Book Review: Don’t Let The Forest In

Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews ~ 336 pages ~ published on October 29, 2024 by Feiwel & Friends

Goodreads Synopsis:

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him.

Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…

What I Thought:

*All of my reviews are spoiler-free!*

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and [publisher] for this ARC!*

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I am a big fan of C.G. Drew’s previous novels. I am also a big fan of their Instagram page, @paperfury, and have followed them for years. Now…anyone who knows me, knows that I am not a fan of scary things. I don’t do scary movies or tv shows. I can occasionally stretch myself to read scary books though, so I decided to give this one a shot. I’m glad I did, because it was just as beautifully written as Drew’s previous works.

I will first say, I absolutely loved the vibes of this story! The boarding school deep in the forest. The angsty teens getting up to mischief. The unrequited love. The vibey descriptions of the scenery. A+, highly recommend.

I enjoyed the romance in this book. It certainly had the very YA appropriate, angst-filled, communication problems tropes that fit so well with this age. I also enjoyed how the narration was a bit unreliable, so you were never quite sure if they each had feelings for the other or not. It was very well done. Chef’s kiss.

If you are looking for a spooky, skin-crawling kind of story for spooky season, this is the book you should pick up. I am not big into scary, but I was able to read this with only minimal disturbed sleep. If you are a big scaredy-cat like me, I think this is a good pick to stretch your legs into the horror genre. If you are a big horror fan, this is a light-horror for you, but the vibes and mystery are top-notch.

All of that to say…the ending of this book left me scratching my head. I really am unsure of what it meant. I know lots of people where that is totally their jam, but I am not one of them. So, because of that, and because horror is hard for me to read, I am giving this one a 4 star rating. Beautiful prose, fantastic vibes, shiver-inducing story.