, there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of plot twists. So much so I felt they were starting to become unbelievable. BUT! The final one was wonderful. Chefs kiss. I became so invested in the progression and unraveling of this final twist. The way Drews wrote the raw emotions the characters were feeling and the actions taken was one of my favorite parts of the book. I wish the entire story was comprised of similar moments of raw spiraling.

Positives over…
Before we begin with ANY kind of discussion about the story itself, one must be aware that Andrew isn’t just written as an asexual but also aromantic (to some regard) even though the author themselves makes no mention of this. Let’s review our terminology. Asexual = little to no sexual attraction. Aromantic = little to no romantic attraction. Both are spectrums, which is something actually discussed in the book! (Just asexual, though.) Claiming a character only asexual while mixing in aspects of aromanticism is just… I don’t even know. Andrew says very clearly he doesn’t experience sexual attraction. Cool, he’s asexual! And also doesn’t get crushes. Cool, that’s apart of aromanticism. Ace people can still get crushes! Please do not conflate these two identities together!! If you don’t know just research something!!! Please!!!! This aspect of the books is going to cause further confusion and misinformation surrounding the aro-ace spectrums. Please get aroace sensitivity/beta reader or editor. A very small number of people (three, including myself…) have talked about this, proving my point about misinformation continuing.

Other than that! Much of this book needs an overhaul or an editor. Probably the latter. In order for this not to be a jumble of words, I’ll try my best to keep this concise. One of my biggest issues with this book is the repetition. From devil kissed curls to mud, it all felt too much. There was a lot of repetition in the way metaphors and the contents within them were written too. A lot of bones, teeth, vines, ribs, blood, etc were employed to give a certain vibe to the overall feel of the story… and I found it quite frankly irritating the more I progressed. Drews is a wonderful writer, no doubt about that, but I wish they would’ve taken more risks within the writing of Don’t Let the Forest in. Varied sentence structure/length, switching up the flow of literary devices, tweaking descriptions of characters/scenes/events, things like that are what I feel would benefit the more from a little more… oomph.

Moving away from discussions of sexuality and repetition, I’d like to bring up the topic of bullying and discrimination within Don’t Let the Forest In. I dont know how to articulate this the way I want but I’ll try my best. WHY IS ANDREW DISCRIMINATED AGAINST MORE THAN THE QUEER WOMEN OF COLOR?? Thank you. Now, I’m not trying to say that Australians in American schools don’t get bullied for having a foreign accent, different manors of speech, etc, etc, but you cannot sit there, look me in my eyes, and tell me with your whole heart and soul that Andrew gets called “Vegemite boy”? I’m going to leave it at that.
The more “realistic/believable”(?) discrimination came to in the form of remarks by Bryce at Andrew and Thomas about them being queer. For some reason, these came up less than Andrew’s Australian identity…
Final piece in this segment. Why was there just a random, casual nod to slavery/indentured servitude? Roughly paraphrasing here but the line read something to the effect of “The small halls were a relic of past days when servants had to quickly get around so as to not disturb the lord of the manor.” It’s such a small detail that’s I’m surprised I even noticed it, but it just bugged me. To have the setting be in middle-of-nowhere Virginia and to bring this up with no reason other than to make a nod to the schools past usage felt like an interesting choice, to say the least.

For my final bit of ramblings, I need to bring up the amount of plot holes, things that just didn’t make sense, and things that made me cock my left brow and sigh.
*Slight spoilers from here on out*!!
- Thomas and Andrew’s relationship beginning the book. Why do I care that they’re fighting? We, the readers, just met them and have no context as to what their relationship was prior to their fight. We’re only told that they’re best friends, not shown! By chapter seven they’re on a full blown fight and I couldn’t understand why I was supposed to care.
- Why are the monsters never actually explained? Were they real, or just something out of the traumatized psyches of Andrew and Thomas? Where did they actually come from? And more coming up right after our commercial break. But in all seriousness, I’m left wanting much more explanation and world building. You cannot “leave something up to interpretation” if there’s lackluster explanation and nothing tied into it.
- There were two big “plot points” that didn’t make sense or tie into the narrative at all. Those being: Thomas’s abusive parents and Andrew’s eating disorder. Both were thrown into the story clumsily and it read like an early draft of work where you’re writing stuff to jog your memory later to fully flesh it out.
- Late time I checked, one cannot cut teeth on ribcage bones but… you do you ig
- This one was just funny to me but “She probably thought him a bigot” my guy JUMPED at a pride flag ofc she’s gonna think you a bigot smh. In such a story as this with the language being serious, having such a modern term will throw the reader off, and possibly make the laugh… However, I did enjoy the discussion of not feeling “gay enough” to participate in something as simple as GSA! Very good. Needed more of that.
- Stuttering… I’m good, no thank you. (Honorable mentions: stuff like SLAMSLAMSLAM.)
- Flowery and very pretty, yet ultimately meaningless and confusing, language. My aphantasic ass couldn’t even conjure anything for what the damn monsters looked like.
- And finally, telling right after showing. Yeeowch

All in all, I caught myself saying “You can’t just say perchance” too many times to count.

2/5

Impeccably spooky vibes and I loved the hungry, obsessive love that Andrew and Thomas have for each other. I also enjoyed the asexual rep, though honestly the contrast of GSA meetings and art class with fighting monsters at night was a little jarring in terms of mood.

The plot itself didn't work for me in terms of central conflict. The mental health tropes felt overdone and shallow, I would've liked the curse to have had a deeper (maybe more vengeful?) source and the story gaps caused by it were more confusing and annoying for me rather than gripping.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for early access to this book! This book was haunting in the best way. There was a point where I could not put it down because I needed to know what was coming. I will be thinking about the book and its imagery for a while.
I had fun reading the poetic style.

CONTENT WARNINGS
Graphic
Body horror, Gore, Death
Moderate
Eating disorder, Homophobia, Violence
Minor
Child abuse, Vomit, Death of parent

*thank you NetGalley for my ARC*

This novel slowly sipped on my heart until it was devoured whole. A beautiful blend of dark academia and forest horror. I live for books like this.

Andrew was easily loveable. His relationship development with Thomas was splendid. I think Drews handled the different prevalent topics stunningly. (Sexuality/family/nightmares come to life/etc)

If I were to put it into a category: Euphoric Horror

This was such a hauntingly beautiful book! It is perfect for fans of macabre fairy tales. This one is set in modern times at a fancy boarding school and has themes of figuring out one’s sexual identity, grief, bullying, and mental health.

I was hooked from the beginning and really enjoyed the writing style. I’ve been in a creepy/horror mood lately so this hit the spot! It’s going to be perfect for Fall/Halloween.