I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have received an advanced copy of The Mean Ones from the author, and Creature Publishing! 🫶

The Mean Ones made my horror book-loving heart ecstatic because it was addicting and I couldn’t put it down! 🖤 If you love Stranger Things, Friday the 13th, and horror novels then that sums up this book in a nutshell! 🫶

My heart seriously went out to Sadie because she truly has been through so much. Sadie is the survivor of a crazy event that happened at her summer camp as a child and it’s heartbreaking. This story delves into both her childhood and the present day with her as an adult and it truly helps the reader to go through Sadie’s inner turmoils and how she deals with her trauma. It truly was such a rollercoaster of a ride and I loved every second of this crazy and wild journey! 😳😱🤯🙊 In addition, I squealed with so much excitement with all the childhood references in this story such as Neopets and Eragon! 🥰❤️

If you love horror, creepy forests, shadow daddy, physical therapy, summer camp gone wrong, and a book that will have you go on the wildest ride of a lifetime then be sure to pick this book up! 🫶

Review of The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

Sadie, formerly known as Sabrina Evans, strives to turn her life around after a tragedy she witnessed at summer camp. Now as an adult, she lifts weights, has a steady job, and a serious boyfriend, Lucas, who is on the verge of proposing. Her attempt at normalcy is wrapped around the routine she carefully maintains, but when Lucas suggests spending a weekend with friends at a cabin in the woods, Sadie wonders how she’ll keep up the facade in a setting so reminiscent of her childhood.

This was truly a terrifying read. Schlote-Bonne’s folk horror is cultish, fast paced, and chilling, and her atmospheric writing plays up the sense of foreboding Sadie experiences in the woods. With alternating past and present chapters, Sadie’s truth is unveiled where she is forced to choose between living in shadows or finally becoming the protagonist in her own life. There is a heavy theme of the mean girls getting what they deserve in a messed up way, heavy revenge subtext which I really liked 🙊

Overall it was a really good read, and I would read more from this author.

Sadly I couldn't finish this due to personal CPTSD triggers. Excellent writing, but hitting me a bit too hard! I mean that as a compliment! Apologies.

This camp horror was so freaking good. Excellent, dynamic characters. Especially our childhood slasher survivor, Sadie, who has managed to tuck her trauma into deep pockets of unhealthy habits--not the usual ones either. Those habits make her an unreliable narrator.

Chapters switch between the present timeline of an adult Sadie and child Sadie that tragic week at summer camp. There were a few fun twists I was not expecting. Sadie's unique ... uh, affliction made things quite creepy. Some spooky imagery.

Loved how this story was wrapped up. Definitely a goid recommendation for readers who like mystery, thrill, suspense, and fresh creepiness.

This creepy, campy horror novel follows slasher-survivor Sadie as she heads back to the forest for the first time since she watched her cabinmates get murdered 17 years before. The present day chapters alternate with her 12 yr old point of view during that horrific summer. Sadie comes across as weak and obsessed with her temper-tantrum boyfriend Lucas, which doesn’t make her a great narrator. She does come into her own at the end, but it was frustrating to read about how often she got walked all over in both narratives and her self-actualization only comes in the last few pages. The horror aspect of this book is almost cheesy with not much background and one of my least favorite tropes in horror. Still, I flew through this to find out how it would end. Fans of slashers will like this one.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Well, this was a nice surprise!!

Told in flashbacks from a summer camp gone wrong as a 12 year old, to present day, we follow Sabrina as she navigates the world, her trauma, and her mind. There were several little twists I didn’t expect and it definitely didn’t end like I thought, but it was a perfect little horror novella to read during the season of summer camps!

4.25 ⭐️

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this advanced reader copy.

What a delightful, creepy book! I went into this one without really knowing what it was about. I saw talking dead animals and its comparison to midsommar & final girls support group and I was sold!

It’s a dual time line book, and I really enjoyed that aspect. This book was genuinely hard to put down and it definitely freaked me out. There’s one part specifically with a certain “animal” that really spooked me right before I went to bed 🤣

I’m sad this book doesn’t come out until September because it really is their perfect summerween book! Overall highly recommend!

A woman who survived cult killings as a child is striving to be normal but a spontaneous trip into the woods and the voices in her head keep pulling her to the dark side. Folkloric horror, garish imagery and the cruelty of brutality. Incredibly creepy, eerie and atmospheric.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐞-𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞

This is my first book by this author and now I absolutely need to read her other book and any future books. Some authors just have the magic formula that sucks me into their books and holds me hostage until the very last page.

This was an unreliable narrator with a mysterious and tragic past and a double worldly present with a very dark and fantastical undertone. Confused? Well you need to read this book so you can understand how hard it is to describe and how good it is to read about.

Absolutely one of the best books I’ve read this year.
5 ⭐️

As always I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to Creature Publishing for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review! This is a quick and sippy psychological horror, releasing just in time for spooky season. To be honest, I requested the ARC because I thought the cover art was so cool—and I was not disappointed!

Sadie has a pretty normal life for a twenty-something. But when her wound tight boyfriend Lucas commits to them to couples weekend in a remote wooded cabin, she must confront something gruesome from her past that she’s been avoiding.

This book is so creepy and full of disturbing dark imagery. The dual timeline plot and mystery surrounding what happened to Sadie at camp in the early 2000s compelled me to keep reading. There were parts where I thought I had the story figured out, but the author really keeps you on your toes. Like with many horror stories, there were moments where I rolled my eyes at Sadie’s silly decisions and relationships (but I’ll acknowledge we need her to be hiding her trauma and making bad choices for the story to work). I did really like what the author had to say about being a girl in middle school. The backstabbing (literally? 🤐), insecurity, and cruel pranks of youth—are they just part of growing up, or do you reap what you sow if you are a ‘mean one’? 🔪 🔪

This book is deeply unsettling so I would recommend it to those who enjoy the horror genre. There are lots of trigger warnings: gore, violence, fat shaming, a verbal abusive boyfriend, PTSD, and OCD (to name a few). But if those are up your alley, this would be a great read to add to your fall TBR 🩸 🦌 💀

The real monster is self-doubt and trying to be someone you’re not.

The Mean Ones is part demonic horror, part slasher, part animal horror. A gruesome tale of revenge and trauma, it delivers a disturbingly satisfying blend of psychological dread and full-throttle gore.

Sadie survived a beyond-traumatizing event at camp as a child, an incident that left her with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder. Now in her late 20s, she thinks she’s finally healing. She’s got a hot boyfriend (Lucas), is setting PRs in the gym, and has a stable job. Mostly, things seem fine.

Except for the hallucinations.

She calls it The Other World, where blood pools in doorways, monstrous things crawl just out of reach, and her sanity slips, inch by inch. But it’s manageable. Or so she tells herself.

Then a hiking trip with Lucas and her best friend threatens to unravel everything and forces her to confront what really happened at camp all those years ago.

Sadie is such a compelling character, especially as we move between her childhood and adulthood in a dual timeline that perfectly showcases her psychological arc. As a kid, she’s bullied. As an adult, that internalized cruelty lingers. She’s hyper-self-conscious, deeply anxious, and constantly second-guessing herself. It’s a powerful portrayal of the long-term effects of gaslighting and social rejection.

And then there’s Damon. He is a fascinating allegory for temptation, rage, and the seductive idea of shedding your mask. He embodies her desire to stop pretending. To stop apologizing. To be feral, to stop playing “normal Sadie,” and embrace something darker, truer.

The writing is straightforward and accessible, but don’t mistake that for simplicity. There’s nuance in the way bullying is explored, in the razor-sharp observations about people-pleasing, shame, and self-identity. And when it’s time for the horror? Oh, it goes there. Blood, teeth, bone; this book doesn’t flinch.

Recommended for the feral.
For those who’ve been bullied, gaslit, pushed down and who sometimes fantasize about pushing back.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s fun when reading a book feels like watching a movie. Sabrina is determined to build a life she can trust after the deaths of her childhood friends left her with so little safety. Her new name is Sadie and she has a very normal, very predictable life that helps keep the darkness at bay. So, when she’s curated everything to keep her as safe as possible, why is she in danger again? Why are the hallucinations worse? Why is the voice so comforting even though it comes from a terrible place. She just needs to power through this trip to the woods and everything should go back to normal.

Slashers aren’t generally my thing but there was more to this so I enjoyed it. The main character was strong and unique. You came to understand why she made the choices she did, even if you wished she didn’t. And I very much wanted to sit her down and be like, girl you deserve better lol. Finding out what exactly happened to her and her friends is the thing that pulled me through the story because I needed to know what was going on. Would recommend to specific friends, for sure.

The Mean Ones begins by grabbing you by the throat, and doesn't let go.
As somebody who grew up on YA horror, I think The Mean Ones is the natural progression of that. It reads like YA horror (by that, I mean it's fun, quick, not overly flowery or unnecessarily descriptive), but with very adult themes.
Told in alternating perspectives (the same character - 20 years apart), The Mean Ones is fast-paced and utterly gripping.
If, like me, you're a lover of YA books but you're looking for books with more grit and gore, this is the book for you.

I went into this blind and it absolutely did not disappoint. It was gory but so intriguing to read. I couldn’t get enough of it. Loved the character development of the FMC and how it all came together in the end. 5/5 stars, would recommend over and over.

“The Mean Ones” by Tatiana Schlote-Book was an unexpected and thrilling read. The book dives into demons, cults, childhood trauma, and an eerie otherworld, all woven together with an underlying narrative about abusive relationships.

This book really snagged me and I absolutely
DEVOURED it. I love dual timelines and this particular book was amazing because both timelines were INTENSE. I was always excited to switch timelines to see what the HECK was going on.

There were parts of this book where nothing scary was even happening and I was burying my head in a pillow and screaming. Because WHAT is scarier than being a teenage girl?? Or a grown woman, for that matter.

Sadie/ Sabrina was such a relatable and compelling lead. I cringed with her, cried for her, and did secretly shameful little "good for you" nods at certain points in time. I rooted for her from the very first page.

This book releases 9/30 and I recommend every unsettling second.

Thank you NetGalley and Creature Publishing for this ARC!

This is a 6 star read for me. I just couldn’t get enough. I loved the style of switching from 2006 to 2023 chapter to chapter. There was so much nostalgia for those who grew up in the 2000s. The MC was very relatable at times. This story was also perfectly eerie and creepy. Every time I thought I had it all figured out I was proven completely wrong. 100% a “good for her” story. I will definitely be checking out more from Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

I was drawn in by the cult vibes and stayed for the “good for her.” I enjoyed the commentary about the dynamic between childhood relationships and mean girls. This story was the right amount of horror/gore mixed with plot.

Yellowjackets meets mean girls, sign me up. This was an unexpected surprise! The atmosphere was absolute perfection.

Synopsis:
Sadie has done a lot to separate herself from her past: she changed her name, moved across the country, and has undergone extensive therapy to combat her PTSD and hallucinations. All of this is thanks to that one summer at camp when she watched her two best friends get slaughtered in a cult ritual.
She’s 29 now and life is good, minus still having hallucinations, and her boyfriend is wonderful, when he isn’t having fits of anger. This couples camping trip (that he agreed to for the both of them) is good too. It should be fine, despite her visions getting worse, and finding threatening notes, and there being a figure stalking her. It’s probably just her being paranoid, right?

Review:
This book is phenomenal. I cannot turn down a spooky cult story or a spooky camp story and “The Mean Ones” is the perfect combination of the two. It’s creepy, intense, and addicting. The writing is incredible and Sadie is a relatable character with a humorous internal monologue. This book is told in a dual-timeline that propels the story forward and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. I cannot recommend this book enough. Do yourself a favor and pre-order a copy now😉

“The Mean Ones” is out on September 30, 2025!

❗️Content warnings: gore, mental illness (ptsd, hallucinations), verbal & emotional abuse by a significant other, body horror, gruesome depictions of animals, deaths of minors

Thank you to NetGalley, Creature Publishing, and Tatiana Schlote-Bonne for a ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!