Well, this was disappointing. I already had low expectations so color me surprised when I started reading this and it turned out worse than I thought.

The story itself was ok, very basic and generic but I really don’t mind that. My problem is that everything happened so fast. They see each other again after a few years and as soon as Luke sees her, he’s already thinking about her in his bed and in just a few days, he’s already obssessed with her… be so for real. There was no chemistry between them, no tension, no yearning, no nothing and their feelings developed too fast.

The writing in this was awful. A lot of short sentences in a row, words repeated twice in the same sentence that definitely could’ve been replaced with a synonym, and so much telling instead of showing!! There’s literally a part of the book where Emmy starts to learn to ride again, and instead of showing us what that process is like, she just says: “Riding lessons were going ok”. How about you actually shows us how the lessons are going?? Also so many time skips in the same chapter, one second we’re in one place in the morning, and the next chapter is already at night in another place. Everything happened so fast with barely any development in each scene and it just felt rushed.

The main plot of the story besides the romance, aka Emmy going back to her home town because of her injury and her being afraid to ride again, was kinda forgotten and rushed and I’m still so confused. The riding lessons to get her back to trust being on a horse again didn’t even last that long, she got offered to participate in a competition out of nowhere and it didn’t take her long to accept even though she was, supposedly, still scared of riding, and then she tells almost no one about this injury, which I feel like it’s a big deal and something she should have told her family. She lied to her family and never actually told them the real reason why she went back to them. Make it make sense.

I have now been introduced to the concept of finger extenders

I’m in sheer awe after finishing this and I don’t even know what to do with myself, this brought me so many emotions and it engaged my brain in a way that kept me so invested through every single thing that happened.

This book makes you look at the story in a way that you’re always trying to guess what is happening and constantly making up new theories, connecting the characters’ actions to what is happening around them, picking up previous moments and connecting them to the present, and I just love how gripping the book is. Sure, you may have an idea of what is happening and have some theories in mind, but the story will always surprise you in a way, either with what is revealed or with the way it is revealed.

The pull that Evander and Laurie have towards each other is so compulsive and obsessive that it fits so well with the horror side of the story. These characters live and breathe the love they have for each other like the only way they can save themselves is by merging themselves together, with nothing else mattering. It’s not a sweet or kind love story but it is equally addictive.

The way this book encapsulates the horror genre was probably one of my favorite things while reading it. This is evident in the descriptions of the garden and the way it interacted with the characters, the gore being explicit enough that it makes you uncomfortable and even recoil at some parts and the way the some characters would act towards each other. A truly perfect queer horror story.

I can’t talk about a C.G. Drews’ book without talking about their writing. It’s so beautifully done from the detailed descriptions of the botanic elements and the horror aspect of the story, the way the characters would describe their feelings almost in a poetic way, there were so many quotes that I would read and I would have to just sit with it for a while because of how impactful they were (I may or may not have cried a little with how emotional some quotes made me).

I couldn’t help but compare this book to Don’t Let the Forest In, by the same author, because of how similar they are in themes and overall vibes, even if each book is unique in its own way, and if you liked one you'll most likely like the other.