This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time! It was dark, mysterious and thrilling, and I cannot get over how crazy the plot was. I loved the relationships in the novel and the detailed history of the town. This is a book I could not put down — I finished it in one afternoon! Quick read, but so worth it.

How do I even begin to describe the way this book made me feel? A lot. That, I can guarantee. The start of the story somehow felt slow-paced and vague but the way it was delivered hooked me completely on the storyline. From the murder mystery up to the final moment of truth. The characters Wyatt, Cash, and Porter each had their own roles to play in the story, and the way I discovered truths alongside them was equal parts shocking as is thrilling.

Walters' debut is brilliant in all its essence. I can't wait for it to be out for the rest of the world.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for giving me early access to this book.

There are books that are 'unputdownable' and there are books that you have to put down for a while for the sake of your mental health.
This book was part of the latter category.
Wyatt Green believes that there is a sickness that infects the town every November. People die, people kill and an overwhelming feeling of violence pervades the town. Even her best friend Cash, who she has been in love with forever, seems tinged with the edges of violence.
But when she has to do a project with Cash's nemesis, Porter, things start to unravel. Wyatt starts to wonder where the real sickness is.

This book should be on a school list of how to identify a toxic relationship versus a healthy one. It also deals with grief, dependence and the alarming effects of drug use.

Wyatt's self-destructive behaviour and feelings of inadequacy and isolation were hard to read, I just wanted to either hug her or slap her until the girl woke up.

The plot was brilliant and twisty as well as having a fantastic feel of a 90's thriller movie. While I can't say I 'enjoyed' enjoyed it- I can say that I am glad I read it.
Dark, angsty and compelling. I'd highly recommend this to anyone.

Holy sh.......

Can I just say that? Can that be the review?

Technically yes, but I **NEED** to say that this is without a doubt and by far one of 𝘵𝘩𝘦 best books I have read this year! Also, it is NOT a Young Adult book, don't believe that for one minute! I'd say this more more of a Psychological Thriller in spots.


The Violent Season is mind-blowing, amazing, sad, sweet (in a twisted & crazy way), everything I was hoping it would be and more. It really does, as people say "keep you on the edge of your seat." This is delightfully twisted and messed up, but also real on many levels and the writing style is superb; from the first line of this story it just grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me along.

I'm very excited to have been given the opportunity to read the ARC. I will absolutely be buying this book and reading it again!


TWs-
Teen related: Murder, Suicide, Drug Abuse & smoking, Alcoholism, almost Rape,
Parental Suicide, loss of parent(s).

Is it coincidence that people keep dying in this small town in Vermont, or is there more at work? Who is responsible for the death of Wyatt's mother last year and why does it feel like everything around Wyatt is breaking down? This book was built on the mystery of the violence that encompasses a small town in Vermont and one girl's mission to figure out what is going on, but will she find the truth, and will she like the answer if she finds it?

This one was so darn odd. I really was enjoying it at the beginning with the premise of a town going into a purge like setting one month ever year. Weird things happening, murders, suicides. It was an awesome concept.
But then it went downhill. It got weird and strayed away from the original premise.
It was an interesting book, but I really struggled liking the MC and did not feel like the story was believable or relatable.
All in all, I did read the entire thing and thought some parts were interesting, so I did give it 3 stars. Just don't go in thinking the beginning actually sets the tone for the rest of the story.

This was a real page-turner that I could see being a phenomenal Netflix film. The crime aspect blended with teenage love and emotional struggles made the book very relatable. Loved the relationships in the book; although I felt that the author ran out of a bit of steam at the end.

The violent season was a murder mystery set in a sleep town in Vermont where every November the bodies start to pile up…

Personally, I liked this book. It was a relatively quick read and perfect for a rainy day.

In typical YA fashion there was some cliche language like “let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding”. The teenagers act like adults, seemingly just breezing in and out of their homes at all hours of the night which did annoy me, which I reflected in my rating.

The Violent Season was enjoyable for what it was and is perfect for lovers of YA thrillers!

TW: Attempted sexual assault

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I thoroughly enjoyed myself. While I had a feeling about what was going to happen… I wasn’t 100% sure and I kept second guessing myself! It kept me on my toes, for sure

Be prepared to be captivated after the first sentence.

In the town of Wolf Ridge fall is a "season of violence". The small community is plagued by odd deaths during that time and it is rumored that the residents suffer from a sickness that causes them to hurt each other.

The "sickness" allows a heavy, but well-used, metaphor for the unhealthy relationship between protagonist, Wyatt, and Cash. The two have been friends forever, and are bonded even more deeply by the deaths of their mothers. Wyatt's mother was murdered during the last Violent Season, and the crime remains unsolved. Meanwhile, Wyatt is completely in love with Cash, who sometimes allows their friendship to be more. Still, they it inevitably always returns to Wyatt as the victim of his abuse.

When Wyatt is paired with Porter, whom Cash despises, she the façade of relationship with Cash begins to crack. This coincides with memories of her mother's murder resurfacing.

This book is fascinating and delves into the dangers that often exist real life.

This one really kept me guessing all the way until the end.

It was intense, but it did not at all take away my enjoyment of the book.

I also enjoyed the character development of the MC.

This book was absolutely beautifully written. While it leaves you guessing for what is happening in a small town every November, it also deals with grief, heartbreak, and sexual assault. I will definitely be recommending this at work.

Wyatt Green is a small town teenager looking for answers. Alongside of her, is the boy she loves, Cash Peters. As Wyatt begins to dive deeper into the mystery surrounding her mother’s death, she finds out more and more about those still around her. This book was terrifying, but one of the best reads I’ve had in a while. I highly recommend for anyone who loves a good murder mystery.

I really enjoyed this novel in the beginning, it felt like it was going to have a bit of sci fi mixed with thriller. Unfortunately it was mainly ya with a dose of thriller.
This book deals with a girl who lives in a town where each November, people become violent & a lot of death happens. I was hoping it would go more into this and we would learn where this originated from but the author kind of left us hanging and put that on the back burner in the middle of the book. It was definitely an enjoyable read none the less, and was hard to put down! I’d definitely recommend this book to my friends.

Wyatt lives in Wolf Ridge, where every November the town is stricken with a “sickness” that causes people to act violently. Whether it be suicide, murder, or assault, the violent sickness hits home for Wyatt in the wake of her mother’s murder.

After the first chapter of this novel I knew the book would be intense. Wyatt is a compelling character trying to cope with the loss of her mother by clinging to her boyfriend, Cash Peters. Cash has an underlying darkness to him after his mother’s suicide years prior. Together, the characters form a toxic bond punctuated by booze, cigarettes, and drug use.

The action in novel was gripping and well paced. Nothing seemed forced or ill placed aside from the ending. I found the ending of the novel predictable, but there was plenty that I didn’t guess correctly which I enjoyed. What bothered me was the abrupt nature of the end, which didn’t really hold much as much resolution as I would have like.

The Violent Season tries to cover too many different ideas and plot points and it falters. Is this a murder mystery? A description of emotional abuse and domestic violence? A treatise on human nature? I couldn't tell where it was going and then the ending just sort of fell flat. Ultimately, with a little more focus this could have been a much better book.

This book confused me. At times relying on a bit of a gimmick to propelling the story forward with a dark look at society.

The whole book seems to send us varying messages about human nature and I am not sure that I understood it all that well.

The "love" story or the "i like him" twist was used to move the story ahead, but fell short. Nothing seemed to connect with anything in this book.

I wish I had liked this book more - it had potential, but was never realized.

I enjoyed this book and liked the storyline and idea of it. I felt like the characters and storyline needed a little more development. I enjoyed the writer's style; however, she reused too many phrases. I often found myself reading something and thinking what a good choice of words it was, only then to reread the same phrasing again and again. This repetition watered down any uniqueness it many have had.

Thank you to Sara Walters and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to preview this YA book.

There are many bleak YA novels around at the moment and The Violent Season, the debut novel of Sara Walters is as dark as it comes. It starts dark and by the time you reach the end it is pitch-black, potentially too uncompromising for many teen readers. I often regard the Kevin Brooks masterpiece The Bunker Diary as nihilistic as it comes, but this novel is not far behind and is certainly in the same ballpark. The novel is set in a small town called Wolf Ridge where every November there are unexplained acts of horrific violence. Is there something in this or is it merely an urban myth? You’ll have to read it yourself to find out whether this aspect of the story is dealt with adequately, I was not convinced, and it reminded me of Moira Fowley-Doyle’s The Accident Season, which has a very similar plot where a family believe they are cursed by accidents every October. However, the context in which this curse (or urban myth) is framed was a real strength of the story, with a teenage girl trying to come to terms with the murder of her mother by connecting it to the curse.

The story picks up the year following the murder of Wyatt Green and much of the action unfolds as a teen drama and eventually an edgy romantic triangle between Wyatt, Cash (who she has a long-term but sometimes unhealthy relationship with) and Porter, who has history wish Cash, but a combined school project brings Wyatt and Porter closer together. In the background there is the longing to leave or escape the small town and the sadness of Wyatt feeling the ghost of her mother in the house. For a teen novel it was quite explicit, edgy and had a fair bit of drug use in it, with characters who appear to be okay in the outside but are in turmoil on the inside. Social media is playing an increasingly greater part in YA dark fiction as it can lead to horrors which are significantly nastier than the monster which lurks under the bed and is there anything worse than having photos taken (naked) and drunk which are then shared on online? Overall, the book was a fascinating blend of teen drama, with an unspecified supernatural feeling lurking in the background, and a lot of pain. A very challenging, bleak, but ultimately rewarding read. AGE RANGE 14+

This book is crazy! In a small town that is seemingly beset by violence every November, Wyatt begins to question just what is really behind all of these deaths. Upon stumbling on her mother's murdered body, and seeing some townsfolk die and classmates kill themselves, Wyatt is convinced there is a sickness afflicting the town.

Wyatt also worries this sickness is starting to affect her boyfriend Cash, who seems to genuinely want to kill their classmate, Porter. Once Wyatt and Porter become partners for a class project, Wyatt's attention (and affection) is split between the two and she becomes more and more concerned that something terrible is going to happen to someone close to her and she might be in the most danger of anyone!

Is there really something terribly wrong in Wolf Ridge or is Wyatt imagining everything? Is the sickness real or are people just naturally prone to doing bad things? Can Wyatt and her friends come out of the Violent Season unscathed or is one of them going to be the next victim?

With very mature themes and plenty of violence and language, this book is definitely for the high school and above level. I'd say only the most mature middle schoolers should even consider reading this and, if they do, they should get parental permission first! I, however, absolutely devoured this book!