Don't Let the Forest In

I'm leaving a review without a rating because I think I would've enjoyed this as a young teen, maybe even loved it. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me, but I'm not the target audience here, either. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I struggled with the levels of angst and how romance-heavy the story was (despite not personally feeling like the characters would be a compatible pairing in the first place). I also found the villains to be very over-the-top and I predicted the twists very early in, which left me feeling irritated with the main character's total lack of awareness.

I read a final copy borrowed from the library, but for the sake of disclosure, I was also gifted an early review copy. All thoughts are honest and my own.

✨ Representation: Andrew is asexual and gay; Thomas is bisexual/pansexual; multiple side characters are queer

✨ Content warnings: violence, gore, death, body horror, grief, bigotry, homophobia, transphobia, verbal abuse from authority figures, physically abusive parents, mental illness, anxiety/panic attacks, disordered eating, self-harm

Where do I begin with this book?

Don't Let The Forest In follows Andrew and Thomas, who along with Andrew's twin sister Dove, make up a group friendship. However, this school year is different. Dove is not speaking to Andrew or Thomas after a big argument the previous year, Thomas is lying to Andrew, and Andrew himself is coming apart of the seams. Andrew plays our narrator, often unreliable and skewed but exactly as I would expect a teenage boy to be. His love for Thomas is unhealthy, reckless, and brash. But at the same time innocent and made of that awestruck naivete one would expect.

“But his ribs were a cage for monsters and they cut their teeth on his bones.”

With rich, delicious prose and violent, downright horrifying imagery, CG Drews paints a story that is simultaneously beautiful, heartbreaking, and unsettling. The story winds us through dark forests, darker fairy tales, and the unrestrained and codependent love so often seen in youth. The twists and turns in the plot keep you guessing until the last few chapters, and the ending left me numb and staring at my reader in disbelief.

“Life didn't fit against his skin and it never had and sometimes everything was just too much.”

This hit my craving for horror perfectly, and is a dark fantasy fairy tale at heart, both grim and beautiful. The cast is diverse and portrays mental illness so well, as well as asexuality which is so rare in fiction. At some points, the reader has to suspend belief a bit, but let's be honest, most horror and dark fantasy are similar in that way. Overall, this has been one of my favorite books this year, and I am so eager to see what else CG Drews puts out.

“... maybe you could love someone so much you ruined them, and then you ruined yourself.”

A book that made my feel physically sick and beautifully rotten inside.

as a gay goth girl, you'd think I'd be the target audience for this gay gothic book, but this was just not for me. there was no suspense or fear. The horror aspect was very lacklustre. At no point was I worried for the characters or eager to turn the page. 

The author has obviously tried to make the reader think and has left multiple storylines open to interpretation, but I think too many were left open. There wasn't a single satisfying conclusion to any of them. I think if the horror sections (eg when the cryptid monsters were in play) had slower pacing, more suspense and there was a clear danger element for the characters this book would have been a lot better.

Whenever the characters did get hurt, they were somehow absolutely fine and continued on with no issue or remembrance of the giant hole going through their body. 

I sadly wouldn't recommend this to friends. 

I enjoyed this. The writing was great with lots of angst and yearning! I did it see the twist until very last in the book which is to its credit. I do think that an afterword with resources for self-harm would have been a good idea. Otherwise, a good, bloody fairy tale

“They'd devoured each other in this forest, these boys so ravenous and defiant and tearful, they'd not known how to stop. The way Andrew loved Thomas was terrible and eternal, but he couldn't remember if he'd ever said that out loud.”

this was one of my most anticipated books for this year and i'm so glad it didn't disappoint!! andrew and thomas' relationship was actually very sweet despite how much they suffered - i'm so glad this story didn't fall into the trap i see in so many ya novels where the main characters just don't have any chemistry. something i also did NOT expect from this book was detailed illustrations of the monsters, which i absolutely loved!! it added so much to the twisted fairytale theming!!

the ending, without spoiling, is open-ended, but doesn't feel cheap to me since i feel like you could pretty easily come to a reasonable conclusion about what happened. this book has such great atmosphere and i really loved how it was maintained up until the very end. there were a few parts where i felt the talks about andrew's sexuality were a bit jarring compared to the rest of the plot, but i do understand how important that is to his character and this book's audience.

overall, i highly enjoyed reading! the horror in this book is (as someone who's easily freaked out) not all that graphic, more haunting and uncomfortable than anything else. if that sounds up your alley, i definitely would recommend!

I'm speechless. This beautiful macabre story has left me utterly brokenhearted in the best way possible.

And the prose was perfection! It pulled me in from the first sentence. CH Drews crested this rich dark atmosphere that reads like a grim fairy tale.

And Andrew and Thomas. The love and angst that exist between them is so palpable and intense it makes my heart ache. How they were able to complement each other and make space for their darkness and inner demons was so tender and raw.

There's so many different themes explored in this story from sexuality, identity,and grief. The way this story was woven to encompass these themes and craft such a mesmerizing and dark tale is exquisite. Love love LOVED this book!

Good world building but got a bit unwieldy towards the ending, which was rather anti climactic to me.

Didn't know how to review it, decided to sleep on it, still not really sure, mainly just "holy shit"

I understand this might be a bit young for some people (I mean, it IS the drama & pining of teenagers, after all), but I dropped out of high school in my first year due to excessive bullying/struggling with my mental health. So I guess even at 31, I like to live vicariously through books about the school-day experiences that I never got to have. 🫠

It deals with a pretty long list of heavy/triggering subjects (bullying, grief, eating disorders, self-harm, anxiety, mental health, panic attacks, homophobia, etc.) & there's a lot of gore & body horror.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this ARC. 

Honestly I was so hyped for this book with all the raving reviews and the beautiful cover. I wish I had DNF-ed it instead unfortunately. 

Now don't get me wrong, there were so many pieces that could have been great. The romance, the dark academia, the mystery, the amazing amount of representation. This should have been amazing. 

But the story DRUG along and I struggled so hard staying in it. And the language is so flowery I was finding myself skimming to get to the point. 

Then the twist, well it was obvious the whole time so I'm not sure why I took the journey. And the ending is completely open. 

I really was hype to see a LGBTQIA+ story with full representation. This just ended up getting lost in the forest (pun intended). 

Absolutely let the forest in by reading this book

Andrew, Thomas, and Dove, Andrew's twin sister, were three main characters who all felt so real. I don't know how Drews did it but it worked so so well. The characters, along with the atmosphere of the setting, allowed me to feel as if I were right there along with them; going to school with them, battling the monsters in the forest with them. Even though Dove featured less than the boys you still got a feeling for her personality, how much she loved her brother, had a confusing relationship with Thomas. I loved how codependent the boys were. It made me think of The Wicker King by K. Ancrum – another book I loved. Andrew and Thomas wanted to be near each other, had to be near each other. Even if it sometimes seemed to be a bad thing, their relying on each other. That they both had this innate need to be near each other. I drank it all in so much.

Thomas with his “I hate everyone but you” attitude (a microtrope I do love). Andrew with his near-obsession with Thomas. Dove pulling away from her brother and Thomas even though she was close before. I couldn't pull myself away from any of it. I did think their school was a bit weird/unbelievable for not being more present in their lives. But also I'll choose to believe that either they had no idea how to deal with everything or the school was (dealing with it) and the characters just refused to listen. I think with another writer I would've gotten annoyed at how many times Andrew went on about Thomas, how almost all of his thoughts and (nearly) his whole world revolved around him; but I never got that with Drews. I think that spoke of how good their writing was.

The plot was interestingly weird and there was a definite focus on the characters rather than the plot. Even so, the plot was still excellent. it balanced whatever weird things were happening in the woods with their lives and glimpses into their schooling. Obviously the focus wasn't meant to be on their classes, it never was. Only what they were going through that day, how it made them feel. The book did something I love (specifically in horror movies) where things seem to be fine... until they aren't. Until odd things start happening, keep rising until they're so visible. It's one way to get me into a story and to keep me there.

The writing was so good. I easily fell into the world and the descriptions of Andrew's writing and Thomas's drawings were so well-written they came alive. Also the physical books have illustrations (I think maybe the normal ones not just special editions). Now I know what to look forward to for Drews' backlist books and their new releases (the cover for Hazelthorn just released and it is absolutely excellent). It's magical and stunning and I thoroughly recommend it to you all!

This was my first book my C.G. Drews, but I requested an ARC from NetGalley bc of the anticipation and feedback I'd seen on TikTok. Needless to say, it did not disappoint.

I don't read too many paranormal/monster stories, but this one was told just right with the perfect amount of suspense and coupled with a slow burn love story. This book was an easy read, which I devoured in one sitting.

I will definitely be checking out more titles from this author in the future.