The Veld Center really does sound like one of those creepy camps people send their kids off to be abused. I liked the premise but I didn't like that I didn't get a good feel for the characters. Were they supposed to be more like avatars? I don't know but not even naming one seemed a little tired. The one sister had two different names and that felt gimmicky. Animal violence. It was just messy and unpleasant.

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You by Ariel Delgado Dixon is a recommended literary debut novel following the tragic tale of two sisters.

The two sisters Fawn(or May), and our unnamed narrator, are five years apart and survived a traumatic childhood that included living in a commune, abandonment by both parents, and stints in the Veld Center, a wilderness camp and program for troubled youth. Even as adults when the sisters try to stay away from each other, Fern always seeks out her sister. When our narrator thinks she is escaping her past, it is always right there. The stays at the Veld Center and the struggle for survival the program necessitated have resulted in deep, psychologically changes.

Basically the plot is an unnamed adult looking back at the very messed-up childhood of her and her very disturbed sister. The narrative follows two different time periods and the structure of the novel can initially make where and when the reader is confusing until you become accustom to the indications of a change. This is also a rather slow moving, confusing novel for about the first third. The writing style can be very poetic at times, but beautiful writing can't always compensate for other flaws in the plot and construction of a novel.

Not all of the recollections our narrator shares involve her sister. Many of the memories are solely from her life experiences. However, while following their dysfunctional history it is clear that the sisters have many unnamed bonds that connect them to each other. You will also realize the background of the constant battle these two sisters are engaged in with each other. It is a tension filled and very disturbing novel with unlikable characters. Animal lovers need to avoid this one.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, Google Books, and Amazon.

I was invited to read and review by St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley, and it sounded like a winner; a debut to boot. I am disappointed not to be able to read further, because this is clearly a writer with talent, and the story is an interesting one thus far.

Here’s the thing: I see foreshadowing that suggests the family dog is going to meet with a lot of pain, and I am not up for it.

There’s been a trend away from this lately, and I suspect this is why: there’s a lot of push-back against it these days. There was a time when the sacrifice of a (fictitious) pet was considered a lesser evil. Rather than kill or torture a character that the protagonist loves and the reader may have bonded with, take out the dog, cat, horse, etc. It’s sinister foreshadowing, but nobody is dead yet. But these days, animals in general and pets in particular are out of bounds. If a writer goes there at all, it must be well in the past and with as few details as possible. Less is more, and usually, none is even better.

Were it not for the animal cruelty that other reviewers have referenced, both with the dog and the wilderness camp, I would gladly finish and review this galley. I wish the author well, and look forward to seeing what they publish next, assuming this deal breaker doesn’t make it into their next endeavor.

My rating isn’t based on much because I didn’t get far; four stars is the rating I give most often, but this time it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Dysfunctional doesn't begin to describe this family of two young women who are almost feral. Their mother, an artist, more or less abandoned them to a warehouse in a town under an interstate while she's in NYC and their father, a musician, hasn't been seen in years. This is narrated by the older, unnamed sister and it moves around in time (a lot) between her teen years, her time in the Veld Center (a sort of boot camp treatment facility for teens), and the present, when she is living with a woman in the warehouse, which has been renovated and going back and forth to NYC herself. The younger sister, Fawn, has serious mental health issues. She too is sent to Veld but now she's been released and she's presenting herself as May. There's drug use, there's abuse, there's lot of stuff. Animal lovers (aren't we all) need to be forewarned. Oddly, the best parts were actually at Veld, with its small portraits of other teens and the program itself, Neither of the narrator or Fawn/May were sympathetic. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A gritty coming of age story.

I spent the majority of this book feeling confused. Despite a somewhat promising premise, I disliked this book and probably should have just not finished. The writing is difficult to follow, and the author jumps around time-wise without warning.

The premise had a lot of potential, but it just didn't really gel for me. There were moments I wanted to give up reading it, but there were also parts that really drew me in, so I'm very unsure of my overall rating of this book. I think this could have been really exceptional if some parts had been delved in more while some parts were a bit superfluous. The author has excellent writing skills.

I will be warning people that this book is not edited and overwritten. I finished it but I really didn't want to. Editor could have helped.

𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓.

Is Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You about two sisters whose lives are altered after the youngest brings home a strange discovery? Or is it about two sisters whose lives are ruined by their own parents inability to be present? Both. The eldest narrates her life, from the moment everything fell apart to her current relationship, which brings the past to the forefront. A past that has been waiting in the back of her mind, like a room closed up after a death.

The sisters live in a dilapidated three-story warehouse on the edge of an industrial town in Deerie. What was bought in their mother’s youthful past, with the intention to create a utopia where she and her aspiring artist friends would live in, ended up being a sole endeavor. That utopia never came to fruition. Instead, it becomes home for her girls, a place she barely resides in herself, flitting in and out of their lives, leaving the eldest by five years in charge. Their father may as well be a ghost, albeit a living one, not even the vision for his music studio on the first floor could have anchored him in place when he bailed on them so long ago. Dad- just a memory, like a song you can’t remember the lyrics to. It’s a home of two sisters kicking about without much to do and missing whatever glue bonds others together. Her little sister Fawn, she tells us at the start, always had her fixations and their ‘bohemian mother’ saw this as promise for great potential. Maybe, though, it could go another way her big sister doesn’t “go easy on her”. She spends her time with her best friend Zeke, escaping her odd sibling, who is just too much. When Fawn makes a disturbing discovery and finds herself on the news, her behavior gets even more peculiar, but for our narrator it is the first omen in a coming tragedy that blindsides her, obliterating her one tether to life. As she falls apart, her absent mother steps in and sends her (against her will, read it) to a facility for troubled teenagers.

At The Veld Center, a place for ’emotional preparation’, she faces brutal survivalist skills in the mountains (in exile) far from civilization. What else could her mother do? She knows there is truth that it was desperation and helplessness that landed her there. It echoes true to life places such as these, made for an interesting read. Is it salvation or are the adults just as lost and screwed up as the teenagers? It is fresh hell, one she has to survive. Once she is out, her mother rewrites her own life again, choosing love with a friend, leaving her daughters to live with their father.

The sister’s both want pieces of their dad but our narrator notices the disturbing patterns of behavior in Fawn, who would believe her though, when it’s time to speak up? Once again, punishment is hers and she is sent away. When she is finally free, she tries to make an adult life for herself in the city but is hounded by the past. Looking for love or is it mothering? Guidance? She isn’t fully honest in her relationship with an older woman. Can’t she just be someone else?

Fawn will never let go either, is there a score to settle? Is she out for revenge and for what? Lost to the system of Veld herself for a time, somehow once she is out she inserts back into the scene. The story jumps at different points in the main character’s life, reminding us it is all connected and every obstacle was a seed planted in the past. Reinvention or self-erasure, she must confront every dark moment. Is Fawn a threat? What is this tangle they are in? It’s an eerie, dark tale of a destructive love, mental instability, and horrors that follow so much failure. Not all novels can flit about like this and still hold me, but it works here. Yes, read it.

Publication Date: February 15, 2022

Random House

A dark and twisting story of two sisters trying to survive an extremely traumatic upbringing. As in many dysfunctional families, the power struggle between the sisters as they attempt to survive childhood with different methods and mixed results is all too real. The sisters orbit each other through the years as they navigate truly terrible obstacles, some of their own creation. This novel is filled with gut wrenching tension as the past is relayed in segments.

For me, the most interesting parts took place at the "Veld Center", a wilderness camp for troubled teams. An endless hike filled with questionable methods and protocols. In many ways, the ending was not completely satisfying, but the writing is so good, that the book in its entirety is an enjoyable read. If you like dark childhoods, stories of trauma, dysfunctional families, outward-bound for "problem kids," then this is a novel for you #DontSayWeDidntWarnYou #netgalleyreads #NetGalley #Random House

Full of twists and turns. Family members who we’re part of a cult and now navigating what life can be like outside of it. Could not put it down. Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The base of the story was interesting but it was very confusing with the back and forth between some chapters and within some chapters, they could have used a simple “now” and “then” descriptor. I also could have used less subtleties and better explanation of what actually happened instead of leaving it up for interpretation. There was a lot of potential here, just a little less confusion could really benefit the overall story.

What’s a book you’ve read recently that you haven’t really people talking about?

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn you is Ariel Delgado Dixon’s debut and I was super impressed. Told from the perspective of our nameless narrator we are thrown into the story of two sisters, and the repercussions of their traumatic childhoods on their adult lives.

This book is pure dysfunction at every turn. It’s dark, dark, dark but also funny and impossible to put down. It tackles so much but doesn’t feel bloated. I don’t want to go too far into the plot because there’s some jaw dropping surprises that you should discover for yourself.

Overall, it’s a powerful story of how you can both love and hate the people who hurt you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this title.

Two sisters survived a horribly dysfunctional childhood, told in differing timelines. As the older, unnamed sister reviews her past, we come to realize that younger sister may not have come out unscathed from their traumatic childhood.

I was pretty confused for the first half of this book. It kept jumping back in forth between time periods and I wasn't able to get into the flow of it. I got used to it around the halfway mark and started to understand what was going on. I never really felt satisfied with the story line though. I still had many questions at the end and felt like we didn't get the whole story.

"I had forgotten one of the first rules of survival. I had been warned. Down the mountain isn't down."

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You comes out 2/15.

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You is the title of a book by Ariel Delgado Dixon. Don't say I didn't warn you is my first thought. Maybe this story made sense to Ms Dixon but it sure didn't to me. There is absolutely no order to the chapters about the main character and her sister. Constantly back and forth in time. I want to thank NetGalley and Random House for an early copy to review.

This debut shows flashes of brilliance, but for some reason didn't click with me. Probably I'm not the target audience, and I found myself being irritated by some of the choices.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Feb. 15, 2022
“Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You” by debut author Ariel Delgado Dixon is a tragic tale of two sisters, whose destiny is intertwined, regardless of how hard they try to disconnect the ties.
Two sisters grew up in an artist’s commune in New York City, abandoned by one parent and then another, having only each other for company. Both siblings spend time (separately) at the Veld Centre, a treatment home for troubled youth, and what they discover there unleashes feelings and fears long since hidden. As adults the two siblings are trying to live their own lives, staying as far away from each other as possible. But Fern, the youngest, cannot stay away from her older sister, and in fact, she seeks her out and when their pasts and future collide, everything changes forever.
For a debut novel, “Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You” is a good read. It encapsulates the power of sibling relationships, with the backdrop of mental illness and parental neglect. Dixon writes a pretty piece, but her poetic language takes some getting used to. Initially, when I picked up this novel, I had no idea what I was reading and I did not get into it until about one third of the way through, when the plot broke through and the characters really began to show themselves.
The story is told across two time periods, both in the future when the siblings reconnect in New York, and in the past when the oldest sister is spending time at Veld. Each chapter has one, the other or a combination of both time periods and they aren’t clearly marked, but there is a clear distinction (through the use of a few extra spaces before a new paragraph, sometimes a fancy symbol) that indicates a change.
I was captivated by the character of Fern, and I wanted to know more about things from her perspective. She was such a deeply disturbed character and yet we only got to know her side of things from her sister and others who knew her. The ending did not provide the satisfaction I was hoping for, as it was left open to interpretation and left a few questions unanswered.
“Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You” is definitely well written, and Dixon has the skill set to launch a stellar writing career. I look forward to her next work, and I know we will see more of her in the future.

An interesting story about two troubled teens. Definitely had several twists and turns I did not see coming.

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You is a fantastic, quick read with a very original voice in the author that I absolutely enjoyed! This book was filled with trauma and sadness, but was so well-written that it draws you in. The story of two sisters trying to survive a traumatic upbringing and all the dysfunctional instances that come with that is heart-breaking and you’re constantly waiting for “the other shoe to drop” as you read this and the often sad and strange relationship between sisters just trying to make it. It’s well-written and the characters are superb. Will definitely read more from this author.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I requested this book. I work with teens and have a lot of experience with childhood trauma and abuse so I was in treated but also worried that maybe I get enough of this theme at work and wouldn't enjoy it. What I found when I started reading this was an original voice and approach to a story that could've been very generic or felt forced. The premise is that we have two sisters who we know are five years apart in age. They've been raised by a narcissistic Mom. Dad only returns to their lives because he has no other options. The older sister is a nameless narrator and the younger one either Fawn or May depending on where and how she was living. I especially enjoyed how the story was told in segments ranging from the present, to childhood and young adulthood. I love this author’s style and how the book really shows rather than tells. This was an intense book- the "juvenile rehabilitation" the animal cruelty, mental illness, and gaslighting. Very well done and realistic, but also could be triggering for some.