5 stars. From beginning to end this had me hooked. Culty female rage girls who got bullied when they were younger STAND UPPPP THIS ONE IS FOR YOU. No but seriously any book involving “cult” and “female rage” babe I’m reading it. So what if babygirl Sadie hears a sexy male voice in her head and also hears and sees dead animals talking??? Doesn’t everybody? She’s trying to live a normal life and forget her traumatic childhood by being with her normal bf and pretending she has a normal past and being a gym girlboss but what if it keeps calling her back? She takes a vacay with her friends and bf, Lucas, to a cabin in the woods that bring back her past alllllll over again. Seriously, this was addicting. I couldn’t stop reading even when I was tired with one eye open. Thank you Amanda Manns for approving my request to read an early copy for an exchange for my review <3 I loved this one

The Mean Ones is my first book by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne and it definitely won’t be my last. Thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.
I loved this. I absolutely ate up the camp slasher vibes. I was hooked from beginning to end. The plot kept me engaged and wanting to know more. I love a well done dual timeline. Normally one timeline is stronger than the other, but that wasn’t the case here. Past and present were both very well written and interesting. The end went a different direction than I was expecting and just left me like OH OK in the best way.

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is becoming one of my favourite horror authors. I ATE up her debut novel back in October 2024, Such Lovely Skin, and so when I saw the opportunity to receive an ARC of her next release, I had to jump on it!

I loved the slow burn of this story, and I felt like the flashbacks did a great job of building the tension and slowly revealing the truth of Sabrina’s past, and how it may be coming to catch up with her in the present. I am a huge slasher fan, so this story was right up my alley and was giving me all the gore!

Tatiana’s writing is easy to follow and she does a masterful job of keeping you engaged and on the edge of your seat to find out what happens next. I was rooting for Sabrina the entire time! The ending had me on the floor - I did not see it coming. I wanted so so so much more and would have read 200+ more pages of this story!

If you are a slasher & horror fan, you NEED to pick this one up when it comes out!! I am a Tatiana Schlote-Bonne stan and will for sure pick up anything she writes!!

Thank you so much to Tatiana, Creature Publishing, and Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Sadie has a secret - she isn’t who she says she is. She’s hiding a past better left forgotten and desperately wants to be normal. Except sometimes she hears the voices of her childhood best friends, who were brutally murdered. And sometimes she sees a twisted world where trees are upside down and blood drips from the ceiling. She tells herself she’s not crazy, that she’s just got PTSD from her traumatic past that she’s been hiding from everyone in her life.

Sadie pretends that she’s found solace in becoming a workout junkie and in her boyfriend she hopes to marry one day. She’s got a new best friend, one that is caring and kind, unlike the friends from her past. Her episodes have become less frequent. And as long as she avoids nature and any wooded areas, she’s good.

But when Sadie and her boyfriend are invited by her best friend to go on a weekend couple’s vacation to a cabin in the woods, Sadie can’t figure out how to get out of the trip. And she can only hope that this trip to the woods won’t turn out like the last one...

I loved this book! To sum it up, if the TV shows “Yellowjackets” and “Stranger Things” had a baby, it would be “The Mean Ones.” It’s got a dark, cult-like atmosphere and supernatural elements where the lines between our world and a gnarled, upside down underworld are blurred. The mystery surrounding Sadie’s past and the murder of her childhood friends is suspenseful and keeps the reader guessing. There’s more than one person hiding their true identity.

This is well written and perfectly paced. Alternating between the past and the present works well to illustrate the parallels in Sadie’s life. The choice she made at the end was both surprising and not surprising, but in a very satisfying way. I enjoyed the mix of horror, mystery, suspense and supernatural and would recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a dark, shadowy, supernatural thriller.

3.5 stars
Unique and scary in some parts, this was a fun read. I enjoyed Sabrina’s character, and the dual timelines made sense and worked well in this format. The writing was a little stiff in parts and the ending felt rushed, but I enjoyed my time reading. No spoilers, but I was pleasantly surprised by plot twist at the end too!

This felt like something a cousin would come up with to spook the little kids during a vacation. The cult aspect was wonderfully done

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for an ARC of The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book exceeded all my expectations! The twist at the end completely took me by surprise. I had previously read "Such Lovely Skin" by this author and loved the writing style, so I was thrilled to enjoy this book just as much.

The dual point of view was an excellent choice, allowing the story to unfold gradually and revealing information to the reader bit by bit.

I can't wait for the next one!

Sadie is the only survivor from her summer camp cabin when her two roommates were brutally murdered. Ever since that night she has been haunted by a male voice in her head, sees her dead friends, and has horrible visions of another world around her. The only thing that makes it go away if when she is at the gym working out which she uses to her benefit as a physical therapist assistant. When her boyfriend suggests a trip to the woods with another couple Sadie knows it's an awful idea but cannot seem to tell him no.

What could possibly happen....?

Definitely one of the best horror books I have read in years! Dare I say revivals Steven King in his early years!

As much as I wanted to love this book, it didn’t end up that way. I LOVE the concept, the mean girl flashbacks unfortunately (?) also gave me flashbacks, so the writing style is immersive and smooth! But the ending felt extremely rushed, and I just don’t feel it was completely planned out well enough to have the impact the author was trying to go for.
I definitely recommend to someone wanting a quick, fun read, though!

Thank you Creature Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this!!

I've never read a Schlote-Bonne book before and this has convinced me to seek out more. The Mean Ones is a dual timeline about a girl whose best friends were murdered at summer camp when she was young. It bounces between the unfolding of those events, and the events happening 17 years later as an adult.

This took a completely different spin than I expected and I LOVE when books end in a non conventional way. I loved the pacing, I loved the side characters, I loved the imagery. Everything about this was a one sitting read I couldn't put it down.

I highly recommend checking this out, plus the cover is to die for!!

Thanks to the author and publisher for letting me read and review "The Mean Ones"!

I'm a folk-horror fan, so I really wanted to like this one. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me. It took 11 chapters to get any sort of action that wasn't Lucas gaslighting Sadie or being emotionally abusive or dismissive. The story flits back and forth from 2006 to 2023, but Sadie is very two dimensional. Her fears as a child and her fears as an adult are pretty much the same, even before anything happens. She just felt flat as a character. I hoped for more from the ending, but it felt very rushed. I think this could have used more time to be fleshed-out.

3.5 rounded up.

The Mean Ones is a great combination of trippy, mind bending horror and more common real-life issues. The blending of reality, trauma, and horror was written seamlessly and was a quick and interesting read. While the writing style was not as dramatic and poetic as I usually like my horror, it felt very relatable and modern, which I think will appeal to a lot of readers.

Sadie, formerly Sabrina, witnessed a horrible crime when she was a child. Dealing with the trauma of her past, a lifetime of insecurities, and lack of social support, she molds to and bends to the whims of her boyfriend all while wrestling with haunting visions. When he accepts an invitation to go to a cabin in the woods with their friends against Sadie's wishes, we're thrown into Sadie's biggest fears and uncover the mystery of her past.

There are lots of nerdy little Easter eggs throughout the book which make my nerdy little kid heart flutter. Sadie is a perfect example of the arrested development that a traumatized child with a dark inner world can experience. I really enjoyed this read.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The slow unraveling of Lucas throughout the story was impeccably written. From loving, doting boyfriend, to nice guy who gets a little upset sometimes, to total abusive monster was a really great dive into the world of domestic violence. Not enough people understand the dynamics of IPV and Sadie's perspective changing regarding Lucas through the story and eventually culminating in her revenge was *chef's kiss* delicious.

Wow wow I LOOOVED this. I was interested by the description and was immediately hooked into the story. I loved going back and forth from past to present it felt like it flowed really nicely, I enjoyed the small reveals along the way, they felt natural and not forced in. And to me the ending was 🤌🏼 I will definitely be recommending this one!!

Thanks Netgalley for the arc of this book.

This was really well written, and one of those stories where you just want to know more and keep reading. This isn't normally my type of genre but it definitely surprised me with how good it was. The ending was not expecting that at all but at the same time I quite enjoyed the way the story wrapped up.

⏩ QUICK READ (202 PGs)
🤣 LITERALLY LOL’d MULTIPLE TIMES
DUAL TIMELINES - (2006 - 2023)
GREAT POP CULTURE REFERENCES

3.5 / 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️.✨

The Mean One crawls under your skin with its mixture of folky horror laced with visceral descriptions and laugh out loud moments. The vibes are kinda like.. MEAN GIRLS x STRANGER THINGS x PARENT TRAP x YELLOWJACKETS x AHS: 1984/ROANOAKE.. but also different from any of these. The 2006 TL delivers the perfect mix of nostalgia laced teenaged drama && a creepy, backwoods blood fest. Vivid depictions allow you to immerse yourself in our FMCs visions.

This was a quick enjoyable read for me. Was really excited to receive the ARC for this, so thank you to NetGalley && Creature Publishing. I devoured this book & I enjoyed every second of it!

Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC via NetGalley!

I decided to read this book cause I needed a nice break between fantasy series, and this book was the perfect palette cleanser.

This book was a mix of thriller/YA/horror/dark fantasy/mystery, and it was just absolutely perfect. I started this book about 5 hours ago and I just finished it because I did not want to put this down! The plot was addicting. One of my favourite things about this book was that the flashbacks to the past provided a lot of context and they were informative; some books I’ve read in the past have used flashbacks which I found more confusing than anything. But this book is such a good balance of plot and character development, and it was so easy to read because of the fluidity of the writing. The Grady Hendrix influence is clear within multiple parts of the book, but the writing is so unique that it doesn’t feel like something I’ve read before.

The exploration of human emotions and the ‘dark side’ we all have was so incredible, this book really made me think about humanity and life.
The FMC was relatable and I found the presentation of the possible abusive relationship tasteful and informative.

This book was a great combination of excellent writing, complex characters, an interesting plot line, plot twists, and it was just generally so enjoyable. This book truly earned the 5 stars I’m giving!!

Rating: 5/5 stars (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this in a single day, and by a day I mean a shift at work, because I was so absorbed I genuinely could not stop reading. I would sneak 2-4 pages in between stocking my carts, hiding in the back room to finish a chapter here and there. Thankfully it was a slow night, so no one noticed! But even if we were busy I get the feeling I would have let my job suffer in exchange for finding out what was going on in The Mean Ones lol.

I guessed the twist early on, but the book didn’t suffer for it. What it did suffer from was a lack of length. I wish the book had been longer, so that it could really flesh out the summer camp chapters. I felt like we barely got to know the girls before tragedy struck; if there had been more build-up, more mystery and creeping dread, I think this would have been a real five star book. As it is, it’s just too short.

But even though it suffers from a lack of page time, The Mean Ones was a helluva ride and I was rooting for the ending I saw coming from the start. I think this author will become an auto-read for me now that I know how good of a writer she is!

Really interesting horror book. I went into it with no expectations and found I really enjoyed it! The twist at the end was the exact opposite of what I was expecting and I was plenty suprised.

Excuse me, but what. the. fuck?
I’m not new to Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s writing, so I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am, but I am shellshocked by this book. It’s one of those books that leaves you staring at the words ‘The End’ trying to come to some understanding of what you just experienced. Schlote-Bonne’s transition from YA to adult horror is absolutely seamless. Unlimited stars!
Told in increasingly shocking and uncomfortable flashbacks, many moments of this book left me feeling viscerally unsettled and genuinely disgusted. I was in near constant, extreme tension from my jaw to my toes. I couldn’t control my physical reactions from eye rolls at 12-year-old meanness my soul seemed to remember, to cringes at various crunches and splashes throughout. The writing flawlessly alternates between perspectives of a moody teen, and the evolved version of that same girl (now, woman), and it created such a connection and protectiveness over the FMC that by the perfectly evolved finale, I was prepared to do anything to protect her.

First, thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for this advanced copy for review.

I LOVED this book. I devoured it within twenty four hours. To be honest, I didn't know what I would think of it right away. I'm not a huge fan of folklore horror, but I really enjoyed this one.

A quick summary is that the main character, Sadie/Sabrina, suffers from what therapists consider PTSD from a traumatic childhood event. But the real question is, is it PTSD, or is the voice she hears in her head real?

This books jumps from 2006 to 2023, telling the stories of what happened to her at camp as a child, then onto adulthood. I related with Sadie as a child because I was bullied as a kid. I feel that is part of the reason I read this so fast and couldn't put it down. Relating to characters is huge and it pulled me in. You can tell as an adult why she acts the way she does. She is constantly wanting to satisfy her complete jerk of a boyfriend. That character. If you ever want to read about a spoiled brat of an adult, here's your chance.

I'm not one to put spoilers in my reviews so I will say, this was really well written and an easy read. I honestly loved all of it. You could really see all the characters in your mind, not to mention the surroundings. I say surroundings because I don't want to give anything away, but it's important. I could see this being a great read on a camping trip or at a cabin because you could really get into it.

I look forward to reading ore of Tatiana Schlote-Bonne's books. This was really fun read.