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CG Drews

About This Author
Reviewed

Read Time

7 min read

Age & reading levelAges 14+ · Young adult
Reader rating
4.2 · 5,084 Amazon ratings, as of Oct 2026
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
$8.00 on AmazonAudiobook
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Front cover of Don't Let the Forest In

Our review

Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews

Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews Review: Lush, Gruesome Queer Horror

by C.G. Drews

CG Drews's Don't Let the Forest In follows two boarding-school boys, a storyteller and an artist, whose imagined monsters come to life in the woods. Reviewers praise its lush prose, creepy forest and ace representation, though its heavy themes and open ending won't suit everyone.

$8.00 on Amazon
Ages 14+disordered eating · self-harm

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who want queer YA horror driven by mood, imagery and an unreliable narrator, with a codependent central relationship and a forest that functions as a character.

Worth it if

Worth reading if you enjoy ornate, stylised prose, and you want horror that leans on atmosphere and emotional intensity rather than tight plot mechanics.

Skip if

Skip it if you want brisk plotting or are sensitive to depictions of abuse, since the pace is unhurried and the prose deliberately overripe.

Where reviewers agree and split

Readers rate it 4.2 on Amazon. The reviews we read that discuss it in depth agree:

Both reviews we read that discuss its prose praise the lush, flowery prose.

Prose

Praise

“This novel, written in rich, extravagant prose”

— Kirkus Reviews · Trade review
Praise

“I liked the writing. It was dramatic and flowery.”

— Metaphors & Moonlight · Book blog
2 reviews weigh in (1 trade review, 1 book blog); counts are per topic. A review counts only where we can quote it.

Kirkus Reviews called it "lush, angsty, queer horror" in rich, extravagant prose with genuinely creepy moments, while the book bloggers we retrieved mostly echoed that praise for the atmosphere and the leads' bond, though one blogger rated it low.

Sources: Kirkus Reviews, Metaphors & Moonlight, Blog That Nobody Knows, The Novel Approach Reviews
4.2from 5,084 Amazon ratings, as of Oct 2026— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Don't Let the Forest In is a standalone queer YA horror novel in which two boarding-school boys discover their invented monsters have escaped into the woods. It is atmospheric, emotionally intense and stylistically extravagant, best suited to readers who value mood and imagery over brisk plotting. The caveats are heavy content and an unhurried pace.
Is it worth reading?
It is worth reading for readers who enjoy ornate, stylised prose and horror built on atmosphere and emotional intensity. The two reviews that discuss the prose both praise it as lush and flowery, though other readers may find the line breaks and repeated, emphasised words mannered. The main caveat is the unhurried pace.
Similar books
For another CG Drews title with a different tone, there is The Boy Who Steals Houses. Wilder Girls by Rory Power shares the YA horror, isolated-school setting and disturbing imagery. The Ruins by Scott Smith offers a more conventional, relentless take on a hostile natural setting that turns on its victims.
Who should read this?
It suits readers who like unreliable perspectives, and queer and ace characters. It also fits those who want horror that works through imagery and a codependent central relationship. Readers wanting a conventional creature feature are less likely to be satisfied.
What age is it for?
Best for ages 14 and up, with Kirkus placing it at 14 to 18 and the Amazon listing giving a reading age of 15 and up. Reviewers flag frank portrayals of bullying, mental illness, physical abuse, and death.
About CG Drews
C.G. Drews is a young adult author known for The Companions, a dark fantasy novel featuring a group of flawed characters bound together by magic and mystery. Their work is characterized by morally complex characters and atmospheric worldbuilding.
What are the main themes?
The book is as much about damaged love and codependence as monsters. Creation and responsibility run through it, since the creatures come from the boys' own stories and art. Identity, including Andrew's asexuality, and the question of what is real versus symbolic of inner struggle also feature.
What format or source is it?
It is a YA horror novel first published in 2024 by Feiwel & Friends, with a Square Fish paperback dated January 2026. Reviewers note interior sketches and notebook fragments that depict some of the monsters.
Summarize this book

Summarize this book

Andrew Perrault creates stories that his roommate Thomas Rye paints, until one night Andrew follows Thomas into the woods around Wickwood Academy and finds him fighting a creature from one of Andrew's own stories. Bullies, a cold twin sister named Dove and the arrival of the Antler King push the boys toward a tense turning point.

Follow up

Do I need to read anything first?
Does the ending resolve everything?

Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review

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Our Review

We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.

Don't Let the Forest In is CG Drews's gruesome, lyrical YA horror about two boarding-school boys whose imagined monsters turn real, and it is as much a study of damaged love as a creature feature.

What the book is

Andrew Perrault is a senior at Wickwood Academy, an American boarding school, and a teller of dark fairy tales. His roommate Thomas Rye is an artist who renders those stories in paint and charcoal.
The school year opens badly: Andrew's twin sister, Dove, has gone cold on him, and Thomas's parents have vanished. When Andrew follows Thomas into the woods one night, he finds him fighting a monster drawn straight from one of Andrew's own tales.
From there the boys split their time between bullies by day and creatures by night. The threat escalates when the Antler King breaches the school's walls.

Where it sits and what it has earned

This is a standalone YA horror novel. It was first published in 2024 by Feiwel & Friends, and the Square Fish paperback is dated January 2026.
The publisher's materials list it as a New York Times bestseller, a Goodreads Choice Award finalist and a Carnegie Medal for Writing nominee, with a Booklist starred review. Those are the publisher's own claims, though, and the reviewers below are the better guide to how it reads.
It is also not a romance in the usual YA mould. Lisa of The Novel Approach Reviews stressed that, despite Andrew's love for Thomas, it is not a YA romance novel.

Prose, atmosphere and scares

Kirkus Reviews called it "lush, angsty, queer horror" and said the story has plenty of genuinely creepy moments with the monsters.
The style is deliberately overripe. The blogger behind Blog That Nobody Knows noted unnatural line breaks and repeated, emphasised words, and said they had heard comparisons to E.E. Cummings; that reviewer preferred the macabre, surreal horror here to the last horror book they had read.
The blogger behind Metaphors & Moonlight, who says they rarely read horror, found the dramatic, flowery writing suited the story and enjoyed the creepy forest atmosphere and the body-horror touches.
The forest itself gets particular attention. Lisa of The Novel Approach Reviews described the woods bordering Wickwood as a character rather than a setting, a space with an appetite for flesh and blood.
The Blog That Nobody Knows reviewer also praised the interior sketches and the notebook fragments scattered through the book, which show some of the monsters.

Andrew, Thomas and the ace representation

The emotional core is the intense, codependent bond between the two boys. The Metaphors & Moonlight blogger liked the would-do-anything intensity of their friendship and love.
Andrew's asexuality is a significant thread. Kirkus noted that he grapples realistically with his sexual identity, and the Metaphors & Moonlight blogger, who identified as possibly ace, said the portrayal did not feel forced and took over neither the plot nor the book.
The Blog That Nobody Knows reviewer noted the natural chemistry between the leads. Andrew is also an unreliable narrator, so a good deal of the story's tension comes from what he does and does not remember.

Twists, ambiguity and where readers divide

The sources disagree on how well the book lands.
The Blog That Nobody Knows reviewer said they found the prose entertaining enough to stay engaged.
The pacing is also described as unhurried by Lisa, which will suit some readers and test others.

Who should approach with care

This is a heavy book. Kirkus warns of frank portrayals of disordered eating, self-harm, bullying and mental illness, and The Novel Approach Reviews adds physical abuse, death and body horror to the list.
Kirkus places it at ages 14 to 18, while the Amazon listing gives a reading age of 15 and up. It suits readers who like dark fairy tales, unreliable narrators, queer and ace characters, and horror that works through mood and imagery more than plot mechanics.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    Don't Let The Forest In by CG Drews | Waterstones

    waterstones.com

  3. 2
    Book Review: Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews - The Blog That Nobody Knows

    blogthatnobodyknows.com

  4. Further reading
  5. 3
    DON'T LET THE FOREST IN | Kirkus Reviews

    kirkusreviews.com

  6. 4
    Don't Let the Forest in — CGD - CG Drews

    cgdrews.com

  7. 5
    Book Review: Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews [Audiobook] | Metaphors and Moonlight

    metaphorsandmoonlight.com

  8. 6
    Review: Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews

    thenovelapproachreviews.com

  9. 7
    Don’t Let the Forest In — thetypedwriter

    thetypedwriter.com

  10. 8
    Don't Let the Forest In

    us.macmillan.com

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Ages 14+

Reading level

Young adult

Browse all teen (12–18) books

Content to know about

disordered eating
self-harm
bullying and physical abuse
body horror
death and mental illness

Best for: Ages 14+ — frank depictions of disordered eating, self-harm, abuse and body horror

Skip if you want brisk plotting, a single clear resolution, or are sensitive to frank depictions of self-harm and disordered eating

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Related News

C.G. Drews Follows Forest Hit With Scorpion Deep Release

C.G. Drews, author of Don't Let the Forest In, publishes the YA horror Scorpion Deep via Feiwel & Friends on 27 October 2026. Here's what we know.

Oct 30, 2026