Okay, so I knew this was gonna be good but I don’t know HOW good. Don’t Let the Forest In was the best book I read in 2024, and now Hazelthorn is definitely going to be the best book I’ve read in 2025 and we’re less than 2 months in! Also, I didn’t see this coming but I loved this even more somehow??? It’s just so good - the writing is phenomenal, the setting is gorgeously crafted and vivid, the characters pull you in leave a mark immediately. The plot itself is extremely well thought out and well-paced, with hints and twists at every turn of the page. I kept putting it down while reading it because I didn’t want it to end, but alas, here we are. I’ll just have to reread it when it comes out!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
I absolutely devoured this book. The writing was incredibly haunted and beautiful; I loved all of the botanical descriptions. I was on the verge of tears from the yearning, mystery, and plot twist. Really, really enjoyed this one.

“If he is to be held, to be touched, he wants it to be like this and only by this boy.”

Hazelthorn was gruesome and lovely. Read the first sentence of chapter 1 thinking, "oh hell, wow," and the feeling just slowly amplified to the end lol. Evander and Laurie’s slow crawl to radical rage and the reclamation of autonomy was the racing pulse of this story, and I think it’ll make an impactful addition to YA and horror shelves.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the eARC! Buzzing to get my hands on a copy this October~

SHUT UP THIS WAS SO GOOD.

I'm not sure a book has ever made me cry, gag, and yearn before.

This was such a wild ride, I absolutely loved it, easily a new favourite. The prose was absolutely beautiful, the themes hit me, the plot twists had me by the throat.

Everything about the book is unique: the way the genres morph from a murder mystery to botanical/folk/psychological horror to a unhinged gothic retelling and back again; Evander and Laurie's dynamic (which had me gnawing on my kindle); Evander's entire characterization.

I stayed up until 2:30am to finish this - the last 70% of the book had me TENSE, okay.

I loved Don't Let the Forest In and it was one of my favourite reads of 2024, but there was something about Hazelthorn that drew me in and devoured me in a way that I haven't felt with a book in a long time.

A huge thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends, and NetGalley for the ARC! I am going to be so obnoxious about this book, oh my GOD.

After reading Don't Let The Forest In I knew I'd read, and love, anything by C.G. Drews. The way they write their characters feels so real, emotions are raw and visceral and haunting.

Hazelthorn beautiful and scary, I could not put this book down. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me look at myself in a new way.

Remember:
the garden
wants you
back