For fans of The Ring, this debut is a techno-horror about a streamer finding supernatural evil in her video game.

SUCH LOVELY SKIN
by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
Page Street YA/St. Martin’s Press, September 2024

After spending the summer wracked with guilt about causing the accident that killed her little sister, ambitious gamer and chronic liar Viv returns to Twitch streaming. She never told her parents the truth about the accident, but she hopes that maybe making it big in streaming and giving the money to them is penance enough for her mistakes. The weekend before school starts, Viv finds the perfect horror game to make her Twitch comeback, and during an offline practice run, an NPC asks Viv for a secret. She decides to tell them the truth about her sister’s death since a game could never share her secret—in doing so, she accidentally welcomes a demonic mimic into her life. No one believes Viv when she tells them about her evil doppelganger. Viv has lied to get her best friend’s sympathy and has spread rumors for attention, so why should anyone trust her now? The only person who believes her is Ash, a cute social outcast whom Viv once bullied. In trying to clear her name and kill the mimic, Viv discovers that her lies have hurt people who never deserved it, herself included.

“Evil is lurking behind every corner in this impeccably paced and immersive supernatural horror debut. Surveillance, guilt and a need to belong collide with blood-curling demonic terror. Utterly compelling!”—Katya de Becerrra, author of When Ghosts Call Us Home

“Perfectly creepy and utterly transfixing, I devoured SUCH LOVELY SKIN in a single sitting. Schlote-Bonne has masterfully crafted a story of a flawed and sympathetic teen enduring a demon’s torments while battling her inner ones, delivering spine-tingling tension, terrifying jump scares, and heart-wrenching moments alike. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next.”—Diana Urban, award-winning author of Under the Surface

“SUCH LOVELY SKIN is a gripping and layered coming-of-age story about guilt—and features one of the scariest demons I’ve read in YA. Fans of J-horror and video games will absolutely devour this one. Visceral, twisty, and terrifyingly real. This book sinks its claws into you and doesn’t let go.”—Catherine Yu, author of Direwood and Helga

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a writer, weightlifter, and gamer. She has an MFA in creative writing from The Nonfiction Writing Program at University of Iowa.