Harvest Season Quiz
How well do you recall the blood‑soaked garden parties, the chessboard stalker, and the twisted love story of Harper Starling and Nolan Rhodes? This 20‑question quiz on Harvest Season—the second book in Brynne Weaver’s Seasons of Carnage series—mixes plot details, character motivations, symbolism, and synthesis. Grab a shovel (or maybe not) and dig in.
After the quiz, scroll down for the full answer key and brief explanations. Need a refresher? Visit our Harvest Season overview or explore the questions and answers page. If you’re still reeling from the finale, our ending explained guide might help.
20‑Question Quiz
1. (Plot) What does Harper accidentally do to Nolan when she meets him at the Ballantyne River dumping ground?
A. Pushes him into the river
B. Sprays him with bear spray and hits him with a shovel
C. Throws a dismembered bone at his head
D. Triggers a tree branch to fall on him
2. (Plot) How does Nolan first react after discovering Harper is Autumn Bower, survivor of Harvey Mead?
A. Calls the police to report her
B. Forces her to leave Cape Carnage immediately
C. Nearly murders her, then cooperates to feed a body through the woodchipper
D. Proposes marriage on the spot
3. (Plot) What scheme do Harper and Nolan devise to explain Jake Hornell’s disappearance?
A. Burn his surfboard and scatter the ashes at sea
B. Plant a shark-bitten wetsuit near the lighthouse
C. Stage a shark attack with a snapped fin and a leg bone on Melmurby Beach
D. Send an anonymous letter blaming the Sleuthseekers
4. (Plot) Which Sleuthseeker does Nolan kill to protect Harper?
A. Charlie
B. Tylor Knightsbridge
C. Emma
D. KnightofTruth
5. (Plot) What object does Harper obsessively polish when intrusive memories of Adam resurface?
A. A silver locket
B. The woodchipper blades
C. The black knight chess piece
D. Arthur’s spyglass
6. (Plot) What does Sheriff Yates ask to borrow from Harper in chapter 20 that leaves her deeply unnerved?
A. A sack of Red Tide poison
B. The woodchipper
C. A set of garden shears
D. The almanac from the grain shed
7. (Plot) How does Arthur Lancaster die?
A. Yates drowns him in the grain shed
B. He is mauled by the raven Morpheus
C. Yates stabs him, then Arthur slits his own throat
D. Harper poisons him with foxglove by mistake
8. (Plot) What piece of evidence does Sam Porter leave at the old Iver farm that threatens to expose Harper’s former identity?
A. A photo of the Texas Tech logo
B. A Texas Tech sweater from her YouTube van‑life days
C. A journal mentioning Autumn Bower
D. A CD of her punk band recordings
9. (Motivation) Why does Nolan burn his scrapbook of revenge targets in the bathtub?
A. Harper demands it as proof of loyalty
B. He realizes Harper is innocent and that he almost killed her unjustly
C. Sheriff Yates orders him to destroy potential evidence
D. He needs the ashes for a ritual
10. (Motivation) Why does Harper text Nolan to “go home to Tennessee” in chapter 5?
A. She discovers he is a Sleuthseeker
B. She believes she is too dangerous for him and the impending investigation puts him at risk
C. Arthur threatens to disinherit her if she stays with him
D. She wants to test whether Nolan will disobey her
11. (Motivation) What is Yates’s primary motive for killing Arthur Lancaster?
A. To avenge Poppy’s death
B. To eliminate the last witness to his past crimes
C. To force Harper’s “metamorphosis” into a killer worthy of his legacy
D. To frame Nolan for murder and remove him as a romantic rival
12. (Motivation) Why does Harper decide to poison Sleuthseeker Tylor Knightsbridge at the Taste of Terror festival?
A. He insulted Arthur’s garden
B. He showed her photo around town and Sarah Winkle identified her, tightening the investigation
C. He was the person who taught Morpheus the name “Autumn”
D. Nolan dares her to prove her love
13. (Motivation) Why does Maya, the shop owner, cover for Harper when Sleuthseekers show her the Discord photo?
A. Harper pays her with Arthur’s money
B. Maya wants to frame Tylor instead
C. She considers Harper “one of us” and knows Jake Hornell stalked her
D. Sheriff Yates instructed her to mislead outsiders
14. (Theme/Symbol) What does the black knight chess piece symbolize in the story?
A. Nolan’s unyielding control over Harper
B. The intrusion of an external threat and the containment of Harper’s trauma
C. Arthur’s strategic mind
D. The ouroboros tattoo on Nolan’s arm
15. (Theme/Symbol) The woodchipper reappears throughout the book. What thematic role does it serve?
A. It represents the ghost of Harvey Mead
B. It is a reminder that the townspeople are complicit in the murders
C. It functions as a darkly comic symbol of evidence disposal and the couple’s violent bond
D. It foreshadows Harper’s eventual death
16. (Theme/Symbol) What does the “longline” metaphor in chapter 22 signify?
A. The unbreakable emotional and criminal tether between Nolan and Harper
B. Harper’s loneliness after losing Adam
C. The long‑term effects of Alzheimer’s on Arthur
D. The slow‑burn investigation by Yates
17. (Theme/Symbol) The chapter title “Abscission” foreshadows what major event?
A. Harper pruning the dangerous foxglove
B. The botched chili‑contest poisoning
C. The severing of Harper and Nolan’s relationship due to a perceived betrayal
D. Arthur cutting ties with Lukas
18. (Synthesis) How does Harper’s fear of loss shape her actions throughout the book? (Short answer)
19. (Synthesis) Compare and contrast how Yates and Arthur view Harper’s transformation. (Short answer)
20. (Synthesis) Why does Harper believe Nolan planted Bryce’s bone in the garden, and what larger narrative pattern does this reflect? (Short answer)
Answer Key & Explanations
1. B – Sprays him with bear spray and hits him with a shovel.
Blinded by panic in the dark (and convinced a bear is rustling nearby), Harper hoses Nolan down with bear spray and then wallops him with a shovel before realizing her mistake.
2. C – Nearly murders her, then cooperates to feed a body through the woodchipper.
Nolan storms in ready to kill the person he thinks caused his brother’s crash. When the truth emerges, the two funnel their adrenaline into disposing of a corpse together.
3. C – Stage a shark attack with a snapped fin and a leg bone on Melmurby Beach.
The couple breaks into Wallie’s Watersports to steal a fin, then plants it with a cleaned fragment of Jake’s leg bone to feed the “Sharkimedes” rumor.
4. C – Emma.
Nolan drowns the Sleuthseeker named Emma after learning that the true‑crime fans are staying at the Capeside Inn and getting too close to Harper.
5. C – The black knight chess piece.
Whenever grief for Adam ambushes her, Harper compulsively polishes the black knight, using the ritual to contain the trauma so it doesn’t spill into her present.
6. B – The woodchipper.
Yates casually asks to borrow the PTO‑driven woodchipper, claiming he has deadwood to mulch, but the request sends Harper’s heart racing because she knows what that machine has chewed through.
7. C – Yates stabs him, then Arthur slits his own throat.
Yates impales Arthur during a storm, but the old man smashes a sugar bowl over Yates’s head, seizes the blade, and defiantly ends his own life so that Harper will inherit his will to survive.
8. B – A Texas Tech sweater from her YouTube van‑life days.
Sam Porter bagged evidence at the old Iver farm that includes a sweater featuring the college logo Harper wore in her “Autumn and Adam’s Vanventures” videos.
9. B – He realizes Harper is innocent and that he almost killed her unjustly.
After learning Harper is Autumn Bower, Nolan mentally revisits his revenge plan and is physically sick at the thought of torturing an innocent woman. Burning the scrapbook is his act of renunciation.
10. B – She believes she is too dangerous for him and the impending investigation puts him at risk.
Overwhelmed by guilt over Arthur’s murder and the approaching Sleuthseekers, Harper tries to push Nolan away, believing she doesn’t deserve love and that staying will only endanger him.
11. C – To force Harper’s “metamorphosis” into a killer worthy of his legacy.
Yates views Harper as a chrysalis that must be stripped of her remaining attachments. Arthur’s death is the surgical intervention he believes will complete her transformation into his ultimate artwork.
12. B – He showed her photo around town and Sarah Winkle identified her, tightening the investigation.
When Tylor starts waving the Discord photo at locals and getting responses, Harper sees him as an immediate threat and slips a dose of Red Tide into his chili.
13. C – She considers Harper “one of us” and knows Jake Hornell stalked her.
Maya doesn’t hesitate to lie to the Sleuthseekers. She hints that she knows Jake was a predator and that Harper’s violence was a form of justice, declaring Harper belongs among the town’s protective circle.
14. B – The intrusion of an external threat and the containment of Harper’s trauma.
The black knight’s unexplained movement signals that someone is inside Harper’s world, while the obsessive polishing reveals how she seals away her past pain inside the chess piece.
15. C – It functions as a darkly comic symbol of evidence disposal and the couple’s violent bond.
“Cookie Monster” is back—a monstrous, absurd machine that eats bodies. The woodchipper underscores the book’s blend of horror and humor, and each time it appears, Harper and Nolan’s partnership grows more intimate.
16. A – The unbreakable emotional and criminal tether between Nolan and Harper.
Nolan feels a “longline” hook him to Harper after they plant evidence together. The metaphor underscores that no matter how far he drifts, he will always be pulled back to her.
17. C – The severing of Harper and Nolan’s relationship due to a perceived betrayal.
Abscission is the natural process by which a plant sheds a leaf or fruit. The chapter title primes readers for a painful breakup: Harper finds Bryce’s bone in the foxglove and banishes Nolan, convinced he has orchestrated her ruin.