Hazelthorn was a merciless thicket slowly growing around me, encompassing me and wriggling between my ribs with every page. I am by no means a baby or easily squeamish, and while Hazelthorn didn’t terrify me, it did do a wonderful job truly unsettling me. It compares to Andrew Joseph White(HELL FOLLOWED WITH US, THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH) in its visceral, evocative nature but carries it’s own identity and more natural flow to the line level(where I often find myself describing White’s work as “punchy”, this felt more like a “dance”). I devoured this book so quickly, eager to chase Evander’s story and unravel the family history of the Lennox-Halls like a tangle of roots. Brutally vivid and tender in equal measure, CG Drews has skyrocketed to the top of my author radar. I feel extraordinarily grateful to have received this eARC. 4.5/5 stars!

first of all, a huge thanks to the author and netgalley for accepting my request. i was really excited when i got the arc because i love cg drews and all her work and hazelthorn was no exception. i loved the wiriting and pacing of the book, which was phenomenal. as well as the the story which was amazing, engaging and thrilling.. if you love a dark, gritty book that makes your skin crawl this is the one.

I have absolutely no words to describe what I just read.

I don’t normally read anything creepy or scary but by the time I really realized what I was in for it was too late. I was completely entangled at that point. I absolutely tore through this book. It’s been so long since I’ve read a book that had me trying to cram in just one more chapter one more chapter. Ugh, I hope one day I’ll be able to collect my thoughts enough to right a well thought out review really dissecting what makes this story so beautiful and so brilliant but for now this is truly the best I can do.

What a journey this was, good grief

First of all: I don’t really get scared by books generally. I still love the spooky vibes and the tense feeling that horror and thriller books give sometimes, but not many have actually *scared* me. To say I’m shocked and impressed that a YA horror book would be one to get me would be an understatement. There was a moment when I was reading this lying in bed in the dark as our main character’s door creaked open, and at that moment my partner opened the room door in real life, and I think my soul fully left my body

Second: the writing in this was like reading the most beautifully grotesque poetry ever written. I was constantly taken aback by how someone could write like this. My only gripe is at times I felt like this dragged a smidge due to the flowery prose.

Third: the romance? I simply cannot. I was swooning over Laurie and Evander the whole time. Their banter was top notch. The tension? Chef’s kiss. Obsessed with them. And the added stakes of the romance to the already high stakes of the story just elevated the whole thing for me.

Additionally, the mental health, trauma, and disability representation within the cast of characters and getting to know them and their background will not soon be forgotten by me. I do not think I can elaborate without spoiling things, but the author said it best themselves in the author’s note:
“Hazelthorn is a story of queer and autistic rage and of being pushed over the edge. It is a story of the horror of being denied autonomy. It’s also about internalized shame and being at your worst before clawing your way toward self-acceptance.”

Of course given the above, please check trigger warnings before reading if that is a concern for you. While this was all tastefully and delicately handled, this had some very hard hitting themes.

All of that said: READ IT ASAP, I beg!!!!!!!!

4.75 stars rounded up

Thank you so much to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an absolute delight to read. C.G. Drews captures yearning and obsession so incredibly well. Hazelthorn is so rich in gore and mystery that it was difficult to put down.

I really enjoyed the way Evander’s autism is depicted. It feels very empathetic without being sugarcoated or watered down. I have never been professionally diagnosed with autism, but I do struggle with pretty bad sensory issues (especially when it comes to physical contact) and I really connected to Evander’s experiences. I feel like a lot of autistic characters that I’ve seen who have sensory issues with physical contact tend to hate it indiscriminately (which is totally valid and definitely reflects lots of people’s experiences!) but I really resonated with how Evander didn’t mind being touched as long as Laurie asked first and gave him warning.

Overall, Hazelthorn is such breathtaking novel about loneliness and growing up with a lack of autonomy. C.G. Drews is definitely an auto-buy author for me, and frankly, anything with a cover illustrated by Jana Heidersdorf is going on the tbr too.

I enjoyed Hazeltorn! It was full of surprising twists and turns and I never guessed what was going to happen next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an unbiased review!

Evander has never felt like he belonged. With the passing of his adoptive grandfather, the reclusive Byron Lennox-Hall, and the influx of new Lennox-Hall mourners, it becomes clear that something sinister is brewing in Hazelthorn estate. Evander must navigate his complicated feelings for Laurie, Byron's grandson, in order to solve the mystery before he is consumed by it. The Lennox-Halls have secrets, but some things were never meant to escape the walls of the estate.

This is one of my most anticipated releases this year, and it did NOT disappoint. From chapter one, through the visceral prose, the twisting, stifling overgrown estate, we are immersed in a gothic tale of love, rejection, obsession, redemption, and self discovery. Have you ever questioned if the most monstrous parts of yourself are, deep down, your truest self? Should you have to repress parts of yourself to be worthy of love?

Be prepared for some pretty intense body horror and a solid serving of decay and gore.

CG Drew did it again. I can now safely say I trust them to write good books, ones that hook me completely.

"Hazelthorn" is part gothic thriller, part botanical horror, but also a murder mystery and a queer romance. Carried by a lovely prose, using a lot of metaphor without bein so heavy as to hinder the story. Evander is a mess, in the best way possible. Anxiety ridden, with struggles he can't understand and a whole part of his life forgotten. And there is this obsession about a boy, Laurie. Laurie, who tried to kill him years earlier, and who can't help but make bratty comments.

Did I already said I was hoooked immediatly? That I fell head over heels for Evander and Laurie? Well, I did. Utterly. Completely. I wanted to craddle Evander in my arms and encourage him to fight for himself. Trust himself, that he sisn't doing anhthing wrong, that his senses are part of him (I did find myself a lot in him). I wanted to take Laurie in my arms and thank him, console him, too. They're so great, in a bloody tender way.
If I didn't have a life to live and responsabilities (and a constant tiredness), I would have read this book in one sitting.

The creepiness, the tension, the nasty people we met, along with a lot of little clues to gather made the reading experience exceptionnal. Complex psychologies, a love as tender as it is obsessive, a dance around truths and secrets. I guessed some of the revelations coming throughout the book, and oh boy did I wanted to scream. The horror. The anger.

The atmosphere was on point, a sense of eeriness, but also something dark fairy tale like. Contrary to a lot of gothic stories or thriller, the pacing here worked well for me, the story not relying solely on the sense of setting and atmosphere to work. I want more stories like that, please! YA or adult, I don't care, but just story with a strong presence, good plot and intricate characters (even better if they are queer).
The link with Don't let the forest in was also a good little touch, even if it doesn't really matter for the story in itself.

I won't say more, fearing to spoil some part. What is important is that I could share my excitement and love for this book and CG Drew's writing. I will follow them wherever they go next.

CG Drews writes yearning, atmosphere, and tenderness like no other. They somehow have taken the most guttural and vulnerable parts we hide deep inside of us and made it into a story. Not just one story, but two, with both Evander and Laurie. Our rawest emotions were personified into these two broken yet lovable characters.The visceral feelings the two boys had for each other were so strong and unique. This is the type of relationship that sticks with you and makes your heart ache .


I truly enjoyed the motivations for all of the characters acting the way they did. Every so often we read of an antagonist that is being cruel for the sole purpose of being cruel. Though the cruel characters all acted the way they did due to real human emotions and experiences. It shows that any one of us is capable of becoming something kin to a monster if our minds are manipulated in such a way. These “monsters” we read about and see on tv are no fictional, fantastical thing, but potential real people we and those around us may encounter.

Evander portrayed rediscovering yourself after feeling truly lost. He feels so so small. These people in power took away all of his sense of self. For their own selfish reasons, and because nobody could stop them, they controlled this vulnerable boy until he was unrecognizable. He had no clue who he was or where he came from, yet he got the strength to overpower them and rebuild himself.

I am so so grateful and ecstatic to have read this early, and at all in general. It was a heart warming and thrilling experience that stripped me down to my core. CG Drews is an incredible and unique writer, and I love the way their minds works.

This would appeal to YA and Adult readers who enjoy a good enemies AND lovers to "he is half of my soul, as the poets say" type romance with a looming threat of an ever-growing and ever-consuming natural horror.

A gorgeous and provocative gothic nature-horror! I adored Drews' vocabulary and the way that they used those words to form stunning sentences that left me hanging on every word.
The concept of Hazelthorn manor was executed so incredibly, and I loved the looming unknown threat, and continuously discovering new things about this incredible story alongside Evander!

Thank you so much NetGalley and C.G. Drews for the ARC review copy!

Two boys that have a complicated and bloody past, try to solve the murder of their Guardian in the vast monster filled Hazelthorn manor.

If you enjoyed Don’t Let The Forest In, I think you’re going to really like Hazelthorn.
C.G. Drews once again amazes me with their wild and gruesome botanical writing. This book is filled with otherworldly horrors in the shape of a hunger manor garden and is brimming with beautifully written human emotion from our main character Evander. This was a wild ride and I think I like it even more than Don’t Let The Forest In.
I have to give C.G Drews another 6 star review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don't know how I'm supposed to write a review for a book that turned me inside out. I'm pretty liberal with my 5 star reviews, but books like this make me wish I could reinvent the rating system. I was a huge fan of Don't Let the Forest In, so I was initially concerned this book would not live up to my expectations, but C.G. Drews did not disappoint. The setting, characters, overall plot, and pacing were all great, but what really set this book apart was how raw and honest it was. The emotion in this was visceral, like the author opened an artery and bled straight onto the page. This is the story of two boys and a garden and a family of dark secrets, but it's also a story about what it is to feel "other", to be made monstrous in a society where your skin doesn't fit and you are always too much, too loud, too difficult. This is the second time in the past year Drews has left me staring at a wall turning a story around in my head. Phenomenal work all around.

Evander’s life is full of routine and rules.

1. He cannot leave his room. His meals are brought to him daily - bland, soft things with little flavor that’ll be easy on his frail system. Medicine delivered every evening to help him fall asleep.

2. He cannot enter the garden. Considering he cannot leave his room, this rule is quite pointless, but he admires its wildness from afar

3. Never, ever trust Laurie (his guardian’s grandson). Considering Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, this seems like a reasonable request.

However, Evander can’t seem to keep his eyes off of Laurie every time he glimpses him through the window. He should hate him. But he just can’t stop looking. When his guardian suddenly dies, Evander’s whole world gets turned upside down and he doesn’t know who to trust. He can’t even trust his own memories or himself. He must rely on Laurie to figure out what’s right.

Holy Cow. It looks like I love every single thing that CG Drews comes out with. They have such a beautiful way of writing that immerses you into your setting. <i>Hazelthorn</i> is part thriller, part love (hate?) story, and a story of self discovery, all seasoned with a dash of botanical horror. It’s impossible to describe into one genre, and just cracks your heart open in more ways than you can imagine.

Your setting: an overgrown wild garden riddled with poisonous plans and secrets. Your characters: mysterious backgrounds, questionable motives, and representation across spectrum and sexual orientation.
Your plot: takes a wild turn I never saw coming, relationships so toxic you don’t want to blink

Recommended if you like: horror, cottage gore, thrillers, lgbt representation, autism representation

C.G. Drews is an ANIMAL for this.

Every other chapter, I really thought I had this mystery cracked wide open. And every. other. chapter. I was WRONG. All the way until the very last one!!

And the prose is just as sickening. There are over a dozen photos of pages of this book saved in my phone — I was in utter disbelief. The quickest way to my heart (other than ripping it open with your teeth) is through cannibalism as a metaphor for queer desire. There’s simply nothing better.

So beyond privileged to have been granted early access to this. Will be purchasing the finished edition.

Add this to your reading list if you’ve ever loved someone so much you wanted to eat them, if you have an unhealthy relationship with your house plants, or if you enjoyed Saltburn.

"Pain is meant to take up space, or else we wouldn't know how to scream."

I'm left staring at my bedroom wall in absolute awe of this book.

The clawing, painful desperation of want and the need to consume has left me utterly speechless.

I don't know what to say except that I want more. As painful and heart-wrenching as it is, I crave more of it.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

CG Drews has gotten me addicted to botanical horror…!

This was just as viscerally beautiful as Don’t Let the Forest In (possibly my favorite read of 2024) but with a heaviness and mundanity that made me so uncomfortable that I couldn’t stop reading. Like the garden I am now very hungry and I cannot be sated.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC ❤️❤️❤️ and the author for another absolute banger of a book.

"I want Hazelthorn. I've always wanted Hazelthorn."

Thank you Netgalley, Feiwel & Friends and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book has left an open wound in my heart, thanks CG, you did it again :) You can say I'm biased but it's an instant 5 star read for me (can I rate it, like, infinity out of 5⭐ because I love it so much????), so take my review with a grain of salt.

It's a gothic mansion murder mystery, with botanical body horror and two boys obsessing with each other (does it sound like your cup of tea?).

Trigger warning: Blood, gore, child abuse, medical abuse, ableism, eating disorder, botanical body horror. Please do check your TW before proceeding to read this book.

Reading this feels like living in a nightmare. Every scenes, every pain the characters feel, every emotions are etched in my soul. It is soooo goooood (and 'good' is an understatement, mark my words). The moment I finished it, I was like, GIVE ME MORE!!!

The pacing is perfect for a mystery, it keeps you guessing wtf is actually happening. When things start to unravel one by one, you can't help but hold your breath with full of anticipation. However, CG has left you breadcrumbs to pick up throughout the book, so if you pay attention, you'll know.

What works best for me is the dynamic between Evander and Laurie (oh how much I love Laurie!). They bicker and banter, yet gravitate towards each other. They hurt and save each other, and I'm obsessed.

The atmosphere is eerie, dark and chilly; the mansion itself will pull you in and it will never let you go. But the garden... It will swallow you whole. CG is so clever in composing their prose. The description is so vivid and it plays in my head like a movie. And the ending is just perfect. I just love it so much—instant all-time favorite.

Am I going to buy the hardcopy? Well of course, duh. CG's works have become one of my auto-buy book. I think I'm obsessed with this book just as much as Evander obsessed with Laurie ;)

It feels like Hazelthorn has grown vines through my heart and rooted inside of me. There's nothing more beautiful than the horrors that C.G. Drews brings to life. They've woke something ravenous in me when I read Don't Let the Forest In, and Hazelthorn has only made it stronger. If I didn't already know I was a glutton for pain, I'd know it now because I just want more.

Having already read C.G. Drews "Don't Let The Forest In" with it easily landing in my top 5 reads of last year, the bar was set exceptionally high for this one, and I am both relieved and happy to report that it's even better. I absolutely loved "Don't Let The Forest In" aside from maybe 1 or 2 nitpicks that I chock up to being a "me" problem, but those things were not present in this book. This was truly phenomenal.

This book was dripping in the most lush, gothic and ethereal prose that, once again, had me sucked in from page one. I read a lot of fiction and have a particular interest in reading books that interweave LGBT + horror, and Drews does this just as well as some of the most established writers in this literary space.

I already want to re-read this and I will absolutely be purchasing a hard-copy edition the day it is released. I am completely obsessed and utterly entranced by the way Drews skillfully uses body horror as a vehicle to explore themes of grief, love, loss, pining, doubt, self-consciousness, etc. The pacing here was impeccable, and the way they hinted at things throughout the story was done in a more subtle way than in "Don't Let The Forest In" which I really appreciated as I was left wondering for longer about exactly what was going on and how things would end. I will read any and everything from Drews at this point.

Thank you SO SO much for approving my request. This was such an enjoyable escape and I cannot wait to see what Drews puts out next.

5/5 stars.

sinked my teeth into every page of this book 🤯
—
Evander has spent his entire life trapped in Hazelthorn, a crumbling gothic estate filled with secrets, ghosts, and one very specific rule: stay away from Laurie Lennox-Hall. 7 years ago, Laurie tried to kill him. now, Evander can’t stop thinking about him.

when his reclusive billionaire guardian dies suddenly, he inherits everything—an immense fortune, a house that seems to breathe, and a mystery that feels dangerously unsolved. Laurie might be the only person who can help him figure out the truth before he’s next. but here's the catch? Hazelthorn’s gardens aren’t just overgrown—they’re hungry. the vines are creeping through the walls, the air hums with something unnatural, and whatever’s been buried in the roots is ready to rise. GAGGED is the word for this book holy crap it was so good? this book is like The Secret History with a dose of Mexican Gothic, full of eerie atmosphere, dangerous romance, and a slow-building horror that grips you tighter with every chapter. the prose is hypnotic, the tension is unreal, and Evander and Laurie’s dynamic is the kind of messy, obsessive, can’t-look-away connection that leaves you breathless. i was eating them up, can i be the 3rd wheel?

what more can you ask for? gothic mansions, morally complicated characters, and stories where love and horror bleed into each other, this book is it. bury me with it.

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
thank you so much Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
and to our lovely, CG Drew's. please keep writing more books!