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when is my debut haunted house adult horror You Did Nothing Wrong coming out?

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I’m very excited to spill that my debut adult haunted house horror officially has a release date!!

You Did Nothing Wrong is coming out March 24th, 2026. Cannot wait to terrify you in high definition as I drag you down another dark spiral of psychological horror, obsessive romance, and a really bad example of family time.

It’s definitely far too early to tease too much about this book, but I sold it just over a year ago now so I’m gnawing on the metaphorical walls waiting for it. But production is progressing!! The cover is in the works and I have the final read-through in my inbox. Have I read this book 9383983 times already? Absolutely. Am I kind of sick of it? Also absolutely. But I’ve at least had long breaks between working on it so I think I’ll fly through the last read-through pretty fast.

Also, excitingly, I have blurbs from some really amazing horror authors. It just feels surreal somehow?! Like I was devouring their books and obsessing over their works only a minute ago, and now a few years later they’re reading my work?? Excuse me, that does not feel real.

Will never get over how wild it is to be an author.

Anyway, my editor had to take a break while reading. So yes. You’re going to have A Time with this one lol.

Things In This Book

  • adult psychological horror
  • haunted house
  • black cat x golden retriever romance energy
  • young mother with an autistic 6year old son
  • dark spiral obsessive romance
  • “i love you but wtf is wrong with you”
  • there’s something in the walls
  • very dark very bloody
  • pretty sure they did do something wrong actaully

Also just wanted to add that Hazelthorn (my next YA gothic horror) comes out October 28, 2025 and then You Did Nothing Wrong is March 2026… that’s less than 5 months between them 👀👀👀 and I have another YA Horror in 2026 as well so LIKE. Get ready to be sick of me!!!

You can also add You Did Nothing Wrong on Goodreads now!

Hazelthorn is now on Netgalley (for early reviewers!)

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In absolutely wild news, Hazelthorn is one of the most requested books on Netgalley right now!!

Seeing early hype is so surreal 🥹 cannot believe I pulverised all your hearts with Don’t Let The Forest In and yet you’re back for round two of getting smacked in the face  ?!? I love this for us.

it’s currently

  • most requested in all of Horror
  • most requested in all of Macmillan Kids
  • second most requested in all of Young Adult/Teens
  • 18th most requested in ALL of the 5,500 titles on Netgalley.

Big day for books about monstrous horrifying gardens and their obsessive unhinged boys!!

 

Request an early eARC here!

Thank you so much for requesting the eARC (my publisher does the approvals so I have my fingers crossed for you). It’s currently available for US readers, but it should go up on Netgalley UK sometime this year too.

And ps dont forget to add Hazelthorn on Goodreads this would really make my day.

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. Out October 28, 2025 from Feiwel & Friends!

cover reveal for my unhinged feral botanical gothic horror HAZELTHORN

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It’s finally cover reveal time for my next YA gothic horror!!

Hazelthorn has us by the throat and will be dragging us down into the garden to rot on October 28, 2025. I am so in my botanical horror era and living my best life. I truly am. This is another standalone and this time get ready for a murder mystery, hate-to-love, and rich family drama in a very Knives Out meets Belladonna vibe.

When I say this cover is Don’t Let The Forest In’s unhinged little brother, I do so mean it.

CG Drews, acclaimed author of Don’t Let the Forest In, returns with another deeply unsettling and yet hauntingly beautiful tale of murder and botanical body horror, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow:

He can never leave the estate.
He can never go into the gardens.
And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron’s charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie.

That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him.

When Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family’s vast wealth. But Evander’s sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next.

Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to stay behind its walls, slipping its vines and spores deeper into the house with each passing day. As the family’s dark secrets unravel alongside the growing horror of their terribly alive, bloodthirsty garden, Evander needs to find out what he’s really inheriting before the garden demands to be fed once more.

Find it on Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Amazon USA

THE FERAL, WRETCHED, BOTANICAL HORROR DELIGHT OF THIS I AM JUST–

Such a VIBE. My editor also called it a “very fucked up Secret Garden” and she is right.

Artist is Jana Heidersdorf (who also did Don’t Let The Forest In). If you want to take a moment to imagine me lying face down on my mossy floor because I get a lil “new york times bestselling author” on my cover like pinch me omfg.

I cannot wait to share more about Hazelthorn as we count down to its October 28th release.

instagram, twitter, threads, tiktok, patreon, website, free newsletter

 

Don’t Let The Forest In is an Instant NYT Best Seller?!!

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I’m about to lose my mind because I get to say MY BOOK IS A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER??!?!?! MY BOOK. I WROTE THAT??? I’M—

Don’t Let The Forest In just hit the NYT bestseller list at Number 3 (NUMBER 3!!!!) and the Indie Bestseller List at Number 4 (!!!!!) and I can’t breathe basically hahaha. FREAKING BESTSELLER. This feels incredibly not like real life and I am so happy right now. And so grateful!? Thank you for hyping my book and supporting me and making it sell out in bookstores and just— I can’t get my brain around this. You all loved my feral forest rot horror so freaking much?!?

And here on the Indie Best Seller List TOO.

The most massive thank you to my editor, Emily Settle, and my team at Feiwel & Friends and @fiercereads and my agent Claire Friedman!! They made the most gorgeous book possible and championed it so hard and I’m forever grateful.

My previous book came out 5 years ago and then I had 5 years of nonstop rejections and I truly thought I was too autistic to ever get a real chance in publishing. NOW THIS IS MY LIFE. I don’t even think it’s sunk in yet hahahah omfg that’s my book on the NYT BESTSELLER LIST???? I don’t think I’ll ever breathe again.

Don’t Let The Forest In is OUT NOW (and he’s a Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Pick!)

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That feeling when your book releases in like the best possible way and you are just an internal scream for the whole day. Like, I have so much to tell you I don’t even know where to begin ?!!?! But ignore the title of my book, because we have officially let THE FOREST IN. Big day for monstrous forests!! No regrets to be had!! Time to let moss grow over your rib bones be possessed by a tree.

Also, did turn my bedroom floor into a forest for promotional purposes? Yes. There is fake moss strewn all through my carpet and there are no regrets to be had.

Today Looked Like…

  • my instagram exploding with so many incredible tags and and mentions
  • chatting to the kindest and most encouraging readers
  • the most amazing release day tour with MTMC Tours
  • seeing photos of Barnes & Nobles tables stacked only with MY BOOK
  • being tagged in dozens of photos from B&N booksellers
  • being cheered on by authors I look up to so much
  • ranking #15 on all books in B&N
  • ranking #5 on B&N’s Teens & YA bestseller list
  • having people tell me they went out to buy it on release day
  • hitting #1 bestseller on Amazon Australia
  • hitting spots #1, #2, and #3 on Amazon USA for Hot New Releases in lgbtq+ books

Andrew also looks like he just stabbed someone to get in amongst the romantasy ballgown faves, but well!! No one is kicking him out!! They are too scared.

I cannot be more grateful, more awed, more humbled, and more freaking excited at the response so far. This is my 3rd book release, so I know what it is to release a book quietly and to not get a ton of traction. So just excuse me for a second—BUT THIS IS SO FREAKING WILD MY BRAIN HAS MELTED.

Thank you for hyping my book, for loving it, for recommending it, for talking it up, for tagging me in gorgeous photos and reviews. I am scream. Every single time means the world to me.

Secret News Revealed…

It’s not even that much of a secret anymore because it kind of has been out for a few days now, but… Don’t Let The Forest In is a BARNES & NOBLE YA BOOK CLUB PICK. This is perhaps one of the biggest moments of my career?!? I don’t even know what to do with myself!! I am— It’s just !!! This is huge. He’s on the front page of the B&N website like this… I wrote this.

I can’t believe I wrote a book that is getting hyped lmao what is my life.

B&N Best of 2024
B&N Book Club Pick
Kids Indie Next Pick
Starred Booklist Review
105,000 adds on Goodreads
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

Out now in the USA and Australia. Find it at…

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Walmart, The Lavender Rhino (comes with signed bookplate), Amazon UK, Amazon Aus, Waterstones, Dymocks, Blackwells

Don’t Let The Forest In is about two boys whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark turn when one of them realises the only way to stop the horrors clawing out of the other’s drawings is to destroy the creator. A dark academia forest rot horror with an asexual main character, eldritch monsters, fairy tales of the macabre variety, and an obsessive codependent romance. Find it on Goodreads

Also sign up to my newsletter here if you want updates in your inbox!!

I can’t say thank you enough.

I’m meant to have words as an author but, well, I ran out!!! I’m just so freaking grateful. My goal since I was literally fifteen has been to have a hardcover book and an audiobook. That was what I wanted most of all. And it’s come true with the most gorgeously designed book imaginable (I can’t believe it’s mine actually) and one of my favourite ever audiobook narrators—and then it didn’t stop there. I feel literally so lucky to have gotten all this love and support and hype. Maybe it is all that sweeter for this being my first time really feeling like my books are seen.

This book has haunted me for years and years and there are so many times I should have given up on it but instead chose to rewrite it, to try again, to not let it go because it had its thorns in me. This book owns me, ruthlessly, beautifully.

I hope, if you decide to read it, you enjoy this tale of monstrous forest monsters and obsessive love and macabre fairytale art. Time to get your heart wrecked.

“Remember you love me. All my stories are about you. They will always be about you.”

Thank you for making my release day so special.

Those Feral Pre-Release Feels (Or Panic?) Plus Some News!!

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Somehow it’s only 1 more day until my book is released and my skull is a nest of pure static and feral damp leaves.

Like, one more day…?! Then Don’t Let The Forest In hits US bookstores and my long, achey drought of rejections is officially over. I’m a 3rd-time published author.

This is my first US book deal.
My first hardcover release.
My first audiobook.
My first special edition.
My first starred trade review.
My first endorsements from author peers.
My first time being an Indie Next Pick and a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection.
My first time believing I might get actually get a future as an author after 5 years of rejections.

I’m wretchedly emotional about this. Like, far far too many feelings. But let me take you through some news and updates real quick before I collapse into a pile of wet sticks.

(Like you think there’s a person behind CG Drews haha no way I am absolutely a bundle of twigs and wet leaves and moss and feral teeth rolled up into a trench coat who put on a hat to blend in.)

Last chance to preorder

If you want to receive 3 never-seen-before fairy tales, submit your preorder receipt here if you’re in the US & CAN. And here if you’re in Australia! The Aussie one is open throughout November too, but the US/CAN one closes on October 29, so hurryyyy.

Preorder at…

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Walmart, The Lavender Rhino (comes with signed bookplate) Amazon UK, Amazon Aus, Waterstones, Dymocks, Blackwells.

Don’t Let The Forest In is about two boys whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark turn when one of them realises the only way to stop the horrors clawing out of the other’s drawings is to destroy the creator. A dark academia forest rot horror with an asexual main character, eldritch monsters, fairy tales of the macabre variety, and an obsessive codependent romance. Find it on Goodreads.

Also we’re finally up on Netgalley UK!!

If you’d like to request an eARC to review of the UK edition, now is your time. Just head over to Netgalley UK here. Also here’s a little cover comparison of the US vs UK editions.

 

Out in the UK on January 16th, 2025.

Other Cool Things I Think You Should Know…

  • Don’t Let The Forest In just hit 105,000 adds on Goodreads WHICH IS QUITE FRANKLY INSANE (I’m fine I’m fine)
  • It’s also a Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2024 (s c r e a m) and has been on the B&N website front page today. Also am totally chill about the fact it’s constantly in the top 50 books out of, you know, just casually all the millions of books on the website.
  • Currently a #1 New Release on Amazon for Teen & Young Adult LGBTQ+ Fiction!!
  • Screen Rant called it one of the Biggest Horror & Thriller Books Coming Out In October 2024.
  • Book Riot called it a Must-Read New Queer Book.

Last Thing (I Swear!!) I’m Offering Signed Bookplates

If you sign up to my Patreon in October/November you can receive a signed bookplate + art print of Thomas & Andrew (my forest rot boys). I’ve also shared the first full chapter of Don’t Let the Forest In there so you can get a full sneak peek at the lovely terrors coming your way.

Okay I shall just go pretend I’m really calm about the 29th.

I haven’t released a trad book since 2019, so I’m feel so grateful and overwhelmed and excited and nervous all at once. The love and support I’ve gotten has been incredible. Idk how I got lucky enough to get a second chance and see my book take off, but somehow it’s happening. I also have one big secret piece of news to announce and I’m feral about it omg. But soon, soon.

Can’t wait for you to come rot in the forest with me officially on October 29th.

Preorder Incentives (aka spooky little treats) for Don’t Let The Forest In

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If you’re here for spooky little treats, I’ve got you.

We are down to 6 days to go until Don’t Let The Forest In releases in the US on October 29th and I have a US/CAN preorder campaign to share with you!! (There is an INTL one also coming too, just getting some details sorted with my UK/AUS publisher. I never forget my intl readers, I just have to fit in with my publishers too 🖤)

I honestly can’t believe release day is coming up so fast when I’ve been waiting for this day since it sold in June 2021, after years and years of trying to sell another book. So just…!! We’re staring release day IN THE EYE NOW.

Submit your receipt here to receive the Bonus Fairytales!!

Places You Could Preorder at…

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Walmart, Amazon UK, Amazon Aus, Waterstones, Dymocks, Blackwells…(Other bookstores work too!) You can also preorder at The Lavender Rhino, an online LGBTQIA+ bookstore, and you’ll receive a signed book plate too. (US shipping only.)

Submit your receipt here to receive the Bonus Fairytales!!

Also if you’d like to receive a free signed bookplate + character art and mushroom stickers, you can sign up for that here on my Patreon!!! Preorders are not required for this. It’s just a gift to active Patreon subscribers in appreciation.

6 days until my feral moss sons let the forest in. 😭🍃

I’m currently trying to cram in a lot before release day while also writing another book on deadline, so if I seem like I’m losing my mind… idk, it is possible but who can say for sure!! I shall offer popcorn to you while you watch me hurtle howling through the woods at peak chaos.

Thankyou, everyone!! For being hyped and joining in the countdown with me. I appreciate you immensely.

Don’t Let The Forest In is a Kids Indie Next Pick!!

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Cannot believe this is real life because Don’t Let The Forest In is a Kids Indie Next Pick!?!!?

I’m ECSTATIC. So much thanks to the booksellers who are championing and recommending my creepy little heartbreaking story. It’s one of only 10 chosen for this list and I’m truly honoured.

“Beautifully cutting and achingly full of writhing love, painful loss, and horrors beyond imagination. Love is a weapon full of cutting ribs and thorns in this gut-wrenching story by CG Drews.”
—Kaitlyn Mahoney, Under the Umbrella Bookstore, Salt Lake City, UT

Don’t Let The Forest In is out October 29 from Feiwel & Friends. Booklist gave it a starred review and called it an “emotional roller coaster” and “sure to please those interested in modern horror mixed with a touch of fairy tale” while Kirkus called me “genuinely creepy” which, to be honest, is a massive compliment I am pleased to hear.

( brb I’m feral with happiness !!)

Preorder at…

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Walmart, Blackwells

Don’t Let The Forest In is about two boys whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark turn when one of them realises the only way to stop the horrors clawing out of the other’s drawings is to destroy the creator. A dark academia forest rot horror with an asexual main character, eldritch monsters, fairy tales of the macabre variety, and an obsessive codependent romance. Find it on Goodreads…

Goodreads Giveaway (Also hello 90,000 Adds To Shelves?!)

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Goodreads giveaway for 10 finished hardcover copies of Don’t Let The Forest In is live!!

You do not want to miss this one so head over to my book’s Goodreads page to enter. This giveaway is US-only but I often posts INTL giveaway over on my instagram. And YES every copy of Don’t Let The Forest In is illustrated and I am obsessed with the fairytale monsters gnawing through the pages. Like just look at the Antler King, I’m sure he doesn’t want to peel your face off.

Also the thing I can’t wrap my brain around is the fact it has 90,000 adds to want-to-read shelves on Goodreads. Like–excuse me HOW!? That is a freaking lot of people for my creepy little book that, um quite honestly, I cannot comprehend this. 😅 Anyway, I’m freaking out in the best possible way!!

Preorder at…

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Walmart, Blackwells

Don’t Let The Forest In is about two boys whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark turn when one of them realises the only way to stop the horrors clawing out of the other’s drawings is to destroy the creator. A dark academia forest rot horror with an asexual main character, eldritch monsters, fairy tales of the macabre variety, and an obsessive codependent romance. Find it on Goodreads.

Don’t Let The Forest In Illustrations Reveal!!

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Time to reveal the absolute COOLEST THING about Don’t Let The Forest In!!!

Because yes my twisted YA horror about eldritch forest monsters coming to life from drawings IS ILLUSTRATED. Ok but you do not understand how freaking excited I am about this!! When you open my book, you’ll get to read snippets of Andrew’s wretchedly dark fairytales and see Thomas’s macabre artwork. This book is going to devour us whole.

And yes, every copy (hardcover and paperback) will have the artwork! Also if you preorder, I will slither out from under your bed and thank you tenderly. So pls do preorder, it will make me so happy.

Cover art and illustrations are all by the incredible Jana Heidersdorf! Feiwel & Friends truly put together the book of my dreams (or…nightmares?!)

Preorder at…

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, Walmart

Don’t Let The Forest In is about two boys whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark turn when one of them realises the only way to stop the horrors clawing out of the other’s drawings is to destroy the creator. A dark academia forest rot horror with an asexual main character, eldritch monsters, fairy tales of the macabre variety, and an obsessive codependent romance. Find it on Goodreads.