I absolutely devoured this book!
The writing was artfully descriptive and really kept the suspense and the mystery going. throughout. I normally find that too much description can take me out of a book personally, but this was the perfect blend of description while also moving things forwards.
I wished I could swoop in and take dear Evander away, as you could feel his pain and confusion as the truth started unravelling and he had to figure out what was real, who was lying to him when nothing seemed to be adding up.
Overall it was a beautifully tragic story with well written characters, that truly placed you inside Hazelthorn and all of it's horrors.

Another spooky, atmospheric read from CG Drews. Immediately we are thrown into this Gothic feeling world, filled with earth, pain and wonder. It makes for the perfect rainy day read.

Oh. My. HEART.

Evander, who has been trapped within the gothic Hazelthorn estate for almost a decade, was given three simple rules to follow.
1. Never enter the garden.
2. Never leave.
3. NEVER be alone with Laurie.

CG Drews lyrical writing draws you deep within the confines of Hazelthorn and its garden of horrors. Leaving you feeling as if the words themselves were pulling you beneath the damp dark earth, dirt under your nails from the effort of trying to claw your way back, only then remembering to breathe. Not wanting to become just another stone to the Hazelthorn lore.

I had almost forgotten what it felt like to disappear into the pages of a book until now. The description of every scene made you feel, the murder mystery made you question, and the garden.... dark, monstrous, beautifully chilling. The romance in this book makes you feel wings beating behind your ribcage, scratching to get out.

I don't often give out stars, but this book was a solid 5⭐️ as my attention was captured from the first few pages till the last.

This is definitely a book for the annotaters!

This book engulfed my brain for at least a day after after reading it. I haven't read any of CG Drews other works, though I definitely plan to. The writing was just fantastic in a way that I'm not entirely sure how to put into words. I read it all in one sitting because it just sucked me in and held me there for a couple hours. There were some points at which I got a little lost, but I'm one hundred percent certain that was just my brain lol. I have and always will be massive fan of botanical horror, mix that with a gothic (manor??) and I am sat. I went to bed almost immediately after putting the book down and I just lay there thinking about it in a devouring way, entirely unable to think of anything else.

Yes. Yes, 1000% yes, Hazelthorn is just a stunningly beautiful book and I will be recommending it with my full chest to anyone who comes to me for queer gothic horror recommendations!

What struck me so viscerally about this book was CG Drews' prose, and the incredibly emotive way that they write. I was gripped from page one, and I swear almost as distressed as Evander was as I was reading this book. So much of Evander's experience resonated so loudly with me, and I will always adore the messy, bloody characterisation I'm coming to associate with Drews works.

I absolutely adored this book. A huge thank you to Hachette Australia & New Zealand and NetGalley for this arc copy in exchange for my unbiased review!

I fear that may have been the best book I've read all year.

mildly terrifying and so incredibly beautiful. all the botanical imagery and insane plot twists, THE YEARNING. this sucked me in so hard I had to finish it in 24 hours.

don't let the forest in was one of my favourite releases 2014, I did not think it could be topped... lo and be hold

at no point in the story did I have any clue what was happening next, I gave up at guessing the twists maybe like 40 pages.

I think my life has been changed forever, and I will spend my whole life thinking about evander and laurie

thank you netgalley + hachette for the arc. u have changed me forever.
(book so good we will be purchasing the physical copy when it releases)

‘ i am only a monster because they made me monstrous’

CG drew’s has done i’d again 👏🏼. this ticked every box of gothic romance. haunting, emotional and mysterious. from the first page i was hooked, this book drags you in so quickly. i absolutely loved don’t let the forrest in so i went into this book with high expectations.

evander my sweet angel. i just wanted to wrap him up and protect him. and laurie, oh laurie! together they were hauntingly beautiful and tragic.

this book combines autism representation with a haunting gothic manor, an abandoned garden and a murder mystery seamlessly.

i found myself rooting for the characters in this book as i watched their personal growth. i was cheering for them and their happiness. cg drews has a way of writing characters so beautifully tragic like none other i have read before. the yearning in this book was absolutely *chefs kiss*. the queer gothic romance genre is really heating up lately and this book is the perfect example.

like don’t let the forrest in, the last 20%ish of this book had be on the edge of my seat and i physically couldn’t put this book down.

this book is releasing in october and if it’s not on your radar, i hope it is now!!

Botanical body horror, mystery and romance collide in this YA Gothic tale of autistic rage, freedom of choice and self acceptance.

17 year old Evander constantly struggles with poor health, existing in isolation, locked safely in his room in the sprawling, decaying estate of Hazelthorn, where the wild garden outside always seems to be looking for a way in.
When his elderly guardian, Byron, dies under mysterious circumstances, leaving the estate and his huge fortune to him, Evader is determined to get to the bottom of it.
Why would Byron leave Hazelthorn to him instead of his insufferable, but alluring grandson, Laurie?
Once Evander's best friend, Laurie has become his loathed enemy, but, as greedy relatives converge, he might be the only one who can help solve this mystery.

The wild, unbridled, bloodthirsty garden and claustrophobic Gothic setting, combined with the flowered yet savage prose of the author are at once dreamy and terrifying. I adored them so much.

This is the first C.G. Drews book that I have read and they don't hesitate to drag you into a dark, uncontrolled spiral; this tale is brimming with barely suppressed fury as the garden and the unreliable, damaged Evander cry out to be uncaged.

Saturated in gore, deadly flowers, creeping vines, queer romance and dark family secrets, this will leave you reeling.

Another knock out from Drews. Plot was so well structured and paced. Incredible atmosphere and tone - gothic elements were perfect. Body and botanical horror were vivid and grotesque, but there was also a lot of beauty in the imagery in this one. Characters were fleshed out and deeply developed - both boys were tragic, tortured and full of heart. The plot twists were absolute crackers. Cannot fault this novel. Adored it from first to last page. Drews is unbelievably talented. Will be hand-selling the everloving f*ck out of this outstanding novel.

A deeply unsettling and yet hauntingly beautiful tale of murder and botanical body horror where an overgrown garden will slip it's vines and spores deeper inside of you with every passing day. Viscerally atmospheric, unsettlingly romantic and beautifully eerie.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 & 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐙𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 | 𝐇𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐂. 𝐆. 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬

Amidst the decaying and unkempt estate of Hazelthorn, lives Evander, a sickly boy confined to his room. When his adoptive guardian dies suddenly, Evander inherits the very estate which he has been trapped in for so many years. But his guardian leaves him a warning: Do not go into the garden…

Certain his guardian’s death was murder, Evander begins to investigate... Through this, somehow the only person who seems to be on his side is Laurie - the same alluring boy who tried to kill him when they were kids.

But soon secrets start to leak from the very walls of the estate. And poisonous family members viciously vie for control of the ever present, looming garden. But the garden also wants something… it is hungry… and it demands to be fed… Evander and Laurie must find a way to survive not only their venomous family but a way to survive the garden.

The prose is also deliciously descriptive throughout. The imagery is fantastically vivid and appropriately disturbing, and the levels of suspense and intrigue were gorgeous.

Also shoutout to the fantastic representation of neurodiversity and queerness in this book! Books with this kind of genuine representation are not always easy to find, and I know many people who would love to hear about this book.

So overall while this is a gothic horror novel about estate secrets and poisonous plant life, it is also a story about being different. It is about being trapped, misunderstood and mistreated, and finding a way to fight back. I loved it.

C.G. Drews crafts such an incredible, visceral experience. The language in HAZELTHORN is hung in vines and dripping with gore, and I was locked in from the first line to the last. Drews is in complete control of their craft, I am in awe of how they wield words, and the way they translate Autistic rage onto the page. As a fellow Autist, how we’re pruned to fit into the world is not okay. We need more monsters like HAZELTHORN—a scream in book form that lets us know we are not alone.
I cannot wait to see what C.G. Drews does next!

Thanks to Hachette Australia & New Zealand and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC!

So i’m meant to read this, not be absolutely destroyed, and then write a coherent review, awesome.

When Byron Lennox-Hall suddenly dies, Evander inherits the manor he has been locked in like a prisoner for seven years. Overwhelmed and confused he’s just trying to find answers as to who could’ve murdered Byron and what is actually going on at the estate. Now surrounded by greedy, scheming relatives - Evander is going to have to figure out quickly if he can rely on his childhood friend turned nemesis Laurie to help root out the truth of what’s really going on at Hazelthorn.

This was fantastic, I absolutely chewed through ‘Don’t Let the Forest In’ and I was so happy this was no different. It seemed to be expanding on some of the themes from DLTFI but in different ways and almost feels like a companion novel to me, especially with the continued use of botanical horror (or maybe that’s just what C G Drews likes to write about).

The eerie creeping atmosphere and Drews way of mixing horror with romance, especially that obsession that Evander has, just makes this book so consumable. I was struggling to put it down. I do feel like the romance aspect was slightly less developed than in DLTFI but the horror itself was so gross in a good way and I loved the illustrations of some of the plants spread throughout.

Also as a tired queer autistic I would also like to be allowed to get angry and scream pls.
Can’t wait to be emotionally devastated by whatever C G Drews writes next.

Thank you Hachette AUS & NZ and NetGalley for the ARC.