I was hooked from the cover and description, and really glad I got to read this. The concept was perfectly done for the psychological thriller genre, the characters had a great feel to it and worked with what I was hoping for. The concept worked well and thought of the woods as it's own character. It had that element that I wanted and I could feel the fairy tale element perfectly. CG Drews has a great writing style and was able to make the characters interesting.

I’m so very excited to have gotten the chance to read this book early ( thanks to NetGalley) so I can tell people to READ THIS BOOK ( it comes out October 29th).

Don’t Let the Forest In feels like a modern fairytale and actually ends like a fairytale depending on what you know about fairytales (remember this if you decide to read it). I truly loved this story from the beautiful writing full of metaphors and haunting descriptions to the characters and their love of words and art. Andrew loves writing and Thomas loves drawing everything Andrew dreams up. Their creations hold the secrets that hide deep within them and they become very real and very dangerous monsters. Set in a boarding school in Virginia, Andrew and Thomas have to deal with their own feelings, issues, school, and bullies while fighting these monsters each night. This book kept creeping into my thoughts throughout the days I was reading it. I kept thinking about the characters as if I knew them personally. It reminded me about other books I love such as Bridge to Terabithia and Some Kind of Happiness in the way the characters use fairytales to understand or cope with their feelings or traumatic experiences. It made me think of The Raven Boys in the way you can feel the devotion in friendship these characters have as soon as you meet them. It reminded me of Mexican Gothic with its naturalistic horror and gore. And it felt like watching Guillermo del Toro’s haunting fairytales on screen.

This book felt very human in the way the author wrote pain, sadness, angst, unrequited love, and friendship. I wanted to start the book all over again right after I finished. I felt this book very personally and I’m excited for people like me to find and read it and call it their favorite someday soon.

And I’d like to use this space to thank the author for writing something with everything I look for in a perfect book. It was really magical reading your words.

This was absolutely beautiful, eerie, tragic, haunting, it was just everything.

It’s about our lovely boy Andrew, an asexual story writer, the boy he loves Thomas, and them fighting the monsters they brought to life through Andrew’s writing and Thomas’s drawings. I wont go into it more than that, but it’s a story of suffering and you should check trigger warnings!

The writing of this book is so lyrical, there were so many quotes I highlighted I can’t wait to grab a finished copy and tab the entire book up. Plus the cover…. Just absolutely stunning.

Plot: Though it was the middle of spring when I started this ARC, I could feel all the creepy vibes lingering, with six months until the spooky season. The overall plot of this book was quite intriguing and addicting, which made the story engaging. I loved the combination of writer, artist, dark academia, and forestry happening here, which feels like an odd combination, but clearly, C.G. Drews knew how to weave these components in. The plot of this story is quite linear until you get to the end, which is such a twister for me and unexpected.

There was quite some mystery in this plot that would first leave you wondering throughout the pages, but it didn’t feel abrupt. It adds to that “Am I going crazy?” feeling that the readers are also immersed in with the characters. The forest horror was truly wonderful, and this was a great experience for me as this is the first psychological horror book I’ve ever read. The ending is *chef’s kisses.* I haven’t enjoyed an ending like that in a loooooong time!

Characters: The characters we meet through this story all have unique characteristics that make them special. I loved how C.G. Drews shaped their characters, and I believe that every one of them was captivating in their own way. While this book mostly focused on Andrew’s point of view, I find that we were all able to learn about all the characters equally. I especially loved how Andrew was able to create more relationships later with other students at Wickwood, and C.G. Drews caught the essence of inequities and struggles occurring with adolescents around the age range of both Andrew and Thomas authentically.

Writing style: The writing was wonderful, and I deeply enjoyed the world-building that took place in the first half of the book. I feel that the writing style is appropriate for YA readers, as it can be both easy and challenging at the same time. Overall, the writing flowed quite well, despite some hindering points with repetitiveness that I will soon get into. Also, it was interesting that C.G. Drews wrote in a third-person limited instead of first-person, but reading the book proved why this choice was best!

Critiques: At times, the metaphors and certain word choices became repetitive, and one of the chapters where we get the flashback is double that of all the other chapters, which made reading that part of the book quite draggy and slow. I recommend having that chapter split in half if anything, and the flashback is a perfect spot for it.

My Rating: 5/5

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan, for providing this ARC!

This had such an atmospheric quality to it, I could envision the characters and especially the setting so well, it made it eerie and very memorable.

I found this book to be incredibly atmospheric and horrifying. The YA nature of the text didn't retract from that horror, in fact, the fact that these are teenagers made the horrors that much worse. The horrors of being a teenager are hard enough. I really liked the asexual representation as I haven't read much with that sort of representation and it was really lovely to read about it.

I also enjoyed the unreliability of our narrator, Andrew. He is a fascinating character and I was intrigued to see what he would say next because I wasn't sure if I could trust him or not. The questions of what was real and what wasn't have been haunting my mind since I finished the novel. I think I read that final page maybe a hundred times.

Drews's use of language and the writing style is impeccable. The way the moments flow deep into the back of your mind, viscerally, like the vines and forest itself, is absolutely a huge feat in and of itself. The body horror was a bit much sometimes, but I think it contributes to a greater purpose--like it's not there for no reason, it is there for that horror, for that insanity, for that unreliability of the narrator.

Great novel. In desperate need of a reread already.

I finished my ARC of Don't Let the Forest In over the weekend and it was amazing! CG Drews has a writing voice I absolutely love and the words were achingly beautiful. Also, I didn't realize I needed botanical horror in my reading content, but here we are. The characters are so well written and broken and dysfunctional and they will haunt you after the last page!

I’m kicking this off by fancasting Andrew as another fictional character, Draco Malfoy. Called it. Meanwhile, Thomas can be Timmy Chalamet. And then Dove can go ahead and be the evil sister from Cruel Intentions. It is done. Hope this is the feedback you were hopinh for <3 Welcome to my brain. Please keep up.

I appreciate the craftsmanship here. I found, in particular, the last sentence of just about every chapter to keep my wanting more. There was certainly a hook. That is not to say what lies in between is simply filler – just that it seems that the author put extra care in gripping the attention of readers to keep the pages turning. The dark and sinister academia vibes were GIVING here. It was like a fever dream.

I loved the queer spectrum rep here. The boys were cute; however, I wasn’t a fan of the strange relationship between Thomas and the twins. I think if Dove had just been a dear friend, it could have made that a little less odd. I suppose relationships are complicated sometimes, though.

And the monsters were indeed quite spooky. I was left haunted. Those twists towards the end were NOT expected, despite my mind trying to piece together where tf Dove had been all along. I typically also do not like the “they were mentally ill” all along thing, but it somehow worked here. The ending was great tragic as it became clear Andrew was descending into madness.

I feel like everything here is positive, which begs the question: why not five stars? I respectfully submit that found parts of it a bit dull. I think the best parts were the portions that took place in the woods. Everything outside of it felt like a little like filler and just not as interesting to me. However, Young Adult isn’t typically my vibe. Perhaps a younger reader may find this to be a five star.

This gives me dark “Over the Garden Wall”-vibes and I’m here for it. I want to stay in the atmosphere of this book forever. There’s nothing quite like love that leaps over the line of obsession and sacrifice in a forest of danger and rot.

Even if you’re someone who shies away from YA, I think this is a fantastic book in the way it deals with coming to terms with queerness, codependency, grief, guilt, intrusive thoughts, and negative self-talk. Not all of it gets resolved but as anyone who experiences these things will tell you, it’s messy and sometimes you want a story to just be messy.

Where do I even begin with this visually beautiful yet heartbreaking masterpiece?
This is a dark love story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Imagine If We Were Villains meets Bridge to Terabithia, you get THIS.
The writing in this book made it so easy to imagine in my mind, word for word. I felt attached to every character individually and wanted to give them all the biggest hug. A lot of emotional topics were brought to light including social anxiety and eating disorders, but done so in such a beautiful way. I felt so many emotions in this book, I wanted to yell and throw my kindle from time to time. I cried. I giggled. I wish I could read it for the first time all over again.

Fast, thrilling, entertaining read. Loved the writing and the characters. Very atmospheric, great read for the spooky season!

Incredibly well written thriller / fantastical monsters coming to life novel. Loved the LGBTQIA+ representation from the MMC. Such a well written novel

Thank you MacMillan Children’s Publishing Group, Netgalley, and C.G. Drews for the opportunity to review this arc! In exchange, I will be providing an honest review.

“This is how they were, bones broken and mended crookedly, each intertwined with the other. He thought maybe you could love someone so much you ruined them, and then you ruined yourself.”

Told through flowery, poetic, and guttural prose, Don’t Let The Forest In tells the story of Andrew Perrault and Thomas Rye, two high school seniors who attend Wickwood Academy, a dark yet seemingly fascinating school, set in the Appalachia. But, this year is different-- Dove, Andrew’s twin sister, is suddenly icing him out, cutting the tethers between them. He at least has Thomas, the illustrator to his dark and twisted fairytale stories. The pair are inseparable, building an illustrious world around them, full of gardens and effervescent florals.
However, there is something strange happening with Thomas. After arriving at school just after the unsolved murder of his two abusive parents, and blood appearing on his shirt sleeves, Andrew is in a desperate search to protect him at all costs.
Andrew follows Thomas into the forbidden forest one night and is soon introduced to the world of horror and internal psyche, with the drawings that Thomas has done coming to life in full, gruesome, reality. Monsters, build from the vines and forest itself.
To make sure that no one dies, Andrew and Thomas battle the monsters every night, keeping them at bay from other students. But, as their relationship blossoms and blooms, the monsters blossom and bloom in tandem, growing stronger over time.
And, worst of all, Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures and destroy them once and for all is to destroy their creator.

This book has some of the most beautiful prose and storytelling I have ever seen, and on each page, I found myself in awe of Drews’ writing. The story is quick in pace, the monsters leaping and bounding in every chapter. There is a sense of mystery and folklore within this story, which is something I thoroughly enjoyed. Andrew and Thomas were multi-dimensional and were a kaleidoscope of emotions. Their dynamic was captivating to read.
This story is told in a close third person, following Andrew. This element made space for the writing to breathe and equally allowed us to learn about this world in the way Andrew sees it, which is an important element as the story unfolds.
The ideas of love, shame, grief, art, desire, and destruction are explored so eloquently throughout the entire novel, capturing the multitude of emotions that come from being in love and also fighting demonic, monster-like creatures (or at least, what I would imagine it to feel like, haha!)
The book also explores Andrew’s sexuality, and specifically his relationship with being asexual (which I felt was done so tastefully). Especially while also exploring his relationship with Thomas in conjunction.
The overlaying elements of mystery and ‘missing parts’ weave in and out of the story, which kept me hooked. The boys' relationship with Dove, the people at Wickwood, their art, and especially the monsters kept me questioning how it all connected, and what would become of the boys once it all did.
October is the perfect release month for this book, feeding into the fall and autumnal spookiness! If you are drawn to things of the darkness, fairytales, and a story that is somewhat reminiscent of The Secret History, then this should be the first book you pick up as soon as there is a chill in the air and the leaves turn orange. I am so excited for others to get a chance to read this all-consuming novel.

Thank you again for graciously supplying me with an e-ARC of such a fantastic little book!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy, this book was just beautiful to read, haunting, ethereal, sad and heart crushing. The writing was just so wonderful and the story was horrifying and I’ll definitely have nightmares of the forest… I do prefer more closure in books, but I actually love the way this ended.

I was about ready to give this less of a review and then I got to the ending. Oh my god what a beautiful but tragic haunting love story. CG writes like VE Schwab so beautiful and pretty. The story wasn’t adding up for me but I was trusting the process and it did come through!! Amazing dark academia recommendation!

i don’t even know where to begin with this book. it was so hauntingly beautiful and creepy and poetic. the story left me unsure of what was real and wasn’t in the best way possible. the love story between andrew and thomas was so so so good and watching things develop slowly and seeing how beautifully it unraveled was so perfect and the tragic ending tied it all together so exquisitely. i feel nothing i say can do this book justice it’s so phenomenal from the horror to the innocence of the love story unfolding to the plot twists. easily a top read for me and will forever be a favorite read and something i will never forget.

Don't Let The Forest In is a beautifully written book. Very descriptive and atmospheric. Although it's a Young Adult book, it didn't feel juvenile or "dumbed down" for a younger reader. I loved the character development and the dynamics between Andrew and Thomas. Every time they went into the forest I felt like I could see what they were seeing, which was very creepy! The twists and turns in this book kept me guessing and made me want to keep reading to find out what happens. Great writing, engaging story, and I would definitely recommend this book to others.

I have no words and at the same time I never want to stop talking about this book. I don't think I've ever highlighted and noted a book more in my life and that's saying a lot because I am NOT an annotator. This book is stunning! I can't say enough how beautifully written this is and the plot had me on the edge of my seat. I really had no idea what this was about and had only seen the cover a few times and said sure why not give it a try and I'm so glad I did. The Ace representation?!?!?! Loved. As an adult who is still questioning their ace sexuality it's so refreshing to know there's a whole generation getting to experience and learn about it especially if they may be questioning their own. The dark academia, moody vibes and honestly soul crushing characters and story I don't think I'll ever forget. While I did suspect Andrew was the prince for most of the story, It did take me a little longer to guess Doves story line, but at around chapter 28 when I stopped and said to myself oh no I was devastated but it all made so much sense. I honestly just can't rave about this more and I don't know how to put my thoughts and feelings into words very well but just know I think this is such a good story and an amazing plot and again SO beautifully written, I wish I could read this again for the first time. Thank you for this story and thank you for letting me read it. Im crying.

The cover of the book immediately caught my attention with its dark and alluring artwork. It's a perfect attention-grabber. The psychological horror aspect of the book promises to keep readers on edge and hesitant to explore further into the story, a promise that it delivers on. While it's beautifully eerie, it's not the type of book that will haunt your dreams. The narrative takes its time to set the scene, with the real action kicking in around the halfway mark. The underlying theme of the power of writing shines through, suggesting that words hold more power than weapons. In conclusion, it's a poetic and captivating journey.

A great YA horror novel that has complex characters while also focusing on an interesting storyline I'm a huge fan of dark academia so loved that it had undertones and theme of that as well.