This book is like a dark, twisted fairy tale that wraps you in its embrace and refuses to let go. I devoured it in one sitting, desperately reading through every twist and turn.

The story follows Evander, a boy trapped in the mysterious Hazelthorn estate, and his complicated dance with Laurie, the charming but troubled grandson of his guardian.

Hazelthorn is a fantastic story that explores themes of trauma and isolation. It’s a must-read for anyone who enjoys dark fantasy and gothic horror.

I was anticipating reading this one after Don't let the forest in and I absolutely loved it!
I love Evander and Laurie relationship and the written gore of it. I adored how it talked about the rage of losing the autonomy of your own body and gaslighted into thinking you are not normal for simply existing for both of them
The horror made by the plants eating the mansion was so well done, the atmosphere felt tense the entire time

Writing a review for something so beautiful is so difficult. My words cannot properly convey how perfectly the story was told. The atmosphere, tone, and characters were so well rounded and communicated so perfectly that I felt like I was truly along for the ride.

Evander and Laurie have truly haunted me (in the best way possible) since I finished the book two weeks ago.

CG Drews has done it again. I was first introduced to them through an ARC ad for Don’t Let the Forest In and I have been hooked since. Don’t Let the Forest In immediately became one of my all-time favorite books so when ARCs opened for Hazelthorn, I jumped to apply.

I don’t know what it is about CG Drews’ writing but it is beautiful and immersive and slightly insanity-inducing in the best way. Evander is a sickly teenager who doesn’t know who he is; the only things he does know is that he is certainly not normal and that his childhood best friend tried to kill him. When Evander’s guardian dies, Evander goes to great lengths to investigate - even going so far as to team up with said childhood best friend. But the estate is not what it seems and the garden is all Evander thinks about. The garden has infiltrated his mind in every possible way. This is a story of not fitting in, yearning, panic, mystery, and botany. It is creepy and beautiful and surprising. Perfect for fans of cottagecore, plants, and horror with a bit of romance.

I expected an ending similar to Don’t Let the Forest In, but I felt satisfied and content with the ending of Hazelthorn (whereas Don’t Let the Forest In kept me spiraling). CG Drews can obviously write both kinds of endings with perfection! Highly recommend this beautifully haunting story. Now I look forward to their adult debut🤩.

I really liked CG Drew’s first novel Don’t Let the Forest In so I was excited when I saw this was releasing soon. I think the book does a great job at illustrating the horror and thriller aspects of the book. I am a sucker for queer romance so I may have been biased going in with the characters. The gothic elements have me gagginggggg. I am actually obsessed. I kind of had some inklings about how the book was progressing but that didn’t stop me from gasping at certain points. I’ve already preordered my physical copy at B&N; it’s just that good!

I wasn’t sure if I could like this any more than Don’t Let the Forest In, but I think I did. I had a hunch about the twist fairly early on, but it did not stop me from being fully invested in and stressed out about what these kids were going through. Once again, Drews has managed to perfectly balance dark gothic spooky vibes with gorgeous prose and botanical imagery. Truly stunning.

C.G. Drews’ Hazelthorn is a mesmerizing blend of gothic horror, psychological thriller, and queer romance, wrapped in lush, eerie prose that lingers long after the final page. This book is an atmospheric feast of creeping dread, unreliable narration, and monstrous secrets lurking beyond a forbidden door.

At the heart of the story is Evander, a boy shackled by his past and trapped in a decaying mansion where nightmares feel more real than memories. The haunted estate is more than just a setting—it’s a living, breathing entity, as sinister and hungry as the secrets it conceals. Evander’s journey is as heartbreaking as it is harrowing. His confusion and pain are palpable, made all the more compelling by Drews’ ability to craft deeply flawed yet achingly human characters. The relationship between Evander and Laurie is a slow-burning, painful unraveling of past betrayals and forgotten bonds.

The prose, while stunning, sometimes dips into repetitiveness—certain descriptions and motifs are used so frequently that they lose a bit of their impact. There are moments where the pacing lags, especially in the middle, as the story circles around the same feelings of dread and uncertainty. However, the sheer intensity of the final act more than makes up for any sluggish moments, delivering a climax that is as horrifying as it is satisfying.

Fans of Gallant by V.E. Schwab and The Starling House by Alix E. Harrow will feel right at home in its eerie halls. Hazelthorn reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper in the best way—haunting, immersive, and impossible to shake. Just be warned: once you step into this world, it may never let you go. Find this on shelves October 28!

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the DRC.

I had read CG Drews' first novel Don't Let the Forest In and had enjoyed it. What had grabbed me about that book was the characters as well as the pitch perfect descriptions of horror and gore. I'm a little sad that I did not enjoy Hazelthorn quite as much. Drews' abilities as a writer to evoke both horror and awe in their descriptions of the plant life doing horrific things is still top notch. However, I found myself struggling to care about the main characters until pretty much the end. The first two thirds of the book feel like set up and while necessary, I found it harder to get through but very much appreciated the last third where everything kicked off both action and character-wise.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
# Pages: 368
Publication Date: 10.28.25

“What if the worst of us is the only part that’s real?”

* YA Gothic Horror
* Botanical Body Horror
* Murders Mystery
* Queer Romance (MM)
* LGBTQ+ Rep
* Evil Secret Garden Vibes
* Hate To Love
* Rich Family Drama
* Dark Fantasy

Synopsis:
Hazelthorn is a deeply unsettling yet hauntingly beautiful tale of mystery and botanical body horror, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White, Belladonna, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. A teenage orphan inherits a murdered reclusive billionaire's gothic estate and must find the killer with the help of his (unfortunately attractive) nemesis and contend with a mysterious garden that has a dark and terrible appetite.

“Hazelthron” by C.B. Drews was a hauntingly twisted and a beautiful queer novel. The imagery, vision, world building, character development, and overall aesthetic was perfect. I loved the mystery and twists and turns that kept me guessing.

Evander and Laurie have a complicated and bloody past, especially together.. They come together to try to solve the murder of their Guardian in the vast monster filled Hazelthorn manor. I loved their bickering to each other and how relatable they were. The slow burn was everything and really helped tie it all together.

Overall, this book was spectacular and everything I needed for a gothic horror. Impeccable storytelling and was of keeping readers captivated. I highly recommend this book! Especially if you loved the last book from C.B. Drews.

Thank you netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for this ARC read.

Creepy gothic mansions!! I really enjoyed the writing/prose in this. Plant horror is something I really didn't know I needed until now! Will definitely need to check out from Drews - this was a perfect blend of creepy and mysterious.

This is one of the most beautifully twisted horror/love stories that I have ever read. Evander and Laurie are written in such a gorgeous breathtaking way that I was unable to out the book down no matter how hard I tried. This book has cemented it's way into one of my top five best books ever read. Well done! Can't wait to search out more from this author!

I loved Hazelthorn. I learned about my love for forest rot vibes after reading Don’t Let the Forest In and can confirm, I am still a fan. The imagery is so haunting in the best way that makes my little gothic heart happy. Did it unlock my trypophobia at some points? Absolutely. Did I still love everything about it? 100%.

Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews is a dark jewel of a book that you can’t devour fast enough. For those who have read Don’t Let the Forest In, prepare yourselves for Hazelthorn, another gem in the same vein of botanical atmospheric horror that leaves you unnerved in the best possible way. You can practically smell the soil and feel the catch of thorny vines while reading this book.

Welcome to Hazelthorn, home to Evander - a boy with missing memories, a mysterious illness, and a nebulous hold on reality. He lives there with his enigmatic guardian, a butler, and occasionally Laurie, his guardian’s grandson. Evander and Laurie were once best friends before a tragic accident destroyed their friendship and turned Laurie into an antagonist who is as wicked as he is beautiful.

When tragedy strikes again at Hazelthorn, Evander and Laurie strike up a tenuous alliance to discover the truth behind the crumbling mansion and untamed gardens--but will they solve Hazelthorn’s mysteries before the darkness devours all its inhabitants? The result is a wild, sumptuously told, masterpiece of gothic adventure about immersive self-discovery, transformational first romance, and long-buried secrets that threaten the very essence of Hazelthorn.

And then there’s the ending. Just like Don’t Let the Forest In, I was wide-eyed and craving just one more sentence, one more line to tell me more. I can’t wait for others to read this—it’s a book you’ll want to dissect… or let it dissect you. The final paragraphs of Hazelthorn have crawled deep into my chest and taken root in the most unshakeable way.

C.G. Drews has rapidly become one of my favorite authors, and I can’t wait to read more by them. Hazelthorn will absolutely be a book I read and re-read. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group/Feiwel & Friends for providing me with an ARC of this incredible book in exchange for an honest review. I can honestly say that I can’t wait to buy this in hardback as soon as it’s available.

C.G. Drews has a way of writing that just makes me feel like I'm losing my mind in the best possible way.

I don't even know how to put my thoughts about this book into actual words without just mindlessly gushing. Laurie and Evander were just lovely characters and I was instantly in love with them the second I was introduced to them.

It started off feeling like a standard murder mystery and then slowly shifted its way into botanical horror that maybe shouldn't have worked as well as it did but it just worked so well. And I absolutely adored the little romance subplot.

Just a beautiful book overall.

Rating 4.5 rounded up.

The trauma, the mental illness, and the rage oh my!

How do you follow up and amazing release like “Don’t Let The Forest In?” THIS! This is how you do it. OMG this book is just as beautifully written! So morbidly poetic!

Not many books leave me at a loss for words but this one has done it. My mind is racing to process everything I read and this is a wonderful thing! This book is actually haunting me and I love it! I will never look at a garden the same way again. I am sure the next time I am in a beautiful botanical garden all I will think of is the vines reaching and stretching through a human body.

If you want a story that is beautifully dark that will linger in the back of your mind and haunt you for days. This is the books for you! C.G. Drews has once again given us an amazing addition to our botanical horror shelf and I cannot wait until October to purchase a physical copy!

4.5/5

Beware the garden.

After being orphaned at a young age, Evander was taken in to live in the lavish estate of Hazelthorn by billionaire Byron Lennox-Hall who locks him away in his room for the past seven years. Evander is only visited by their butler to be given medication to control his episodes that leave him with very few recollections of his past. Evander’s only vivid memory is of Byron’s grandson, Laurie, burying him alive when they were ten years old.

When his guardian suddenly dies, Byron’s dying request is for Evander to never go in the garden. Suspicious that his guardian’s passing is murder, and with his door coincidentally open for the first time in years, Evander starts to uncover secrets about Hazelthorn, and himself, that leave him reeling. When Byron’s will reveals that Evander is the sole beneficiary of his wealth, Evander must deal with not only the possible murder and the garden’s secrets, but also the other Lennox-Halls who are vying for his newly founded wealth.

This was a creepy, horrifyingly beautiful mystery steeped with emotion. The characters and scenes leapt off the page and had me devouring this novel. It is paced well between frightening action, slow and eerie storytelling, and the dissection of what it is to be human. There are lots of twists and even a bit of romance that will keep you on your toes until the end.

CG Drews’ prose is eloquent, though a bit flowery, at times, but perfectly atmospheric. If you want a YA Queer Horror/Thriller, pick this one up immediately.

I want to live in C.G. Drews head for a day, it must be terrifyingly beautiful in there. Hazelthorn was one of my most anticipated 2025 reads after I was completely obsessed with Don't Let the Forest In last year, and it did not disappoint. This book is beautifully written and hauntingly visceral. The garden has become a part of me.

Yeah, this is going to be occupying half the free space in my brain for the next month and a half at least...

Hazelthorn is my second C.G. Drews book, and it's confirmed the author's spot on my auto-read list. Similar to Don't Let the Forest In, Hazelthorn is a mix of fantasy and horror for a YA audience but with an added focus on a locked-room(ish) murder mystery. I've been really getting into fantasy murder mysteries, and this one did not disappoint. Also...the prose. The style, the word choices, the vibes - it's also beautifully haunting, and I did not want to put the book down.
After the death of Evander's guardian, he is labeled the sole inheritor of the Lennox-Hall legacy: mansion, grounds, wealth, and all...but Evander is convinced that Byron Lennox-Hall was murdered. Evander employs the help of Byron's grandson, Laurie (the very person who tried to kill Evander a few years before), to find the murderer before they come for Evander too. I absolutely loved the vibes of the story, and while I can't say too much because of spoilers...I'm really starting to think I might enjoy horror (at least when it's mixed with fantasy). Surprisingly enough, I managed to call probably the most unexpected plot twist, and I sort of caught the murderer, but that's because the foreshadowing is so well-written and subtle (and I've also played way too many rounds of Betrayal at this point). The botanical horror aesthetics, the touching storylines, the "I'd literally let you consume me" romances - I absolutely loved this book, and I'm already excited for when I reread it (hopefully during spooky season).
I feel like I highlighted half of the dialogue between Evander and Laurie because it was the perfect mixture of banter, angst, and yearning. There's a line specifically that's going to live rent-free in my head forever now (I'll add it below my review because it contains spoilers). I absolutely loved Evander as a character; his journey of self-discovery was so fun, and his emotions were incredibly vivid. I loved Laurie, too, especially with his initially mysterious nature and the playboy vibes I got from him at first. There's so much I want to say about both of them, but you need to experience it for yourself. Also, the romance...I shouldn't adore it as much as I do.
Do yourself a favor and read Hazelthorn...and go into it blind. Trust me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

5/5

(Also, Betrayal haunt with this theme when? Please?)


Spoilers: Read at your own Risk
"'God was stronger than me when he made Adam and didn't fall in love with him.'" Literally stop. I was waiting for this quote - I wanted the rib symbolism so badly - but I'm never going to stop thinking about it now.

I couldn't put this down, and ended up binge reading it in under 6 hours.
Was it worth losing sleep over?
Yes.
Would I do it again?
Also yes.

Drews creates a hauntingly immersive world in Hazelthorn, where the decaying estate and its sinister garden set the tone for a dark, emotional journey. The tension between Evander and Laurie, filled with mistrust and longing, is gripping, and the scheming relatives add layers of intrigue. The slow-burn romance is beautifully done, offering a rare light in an otherwise twisted world.

The book is a masterclass in gothic horror, with emotional depth and unexpected twists that had me guessing in a few places until the very end. Drews' prose and descriptions had me feeling like I was experiencing the tension and confusion side-by-side with Evander. Drews' masterfully ensures that Evander’s journey is one of self-discovery and fragile hope, and expertly blends horror with heart.

Hazelthorn is a captivating, eerie read that combines a haunting setting, complex characters, and a gripping plot, making it impossible to stop reading.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for the ARC copy they provided.

C.G. Drews never disappoints.

Literally.

Never.

She made me love her characters in The Boy Who Steals Houses, stole my soul and tore out my heart in Don’t Let the Forest In, and has utterly ripped me from the clutches of the safe indoors to toss me into the decaying dirt with Hazelthron. The very first line invited me to savor the soil on Evander’s tongue, feel the grit between his teeth. And every line thereafter held me captive.

Evander was at once relatable, both in his rage and in the total despair he escaped from when his bedroom door was inexplicably unlocked. Standing opposite Evander, Laurie was instantly loveable with his standoffish swagger. I never wanted to see the two of them stop bickering.

But of course, C.G. Drews packs as many secrets into her books as the garden of Hazelthron packs poisonous plants, and also like the garden, she gives none of her secrets away for free. Very few authors have the capacity to surprise me with their writing, but C.G. Drews is one who does. There were whole sections of Hazelthorn I did not expect and that left me breathless and longing for more.

Did I spend many nights reading this with the lights out and jumping at bumps in the dark? Yes. Do I recommend everyone else do the same? Also yes.

Unless you can read it out in a garden after dark, with nothing but the moon to light your page. You should totally do that if you can.

You won’t regret it.

Or maybe you will when a plant infested butler comes out of the shadows to chase you.

Either way, it’ll be time well spent. Just don’t drink the tea.