what if you read Hazelthorn early what then!!
author updates and general forest rot, from c.g. drews
At about 2:00 a.m., I finished reading Hazelthorn for the very last time, sent my final corrections into my editor, and then collapsed into a pile of stagnant leaves. As one does when a book is officially finished. The wild part is that this book didn’t even exist this time last year—I had not even started writing it?! And now it’s literally finished FINISHED. The big Finished.
And then today? It hit Netgalley for early reviewers to read. Which means people are going to start requesting and reading and reviewing it and I’m lowkey silently freaking out. I’m excited but I’m nervous??? Hazelthorn is the feral unmanageable little brother of Don’t Let The Forest In and he’s going to drag you by the throat into the garden to rot and not mind that you’re screaming the whole way.
He is so feral lol.
I think Don’t Let The Forest In goes for your heart but Hazelthorn goes for your throat.
Request Now On Netgalley
This is open to US users (as far as I know) but it will be up on Netgalley UK eventually too! Head over here to request! My publisher is in charge of the approvals but my fingers are crossed for you.
ALSO did you know you can preorder at Barnes & Noble right now and get 25% off?! Just use PREORDER25 at checkout. It is a good day for garden terrors let me just say that. Also if you preorder you will make my heart swell with happiness and I might be able to take one (1) small nap.
Hazelthorn is my YA garden gothic horror about an orphan teen who inherits a crumbling gothic estate with a carnivorous garden and must team up with the boy he hates to solve a murder mystery before the garden demands to be fed. Out October 28, 2025 from Feiwel & Friends.
Find it at…
Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Blackwells (ships intl for free) and Macmillan. Don’t forget to add it on Goodreads!
fun facts about Hazelthorn
it is a standalone but it does have a sneaky little reference to Don’t Let The Forest In so they are set in the same world
Evander is our main character and he’s autistic, bisexual, and very intense. he is also very confident he can solve a murder mystery because he read a book about it one time.
instead of forest rot, we have unhinged gothic feral garden rot.
think of it as basically a fucked up Secret Garden retelling but by the pov of Colin (also there are secret garden book references)
the romance? gothic, hate-to-love, riotous, wickedly lovely
it’s 30 pages longer than Don’t Let The Forest In and that means 30 pages of bonus trauma lmaooooo (you’ll BE FINE everyone is fine)
He isn’t meant to think about that boy, but still likes to put the wretched name in his mouth and roll it around like bitter hard candy.
“Laurence Lennox-Hall,” he whispers to the garden. “Laurie.” And, because his throat feels rusty from disuse, he adds, “I hate him.”
There is a morsel of heat to it, just enough to scald the underside of his tongue and make him think of how it would feel to etch that name on the window glass with his teeth.
If you request Hazelthorn to read early…hope you enjoy!!
Yes yes I say “…hope you enjoy” while sinking back into the shadows laughing darkly. But you let the forest in, so it’s probably too late to warn you against the garden.
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Even if I don't get approved for the early reader copy I will go absolutely feral when this book releases. I'm already obsessed.