I was so enthralled by this book and when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it! Its beautiful and alluring cover matches the ominous, creepy, and uniquely artistic styles and themes of CG Drew’s writing. The characters are interesting, the setting is memorable and captivating and the story well written. It’s eerie, haunting and tragic and completely worth reading! I look forward to reading more from Drews in the future!

I am several months late in posting this review but had to circle back because this book quickly became one of my all-time favorite books. I was lucky enough to receive it via ebook for free and read it before its release, and I am now purchasing my own copy to reread and treasure.

I have genuinely thought about this book at least once a day since reading it (months ago, as I am posting this review in January 2025 and read it in July 2024). Don’t Let The Forest In is an intense psychological thriller, in my opinion, that beautifully describes mental illness and what different mental illnesses may feel like for some individuals. The slight romance is the thread that flows through this book, but it was honestly the representation of mental illness that blew me away. In this book, we follow Andrew through his schooling, the mystery of his parents, and his relationships with his sister and close friend. The way CG Drews writes genuinely made me question reality in a way that was intoxicatingly good. I also think this notion of not really know what was “real” or not is especially relevant and demonstrative of what people with different mental illnesses experience. As someone with panic disorder, it is easy to get tied up in false realities and I really connected with Drews’ descriptions and the sense of distress she was able to portray.

I would highly, highly recommend this book. Please be aware of triggers of bullying, blood and gore, body horror, death, disordered eating, grief, homophobia, self-harm, and violence.

CG Drews - if you see this, thank you for this book. It has truly become one of my favorite books and made me feel understood, even as someone so different from your protagonist.

This book was just fine. It very much gives off first novel vibes, and seems to take a lot of inspiration from similar YA magical realism books such as The Raven Boys. I found some of the scenes a bit disjointed, and the ending was a bit confusing; I feel like the build to the "big reveal" of Dove actually being dead could've been workshopped a bit more. While the reveal itself was done well and did come off as a shock, Andrew being cast as an unreliable narrator got a bit messy. By the end, it still isn't quite neatly summed up about Thomas and the death of his parents despite that being a simmering concern that reemerges throughout the book. One aspect that I did enjoy was the ace rep. I thought it was excellently done and would recommend this if an individual was solely looking for ace characters done well.

This is a twisty cottagecore horror story, featuring a main character who's losing their mind and may not be totally reliable. The creatures coming to life from stories and drawings was an interesting idea and I appreciated that the author didn't shy away from the horror elements, with plenty of death and creepy plant violence.

The relationship between Andrew and Thomas isn't healthy, but they do have a strong bond that I liked. The ending was a crazy surprise and I really enjoyed reading this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the copy.

Wow.

I read this one a whim on Halloween and it was the perfect atmospheric read. It's very eerie and haunting about grief and relationships and monsters within and around us.

I wouldn't say it's scary necessarily, but it is pretty gruesome at times so if that's not yours thing, this one may not be for you.

One of the best parts of this book is a fantastic asexual rep. It's repeatedly mentioned and discussed on page and was just genuinely very good.

I don't want to give anything else away so just know that if you're in the mood for a haunting tale, this is a great one to choose. Also the audiobook is excellent.

"Don't Let the Forest In" is a fantastic blend of horror and heartfelt storytelling, offering a unique perspective on the challenges of identity, mental health, and the power of imagination. It's a tale that lingers long after the final page, urging readers to confront their inner forests.

Content warnings include depictions of self-harm, disordered eating, bullying, and mental illness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book grabbed me by the hair, yanked me in and then chewed me up and spit me out. I am not the same as I was, and it will haunt me as the author hoped. The references to other types of media are going around my head.

This was really good! I think gothic, dark academic-eqsue fantasy horror with a dash of romance is my favorite ultra specific genre. I really loved the writing, atmosphere, and tone. The characters didn't especially stick out to me, but I did like them, and I definitely would read more by this author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the arc

This book was the biggest disappointment of my life. I saw someone else on Goodreads describe it as "Underdeveloped Boring Repetitive Fake-Deep Tumblr Post BS," and I could not imagine a more accurate characterization.

CG Drews used to be one of my favorite authors of all time - The Boy Who Steals Houses was a life-altering read for me. Because of my love for her, I'm familiar with how eccentric (i.e. over the top) her writing can be. Unfortunately, it never bothered me as much as it did in this book. The characters all talk like they've never heard what a real conversation should sound like, and I physically cringed during the majority of dialogue in this book.

Beyond the painfully purple prose, I generally just found this book boring. I understand they had to kill the monsters to prevent them from getting to the school, but I found I just didn't care what happened one way or the other. There was really nothing to keep me invested.

Andrew Perrault hasn’t heard from his best friend, Thomas Rye, in months. His twin sister, Dove, is distant, cool, and aloof. He has scars on his hands that he doesn’t remember getting, and the entirety of Wickwood Academy – or, at least, those who do pay attention to the quiet, stand-offish boy that loves to tell stories – is looking on him with pity and concern. Andrew has a secret. Andrew is full of anger and lies. Andrew has something to hide, and it involves a boy named Thomas Rye.

As Andrew searches the halls of Wickwood, desperate for a sign of Thomas, he’s wracked with guilt and worry; he knows that Thomas’ parents are abusive, and that he has no help, no phone, no means of escape except the halls of their private high school – and, by extension – the dorm room they have shared since day one. His anxiety about Thomas – and life, in general – is palpable, tension mounting through clever writing that is raw, visceral, and real, with Drews exceling when it comes to writing the overwhelming and often overstimulating experience that is generalized anxiety and panic disorder.

The relief that Andrew feels at the first sign of his best friend is a breath of fresh air, quickly stifled when he notices blood on Thomas’ sleeve. Something has Thomas on edge, and his panic bleeds into Andrew, tinging his thoughts. Despite the warning signs, Andew is content to know that Thomas is back, that he has someone to latch on to. Deep down, he knows that he is not okay, but being in Thomas’ company helps him to cope. The edges of Andrew’s obsessive, intrusive thoughts and panic are smoothed in Thomas’ presence, but he remains an unreliable narrator throughout, one that you can’t quite trust, but want to.

Andrew’s been told – again and again – not go to into the forest, but it calls to him, like to like, as he navigates his final year at a private school nestled in the middle-of-nowhere wilds of Virginia, lost, lonely, and full of existential dread that he pours into dark, macabre fairy tales of boys with flowers growing in their eyes that cut out their hearts. They’re confessions of his own making – on coming to terms with his sexuality and desire for romance; on dealing with disordered eating and mental illness; on the spiraling anxiety and overstimulation and exhaustion that is simply existing – and with each turn of the page, they come to life, Thomas bringing them into realization through stunningly horrific charcoal sketches. Thomas’ voice, his touch, his presence, his drawings – all help to ground Andrew in reality and keep him from drifting off into the forest of his own mind, a thing that is very much alive and rotting away as the year moves forward.

What unfolds in the forest night after night, seeping into the cracks of reality – of the mundane everyday expectations of high school: essays and tests, classes and study hall – is brutal. Blood drips from tree detritus like ink; teeth shred flesh and leave savage bite wounds in the boys’ arms; decaying foliage – mushrooms and leaves caked with rot – clog Andrew’s throat and line his pockets, suffocating him, blurring the lines of reality as attacks become more widespread, moving out of the forbidden forest and into the school, slipping in between cracks in the wall paper, sandwiched between PB&J sandwiches, and lurking in the shadows of bathroom stalls.

Drews pens a triumph of eerie botanical horror, unspeakable loss and loneliness manifested in rotting plants, broken hearts, and deadly thorns as Thomas and Andrew navigate Eldritch plant horrors, written in story, brought to life in charcoal. The result is stunning, and Drews does an exceptional job in creating a world that is lush and evocative every step of the way, bringing nightmares to life while exploring loneliness and unspeakable longing. Co-dependence blurs with obsession as the two teens navigate their romantic feelings for one another, all while Andrew grapples with his asexuality. It’s raw and real and wonderful to be seen on the page, not just in Andrew’s panic and anxiety, the constant worry and obsessive thoughts, but in his understanding of himself. He dreams of kissing Thomas, but the rest is a blurry mess: a complicated undertaking that he’d like to try for Thomas’ sake but isn’t quite sure about himself. He loves Thomas, that’s undeniable, but he’d rather cuddle – or climb into the boy’s ribs – than contemplate anything more.

At its core, Don’t Let the Forest In is a story of profound loss that will leave you questioning your own reading comprehension. Drews navigates the brutality of teenage angst, the confusing complexities of love, and the lengths we go to in order to avoid pain and escape trauma through an unreliable, yet relatable narrator. Within the pages of this beautifully broken book, Drews explores grief, isolation, mental illness, suicidal ideation, abuse, and disordered eating with great care. The characters – and stories – jump off the page in vivid detail. Lush and atmospheric, Drews pens a dark fairytale of her own: sharp-tongued and biting yet fill of adoration and love. Fans of body horror and Eldritch legends will adore this dark, queer love story, and neurodiverse readers, in particular, may see themselves in Andrew.

THIS BOOK. So atmospheric, dark in the best of ways, and nuanced in its exploration of friendship and sexuality. I felt so immersed—was in the hands of a master writer, and I cannot wait to read more by C.G. Drews.

I loved this book. It was very atmospheric, the horror was incredibly descriptive, there were amazing pictures of the creatures (one of the characters is an artist), and overall the woodland folk horror had me addicted. I flew through this story but I can see how if this isn't your thing you might find parts of it slow, but that's really just building up the atmosphere and tension which lead to the trippy aspects of the book.

The monsters were cool and while I would've wanted more information on what exact lore we were working with in the forest, what we got was so damn cool. That ending though?!?! OMG I was gagged and I like how she did it despite wishing for more concrete answers. It was beautifully written and that may put some off but it was perfect for this tale. I'm definitely checking out this author's other work, especially if it's horror.

Gothic, chilling, and mysterious. CG Drews knows how to bring readers in and keep them hooked. The book produced feelings of anxiety and chaos through pacing and choice of words without having to say "This character is anxious". Drews could really paint an image clearly without having to spell things out. The asexual representation felt honest and not forced, which I really appreciated. This book was hands down one of my favorite books to experience despite the ending ruining me emotionally. It was worth the read and will be worth the many rereads.

In this dark young adult fairy tale, two boys at an elite boarding school find themselves dealing with so much more than senior year of high school when very real monsters plague the woods behind their school. One a writer of dark fairy tales and one an artist who draws monsters, they band together to try and save their school and themselves from the darkness of the woods. The number one thing I would recommend is to read this one physically. I read this as a combo of physical and ebook, and the physical edition has such gorgeously grotesque illustrations- it gives grown up Spiderwick energy. This book is dark, twisty, and gay with some asexual representation that I thought was complex but also well handled. There are a couple triggers regarding mental health and especially food and eating I think could be intense if those triggers affect you. This is a very dark story for young adults, but I like challenging YA material, and I generally really liked this. The writing is so poetic and lyrical throughout the story, and I think that was my favorite part. The way this author phrases feelings and yearning is so beautiful. I think the plot doesn’t always work, but I didn’t care at all. I liked these characters a lot and I found the mood and atmosphere so dark and brooding. If you want a young adult story with adult themes and imagery, but very much the yearning and drama of a heightened emotion of a teen narrative this is the dark fairy tale for you.

This review will post on my instagram @boozehoundbookclub

With a melancholic, gothic vibe, this book would be perfect for my teens obsessed with murder mysteries and unhinged narrators. Very lyrical and haunting - will make a great addition to our library shelves!

This is a YA novel with themes on codependency, dark academia, and eldritch monsters. The story follows Andrew, a teenage boy working through the perils of his elite boarding school, relationships with his sister, mental health, coming to terms with his sexuality, and his intense unhealthy crush on his best friend. All while fighting “eldritch forest monsters” and trying to discover the source of their destruction.

This book was generally well received, and I know many people who thought it was powerful and haunting. In short, it was not for me. I think this is definitely one of those YA books that is going to be better digested by actual young adults, but not necessarily older adults.
From what I understand, this is a debut novel, and I do believe the author has potential. When the writing was not bogged down by forced metaphors that made no sense, there was a strong, youthful voice. Unfortunately, most of the book came across as trying too hard to be prosaic, which fell flat. The pacing is jilted between odd, almost anachronistic school special style handling of teen issues with unnatural dialogue, moments where the writing shined and the plot progressed, and lengthy passages of overly aesthetic focused writing about roses and gore.

The characters themselves lacked true motivation, and with everything being over explained, the monsters lacked any real horror. The dark academia fell short of true exploration of the style, unable to accurately critique the boarding school the characters attended as the bullies harassed the characters over being Australian rather than anything realistic, and the characters themselves would attempt to pick apart classist issues while being extremely wealthy themselves. The setting was not fully fleshed out. In fact, a major point of my not enjoying this story came from the fact that I live in and grew up in the eastern section of the United States, spending most of my time outdoors, and was left confused by the author’s description of these forests and their monsters. It was nothing but roses and vines, with lichen only mentioned once about 75% of the way through. The poor research into the setting left me completely out of the story, and without fully fleshed out characters, I could not find my way back in.

Overall, the writing felt forced and left the plot twist bare open, failing to connect emotionally with over-telling rather than showing. I feel as though the author’s voice was stifled here, and I look forward to seeing their growth, perhaps in a setting they can thrive in.
While this is a one star rating for me, I am leaving it at two stars as I think it does have something to offer to younger readers. I appreciate the asexual representation, as well as themes like mental health, eating disorders, and unhealthy relationships being explored here. I think this book being available to teens is a good thing, and I hope many of them read and connect with Andrew’s story. The representation of these themes did feel authentic and was handled well, and I think that will help this story resonate a lot with younger readers.

This truly blew my mind. From the characterizations of both Thomas and Andrew to the absolutely mind boggling plot twist, I was completely sucked in. I read it in one sitting and stared at the wall for hours after.

I finally finished the arc 3 months late! Sorry
The novel reads like a poem. It’s a beautiful love story about mental health, who is portrayed as a monstrous vine that entangles every part of our lives until we find healing or are consumed by the darkness of guilt, shame and grief.

So, I finished this amazing book. Then it was time to write my review. I thought about it before I fell asleep. It was the first thing I thought about when I woke up. When I was at work, all these thoughts rolled around in my head. When I got home I fired up my laptop and began typing. Before I knew it, I had a huge review written. Then, I began to read it. Oops, my review was full of spoilers and I’d basically related the entire story. Scrap that review. I started a new one. Same thing. Spoilers and too long.

Next attempt. I talked about the writing. Another long rambling review. I cut it down to this. When an author can write gruesome scenes that can make me cringe and then write scenes that make my heart hurt, I want others to read the book too. Experience it and tell me how it made them feel. That’s what made Don’t Let The Forest In a winner for me. So…. let the forest in. I’ll sum up my feelings about it with one word….

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

I received a complimentary copy. My review is voluntarily given.

When I closed the last page of this book, I truly needed to sit for a minute and just ~process~. Something about these scarred characters and this lyrical prose really grew under my skin, and I had a few too many feelings about it. Now, I've taken a little processing time, and am doing my best to articulate just what made this beautiful, bizarre little gremlin of a book work.
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Rather than spoil the plot--trust me, this is a good one to go into with minimal knowledge--just know that this is a story about two broken-but-still-trying boys steeped in that kind of feral, all-consuming love that could heal or destroy (and, in all likelihood, will do both), clinging to each other as if they can simultaneously keep each other afloat even as they are each drowning, and about the ways that trauma can creep in unnoticed and slowly ravage your entire life. It's also about the ways we pour ourselves into our art (perhaps too much), complete with gorgeous interior art of forest monsters and eerie, dark fairytale snippets.
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Now, I will say, for all that this book leans into classic suspense vibes--the visceral botanical body horror, the obviously unreliable narrator, the school grounds depicted so hauntingly they become a character in their own right--the plot twists in it are not terribly surprising. Yet, to me, this seemed clearly by design: the emotional tension readers feel is driven in part by the dramatic irony of things we can figure out, even when the protagonist isn't able to process them yet. And despite this, a core mystery of the book remains unresolved even after the last page (thank you to @raavenreads for discussing this with me omg), thanks to Drews' skillful blurring of the lines between magic and madness.
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Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out how brilliantly the asexual representation in this book was handled. The main character is asexual and gay (possibly demiromantic?), and he struggles to reconcile his desire to be loved with his utter lack of desire for the sexual components that traditionally accompany romantic relationships. His dismay and feeling of monstrousness--partially based on experience, and partially on assumption--is a very real and complex pain that many ace folks (even aros like myself) grapple with in some form or another, and Drews did a beautiful job weaving this as a thematic through-line as well.
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As with most horror books, this may not be for everyone--it goes to some dark places and is not for the squeamish (you might feel uncomfortable around plants for a hot minute afterward). It is heavy on vibes, and those who like definitive endings may be frustrated at its open ending. But to me, it was a triumph, emotionally resonant and replete with hopeful beauty behind the shadows of the trees.