Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of "Don't Let the Forest In" !

This book was, in my opinion, incredible. There are very few books that have left me feeling the way "Don't Let the Forest In" did after I finished it, which says a lot. While it did begin a bit slow just with setting the scene and introducing us to the characters, it more than made up for it with that ending!

I absolutely loved Andrew and Thomas, their relationship as a whole was so good. I was so invested in them and seeing how their relationship progressed through the book, especially seeing Andrew's struggles with accepting his identity and dealing with his feelings for Thomas while everything was going on.

The supporting characters were just as good, they added so much to the story and were such a good counter to what Andrew and Thomas were dealing with. While we didn't get much of her, I loved Lana and the way she supported Andrew, but differed from Thomas. The side characters rounded out the story, of course, but I really enjoyed their presence beyond that.

The plot as a whole was also incredible! I loved the way it was set up, I loved the ending, I loved it all. I cannot, will not, give spoilers because I think this is absolutely something you should experience for yourself with very little knowledge of what happens, but I loved it all so much.

This one will haunt me, C.G. Drews, it absolutely will. This deserves all 5 stars to me, truly.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑/5
5/5


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trigger warnings:
- eating disorder
- heavy depictions of murder/gore
- mentions of grief
- suicidal ideation
- losing oneself to dark thoughts



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dedication


for the monsters in your head



”i think someday you’ll hate me,” thomas’s voice stretched with a loneliness andrew had never heard before. “you’ll cut me open and find a garden of rot where my heart should be.”


“when i cut you open,” andrew finally said, “all i’ll find is that we match.”



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have you ever read a book that had left you speechless? that had taken you right into the depths of the book, as if the words consumed every fibre of your being and you became one with the book?


that’s how this book is written. despite the dark contents of this book, it’s written how a painting is made. the paint still drying but you can tell it’s a masterpiece.


i fell in love with how this is written, how you can see the downward spiral. how everything comes together in the end is such a beautiful way to describe grief.


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andrew: the way this character is written is something i fear i’ll think of often. the prince who gets lost in the stories he creates between the lines of paper. the prince in love with the autumn haired boy. andrew realises that he is asexual and is petrified of the fact that perhaps thomas may one day want more. maybe thomas just won’t accept him. there’s more on the surface than just monsters that wreak havoc in the forest and on the school grounds.


thomas: the autumn haired artist with a thousand and one freckles. the boy who everyone thought was a murderer. the boy who grabbed a hatchet with once shaky fingers and then mastered the art. the same way he mastered the art of charcoal pencils and oils on a canvas. the way he mastered the tells of holding onto andrew and whispering, ‘calm down,’



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i cannot wait until this book releases to get my hands on a physical copy. i loved every second of this book and i was enraptured from the dedication alone. if you are into psychological horror books and don’t mind some gory scenes, i think this would be right up your alley.



thank you netgalley, the publisher and c.g. drews for being generous enough to send me a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is the type of horror that modern film needs. I have almost no words, other than the pure shock and awe that fills me in the moments after reading this book. It's like something purely insane, yet raw and filled with love and guilt and yearning took root (pun not intended) in my soul and latched on tight. There were twists I never saw coming, and ones that made a lot of sense after looking back upon them. I will never truly know if the monsters did exist, and I will never truly know if the forest was in Andrew's head. But what I do know is this will go down as my favorite horror book to date.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan publishing for a digital copy of this ARC.
Don’t Let the Forrest In is a gruesome cautionary tale about love and loss and the horrors of private schools. The story is from Andrew’s perspective, as he is the storyteller of his trio. His best friend, Thomas, is the feral woodsy artist. The trio becomes a duo in their senior year, as Andrew’s twin sister Dove seems to be avoiding the two boys after a fall out with Thomas. I should mention the Forest as a character, because it becomes the enemy throughout the book.
Through the middle of the year, Thomas and Andrew are relentless fighting the monsters that the Forest spits at them, while trying to navigate their senior year at a rigorous school and their feelings towards each other.
For me, even though there were pretty graphic scenes throughout the book, it dragged a bit in the middle. I think it would have been better to add more to the end, which felt rushed. The writing was beautiful and poetic, though sometimes felt disjointed with the teen atmosphere.
I really enjoy Thomas as a character, the wild boy that doesn’t know when to slow down and how to love without blood. I sympathize with Andrew as a person who also is massively conflict-averse and is trying to show love in their own way.
I would highly recommend looking at the trigger warnings for this book if you are thinking of picking it up. The path is strewn with moss and blood and only for the foolhardy or the lovers.
3 1\2 stars

4.75/5 stars! I want to exist in this world, getting to know these characters, as long as I can go home safely at the end of the night. There is amazing LGBTQ+ representation in the story and a haunting energy that is transfixing. This was my first read by this author and I was so pleasantly surprised. Ugh I need more Thomas and Andrew NOW.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm deeply grateful to NetGalley for granting me access to an early copy of this remarkable book. Without a doubt, this could easily become the highlight of my reading list this year! From the moment I met Andrew and Thomas, I was completely captivated, and as I turned the final page, I experienced a mixture of fulfillment and heartache.

This story is one you won't be able to tear yourself away from; I found myself wishing I could experience it for the first time all over again. Words fail to express the sheer beauty of this book—it's a solid 10/10 recommendation from me.

I'm eagerly anticipating the moment this book is released into the world for all to enjoy; it truly ranks among the most exquisite reads I've ever encountered. Prior to this, I hadn't delved into C.G. Drews' work, but after this masterpiece, I'm fully committed to binge-reading everything else they've written.

If you haven't already, add this gem to your "must-read" list immediately—you won't regret it. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

During a period of profound grief that I'm struggling to navigate, I sought solace within the pages of this story. It's brimming with themes of loss, longing, regret, and all the emotions that mirror my own numbness. The imagery painted throughout is hauntingly beautiful, serving as a poignant reflection of the inner turmoil I'm currently experiencing.

For a while, I found myself utterly immersed in this tale, momentarily forgetting the harsh reality that monsters exist within us all. How we confront these inner demons is a deeply personal journey, shaped by our own choices.

Reading this book felt like being lost in a dream—a blur of reality and fiction, leaving me grappling with the unsettling uncertainty that accompanies loss.

At this precise moment in my life, I needed this book more than I can articulate. It's both breathtakingly beautiful and profoundly tragic, and every moment spent within its pages was time well spent. It's a story that lingers in your thoughts long after you've finished it—a testament to its power and poignancy.

The way I devoured this book is the way the forest devoured Andrew, slow at first and then all at once.

The writing was so hauntingly descriptive and atmospheric. This book checks all the boxes that you didn’t know you needed. It has a dark cottagecore feel, with elements of horror, psychological twists and the journey of finding one’s place in the world.

If you are a fan of Grimm’s Fairytales then I would definitely recommend picking this book up and having a few sleepless nights of fun reading about all the monsters inside the forest and within all of us.

And we can’t review this book without talking about that hauntingly beautiful cover, that alone is enough to make you want to pick up this book.

This book was such a delightful surprise that I loved so much! I was drawn to it for the beautiful cover, and I’m so glad I decided to read it. This book has an incredible atmosphere, and the prose is incredibly gripping and beautiful and haunting. The way that things are described, how they smell and feel, is so vivid it makes it so easy to be incredibly immersed in this story.

I think Andrew was a really interesting protagonist and narrator and very well written. He has a lot of problems that skew his perception of the world around him, and his unreliability to me really added to the horror, because it’s not always clear if the way he feels about what’s happening is rooted in reality. It made it all very surreal. So so good.

The real highlight of the book was the relationship between Andrew and Thomas. Their dynamic is incredibly fascinating, how they orbit around each other and are so co-dependent on each other. It’s an incredibly obsessive relationship, which roots and drives much of entire narrative, and was incredibly well executed. I also appreciated that this was the first time I think I’ve read a relationship like theirs where sex is not at the center. Andrew’s asexuality was to me very well handled and such a nice surprise, as I didn’t know going into this book that he was ace. It didn’t feel like a simple throw away character trait to me, but was necessary to who he is as a person as well as his relationship with Thomas.

I’m not one to usually read a lot of horror, but this book made me want to explore more of the genre! I really can’t sing enough praise about the writing and descriptions of everything, from the setting to the monsters to the character’s feelings. All of it painted such a vivid picture that made me feel like I was right in the story with them.

All in all, this was such an amazing reading experience, and I cannot recommend it enough if this is a genre that appeals to you!

Andrew Perrault is returning to Wickwood Academy after summer vacation, with severe memory loss regarding an incident in the forest surrounding the school (which has since been closed) and the scattering of scars on his hand. Even though his father offers to let him transfer schools, Andrew is determined to spend this year with his two best friends--his twin sister, Dove, and the boy he has a crush on, Thomas.

Thomas is a 'tortured artist' type, a kid with a rough upbringing who can only make art of monsters. As someone who can only write morbid fairy tales, Andrew feels like Thomas's other half. The two create twisted stories together, but when those stories begin to take root outside of the school, the two begin a descent into madness. How could anyone manage a normal school life when there are monsters threatening their classmates?

I have mixed feelings on 'Don't Let the Forest In'. I like that Thomas is a brooding Victorian anti-hero in a modern setting. I like that he's a ginger. I like how the novel sets up a few mysteries at the beginning for us to become invested in, and does a pretty good job foreshadowing the twist without giving anything away. While the prose uses a few too many 'Tumblr Aesthetic Buzzwords' (I'm saying this as an active Tumblr user, but moths, mushrooms, antlers, bones and moss are the most popular forest-eaten aesthetic choices for micro-blogging teens), it's lovely at points, with some visceral body horror both in Andrew's stories and in the descriptions of the monsters themselves.

Unfortunately, those pieces I like are held together with fragile, gossamer threads like spider's webs. Andrew has a toxic codependency towards Thomas, which feels like something the author thought about committing to but didn't want to go the whole way, which is understandable--writing a non-healthy queer relationship in a book geared towards teens can come with some unwanted scrutiny, especially when even the most innocent of gay relationships in books get banned from public and school libraries. Maybe I'm a bit of a sicko, but I was expecting a darker twist than what we got, especially with how much Andrew was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of Thomas.

I think the biggest problem with 'Don't Let the Forest In' is that it takes place in the modern day. Perhaps if Wickwood Academy had more of a conservative, 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' attitude I'd be more forgiving, but if a student who suffered from a serious tragedy and mental break towards the end of the previous year looked exhausted and lost a good deal of weight, he would at the least be cornered by the school nurse or spoken to by a guidance counselor. Even setting it in the 90's or early 2000's would have worked better for ignoring the mental and physical health of teens, and GSAs and asexuality were known about then, too, so it wouldn't have made them feel anachronistic (I went to a rural high school in the 2000's and was also a member of the GSA and was grappling with my asexual identity, so I speak from experience). Alternatively, I think a college setting would have let the same things happen without as much teacher intervention (since you're technically an 'adult' then), but it would lose it's YA rating then.

One last issue... a red herring is introduced only a few pages before the twist is revealed. I wish we had this misdirection earlier, since it had me thinking 'Wait a minute... that doesn't quite work' and going back to earlier points of the book, only to have the actual twist happen right afterwards. Personally, I wanted more time to chew on this, since it leads into what the actual twist is... though I'll admit, even if it made less sense I kind of liked the red herring more than what actually happened.

Ultimately, 'Don't Let the Forest In' has a lot to offer. I'm sure if I would have picked this up as an angsty, artsy, asexual teenager who dealt with bullies and bad grades, I would have loved this book. As a cranky adult (who is still asexual and artsy, but learned early on that she wasn't artsy enough to make a career out of it), I'd give it a 3.5. But since that cranky adult isn't the target audience for it, I'll let my younger self raise that rating up to a 4.

Twist and turns and deep mental illness are not things one expects from a YA queer book, but DONT LET THE FOREST IN delivers all perfectly. I appreciated the asexuality aspect, something not explored enough in media, as well as the twist revolving Dove and Thomas. I’ll be re reading this soon in an attempt to pick up on the excellent foreshadowing

god this was so good i'm so in love!!!!! the blurb is what had me adding this to my tbr and requesting it from netgalley but i just. my brain is scrambled atm. i loved this so much.

I really enjoyed the descriptive writing and the body horror. I also liked the angsty yearning and self-discovery of the two boys. Some of the dialogue felt “off” to me, and the plot and pacing felt disjointed at times. I would recommend this to anyone who likes YA horror + lgbtqia representation.

It's rare for me to pick up a horror book and even rarer that I adore it as much as I did this one. This book is gruesome and terrible with lots of gore and monsters to match. The language is rooted in fairytale so even with the book being so descriptive, it's very flowery and fantastical.
I couldn't look away from Andrew and Thomas. They would go to the ends of the earth for each other, to their own detriment. They aren't okay and maybe they would've been better off without each other but they make this book so worth it.
My favorite part was most certainly the asexual representation. I felt very seen.
This book is full of beautifully gross horror, it covers a wide range of traumatic topics, and it's done so well. I'm haunted by it.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I thoroughly enjoyed the horror elements of this book, the body horror reminded me of hell followed with us by A.J. White; the descriptions were gruesomely and wonderfully descriptive and well written, as well as the general horror elements that weren’t body horror. I think the horror was the strongest part of this novel.
But alas, the horror was (to my surprise) not the main focus. The bulk of the story was focused on Andrew and Thomas’s relationship and Andrew's identity. Had this been marketed as more of a romance and self exploration novel with elements of horror, I wouldn't have been so caught off guard. I was getting tired of the constant descriptions of Thomas, it felt like every other sentence was Thomas this and Thomas that, to a point that I genuinely didn’t have an idea who Andrew was outside of Thomas. I get that's sort of the point but I think it would’ve been nice to have a starting point where we compare and contrast Andrew at the beginning vs the end with his obsession with Thomas but the very first chapter he’s already completely obsessed. (A break would’ve been nice as well, I was actually getting irked with how much of Andrew's narration was just Thomas).
I also felt as though the story progressed too slowly. I got more than 50% of the way through and only two major things had happened, one at the very beginning and one right after half way, and everything in between was so slow and repetitive. Every night and every morning followed a similar pattern until it would be broken up by a major event before it would start to fall back into that pattern again. There were also some elements and plot points that were mentioned and then just completely dropped? Thomas’s parents and the following investigation? Hardly mentioned outside of the first few chapters. The enforcement of not sneaking out at night by the school staff? Never actually (conveniently) happens.
In summary, I think marketing this as primarily a horror novel was a bit of a disservice to the book. I think it would be better and more true to the actual story for it to be marketed as a romance with horror elements. I loved the horror elements, they were the best parts for me, but I got a bit sick of the romance and main dynamic because of how overwritten I felt the relationship and descriptions was. The writing, for me, was beautiful for the non romance elements. I may reread it once it's released and see how I feel knowing and not expecting it to be a horror book first and romance second. I would recommend this to body horror lovers, darker queer romance appreciators, and people who enjoy flowery prose.

siento que le falta desarrollar muchas cosas, hay cosas del final que no entendí y tengo una sensación rara porque no se cómo explicar el sentimiento que me dejó

I feel weird about this book. I'm torn, really.

First of all, I absolutely loved the writing. Descriptive, atmospheric, beautiful, the visceral descriptions were everything.

My problem with the story is the way the whole plot was carried. I don't know, I feel that maybe it needed a little bit more development on the page to get me more engaged with everything. I couldn't connect completely with the relationship/romance or the characters themselves and who they are. After reading the plot twist I could understand why they acted like that, but still, I wasn't invested enough to completely care. And I don't know if I'm stupid or something, but I didn't understand the ending.

There were plenty of good things in this book and I would have loved it more if it wasn't that many things felt flat and should have been more elaborated to comprehend and get more invested in the story.

2.5☆

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and the author, C. G. Drews, for giving me this arc.

This was a great read. I loved the representation in this book. I love that it includes people of all different backgrounds. I find the author's writing to be beautiful in itself and I am already adding a preorder of this in hardcover and other CG Drews books to my TBR. I highly recommend this one!

This book was just not quite my cup of tea. I love anything with spooky monsters, but I could not get past the main character.

I know he was going through a mental crisis, but the way he was so oblivious to everything around him, his constant self depreciating talk, and his selfishness was extremely annoying. Especially with his best friend and other friends around him were trying so hard to help him.

I personally would not read again, But that's only because of the main character. It was beautifully written and I loved all of the supporting characters.

The plot of this story is so unique where monsters are brought to life with ink. I really enjoyed the development of Andrew and Thomas’ relationship as they attempted to take down these monsters that they were unintentionally creating. Some scenes left you questioning if the narrator was being truthful as you are taken down some interesting twists and turns.

The writing was phenomenal in this book, Drews created this eerie and unsettling feeling about the forest where you were basically transposed right into the story. I almost felt like I was Andrew as he was being overtaken by the forest, with each advancement and development from the mushrooms, to thorns, to moss, to bark. Some of the ways phrases and words were structured in this story also made it atmospherically pleasing, giving insight to both the world of the monsters while also putting us into the head of our main character. I also constantly found myself highlighting all kinds of quotes and paragraphs due to how rich and beautifully it was written.

I love when books include really strong friendships containing underlying romantic feelings. Our main characters were not only battling these monsters but also what to do with the feelings that they have for each other. Andrew and Thomas had a sort of codependency rooted in their friendship where each of them held the ultimate “I would die for you” mentality. It was extremely believable, the emotion and depth of these characters made them jump right off the page. I was feeling all this immense emotion between the characters and the deep love that they truly held for each other.

This is a story that will stay with me for a long time and can definitely see myself rereading it in the future. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to read this arc!

Thank you so, so much to the Netgalley team, the Feiwel and Friends team, the incredible C.G. Drews for making this haunting nightmare of a book come to life and letting me review it. I feel so fortunate to have read this incredible work of art.

Y’all are not ready for the tour-de-force that is C.G. Drews’ queer, YA, psychological, cottagegore, debut horror novel. You won’t be ready when it comes out in October in time for Halloween, and you won’t be ready after you’ve read it’s very last page.

This is the very first book of C.G. Drews I’ve ever read, and I am blown away like autumn leaves in a rogue wind. Drews does such an incredible job of creating believable male teenage angst, and every chapter in the plot sings its mournful song like the haunted, tragic tale that it is. The prose is as dense and as lush as the forest that terrorizes Wickwood Academy’s students, and overall, Drews just has some killer lines that I’m going to highlight and tuck away like some crow who’s found some shiny baubles.

My favorite part about the novel, without hopefully giving too much away, was how queerness, horror, romance, and intimacy were explored and how thin the lines between all of them are. Andrew’s asexuality as a character wasn’t just a prop but an integral part to his story and his character, and I loved reading every single word of this tragic forest boy’s story.

If you appreciate a more mature-YA read like I do, this book is for you.
If you own a deck of Sam Guay’s Blood Moon Tarot cards, this book is for you.
If you keep listening to Kester Spach’s dark cottagecore mixtape on YouTube (content warning for language and disturbing images), this book is definitely for you to read and maybe even listen to the music at the same time.

Absolutely haunting, gorgeous, gritty, and gorey.