lou's library

Okay, where to start with this one? Perhaps at the end. Don’t Let The Forest In by CG Drews needed less than 350 pages to make me feel like I knew these characters deeply and desperately did not want to let them go. I was a wreck by the end of it, in all the best ways (and some of the worst ones, too).

I had never heard of Don’t Let The Forest In before a dear friend gave it to me for my birthday (shoutout to her for always getting me the best books), but the cover was giving spooky/horror/I’m scared shitless without having read a single page. But I love finding a book I have never seen on social media before, it seems to become an ever rarer thing, although there are obviously so many books that never attract much attention in the online book world. Don’t Let The Forest In deserves to blow up on every online platform, though. YOU GUYS ARE SLEEPING ON THIS!! That being said: There are trigger warnings for graphic violence, disordered eating, self-harm, body horror, homophobia and bullying, so please take care of yourself and only read this if you feel up to it.

Dark Academia meets Fairy Tales

It’s set at a boarding school and centres on Andrew, his twin sister Dove and their best friend Thomas. From the very start, something is off between the three of them, and over the course of a school year, we slowly learn what exactly is going on. I don’t want to spoil anything, but think dark academia meets fairy tales.

If this sounds up your alley and you do decide to give this a try, I would highly recommend buddy reading it with a friend or your book club. That’s what I did and it was perfect because this is the sort of book you will want to talk about desperately. It’s so evocative and gripping and I truly never knew what was going to happen next.

There are also some horribly beautiful (and haunting) illustrations in this book, which helped paint a picture of what was happening. But even without them, this story would have played out in my mind like a movie, because the way it is written is stunning. And what I mean by that is: Don’t Let The Forest In is full of sentences so simple yet beautiful I was gasping out loud every other page. Basically, C.G. Drews had me on page one, when I read the sentence: “Andrew had always been an empty boy.” That’s pretty much all it took for me to be hooked and solidly on Andrew’s team, for better or worse (no regrets there, really).

Unforgettable characters and a jam-packed story

And even though this book is not much more than 300 pages long, so much was happening all the time that it felt like a much longer book and yet way too short. I was so immersed in the story that I did not want it to end, but at the same time there was so much tension and just this really dark vibe that I was so scared about what might happen to our protagonists. Because, let me tell you, Andrew and Thomas are the sort of characters you don’t forget in a hurry. Plus, the connections stories, imagination, art and reality where unsettling, but also deeply beautiful, because it pointed out that creativity matters, even though it also has the power to destroy.

I know this book will stick with me for a little while, as it is not exactly a light read and is so evocative I truly felt like I was there right beside Andrew and Thomas. Honestly, I couldn’t recommend Don’t Let The Forest In enough, it’s a five star read for me and I think you would love this if you’re into dark academia, fairy tales, or just some of the most beautiully crafted sentences you’ll ever come across. I’m obsessed.

If you’d like to read more books that get little to no hype on social media, I have a blog post with recommendations here. Oh, and if you want my two cents on social media potentially ruining reading, look no further.