Is there anything more exciting than adding new titles to your TBR (to be read) list? As we turn the page to the new year, here are some of the many upcoming book releases we're looking forward to in 2026.
You’ll see some familiar names along with fresh and exciting debuts. Be sure to bookmark this page and check back again as we add additional titles releasing later in the year.
If you're looking for book club inspiration that's already been published, you can check out our book club predictions from 2025, both fiction and nonfiction, plus our Fall 2025 book club book update. From our Top Books page, you can also check out what books are trending with book clubs on our website each month.
If you have a Bookclubs account, click on the links below to add the books to your Books I Want to Read shelf, or to recommend them to one of your clubs. (If you don’t have a Bookclubs account yet, it’s easy and free to get started here)
The Most Anticipated Book Club Books of 2026
The following titles are listed in order of publication date.
Woman Down by Colleen Hoover
Publication date: January 13, 2026
The perennial book club fave is back with a twisty new thriller that follows an author hunkered down in a remote lakeside cabin attempting to work on her comeback novel. When a detective shows up with disturbing news she is finally struck with inspiration, but the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.
The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara
Publication date: January 13, 2026
This highly anticipated historical novel set in nineteenth-century Tibet follows two outsiders—an Indian schoolteacher spying for the British Empire and an English “lady” explorer—as they venture into a forbidden kingdom.
My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney
Publication date: January 20, 2026
The "Queen of Twists" is back again with a psychological marriage thriller in which a woman comes back home from a run to find that her key doesn't work and that her husband claims that the strange - yet eerily similar to her - woman who answers the door is his wife.
Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
Publication date: January 20, 2026
In this tense and thrilling exploration of desire, a married woman is trapped with her lover in a hotel under siege: If she knew it would end this way, would it ever have begun?
Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy
Publication date: January 20, 2026
The author of the acclaimed memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died makes her fiction debut with this novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths we’ll go to in order to get what we want.
It's Not Her by Mary Kubica
Publication date: February 3, 2026
A tranquil family vacation is shattered when Courtney Gray hears blood-curdling screams from the lakeside cottage next door and discovers her brother and sister-in-law dead, with her niece missing. As the police descend on the resort, secrets emerge both about Courtney's family and the isolated town in this twisty, unputdownable thriller from the author of Local Woman Missing.
Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson
Publication date: February 10, 2026
From the author of The House of Eve comes this a new novel demonstrating the transcendent power of love. An American woman’s vision in post WWII Germany ties together the lives of three people: the wife of an American officer who discovers an orphanage filled with mixed race children, a Philadelphian who volunteers for the desegregated army and meets a German woman, and a girl who is given the opportunity to attend an all-white boarding school.
Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris
Publication date: February 17, 2026
In Where the Wildflowers Grow, acclaimed author of Long After We Are Gone, Terah Shelton Harris explores what it means to move beyond survival and reclaim a life worth living. After a devastating accident leads Leigh to a secluded flower farm, she discovers unexpected tenderness, community, and the possibility of healing...at least until the secrets of her past threaten it all. With its layered emotional journey and questions of identity, grief, and redemption, this novel is poised to be discussion worthy.
The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
Publication date: February 17, 2026
Historical fiction fave Kate Quinn (The Briar Club, The Rose Code) dips her toe into fantasy with this adventure novel for anyone who has ever wished they could live inside a book. Foster child Alix Watson discovers a hidden door in the Boston Public Library and meets the Librarian, who guards a fantastical hidden library. When danger arises, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby.
Kin by Tayari Jones
Publication date: February 24, 2026
From the award-winning author of An American Marriage, Kin is a profound novel about two lifelong friends whose adult lives diverge until a devastating tragedy brings them back together. Set in the American South and rich with themes of sisterhood, identity, and resilience, it’s poised to be a major book-club favourite, especially for readers who connected deeply with Jones’s earlier work. "Smart and funny and deftly profound" (Anne Patchett), this is a novel that invites rich, nuanced conversation, making it an great pick for thoughtful reading groups.
And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison
Publication date: February 24, 2026
B.K. Borison put a new spin on Sleepless in Seattle with her best-selling First-Time Caller. Her newest opposites attract romance takes inspiration from When Harry Met Sally as two competing meteorologists are forced to find common ground.
Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi
Publication date: February 24, 2026
The life of the legendary Egyptian queen is sumptuously told from her own point of view, making us revisit what we know of the storied "seductress." Saara el-Arifi peels away the myth and propaganda to tell a fully human story.
The Ghost Women by Jennifer Murphy
Publication date: February 24, 2026
Set in 1972 at a remote art academy with a dark history of witch trials, this atmospheric thriller follows Detective Lola Germany as she investigates a series of ritualistic murders at St. Luke's Institute of the Arts. When students begin turning up dead, each body carefully arranged to mirror ancient tarot cards, Lola must navigate a web of secrets involving a mysterious coven of student witches, a centuries-old monastic order, and forces that blur the boundary between past and present.
Wretch by Jeremy Wagner
Publication date: Feb 24, 2026
"If you only read one more horror novel this year, make sure this is it." —Edward Lee
Wretch is a relentless descent into crime, horror, and vengeance. A brutal unflinching thriller for fans of organized crime sagas, dark detective fiction, and monsters born in the shadows of science.
Chicago is choking under the hottest summer on record, but the true heat comes from the blood spilled on its streets. Detective Donnie Lynch trails a killer who shouldn’t exist. Mob boss Tico “The Meatgrinder” Tortellio has stepped out from the shadows of his empire with a personal vendetta to avenge his daughter—and nothing short of blood will settle the score. Both men are hunting the same man— if “man” is still the right word… The elusive killer, Derek Hoffman, is a steroid-abusing-sociopath twisted beyond recognition whose body and mind have been grotesquely transformed after his participation in a clinical trial for an experimental ED-arousal-drug called, LIBIDONAL. Hoffman has become something monstrous, a predator driven by lust, rage, and a thirst for blood. With the city becoming a killing ground for a new apex predator, Lynch and Tortellio race toward the same target. But who will reach Hoffman first? And when they do, can bullets or brutality be enough to stop him? Wretch is a brutal descent into crime, horror, and vengeance. A nightmare version of a city where justice wears many faces, and none of them are merciful.
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez
Publication date: March 24, 2026
Perennial beach read favorite Jimenez (Just For The Summer) is back with a compelling novel that explores compelling novel that explores the messy choices life can throw our way. Months ago, Larissa made what she didn't know would be a life-altering decision, choosing which guy to get a ride home with from a concert. She and Chris are now great friends, but he wasn't the one who gave her a ride and now she's dating his best friend. Standing by on the sidelines is slowly killing Chris, but making a move would destroy someone else. How can something that feels so right be absolutely impossible?
Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez
Publication date: April 21, 2026
The Olga Dies Dreaming author is back with the story of 26-year-old Alicia, who becomes captivated by her larger-than-life fashion designer neighbor, La Garza. Set in 2007 against the backdrop of a potentially life-changing presidential election and a looming once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis, Last Night in Brooklyn explores the dark compromise of the American Dream for people of color living, unknowingly, in the twilight of a cultural moment.
Somewhere Soft to Land by kai alonté
Publication date: April 21, 2026
This buzzy debut novel from a Ghanaian-American writer explores sisterhood, what it means to mother and be mothered, and what it means to be well. When magnetic Tatiana's young child suddenly passes, her best friend Dzifa rushes cross-country to help her friend prepare for the funeral, but when she arrives, she encounters family dynamics complex enough to rival her own messy origins.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Publication date: April 21, 2026
Few would suspect that 81-year-old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick has anything to hide. But she has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end. And when a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie's past start coming to light in this twisty yet humorous thriller from Sally Hepworth.
Love Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Swati Hegde
Publication date: May 12, 2026
Two lawyers find themselves working at the same office after a steamy vacation fling on the beaches of Goa, from the author of Can't Help Faking in Love and Match Me if You Can, a slow-burn, a second-chance desi romance for fans of Nisha Sharma and Abby Jimenez.
Naina Shetty is a proud workaholic, and she is gunning for a promotion at her law firm. No distractions will get in her way this time, not even the bad breakup that happened over a year ago. She brushed off her pain with a long vacation and a no-strings-attached fling with a handsome stranger, but now Naina is back to business.
Unlucky-in-love Tejas Rajput hasn’t stopped thinking about the brown-eyed beauty he met on the beaches of Goa two summers ago. He’d been looking for a rebound to get over his ex—which is why he’d agreed to keep things strictly casual, use fake last names, and respond to all personal questions with “wrong answers only.” But he didn’t think he’d fall for her, hard, only for her to get on a plane and leave.
Broken Dove by Dani Francis
Publication date: May 12, 2026
In the heart-pounding sequel to bestselling dystopian romance Silver Elite, lines will be crossed, loyalties will be tested, and the fight for the Continent is only just beginning as Wren Darlington finds herself caught in the middle of two wars: one for the fate of her home and another for the fate of her heart.
Whistler by Ann Patchett
Publication date: June 2, 2026
When fifty-three-year-old Daphne unexpectedly reunites with Eddie, her former stepfather from a brief but transformative period in her childhood, time collapses and they're determined never to be separated again. This luminous novel by the Tom Lake author explores how even fleeting connections can profoundly shape our lives, examining memory, loss, and the enduring power of being truly known by another person.
A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
Publication date: June 23, 2026
The Personal Librarian co-authors have collaborated again on this gripping historical fiction novel about two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law—a prosecutor and a madam—who team up to bring down notorious mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York.
Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead
Publication date: July 21, 2026
The two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author rounds out his Harlem trilogy with this follow-up to Harlem Shuffle and Crook Manifesto. Set in the 1980s, Whitehead paints a portrait of a city in transition, where shimmering skyscrapers rise to the heavens as displaced people huddle in abandoned tunnels below. Cool Machine roves all over the city, from Windows on the World to the Meadowlands, to show that in New York, and in the lives of Whitehead’s vivid characters, it’s what’s below the surface that reveals the truth.
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- Most anticipated nonfiction book club books of 2025
- 2025 debut author book picks
- Summer 2025 book club picks
- Fall 2025 book club picks
- Top books on Bookclubs right now
- All of our reading lists