I really wish books came with warning labels…. This novel contains instances of animal abuse and overall instances causing queasiness in regards to animals.

The plot, told through two timelines, focuses on a rough upbringing of two sisters, left to their own devices, having been abandoned by their father and with a mother often away on trips to New York.

The novel starts with the finding of body parts in their little town and while the reader may think that the dark tale will further explore murders in a quiet town, this plot line serves more to show the youngest sister’s worrisome behaviours. I will not reveal much of the story as the book is a bit of a slow build and it is best not to reveal too much.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

This story is dark. The sisters have darkness in their minds and actions that they struggle against but fail to conquer. Their lives are lived on the edge of abuse and neglect and when they object, they are "rehabilitated". The plot line is original but maybe too disturbing for many readers.

This book started out strong for me, but ending up being a "did not finish" because it couldn't hold my attention and I just didn't connect with the story.

This was a unique and disturbing reading experience for me.

The timelines jumped back and forth between two sisters who have grown up with a lot of trauma and how that has changed them. One is more of a mess than the other.

It's dramatic and almost feels like you're reading a bunch of different short stories but that all tell one big story and that go together.

I didn't totally love it but it was still a well written and intriguing read.

I loved this cover but I struggled with the book. I found it slow, and somewhat confusing.

I tried my best, but ended up DNF this one. I recently came back to it and had the same experience, so I believe this one is just not for me. Two attempts to read it and couldn't get myself to finish.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity.

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You is an outstanding thriller from start to finish. It follows two sisters with a traumatic upbringing and how it shapes who they are today. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Don't Say We Didn't Warn You today.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Too busy, too much going on. Felt cluttered.

Great story and especially as a debut. But count me out with the animal cruelty. I just couldnt do it or read it and I did not appreciate having it in the story, which has affected my review. But that is just my personal preference and opinion.

Fascinating characters with brutal actions and dark relationships. I love a story about sisters and the connection in this one did not disappoint! However, the timeline was nearly impossible to keep track of, and listening to the audiobook did not help.

This book, while beautifully written and very compelling, was for me a very sad story about a very sad family with a lot of very disturbing events in their lives. The animal cruelty hurt my heart.

This just had way too much going on. I was mainly interested in hearing about the wilderness program, and all the other events and storylines just got cluttered.

Two sisters have lived separately in life at times. Throughout this novel, their story is about trauma and living with it. They live in an abandoned warehouse where their parents had thought they would have an art commune. When the father disappears from the sisters lives, the stability is gone. They retreat into their own strange worlds of isolation and myth-making. As sisters try to survive their dark and dangerous teenage lives. The sister both end up going to Veld Center which is a wilderness camp where troubled teenage girls go as a last resort. They both survive the wilderness camp but are warped and traumatized by the experiences. The two sisters must understand their bonds that link them. The trauma they endured will shaped what they will become as adults.

This is an unsettling story searching for their own place in the world. The two sisters separate and “connect” throughout this story. I thought that this story was good but at times difficult to read as I couldn’t imagine living their life. It didn’t stop me from reading it as I needed to see what happened. It is a well written novel. A novel that ought to be read even with it being so weird and at times haunting.

I had a hard time putting words to how I felt about this book until I saw another reviewer call it "intriguing yet unsatisfying," and I think that's the best way to describe it. I was a little confused about what was going on at some parts of the book, and I spent a lot of the book desperately waiting for something major to happen, because it felt like it was building up to it, yet it just...didn't happen. The characters and writing were compelling, and it's a story of a series of unfortunate events happening to these young women, but this book was just barely not quite what I needed it to be.

This was just ok. It wasn’t as compelling as I expected it to be, despite the extremely intriguing synopsis.

I would recommend this book if the mental health topics interest you and you generally like mysteries with dysfunctional families. The only downside of this for me was the writing. At times it felt like two different stories because some of the writing was very poetic and beautiful while other times it felt concise and to the point, and it made a somewhat disjointed reading experience.

Dixon’s chilling and evocative debut features two sisters whose traumatic history bonds them and shapes their adulthood.

When I saw the synopsis of DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T WARN YOU, it felt like a must-read. I was really interested in the storyline of the troubled teen center and how that shaped the characters later in life. This was definitely the most engaging part of the story, but was only one piece of the puzzle. The alternating timelines provided an understanding of the difficult upbringing the narrator endured and how that shaped her present actions.

As the story progressed, each page was laced with a sense of dread for what might be to come. I had so many questions.

Was Fawn truly sinister, plotting to come for her sister? How will it impact innocent people in the path of her seemingly sociopathic ways? On the other hand, is the narrator to be trusted? Is she innocent of many of the things that landed her at the Veld Center?

Part of me wishes that I could have had some glances at Fawn's side of things. If there were some sections where she twisted the plot around in the manipulative way her sister seems to think she functions, it really would have built up the unreliable narrator vibes. The other part of me does appreciate the lack of insight into Fawn's psyche, as it left me just as unsure of her intentions as the narrator.

Unfortunately, while I was once taken by the possibilities of where the book might take me, the last 30% or so were pretty anticlimactic. Perhaps I just don't understand the purpose of the final outcome, but it felt as though there wasn't enough chaos around to warrant the narrator's final actions. I wanted a big showdown or reveal, but instead, the final pages felt like a big shoulder shrug.

This book gave me hints of THE PUSH and a bit of OTHER PEOPLE'S CLOTHES, but didn't leave me wide-eyed, short of breath, staring into the abyss to take it all in. There are many great reviews, so this seems to be landing for some, but it came up short of my expectations in the long run.

Weird disturbed characters with traumatic childhoods are right up my alley, however this book did not really work for me.

There are two sisters, one of them is the narrator and is unnamed. The other is Fern. Fern is the really disturbed one (warning…Animal Cruelty) but the other sister is also messed up, just not the extent that Fern is.

Their childhood was a mess, with a mother flitting in and out of their lives. Both sisters end up in a sort of reform school for girls.

With each chapter bouncing between time periods, I spent most of the time confused. I didn’t find any of the characters likable.

Overall I found the book confusing and disturbing (I would not have chosen the book if I’d known about the animal cruelty) but on the other hand, I think the writing is really well done.

This moody, disjointed account of two sisters' attempts to outrun family trauma is certain to resonate with many readers, particularly those who like to delve deep into the minds of troubled characters. The novel wasn't ultimately for me, but I appreciate the author's attempts to mirror the recursive effects of intergenerational trauma in the novel's form itself. Certainly an evocative text!

Well, I guess I can’t say they didn’t warn me, but I thought this would be so much better than it is. I simply could not get into it, and as my partner said,” I never hear you say that- you read everything!” Yup. So I’m sorry, but this was just all over the place, I couldn’t follow it and it didn’t hold my interest enough to continue.