What a Nightmare

by Rebekah Faubion

They called her a nightmare, so she became one.

Haven Powers has spent years trying to disappear. Once a loud, troublemaking girl who defied every expectation in her small town of Friendship, Texas, now she’s learned to hide her fire behind a quiet receptionist’s smile. It’s safer that way—for her, and for everyone else.

When an unsettling encounter with her predatory boss cracks open the tightly locked box inside her, Haven dreams a terrifying dream about him, only to wake up and discover it’s come true; he’s dead. Desperate to gain control of this deadly power once and for all, Haven returns home.

Welcomed suspiciously with open arms, Haven is immediately met with the ghosts of her past. Under the suffocating pressure of the town and her family who believe obedience is next to godliness, Haven soon finds herself on a path to revenge. She’ll show them what happens when the girl they called too much, too loud, too everything, finally lets her demons loose.

Genres: Horror, Queer, Lesbian, LGBT, Adult, Fiction, Halloween

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2026

About the author

Rebekah Faubion is an author and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Her books include the dark speculative thrillers Lost Girls of Hollow Lake, A Darkness Lives There, What a Nightmare, and the rom-coms The Lovers and The Sun and the Moon. Her work have been featured in Crime Reads, PEOPLE, Writer's Digest, Autostraddle, the Los Angeles Times, Criminal Element, and more. She enjoys reading tarot, bingeing horror novels way past her bedtime, and thinking up places to bury the body—for the plot, of course.

Reviews

[Gabby]

DNF @ 25% in
I listened to a few hours of the audiobook and I love this concept, but I'm just feeling so bored and the story isn't pulling me in the way I was hoping it would. :(

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a Nightmare
By Rebekah Faubion
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this wonderful book! I was thoroughly engrossed in this story. Great world building, believable characters, and suspenseful atmosphere the whole time.
This story unfolds slowly, giving the reader little drips of info here and there to tease us. It was fun trying to figure out a dozen mysterious things. All the clues had my heart beating faster, which happened often due to the frequency of the clues.
This is a different kind of horror novel. No jump scares, just a constant pressure that something or someone is coming and it wasn't good. The stalker behind you feeling. I loved it!
If you like horror, this is for you. If you want to try horror but are afraid to jump in, try this. This is easily 5 stars!

[jenny reads a lot · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

I think this would be a great horror book for those new to the genre and wanting to dip their toes in! It’s not overly scary or suspenseful and the gore is minimal!

I really enjoyed this book. It did take a little while to get to the meat of the story and you’ll definitely need to be comfortable with being a little confused at the start but the pay off at the end is well worth the journey!

I don’t want to say too much for fear of spoiling the reveal for readers, but that ending really hits hard in the best way!

Whats to love…
- feminine rage
- horrors of being a women
- religious deconstruction
- small town Texas setting
- psychological thriller aspects
- just a hint of body horror

What might not work for some…
- you’ll need to be ok with being a little confused at first to really enjoy this one. Just go with it! I actually really enjoyed this aspect and think it enhances the readers understanding of the FMC’s mental state!

4.25⭐️| IG | TikTok |

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted book. All opinions are my own.

[Kat | Tropes TBD · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

Thanks to Berkley for providing me this ebook!

Kinda like if Carrie was set in Texas. Very viby but I wanted just a little bit more exploration of Haven's powers and the world of this family and a bit more plot in general.

On the Carrie-like side of things, Haven has somewhat nebulous psychic powers contained within a "box" that pops up that Haven created some point. What I found interesting was how little control over her powers. She ends up hurting people through her nightmares and doesn't seem to know how to stop that. I enjoyed seeing Haven's changing relationship to her powers but the pace at which we learn about these powers and what this mysterious box means is extremely slow. I generally expect this out of horror novels. as you need time to build tension, but I didn't really feel like there was any tension being built. While the actual deaths are fairly gory, it more felt like they came out of nowhere for the most part. To some degree, this makes sense as Haven doesn't have full control, but it built to a conclusion that I didn't find super compelling.

Also similar to Carrie, at it's core this a family drama focusing on religious conservatism. This was the much more interesting part to me but again I wanted a bit more. Haven is coming back to her family after leaving years before and completely cutting off contact, but basically seems to pick up with them like she never left. The discussions this book was trying to have about religious trauma and generational trauma felt very surface level to me and that made the conclusion fall a bit flat. I liked the general dynamic being explored, but it felt like the exploration could have gone further. Similarly, there is a set up about the degree to control the church has over the whole town but all the ramifications of that are tied to a single person, which felt like sort of a cop-out when trying to set up a story about the general trauma of living in a high-control community.

This was still a quick read and I would read more from this author. I wish she had either leaned more into the gore filled horror or into building tension through a family drama rather than trying to do both in a relatively short book.

[Lorin (paperbackbish) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Berkley for my free ARC of What a Nightmare by Rebekah Faubion — out Oct 13!

» READ IF YOU «
🔥 love a good girl who's done being good
👁️ want to dish out justice in your nightmares
🌵 can practically feel the heat radiating off a small-town Texas setting

» SYNOPSIS «
Haven used to be loud and defiant, everything her small-town Texas family told her not to be. Now she's learned to disappear behind a bland presence—it's just safer that way. But when a vengeful nightmare about her boss comes true one night, Haven starts to fear her own mind. She returns home, thinking she can discover the source of her power, but first she'll have to deal with her family, the true nightmares.

» REVIEW «
Haven is suuuuch a satisfying lead to spend this book with. Watching her sick her nightmare fantasies on people who genuinely deserved it scratched an itch I didn't know I needed scratched. There's just something hella cathartic about a woman finally letting herself want bad things to happen to bad people, especially after a lifetime of being told to "be less."

And her family, my lord. Faubion writes that specific flavor of small-town religious household a little *too* well—I found myself hating them on Haven's behalf for like the whole book. It's the kind of family horror that doesn't even need the supernatural stuff to get your emotions up. But hey, those parts were fun as hell too.

The Texas summer setting was also a little too real, had me sweating right along with Haven. I want a peach! This is Southern horror with a real bite to it, and Faubion nails the balance between psychological buildup and full-fledged supernatural payoff. Don't miss it!

» RATING «
🔥 I'm Scorched 🔥

» READ-A-LIKES «
• Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison
• Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
• The Hunting Wives (TV series)
• Carrie by Stephen King

[Chelsea Conradt]

I am so here for What a Nightmare. Dark, feminist horror that had me ‘one more chaptering’ all night!

[Kassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

After nine years away, Haven Powers returns home to confront the trauma she’s spent years trying to escape. But coming back isn’t easy. Strange things happen whenever Haven falls asleep, she has vivid, violent dreams, only to wake up and discover that people have actually been hurt. Her family’s suspiciously warm welcome only deepens the mystery. As she struggles to gain control of her increasingly dangerous powers, Haven realizes that returning home has only made them stronger. Once seen as the family’s uncontrollable daughter, she’s determined to prove that no one can keep her contained. And with revenge on her mind, the consequences could be devastating.

I thought the premise was really intriguing, and the writing was well done. However, the story moved a little too slowly for my taste. While I appreciate a slow-burn buildup, it felt like the plot didn’t really take off until around the 70% mark, and then everything wrapped up rather abruptly. I also had a hard time connecting with the cast, as most of the characters were difficult to like or relate to.

Despite those issues, this was my first experience with this author, and it definitely won’t be my last. I’m interested in reading more of their work.

[Keila (speedreadstagram) · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Alright – female rage? Sign me up please. Haven was quite the woman. She learned from a young age that she had powers she couldn’t fully explain, but she blamed it on her family. So what’s a girl to do except run from home? Well things are fine-ish ya know, until they aren’t and she causes another injury. Right after that, she gets called home because her dad is sick, and she has a heart so she goes (not sure I would have but here we are). Being home is pretty much as bad as she thought it would be. Then secrets start coming out, and well in the end Haven decides rather than run from her skills? Are they skills? Or powers…she is going to embrace them. This is where I fell in love with this book even more. Let it go…let it go…It was a fun ride and I had a good time reading it.

[Bbecca_marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a Nightmare 🍑🩸✨Review ✨
thank you for the free book @berkleypub #berkleypartner #berkleybookstagram #berkleypub

What a Nightmare
by Rebekah Faubion
out now!

About the book 👇🏽

They called her a nightmare, so she became one.

Haven Powers has spent years hiding her fire, keeping her head down in a small Texas town where obedience is everything. But when she dreams of her predatory boss’s death and wakes to discover it’s come true, Haven returns home to face the past she’s tried so hard to escape.

Surrounded by family expectations, old wounds, and a town that never accepted her, Haven is ready for revenge. The girl they called too much, too loud, too everything is finally ready to unleash her demons.

📖 My thoughts:

“For all the girls they want to silence.
And for me, who they never could.”

The dedication gave me CHILLS. I loved the feminine rage in this one because… rightfully effing so. There’s something powerful about a story that explores the horrors of being a woman, the expectations placed on us, the ways we’re taught to make ourselves smaller, quieter, and more agreeable just to make everyone else comfortable. What happens when a woman finally decides she’s had enough? This book captures that anger in a way that feels both terrifying and incredibly cathartic. It’s not exactly a fast paced read, but it unfolds in a way that makes it impossible to look away from. And it is very much a story you have to surrender to and go with the flow, trusting that everything is leading somewhere. and trust me, the ending makes it worth it! What a Nightmare is a dark, unsettling read that reminds you just how powerful a woman can be when she stops apologizing for taking up space.

what to expect👇🏽
❤️‍🔥 feminine rage
❤️‍🔥 revenge
❤️‍🔥 small-town
❤️‍🔥 the horrors of being a woman

Happy reading 📖🩸

[Monika Porter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried. I really did. But this book had me fighting for my life to stay engaged. I lost track of how many times I considered DNFing, which is never a great sign. I’m all for descriptive writing, but if I have to read one more detailed breakdown of someone’s iris color like it’s vital to the plot, I might scream.

I can absolutely see what the author was going for with the whole “horror as a metaphor for trauma” angle. It’s very on-trend right now, and when it works, it really works. Unfortunately, this just didn’t quite come together for me. I think the story felt all over the place with too many moving parts and not enough follow-through. The character relationships weren’t strong enough for me to really care… for example, the Winter and Matilda storylines are so flat. By the end, everything was rushed, with a bunch of information thrown in at once and still so many unanswered questions.

All that said, I think some readers might get more out of this than I did. I’m just left more frustrated than satisfied.

[Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Her boss sexually harasses her, she dreams him dead, and then the man wakes up murdered. Haven, girl, we need to establish some bedtime boundaries immediately.

Haven Powers has spent years trying to become the human equivalent of “nothing to see here.” Quiet receptionist. Pleasant smile. Keep your head down. Do not cause problems. Which is apparently difficult when you grew up in Friendship, Texas, a town that decided you were Too Much as a child and has been holding the grudge ever since. Then her predatory boss pushes her too far, she goes home furious, dreams about him dying, and wakes up to discover HE ACTUALLY DIED. I would simply never close my eyes again. Haven decides she needs answers and heads straight back to the hometown she escaped nine years ago, because apparently we’re fighting supernatural trauma with regular trauma.

And Friendship. FRIENDSHIP. What a wildly threatening name for this place. Everybody knows everybody, everybody knows everybody’s business, and half the town seems to have appointed itself to the unpaid position of Haven Powers Behavioral Compliance Officer. Haven gets home and her family is suspiciously welcoming, her father is sick, her mother Olympia has the energy of a woman who could turn “How was your flight?” into a psychological interrogation, and there are clearly things nobody wants Haven remembering. Naturally Haven hears “leave the past alone” and immediately starts mentally locating excavation equipment.

Because Haven does not remember everything that happened before she left. She knows enough to understand that home makes her skin crawl, but there are locked doors in her own memory and suddenly her nightmares are rattling the handles. There’s smoke. There are visions. People are getting hurt. And Haven is slowly realizing that whatever she shoved down inside herself all those years ago did not die. It has apparently been down there doing push-ups.

This woman has spent NINE YEARS treating her own personality like a controlled substance because everyone around her taught her that being angry was dangerous. Being loud was dangerous. Wanting things was dangerous. Being queer, unmarried, childless, difficult, sexual, opinionated, all of it came with some version of “Could you maybe be less Haven?” And now her subconscious is basically kicking open the door like, “Actually, I have several outstanding complaints.” Watching her slowly stop apologizing for taking up space had me sitting there like YES, GET HER, while also occasionally needing Haven to please learn the supernatural terms and conditions before deploying Nightmare Justice across Texas.

And then there’s Winter. WINTER. I needed more. Haven has this little thread of possibility with her that feels almost startling because so much of Haven’s life has been about enduring things instead of wanting them. Winter represents something Haven has barely let herself consider, a life where she gets to choose what feels good instead of constantly calculating what will keep everyone else comfortable. Unfortunately, these women are trying to flirt while Haven is dealing with murder dreams, buried memories, family dysfunction, and approximately thirty years of emotional repression. Dating in your thirties is already hard enough without discovering your REM cycle may have a body count.

But the people who really made me want to start flipping tables were the ones who knew. Maybe not everything. Maybe only pieces. But enough. Friendship has perfected that specific kind of horror where everyone is deeply invested in looking like good people while terrible things continue happening directly in front of them. There’s religion. There’s status. There’s the family reputation. There are women who learned how to survive the same system and then helped keep it running. And there are men who benefited tremendously from everybody agreeing not to make things uncomfortable. Heaven forbid anyone ruin dinner by mentioning the abuse.

That’s where What a Nightmare stopped being fun-scary and got genuinely upsetting for me. Haven has spent most of her life believing the problem was her reaction to what happened instead of WHAT HAPPENED. She was angry, therefore she was difficult. She fought back, therefore she was trouble. She refused to quietly accept what everybody else had decided was acceptable, therefore Haven needed fixing. And there is something brutal about watching her realize that the parts of herself she spent years trying to kill were the exact parts that knew she deserved better. Sometimes your anger is not the monster. Sometimes it’s the only person in the room telling the truth.

And THEN this book decides we have processed enough feelings and starts throwing chairs. The back end gets feral. Secrets start coming loose, the nightmares stop behaving like vague creepy warnings and start looking a lot more like consequences, and Haven finally begins understanding what she can do. I spent a good chunk of the ending going, “WAIT. THAT’S WHAT THAT WAS? Oh no. OH NO. Well, actually... good for her?” It gets chaotic enough that I wanted another beat or two to sit with some of what comes out, because suddenly everybody has apparently booked the same thirty-minute slot for their generational reckoning.

Also, Olympia. Ma’am. The complicated feelings I have about this woman require beverages stronger than margaritas. Because one of the nastier things here is how abuse doesn't just produce victims and villains in tidy little categories. Sometimes it produces people who survived by cooperating. People who loved you and still failed you. People who were harmed and then participated in harming somebody else because that was the system they learned to live inside. Haven coming home means realizing some people can love you and still be responsible for enormous damage. That one hurts. No joke. Moving on.

What a Nightmare gets 4.5 stars from me because Haven Powers going from “I need to make myself smaller so everyone feels safe around me” to “perhaps everyone should have considered why I was angry in the first place” was exactly the kind of female-rage horror spiral I wanted. I could have used more Winter and a little more room around the final explosion of revelations, but I was completely invested in watching this woman dig up everything Friendship buried and discover that calling a girl a nightmare for long enough may have unforeseen consequences. You wanted her quieter. Congratulations. She can kill people in her sleep now.

Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC and for sending me to Friendship, Texas, where the smiles are polite, the family secrets are radioactive, and I would personally be changing my name, blocking everyone, and sleeping exclusively in twenty-minute supervised increments. Haven, I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs, but somebody please get this woman a therapist who offers emergency appointments after REM sleep.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf @ 50%

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the arc!

unfortunately, this is a miss for me. I was so stoked for this one. I was expecting horror, drama, psychic powers, and perhaps a sprinkle of murder.

there are sooo many references to this "locked box" that it could be a drinkin game. by 50% in, we had FINALLY opened it to one memory. okurr. it is then implied Haven can see into others' memories while they slept. too bad I never got to find out if this is true, bc it was too slow.

if you LOVE world building in a very boring way, you may enjoy this. personally, I don't need long descriptions of a small TX town. I already know they're homophobic and problematic. spare me & get to the good stuff.

I did end up jumping ahead to the last chapter(s) to see if it was a fun enough ending for me to continue, and it was not. happily DNFing and moving on to my next read.

[alysbookclub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable, loved the concept and the writing was fluid. Really liked the character building and the reveals made sense.

[Courtney Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Source: gifted arc from Berkley

Cry Rating: Level 0 (no tears)

My Thoughts:
This book had a lot of elements that I really adored but it was very heavy and at times difficult to read. There are a lot traumatic experiences Haven has been through and is forced to revisit upon returning home from past abuse, to religious trauma, to family secrets. These traumas have resulted in a mysterious box that only she can see and provides her with slightly terrifying powers. I was very invested in figuring out how this box came to be and how she could move past it, but something was definitely off with the pacing I think. I don’t know there was so much build up just for so much to happen all at once and then it was over. Overall, I enjoyed it but do wish we got to see some more of the conclusion to the story.

[Nicolle · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

I really liked this! It is not a Carrie retelling, Haven (the main character) just also has powers and beef with her hometown. Her power is so interesting, kind of like a Freddy Krueger dream invader meets Venom. But believe me, EVERYONE deserved it. There was a huge twist at the end that I one hundred percent did not see coming in any way!!! I just felt the ending was a little rushed; I wish it was a bit slower and longer.

[Kurryreads (Kerry) · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

Amazing rage

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPLmdy7ua/

[Pauline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, I wanted to like this one so much, but it was a miss for me. I wanted more of the supernatural, more reckoning, more rage , and just . . . didn't get it. What started off as a promising story of a woman confronting her past and her trauma and turning it into power effectively became a whimper. For all that the synopsis promises "revenge" and a woman "finally letting her demons loose," we actually don't get very much of that at all. The book touched on dark themes (please check the trigger warnings at the end of the book), but never actually explored them, which is a shame, because I think the story would have had a much bigger impact if Faubion had done that.

I think the thing I struggled with the most here is that the story itself felt convoluted and it didn't make sense. Haven returns home to get answers, but what does she actually do to try and find those answers? We're told she wants to stop running from her family, but I never got enough tension about why. Yes, her family is clearly shitty and believed her abuser over her, but . . . what were they actually going to do to her? I never really understood the family dynamics, including why some of the members were the way they were. Buck especially gave me some whiplash. I just never really got enough character development with them.

Speaking of Haven's abuser, why doesn't he actually ever get his own comeuppance? The only thing that happened was his mother getting sick because of what Haven did. Nothing happens to Tate and he's just going to keep being abusive to younger women. Okay then.

And the box. The freaking box that's supposed to be such a powerful thing or constant presence for Haven. I thought we were going to get more insight about the box and we didn't. We didn't even really get all of those repressed memories. The big "reveal" toward the end? Like . . . okay. I felt like it didn't add to the story at all and was more of a plot device than anything else. Of all the memories we could have delved into that really would have worked into Haven's trauma, that's what we get? Meh.

Nothing really gets resolved to any satisfaction. Part of that is because the pacing is way off and a lot of stuff happens in a very short period of time, but part of that is simply because things get dropped/ignored. There were a couple of possible flirtations/romances that were hinted at that went nowhere. Potential connections with family that disappear. It kind of felt like in the end, nothing changed except somehow Haven made peace with things because Earl died. So for all the build-up, nothing really happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Faiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

What a Nightmare is an immensely gripping southern horror novel all about a dysfunctional family with dark secrets. The prose is simple without being boring, and I found myself breezing through it. It characterizes Haven a lot with her blasé crudeness amongst a bunch of fake-smiling southern conservatives trying make people think they’re your perfect Christian men and women. If you deep south imagery turned into horror, slight magical realism, and queer girls who are a little problematic, this is the book for you.

This is something I’d gladly put in the “female rage” genre as Haven is nothing if not a woman who bites back. She’s the absolute anti-thesis of the ironically named Friendship in all of its “stuck in time” conservative glory. She’s an unmarried, childless, bisexual who refuses to roll over for the abusers the town makes excuses for. A core part of this story is how institutions like church protect abusers. As well as how women can be complicit in the systematic abuse of women, like Haven’s mother or Charity Turner. While it doesn’t stray away from pointing them out as part of the problem, it’s also far kinder to them than some of the men Haven encounters. It definitely tries to be nuanced. I’m not sure how much I’m satisfied with Olympia Powers ending, since the final act is more abrupt than I’d like, but it does aim for nuance.

I think the ending is the weakest part in retrospect. The build-up is slow, which I liked as part of a horror mystery, but you’re not given a lot of time to sit with the reveals. It’s extremely chaotic, which very well might be the intention. Besides that, I would’ve liked a little more done with Winter. This isn’t a book about queerness, but it is a C-plot that didn’t feel totally wrapped up by the time we reach the end. We don’t get much insight into how Haven understands her bisexuality as someone from a very conservative area. She understands queerness as something to not do in Friendship, but I don’t know if that was another conflict with her family or an internal struggle like her abuse. I think it’s a bit of a miss opportunity that wouldn’t have taken much page time. But I digress. I probably wouldn't recommend this as "queer horror" but i'd absolutely recommend it as general mystery/horror.

[Cheyenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this! Haven Powers is now one of my favorite protagonists! The way this book deals with locking away trauma and it seeping out anyway is just so good! The small town vibes, the family with many messed up issues, the revenge! So well written! I do wish we got a little more of Haven and Winter! But I definitely get that this was more about her getting answers and finally being free than romance! I really appreciated the opportunity to read this before release

I received an eARC from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

[Raven Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a big fan of a Carrie I jumped at the chance to read this book as well as being a big fan of Faubions. Haven is a character that many can relate to as she grew up in a family she never truly belonged in. Having abilities she doesn't quite fully understand Haven returns back home to Texas to visit her sick father. As time passes tensions burn in her family's home as many truths come to light.

Thanks again to the author for the eARC

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

3.5 stars

What a Nightmare is described as “queer Carrie set in Texas” and dips its toe into many themes, such as generational trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms, cycles of violence, patriarchal abuse, and controlling religiosity. The Powers family is the quintessential God-fearing pillar of the community. Extraordinarily rich and powerful, they are a monarchical force. Earl is a tyrant that revels in being the ultimate Power. Despite Olympia’s submission, there is a sharp underlying push in it. She almost hates Haven, because her rebellion and departure are a stain on Olympia’s record. However, falling in line offers only a measure of safety, as Haven’s brothers are also trapped with Earl’s need to force them into his likeness.

The writing is expressive and conveys Haven’s warring emotions; the undercurrents and menace in her family; and the disgustingly jovial entitlement. Faubion captures the essence of compartmentalizing trauma, macro/microaggressions, and “unacceptable” traits to survive a society built on Strong Masculinity™. That said, the prose is a bit too on the nose for me, with much of the monologues stating explicitly ideas that are readily implicit. Getting beat over the head makes the book repetitive and disengaging.

While some of What a Nightmare’s execution doesn’t work for me, it’s still an interesting look into trauma, complex and toxic familial bonds, and the messiness of understanding oneself and closure.

Read Jovan’s review in its entirety here.

[Kayleigh · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

What a Nightmare took awhile to catch on for me, it drops clues as to what is really going on with Haven throughout the book but it doesn’t all come together until the end. Admittedly, I was expecting more Carrie vibes based on the cover and there are some nods but not direct parallels. Haven similarly has psychic powers contained within a “box” that almost acts as its own character throughout the book.

Haven fled her hometown and family 9 years ago and hasn’t looked back, until her brother Buck calls and says her father is sick and Haven doesn’t want him to go with the weight of what happened the night she left between them. Picture southern family, large ranch, small religious town, and a father who rules the roost.
Once back, we are faced with pushed-down rage, religious deconstruction, family expectations, and frankly, not enough feminine rage but it does get there.

I really enjoyed this type of horror book. It unraveled slowly, taking hold until you knew the whole room was going to burst. My biggest gripe is with how SLOW the first 60% of the book felt. I would have considered a DNF if this wasn’t a netgalley read and I didn’t already enjoy the author.

Publish Date: October 13, 2026
I received an advanced ebook copy of What a Nightmare from Berkeley Publishers and Netgalley in exchange for my review.

[Alissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Berkeley and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

This was a crazy ride. The book starts off strong, with an initially sympathetic main character who has a lot of snark. Her internal monologue is often funny. The plot was inventive and horrifying, and Haven’s powers were creatively imagined.

I struggled with the writing style. This book is often very overwritten, with too much use of simile. The dialogue is not very believable and the characters feel more like tropes than people. Also, Haven’s abilities were confusing, and even by the end I wasn’t sure I understood. The book eventually got to a point that I was no longer enjoying the story.

Ultimately, this book wasn’t for me, but I chalk this up to a mismatch in my taste to the author's style and to the type of book. I prefer both messaging and horror that is more subtle and this one is anything but subtle. I think it would be a good read for someone who likes their horror to be loud, subversive, and a little bit gory.

This ARC had a lot of errors, typos, grammar issues, missing words, and awkward phrasing, so I suspect it will be reworked to some degree before publication to tighten things up, which should be helpful.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc! The story centers on Haven, a woman who has spent years keeping her head down after growing up as the black sheep in a hyper-controlling small town. After a terrifying interaction with her boss, she dreams about his death, only to wake up and discover that her nightmare actually killed him in real life. Panicked and wanting to get a grip on this lethal new power, she heads back home. But facing her oppressive family and the rigid expectations of her old town only pushes her over the edge, turning her scary new ability into a weapon for payback against everyone who ever tried to crush her.

I ended up giving this 3 stars since I really loved the concept, but the actual execution fell a bit short for me. The beginning was super slow, and the overall narrative felt way too preachy. Instead of trusting the reader to connect the dots and realize that Haven's powers are rooted in her trauma as a commentary on male abuse, the story constantly spell things out and shoves the main point right in your face. That said, if you are a fan of dark stories centered on female rage and getting back at a toxic hometown, there are still plenty of cool moments to appreciate.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like I was constantly being hit over the head with the themes of this book, and I wish more of the prose let us sit with the horror rather than telling it to us. That said, this novel was still cathartic. An especially good read for the current events coming to light in the past few weeks. The violence here is extreme, but I think some readers will find it satisfying.

The ending felt rather rushed and extreme to me, but the epilogue neatly brings it all together, bringing a sense of healing. The romance, if it can really be called that, is very much on the fringes. It moves very fast and then is completely lost by the end. It made me almost wish it had not been a part of the story at all, even though I know the purpose it served. I think to make it truly impactful, the history between the two women and the angst of their reunion should have been a little deeper and more fleshed-out.

In general, I think this was an ambitious venture for an author known for contemporary romance. While this one was a bit of a miss for me personally, I'm interested to see how her horror writing might develop if she writes more.

[Blaiz Ferrel · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Now THIS was some WEIRD female rage lit, and honestly? GOOD FOR HER. 🤣👏🏼

A little peek into the horrors women have to deal with and maybeeee what we’d LIKE to do about it. 💀😂 Because sometimes being the bigger person is overrated, okay?!

And the AUDIOBOOK?! OH. MY. GOD.

The narrator REALLY brought that female rage to the front of the class! The anger, the frustration, the absolute breaking point of it all?! YOU FELT IT IN YOUR BONES. The narration made that rage hit SO much harder.

The rage? The revenge? The absolute WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?! energy? 😂🖤 This was such a wild take on what happens when a woman finally stops keeping her fire tucked away to make everyone else comfortable.

They called her a nightmare, so she became one. And honestly? LET HER COOK. 🔥🔪

Haven Powers has spent years hiding the fiery, troublemaking girl she used to be. But after a disturbing encounter with her predatory boss leads to a nightmare that comes true, Haven returns to her hometown in Texas, where old wounds and suffocating expectations are waiting. This time, she’s done playing nice, and the people who made her feel like a nightmare might just find out what that really means. 👀

[Caitlin (CMAReads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Berkley eARC
I appreciate what the author was doing here. This was a wholly original horror story focused on what so many are–the main character's trauma. Haven is called home after being gone for nine years, and while there, she must reckon with a box that kept appearing around the time bad things would happen. This book is more family drama horror. It grappled with a small, conservative, and religious town in Texas. Once she returned, Haven had to deal with a lot of repressed memories and trauma. This book took a lot of big swings. I liked how it was original and the family was so realistic. However, I had issues with the pacing and the ending. It's a slow burn, yet the ending flew so quick, I was left feeling like I wanted more in the resolution. I was left with some questions about how things worked. I would definitely try this author again in the future because her characters were so vivid and compelling, even if some are unlikeable, in this book.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebekah Faubion is a versatile author, and this shift into an adult horror novel demonstrates her talent.

This is a story of abuse, of generational trauma and how it is not only allowed to be passed on but encouraged, and that sometimes a woman has just met her limit. Haven is a shell hiding her real safe deep inside, and a return to a family she loves and hates in varying degrees.

A phone call summons her back to Friendship, TX, and even without the potentially supernatural element this would've been a fascinating exploration of dark family dynamics and the traps of small towns that are resistant if not terrified of change. If you've ever been in an abusive situation, parts of this will describe how you felt so intensively that it hurts. I had to stop reading for a minute to remind myself that it's been almost twenty years and I'm safe.

But there's also a delicious amount of furious vengeance and a different kind of closure than you'd expect. A painful and fantastic read that makes you feel like maybe women aren't screaming into the void when we remember we have each other.

[mandie ੈ♡˳ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I have thoughts about this one because I really wanted to love it more than I did.

What a Nightmare had such a creepy premise and that's what really worked for me overall. Haven comes back to Friendship after being away for several years, and between her complicated family history and the nightmares that start becoming a lot more real than they should be, I was immediately curious about what was going on.

And honestly, Haven was probably my favourite part. Watching her try to make sense of the dreams while dealing with everything waiting for her back home kept me invested. I also really liked the small town secrets, the family drama, and her relationship with Winter. There were definitely moments where I was like okayyy, NOW we’re getting somewhere.

I think my biggest issue was that the pacing didn't always work for me. There were parts that really pulled me in and had me wanting to know what would happen next, but there were also stretches where I found myself wishing things would move a little faster.

That said, I really liked the overall creepy vibe and the themes of feminine rage and confronting your past. There’s something about a woman finally being pushed too far that will always have my attention.

So, three stars from me. Not a new favourite, but I definitely didn’t regret reading it. And I’m still curious enough about Rebekah Faubion’s writing to pick up another book from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and and Berkley for this arc!

[Cas · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

What a Nightmare by Rebekah Faubion is a tale of systemic abuse, the patriarchy, and why you should believe women always. Our main character, Haven Powers is a young adult with a huge gap in her memory. This gap is manifested as her nightmare box. The story follows Haven going back home to rural Texas to find answer on her box, and just exactly what Nightmare is contained within. I really liked the idea of this book alot, I am all for women getting revenge however I feel like there are parts that could've been written better. Some of the nightmare sequences felt sloppily written and parts of it felt like it was trying to hard. That being said, I really did enjoy the concept, which is what pushed this book to a 3.5 stars.