If you like Fae and dark academia this is the book for you! I would say this book actually scared me but not in a bad way I very much enjoyed the ride. The character development was 10/10 a lot of layers to the themes kept my interest at a peak kept me wanting to know more its dark but absolutely beautiful very well done!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

intense and atmospheric—gave me more to consider about its themes and ready for a re-read. I am normally nervous to read horror novels with this many disclaimers but I felt the journey would be worth the exploration and each topic was treated with depth.

This book was so good yet so different from almost anything I have read. I have been following this author for a while on social media while she was writing this book as well as others. I was very intrigued for this book and so glad I was able to get an early release. Quirky, weird, scary, and suspenseful. This book was all of the those things and more. While this book was something outside what I would normally read, I loved it. I can't wait to see what else she writes.

Andrew returns to Wickwood Academy, an elite and isolated boarding school. His best friend Thomas has a twin sister named Dove. Dove is a social butterfly, but has been very distant. When Andrew and Thomas reunite, Andrew notices that Thomas has blood on his sleeve and wants to protect him, but Thomas seems a bit off. Usually, Thomas draws out the dark fairy tales that Andrew writes, but now these creatures are more than just a drawing on a page. Andrew and Thomas have a very co-dependent relationship that may be born from grief and loneliness, but it seems to be doing them more harm than not.

This is a dark academia horror that will have you questioning what is real and what isn't. The unreliable narrating and the eerie atmosphere, as well as the monsters and the dark fairy tales, all give this book a very unique vibe. Andrew is dealing with self-identity, and Thomas is dealing with a lot of mental struggles. There are a lot of metaphors in this book, the monsters could be seen as an embodiment of grief and guilt. The ending is very open-ended, leaving you questioning a lot of things.. I can sometimes enjoy an open-ended book, but I'm not sure this one felt like enough. Though the ending is very poetic, many people will probably love it. The feeling of this book reminds me a lot of 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle', so if you enjoyed that book, you may also enjoy this. If you like unreliable narrators or dark academia, you may also enjoy this book.

content warning: grief, trauma, obsession, eating disorders, self-harm, unhealthy co-dependency, emotional instability, and psychological instability.

When I first saw this on Netgalley, I fell in love with the cover. After reading the synopsis, I had to have it.

Andrew Perrault, his twin sister Dove, and their best friend Thomas Rye were inseparable at Wickwood Academy, but since returning for senior year, Dove has been inexplicably avoiding them, and Thomas had been acting strange since arriving with dried blood on his sleeve. Desperate to find out what Thomas gets up to, Andrew follows him into the off-limits forest behind the school one night and catches him battling a nightmarish monster.

The monsters Thomas sketches from Andrew's macabre fairytales have been coming to life, and he's been going into the forest every night to keep them at bay. Even with Andrew's help, they struggle to keep the forest from closing in.

These boys are fighting for their lives every night, and it shows during the day. Thomas looks terrible, but there's something particularly concerning about Andrew. He's wasting away, and his sister is pushing him away. What isn't she telling him? The twist at the 80% mark put everything into perspective and blew my mind.

This story explores asexuality and mental health and delves into how grief manifests into repressed memories and disordered eating. Drews handles these themes with empathy and atmospheric prose. Andrew is falling apart. He can't confide in his sister about his confused feelings for Thomas nor that the stories he escapes to are now their reality. The school is in danger.

Thomas is tough, but now Andrew must be HIS protector and figure out how to stop these creatures. Even if it means destroying their creator.

I loved this read, but it ends abruptly. I needed at least one more chapter 😩

Thanks, Netgally, for the ARC of this wonderfully whimsical, dark and gory YA psychological horror.

Finished this book in about two days while visiting family, I just could not put it down! CG Drews writes such lyrical imagery that makes you feel like you are physically there. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, but I’m very picky with endings in general, so I still enjoyed this book and all the forest rot it had!

Dark, lyrical, and emotionally intense. A haunting story of love, trauma, and monsters brought to life. The writing is vivid and immersive, with unforgettable characters and a gothic atmosphere perfect for fans of supernatural YA.

Posted to Amazon!

Thanks so much!

I’m amazed that I’ve managed to read multiple books in the past few days, but it happened. This time, I finally got off my butt and read Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews. I’ve been following CG Drews on Instagram for quite a while and when they announced that their debut YA Horror novel was on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to request it. But then, after getting approved, my brain so “nope, no reading for you” and it sat in my Kindle app… until last night when I finally got off my butt and started reading. I’m glad I did.

Characters
The main characters, Andrew and Thomas, are quite interesting. Andrew is anxious about literally everything, while Thomas is tough and seen as a bad kid for the most part. At least that’s how everyone seems to view him. I liked both characters quite a bit.

Dove was so standoffish that I was taken aback – after all, she’s Andrew’s twin and even if she didn’t like Thomas for some reason, you wouldn’t think she’d abandon Andrew. But there’s a reason for it and I guessed that reason about halfway through the book.

As for the other characters, we see them but we don’t. We don’t get a lot of background on them and we don’t see them as much as Andrew and Thomas because the story isn’t about them. It’s about Andrew and Thomas.

All in all, I enjoyed the characters very much and enjoyed seeing asexuality portrayed as a lot of LGBTQ+ books I read don’t include asexuality.

Atmosphere
I have to admit, I’ve never been a big fan of forests. Sure, they can be beautiful, but I always end up thinking of what could be lurking out there. So that makes the atmosphere of this story all the better. Let us not forget the boarding school – that seems determined to ignore the weirdness of what is going on – and you’ve got the perfect creepy atmosphere for a story. Especially when you realize the forest might not be staying on its side of the fence.

Writing
CG Drews has a writing style may trip some readers up. The prose in this book, while not extremely difficult to read, is dark, twisted, and makes you stop and consider the imagery that is being put forth on the page. Some might be tempted to call the writing “flowery” for its descriptive nature, but it isn’t flowery – it is dark, moody, creepy, and full of rot and decay. And considering this is a horror novel, that’s a good thing. I have their next novel, Hazelthorn, in my NetGalley queue and I’m anxious to read it as well, as I want to continue reading this deliciously dark writing.

Plot
The plot for Don’t Let the Forest In might seem to take a bit to fully be understood, but it is meant to be that way. After all, there wouldn’t be a story if the plot was blatantly obvious from the start. No, this plot unfolds slowly, with twists coming here and there. The twists are rarely what you expect and even if you are expecting something, it may not be entirely correct. Some things become obvious as you read, others just pop up out of nowhere. It makes for a delightfully creepy read!

Intrigue
The intrigue in this book is amazing. There are so many questions that pop into your head as you read. Is Thomas what the gossip says he is? Why doesn’t Dove want anything to do with Thomas and why is she distancing herself from Andrew and everyone else? Does the school’s biggest bully have anything to do with this? What is going on here? Is all of this real? So many questions, so few answers…

Relationships
The relationships in this book are beautifully broken. Dove seems to want nothing to do with her twin. Andrew and Thomas dance around what they are and how they feel for each other. Even the relationships between faculty and Andrew or faculty and Thomas are disjointed, out of place, slightly off-center. It makes for wonderful reading and even more questions!

Ending
The ending? Obviously meant to be a one-off book. Stand-alone. No need for another book. Yet the ending will also leave you staring at the wall, wondering if it really is over. What did you just read there at the very end? Is everything OK? Is everything not OK? Who lived? Who died? What is going on? Was this all just a fever-dream? And yet even with all the unanswered questions that may pop into your head, you realize… you don’t want a sequel. It is perfect as it is.

I gave this book 5 stars. Not because I’ve been following CG Drews since before this book was even put on NetGalley, but because this book was amazing. Deliciously creepy, twisty, nightmare fuel that may not keep you up for days, but might make you stare a little closer at the shadows… or the trees in your backyard.

The concept of this book was really fun and I adored the characters themselves, but it was sort of hard to follow with how flowery and 'pretty' the writing was. There were so many metaphors and such that I honestly felt a bit stupid, like everyone else was getting it and I just... wasn't able to. I don't want to knock off stars for that, because the story itself was a great read, it was likely just a 'me issue' but I found it really hard to get through and honestly, it took me a long time. I picked it up and put it down several times. I wanted to know how the characters ended up, which is what made me keep trying, but it took me weeks to get through.

This story was very fun to work through. I think the character development was great and watching them evolve through the story really was my favorite part.

Gothic forests, dark twisted fairytales, and beautiful prose. This book was written so beautifully and it draws you in so you don’t want to put it down. It’s creative and well executed.

The “mystery” was a little too obvious and some of the stylistic choices pulled me out of the “movie in my head”.

I think all in all this book is beautifully YA.

very late to writing this review but had read the arc in the allotted time period before archiving. i thought i was going to enjoy this much more than i did, which was disappointing. imagery and world building was beautiful and unique at first but got repetitive after awhile it seemed. the two mmcs were giving toxic relationship more than “love of my life i’d die for” and honestly gave me the ick sort of. i did enjoy the twist at the end!

This was my first time reading CG Drew’s work but certainly not the last! Beautiful writing that builds this strange creepy tale. couldn’t get enough!

I've been a huge fan of C.G. Drews since she arrived on the scene, so I was very excited for this book, even if it's not my normal style to read.

What worked well for me:

~ C.G. Drews has a beautiful, lyrical writing style that sucks you in and holds your attention. I would gladly read a grocery list written by this author. Her writing is invocative and paints a scene every time, and it's utterly quotable! This gal knows how to create an atmosphere and carry it through a book, that's for sure.

~ The psychological horror aspect of this book was just *chef's kiss*. Drews is a master at ramping the tension up to an 11 and grabbing your shirt and dragging you along for the ride. I absolutely guessed the big "twist" in this fairly early in the book, but it didn't make the rest of the read any less enjoyable.

~ The book tackles a lot of complex things (ie. asexuality, queerness, eating disorders, mental health) in a very thoughtful way. The representation in the book is top notch!

What didn't work as well for me:
~ There's an open ending, which is one of my least favorite things of all time. I need something concrete and clear to wrap everything up. Doesn't have to be a happy ending, but it does have to be an *ending* for me. After such a ramp-up, I was a little disappointed that the book ended in such an unclear sort of way.

~ I'm not a huge fan of body horror, which is a me problem, since I knew this going in. It wasn't terribly over the top, and it was done very well, but it was a little much for me.

The atmosphere is impeccable. The writing is taught, and clever. I just feel like I’m inside the world when I read a CG Drew’s novel. This is not a world I want to live in.

I can't believe I waited a YEAR to read this (don't be like me.)

This book digs its claws into you from the beginning. The atmosphere is so rich and alluring, but you also feel a creeping dread rolling in like a fog. Don't Let The Forest In is a combination of dark academia, gothic, forest horror, and a queer love so tortured that the Brontë sisters would be proud.

Even when I thought I knew where the story was heading, it would take a turn that would increase the horror and dread that underlines the story. It kept me guessing until the very end.

‘Don’t Let the Forest In’ is not a bad book, it’s just not for me. Very little happens until about 70% of the way through and for something marketed as psychological horror/thriller, that does not work for me at all. By the time anything happened I was checked out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the eARC in exchange for honest review.

THIS is my most anticipated Gothic horror of 2024. I hear by beg the Netgalley gods to allow me to review this beauty of a book. @paperfury is my fave IG account...hands down and I have been following waiting for this release for years. #fairyloot must do a special edition
🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊☠️🎊☠️🎊☠️🎊🎊🎊
"When I cut you open...all I'll find is that we'll match."

I will read this every year. The number of books I read in a year how often do I say this. Almost never. There is a select few books that compel me to go back and reaonate in the pages, and C G Drews is one of them. They are in the company with VE Schwab , Grady Hendricks and. Brit Benson. That is all.
This book was deliciously dark and Andrew Pernault's descent into madness makes you question everything. You will sit staring at a wall long after you finish. You will go buy the audiobook to listen to it again. ( PLEASE DO ..Michael Crouch's narration was award worthy.)
You will want a paperback to annotate, an ebook to highlight you fave quotes to find their way to your Good Reads and then you will create a mood board on Pinterest.
It still wont be enough , because these characters so gravely misunderstood will have taken up residence in your very soul.
This gothic forest of rot reminds me of the fascination I had with Grimms Fairy tales as a child. How did the castle in Sleeping Beauty become covered in thorns , and did the thorns and the vines creep through the people themselves? There are many different ways to view what happened to Andrew as his mind splintered. He felt abandoned by his twin. Was he haunted by Thomas or was Thomas really there? Thomas was endgame for Andrew one way or another, and grief does powerful things to the mind.
The writing is beautiful prose graceful yet macbre enough for the hair to stand up on the back of your neck. Stephen King's Shining is child's play next to this. Thank you to Macmillan's Childrens Publishing for my ARC all thoughts are my own.

This book was so good! It was haunting and unhinged in the best of ways. I loved the characters and how these creatures were weaved into their lives.

4.0

Queer boarding school urban fantasy-mystery-horror never misses.

It pains me to know I let this arc sit unread on my kindle for so long. This book was fantastic and I can’t believe I didn’t read it when I should’ve. I loved the characters so much. Andrew was such a great narrator. The anxiety and asexual rep in this book was great too. My only gripe with this book was the ending. It probably would’ve been a 4.5 otherwise We deserved at least 15 more pages explaining everything. I could’ve looked past everything coming out of left field in the last 30 pages if we were given more resolution. The ending was way too abrupt.

Thank you NetGalley and Fiewel and Friends for the arc!