Most Anticipated Titles of 2026
Published on January 06, 2026
By Catherine L.
Now that 2025 is wrapped up, let's look ahead! Popularity is a difficult thing to predict... usually. But these are sure to have people talking this year.
Woman Down by Colleen Hoover - January 13, 2026
Thriller
"Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage... Now, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It’s Petra’s last-ditch attempt to save her career―and herself. Then he shows up. Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out." - Publisher
Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy - January 20, 2026
Fiction
The author of I'm Glad My Mom Died releases her fiction debut. "Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved." - Publisher
My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney - January 20, 2026
Thriller
"Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife. One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying." - Publisher
Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden - January 27, 2026
Thriller
"Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. ... She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie's done being the bigger person... it's time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most." - Publisher
Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson - February 10, 2026
Historical Fiction
"Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI’s, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes. Philadelphia-born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever. In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world." - Publisher
Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman - February 10, 2026
Science Fiction
It's a new standalone novel from the author of the popular Dungeon Crawler Carl series. "All colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do was run the family ranch with his sister, maybe play a gig or two with his band, and keep his family’s aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking as long as possible. He figures it will be a good thing when the transfer gate finally opens all the way and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora. But there’s a complication. Even though the settlers were promised they’d be left in peace, Earth’s government now has other plans." - Publisher
The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - February 17, 2026
Fantasy
"From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book?Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures." - Publisher
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez - March 24, 2026
Romance
"In everyone's life, there's a split-second decision that can change everything ... For Larissa, it came when choosing who to ride home with after a concert. That night, she had no idea she'd met the perfect man. She and Chris are great friends... But she didn't choose Chris to drive her home all those months ago—she went with his best friend, and he became her boyfriend. All Chris wants is for Larissa to be happy. Standing by on the sidelines is slowly killing him, but making a move would destroy someone else. How can something that feels so right be absolutely impossible?" - Publisher
How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay by Jenny Lawson - March 31, 2026
Nonfiction
"The questions people most often ask [Jenny Lawson] are, 'How do you do it? How do you keep going even when it feels impossible? How do you keep creating?' This book is her answer. - Publisher
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer - April 21, 2026
Horror
The author of 2024's We Used to Live Here has another horror for you. "EXCITING OPPORTUNITY: Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY. ... [A]fter an endless string of failed job interviews, [Macy Mullin's] not exactly in the position to be picky. ... Besides, it’s only three days’ work. Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness. What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity." - Publisher
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout - May 5, 2026
Fiction
"Three mothers. Three secrets. One devastating scandal. Anna has always been the quiet one, the soft-spoken mother who kept her head down and her secrets close. But when she's thrown together with Maggie and Rhea on a PTA project, they begin to bond over wine and gossip, and slowly share the truths behind their picture-perfect lives. ... When the three women stumble upon a scandal the school has gone to great lengths to bury, Anna is caught in an impossible dilemma." - Publisher
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett - May 5, 2026
Historical Fiction
The author of The Help is finally back! "In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi... for women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high. Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable 'big girls' at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury, and grit. When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives." - Publisher
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune - May 5, 2026
Romance
"It's the eve of Frankie's wedding weekend, and she doesn't know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man. Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie's life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation. Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family's home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie's broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him." - Publisher
The Midnight Train by Matt Haig - May 26, 2026
Fiction
Did you love The Midnight Library? Here's another book in the same world. "When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were. For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything." - Publisher
Whistler by Ann Patchett - June 2, 2026
Fiction
It seems Ann Patchett's books never fail to become bestsellers and win prizes. "When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather... Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn't seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away... Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them." - Publisher
The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig - September 1, 2026
Romantasy
It's the sequel to The Knight and the Moth! "Aisling Cathedral is in ruins. Rodrick Myndacious, Bartholomew, and Maude Bauer are rumored to be dead—and the king has taken Sybil Delling as his bride. To show off their union and solidify his power over Traum, Benji proposes a series of tournaments throughout the hamlets. Captive and drugged, Sybil remains determined to vanquish him as she once did the Omens, even if she destroys the kingdom's faith—and herself—in the process. But then a mysterious knave rises to the top of the tournament lists, a man with no name and no memory who may just be Sybil's ticket to undoing Benji's power." - Publisher