Don't Let the Forest in
by C. G. Drews
Andrew Perrault is a high school senior who once gave his heart to a boy named Thomas and would protect him, lie for him and kill for him. A dark retelling-style romance with a fairy-tale feel.
Best for: Young adult readers who like dark, emotional romance.
Don't Let the Forest in is #15 on BookWard's Rising chart for October 2026: the hottest new books published in the past two years.
What Don't Let the Forest in is about
Andrew Perrault is an Australian teenager far from home at Wickwood Academy in the United States. He is cut off from his twin sister, Dove, picked on by the students around him, and happiest when he is writing dark, grotesque tales. His roommate, Thomas Rye, turns those stories into stark black-and-white drawings, and the pictures sit among the text as the book goes on.
Then the creatures the two boys invented begin turning up in the woods beyond the school grounds. Thomas has been quietly holding them off, and Andrew, after following him into the forbidden trees one night, chooses to stand beside him. It gets harder to hold the line, and the forest starts to leave marks on both of them. Beneath the horror runs a tender thread: Andrew is learning that he is asexual and discovering feelings for Thomas, who carries troubles of his own. It suits readers who like their scares tangled up with friendship, first love and the cost of what we make.
Why Don't Let the Forest in is on the Rising chart
111 readers have shelved it on Open Library since 2024. The Rising score blends six public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 against the other new books and weighted as shown.
| Signal | This book | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reader pace | 57 | 28% |
| Buzz | 34 | 24% |
| Growth | 100 | 18% |
| Being read right now | 68 | 12% |
| Reader love | 58 | 10% |
| Newness | 43 | 8% |
Rising Wikipedia attention is up 25% or more on the two months before.
The numbers behind it
- Wikipedia: 668 page views last month, against an average of 33 in the two months before (up 300%). Read the article.
- Open Library readers: 103 want to read, 4 reading now, 4 have read it.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 4 Open Library ratings.
Don't Let the Forest in on the Rising chart: history
First on the chart this month. The history grows with every monthly update.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | #15 | 59 |
Questions about Don't Let the Forest in
Is Don't Let the Forest in a new book?
Yes. Don't Let the Forest in by C. G. Drews was first published in 2024, and BookWard's Rising chart only includes books published in the past two years.
Why is Don't Let the Forest in on the Rising chart?
111 readers have shelved it on Open Library since 2024.
More new books readers are finding
- Sunrise on the Reaping Suzanne Collins
- Onyx Storm Rebecca Yarros
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid Party Pooper Jeff Kinney
- The Secret of Secrets Dan Brown
Prefer proven favorites? See the Top 100, or all Rising books.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views. The description is paraphrased from real source text (Open Library or Wikipedia). A book is on the Rising chart only if it was published in 2025 or 2026 and its readers are active and its interest is not falling. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales. Read the full methodology.
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