This book was CRAZY. Andrew, Thomas, Dove. Each of them had such different characteristics. The story was creepy but also beautiful. I loved the concept of drawings coming to life. Horror stories becoming real. The last 5 chapters had my heart RACING. I 100% did NOT see that coming. Completely caught me off guard. I want to experience this story for the first time all over again.

The premise of this book is really interesting. The writing is well done and there are some really interesting tonal shifts, as well as a significant twist that I did not see coming. The story and the love story was really interesting and unique, in my opinion. It also features an ace main character and the rep is well-presented.

That being said, this book is VERY angsty, to the point of melodrama. The boys are so in love with one another that they say things like they need to staple each other's lungs to one another in order to breathe, or they need to feed on one another to survive. And, because of the subject matter, that just all feels a little too intense, to the point of actually creating points of levity for me that were unintended.

This might possibly be the best book I read in 2024, and I read A LOT of books this year. What can I say about Don't Let the Forest In without spoiling what a deliciously dark, heartbreaking little fairytale it is?

Andrew Perrault is hopelessly in love with his best friend, Thomas; they're two halves of one very messed up whole. Andrew writes dark fairytales of princes and monsters, and Thomas brings his words to life with a couple pen strokes. Except...what if Thomas's drawings actually came to life? Now, in between puzzling out his feelings for Thomas, his own sexuality, and his complicated relationship with his twin sister Dove, Andrew must join Thomas every night to fight monsters and keep their school safe.

This book feels nostalgic in ways I can't explain, and it cuts like a knife. Drews's prose is some of the cleanest, most perfect writing I've ever read. Each line feels handcrafted and devastating, flowery without ever being purple prose-y. Also, might I say the Halloween release date is the perfect timing? The atmosphere here is truly impeccable. But it's not just all style and no substance! The complicated relationships here are amazing; they feel authentic, which makes the moments that Thomas and Andrew are in danger feel even more devastating.

And speaking of authenticity, I loved the ace rep here, and I love the mental illness rep for Andrew (and possibly Thomas? He's got a lot going on in his head, but it's close POV for Andrew only, so we don't quite get that same view of the other MC). All the representation here was beautifully done in ways that I wish more YA stories would replicate. And if that doesn't sell you on how perfect this book is, it has drawings y'all. I'm sold.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Feiwel and Friends, and C G Drews for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review! NetGalley, you've done it again! I have a new auto-buy YA horror author to add to my growing collection!!

um... hello!??!! i had to go take a shift at work after finishing this book before writing this review to give my thoughts enough time to stew but i don't think it was enough. the first thing i want to say is that the depictions of grief in this book are RAW and remind me a lot of my own experience with the loss of a close family member, safe to say i was a little misty-eyed by the end. the story itself started a little slow for me, but once the action got rolling it was hard to put down. the prose was lyrical and i LOVED the poet/prince motif throughout. all around a great read, I'm just kicking myself that it took me this long to get around to!

Don't Let the Forest in carved space in my brain and nestled within it. I loved the story and the writing so much, I probably would devour it again just so it can break me a little more. Beware, this book will haunt you once you turn to the last page. Thank you NetGalley for providing access to this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an eARC of Don't Let the Forest In in exchange for my honest review!

There's such a dark and tragic atmosphere that pulses throughout this book and keeps it compelling. It adds quite a few layers to the toxic codependency in the central relationship. Sure, there are parts where it can feel a bit too YA for my taste, where the characters can behave too immaturely (even for their age), but I'm still able to ride along with the horror and the romance of it all. I definitely admire how much the gothic horror tone weaves in nature—the trees, the moss, the flowers, all of that earthly material to thicken the paranormal mood.

Overall, I'm officially rating Don't Let the Forest In 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to 4 stars. I'll keep an eye out for more of C.G. Drews's work.

4.75/5

Thank you to NetGallery and Feiwel and Friends for the ARC. This is my honest review

I really have no words. This was an amazing book. The writing is fantastic, the story is engaging, the atmosphere is perfect. Only reason it’s not a 5 star for me is because I questioned Thomas and Andrew’s relationship in some places and it took me a few pick ups to get into the book.

The author did a great job with the twists. They were hinted at enough that I could figure them out before being told but didn’t take away from the big reveal. And the grief, conflicting emotions, and raw emotions were felt on the page. I was so invested in the characters and their journey. I don’t identity as LGBTQIA+ but this seemed like good representation, really hoping I’m not wrong about that.

I really needed more. I appreciate that things weren’t fully wrapped up in the end, that’s life, but I needed to know how things ended up. I will be forever haunted about this.

**Be sure to check trigger warnings.

I genuinely had to sit alone in a dark room for a good hour before I could even think about continuing with my life, much less writing this review. Wow. It is hard for me to find the words for just how much I loved this book. It will probably never leave me and I hope I will think about it for a long while. I have no words for the devastation it has left me with, but also the fascination in the world and relationships.

I love nature-based queer thrillers. It seems to be a nice genre, but all the books I have read in it have left me in pieces and I think of them at least once a week. This book will be added to that rotation. The heart of this book is the relationship between Andrew and Thomas, which is somehow so deeply ingrained in both boys it has become a co-dependency that would rival that of me and my Kindle. Andrew can't even think of a life without Thomas, and Thomas would do anything for Andrew. He does do anything for Andrew. When talking about this book to my friend, the only way that I could describe the prose was 'delicious', and I stand by that. I wanted to eat this book. You might think that's a strange thing to say, and you'd be right, but I can't explain it any other way. It was so rich and terrifying and detailed that my mind felt full and satisfied reading it. Again, a strange thing to say but also true. I want to read everything by this author. I will be coming back to this book for a while

This book will haunt me for the rest of my life, rent-free.

5/5 Stars!

oh the YEARNING! the PAIN! the CO-DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP! oh the UNRELIABLE NARRATOR!!!

I had dragged my heels on getting this one done and God I wished that I read it sooner! There were many times during this read where I wanted to just bundle Andrew into a hug and just cry because so many bad things happen to him and I relate so much with his constant anxiety with other people. And God Thomas?? Need me a guy so die hard for me as Thomas. Like they are so adorable and painful at the same time and it is so bittersweet and if you love the long fanfics full of longing, yearning, and idiots not knowing they are in love with each other despite it being completely obvious to everyone, I definitely recommend this one!

The twist had me GOOPED but I do think it was a tad abrupt, but I think you could see it through Andrew's lens and it would fit just as well!

I had so much fun with this and was on the verge of screaming at work the whole time!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this work (despite it having already been out for 2 months at this point)!

Andrew and Thomas are friends that share a common interest. Dark fantasy stories and drawings. Andrew enjoys writing about fairytales with a dark twist and Thomas draws pictures to go along with the stories. Until one day Thomas comes to school with blood on his sleeve and news of his parent's disappearance. Andrew tries to get through to his friend who doesn't want to share what had happened.
Andrew's curiosity gets the better of him and he follows his friend one night. What he finds is a deep dark secret that Thomas has been hiding. A well written story that has fantasy and a mystery thrown together. The characters and the plot of the story are entertaining and enthralling. Genuine storytelling. In my opinion, a must read for fantasy lovers.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing group for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews is a gripping and eerie read that kept me hooked from start to finish. It’s got a dark, atmospheric vibe with a twist of fantasy, and I really loved how the forest itself felt like a character—creepy and mysterious but also oddly beautiful. The main character, Fern, is really relatable. She's trying to figure out what’s real and what’s not, and you can totally feel her fear and confusion as things get weirder. The pacing was great; it didn’t drag at all, and the plot had enough twists to keep me on my toes. There are some really emotional moments too, which made it more than just a creepy story.

Overall I enjoyed Don't Let the Forest In - I'm a sucker for woodsy gothic stories - but I thought the prose, though lovely, was occasionally overdone, and that there wasn't quite enough to it all, story and style alike, to stretch out over a full book's length. Fab vibes, not quite enough else to be perfect, in my book. I did like the ending a lot, though.

For fans of Your Blood, My Bones, These Fleeting Shadows, A Darker Mischief, and We Were Restless Things.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

Don’t Let the Forest In is a stunning YA horror. The writing is poetic, and the story is captivating but dark and twisted, like one of Andrew’s fairytales. I found it hard to put down.

This novel blends the creepy, gore and macabre with excellent prose, perfect pacing and complex characters. There are detailed descriptions of the horrific forest creatures, but also school life and classes. Those two worlds are completely separate at the beginning, and the scenes where the forest seems to reach into the ordinary world, bringing chaos and rot, were my favourites. What I loved about this novel is that I was never sure what was real.

Also, I loved the characters- from somewhat fragile Andrew and angry Thomas to the side characters, like Lana, who are as detailed and essential. It was easy to root for them, and I was emotionally invested in their story. The novel touches on teenage mental health, identity, abuse, bullying and grief, making it a worthwhile read.

It’s a rather scary read filled with botanical horrors but also a wonderful story about love and friendship. I will keep an eye out for the author’s future releases.

𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘓𝘪𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

This was the perfect autumn read, with spooky vibes and eloquent writing. I absolutely loved the story; Andrew loves to write stories, dark stories and finds solace in his writing. His best friend Thomas is an artist, who is inspired by Andrew's stories. However, as they return to school at the beginning of the year, something is wrong. Thomas seems different and his parents have mysteriously disappeared. Andrew is desperate to figure out what's going on and follows him into the forest near the school. He sees Thomas fighting a nightmarish monster and discovers that Thomas' drawings are coming to life. As they figure it out together, things unravel and secrets are uncovered. The relationship between Thomas and Andrew was so well written and I loved the whole atmosphere. A perfect spooky read!

The prose here is absolutely stunning. This is my first time reading something by C.G. Drews, so I'm not familiar with their writing style and whether this eloquent flowery prose is typical or intended, given the main character's penchant for writing - writing that comes alive. At times I found this prose excessive, however the imagery was quite haunting and beautiful. The haunting imagery, the body horror, and the progressive closing in of the forest monsters was all really well done. I thought the characters' conversations and internal dialogue related to their struggles within the LGBTQIA+ community were also very well done and thoughtful.

I found the lack of response by teachers at the school to one of the character's extreme weight loss to be concerning. I also have a hard time with this being marketed as YA horror. The main set of characters are seniors in high school, so from that perspective I can understand it being tagged YA. However, the body horror is on full display and the themes are quite mature. That all being said, I really enjoyed this and plan to read more of C.G. Drews writing as soon as possible.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

HUH?

That double plot twist broke my brain for a second there. This book is generally kind of slow, but it picks up 3/4th of the way through. I loved the aesthetic of it and I think the ship was my favorite part. It was about to break me of he wasn’t real😭. I should’ve picked up on the plot twist earlier, because they mentioned how she always did his schoolwork and then the office said he hadn’t done schoolwork the whole semester. I was so confused why he wasn’t talking to her for half the semester and why they wouldn’t just FUCKING SAY why she was mad at him. I felt weird about that whole thing and it was honestly pretty annoying to read, but other parts of the story made up for it. I feel like this book had some parts that could definitely be improved in the authors second book.

🌿Don’t Let the Forest In🌿

Dark. Atmospheric. Imaginative. Lyrical.

“It was strange, Andrew thought, how when something moved in the dark, everyone's first instinct was to go inside and hide under the covers.
As if monsters couldn't open doors and
crawl into bed with you.
——————————————————————-
“I’m scared of everything except the dark.”
——————————————————————-

I have found yet another book to obsess about!
This book was fascinating, I adored Andrew’s dark stories and I only wish I could’ve seen Thomas’ drawings of them, they would be magnificent!
As a massive introvert I could relate to Andrew many times. I don’t think I’ve ever read about a character quite like him and I felt so seen.

——————————————————————-
“‘You just have to find the people who love you for you. I’m lucky to have those.’
‘It’s shitty that it has to be luck to be loved as you are’” - I can’t even explain the way this hits me…🥺
——————————————————————-

This is a very beautiful and dark story about identity, love, loss, being accepted as you are, and fighting inner monsters ( alongside fighting real monsters ofc). The story pulled at my heartstrings in a major way and I am still processing it.

If any of this sounds good to you then give this book a try, it might just burrow into your heart and stay there. 🖤

Rating: 4.5 ⭐️ rounded to 5⭐️

I started reading this book but couldn’t get very far into the story. So I switched to the Audiobook and found that helped keep my interest.
I must admit I’m not a huge horror fan. And there were some descriptions that had me shuddering and saying ewww out loud. Which people who didn’t realize I was listening to a book probably wondered about.
It was very nice to have a book with an ACE main character. My daughter is an aroace and even though this representation is far from perfect it’s definitely a step in the right direction of recognizing not everyone needs or wants sexual relationships.
I would say a solid 3.5/5. Just because the ick factor got me.

A dark and gothic dark academia horror; filled with prose as lush and as biting as a poisonous flower. The cover for this book is gorgeous and really sets the reader’s expectations for the kind of story lurking inside.

We follow Andrew and Thomas who creatively feed off of each other: Andrew’s dark faerie tale stories provide the inspiration for Thomas’s macabre artwork. They’re both students at a prestigious boarding school who are feeling the pressures of an intense senior year, but things are about to get more intense for the both of them when they realize their art may be coming to life….and may be coming for them both.

It’s still (unfortunately) rare to find asexual representation in books, much less in a main character. I loved what that added to this specific story, and how Andrew was not only wrestling with dangerous forest demons but accepting himself. Andrew was a frustrating protagonist at times. Lack of communication as a plot point is really frustrating to me as a reader but I understood his motivations, even if I didn’t agree with them, and it comes clear towards the end why communication with certain characters were the way they were.

The beginning of the book was interesting; where it chose to start and what information it gave really had me feeling like I was missing either a prologue or a few chapters of context. I don’t mind being thrown into a story and left for myself to figure things out, but this book asks you to buy into deep relationships early on and there wasn’t enough initial character development for one to do that. This book felt repetitive at times with the to and fro from one location to another, and perhaps that was intentional to showcase Wickwood’s suffocation of the boys?

Those notes aside, I had a good time with this one overall. This book is dark and furious and a great example of YA dark academia! I will be following this author’s career with interest!

This book left me absolutely speechless. So beautiful. The cover art is stunning, the storyline is so tender and raw. Andrew and Thomas are incredible characters.