I had extremely high expectations for this because I loved Don’t Let The Forest In so much. Not only did this meet those expectations, Hazelthorn completely exceeded them and I think I love it even more.

C. G. Drews lures you in with a lush, beautiful, visceral prose that makes you want to sink your teeth into it… If it doesn’t sink its teeth into you first.

Everything about this book was engaging and horrifically lovely. It is all blood-soaked soil and poisonous blooms reaching for your open mouth. I was torn between not being able to tear through the pages quickly enough, and wanting to remain in a garden full of ghosts forevermore.

4.5 stars rounded up

This book is full of lush, vivid prose steeped in botanical richness. I hope you’re ready for PLANTS but make it horror - every leaf, petal, and vine hold something sinister.

This story leans hard into gothic vibes and is wonderfully creepy. The sense of dread throughout is masterfully written and there is an isolated, almost claustrophobic vibe that somehow makes you need to keep reading.

In true CG Drews fashion the author has left me thinking about the story hours later. The way nature is portrayed in Hazelthorn is creepy and unsettling (in a good way). I was able to figure out some twists and not others which is just the way I like it.

This book features neurodivergent/autistic representation, which is an important part of the story. I am not personally qualified to speak to the accuracy of this portrayal. I’ll leave that conversation to readers with lived experience.

Definitely recommend to those who enjoy a highly atmospheric novel, murder mysteries, and a little sci fi in their horror.

Dark, twisted, and beautifully strange
Hazelthorn is the kind of book that latches onto you with creeping vines and doesn’t let go. CG Drews has crafted another eerie and atmospheric tale, mixing gothic horror, obsession, and a garden that feels terrifyingly sentient.

Evander is a fascinating narrator—fragile, haunted, and deeply human. His dynamic with Laurie is disturbing in all the right ways, toeing the line between tension and tenderness. The mystery surrounding Byron's death kept me hooked, but it’s the garden itself—lush, alive, and absolutely malevolent—that stole the show for me. The atmosphere is stunning: claustrophobic, elegant, and grotesque in equal measure.

If I had one complaint, it's that the pacing sometimes dragged in the middle. Some parts could’ve been trimmed without losing impact. Still, Drews’ writing is lush and lyrical, and the horror feels both intimate and mythic.

Perfect for fans of botanical horror, morally gray relationships, and slow-burning dread. I’ll definitely be thinking about this one for a long time.

The moment I read this consisted of botanical horror and evil Secret Garden vibes, I was already obsessed. Don’t Let the Forest In was one of my favorite reads last year, so I was super excited to get my hands on Hazelthorn. I’m thrilled to say this is also a five-star read for me!

I devoured this book. The lush prose. The yearning. The plot twists. Everything is so beautifully crafted. I loved the blend of a murder mystery with botanical horror. It felt fresh, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.

The atmosphere is so eerie from the isolated mansion to the sinister garden. The isolation and loneliness haunted each page, and I felt as trapped as Evander. I’ve never been so relieved to be in the comfort of my own home as I read.

Evander and Laurie are wonderful characters. Laurie’s witty remarks killed me each time. Evander’s rage and struggle for self-acceptance and understanding were so heart-wrenching. I loved how Evander and Laurie’s relationship budded along with the garden. Drews creates incredibly complex and compelling characters who take root in my heart and will stay there forever.

I recommend this book for fans of Andrew Joseph White, Lee Mandelo, and those who are fans of bloodthirsty plants.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and Feiwel & Friends for an ARC of Hazelthorn in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was truly terrifying and deadly. Obsessed with the man who tried to kill him while under the watch of the man who keeps him. Chilling and truly wonderfully done.

Swamp Thing meets Fall of the House of Usher meets body horror in CG Drew’s new page-turner Hazelthorn.
After a devastating car accident claims both sets of their parents, eccentric billionaire recluse Byron Lennox-Hall brings his grandson, Laurence “Laurie” Lennox-Hall, and newly orphaned Evander to live at his sprawling, shadow-drenched estate, Hazelthorn Manor. But the boys’ new life is far from idyllic.
Tragedy strikes again in adolescence with Laurie in a possible fit of rage attempting to murder Evander while playing in the cursed gardens of Hazelthorn and Evander retaliating by disabling Laurie by biting through the tendon in his arm but did the events take place as Evander remembers them?
Years later, Evander’s memories are riddled with holes. He suffers unexplained episodes—blackouts, physical paralysis—and struggles to recall the full truth. Kept locked in his room for his own safety (or so he’s told), he’s under the watchful eye of the stern housekeeper Carrington and his secretive foster grandfather Byron. He’s warned daily: never go into the gardens.
However, one night his door unlocks, he watches an argument between Carrington and Laurie, Byron dies in front of him, and suddenly, Evander’s tightly controlled world begins to unravel. His grief and horror at his loss drives him into the garden. The garden that should be teeming with life but is instead filled with empty garden beds and vines. What happened to the plants his grandfather spent so much time cultivating? Why is it that the plants move with his every step? What's behind the pulsing red garden door?
Hazelthorn masterfully blends psychological suspense with gothic horror. C. G. Drews crafts an unforgettable unreliable narrator in Evander, evoking echoes of Salinger’s Holden Caulfield but filtered through a darker, more fractured lens. The novel explores trauma and memory with chilling elegance, and its slow-burn tension builds to a haunting crescendo.

Five out of Five stars.

Wow, C.G. Drews, you've done it again! I recently discovered the gothic, botanical horror genre and I love it so much. Hazelthorn is hauntingly beautiful and managers to shatter then mend your heart. The writing, setting, characters, plot, and pacing were all exceptional. I'm seriously so blown away. The imagery in this book is amazing and so detailed- I can't wait to see some fan art of the boys and the garden. I also liked the addition of drawings of some of the plants throughout the book. It helped to picture the plants of the garden, and really added to the overall scenery and vibes.

Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends, and the author C.G. Drews for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Seriously, thank you so much, I literally screamed when I got the email that I was approved for this.

Hazelthorn releases Oct 28 2025! This would be a PERFECT Halloween read.

Five ruby red stars!!

CG Drews has truly outdone themselves with Hazelthorn. Thank you so much to Feiwel & Friends and the author for a copy of the book and the opportunity to leave my honest, voluntary review! All thoughts and opinions are my own :)

This book is a garden-rot fever dream in a run-down conservatory, mixed with murder and mystery, and character tension and rage like you wouldn't believe. All blended perfectly together to create a dark, vivid, and mesmerizing horror story you can't help but devour (as it devours you all the same).

I love a book where the third person POV is so evocative that it feels like I'm living it in the first person, and that's just what I got when walking the walls of Hazelthorn with Evander and Laurie. I could feel the moss and dirt beneath my feet and feel the thorns in my teeth. I shuddered at one point reading something about... feet... and roots... and you'll just have to read it yourself and let it give you the creeps, too.

Anyway, CG Drews has a fan for life, in me. This is a YA book you won't want to miss.

Publishing October 28, 2025!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

After reading Don't Let the Forest In, I could not stop thinking about it.

Hazelthorn is also that mix of beautiful and weird and dark. I can honestly say that I did not know how this was going to end.

Hazelthorn is alive — and it’s hungry.
C.G. Drews’ Hazelthorn is a captivating descent into a world where the botanical meets the brutal, and beauty is laced with thorns. This is not your run-of-the-mill tale along the lines of The Secret Garden—Hazelthorn pulses with vines that strangle, soil that feeds, and roots that remember.
Drews narrative is part fairytale and fever dream, wrapping the reader in prose as lush and dangerous as the forest it conjures. Each page drips with floral rot.
It’s a novel that feels like it was grown rather than written, full of barbed beauty and hungry violence. Hazelthorn doesn’t scream—it creeps under your skin until you’re not sure if you’re reading it, or it’s growing inside you.
For readers who crave darkly lyrical horror and a story that doesn’t flinch from the grotesque glory of nature, Hazelthorn is a must-read.
Just be prepared: this garden doesn’t let go.

Gothic horror at its absolute finest. I loved this book. This book was totally unexpected and I could not put it down. I had to keep reminding myself it was set in the present day, but it easily could have been set hundreds of years earlier. Spooky old mansion, tragic orphans, plotting relatives, forbidden love/hate relationships, and dark magic. What more could a reader want for a day or two of reading.

I’m pretty sure at this point CG Drews my heart ripped out and stored in a jar somewhere. I thought this book wouldn’t be able to come close to Don’t Let the Forest In but they have delivered yet another artfully and masterfully crafted story

This is my first step into the horror genre and I loved it. From the very beginning this book is captivating with its world building and veiled words. That completely went over my head at the time. But eventually would make perfect sense. Two boys have a complicated history where it's seems someone doesn't really know the truth of what happened one day seven years ago. This book is filled with longing angst and confusion. There was many times where I would just stare at the wall contemplating what just happened. By the end of this book everything seemed to have spiraled along with my emotions. CG Drew's did a wonderful job overall with their writing style and how it really brought you into the world. If you are thinking of reading this book just read it you won't regret it.
Favorite quote: "I wanted Hazlethorn" I'll just leave it at that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Childs Publishing Group/ Feiwel & Friends for allowing to read a digital arc and review it.

I had just finished up “Don’t Let the Forest In” when I submitted the request for Hazelthorn and I am
so glad I did! Something about Drews work is so hauntingly beautiful, and above anything the way they write about human experience in tandem with nature elements is well done. I loved Evander, so much so that what I can only describe as a plot twist really caught me off guard (in a good way). The side characters served their purpose and pushed the story along, but the central focus on the past and present of Evander and Laurie really make it feel like the experiences are just theirs. I loved this story, and cannot wait to read more!

i was so excited when i received this arc, i had to start it immediately. cg drews has such a devastatingly beautiful way of writing queer horror. hazelthorn is full of rage and monsters, but deep down it’s a story about pain, loneliness, and being told you’re too much for the world around you.
it captures the experience of being told, again and again, that you're too much, that your pain is inconvenient, that you must shrink yourself for the comfort of others. that forced silencing only buries the hurt deeper, until it festers into resentment and rage. no matter how much dirt you try to pack over the pain, it will will come back to bite.

the relationship between these two lonely, hurting boys was heartbreaking. their separation and yearning hurt. the cg drews explored the themes in this book through the the garden was haunting and beautiful. and the autistic representation was written so well without ever feeding into stereotypes.

Hazelthorn is a dark, gripping story with stunning prose and vivid worldbuilding. C.G. Drews knows how to pull readers in and hold them tight, with tension and emotion layered throughout every page. It’s horror, yes—but it’s also about survival, grief, and the quiet strength it takes to keep going.

What really stuck with me is how this book isn’t just about the fear—it’s about what’s underneath it. And sometimes, it’s okay to find pieces of yourself in the story, even in the darkest parts.

If you're looking for something that’s beautifully written, emotionally sharp, and a little haunting in the best way—Hazelthorn is worth it.

If I could give this a thousand stars, I would. I am shook.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved Don’t Let the Forest In. I was thrilled to be selected for an eARC for Hazelthorn! I love the spooky and creepy vibes from CG Drews. And Hazelthorn 100% delivers in those categories. I kept forgetting this was modern day, which lent even more of that off-kilter feeling. Like a space trapped in time, which is very much what the Hazelthorn estate seems to be. It’s a murder mystery plus malevolent secret garden plus…I don’t even know. I LOVE IT!!! I blew through this book in half a day. Nothing got done, chores, and meals completely forgotten. All I wanted to do was keep reading. The garden and its secrets, the family and their greed, the confusion around Evander and Laurence- what they are and what they aren’t. Every single page brings more questions. I devoured it all and I want more.

(I can’t believe this is YA, I am going to sleep with my lights on for a while.)

I am shook. This book had a massive chokehold on me and I can’t express how much I adored reading Hazelthorn. My heart was beating so fast the entire time I was reading and I felt just as scared as Evander as the story went on. I was too invested in the story and finished reading within a day and a half 😭 and I STILL WANT MORE AGHHGH

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I felt like I knew where the story was going around halfway through, but still ended up surprised with a few reveals! I loved loved loved Laurie! His “Hi Rapunzel” had my heart fluttering in such a way…and I can’t explain what it was about the relationship between Evander and Laurie that I loved so much, but I’m all here for it ♥️

CG Drews writes beautifully. Descriptions make me feel like I’m actually seeing this world and the agonizing emotions Evander is feeling made me tear up a few times. I could very much relate to his loneliness and isolation on a personal level and felt like it spoke to me in a way that I’ve never really felt before. He reminded me too much of myself and the relatability made it somewhat difficult to read. The child abuse elements were also quite horrific to read and had me feeling so freaking angry.

Again, Drew’s writing had a way of pulling you into the story and empathizing greatly with the characters. Ever since I read “Don’t Let the Forest in,” I knew I had a new favorite author. And I’m pretty sure both are in the same universe with the Wickwood Academy mention??

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m excited to pick up a copy when the book is out in October ♥️

*Hazelthorn* by C.G. Drews is such an addictive read! Hazel, the main character, is super complex and relatable, and the magical world she’s in is just so cool. The story is full of twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. It does get pretty dark and has some tough moral choices, but that’s what makes it so interesting. If you love stories with strong characters and magic, this one’s a must-read!

Wow. What an absolute masterclass of what botanical horror can be when paired with sweet little gay boys and allegory for needing to accept yourself as you are. CG Drews truly never misses. Every once in a while I’d get an idea of where this story was going, and every time I was proven very incorrect. This is an absolute must-read for spooky season this year.