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.

Imagine if the Satanic Panic was actually real. Toss in a demon called Ralac and a woman who lives between two worlds. Sprinkle in a couple of mean girls, stir, and you’ve got The Mean Ones.

SPOILER
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I was so glad that this book didn’t make the story be all in her head. Typically, I prefer when there is a real-life answer, but this time, I was down for a tale of the supernatural.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Is this a horror story or a love story? You decide hahaha. In the Means Ones we meet Sadie who goes to camp with her two “best friends” who also happen to be her bullies. Sadie soon witnesses the horrific murder of her two friends. She is irrevocably changed and experiences auditory and visual hallucinations of her dead friends, animals and nature speaking to her as well.

What unfolds from there is a back and forth from the present to the time of the murders. I could not put this down I usually steer away from horror but with every chapter I needed to know what happens next and the ending alone was shocking in the best ways. Definitely give this a try if you’re a fan of Bunny by Mona Awad and/or Midsommar.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I give this book 3.5 stars!

I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. The last 10 chapters were the best part about this book.

The characters aren’t the best and the writing wasn’t amazing either but the story was fun!

What to expect from this book is cult vibes, some gore, and mean girl vibes!

I read this in one day because I just could not put it down. This one is for fans of horror. I LOVE Friday the 13th so the camp aspect really drew me in… and the cult??? SO CREEPY! I had so much fun reading this.

The alternating timelines with each chapter? *chefs kiss*

The Mean Ones crawls under your skin with visceral descriptions that bring your deepest fears to life. The dual timeline plays on our childhood fears, delivering the perfect dash of nostalgia. Creepy, unexpected, I devoured this book and loved every second of it!

This is a book I would autobuy based on the amazing cover (and author!) and would have 0 regrets!

The Mean ones was such a fun book to read. I loved the story and couldn't put it down and finished the book in under day. My favorite parts were the flashback scenes and what happened during those, loved how different things from my childhood would be brought in and how Sabrina loved lord of the rings or something else would be brought up and it would remind me about things from growing up in the same time period as her. Crazy story! Never guessed the ending and was so suprised with the ending loved it!

I think for me this lands at about a 3.75. The premise was excellent, I just feel like the execution stumbled a little at times. The writing in the first third or so just wasn't as strong as the rest of the book. It also read a little young for being an adult debut (gruesome horror bits aside).

That said, I still had a great time with this book. Tatiana Schlote-Bonne's horror writing is incredibly graphic and descriptive in the best way. Sadie/Sabrina is such an interesting (if unreliable) narrator.

And don't ask me to fully explain why, but I had Taylor Swift's You're on Your Own, Kid stuck in my head for fully the second half of the book.

Many thanks to Creature Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this early! I've had Schlote-Bonne's previous book on my tbr for ages, and this was probably the push I need to move it up.

I really enjoyed this book. Female rage and feminist horror is something I've been very into lately and this was just that. Sadie/Sabrina goes on a very dark journey to find out who she really is and what she will sacrifice to feel loved and adored. A very entertaining read. Thank you NetGalley.

2,5 ⭐️

Sadie is your average 29 year old woman who enjoys weight lifting and spending time with her boyfriend. So what if she hears voices, and sees things no one else sees, that’s normal right?

Seventeen years ago back when Sadie went by Sabrina, she survived a cult killing which took the lives of her two best friends. Sadie is on edge after her boyfriend signs them up for a remote getaway in the woods with friends. She’s afraid being back in that environment might make the voices and visions more visceral. Unfortunately for her she was right, eerie things start to happen and Sadie is stuck wondering if the things she’s seeing are real or not.

I feel like I might be in the minority but I really didn’t care for this. I kept thinking Sadie needed to grow a backbone and tell her boyfriend to get lost, he was so insufferable. Yeah yeah I get that was the whole point but it just didn’t come off well. It kind of just felt like the author was over doing it with how much of a pushover Sadie was.

I almost DNF’d this pretty early on, I just found the writing to be a little cringey? I will say that the way the author described the visions Sadie was having were very vivid, I was able to really imagine everything.

I think this book was a bit underwhelming.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this book so badly but I got about halfway through it and just could not continue. More than anything I think that my issue with it is the fact that it isn’t queer. Aside from that, I just couldn’t really get into the story. I kept waiting for it to get interesting and worth finishing. It but by the time that I got to the middle, I had completely lost interest. That’s not to say I wouldn’t recommend others to pick up this book as it very well may be their cup of tea.

Overall, I give it 3 stars. After reading it I think the story was very interesting. It just felt a little bit slow.
I didn’t quite understand what was happening for a good chunk of the book, but obviously everything gets resolved in the end.
I didn’t enjoy the characters, for some this was intentional, but it made it really hard to get through. Otherwise, the writing was good and I liked the imagery for the gore.

𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞--𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐭.

This is the type of horror story that will draw you in right away and immerse you in the main character's world. Told in alternating timelines, this is the story of Sadie, formerly known as Sabrina, a 29-year-old woman who has come a long way from the terrified 12-year-old hiding underneath the bed at summer camp while her two best friends were slaughtered. Something terrifying was inside the cabin that day; something that Sabrina had seen earlier in the woods. But the bodies vanish, and no one believes Sadie's wild story, to Allie and Blakely become missing persons.

Ever since that day, she's suffered from visual and auditory hallucinations that her therapist tells her is part of PTSD. But Sadie knows these atrocities and the oddly comforting male voice she hears are real. She calls it The Other Place, and she's learned to live as comfortably as she can in both worlds. But when her boyfriend makes spur-of-the-moment plans with another couple to spend a weekend hiking in the woods, she's terrified that her surroundings will trigger something awful. Turns out, she was right to be afraid.

Yes, I loved the atmosphere of dread and fear that this book was teeming with, but I loved the underlying message of Sadie always feeling out of place--with her friends, her mother, and even the man she would grow up to fall in love with. She always felt their acceptance was conditional on her being a "good girl"; easy to get along with. To me Sadie wasn't someone who was bad--she was someone who just needed to hear that she was good, worthy, and deserving of love. There was a line from 12--year-old Sabrina that I absolutely loved--after the massacre, a reporter shoved a microphone in her face, wanting to know what she would say to her slain friends if they were listening, and she replied to her mother's horror, "𝑰'𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚."

So who's the mean one here? I'll let you decide when it publishes in September of 2025. Many thanks to NetGally and Creature Publishing for the early copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Wow. Just wow. I went into this book with such high expectations because of that absolutely gorgeous cover and I'm so incredibly happy that I wasn't disappointed. And I wasn't just not disappointed, I think I just found my new favorite horror book.

The writing style is so beautiful in this, so deliciously creepy and fucked up. I loved reading every description of the Other Place.

The author also captured what it's like to be a 12-year-old girl so, so well. I just understood what Sadie was going through on such a deep level.

I'm not going to go into any spoilers, but let me just say that I love the ending.

This book will definitely be something I'll come back to reread in the future and I can't wait to see what Tatiana has in store for us next.

The Mean Ones was such a fun, freaky, and fast-paced ride!

The story unfolds over two alternating timelines: in 2006 we follow 12-year-old Sabrina as she goes to summer camp and watches her friends being brutally murdered; in 2023 Sabrina (now Sadie) is heading to a cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway but can't seem to escape the strange voice in her head. The switching back and forth between these two timelines had me flipping the pages so fast.

The book was at its best when it leaned hard into the weirder horror elements—particularly the bizarre cult and Sadie’s hallucinations. The creepy and visceral descriptions were perfect and I wish there’d been even more of them. I also really enjoyed seeing the differences in personality between young Sabrina and adult Sadie. It was not only a great examination of how hellish childhood friendships can sometimes be, but also of how trauma changes and shapes people.

Overall, this book was a blast to read (and yet it still managed to treat the serious topics with due respect!). I’d have happily spent more time with Sabrina/Sadie out in the woods.

Sadie sees and hears things no one else does. Her therapists chalk it up to PTSD from the horror she experienced years ago at summer camp—but Sadie’s not so sure. Especially since she’s started to find a strange sort of comfort in the man’s voice in her head.

When she and her boyfriend get invited to a weekend getaway at a remote cabin, Sadie is instantly on edge. The setting is far too similar to the place where her friends were brutally m*rdered. But she’s buried that part of her past, keeping the truth from everyone—including her boyfriend.

As the weekend unfolds, eerie things begin to happen, and Sadie starts to spiral. Is it her mind playing tricks or is someone—or something—really after her?

I love summer camp horror and creepy folklore, and this book delivered on both! It’s got that classic slasher-at-summer-camp energy with some darker twists. I flew through it in just two sittings. It’s fast-paced, super creepy, and honestly just a blast to read.

The writing leans a little YA at times, but the themes and content are definitely adult. The lifting/gym representation was great - though some of the references were so cringe (intentionally - just gym bro things)

The ending was 10/10, I was shoooook.
Such a fun, spooky ride!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm always very happy about an ARC and being able to give it a review! <3

First off, I have to say—the cover totally grabbed me. It was so gorgeous I couldn’t resist requesting the book. And wow… just wow. It completely blew me away.

What really surprised me (in the best way) was how refreshing it felt. I loved that even though the characters are in their late twenties, they still had that fun, slightly chaotic energy you usually find in YA thrillers. A lot of books written from an adult perspective tend to come across a bit stiff or overly serious—but not this one. It had all the maturity you'd expect, without losing that spark. Because let’s be real: deep down, we’re all still teenage girls in our 30s, right? ;) The writing was smooth, super engaging, and just easy to get lost in. I honestly couldn’t put it down.

The plot was awesome—really well done, with some great twists. And the ending? Absolute chef’s kiss!

It’s been a while since I’ve been this excited to give a book a full five stars. This one’s definitely going to stick with me for a long time. Loved it!