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Don't Let The Forest In by Cg Drews

As alluring as it is unsettling, award-winning author CG Drews' debut YA psychological horror will leave readers breathless and hesitant to venture deeper into the woods. Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him. High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more. But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions...
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Jackdaw by KJ Charles (A Charm of Magpies World)

If you stop running, you fall.

Jonah Pastern is a magician, a liar, a windwalker, a professional thief...and for six months, he was the love of police constable Ben Spenser's life. His betrayal left Ben jailed, ruined, alone, and looking for revenge.

Ben is determined to make Jonah pay. But he can't seem to forget what they once shared, and Jonah refuses to let him. Soon Ben is entangled in Jonah's chaotic existence all over again, and they're running together - from the police, the justiciary, and some dangerous people with a lethal grudge against them.

Threatened on all sides by betrayals, secrets, and the laws of the land, the policeman and the thief must find a way to live and love before the past catches up with them....

PUBLISHER: KJC Books
YEAR: 2017
LENGTH: 205 pages 
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Historical
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: Gay/Achillean Main Character(s).

I really like how the Charm of Magpies books manage to have the fun procedural bits of police procedurals while steadily having characters who stop being cops to do literally anything else - especially when "anything else" is gay sex in Regency England with magic.

I appreciate how it completely makes sense that Ben and Jonah would have gotten together in the first place. As well as how things got so twisted up without Jonah feeling like he could explain, and without Ben, knowing what questions to ask until he already felt tricked and betrayed. Most of the second half of Jackdaw is aftercare for the main trilogy generally and Jonah's story in particular. There's time to rest and recover and build a new life and maybe relax a bit, with support to keep it from crashing down suddenly.

JACKDAW is a standalone companion to the Charm of Magpies trilogy. It is best read after reading that entire trilogy, but, because it is told from the perspective of a character who was not present for any of those earlier events, it is pretty friendly as a standalone for readers who aren't interested in a longer series. That being said, it does spoil many details of the third book in particular, so I would only recommend reading it first to someone who intended to stop there and not read the trilogy at all.

It contains several updates on what happened to the main characters of the original trilogy. While it doesn't explicitly set up anything to be continued later, it does leave things open so that future books have something to pick up. I love seeing characters I already love from someone else's perspective, especially when that someone has good reason to be afraid of them, even without knowing nearly as much as I do as a reader.

If you like this you may like:

  • Jack of Thorns by A.K. Faulkner

Graphic/Explicit CW for homophobia.

Moderate CW for sexual content (dubious consent), violence, death.

Minor CW for confinement, injury detail, torture, animal cruelty, animal death, murder.

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