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.
Purchase Link: Hazelthorn
Hazelthorn was my Book of the Month pick, and it had been highly recommended by fellow Bookstagrammers. It sounded like exactly my kind of book. Dark. Grotesque. Gritty. Confusing. Intoxicating. And it absolutely was.
I nearly read this entire book in one sitting. It hooked me fast and did not let go.
It is heavy. Emotionally brutal. Unsettling. The kind of story that sits on your chest while you read it. The anger. The sympathy. The helplessness of watching adults force children into molds of “quiet” and “well behaved” to the point of abuse. That was hard to witness. But it was impossible to look away.
Mostly linear, with missing memories slowly being revealed. Not traditional flashbacks, but more like being a fly on the wall of hidden moments as they surface. Single POV. Unreliable. Full of holes in memory and in understanding of reality. The ambiguity works. It keeps you questioning everything.
I loved Evander immediately. My heart ached for him from the start. The more the truth unfolded, the more heartbreaking it became. I just wanted him to find himself. To find strength. To feel empowered. Laurie, too. Even when it was unclear whether we were meant to trust him. He carried his own history of horrific loss and mistreatment, yet there was a quiet resolve in him that Evander needed to find within himself.
Both of them felt damaged and real.
This book feels like it personifies greed. Rage. Vengeance. It takes abstract darkness and gives it shape. It is grotesque at times. Emotionally brutal. Morally heavy. And yet the ending felt like the ending the story needed. Not necessarily comforting. But right.
Hazelthorn is for readers who love grotesque dark fantasy. For those drawn to trauma-centered character arcs. For readers who can handle ambiguity and emotional brutality.
It is not light. It is not gentle. But it is powerful.
I picked this up through Book of the Month. If you’re curious about joining you can start for only $5 HERE
CG Drews is the award-winning NYT Bestselling author of Don’t Let The Forest In, Hazelthorn, and You Did Nothing Wrong. Their work has been translated into over 12 languages, was nominated for the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal, and won the B&N 2025 YA Book Awards, and is also an Indie Next Pick and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. CG lives in Australia under a pile of unread books.
Find on Instagram as @paperfury and TikTok as @cgdrews.
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