Together We Rot

By Skyla Arndt

Book Overview

A teen girl looking for the truth about her missing mother forms a reluctant alliance with her former best friend...in exchange for hiding him from his cult-leading family.

"All hail the new queen of YA horrormance Arndt's unputdownable debut crackles with wit and seethes with terrors just beneath the surface. Equal parts tender and grisly, Together We Rot will sink its roots into you."--Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic

Wil Greene and Elwood Clarke used to be inseparable. That was before she accused his family of killing her mother.

These days, Wil obsessively gathers not-so-legal evidence on her mom's disap­pearance while she and her checked-out dad try to make ends meet at their failing motel. They're a hair's breadth away from foreclosure, and the pow­erful Clarkes have their eye on the property.

Elwood has been counting down the days until winter break. He hasn't told anyone he won't be coming back to school to finish out senior year--his pastor father is training him to lead their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But after one last night out with his friends, he comes face-to-face with a more chilling fate. He's not his father's successor . . . but his sacrifice.

Now on the run, Elwood knows Wil is his only hope. Together, they must dig up the truth about her mom and the Garden of Adam. But what they don't know is that Elwood harbors another monstrous secret, growing deep inside him. Can Wil save the boy she can't help but fall for?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593526279
• ISBN13: 9780593526279
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Lyrically written dark gothic horror/romance

Together We Rot has such a gorgeous cover, I knew I couldn't miss this YA gothic horror/romance debut. The story follows Wilhelmina Greene, an eighteen-year-old living in the isolated northern Michigan town of Pine Point, whose mother disappeared a year ago, and her former best friend Elwood Clarke whose family is fanatically religious and controlling. Wil is convinced that Elwood's family has something to do with her mother's disappearance. After sneaking off to a party, Elwood comes home to overhear his father reveal a terrifying secret. Wil encounters Elwood fleeing through the woods in the night, and they decide to unite against the dark forces in their town. Together We Rot is lyrically and compellingly written, the setting dark and atmospheric. The sensitive subjects of grief, alcoholism, religious cults and corruption are skillfully blended with a dark, riveting story of paranormal horror. This book would have benefited from being longer which would have allowed for more world building and explanation of the fantasy elements. I could not put it down.

Horror and friendship

It’s never a good sign when you live in a small town surrounded by a forest called the Morguewood. Yes, this takes place in winter but it is also a good read for the fall. It definitely has a fairly high creep factor what with the changes happening to Elwood, not to mention the creepy cult that is run by his father, The Garden of Eden. Cult stories are always scary, especially since they seem so reasonable to those who have been steeped in the brainwashing and it occurs in real life. I cannot think of a more unlikely setting for the real garden but it nicely ups the weird and scary setting. Not a forest I would want to go walking through. At least not until the end of the book. Not sure how I feel about the Wil and Elwood love story. I think it would have still been alright if they had just been friends. Kinda like Elwood's other friends or Wil's friend Ronnie. It was a quick read and I remained interested in it till the end. Not quite what I was expecting but it tied up pretty nicely and I actually did not mind that not everything got fixed back to normal but was still okay.