Oh, Bunny. DNFing at 36% for now at least. I have been trying to read this for about a month and a half. I was making gradual progress until I got to the Aerius section and then I was just not enjoying myself. I started out liking the multiple POVs, but was also having a hard time keeping focused on whose POV it was. Each sections was also terribly long and I felt like I read them for years. I really wanted to like this book and maybe if it was shorter, not almost 500 pages, it would have been better. I might give this another go when it comes out as maybe reading a physical copy will make it easier/faster to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon Element for providing this ARC

We’re back, bunnies!! 🐰
It’s wonderful to step back into the surreal world I adored so much in Mona Awad’s Bunny. We Love You, Bunny is both a prequel and a sequel, focusing on the Bunnies themselves. I loved getting into the twisted headspace of each character and seeing their perspectives before they introduced Samantha to the group.

The Bunnies are NOT happy with how they’re portrayed in Samantha’s new, critically acclaimed novel. So what’s a reasonable way to process the hurt? Kidnapping Samantha and telling her all the ways she got it wrong, of course!

I loved how unexpected and bizarre the first book was—the twists were so well done and kept me gripped the whole time. This book didn’t catch me off guard as much, but I still really enjoyed it nonetheless.

I felt like I got a better sense of who the characters were beyond the hive mind. It was so much fun to revisit the group and the world once again. I enjoyed the unreliable narrators and exploring the themes of female friendship, belonging, desire, identity, and the lengths one will go to achieve creative success.

We Love You, Bunny comes out 9/23.
Thank you, Simon Element, for giving me this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

★★★☆☆
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (via NetGalley ARC)

Wow—this sequel kind of slaps… but then ghosted me at the finish line. 😬🐰

What Worked:
• The backstories, especially Aerius’s, are juicy and haunting—a beautiful unraveling of a tragic, feral poet stuck in the wrong cult. 👑🩸
• Character arcs are strong: I found myself actually hating some of them (a solid sign your protagonists are cracking beautifully). They’re toxic, pastel-flavored nightmares—and that’s a vibe.

What Didn’t:
• They all fall into occult ritual way too effortlessly. One minute we’re polite girls-in-denial, the next: “LOL let’s sacrifice woodland creatures.” 🐿️🔪 That escalation felt rushed—like the author hit fast-forward on the cult takeover.
• Allan… who? He appears fully clued in, like a horror-lord librarian who’s been here before—but never gets explained. Cue the ominous but confusing vibes.
• The ending left me staring at the text like: 👁️👄👁️ so many dangling threads… who’s picking up that bunny? Is the cult still lurking? Did Samantha ever escape and start therapy?

Bottom Line:
It’s poetic, scary, and woven with dark magic… but feels more like a tease than a payoff. If Bunny drew blood, We Love You, Bunny gave me glittered gauze—pretty, sticky, and hard to peel off. I’d’ve loved a tighter finish (and maybe a how-to for cult ex-members in the appendix). ✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Award
Pub Date: September 23, 2025

✨Multiple POV
✨Good, dark and funny “Heathers” dynamic
✨Unhinged and awful women
✨Fan of Bunny 🐰 Bunny universe

“Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. “

This book is a total trip. Once again, the pinnacle of weird girl books. Mona Awad has done it again with We Love You, Bunny, a prequel/sequel that provides a wealth of lore, answering many questions left unanswered in the first book. Mary Shelley would have been proud!

Overall, I had a good time with this book, and it is an absolute honor to have gotten to read it early. Thank you, Simon Element and Mona Award, for providing the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

#netgalley #weirdgirlfic #litfic #adult #earc #horror #donniedarko #heathers #coraline #frankenstein #darkacademia

I loved this book! I really liked the first one and im so glad the author decided to work on a prequel./sequel to really give the reader(s) a full view of the whole story. this is about the bunnies before the first book. this one was funny and creepy! loved the twist at the end and all the spins we take as the story unfolds!

This book did a great job pulling double duty as a prequel and a sequel to Bunny. Oozing with satire, horror, and dark comedy, this book covered a lot of familiar ground, including: background on the bunnies (human, students) before Samantha, bunnies (small, fuzzy), the poets, and the faculty. All these elements existed in Bunny, but only in the periphery. In this book, they are brought to the forefront and examined.

For readers who enjoy satire, dark humor, bunnies, hot overly emotional vegetarian men, dark academia, ax-related horror, small town chaos, entitled MFA kids, and hate poetry - this book is for you. That being said, it definitely cannot act as a stand alone. Reading Bunny either before or after is required to understand the happenings in this book.

While a lot of this book was backstory on the characters introduced first in Bunny, it could absolutely be read first as an introduction to the characters in Bunny (minus Bunny's main narrator and protagonist - Samantha). However, there were also a few twists and surprises that could potentially setup a possible third book. For a book that mostly provided backstory, clarity, and context to the first book, I didn't expect twists or a surprise ending.

The one drawback to this book (IMO), especially in the beginning, was that I sometimes found myself trudging through unnecessary reiterated details or recaps of minor events that were explained a few pages earlier from a different POV. After the first section, it started picking up speed but sometimes even bunny-brain, sad drunk captive muse, Aerius turned out to be wildly long winded. I also sort of felt like Awad might have partly used this book as a tool to clear up any inconsistencies or confusion that readers noticed reading Bunny.

Awad's lovable digs at art school throughout the book regularly made me cackle - "There will always be risks, and yes, event great dangers, Aerius. This is Art School, after all."

This book doesn't take itself too seriously and has some good humored meta moments of poking fun at itself, including such great dressing downs as: "... the violence is quite gratuitous. Axes are such tactile instruments, which I appreciate, but the allusion to Kafka is a bit... convenient. Don't you think?"

This, coupled with the fact that no one in town can seem to figure out whether danger is real, or if it's performance art, is just.. chef kiss. So perfect and hilarious.

I love Mona Awad, I loved Bunny, and I loved this book. Thank you to my favorite bunnies, NetGalley and SimonElement/MarySue Rucci Books, for the eARC!! <3

Wow, this book is a rollercoaster. Told through multiple POVs, the sequel of Bunny matches the strange and avant garde nature of the first book.

This is a retelling of the book we know and love, Bunny, but through the Bunny's and their very first Darling, their creation, eyes. Samantha is the 'reader' and she is held captive after being kidnapped by the Bunnys, listening to their perspective.

Honestly, the first part, told by the Bunnys themselves was a bit boring to me. It was difficult to pay attention and want to keep reading, but after the POV of Aerius, I was hooked. I was beyond hooked, I couldn't not put the book down!

Every other part of the book made up for my lack of interest in the beginning. The story is written is such a way you see the delusion and obsessions of each character you meet. It's funny at times, heartbreaking at times, and a wild ride that I'll gladly follow.

The ending was my favorite. Just a great ending. Mona Awad's originality is truly something to be admired, and I can't wait to see what else she creates 🙂

I can’t even begin how excited I was to see there is going to be another Bunny book. What a trip that was, sooo good!!! You either hate it or you love it and I absolutely devoured it!!!

Picking up shortly after the events of Bunny, Sam is now a published author on tour for her debut novel. During a stop in New England, she’s unexpectedly confronted by her former Fictions cohort--The Bunnies--the clique whose portrayal in Sam’s book infuriated them. They abduct her and hold her captive in an attic, intent on sharing their version of events, and painting a clearer picture of their unsettling sisterhood, newly discovered manifestation powers, and who "Bunny" really is.

I was so thrilled to receive this copy; although understandably polarizing, I was a massive fan of Bunny and was curious to see how Awad would expand on her world. I am happy to report that this did not disappoint. Rather, I found this sequel so exciting and compelling as a standalone novel, while enhancing the events of the first book that gave me an even greater appreciation for the original. I deeply enjoyed Awad's differentiation between the voices of each character (this will make an excellent audiobook [and maybe an even better mini-series...?]) , weaving each story together without getting redundant or slow. Beyond that, and without giving anything away, the addition of a new storyteller was unexpected but greatly welcomed--I found myself enjoying these parts of the retelling the most, injecting a humor and unpredictability that made this sequel so compelling.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. Fans of the original will enjoy the expansion on the first book, and skeptics may even find themselves newly appreciating Awad's expert blend of dark academia, fairy-tale horror, literotica, and slasher-film tension. I highly recommend this book, and can't wait for everyone to read it when it comes out in the fall!

hey wtf! 😀

thank you netgalley for this arc of one of my most anticipated releases of the year “we, love you bunny” by mona awad. 4.5 stars for me!! may even like this one more than the original.

every time i read mona awad, i’m always impressed by her audacity and originality. reading her books is like living a very specific, vaguely familiar fever dream. it took me a minute to get back into this world at warren university and i do wish i did a reread of bunny before picking this up, but once i got around 30% in, i was hooked. you never know what to expect or what could possibly happen next and every page is more jaw-dropping than the last.

the pretentiousness and dishonesty in academia in new england is compelling as a setting as someone who is a grad english student in new england. continuing from the first book, reading about insufferable writers and watching the ego, theft, and politics involved in art & creation, specifically in higher education was fascinating social commentary as someone very entrenched in that world. the writers became vulturous — preying off one another's’ creations, insisting their creations, even human being/bunny hybrids, were theirs & theirs alone.

while it stands strong as a provocative piece of literature in itself, i would looooove to listen to mona awad speak about the intentions with this sequel — because while many of the same elements & social commentary on art in higher academia is there, this one definitely took even more unexpected twists and turns that still have me scratching my head, wondering. i will say the modern references (chappell roan, charli xcx) in this were a little jarring but as im typing this, i know that feels ridiculous because there’s nothing about this book that isn’t jarring and it contributed to the overall fever dream that feels somewhat familiar & tangible while also otherworldly.

the character of aerius is absolutely the shining star of this book — the chapters in his POV are so thought-provoking, posing questions on suffering and creation, and the vulturistic tendencies that artists & academia can breed.

i’m interested reading reviews commending aerius’s innocence prior to getting caught in this network and seeing the progression of his views on writing/creating throughout his journey in the novel — begs the question, whether creating and art is truly the only way through suffering, as many of us artists would like to believe?

also, is there a way of writing and creation that isn’t inherently egotistical and at least slightly vulturous?

I found this one quite a bit stronger than the already-impressive first book. the groundedness sets the stage well, the framing is effective, and the POV shifts work incredibly well. the ending is also super fun. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Yet another cult classic from Mona Awad. A trippy walk through the woods without a guide. Absolutely engrossed!
Thank you for the ARC!!!

We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad is a deliciously dark and stylish thriller that draws you in with its surreal humor and razor-sharp tension. Bunny is a memorably complex protagonist whose journey is both unsettling and exhilarating. Awad delivers a twisted fairy tale for the modern age.

This book (if you haven't read Bunny) is set before the Bunnies meet Samantha, and obviously from the Bunnies viewpoint. I felt this book was amazing, but book one was completely unhinged (in an awesome way) and this one felt a bit calmer but still had amazing twists. While book one was a bit of a fever dream that had you wondering what was going on, this book was less subtle and a bit more direct in showing you what is going on. (I am trying not to give spoilers, so apologies if this is a bit vague). I absolutely loved this book, but Bunny will always hold a place in my heart!

3.25⭐️
Bunny is one of my favorite books, so when I got approved for this ARC I dropped everything I was reading to start it!
Unfortunately though, once I got past part 1 I had trouble wanting to pick it up again. My favorite thing about Bunny is that any reader can have their own theories and take the plot to mean something different. This prequel/ sequel seems (to me) pretty straight forward, and doesn’t leave much room to theorize. I also felt that it took away some of the fun of the first book… It’s a fun and easy read, but I was looking for something more complicated just like Bunny.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

K thanks, bunny!

oh, Bunny, I was ever so excited to receive this e-ARC, truly I was.

I *loved* Bunny. It's by far one of my favorite books I read last year. I bought it immediately after finishing my library copy. Dark academia aspects are a favorite genre of mine. The juxtaposition of the sickeningly sweet Bunnyisms- their clothes, their apartments, their faux adoration, and the bloody, violent manner in which these beautiful girls act is just perfection. I'm so glad to have the POV from the Bunnies (and Aerius!) in We Love You, Bunny. I found them most interesting and intriguing in the first book, and relished the opportunity to glimpse into their beginnings. I will purchase as soon as published and you should too, k?

I absolutely love everything Mona Awad writes. I'd confidently say she writes unhinged women better than anyone. I just adore unhinged women, Bunny. You mix that with some magical realism and you've got yourself a treat. Basically a tiny red velvet cupcake with red sprinkles. Don't forget your gloves, Bunny...or your ax.

Let me start off by saying I love that there is a sequel. I was so sad when I finished the first book. Being back in this bizarre little world was so satisfying. Everything about this book was just weird and perfect. Bye bunny!

If you know Bunny, you likely know it as a hot pink, hard candy-dripping fever dream. If that’s what you’re expecting from Mona Awad’s highly anticipated follow up, We Love You, Bunny, then it’s going to live up to those expectations.

We Love You, Bunny, is both a prequel and a follow up. In it, we return to Warren, and learn about how the Bunnies’ dreadful hybrid conjurings came to fruition.

I really enjoyed getting to see the world through each of these ominous girls’ eyes; they reminded me of macabre dolls come to life. While they’re each still a bit more caricature than real, I enjoyed how quickly we dove into their hive mind dynamic.

We also get to meet a new friend in this book 🙂 one whose perspective is tender and will captivate your heart while also breaking it ☹️ (if you read this, you’ll see) 🙂

I hadn’t read Bunny since 2021. While most of the plot made sense without having done a recent reread, there were some parts that made me want to go back and read Bunny again so I could fully appreciate them.

Both books hurtle toward the same Jennifer’s Body-meets-Jawbreaker style fever pitch of a chaotic, supernatural ending, so I do think it’s best if you go into this with at least some familiarity with Bunny, otherwise you may find yourself lacking some important context.

This was so much fun and I still can’t believe that I got lucky enough to read this early! Thank you so much to Mona Awad, Simon Element, and Marysue Rucci Books for the opportunity!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book!

I am somebody who read and enjoyed Bunny, but is not obsessed with Bunny. I believe it stands well on its own and doesn't need any kind of continuation, but I'd be lying if I wasn't instantly intrigued the moment I heard about this.

This book definitely has a different vibe, which I think is good, but I just don't know if it's my vibe. It's both a sequel and a prequel. It's wacky. It's creative. It's unique. Awad isn't doing what the other girlys are doing and I respect that. I loved getting the unhinged madness straight from the Bunnies this time. While it makes sense for it to be there, I struggled the most with the POV of Aerius. I made the comparison to NEPTR from Adventure Time almost instantly and that never left me. I got bogged down by it quickly, but it fits. If you had questions in Bunny, this gives you answers. It's interesting, but unnecessary as most sequels to standalones tend to be, yet I don't think I regret reading it. I may never reread it, but it'll live in the brain for some time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5/5 stars)
Dark, deranged, and drop-dead delicious. Welcome back to the Bunny-verse.

Mona Awad has done it again—We Love You, Bunny is a heady, hallucinatory thrill ride that somehow manages to be even weirder, wilder, and more wickedly brilliant than its cult predecessor. Part prequel, part sequel, part "WTF-did-I-just-read?" fever dream, this book is a dark academia slasher wrapped in pink bows and soaked in glitter and blood.

We reunite with Samantha, now a published author, only to see her quite literally bound and gagged by the same sugar-coated sociopaths who once lured her into their secret workshops. But this time? The Bunnies are telling their story. And it’s…unhinged in the best possible way.

Each chapter is a rabbit-hole within a rabbit-hole, as the Bunnies narrate their twisted, magical, and grotesquely hilarious origin story—complete with monstrous creations, manic writing rituals, and a love of art that’s both sacred and violent. Awad’s writing is razor-sharp, lyrical, and completely off-the-wall in the most hypnotic way. The prose flips between satire and horror with jaw-dropping precision, keeping you in a constant state of amused dread.

The reason this isn’t a full five stars? There are a few intentionally disorienting sections that may feel overly surreal or drag for readers who prefer a clear narrative thread. But honestly, the chaos is part of the charm. It’s not a book that holds your hand—it ties you to a chair, looks you dead in the eyes, and whispers, “We love you, Bunny.”

If Bunny was about outsider loneliness and longing, We Love You, Bunny is about the monstrous beauty of collective creation, toxic sisterhood, and the terrifying cost of being truly seen. It’s Frankenstein meets Mean Girls on acid, and it works.

This isn’t just a return to the Bunny-verse—it’s a total descent. And I loved every dark, glitter-drenched second of it.