4.5 🌟 rounded up

I really loved this book! What a perfect pick for the upcoming spooky season.

Sadie is so relatable in that way where you want to simultaneously hug her and shake her for making bad decisions. The trauma from witnessing her friends being murdered when she was just 12 has (understandably) affected most aspects of her life. She chooses to be with a walking bundle of red flags named Lucas and hides behind the "easiness" of their relationship.

The atmosphere the author creates is one of perfection, full of dread, fear, and paranoia. Are the voices and visions part of Sadie's PTSD? Or something more sinister? I read this in less than a day because I just had to find out. I loved the ending as well.

Recommended for any fans of culty horror vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC, and Creature Publishing for the ARC.

I enjoyed reading this very much, i just wished it would have had some more shocking/creepy moments. I still recommend it for spooky season, it was very entertaining!

After reading Such Lovely Skin I knew I needed to read more from Tatiana Schloet-Bonne.

This book was excellent. It was original, creepy, satisfying, and captivating. I couldn't put it down!

The characters were well-written and multidimensional. The main character is going through it and we get to go along for the ride.

The book gave me some major A24 horror movie vibes which was right up my alley. I definitely agree with the Midsommar comparison in the advertising I've seen for this one.

I recommend this one for fans who like reading about cults, dealing with childhood trauma, "good for her" vibes, and emotional storytelling. 5⭐️s from me and I highly recommend this one!

Also, if you haven't read Such Lovely Skin, check that out too!

Side note: I also learned more about bodybuilding than I ever thought I would in a horror book. Which is an unexpected bonus haha.

Thank you Creature Publishing for my free ARC of The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne — available Sep 30!

» READ IF YOU «
🪓 silently carry your own childhood trauma

🌲 are craving forest horror with demonic voices

🔥 need a man to channel all your rage onto

» SYNOPSIS «
12-year-old Sadie watched as her best friends were murdered in front of her while they were at summer camp. Almost two decades later, she’s built a new life—including a new name, new hobbies, and a three-year relationship with Lucas—but she still hears the voices of her dead friends. When Lucas drags her on a cutesy cabin getaway with their friends, Sadie will spiral back into the past, maybe for good this time…

» REVIEW «
Oh yeah, this was a fun one. For me, the gym inclusions were great but also kind of triggering? I’ve been in the “if I can control my fitness, I can control my life” phase that Sadie’s in, and it’s not an ultra-pleasant or healthy space. But, that’s the point. We get dual timelines, sexy demon voices (check out the audio), toxic relationships, and excellently-rendered horror elements. The deer?! Gross.

Sadie really had to work for my vote of confidence, but she figured it out in the end. Probably. If you’re looking for a fast-paced horror romp with plenty of gore, a character you’ll love to hate, and a few life lessons, definitely take The Mean Ones for a spin this spooky season.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

Thank you to Creature Publishing and NetGalley for the E-ARC.

If you're into slasher films AND paranormal horror, this one is going to be just for you. I liked the dual timelines in the story. It did what it needed to do by keeping me on the edge of my seat as it switched back and forth and kept teasing the reader with juicy bits.

I liked Sadie's character to a point. Firstly, as a former female powerlifter, I don't see that representation in books often so I thought it was really cool that to overcome both trauma and body issues, she got into lifting. I really related to that and I liked the positivity it spun. Other than that, Sadie seriously needed heavy therapy. She referenced past therapists a lot but it was very clear that even almost 30, she was not emotionally mature enough.

I hated her boyfriend Lucas. I understand that was intended but I didn't like that Sadie was in that relationship to begin with. He was such a stereotypical douche that it smacked the reader in the face and I genuinely don't know how any woman would want to stay with a man like that long enough for even the plot to take hold. Sadie's lack of standing up for herself to Lucas was infuriating.

The paranormal aspect was unexpected for me and while I'm typically indifferent about paranormal horror, I didn't love it in this story, sadly. I wanted something more sinister, and by that I mean humans choosing to be evil pieces of shit just for the hell of it.

Overall, I'd definitely read this author again because she kept me intrigued, this was just one that I enjoyed but didn't fall in love with.

*SPOILER ALERT*
In the end, I still didn't feel she found her own agency. She went from the douchebag to a demon man, and while normally I'd say that's hot, she needed therapy because she wasn't over everything that made her fucked up.

Thank you NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book on a flight and I ATE it up. I loved the camper vibes mixed with horror/cult vibes. Also I am a sucker for a locked door thriller and this definitely brought those vibes as two couples vacation in a secluded cabin. The FMC has a traumatic past that she has kept hidden from her bf and friends but as reality starts to blur with the unraveling of her mind, secrets are revealed, and you are left wondering what actually did happen to her when she was a child.

HIGHLY recommend.
4.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for the eARC!

This was such an interesting read! While I kind of wish the ending had been different, I definitely didn't see it coming. I loved the way Schlote-Bonne laid the story out and unraveled it for us. The dual timeline was so well done. She also does a fantastic job of describing Sadie's visions. Honestly, I'd seek out Scholte-Bonne books in the future just to see what other twisted worlds she can introduce me to!

Sadie’s therapist says the comforting voice in her head and the dead animals who talk to her are just a result of PTSD of surviving the slaying of her friends at summer camp years ago. So, she works hard day to day to live a normal life with her normal boyfriend, Lucas. Lucas is a great boyfriend, as long as he gets angry. When Lucas agrees to accompany their friends on a cabin in the woods trip, Sadie finds it increasingly harder to appear normal as the figures in her head get worse, and the voice talks to her more, asking her to do things she never could have imagined.

This was a delicious, feral girl horror that had me hooked from start to finish. I listened to it on a longish car-ride and kept going once I got home, because I couldn’t put it down. Sadie is a damaged girl desperate to live a normal life. Her boyfriend is an asshole, but he’s normal and she likes him well enough, especially if she pretends he’s the voice in her head during sex. It builds tension well, and I appreciated the back and forth in time, flashing back to the horrific incident of her youth and circling around the growing creep factor during the trip to the woods. It wraps up the mysteries well and satisfied me completely. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more works by this author.

This book was so good!!! I was so hooked to this book and flipping the pages so quickly but also slowly because I didn’t want it to end. You’ll love this book if you like camp slashers.

I was HOOKED for page 1 and read it all in one sitting. I related to Sadie's, the FMC, experience of being the side friend in a group of 3 girls and having that one friend be a mean girl to you all the time. I also related to her experience of being the bigger friend and having those friends and even your parents commenting on it rudely but pretending to be concerned/honest.

This book handled the dual timelines together and omg the ending! I won't say anything else because this is one you just need to dive in blindly. If you like horror/thriller books with demons, cult-y vibes, summer camp slashers, and terrifying haunting animals, this is the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this e-ARC and the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Tatiana Schlote-Bonne for and Creature Publishing for the ARC!

Sadie works very hard to maintain a normal image - she’s a physical therapist assistant and she lifts weights with her boyfriend, Lucas, in her free time. She tries to keep the voices and visions in her head at bay, which her therapist insists stem from PTSD. Back when she was a kid, she watched her two friends be murdered at summer camp. But when Lucas plans a spontaneous camping trip in the woods, the visions become harder to ignore. The voice in her head calls for Sadie to do things she never imagined…

I devoured this author’s debut, Such Lovely Skin, so I was very eager to get my hands on this! This book is her first adult novel and it did not disappoint! Told in alternating timelines, the journey into Sadie’s past is quite mysterious. I couldn’t get to the bottom of why her childhood friends treated her the way they did, and the horrifying events that transpired with them had me as shook as Sadie was when I read about them. In present times, Sadie’s hallucinations were equally disturbing. With a feeling of dread permeating the pages, this story drew me in immediately. The sense of something being off, something bad about to happen, coupled perfectly with the tense, deeply atmospheric setting. Perfect for spooky season (or any season really!

“The Mean Ones” releases September 30, 2025. This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I honestly really enjoyed this book. Tatiana’s last book wasn’t my favorite but maybe that’s because she needed to go bigger and she does!

I really liked Sadie. While in the beginning I was annoyed with her for being a pushover, seeing her as a child and as an adult and why she’s so afraid to rock the boat makes sense. Lucas gave me every ick and I was waiting for him his Midsommar bear moment. I liked the rotating time period POV where we see Sadie as an adult and back at camp when she’s 12. Honestly, her friends made me so mad. It reminded me too much of being 12. Also, what did the adults want her to do? If she’s hiding under a bed and masked intruders come in and butcher her friends, is she supposed to tackle them? That’s the part I didn’t get. Shes 12 and as everyone loved to point out she was chubby. Was she supposed to run to get help with a cabin full of people? They made her hiding seem like she was a coward but literally what else was she gonna do?

I kept thinking I knew the plot twists but they were done very well. This isn’t a super gory horror book and I put it at the level of someone just getting into reading horror, but I really enjoyed the buildup! Also, Sadie was kinda hilarious when she was a kid. She just said the wildest shit to the reporters and I was like daaaaammmnnn. I also liked where the title of the book comes in. This was a solid horror if you are a fan of Midsommar with a mix of sexy Eldritch monsters who just want to rule the world with you.

The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne follows a woman as she navigates her PTSD after surviving a harrowing experience that left two of her childhood friends dead. When she's invited to go camping for a weekend with her partner and his friends, she is forced to try and overcome her own trauma. The story jumps back and forth between the narrative of Sadie's past and her present as she tries to figure out if her trauma based hallucinations are something she can get around to have a niece weekend - but when her past starts catching up to her she realizes that the horror of her summer camp days might not be that far behind her.

This book really was kind of a ride and I enjoyed it a lot. The pacing was great, which is always the number one killer for me in any book. If it's not steadily moving forward I can really struggle and this book felt like it new where it wanted to go and just went there without any extraneous stops along the way. The characters were good at making me feel exactly what I was supposed to feel about them, which I think only served to make the ending that much more satisfying when it was over, though I won't give any spoilers about that.

I listened to the audiobook of this and I thought the narrator was great and the story really had some good get up and go.This is a fun read for anyone looking for a spooky camp book as we get into spooky season.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media, Creature Publishing and NetGalley for sending this my way.

If Slewfoot or The Ritual took place in the world of adolescent girl politics, that might somewhat describe The Mean Ones.

While at summer camp, Sabrina watches as her “best friends” are ritualistically murdered. Left with the survivor's guilt of being the only girl to escape the ordeal, this also brings coping mechanisms that are brushed off by adults as PTSD and the chance to realize Sabrina's best friends may not have been friends at all.
Sabrina's past haunts her and she tries to escape it by changing her name and never letting anyone get too close. But then she goes on a damn trip to a cabin in the woods. We obviously don't like that. Things start to happen that dredge up the past–things that Sabrina (now Sadie) had written off as false memories and buried deep down.

This book has a lot of themes that are good to see in horror. You can tell the author loves the genre as a whole. I recommend it for fans of folk and creepy woods horror. But most horror fans would probably be down for the read.

I started the book reading and was lucky enough to get the audiobook. The narrator did a wonderful job. If you're an audiobook fan, grab it.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot had me hooked, and there were some surreal, eerie moments that kept things interesting. The writing style felt a bit like a YA novel at times, not a bad thing, just something I noticed. There were definitely a few cringey moments where I wanted to shake the main character, but honestly, that just made her feel more real. Overall, a strong, creepy, and emotional read that stuck with me.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy the book!

3.5 ✨ Thank you NetGalley & Creature Publishing for providing me with this ARC. This story was super fast paced. I’d call this a popcorn read, perfect for the upcoming spooky szn. The dual timelines were done really well, I was invested in both. Great body horror. The characters were just a miss for me. I didn’t really care or want to root for anyone (could’ve been intentional?). I can definitely see this being a hit for many!

Not super sure what I just read.

I went into this book thinking it was going to be a slasher book with a cult. I was naive in thinking that the supernatural elements would be explained away by PTSD and trauma. NOPE it is straight up supernatural. I have nothing against a book that uses supernatural elements, but if you are using them, they need to be explained.

I just felt myself wanting more of an explaintion, I wanted more of a connection and more of the cult. Switching to a POV of one of the cult memebers would have made the book solid for me and helped with the connection.

With that being said I think the book is really fun for the genre and reminds me a lot of Yellow Jackets and MidSommar.

A great story with some rememberable characters. I liked this book, the plot was gripping and tense in parts.

What do you do when the past catches up with you.

Book Stats:
📖: 272 pages
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Creature Publishing
Format: eARC from publisher
Series: Standalone

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: 7 hours 41 minutes
🎤: Annalee Scott
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Format: Singular POV / Singular narrator
I enjoyed the narrator quite a bit. The voice was pleasing to listen to.

Themes:
💫: Toxic relationships
💫: Leaving the past behind

Representation:
🪽: Weight Lifting FMC
🪽: PTSD, anxiety, hallucinations

Tropes:
💗: Cult group

🥵: Spice: 🚫
Potential Triggers: **check authors page/socials for full list.

General Thoughts:
I found this book to be extremely unique and interesting as far as the premise goes. It's a hallucinogenic fever dream into a cultish group unlike any I've ever read about before.

I did have some slight problems with the pacing. There were times where I had a hard time paying attention because it seemed to be just long periods of inner monologue with the main character info dumping. But honestly, those were minor concerns because the mystery and bits and pieces of the story we were getting were super compelling and kept me reading. I came up with numerous theories as to how this book would end and I'm happy to report back that I was never completely right. I definitely knew some things were not as they seemed and was partially right with some of my guesses, but I never actually nailed down what was going to happen. At a certain point I did stop trying once my theories proved to be inaccurate the more information I got and just kind of enjoyed the ride.

I did really enjoy this author's writing style as far as how they presented the information and the various forms of representation within the novel. I'll read more by this author. I feel like it was a pretty fun ride overall.

Disclaimer: I read this book as a gifted eARC from the publisher and a gifted audiobook from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I can't totally remember how this book caught my attention apart from "horror with powerlifting," but that was a solid niche to sell me.

Sadie Evans, formerly known as Sabrina, is haunted by the murder of her childhood friends one summer at camp, with her as a witness and survivor. She's trying to move on with the routine and dedication of powerlifting, and her okayish boyfriend Lucas. She doesn't talk about her past, and she avoids reminders of it, like forests. That is, until Lucas accepts an invitation for the two of them to join their friends in a cabin.

Some of the powerlifting references felt forced, but honestly, I'm here for it. I love the sport and I've never seen it portrayed in fiction, so I will take it however it is offered. I also read this book when I did because I wanted a change from the romances I've read recently, to read something "a little messed up," and this delivered. Told in two timelines (that summer at camp in 2006, and "now" in 2023), the pacing was solid, the mystery was enticing, and I had a good (but also gory) time.

CW: murder, blood, gore, violence, death, body horror