I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I have been reading a ridiculous amount lately, and it is–for some reason or another–freaking me out a little bit.

I’m not usually a fast reader by any means. 30 books a year has been my personal high score for…well, since forever…and even that was with some picture books sprinkled in. We are less than halfway into March, and I’ve already read four books this month. Four.

I’ve read a total of ten for the entire year as of typing this.

Strangely enough, I’ve noticed a pretty significant trend in my reading history this year. While I usually reached for fantasy novels of sci-fi adventures, lately I’ve been selecting psychological thrillers and…well…horror stories.

…I’m not sure what that’s all about, but needless to say, I’m hooked.

Naturally, since I just finished my 10th book today, I thought it would be fun to go through some of the novels I’ve read and share my opinions on them! I plan on doing this more often in the future, so if book reviews are something you’d like to see more of from me in the future, make sure you give this post a like so I know there is general interest!

All right. Got your reading glasses on? Let’s go!

---

BOOKISH BEANS – MINI BOOK REVIEWS, PT. 1

BUT HE’S A CARTER BROTHER (books 2-4) by Annah Conwell

I’m lumping these in together because they don’t really need to be separated by title. All three of these books are exactly what they promise to be: light, fluffy, rom-commy goodness that is perfectly clean yet adorably complex.

I first started this series (But He’s My Grumpy Neighbor) at the tail-end of 2025, but decided to complete it since I liked the first book quite a bit. As you can see, the series got better and better as it progressed. I think But He’s My Grumpy Neighbor was probably my favorite, but But He’s My Roommate definitely made me tear up the most. (and I do NOT cry while reading books. It just…doesn’t usually happen.)

If you’re looking for a light rom-com with good seasonal vibes, happy endings, and none of the gross stuff they often put in rom-coms, I highly recommend Annah Conwell as an author! I will definitely be reading more of her work in the future!

THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE AND HER JUST OKAY ASSISTANT by Liza Tully

This book was–I hate to say it–a real let down. I don’t usually feel severe disappointment in books. Truly. In fact, when a book is bad, you really can’t blame the book for that. Usually I can see it coming that a book will have an unsatisfactory ending. Or at least the rest of the book will be bad to make up for the bad ending. (I’m not sure how the entire thing being bad makes it better, but for some reason it does.)

Unfortunately, The World’s Greatest Detective was a let down for me in many ways. Mostly because of how good it was up until about the 70% mark. The only thing I can say slightly redeemed this story was the lack of “adult” themes and the fact that there was no plot point cheating happening with the adult protagonists. 10/10 for a solid relationship that lasts long distance.

The rest of the book was shoddy, though, so I’m only giving this novel 3 stars. (And I wish I would have loaned this one from the library rather than shelling out the 20 bucks for the hardcover copy.)

HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR STORY by Mallory Arnold

With World’s Greatest Detective being such a let down, I was really nervous about this book. I bought them both on the same day (our yearly New Year’s Day tradition!) and was concerned that, somehow, I had just suffered from extremely poor luck and judgement that day. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

How To Survive A Horror Story took a little bit of getting used to, particularly in the sense of how the story is told. It felt very “telling” rather than “showing” from the start, and when that was paired with the third person, present tense POV (one that I’ve habitually struggled with in the past), I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to sink into the story. Again, I was wrong! Once I got past my original worries, the book sucked me in and kept me there for days. (And many, many sleepless nights.)

This book actually ended up giving me a nightmare, too. Interesting experience. 10/10 recommend.

TENDER IS THE FLESH by Agustina Bazterrica

I did not like this book. To be honest, the only reason I finished it was because A) I was hoping that something would redeem itself halfway or 75% of the way through (it did not) and B) I had waited an UNREASONABLY long amount of time for this book to come through interloan at my library.

Was I going to send it back just because I was brutally disgusted? Apparently not. (I should have.)

Word to the wise: if you don’t want to be making this face at your kindle for the next two days as you read–

–maybe skip this book and find something else.

THE TEACHER by Freida McFadden

Again, another poor read that I stuck with because…I don’t even know why. This book was decidedly gross, as well, but for a completely different reason. Once again, I was holding out hope that what I was reading was not what I was reading, and that somehow McFadden would redeem the sorry excuse of a character that Nathaniel turned out to be, but… yep. He was just a gross man. (And his wife was gross, too. Destroy them. Destroy them both.)

Now, I am a Freida McFadden fan, but if you are looking to branch out into the world of McFadden psychological thrillers, please…do not start with this one.

WARD D by Freida McFadden

I binged this one pretty fast! The story was fast-paced, kept my interest, and even threw me for a few loops along the way. I feel like the more Freida McFadden books I read, the more predictable her storytelling becomes. Not necessarily in a bad way–it’s just her formula feels familiar after two or three books.

And, unfortunately for me, my Kindle Unlimited plan allows me to binge a lot of Freida McFadden novels…

I really did enjoy Ward D, though! I particularly loved Spider-Dan and some of the other patients on Ward D. There were definitely some loveable characters in this book, which is a McFadden first for me!

THE SURROGATE MOTHER by Freida McFadden

Ohhhhh, I struggled with this one. I binged it in about a day (it’s on the shorter side), and I found myself absolutely despising the characters in a very, very good way. It’s not often that a book makes me feel viscerally angry (although, I guess I felt that for The Teacher), but this book… wow.

My mom is reading it now, most likely because she saw how I was reacting while reading it. It was equal parts “suck you in” and “I want to get out of here”–which I suppose is a good thing to have with a psychological thriller!

The ending of this book left a little to be desired, but other than that, a decent read that kept my mind off the fact that I had caught a cold this past week!

THE EX by Freida McFadden

Did I mention I’m on a McFadden binge? Because I definitely am right now. (See: catching a cold and needing an escape)

I really, really enjoyed The Ex by Freida McFadden! Whereas some of McFadden’s books seem a little predictable after you’ve binged them for a bit, this one kept me on my toes the entire time–and I definitely did not predict what was going to happen at the end.

I had my suspicions…as readers tend to do. But I’m happy to say I was pretty far off the mark for this one!

I would recommend this book for anyone looking to get into Freida McFadden’s books, however, it does come with the caveat that McFadden does have some content in her books. No explicit scenes, but definitely some language here and there. Not to mention that some of the themes she writes tend to be on the heavier side. So if you’re looking for something clean all the way through, I wouldn’t recommend McFadden.

---

I’m still on the hunt for 100% clean psychological thrillers–specifically thrillers without any language or adult content. At this point, I’m not sure if they exist, but I suppose that is what being a writer is for!

So far, this has been a really fun reading year. I look forward to seeing what other books we crack open by the end of the year. (Or, at this rate, by the summer!)

talk to me!

Do you have any book recommendations? Any thriller writers that keep it relatively clean? What is your favorite genre to read lately? Let’s talk about all of the things in the comments below!