This book has a good premise and plot but I found the world building to be a little lacking and the two different POV had me confused for a second as it was introduced quickly in my opinion. Definitely a unique story and I loved the cult vibes I got from this.

Very atmospheric YA fantasy about forests, cults, and transformation. Those topics have been very prominent in teen fiction lately, or at least I feel like I've read a number of those in the last 2 years and this is yet another pleasant addition to those who enjoy such things.
A solid first novel from an author with a lot of promise. The forest and nature don't have as hunting a presence as in "A Dark and Starless Forest" or "The Nature of Witches" and I do think it could have gone deeper into the characters, giving them something more than quirky hobbies and angst, but I'm sure the 16-18 years old audience won't mind. In any case, if you liked the books cited above do have a look at this novel!

This was such an amazing debut novel. The cover art is what initially attracted me to the story (it’s unbelievably gorgeous and haunting and just perfect) and the art went with the theme of the book so well. This is a YA book but it’s definitely dark and twisted. I struggle with YA romances like most of us do, but this never once made me roll my eyes. The characters are so unique, and I loved that the “bad boy” trope was flipped on its head. The girl is the tough character and the boy is soft and sweet, and together they are perfect. I’ve never read a story quite like this before, and I will definitely keep Skyla Arndt on my list for the future!

the cover is beautifully created and it really added to the world, I enjoyed how suspenseful the atmosphere was and that it worked overall. Skyla Arndt has a great writing style and I was invested in what was happening in the story. It worked overall and I was invested in what was happening, the use of cult's were great and I thought it worked overall. I'm excited to read more like this and from Skyla Arndt.

This was a great creepy upper YA story. Finding yourself growing from kid to adult is already difficult, so let’s throw in a creepy religious cult, a towns dark history, some unaliving, and a quirky group of friends-what could go wrong. The family bonds, finding yourself and accepting others were wonderful themes in this book. It was a quick read I’d highly recommend if you’re looking for a bit of a mystery with some dark elements and a HEA.

"Even in December, the Morguewood forest reeks to high heaven. The stench of decay wafts from the forest's soil, tickling my nose. The nasty, lingering odor lasts all year."

YA Horror has buried itself beneath my skin and I'm obsessed. The atmosphere. Wil & Elwood--MY HEART. I love that Wil was supposed to be an unlikeable character - angry and reckless. I lived for it. And the way that sweet cinnamon roll Elwood was the perfect foil *chefs kiss*

If you are looking for something creepy, gothic but also a bit of romance, you should definitely pick up Together We Rot this fall! This is a wonderful debut by Skyla Arndt and I cannot wait to see what other stories she unleashes on the world.

Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Group for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Together We Rot was an atmospheric, creepy story with an eerie forest, a small town and a sinister cult. While I enjoyed the writing style and the worldbuilding, I found the characters not completely fleshed out. Some questions I had weren't sufficiently explained. I also didn't expect that ending, it was strange and a bit rushed.
All in all, it had the potential to be a great book but the author didn't fully exploit its potential.

Wil’s life turned upside down the day her mom went missing. People in town say her mom just got up and abandoned their family, but she knows something bad happened. Whatever occurred, she knows it has something to do with the Clarke family. Unfortunately, Wil’s accusations ultimately end her friendship with her long time best friend, Elwood Clarke. Obsessed with stalking the Clarke family while hoping something leads to her mom, Wil gets much more than she bargained for when Elwood runs away. It turns out the Clarke family are members of an old cult and her former best friend is their next human sacrifice.

This book was an absolutely wild read. We follow Wil and Elwood as their lives continue to take a turn for the unexpected, only now it has a supernatural twist neither of them could’ve ever predicted. Wil is a stubborn and ill-tempered teenager whose grief has only fed into her anger. Her dad has disappeared into the bottle while hardly anyone in town listens to her shouting that the Clarke family had something to do with her mother’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Elwood is a long-time victim of verbal and physical abuse just trying to keep his head above the water. His entire life has been mapped out for him, only he never realized that included his parents and their cult sacrificing him in the woods.

I wasn’t sure what to expect once I started the book because it was dragging along for a bit, and Wil seemed like she was trying too hard to be “hard.” However, once the story gets rolling, it really gets rolling. I gathered early on that Elwood was our deepest connection to the supernatural even before things started happening given how strange his family was. I don’t want to say too much on this front because I don’t want to spoil anything, but phew. This was an excellent read and while it does have classic tropes one finds in the young adult genre, it also has a lot of heavy themes that make sense to the story rather than appearing for the shock value.

Plus, there is an interesting cast of core characters. While we don’t follow Wil and Elwood’s small group of friends, they strap in for the wild ride and I really liked all of them. They are excellent and supportive side characters that really help bring things together. I was really surprised that I liked one of the characters, Lucas, as the book continued. He is definitely a character that snuck up on me. I also like that we get to see a little more below the surface of some of the important players everyone fights against.

The supernatural plot is excellent and different from anything I’ve read before. Who and what is Elwood, and why must he be sacrificed? What is this cult about anyway? I had several questions and about half of the answers were truly explosive. Once the ball gets rolling, this is an excellent story with a lot of world building and backstory that doesn’t feel like it’s going overboard. Everything unfolds in due time, and none of it seems off the wall or out of place. I also really enjoyed the character growth we see despite these characters going to hell and back. This is a very strong debut novel and I’m looking forward to what the author publishes next.

First of all thankyou Skyla for getting me out of my reading slump. I read this in one day, I just couldn't put this book down. I really enjoyed this story as it was something new to what I have read before. The storyline was beautifully written. I just couldn't wait to see how it would end (Perfect ending). The characters were perfectly written and easily liked. I loved wills character she kept me entertained all the way through. Hopefully we see a sequel.

And that cover is so beautiful 😍

This book didn't quite live up to my (admittedly overly high) expectations, but I think it will definitely work well enough for fans of the comp titles people have been bringing up. It felt like, at times, the characters weren't as richly drawn as they could have been, but the plot was engaging enough that it didn't matter too much. Definite content warning for animal sacrifice (which shouldn't be surprising from the plot description).

Y.A. gothic horror with a dash of romance and cults: this was basically written for me as a teenager. Loved it!

Together We Rot by Skyla Arndt is a quick and fast-paced read with a strong atmosphere. The premise of a teenage girl seeking the truth about her missing mother and forming an unlikely alliance with her former best friend, who she hides from his cult-leading family, is intriguing. The addition of horror vibes, romance, and well-crafted characters made the story even more compelling.

The writing is fantastic, and the anger felt by the protagonist Wil is palpable. Skyla Arndt's gift for prose is evident in the creation of a dark, moody town with intriguing secrets. The themes of grief, alcoholism, child abuse, corruption, and murder blend seamlessly with paranormal elements, making this a book that readers will find difficult to put down.

Although a great debut, what the book lacked for me was depth. The pace was so fast that I wished it had slowed down to allow the characters more time to grow, and for the reader to become better acquainted with all of the characters and their relationships. The romance and angst could have also benefited from a slower build. Although we receive glimpses from the past, I felt it was not enough to establish the characters' relationships thoroughly.

Overall, I anticipate reading more from Skyla Arndt, and I recommend Together We Rot to anyone in search of a fast-paced, gothic, horror-mystery, with some romance and great characters.

4.5*

So much potential in such a weird little book! I was firmly convinced that this was going to be a pleasantly creepy, maybe a little superficial experience, and in a way it was, even if the book itself did leave a sense of lack of depth - there could have been plenty of room for more tense atmosphere-creating scenes, backstory, or even more serious themes (religious trauma, cult activity, parental abuse, etc.).
But the last chapter came and I won't lie, I was in tears. I didn't realize how much I had grown to love the characters, and speaking of which, Elwood is such a simp, and he is so real for it!
It's not fair to make comparisons, but while reading it I was reminded of Shea Ernshaw's Winterwood (small, claustrophobic town buried under snow, a relatively small cast and dual POV) and in terms of character creation, Together We Rot absolutely took the cake.
Thank you very much for thee-ARC! I heartily recommend this book for a good sit in the woods, watching the butterflies fly and spring emerge from the seeds in the ground!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. It is an earthy gothic thriller. I did feel like the plot was a tad jumbled. There was also a lot of filler and I felt like more questions could have been answered. Over all it was a quick easy read that I would recommend to fans of House of Hollow and What we Harvest. Also, the cover art is just gorgeous and what really drew me in. Thank you for the opportunity to review this ARC.

A stunning cover that masks a plot overtaken by weeds.

“Together We Rot” contrasts Elwoods whispers to escape a cult against his former friend Wil’s shouts to uncover the truth behind her mothers disappearance. As they find themselves together again both must work to put the past aside while outrunning with the horrors creeping in just beyond the tree line.

I wanted to love this so much it has everything I enjoy from small town lore, cults and true crime, and a forest that may or may not have teeth but it never quite managed to take me there like I had hoped.

The plot and characters feel underdeveloped in the sense that they work for this story but with a few more edits could have really packed a punch handling the sinister like secrecy of cults along with their warped belief system and how that can be suffocating to a person trying to get out as well as the conflict it causes when faced with someone who is trying to shine a light on the skeletons in their closet. I felt like the friendship between Wil and Elwood was nice but we only really got those moments at the end which worked in context of the scene but hurt everything that came before.

Like the forest I am left feeling just as hungry for more but ultimately afraid that I’ll have to just take this for what it is and hope the next reader is able to find in it what I could not.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

This debut book was different than what I was expecting. The book gave a gothic meet horror vibes and with mix of paranormal and I enjoyed this YA book! The characters in this book is the strongest aspect of the book and the characters were definitely written well. Please search up the TW before proceeding into this book because there are triggering content. I really liked the friendship between Will and Elwood and this book got me emotional!

What I liked most about this book was the characters themselves. Everyone was very distinct and had their own individual personalities. They felt like real people and not just characters in a book. The group interactions were definitely my favorite thing.
What I didn't like as much was pacing. Pacing is a big thing for me in books and unfortunately this was a bit rushed and I felt like things could have been fleshed out more, especially the romance. It just didn't feel enough.
All in all it's a great gothic YA romance that I would highly recommend.

*I received an ARC thru netgalley for an honest review*

This book had a very strong start! I feel like i got a lot of feel for the characters even though the book takes place in the aftermath of a lot of events, such as:

-wil’s mom going missing. We only hear about this looking back. Not even flashbacks, just upon reflection. Which normally would be okay but it was such a huge event that to have it only told through sentences here and there lost some of its urgency. But you can see how it shaped wil, her dad, and their relationship
-elwood and wil’s friendship break up. You never get a sense of their years long chemistry, even though it is good
-ronnie sticking it to her uber-religious mom and becoming a totally different person.

All of these things shaped the characters which is totally obvious, but it was all in the past.

Also i got suckered into the cult plot and it wasnt really…about that. I mean it WAS, but not enough. I did really enjoy the changing POVs and that the climactic scene was told from elwood’s POV. I feel like a lot of those scenes are not told this way in other novels and it was refreshing to read it in this new way. It doesnt make sense without spoilers, so sorry for the vagueness!


Overall i felt the story was a bit rushed. And i wasnt really expecting the end to go the way it did when i read the synopsis. I think this book was entertaining and heartwarming but also could have been fleshed out way more.

This author has strong potential and i would read more.

When her former best friend, now enemy, Elwood, reveals that he is the next sacrifice for his family's deadly cult, what else is there for Wil to do. but save his life? The two are in a race against time as dangerous things are growing and the woods are calling for blood.

Arndt treads familiar ground here with horror tropes such as murderous cults, timely tarot readings and Monsters in the Woods. But despite being traditional, they are deftly used and move the story along at an excellent pace. Fans of 'unlikeable heroines' will be thrilled with main character, Wil, a young woman with understandable reactions to the hand life has dealt her and her struggle to do the right thing.

I look forward to seeing what else Arndt has in store.

4/5 stars

3 stars!

Together We Rot is a solid YA debut novel.
Fun elements include: creepy woods! atmospheric setting in a wintery small-town in Michigan! feral heroine! soft love interest! dual pov!

First and foremost, I really liked the ragtag group of friends and frenemies that developed over the course of the book. Main character Wilhelmina, her friend Ronnie, Ronnie’s ex-boyfriend Lucas who’s friends with Wil’s ex-best-friend Elwood, and Kevin, another friend of theirs, all have some messy history, but find themselves involved in the same mystery of Wil’s missing mother and Elwood’s strange family.
I loved all their interactions and little adventures, trying to figure out what is going on in that town and how they can help Elwood. I wish there had been more scenes with all of them because I enjoyed them so much.
Secondly, Wilhelmina is such a great heroine. I loved reading about her, the way she did not feel the need to conform to anything and did not mind making others uncomfortable by taking up space. She’s such a force. She aggressively demands answers for her mother’s disappearance and does whatever she deems necessary to achieve that goal. It was a lot of fun to follow her story.
What I also really liked was the atmospheric setting. The author really manages to paint the picture of a forgotten, sleepy little town with weird, sinister goings on. The writing is very descriptive, which I think is a matter of taste. I definitely enjoyed it most of the time.

Now for the things I didn’t like as much:
mostly, I wanted more angst. For a book that’s marketed as enemies to lovers, the romance was a little bland— I liked Wil and Elwood as friends, but I felt they lacked the chemistry and angsty scenes that would have made me really ship them.
Moreover, while Together We Rot is mostly a quick read, the pacing was a little slow towards the middle and I found myself losing interest in the story for a bit. I pushed through and the pacing picked up again, but it’s still something to consider.

Recommended for readers who enjoy YA paranormal books with creepy elements and an atmospheric and character focused plot.

CONTENT WARNINGS:
⁃ death of a parent
⁃ parental abandonment
⁃ abusive parents
⁃ vomiting
⁃ bugs
⁃ substance abuse (alcohol)
⁃ religious cult

I will update this review with a link later (once I’ve posted this review on my instagram).