C. G. DrewsYoung Adult · Horror
Hazelthorn
Synopsis
Evander has lived like a ghost in the neglected corners of the Hazelthorn estate since his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, took him in as a child. Three rules keep him safe: he never leaves the estate, never enters the gardens, and is never left alone with Byron's grandson, Laurie.
The last rule dates from seven years ago, when Laurie tried to kill Evander. Evander is still obsessed with him anyway.
When Byron dies, Evander inherits the gothic mansion, its sprawling grounds and the whole of the family fortune. He is convinced his guardian was murdered. Laurie, charming and underachieving, may be the only person able to help him find the killer before the killer turns on Evander.
There is a second threat. The overgrown garden will not stay behind its walls, and its vines and spores creep further into the house each day. As the family's secrets come out, Evander has to learn what he has actually inherited before the garden demands to be fed again.
This is gothic horror with a murder mystery at its core and plant-based body horror in its details. The tone is unsettling and dark, with an eerie beauty running through it, and the pressure builds as the house itself turns hostile.
How it reads
- Writing4.0
- Impact4.0
- Characters4.0
- Plot5.0
- Atmosphere4.0
Prose complexity 7/10
Content warnings (5)
ViolenceGraphic ViolenceGoreTraumaAbuse
Readers say (1)Moderate · Moderate · Dark · Tense · Mysterious · Mystery Box · Slow Burn
Readers flagged (5)
ViolenceGraphic ViolenceGoreTraumaAbuse
- 4.5/5 Rounded Up Since reading Don't Let the Forest In, I was waiting to be back in a world written by CG Drews. This book was the angry, queer, gothic story that I've been waiting for. Between a haunted garden and anger in droves - this book kept my attention from page one. Hazelthorn is lush, gothic and sickly sweet in a rotting kind of way. More so, it's a dark story about body autonomy and choices that are often taken away from those consider unwell. Evander, my sweet boy, just wants to know what's wrong with him and to discover what has been calling out to him. He's been told he's sick his whole life and has been forced to hide those feelings. But now he has a voice for it, learning how to embrace his pain and his thoughts. And LAURIE MY SWEET LAURENCE I LOVE YOU SM. Laurie, with his hard devil may care attitude, when he in fact cares so deeply that it's killing him. The connection between Laurie and Evander was everything to me in this book. The atmosphere of this book was so well done. You can feel Evander's claustrophobia and choking in his environment. The "Not everything as it seems" story telling is beautifully written, with a prose that wraps you up and suffocates you. The house and garden, Evander's personal nightmare, is a character its self, looming over your shoulder waiting to strike. An amazing book that I know will stick with me like vines in my lungs. Thank you Netgalley, MacMillan Children's Publishing Group and CG Drews for an eARC. All thoughts are honest and my own.
- there are no words in my vocabulary to describe how completely consumed I am by this novel. i devoured it in less than two days and it devoured me for forever i’m afraid. “Because sometimes the snarl, the insult, the teeth marks cut into the nearest person are so often a reflection of the bruises you already wear.” and “There is nothing else to me but the hollow spaces I’ve carved out for you. I knew I’d cut myself to pieces on you if we ever had the chance to touch, but I wanted to. Let me ruin myself on you.” and “I’d split my bones, I’d open my throat, I’d do anything to be near you and have even one second with my mouth against yours.”