Very atmospheric wit an ending that breaks your heart a little bit. Very cool concept, and I love the culty vibes of it all.

This is one of my favorite YA horrors of the year! In a remote and rural town, Wil has been looking for clues to the disappearance of her mother, whom she suspects was kidnapped and killed by her former best friend's family, the Clarkes. The Clarkes run a creepy cultish church in town, known for sacrificing animals and leaving their bones strung up in trees. Elwood Clarke has been striving his entire life to be the perfect son, withstanding his parent's abuse in the name of God and his higher plan. However, Elwood finally realizes that this "higher plan" involves Elwood himself becoming the sacrifice, and he must run to survive. Wil and Elwood team up to take his family down, and hopefully find Wil's mother along the way. Then strange things begin happening to Elwood and he can feel himself transforming into something else. Something evil.. These characters were great and really made me love this story. Wil grabbed my attention from the first page, and Elwood was her perfect balance. The fiesty girl and the shy boy is a great trope and not done enough. The cover is absolutely amazing and I will be recommending this to everyone I know. Hopefully it gets picked up for TV, because this would be a great movie!

Love a creepy atmospheric read. The writing was beautiful. The horror and cult side was fun but didn't wow me. The cover is the star here.

Nobody touch me I loved this book. Perfect mix of horror and mystery, cults and nature, romance and angst. So beautiful written.

Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

To give anyone a quick idea what this book is about, it begins as the story of senior Wil Greene desperately searching for any clues in her mother's disappearance. The prime suspect in her investigation is the leader of a local religious group/cult. Wil's old friend, Elwood Clarke, is the son of this leader and sided with his father a year prior when she forced him to pick a side, which she has not forgiven him for. Eventually, Elwood discovers something himself- his father and the cult are planning to sacrifice him to satisfy the forest. Having no other options besides each other, Elwood and Wil team up for the first time in a year in order to stay alive.

I feel like I'm having a bit of a tough time rating this. On one hand, I'm not upset that I read it and I don't feel like I wasted my time, but there were certainly some flaws in this story.

To start off with, a positive- the atmosphere was exactly what you would expect from the cover! It was dark and eerie and haunting. In addition, the premise was very interesting and it kept me engaged the entire time despite some flaws in the book. I also enjoyed the sort-off plot twist ending.

Unfortunately, not everything in this book was as great. For one thing, things seemed to work out a little too perfectly at times, if you know what I mean. (MINOR MINOR spoiler ahead) At one point, the group needs to get into a locked room in a building that one of the kids works at. This kid has a ring of keys, but it only has three keys, none of which go to this random room. But they're in luck! Somehow (and this is never actually explained) he 100% ACCIDENTALLY swapped keys THAT DAY with the head person, who did in fact have the key to this room. It just felt like a bit of a cop out to get them into the room easily. Another thing, the ending felt a bit rushed and unexplained at points. It was okay, but it doesn't make me want to read a sequel (even though it seems set up to leave room for one).

Okay, this last problem is a small spoiler sorta. SO. The whole thing about the cult is that they need to sacrifice someone when the seed grows too strong in a person for the Morguewood to be kept from devouring the town area, right? So for this great goal of protecting the town, practically EVERYONE is in on it. But..... why? There is literally nothing special about this town. Everyone can just up and move to the next town over, and not be forced to sacrifice a kid. There is no reason to believe there would be a problem with this. This forest only seems to be sentient or whatever in this area, which is why people are always commenting on the "smell of decay." The only thing that would happen if they left is this small little town would be gone. Oh well?

There were parts of this story I like, and others that were meh. It was an interesting read and I never really felt bored, so if this is your thing, totally read it! Just some of the issues made it just so-so for me.

2.5 stars

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

I do not understand why this novel has so many good reviews. First, one would think with this title that it was about zombies, it is not. That was seriously the reason why my bestie and I wanted to pick it up.
Second, this novel is so damn boring and does not have ANY character development, little detail about the town and surrounding, just so very poorly written! This novel reminds me of Wilder Girls....in the worst kind of way. This does not make sense and was not enjoyable. In fact, this novel felt painful and I struggled to finish it. When I did finish I was greatly relieved.

This novel is looking at a cult and apparently had sacrificed some people....but that was not entirely explained. The cult was not entirely explained. How this town was all but not all involved in the cult was not explained. SOOOOOO many parts of this were NOT EXPLAINED! And the ending, that just didn't make sense. Go off into the world and explore but this is our new beginning....ummmm those contradict each other. This was just bad and felt unoriginal between the YA Wilder Girls and the adult sci fi novel Annihilation. This was an extremely disappointing debut novel and like Wilder Girls, may keep me off picking up this author again. It just was poorly written, no world or character building and just down right did not makes sense.

With a cover and title like this, I was intrigued. Based on the synopsis and cover, I was expecting an emotional romance with cult and horror elements, but unfortunately the writing and the story fell flat for me.

Wil Greene's mother went missing a year ago, and Wil is determined to figure out what happened to her. She knows in her gut that the local religious family, the Clarkes, had something to do with it. Unfortunately, her former best friend is Elwood Clarke, and when she gave him an ultimatum, he decided to stick with his family.

Elwood has some struggles of his own, as his father is the pastor of the Garden of Adam, a cult-like congregation with some suspicious practices. Elwood discovers that once he turns eighteen, he will not become the successor for his father, but a sacrifice to the woods that surround their small town.

Wil and Elwood, former best friends, form a partnership to help each other. Elwood will help Wil find out what happened to her mom, and Wil will help Elwood escape his family.

I think my biggest gripe with this book is that it is too short. This caused a lot of the plot points to be glossed over, which made me really have no idea what was happening with the paranormal aspects of this book. I also feel like the characters weren't fully formed, so I struggled to connect with them. And again, because it was so short, the romance aspect didn't feel fully formed either. I was struggling to finish by the end of it and I felt confused by the whole thing. Overall, this story just wasn't for me, but I think some horror readers will like it more than I did.

This book deals with sensitive topics, but in a very good way. It's also amazingly atmospheric. I love books like this, that suck you into the atmosphere of the world and stick.with you even when you're done reading.

3.75 stars while the story was enjoyable it was too drawn out for me. I think about half of what was written was needed. As it was a lot of discretion that could have been slimed over. The cult killing story line was good but it has been done a couple of times in better ways. I will say the ending was not what I was expecting and was surprised. Again enjoyable for a spooky season read but not mind blowing.

I am definitely getting into a creepy reading mood and a horror involving a cult and some supernatural happenings fits that bill perfectly!

This is a super quick read, with short chapters and dual POV to keep the pace moving and hold your interest. I liked following Elwood as he discovers what his father is up to and that there's something inhuman growing inside of him. Wil is antagonistic, but she's lost her best friend in her search for her missing mom and it's easy to understand where she's coming from.

The reasons behind what the cult was doing didn't feel well developed and I didn't quite understand what the overall purpose was. The ending was also a bit strange and I don't really get how things will work for Wil, but it was overall a good horror as we go into fall.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the copy.

For anyone hesitant about reading a book marketed as horror, you can rest easy. The best comparison I can give for this novel is the TV show Riverdale. This story revolves around supernatural small towns, cults, and having to suspend your disbelief to some crazy extents. While I did enjoy this story, especially the two main characters, I found the development of Elwood's "situation" to be so unbelievable (especially in the end) that it really takes you out of the suspense. But by toeing the line between contemporary and fantasy, the author has done herself a disservice, and I think a different genre could have allowed for more world-building and comprehension than was achieved in this short novel.

3.5/5 Stars

After her mother unexpectedly disappears, Wil Greene is determined to find out what happened to her. Wil used to be bestfriends with Elwood Clarke, but after she blames the very religious Clarke family for her mother's disappearance, their friendship ends. Then Elwood shows up on her doorstep one night, after breaking his parent's rules, they learn of their sinister plans. They team up to stop the Clarkes before its too late.

First off, in love with this cover, I just think its so pretty. Secondly, cult is one of my buzzwords, so I was so excited to pick this up! I finished this book in one sitting as it is an extremely fast paced book. That being said, at times the fast pace made me feel like I missed or lost details in the story. I felt like there wasn't much explanation on backstory on the cult or town. I do think the writing style was gorgeous though. I thought the dual POV was interesting, and I liked being able to see inside both character's heads. I'm a sucker for friends-to-enemies-to lovers, so I ate this up. I liked Wil's character, and loved how she was so determined to find her mother. She is extremely loyal when she cares about you and I loved watching her relationship with Elwood grow as the story progressed. She may also be slightly unhinged and a tad bit feral, which I LOVED. Also, big fan of Elwood, he was such a sweet cinnamon roll.

I will definitely be checking out more from this author when available!

Prickly girls, gothic horror, cults, ritualistic sacrifice, religious trauma, grief, parental abuse, and love are woven together in this darkly beautiful narrative.

Together We Rot follows two former best friends who have been torn apart by loss and familial loyalty. Wil's mom disappeared a year ago and she is convinced she was kidnapped by Elwood's dad, but no one will listen to her. Now her dad has fallen into an alcohol and grief-fueled stupor while Elwoods family plans to buy and demolish the rundown motel they own and live in.

Elwood has been raised by abusive, hyper-religious parents. His dad is the pastor of the town church and he has hardly stepped a toe out of line, even picking his family over Wil. Even though his had has made him participate in the ritualistic sacrifice of rabbits in the creepy woods next to the town. But now he's turning 18 and realizes that he is intended to be an even greater sacrifice and has to run to save his own life. But there may already be something strange growing within him...

This was intense but I couldn't put it down and ultimately it's a story that is dark and bloody, but also beautiful. Wil is a mess and all thorns- pushing people away because she's hurting and afraid of being hurt even more. But the friendships in this book (including a cast of side characters) are loyal and willing to go through hell for each other. It's a book about grief, pain, and abuse but also about healing and escape. I loved it. I would firmly call this horror with a romantic subplot. I received a copy of this book for review via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

a fun and fast paced read that i enjoyed!! i had been following this author for a while now and am glad to finally be able to read this book!

I didn't expect to love a book about a bug-obsessed cult boy and a furious junior reporter but here we are.

This novel was so atmospheric and gripping that I felt a chill reading it in the dead of a Florida summer. I could smell the snow, hear moth wings, and feel the cult's grip on the town looming like a taloned hand just over my shoulder, out of my periphery.

Set in the dead of winter in the upper peninsula of Michigan, Together We Rot set the stage for a small town cult's nefarious acts in the name of God like a high end Broadway production. The setting, the characters- all of it blended into the narrative and plot of the story like sprinkles and frosting on a cake. The balance of angry Wil and skittish Elwood. The deft description and speculative body horror. Toss in some "the trees have eyes" vibes and creepy midnight religious services and this book was a recipe for success and ripe for binging.

If you're looking for something creepy and spooky to ease into fall, this is the perfect not-quite-cozy book to get your heart rate up.

The story was okay. The characters were okay. It had some good horror scenes towards the end of the story.

One of my favorite reads so far this year. This horror romance is so atmospheric, eerie, and just beautiful. I didn’t want it to end. I preordered and then annotated the crap out of my hard copy. Not only did I find myself super invested in Wil and Elwood but also in the side characters like Lucas, Ronnie, and Kevin, and even the town itself. The setting, dialogue, description, characterization, etc. are all so well-executed. I’m officially a Skyla Arndt fan girl.

Let me say I was not prepared for the twist that this novel comes packed with! I go in blind on a lot of books and I did the same with this. I was thinking it would be a type of YA thriller romance but I was gloriously wrong. This novel has a paranormal side but also ties together cult-like situations, abuse, alcoholism and grief. It's a slow build with a cast of characters that are hard to look away from. The pacing was a bit awkward at times but not to the point it throws things off. I liked the dual POVs and absolutely loved when things get a bit crazy. Go in blind on this one, you won't be dissapointed.

Fun concept, failed execution. The story was okay, it captured my attention in the beginning and then fell a little flat. I couldn’t get into this book or really connect with the characters. Just felt boring to me, and especially in the middle seems felt drawn out. I caught myself skimming to get straight to the point.

Overall, it wasn’t a book for me, but if you like horror with slight romance and religious cults. This might be for you.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Together, We Rot is a twisted thriller that has you hooked from page one. It's well-written and very unique to all the other YA books out there at the moment. The characters are not particularly likable, but they are realistic in their thoughts and actions.

I would not have suggested it for middle school-aged children due to content that is a little too mature for them, but everyone 15 and older who likes a good mystery should pick it up.