A teenager, joined by the irresistible boy who tried to kill him, unlocks the mysteries of his guardian's murder and a malevolent garden in Hazelthorn, CG Drews's searingly atmospheric queer YA horror tale.
Seventeen-year-old Evander does not remember the 10 years of his life before Laurie Lennox-Hall tried to bury him alive in the gardens. After the murder attempt, Evander's guardian and Laurie's grandfather, Byron Lennox-Hall, locked Evander in a room of the Hazelthorn Estate, where he has stayed for the past seven years. Now, Byron has died, and Evander suspects murder. Laurie may be a suspect, but so too are Byron's other kin. Evander, pale, weak, and prone to "episodes" during which he loses time, seeks investigative help from Laurie despite Byron having forbidden them to be alone together. Yet, perhaps due to "starvation" or "deprivation," Evander "craves" the "disreputable," cornflower-blue-eyed young man. As Evander seeks answers, he finds more questions--about himself and about the hungry garden that wants to draw him back beneath its dirt.
Drews (Don't Let the Forest In) ensnares readers with botanical body horror, monstrous people, and charged romance. Evander, who is neurodivergent, seeks "normality," a goal gorgeously juxtaposed by his fantastically bizarre surroundings, and by the story's "normal" people intently portrayed as the true monsters ("I'm only a monster because they made me monstrous"). Drews excels at portraying disturbing and eccentric imagery ("lies have been placed like delicacies on his tongue"), and the convincingly inexplicable yet undeniable pull between Laurie and Evander. This is devourable horror and romance set against a malicious, vine-choked tapestry. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer