*It hadn’t hurt, the day he had cut out his own heart.*

This book blew me away! Creepy, twisted, and deliciously dark, *Don’t Let the Forest In* will have you hanging on every word until the very end.
> ❤️ What I loved: Much like the forest, I *devoured* this. For me, this book really delivered in the gothic, dark academia meets horror subgenre. It was eerily unsettling the whole way through and kept you guessing in the best ways about what is real, what is happening, and who you should trust. My heart broke for Andrew as he navigated his complicated feelings for Thomas, it was somehow both so sweet and tragic at the same time.
> 💔 What I didn’t love: The ending is deliciously unsatisfying—be warned.
I’ve been recommending this book to everyone I know who loves horror and paranormal stories. It’s easily one of my favorites I’ve read this year, and I eagerly await more stories from C.G. Drews. 

**Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.5-5)**

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers** ✨ Thank you to NetGalley, C.G. Drews, and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group/Feiwel & Friends, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book. ✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. ✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

A beautiful, haunting masterpiece

Dark and lovely, this story unravels from the very beginning with terrifying and tender moments that detail the journey between a boy, his friend, and his sister who are tangled together in a tragic fairytale that they may not all survive. Themes of grief, loss, love, sexuality, relationships, emotions, and mental health are told with lyrical prose and stunning imagery that leave the reader gasping.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a YA horror with a queer romance twist.

“𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵’—𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸’𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥—‘𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦.”

4.62🥀's for Dont Let the Forest In by @paperfury

I've been dyyyying to read this since @paperfury first started posting about it and boy oh boy this did not disappoint! Its everything my gritty forest loving gothic heart could ever want!! This book was so beautiful!! Its like poetry and I was highlighting this book like it was university textbook because everything was just so stunning🥹

“𝘏𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴, 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦.”

Read this if you like:
🌲 LGBTQIA+
🖤 Dark Academia
🥀 Gothic Fantasy
🌲 Forests
🖤 Anxiety & panic attacks rep
🥀 Asexual rep
🌲 MM
🖤 Monsters and the Paranormal

“𝘛𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴.”

All I can say is that I adore Andrew and Thomas and my heart has been through the most with this book in the best possible way!

I highly recommend this book to everyone!!!!

This story is beautifully written and makes your heart feel heavy. It is dark, melodic, and sad, tackling many difficult topics while also exploring themes of identity and the challenges of expressing one's thoughts and feelings.

The narrative follows Andrew, his twin sister Dove, and their friend Thomas. The setting includes a boarding school and the surrounding forest. With numerous twists and turns, the plot keeps me engaged until the very end. This is the perfect read for a dark and spooky autumn!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley.

I thought the setting of this book was where it truly got to shine — there was a very distinct tone and vibe around this school and specifically the forest. The narrative itself was also gorgeous — the story flowed really well and the descriptions were superb. I found it a bit difficult to follow at times, but I think that was kind of the point. I didn’t love the ending, but I appreciated it, if that makes sense.

I need CG Drews to write more. Also, this is a joke because no author needs to do anything for us haha. I simply continue to be amazed by CG Drews' talent and I absolutely adored this book. I cannot wait for more people to read this so I can scream about it with them.

Don’t Let The Forest In is a haunting, gut-wrenching story of two best friends returning to their boarding school, only nothing is the same. After tragedy struck during the last term, his twin sister and best friend seem to no long get along, leaving Andrew to struggle to bring the three back together.

Andrew writes devastating stories that Thomas brings to life in his drawings. But when the drawings come to life in the forest, they must keep the monsters at bay so they don’t attack the school.

Andrew deals with his love for his friend, his daunting anxiety, and the dwindling relationship with his sister while dealing with the terrifying monsters of his prose.

I’m still reeling from the end of this book! One of my favorite reads of the year, it’s a book that immediately makes you want to go back and read again. Perfect for fans of dark academia, body horror and haunting prose.

This is the perfect gothic spooky book with all the vibes and all the scares. It is atmospheric, drawing the reader in to every granular detail like the good gothic novels always do. Highly recommend!

Did anyone else feel like they needed to rewatch ROPE after finishing DON'T LET THE FOREST IN? Just me?

Kidding aside, I LOVED THIS BOOK. It's one of my top books of the year and I can't wait to get it in the hands of some library kiddos. CG Drews writes beautifully and I really could have read another 100 pages of Thomas and Andrew's fairytale. I loved them and loved their love for each other, as twisted and unhealthy as it was. Having grown up in circumstances that were not ideal, I related to their (unconscious?) desire to escape reality and make worlds of their own. As dark as DON'T LET THE FOREST IN is, I relate to this kind of story far more than your average teen rom-com or realistic fiction book because it's more realistic to me. I hope kiddos and adults who come from similar backgrounds find CG Drews' lovely, warped story and get as wrapped up in Thomas and Andrew as I did. I can only hope they, like me, have put enough distance between themselves and their past to see how much help Thomas and Andrew needed. As an educator, I was furious at all the adults depicted in the novel because they only intervened to discipline, not advocate or help. Young people like Thomas and Andrew need guidance and support, not abuse and judgment. Grrr!

Enormous thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Children's Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my review. Please publish more CG Drews books!

4.5 ⭐️ Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC. This book was so beautifully written! The prose was absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was inside of a poem. Literally couldn’t get over the writing. This book gave all of the dark academia vibes. I liked how unreliable the narrator was. I genuinely didn’t know if he was losing his mind. I had to sit with the ending of this book for a bit, but the more I think about it, the more I like it.

More like a 3.5 but I really enjoyed the ending so I'll round up.

My biggest struggle with this book was that for the first 20% I could not remember which character was Thomas and which one was Andrew, but once I figured that out this was a really interesting story.

There is so much happening in this story but not in a bad way, Andrew and Thomas return to their boarding school for their senior year but everything is already off to a bad start. Thomas's parents have gone missing and Thomas is the main suspect, he won't talk to anyone about it not even his best friend. His silence leads Andrew to follow him into the newly forbidden forest surrounding the school, where he finds Thomas fighting off monsters straight out of your worst nightmare(or in this case Thomas's drawings). For the rest of the school year, Andrew and Thomas sneak out every night to fight off these monsters to prevent them from harming the other students and teachers.

Under all the horror, there's a really tender love story. I don't think it particularly added a lot of enjoyment for me personally mainly because I wanted to read this for the haunted forest but I do think it will be a plus for a lot of readers!

This was unfortunately a huge disappointment for me. I definitely should have read more reviews of it before actually picking it up. I love this author, I used to follow their blog and I read a different book by them previously and enjoyed it. But unfortunately I did not like the characters and the plot was so depressing to me that I ended up not enjoying it overall.

I absolutely adore this book. This was a page turner that grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. I figured out the twist about a quarter of the way in, but Drews' writing was so good that I doubted myself until about the 75% mark. The characters felt real and complex with wants and needs that were so very highschool in scope, but far reaching in tone. The atmosphere was dark and oppressive as horror should be, but left room for hope and growth and a life ahead for the main characters. I'm so glad I requested this book and look forward to future works by the author.

The first thing I said when I finished reading this book was “What the heck did I just read?”. This book is like your worst monster nightmare come to life in a book, but yet I could not put the book down and stop reading!

Having the setting of this book be at a prep school definitely gave off some locked room mystery vibes. Add in the drama of a high school, murderous monsters and the jaw dropping twist at the end and it was a wild ride of a read.

However, it was only a fast paced read because you needed to find out what was going to happen next to make sense of a lot of the plot. There was a lot of miscommunication between the characters which slowed things down. Even though there was a twist at the end, the ending was just very disjointed and it was hard to piece everything together.

Overall it was a good one time read, I don’t think it would be a book I would reach for as a re-read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Genuinely enjoyed this read! I think the teenage angst was a bit hard to empathize with but as an adult I recognize this book will be perfect for the intended audience!

<i>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

DNF @ 37%, and yes, I **do** think this should count toward my read goal for my suffering.

Maybe I’ve just reached that age of “get off my lawn!” But the teenage angst… wasn’t doing it for me. Sorry! Was hoping this would be like [book:House of Hollow|54613751], but that book has something this one doesn’t. I am just not the target audience (as Keith Lee would say) for this one.

Don't Let the Forest In was a beautiful, haunting story of two messy, flawed, codependent teenage boys navigating disasters of the monstrous and romantic nature. DLTFI follows Andrew Perrault and Thomas Rye through their senior year of boarding school. Andrew is struggling to put it lightly, and Thomas tries to help in the best ways he knows how...by being chaotic and protective to a fault. Andrew writes dark fairy tales and Thomas illustrates the monsters from the stories. Only problem is that the stories are coming to life and attacking the boarding school, putting everyone in danger. Obviously the answer is for the codependent teenage boys to go into the off-limits forest to fight the monsters at night rather than sleeping or doing their homework. When they aren't battling literal monsters at night, Andrew is struggling with his asexual identity, attraction to his best friend, crippling anxiety, and has chunks of memory missing. Eventually the gaps in his memory are filled in & it's just more tragedy for the poor boy.

Overall I had a lot of fun reading this book! I can tell the author genuinely cared for the characters they created and the world they built. The writing itself was dark and descriptive. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes supporting queer stories and authors, enjoys botanical horror, great mental health rep, and a well thought out story.

I got so completely lost in this book. I couldn’t stop reading it. The story has this dark, creepy vibe that curls around two boys who are outcasts for different reasons. Thomas’s anger keeps other people at a distance the same way that Andrew’s shyness does, but they share a close bond with each other.

As the story progresses, Andrew changes. At the beginning, he feels powerless to steer even his own existence. But as the monsters get scarier and the forest gets (literally) under his skin, he begins to take action in his own way. I loved that arc in which he finds his voice and claims ownership of his life.

The desperation in the quest to stop the monsters had me leaping from one chapter to the next. I needed to know who was going to win: the forest with its monsters, or the prince and his poet.

I’ve read The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews before, and I really enjoyed that one. This book takes Drews’ storytelling to a whole new level, though. The tension in the horror elements. The characters you just want to rescue right off the page. The secrets and twisty plotlines. I love it all. Sign me up for all their future projects, please and thanks.

All that to say– if you’re looking for a dark, forest-y Halloween story, grab a copy of this one immediately.

This book was such a beautiful book to read. The writing and language worked so beautifully with the gothic, cottage core themes throughout the book.

Between Andrew (ace rep) and Thomas, this story shows the horror of art and the love for writing combined in this macabre YA Horror (subplot of romance) novel.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

This book genuinely blew me away.

For anyone who loved The Raven Cycle, but thought, "that could've been scarier": This book is for you.

Don't Let the Forest In follows Andrew Perrault, returning to the elite Wickwood Academy for his senior year. And although high school has never been easy for Andrew, from the start, this year is different. His twin sister, Dove, is keeping him at arms length, and his best friend Thomas is acting strangely, disappearing into the forest behind the school at night. One night, Andrew follows him, to find Thomas fighting off horrifying creatures. But there's something familiar about these creatures: they look exactly like the ones from Thomas's drawings.

I absolutely devoured this book. It had me up way too late reading, and even though I finished at 3am, I wanted to turn to the beginning and start all over again. (And, at the cost of precious sleep, I did in fact reread the first chapter.)

I would recommend this book to anyone, and it's got me super excited to tackle CG Drews' backlist. The characters leap off the page and sink claws into your heart (in a good way). They're complex and messy and in need of a good hug. Andrew and Thomas are just two kids trying their best to figure out the world, and each other. My heart ached for them both, even when I wanted to shout at them. This story also has some of the best ace rep I've ever read. Andrew's identity is central to the story, and woven into all of his choices seamlessly, in a way that feels natural without distracting from the story.

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and came away from the story thoroughly haunted. (It was maybe a mistake to read this in the middle of the night.... walking to the bathroom after was a terrifying experience.) Drews' prose is evocative, equal parts beautiful and macabre.

Thanks so much to Netgalley & Macmillan for the free review copy. Happy to say that I ordered my own copy before I even finished the ARC.