This was such an enjoyable read!

The writing is really immersion and fast paced, I was hooked right from the start.

The scenes with the Other Place were so creepy and well written, it really added to the atmosphere of the book.

I loved this and look forward to reading more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for providing me with this arc

This is *the* summer book for 2025.

I could not put this book down and finished it in 2 day. The story of Sabrina and Sadie is truly captivating. The dual time lines weave together perfectly, leaving the reader immersed in their worlds. The story of Allie, Blakely, and Sabrina is one that's all too common among preteen girls. Sabrina witnesses the gruesome death of her 2 friends and that sets her on a path of connection to a very dangerous group of people. As an adult, now Sadie, runs from her past and PTSD induced hallucinations by power lifting with her super toxic boyfriend. A weekend in the mountains with another couple turns into the wild ride that is the plot twist of the book. Spoiler alert - what you expect to happen absolutely does not.

This is a book that I'd buy and read over and over again every summer. It's the perfect summer read.

THIS!!! BOOK!!!! thank you net galley for this arc! it was a fucking wild ride, in the best way. weird girl horror lit vibes, cult, gore, dual timeline, delusions, unreliable (but lovable) narrator, animal demons, “good for her”- u guys, this book was trippy and had me on my toes the entire time 🙂‍↕️ i thought the book would go one way and it ended up being an entirely different plot twist than i anticipated. legit will be thinking about this book for days lol

5 star read, no question!

Once again, Tatiana manages to set the reader on edge in the first chapter and keep the uneasy tension to the end. The gruesome, satisfying end. Another absolutely gory and unnerving book by Tatiana Scholote-Bonne. The Mean Ones is every intrusive thought given bloodlust.

I read Such Lovely Skin by this author and enjoyed it a lot so I was stoked to read The Mean Ones! Unfortunately I kind of ended up hating it.

The Mean Ones is about Sadie - a 2o something PT assistant who enjoys weightlifting with her terrible PT boyfriend. She also hears a creepy voice in her head and sometimes has weird visions.

Before all of this, her name was actually Sabrina and she was the witness to two of her friends being murdered at summer camp. Because the summer camp horrors became a popular true crime story/hulu special/etc., she changed her name and hasn't told anyone in her life about her past. One weekend Sadie and her boyfriend Lucas go on a weekend camping trip with another couple, and the horrors of Sadies past come back to haunt her in the woods.

We get two timelines here - Sadies current POV and her POV back at camp as a young kid. I didn't like either one. The camp timeline was just filled with stereotypical petty mean girl drama, and the current timeline was all about an abusive boyfriend and Sadie's appalling inner monologue and lack of respect for herself.

My biggest issue though was with the writing. Ok stick with me here. You know how disney stars go crazy when they try to end their child actor image and become adults and then they overcorrect by sexualizing themselves in a way that is embarrassing to witness? That was how this authors transition from their previous YA novel into this adult one felt. The writing style remained simplistic and juvenile (not necessarily a bad thing - just very YA), but with a few weird sexual lines and swear words thrown in to try and make it feel more adult. It read like a 16 year old trying to write how they think someone in college would write.
Here are some examples:
"Why can't Lucas propose to me already? We're coming up on three years. Maybe I should've given him that cave blowjob!" LMAO
"I can't believe all the vulnerable things I've told her, like how Lucas is the first man I've been in love with, how my asshole ached for hours after Lucas and I tried anal for the first time, how Lucas likes it when I suck on his nipples." Girl, be so for real. I have NO issue with sexual content in a book - where it makes sense. It was just forced in here at extremely random and inappropriate times in unnatural ways.

Also - quite a bit of fatphobia from the characters which was very unnecessary:
"Bina's already had her first period. She has two options: lose the fat or be a loser."
"Cottage Cheese Legs called our names" referring to their camp counselor
Also - some homophobia:
"'Don't tell us you're a dyke', Blakely said. 'Eww!' Allie shrieked."
Also this?
"Dad wasn't ugly, but he was half-Mexican."

*Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a girl, Sabrina’s summer camp experience took a dark turn when her friends were brutally murdered in front of her. Ever since, she’s been followed by strange voices and visions of a dark, twisted world, the Other Place. Her therapist thinks these visions are caused by PTSD, and Sabrina has done everything she can to put her experiences behind her to live a normal life. She has a boyfriend, hobbies, and friends, and even changed her name to hide her past. But the voices and visions still creep in if she’s not careful. When her boyfriend, Lucas, guilts her into going on a camping trip, the hallucinations get worse. But are they really hallucinations, or does something darker have its eye on Sabrina?

I really enjoyed The Mean Ones! It’s fast-paced, suspenseful, and engaging. I sped through this book in what felt like no time! It’s a summer camp slasher mixed with supernatural elements, which I found really fun. At the same time, the book explores identity and finding the strength to be your own authentic self instead of what everyone else (in this case, middle school girls and a toxic boyfriend) wants you to be.

The story is told across two timelines. One follows Sabrina as a child at summer camp, and the other follows her in the new life she’s built. I found both timelines equally enjoyable. I thought Sabrina was easy to relate to and I enjoyed her character, but the side characters in this book were kind of shallow. It was clear to me really quickly if I was supposed to like or not like a character, and they didn’t really have much more depth to them. I do think the side characters served their purpose in the story well, so the characters weren’t a huge issue for me, I just wish some of them had a little more substance to them.

The story is pretty bloody, so be warned if you’re not a fan of gore! It wasn’t that bad, but there are definitely some scenes that are gorey and gross.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Mean Ones! If you’re a fan of horror I recommend checking it out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Creature Publishing for providing me an e-arc in exchange for my unbiased review.

I absolutely loved the dual timelines that landed to the present. It worked so well to be able to see what happened in the past to make Sadie the way she is in the present. I could not get enough of the female rage. And I feel every girl that age has friends that aren’t so nice but hang around to try to fit in…I felt a bit of myself in this book and devoured this within a day!!

Mean Girls meets The Blood on Satan's Claw! Tatiana is the new Danielle Vega and you can't convince me otherwise.

Okay, we all know that I'm obsessed with Tatiana's first book, 'Such Lovely Skin' and that obsession will never stop. Now she's back with an even more twisted tale and a new obsession has taken over. And holy shit is it a good one!!

This is one of those books that slowly creeps on you and then hits you all at once. It was eerie, twisted, and devilishly delicious. The unhinged, the queasiness, and the female rage have my heart pounding in the most delightful of ways. Sadie is the character we all have living deep down inside of us and she has stolen my heart. I cannot stop thinking about this book.

'The Mean Ones' is my current new obsession. Every single time I out this book down, I was thinking about it. Don't tell my boss but I hid a few times just to read a few pages while I was at work. I could not nor did I want to put this down. ♥

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖊𝖆𝖓 𝕺𝖓𝖊𝖘 - Tatiana Schlote Bonne
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5!

The perfect, quick, Summer horror book. Swimming, hiking, campfires, watching your friends get brutally murdered....check.✔️

✔️⛺ Summer camp thriller. ☀️
✔️⛺ Cult/demon. 𖤐
✔️⛺ Psychological vibes. 💉
✔️⛺ Plot twists you definitely didn't see coming. 🔪
✔️⛺ Bloody and gory. 🩸

Highly suggest this for a fun, quick, Summery horror book.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Are you KIDDING?!? This book is amazing. Jaw dropping, screaming out loud, amazing. Animals speaking to you in your head, dead ones at that?!? Feminine rage? In a SLASHER?!? Yes please!!!! Was stellar during my slasher summer months to read

This was a great Summer read- taking place in camp and in the woods going back and forth from the year 2006 and 2023. Sabrina can't determine if her thoughts are real or if she is delusional. This was a fast paced, edge of your seat read, and I am super excited to read more from this author! I was imagining what the atmosphere was like throughout the whole book- the cave, campgrounds, woods. I wasn't expecting the ending, but was pleasantly surprised!

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne has such a fun, fast-paced writing style that really lent itself to this bloody, creepy feminist horror story!

Sabrina experiences an unimaginable tragedy as a pre-teen that completely changes her life. When she gets older, she is still working through her PTSD but feels like, for the most part, she can have a somewhat normal life. That is, when she’s in reality and not The Other Place. Her and her boyfriend go on a camping trip with another couple and all hell breaks loose and brings back all the old trauma from her childhood.

I appreciated the evolution of Sabrina. We see her as a nerdy pre-teen who is gaining her confidence and self worth as her “friends” (bullies) show their true colors to her. As an adult, she’s become physically strong through weight lifting and mentally strong through therapy. She does gaslight herself about her toxic boyfriend a lot, but by the end of the book, she makes huge strides in that realm as well.

This book has great body horror, nature horror, a creepy cult, and is perfect for summer. It’s fast-paced, gory, legitimately creepy, and has fun early 2006s references that pre-teen girls in that era will relate too!

The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a quick, layered read that dives into the unsettled, insecure psyche of Sadie, a girl who has spent years building a new life and identity for herself. But you can only pretend to be someone you’re not for so long. On the surface, Sadie has the perfect life — a boyfriend who loves her, supportive friends, and a job she enjoys. But as the pages turn, the fabric of her carefully curated reality begins to fray.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book. The way people treated Sadie, the undercurrent of fake friends and casual cruelty, rubbed me the wrong way. But then I realized: I disliked it because it felt real.

Sadie has to not only combat the antagonists of flesh and bone, but also those inside of her own mind. With all of these things coming against her, her struggle is real and visceral, and she doesn’t know another way to live, which makes the ending that much more satisfying.

Although marketed for adults, this book reads more like YA with the dialogue and pop culture references. The group dynamics feel distinctly high-school, with “mean girl” energy that doesn’t flatten into clichés. Each character has layers, making the conflicts and microaggressions all the more believable.

The Mean Ones is a reminder that standing up for yourself isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s a quiet choice.

4.5 ⭐s! I read this a few weeks ago and my brain is still trying to process everything 🤯 There was so much intense mystery, suspense, and a palpable sense of evil from the first page to the last. The author crafts such a spooky, unsettling vibe, you'll feel it in your bones. Think dark corners and whispers in the night, but in book form. And enough gore to really call it a horror 🩸🔪

And Sadie, our main character is just phenomenal. She's got a seriously dark past, and the dual timeline reveals it in the most captivating way. It's like peeling back layers, each one more intriguing than the last. I was hooked, constantly needing to know what twist was coming next.

This isn't just a book you read; it's an experience that pulls you into its shadows. It absolutely lives up to its title, and while I won't give anything away, let's just say it left me with a delightfully twisted feeling 😈😆 If you're brave enough for a genuinely dark and captivating read, this one's for you.
Thank you for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I could have read this in one sitting if I had the attention span that allowed me to do such a thing, but alas. I still devoured it. The only time I willingly stopped was last night when I got too tense to continue and had to wait until morning.

Sadie / Sabrina was frustrating at times, in both timelines, but that's truly my only major complaint here. Really nasty and descriptive gory visuals, but I say that as a compliment. At risk of spoiling anything too much, I'll just say I am very happy with the supernatural elements here and the route this took. It had every chance to go another, more psychological way and while I think that could have been fine, that aspect is what really made this a winner for me.

4 Stars.

Writing wise is great but there were a few times I cringed a little. The book goes by super fast and it's one of those ones where I kept finding myself on the next chapter wanting to know what happened.

My complaint on the story's length is that it doesn't feel fleshed out enough on certain aspects of the storyline and the lore. I would have loved more!

Also, being in Sadie's head was a nightmare. Wanted to shake her so bad, and I say this as a girly with ocd and massive anxiety. I don't want to twin right now damn :/

The ending was so much fun though. Truly made the choice to go with four stars easy.

Thank you to netgalley and publishers!

I could not put this down!!! This instantly sucked me in. It was gripping and creepy, but also somehow such a moving look at things like trauma and mental health and female relationships. This gave me slasher movie vibes with a little Mean Girls and Yellowjackets thrown in!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

this is more like a 3.25/3.5 for me. it's certainly a captivating premise, that i do think for the most part it delivers on - the pacing of this book is breakneck and i found it hard to put down, and i think alternating chapters between the past and present was the best way to execute a story like this. the character work for sadie/sabrina is complex and heartbreaking, and the gore is gross yet hard to look away from. i initially thought i'd predicted a "twist" and was a little disappointed at how cliché it was, but it turns out i was being DOUBLE-twisted, so i've gotta give the author props for that.
unfortunately, it didn't super work for me. i'm not really sure what it is - though i imagine my previous struggles to enjoy horror works due to not being able to visualise what i'm reading in my head clearly certainly doesn't help, as while a lot of fucked up stuff does happen, it didn't really hit for me. after finishing the book (and saying "good for her" about the ending, but otherwise didn't feel 100% satisfied with), i found out that this is the author's first foray into more adult fiction from YA, and i do think that shows in the writing style, and is probably why it didn't captivate me. i'm not sure! it's a little frustrating to review a book when i don't know if I'M the problem or the book is, lol.
if it interests you, then i'd recommend trying it out for yourself! it's rather short and, again, the pacing is fast and unputdownable, so it's a quick read that gives you a lot to chew on. i actually think this would be really compelling if adapted into a film!

Sabrina is sooooo frustrating as a character but she makes sense for what she’s been through. I so badly need this to be made in to a teen slasher it’s not even funny

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy of this book!

It’s like a mix of mean girls with all of those 80s summer camp horror movies.
Sadie is a truly likable character that really has you rooting for her whenever it seems like someone is being mean and condescending to her.
The child timeline and the present timeline flowed perfectly to tell this story.
The deer with the hands for horns, chefs kiss imagery!