You know a book tested me when I feel the need to start a review with “Lord, where do I begin?”

The premise of “Don’t Let the Forest in” is an interesting one, what would happen if the monsters in our head became real? Interesting enough! Let me start with the positive, CG Drews can CRAFT the arcs to a story. Even though this book really tested me, I couldn’t put it down, and, to me at least, that proves this authors knows the ebbs and flows of their own story. More or less, lol.
In the last ~15%, there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of plot twists. So much so I felt they were starting to become unbelievable. BUT! The final one was wonderful. Chefs kiss. I became so invested in the progression and unraveling of this final twist. The way Drews wrote the raw emotions the characters were feeling and the actions taken was one of my favorite parts of the book. I wish the entire story was comprised of similar moments of raw spiraling.

Positives over…
Before we begin with ANY kind of discussion about the story itself, one must be aware that Andrew isn’t just written as an asexual but also aromantic (to some regard) even though the author themselves makes no mention of this. Let’s review our terminology. Asexual = little to no sexual attraction. Aromantic = little to no romantic attraction. Both are spectrums, which is something actually discussed in the book! (Just asexual, though.) Claiming a character only asexual while mixing in aspects of aromanticism is just… I don’t even know. Andrew says very clearly he doesn’t experience sexual attraction. Cool, he’s asexual! And also doesn’t get crushes. Cool, that’s apart of aromanticism. Ace people can still get crushes! Please do not conflate these two identities together!! If you don’t know just research something!!! Please!!!! This aspect of the books is going to cause further confusion and misinformation surrounding the aro-ace spectrums. Please get aroace sensitivity/beta reader or editor. A very small number of people (three, including myself…) have talked about this, proving my point about misinformation continuing.

Other than that! Much of this book needs an overhaul or an editor. Probably the latter. In order for this not to be a jumble of words, I’ll try my best to keep this concise. One of my biggest issues with this book is the repetition. From devil kissed curls to mud, it all felt too much. There was a lot of repetition in the way metaphors and the contents within them were written too. A lot of bones, teeth, vines, ribs, blood, etc were employed to give a certain vibe to the overall feel of the story… and I found it quite frankly irritating the more I progressed. Drews is a wonderful writer, no doubt about that, but I wish they would’ve taken more risks within the writing of Don’t Let the Forest in. Varied sentence structure/length, switching up the flow of literary devices, tweaking descriptions of characters/scenes/events, things like that are what I feel would benefit the more from a little more… oomph.

Moving away from discussions of sexuality and repetition, I’d like to bring up the topic of bullying and discrimination within Don’t Let the Forest In. I dont know how to articulate this the way I want but I’ll try my best. WHY IS ANDREW DISCRIMINATED AGAINST MORE THAN THE QUEER WOMEN OF COLOR?? Thank you. Now, I’m not trying to say that Australians in American schools don’t get bullied for having a foreign accent, different manors of speech, etc, etc, but you cannot sit there, look me in my eyes, and tell me with your whole heart and soul that Andrew gets called “Vegemite boy”? I’m going to leave it at that.
The more “realistic/believable”(?) discrimination came to in the form of remarks by Bryce at Andrew and Thomas about them being queer. For some reason, these came up less than Andrew’s Australian identity…
Final piece in this segment. Why was there just a random, casual nod to slavery/indentured servitude? Roughly paraphrasing here but the line read something to the effect of “The small halls were a relic of past days when servants had to quickly get around so as to not disturb the lord of the manor.” It’s such a small detail that’s I’m surprised I even noticed it, but it just bugged me. To have the setting be in middle-of-nowhere Virginia and to bring this up with no reason other than to make a nod to the schools past usage felt like an interesting choice, to say the least.

For my final bit of ramblings, I need to bring up the amount of plot holes, things that just didn’t make sense, and things that made me cock my left brow and sigh.
*Slight spoilers from here on out*!!
- Thomas and Andrew’s relationship beginning the book. Why do I care that they’re fighting? We, the readers, just met them and have no context as to what their relationship was prior to their fight. We’re only told that they’re best friends, not shown! By chapter seven they’re on a full blown fight and I couldn’t understand why I was supposed to care.
- Why are the monsters never actually explained? Were they real, or just something out of the traumatized psyches of Andrew and Thomas? Where did they actually come from? And more coming up right after our commercial break. But in all seriousness, I’m left wanting much more explanation and world building. You cannot “leave something up to interpretation” if there’s lackluster explanation and nothing tied into it.
- There were two big “plot points” that didn’t make sense or tie into the narrative at all. Those being: Thomas’s abusive parents and Andrew’s eating disorder. Both were thrown into the story clumsily and it read like an early draft of work where you’re writing stuff to jog your memory later to fully flesh it out.
- Late time I checked, one cannot cut teeth on ribcage bones but… you do you ig
- This one was just funny to me but “She probably thought him a bigot” my guy JUMPED at a pride flag ofc she’s gonna think you a bigot smh. In such a story as this with the language being serious, having such a modern term will throw the reader off, and possibly make the laugh… However, I did enjoy the discussion of not feeling “gay enough” to participate in something as simple as GSA! Very good. Needed more of that.
- Stuttering… I’m good, no thank you. (Honorable mentions: stuff like SLAMSLAMSLAM.)
- Flowery and very pretty, yet ultimately meaningless and confusing, language. My aphantasic ass couldn’t even conjure anything for what the damn monsters looked like.
- And finally, telling right after showing. Yeeowch

All in all, I caught myself saying “You can’t just say perchance” too many times to count.

2/5

Impeccably spooky vibes and I loved the hungry, obsessive love that Andrew and Thomas have for each other. I also enjoyed the asexual rep, though honestly the contrast of GSA meetings and art class with fighting monsters at night was a little jarring in terms of mood.

The plot itself didn't work for me in terms of central conflict. The mental health tropes felt overdone and shallow, I would've liked the curse to have had a deeper (maybe more vengeful?) source and the story gaps caused by it were more confusing and annoying for me rather than gripping.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for early access to this book! This book was haunting in the best way. There was a point where I could not put it down because I needed to know what was coming. I will be thinking about the book and its imagery for a while.
I had fun reading the poetic style.

CONTENT WARNINGS
Graphic
Body horror, Gore, Death
Moderate
Eating disorder, Homophobia, Violence
Minor
Child abuse, Vomit, Death of parent

*thank you NetGalley for my ARC*

This novel slowly sipped on my heart until it was devoured whole. A beautiful blend of dark academia and forest horror. I live for books like this.

Andrew was easily loveable. His relationship development with Thomas was splendid. I think Drews handled the different prevalent topics stunningly. (Sexuality/family/nightmares come to life/etc)

If I were to put it into a category: Euphoric Horror

This was such a hauntingly beautiful book! It is perfect for fans of macabre fairy tales. This one is set in modern times at a fancy boarding school and has themes of figuring out one’s sexual identity, grief, bullying, and mental health.

I was hooked from the beginning and really enjoyed the writing style. I’ve been in a creepy/horror mood lately so this hit the spot! It’s going to be perfect for Fall/Halloween.

Oh I loved this book.

It is beautifully unhinged, poetic and thoroughly enjoyable. Andrew and Thomas were beautiful, their ‘creating monsters’ kind of reminded me of Bridge to Terrabithia (I loved that film as a kid!), whilst the descriptions reminded me a bit of T.Kingfisher’s plant-gore.

Andrews fairytales were perfection, I just wanted a little book full of them. He was anxious and adorable and I just wanted to give him a cuddle and tell him it would be ok.

Thomas was angry and chaotic but fuelled with love for Andrew. I loved how fiercely loyal he was and brave to step up for Andrew when he needed it.

Their curling up on the bed together and needing for each other was adorable, I just loved their love and yearning all the way through.

These kind of books are those that stay with you for a long time, I’m sure Don’t Let The Forest In will be living in my head rent free for eternity.

3.75 its good but has some flaws, but the bones are strong. It starts off slow. Very slow. I was awarded the arc from net galley and im understanding theres now about a hundred pages more and I hope that fleshes out the story. It seems like everything is jam packed into the end of the book all kind of at once. It picks up at a fast pace around pg 100 and then were off but there are no bars to hold onto. There are a lot of missed pieces that leave alot to the nature of the book. Its giving T. Kingfisher but a baby one, it seems all over the place and the pull in wasnt well executed. It has potential and im curious to see what the other 100 pages give. I'd borrow this from the library or KU before I'd buy a physical copy to see how more fleshed out this author has given.

The bridgerton esque quote bumped it up from 3.5 to 3.75. Thomas is in love and im here for it.

YA Horror | Fantasy | Plant gore

Favorite characters: Andrew & Thomas
Favorite quote: 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.
thoughts

You are a nightmare, you are a god of wicked places...
May I introduce you to: Overly anxious Andrew, writer of cruel fairytales full of monsters,and always angry and chaotic Thomas, the artist who brings his wicked fantasy to life with his sketches. Literally. This book tricks your mind, you think you recognize it, but you don't. The author slowly lures you into a world of wicked monsters made of sticks and thorns, only able to be defeated by two teenage boys. While they're struggling with the cruel reality unknown to the rest of their academy, they also have to face their feelings for each other. Especially Andrew is absolutely the cutes, I will not tolerate a bad word about him!

The author kindly provided me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

Four stars!!

If folk horror/cottagecore with a twist is your thing, along with unrequited love and blurred lines between fiction and reality, or books with a boarding school setting, then this IS the book for you!! I loved the setting of this book, a boarding school is always the perfect setting for a twisty, suspenseful book and this did it so well! I also really like that this was a boarding school set in Virginia instead of somewhere in New England, as it tends to be. Especially because, if you're going to set a book that relies heavily on a spooky forest anywhere, Virginia is the place to do it! We have storied woods there. I also thought Andrew, Thomas, and Dove were well-thought, distinctive characters and that they were really well written. Andrew is the ultimate unreliable narrator and I really enjoyed reading this from his perspective. I enjoyed many of the minor characters as well.

I love the folklore elements and references in this, both in Andrew's writing and Thomas's drawings, and the unique twist on traditional tropes that this book takes on! I like the discussion about how art informs reality and the thoughts about how much power artists and art have on the world that we experience. The monsters were very detailed and interesting and I really enjoyed that element of the world-building! I also like how much fiction and reality are blurred in this story, to the point where you as the reader are questioning how much of the plot is really real versus imagined (something I still don't know the answer to!). The ending really leaves you in shock. I think the author executes some of the twists well, with plenty of clues and foreshadowing so that the reader can figure some info out but not all of it. Even so, be prepared to question everything you thought you knew about this story by the end.

All that said, I do wish we had seen some of the aftermath of the ending, because I thought it was maybe a little TOO ambiguous, I would have liked some more info. I also wanted to explore Andrew's relationship with the minor characters he befriends more and the ending would have been a good place to do that. I also really wanted a clear resolution to his character arc, but that is more a me thing than anything to do with the author's ability to tell a story.

I think if you are a fan of Melissa Albert or Krystal Sutherland, then you'll like this book. If you love suspense, and psychological stories, eldritch horrors and twisted fairy tales, or an unrequited love story, then this is the book for you!

Thank you to the author and the publisher for the advance copy!

“He was anguish and speed, his fingers outstretched for the only thing left in the world that made sense.”

This book.

Visceral, unhinged, beautiful. Writing like coursing blood. Images of a fever dream. Coarse and raw and immediate.

Loved it.

Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and the author for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

Wow, I have so much to say about this book.

The main thing I'd like to mention before getting into the actual aspects of the book, I need to emphasize the fact that this main character is not completely written as just asexual. What really bothered me was the author mixing in qualities of aromanticism with asexuality. There were a lot of points where Andrew was describing how he never had crushes or he doesn't get crushes- this is exactly what being aromantic is. Followed by him explaining that he wouldn't want to have sex; asexuality. This is something that either needs clarification or editing, and it is VITALLY important that this error is fixed. Talking about asexuality as if it is combined with aromanticism is extremely damaging to an already underrepresented and misunderstood community. I haven't even seen anyone bring this up, which is proving my point that people do not understand the difference. As an aroace person, the author desperately needs to make this change before the book is released or else more misunderstandings will only be born from it.

Plot wise, this book does have quite an interesting storyline. This was the first time in a while that I couldn't put down reading a book. The relationship and aspects of these characters was well thought out, and I was interested in what was going to happen next. I did enjoy the actual asexual representation in it, as Andrew feared not being "gay enough" to be in the GSA, as well as him fearing that he would not be able to be enough for Thomas himself. The author did a good job representing the anxiety, guilt, and fear that Andrew felt throughout this book; however, at many points it felt like the author was inserting themselves into the narrative, not just with anxiety but with the discussions of sexuality as well. It's like the author was trying to make you feel bad for this character very early on, and yet how can I care about a character that has barely displayed any of his own qualities thus far.

One thing that stuck out to me whilst reading was that this book REALLY nails home the same qualities and attributes of Thomas specifically, as well as a lot of other aspects. There is a constant description of how Thomas "breathes art" and is reckless and how so much of him is ingrained in that. Now, this is not inherently a bad thing, however it is repeated so often that it starts to become redundant. I do enjoy the creativity and poetic nature of the writing style, but it just becomes way too much if it is repeated so often. A lot of this language is used over and over to describe the forest as well, and it just starts to become recycled adjectives that no longer hold description or meaning.

There were some parts which I found to be a bit cliche, or corny to say the least. (Possible spoiler warning here? Not sure if it counts.) An example of this would be when Andrew and Thomas had that fight in chapter seven. Andrew saying "go be with Dove then" and Thomas saying "I'm walking away from you now. And I'm not coming back" to me seems almost Disney-like. It reads as using cheap dialogue just to get from one place to another. The build up to this scene was really good and I liked the dialogue that came before it, but the lines towards the end just caught me off guard. The ending line of this chapter shows a part of Andrew that we hadn't seen before, and I like that. Although I do believe this fight happened so early on that it is both uninteresting and a useless conflict. As a reader, it is hard to be interested in a fight between characters we've just met, and it should be saved for a later point.

There are obviously tons spelling/sentence errors that are to be looked over by an editor, however there is a slight pattern of confusing intros/descriptions of characters where I couldn't tell who was being talked about. I often had to reread pages and paragraphs trying to make sense of what was going on due to how strangely things were worded.

Overall, I felt that this author has the potential to write something great, however their execution of a "twisted story" felt disorganized, redundant, and poorly thought out at many points in the story. Much of this writing technique felt amateur, and I believe the author needs more training on how to write clear dialogue and narrative. I'd like to see the author take more risks with their writing and stop inserting themselves into the story. I can only hope that this book gets thoroughly overlooked by a talented editor.

Goth teenage horror at its finest! Dark, fun, twisted and a fast read. This book is for every teenager wanting some type of terror in their life. 3.5 stars but rounding to 3 because number one, I am an adult lacking teenage problems and teenage emotions. I do not have a desire to revisit those years lol. Two, I wanted so much more form this book! It’s begging for more fantasy and supernatural elements. It would’ve made it 5 stars for me!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my
ARC copy of Don't Let the Forest in. Spoiler-free, this is a fantastic novel and I'm excited for its release in the near future. Dark but whimsy, gory and beautiful, the details in this novel are top notch. I loved the ace and bit representation (among other LGBTQ+ rep in secondary characters), and I think, overall, the haunting beauty of this novel makes it well worth the read.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC!  

I could read this book a million times and find a new meaning in it for every read. I was hooked from the very first sentence, and I haven’t been able to put it down for even a second. I was able to read it in a day, pages blending into each other as time went without notice.

Don’t let the forest in is a story about a poet who is really a prince. It’s a story about a freckled boy with charcoal stained fingers. Monsters haunt them, creeping from the forest in inhuman forms or lurking in the school’s ground, made of flesh, with greedy faces. It takes a sword to fight one, but what about the monsters they can’t see, the words that hang in the air, the remorse that drips every time they speak. It doesn’t hurt to cut your own heart out. It’s much more difficult to cut open the person that makes you breathe and bleed.

I’ve held my breath through every single scene in this book. It’s raw, with the crippling need to be seen by a person the way you see them, the constant fear of your own head, the muddy words get stuck so deep that nothing can shovel them out. I loved the characters’ relationship, the codependency between them, the inability to move out of each other’s orbit. They were well written, with motives that are only revealed in the end. The clues are there, hidden in plain sight, and yet I only realised once I’d finished 90% of the book. The words are tangled together, a beautiful intentional mess, albeit an intense one.

To summarise Don’t let the forest is a great read for those who are looking for a dark horror story. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions that makes you live it rather than feel it. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read!

Absolutely sickening and disturbing. Extremely well-written in my opinion. I enjoy a good use of metaphor when done well and I think CG Drews has it down.

I will say, horror is not my usual cup of tea, and I found myself having to disengage more often than I would have liked. For someone who enjoys horror, this'll be a non-stop read for you.

In a way this book destroyed me. It reminded me of a much more disturbing twist of the events in The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater combined with The Wicker King by K Ancrum. So good, so unsettling. Would recommend for those who can handle body horror and psychological horror, all very descriptive.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to read and review this eArc!

A perfectly serviceable Ya Book. Kept me engaged even if it failed to really grab me on an emotional level

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me an ARC of this book!

To goth teens: You will love this book!
To parents of goth teens: Your kid will love this book!
To adults looking for something goth and gay to read: You could probably do better than a book about mentally ill children, right?

These are my real-time notes written in the process of reading this ARC, and will contain spoilers:
-I don't read YA, or even NA, so I want to be thoughtful about the lens in which I view this reading experience. My intention intersects at "how would I have felt reading this book as a teenager?" and "how would I talk about it to a parent with a child of this reading age?"
-Classic private school attitude from the protag, looking down his nose at the rich kids around him. My brother in Christ, your father is an international land investor. You spend the ride through the forest to private school staring at dad's solid gold watch. You are the rich kids, I fear.
-As someone who was a pretentious teenager, this book is PERFECT for a pretentious teenager. Any child who ascribes to the "dark academia" aesthetic will love this book.
-I think because I'm so caught up in the awareness that these characters are teenagers, their ultra-grown-up dialogue feels really comical. Not that kids can't have varying levels of mature conversation, but this is like watching a 45-year-old Redditor trying to convince you that they're 16 on an AITA post. You can just read it and know that even the most mature child would not have written a post this way. I.e.: "And yet all the seniors are required to be at dinner. I swear he has a compulsion to do the opposite of what he's told." Is this a wizened professor at this elite private school, you may be asking. Could it be a schoolmarm type? A decrepit paddle-snapping headmistress? Nope, just a seventeen-year-old child with RBF who intimidates our protagonist. Let's see if her being an Asian girl has any other fun narrative consequences.
- I'm hoping that this becomes supernatural, paranormal, or contains fantasy elements in some way. The more I read, the more it feels like we're preparing for something to happen beyond "contemporary teenagers conceptualizing real world problems through a gothic private school lens". It currently seems like it's leaning psychological-horror, but it's begging for some fantasy elements. Even the casual violence between children would suit a fantasy setting better - that, or a K-drama.
-It's really hard to divorce myself from the fact that these are kids and we're supposed to be in their mindsets through this gothic horror narrative. I'm reading these children from abusive and neglectful households who decide that they're rotten inside and seek solace in each other because of that rot, which they've decided must be true, finding comfort and agreeing with each other that they certainly are rotten, and all I want to see is the intervention of a psychiatrist.
-Oh thank god, there are supernatural elements. Hopefully. And not some shared teenage psychosis.
-Well...!

This book chewed me up and spit me out. I tore through this book in a day. The writing is unreal, and the story was dark, and visceral, and tragically beautiful. Impeccable.

It was a beautifully written, tragic tale that I really enjoyed.
Filled with angst and drama and small sweet moments in between, I enjoyed reading Andrew and Thomas's story. I mean... it's a writer with art bestie that draw for stories he created? DREAM. The monsters! The Forest! Dove and Lana!
P.S : I love the mini stories scattered in the book SO MUCH I would read the whole anthology of them.