"I smile. My demon is real. I’m not supposed to be happy about that, but it feels good to have proof and know that I’m not insane."
DIGITAL HORROR! Ring, but make it about the horror gamer who plays and streams and accidentally summons the mimic demon. I loved everything about this book! And while I do have very lovely skin, I'm not a gamer, but I love game based books, and even better when it's either sci-fi or horror. In this case we got an advanced demon who has to keep up with modern day technology and feed on guilty people. I feel like I haven't read enough of these kinds of books, I definitely will be needing more similar vibes because this was so creepy and at times even scared me, and I'm a self proclaimed brave reader so there's some spooky stuff going on that might scare anyone.
Game asks Viv to tell a dark secret and I didn't expect that hers would be so heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, until the end I was rooting for it to be just accident and there's toddler death so be warned if you need trigger for that.
The way demon messed up her life wasn't nice but what can you do, demons have to eat too.
Three of them, Viv, her friend and her boyfriend start investigating the game and there's some backstory that I felt like we could have gotten more from it but I still ate every new information we got about the demon stuff. They used the codeword as a proof that they were real and not a demon and I was yelling at them to use something else, it was a word from the game, such a newbie thing to do.
Except the depressing death of her baby sister this whole story was a fun and quick read, I loved how Viv got that twist realisation about the demon and I won't say how it ended but I somehow expected different ending and my mouth was a bit open and now I want more of this damn story!
When I first saw the cover, I fell in love instantly , read the synopsis got excited, finished the book and I'm obsessed with it and I even had some fun photoshoot with the book.

“He shows me the phone again and there’s a picture of me at my computer desk, leaning forward, smirking, and looking straight into the camera. It’s the eyes that give her away. They’re a shade too dark.”

When I first saw the publishing news for this book I thought, “Wow, this was written for me,” -and by God, I was right. Let me preface this by saying I NEVER reread books, but the moment I finished this book, I immediately started again. This hit all the beats for me and quenched my thirst for a book version of every K/J horror movie I have ever seen. Let me also say that horror books never do it for me. The last one that truly scared me was Birdbox and that was a long time ago.

Ok, ok, gushing aside. Let’s talk about Viv. She’s a Twitch streamer who took a hiatus after an accident killed her little sister. Upon returning to her love of gaming, she accepts an invitation to try out a new horror game called Locked In. To advance in the game she tells her darkest secret.

What happens after that is the stuff of nightmares.

Strange things start happening and soon Viv realizes she has a doppelganger that is slowly ruining her life on Twitch and in her real life.

I love survival horror games like Silent Hill and the game scenes gave me the same nervous feelings. The mimic is scary but I believe the death of Viv’s sister is what truly terrified me. Accidents that end in an unfortunate death are more common than demons crawling out of video games but mix the two and it’s a concoction of horror. I was reminded of Pet Semetary and Rachel’s sister Zelda. Sometimes real life is terrible and frightening; my heart was expertly ripped into pieces.

I know this review is all over the place, but I cannot form coherent thoughts. Writing a book that truly disturbs me is hard to do. This wasn’t just creepy, it had heart and touched upon subjects of friendship and grief. This is one of the best books I have read in 2024 and up there with the best I have ever read in its genre.

This was so fun!

I couldn't put it down once I started and I was done with it in a single sitting. Teens actually read like teens, it was fast paced, no filler, made me care about the characters enough to root for them but also feel a lot when reading the backstory. It effortlessly looked like a movie in my head. I'll be happy to pick up more books by this author in the future.

4.25/5 stars!

If The Ring, Cam, & Smile had a baby, it would be Such Lovely Skin.

As a huge fan of horror and ‘let’s plays’, the concept of an evil demon doppelgänger being summoned from a cursed game immediately piqued my interest. And I have to say: Schlote-Bonne fucking delivered.

Such Lovely Skin is the first book in a long time to leave me truly unsettled. Schlote-Bonne manages to up the creep factor of an already eerie premise with her incredible immersive writing. Some scenes were so chilling and filled with dread that my heart dropped and I got goosebumps.

Schlote-Bonne’s character work also stands out in this novel. Viv is a self-proclaimed liar and a sometimes very selfish, unlikable narrator. As a result, you’re divided on whether you should empathize with her at first. However, as the story progresses and Viv comes to terms with how her actions and lies affect others, you come to root for her to conquer her demon (both literally and figuratively).

And yes, while having a demon doppelgänger is already frightening, I think the most disturbing aspect was the mental hell Viv suffered. The entity preyed upon her relationships and psyche to further isolate Viv, who was already detached and wracked with guilt from her sister’s death. We get a glimpse of how it feels through her POV, but I cannot imagine enduring through that myself.

Such Lovely Skin had me in a grip in from page 1 and didn’t let me go until the end. If you’re looking for a fast-paced read for horror season that will get under your skin (no pun intended), then make it this one.

A horror book about gaming? This was WRITTEN FOR ME!!! I loved all of the gaming and streaming references so much. The story itself had me hooked already and kept me turning the pages; it was a quick and very entertaining read. Some memorable creepy moments as well (the eyelashes! ACK!!!) Most surprising element that I really enjoyed was the romanc.e Didn't expect it at all going in, but that aspect was super cute. Would definitely recommend for gamers and YA horror fans.

I was surprised by how quickly this book got me hooked. I will say, as someone who doesn't do any gaming at all.. at first, trying to understand exactly what was going on was a little hard because I didn't understand certain terms and couldn't visualize it but that quickly went away and the storyline itself was so good and so unpredictable. I was excited to see exactly what happened in the past and what would happen to Vivian in the present. It is 100% a YA story and maybe some older people would find this hard to read (I'm 29) but if I was still 17 I would have eaten this up! The author did a great job of writing the story in the POV of a teenager.

Thank you so much to the author, Tatiana Schlote-Bonne for gifting me a copy! I also paired the book with the audiobook narrated by Chandler Gregoire who did a fabulous job as Viv!
——
Viv is a biracial, relatable Japanese- American teen who is a part time Twitch streamer and wears her heart on her sleeve. However she also hides a very dark secret from everyone, including her parents and best friend.

In the hopes of making amends with her family, Viv starts streaming again to monetize her hobby and help her parents. In the process, she downloads a horror game emailed to her which unleashes a demon that can take up any form, including as her doppelgänger, to manipulate Viv and the people around her. Viv must act quickly and swiftly to stop the demon from ruining her life and her loved ones. But can she? How will anyone believe her?

First of all, this book is absolutely CREEPY with just enough jump scares that makes you want to check the rooms and under the bed. This book is best read in the dark for added spookiness! But secondly and what I enjoyed the most, is Viv’s growth as a mature young adult as she navigates the most testing time of her life. This is an incredible debut and I’m eagerly looking forward to the author’s sophomore novel!

FUUUUN! Loved reading this one. This book was a fast, propulsive read with quite a few jump scares. The story is about a gamer, who is getting back to her twitching days. It is hard, since she is suffering from grief over the death of her younger sister. And she feels guilt over that death. She is harboring a secret, that she doesn't want to share with anyone. Until she shares to a game. But it is safe space, right? Well, a demon starts to haunt her and destroy her life little by little.

A wild ride, a lot to think about with grief, secrets, and guilt. And how all that can eat one up. The end might have been a quick wrap up, but satisfying still,

Thank you to TBR and Beyond tours, and Page Street YA for my gifted review copy.

◦ 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 ⇩
2 ☆

𝓛𝓮𝓽’𝓼 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓪𝓭𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓑𝓵𝓾𝓮𝓼, 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓮

Were there some creepy aspects to this- yes! I enjoyed this 𝙔𝘼 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 twitch streaming interaction way more than I thought. But, this just didn’t hit the mark from me. I got tired of the “𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳” run around, it felt out of place and bleak and imo could’ve been concluded early on as to the understanding of the grief conflict of mentally confronting your demons.

𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 character development throughout this. I also am not a fan of text conversations. It kills the reading vibe for me personally. The Ringu aspect also wasn’t very…. Original- 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

#suchlovelyskin #tatianaschlotebonne #kindaspooky_reads #bookworm #spookyreads #momsthatread #horrorcommunity #bookreview #horrorbooksta #bookrecs #chaosreader

5 Reasons to Read

Gaming

Gaming is a huge part of society in the real world so I always enjoy seeing it in books. This one though, an escape room role playing game, isn’t something I’ve seen before. I’m sure they’re out there. I just haven’t discovered them yet. The horror game Viv discovers the night she decides to start gaming again after months of silence, leads her to spilling the truth about how her sister really died.

Friendship

Briana and Viv are best friends. After the death of Viv’s sister she was grateful Brianna stuck around and she continues too. Even after things start getting weird and Viv starts doing things that she doesn’t remember. The two of them team up with Ash, the strange boy from school, to try and figure out what is happening and why Viv has been targeted by the paranormal.

Demons

Demons and Doppelgängers is all I can say here! It’s creepy AF and you’ll get all the shivers while reading this one!

Grief

The death of Viv’s sister rocks her world. What looks like an accident on the outside isn’t what Viv knows to be true. That she murdered her sister. All throughout this book she’s faced with the reminder of what really happened that night. Her grief has kept her locked in her house for months but now she has no chance but to face her grief and take responsibility for what happened in order to move on.

Forgiveness

Will Viv be able to forgive herself for the tragic accident that took her little sister? Or, will her parents and the community around her think she’s a monster who doesn’t deserve forgiveness?

Holy cow Such Lovely Skin was so jaw dropping at times I had trouble putting it back. I have to admit at the start I was getting a bit bored and was thinking that it probably would not pick up and how wrong was I. I loved that the main character Viv was so unreliable and believe that it really gave the story that something extra and this made the book to be more memorable. I also can't believe how for a debut novel Tatiana had so much precision by knowing where to ramp things up and when to take things down making both the character and the reader feel a little relief but then ramping things up to epic proportion.


I can' tell you how many times I swore while reading this book, If there is someone from Netflix or another streaming service please please read this amazing book and then adapt it to a film you will not be disappointed.


For all the above reasons Such Lovely Skin receives 5 stars and Please could we have a sequel ?

Wow! Are you looking for the perfect skin crawling type book for spooky season? Look no farther! This will give you exactly the vibes you want. A troubled twitch streamer with a huge secret and... a demon? Yep, a demon who she let into her world by playing a horror game. Its crazy, uniquie and the writing is a bit juvinal at times, but it is coming from the veiw of a teenager. I guess "Is this really happening IRL?" would be something a teenager would say 😂 Past that, this book is a really quick and page turning read. I don't think there was much down time in the book so clearly it wasn't a easy one to put down!

Special thanks to the author @thebuffwriter @coloredpagesbt @pagestreetya for my gifted copy‼️
 
First let me just say Ta👏🏽ti👏🏽ana👏🏽 wrote tf outta this book I mean gave it her all‼️ It was so well-plotted and put together I felt like I was watching a horror movie. The way the first chapter pulls you in it turned me every which way but loose. I promise you won’t be able to put this down. I read at least 60% of it the first day that’s how good this book is.

Character development ATE‼️
Paranormal/ Supernatural elements ATE‼️
The entire premise ATE‼️
Who’s my new favorite author HER‼️

Viv was a popular Twitch streamer with an addiction to video games specifically horror. After the loss of her little sister Riley her urge and desire to play was gone as she struggled with the grief and guilt of such a major loss. To make matters worse the death of Riley was actually Viv’s fault. (THIS ALONE GOT ME) With hopes of redeeming herself with her parents she decides to stream again. Thinking that if she could gain more subscribers she could use the money as an apology to them.

Before going live Viv stumbles upon an email with a cool new horror game attached. As she begins to play before it allows her to escape the room she’s in she had to tell the game a dark secret. Once the secret was told things around her got eeire‼️

I don’t wanna say much and spoil it for anyone but this book was such a fun, creepy, and adventurous ride. You’ll experience themes involving the loss of a sibling, Viv’s gameception, psychosomatic reactions, sleep paralysis, being stalked by a doppelgänger, paranormal behavior, and how telling lies do more harm than good.

Overall, I need ya’ll to read this book it’s spooky szn worthy TRUST ME‼️ And just when you think it’s all over you’re WRONG. Welcome to 𝖫ᝪ𝖢𝖪𝖤𝖣 𝖨𝖭: ɑ𐓣 𝖤ડɕɑρ౿ 𝖱𝗈𝗈ო 𝖧𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗈𝗋 𝖦ɑო౿!

I’m obsessed. So good! And this is Tatiana’s debut novel?? Impressive! This was one of my first horror novels and boy did it give me the creeps! Even as a parent in my 30s, I almost slept with my light on.

I loved this book. It's unique and thrilling. I'm not an avid video game player and I still enjoyed it. I can't wait to read more by the author.

whew was this a read!! i absolutely love YA Thriller and the darkness of this twisted plot really proved why. i was hooked from page 1 and didn’t even consider putting it down until i reached the end— it was that good!

the story follows the life of teenage Vivian, who has just spent a guilt ridden summer griefing over the accidental loss of her little sister. in preparation for heading back to school, Viv, who makes a little extra cash as a Twitch streamer, decides to trial run a new horror game from an anonymous invite— the rest is history.

@thebuffwriter outlines the perfect dual timeline following the present and the time of the accident, managing to simultaneously blend together the emotions of fear and guilt for the reader. i like the perspective on grief that this book details, and especially love how the nuances of highschool life are tied in. as for the thrills & chills, they were addicting! there was so much detail to the little scares that made the big scares so much more significant. if you’re looking for a thriller that features spooky video games, doppelgängers & sneaky road trips, pick this up!!!! 🤍

notable likes:

- how social media addiction was incorporated into
- Ash, everything about him was so precious
- the whiplash i got as more details about Viv’s past began to unfurl

This is one of the most unique premises I’ve ever encountered in a book, and though it terrified me at times, it was very well executed. It is a dark, intense YA horror through and through, and I’d definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings before diving in.

Such Lovely Skin follows Vivian, a high school Twitch streamer who gravitates toward all things horror on her platform. Determined to make her return to streaming after a hiatus following a recent tragedy, Vivian decides to give a new indie horror game an offline test run. When an NPC in the game asks her to tell her darkest secret, Vivian inadvertently welcomes an evil doppelgänger into her life-one determined to destroy everything in its path.

Such Lovely Skin is an exploration of grief and identity in the form of facing the most horrific encounters one can experience- from the very real trauma of losing a loved one and subsequent survivor’s guilt, to a paranormal element involving a demon feeding off of harbored deep, dark secrets rooted in that same trauma. When we first meet Vivian, she seems very young and single minded. So focused on building her online streaming platform, she tends to lie and prioritize whatever will help her get closer to her goal of indie horror stardom. But as we get to know her, we see her guilt, her grief, and her desire to improve the lives of those around her in a way that makes her someone you truly want to root for.

As a gamer who started out streaming horror on Twitch (Resident Evil era), their descriptive elements of the gameplay and of the mimic’s behavior was CHILLING. I really felt like I was in the story, experiencing the same emotions as Vivian as she moved through the story. Though this was a very fast paced, quick read, it’s one that’s going to stick with me for awhile 😅 If you’re a fan of campy horror (think The Ring, a movie that TERRIFIED me growing up 😭) then this one is definitely for you!

Think the 2018 movie 𝘊𝘢𝘮, but with Twitch streamers and even more trauma. The premise immediately hooked me—an evil doppelgänger slowly takes over a streamer’s life, and she’s harboring a dark secret. Chaos ensues. Yes, please.

It’s a rough read, though. I couldn’t put it down, but there were moments when I wished I could. Not because it wasn’t good—it’s just that the secret at the heart of the story is 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 heavy. Watching it unfold was devastating.

That said, the book is deliciously creepy. There’s some genuinely terrifying imagery that had me lowkey wanting to sleep with the lights on. If you’re looking for a fast-paced spooky read with some nightmare fuel, this is the book for you.

⭐⭐⭐💫

With the spooky season well underway, this book has been on my radar for a while. As a lover of horror movies and games alike, I was excited to see a book that combined my favorite aspects of both.

Like some of my other reads recently, Such Lovely Skin is ultimately rooted in grief. Viv lets the burden of guilt over a tragic accident weigh on her, so much so that she ends up using a video game to get it off her chest. I particularly enjoyed the third act when Viv realizes just how to get release herself of those demons, both literally and figuratively, even if it is a bit of a frightening journey to get there.

I enjoyed how the book played on the common fear of an evil twin. While my little sister and I grew up pretending to be twins on occasion, there’s something to be said about the voice in the back of your head, questioning whether or not you could have an evil look alike out in the world. In this case, the doppelganger puts its hand in so many aspects of Viv’s life, it’s overwhelming. But, it also uses her past posts and statements against her, causing her similar pain to what she’s inflicted on others. It’s clear the demon is very rooted in her life and this isn’t the first time it’s done this.

My rating is what it is because I don't think the scary aspects of the book were effective. They were rinse and repeat of things we've seen before, and they weren't done differently. I was really hopeful that there could be a new perspective or aspect to this, especially since it was on the page, and that didn't happen.

This book was everything!
The story was interesting and kept me intrigued, I was flying through the pages so the paced was fantastic. It is an YA but please do not let that discourage you, it was creepy and 100% worth the read, hands down my favorite read of September so far.

5/5