pastellasilver 's review for:

Don't Let The Forest In by C.G. Drews

3.25

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I usually don't read thrillers, and this book made me remember why. I originally picked it up because I had heard it had great ace representation - which it does - but I was in no means prepared for the amount of mental baggage this book brought me. Given it's a thriller I was prepared for the monsters and a lot of the things revolving around them. I was not ready for the heavy psychological topics. Maybe it is because I am inexperienced in this genre, but I really would have appreciated some sort of trigger warning about those topics.
I did however really like the book. The friendship between Andrew and Thomas felt very real, with little imperfections. And the descriptions were beautiful and horrific at the same time. 
I will never want to read this book again, but I did enjoy reading it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol