26 of My Most Anticipated Books for 2026

The Missed Connection Tia Williams out June 16th

Sasha Cruz is a high-powered casting agent who’s great at finding perfect matches except for herself. Relationships feel like a distraction until a chance encounter with a brooding Italian stranger on a flight to Paris leaves her convinced she’s met her soulmate and lost him. Determined to track down Seat F, Sasha launches a global search that accidentally ropes in her entire company. As coworkers hunt for the mystery man and find unexpected love of their own, Sasha hires a swoony private detective, only to discover that chemistry cannot always be cast.

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The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave 1/6

Five years after Owen vanished, Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter Bailey have rebuilt their lives in Southern California, finally learning to trust and feel safe again. But when Owen suddenly reappears at Hannah’s art exhibition, it shatters their fragile peace and puts them back in danger. Forced on the run, Hannah and Bailey must confront the secrets they tried to leave behind while racing to survive. As the past closes in, Hannah risks everything to protect the girl she loves and discovers that hope for answers, healing, and even a second chance with Owen may still be within reach.

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Anatomy of an Alibi By Ashely Elston 1/13

Everyone at Chantilly’s Bar is captivated by glamorous out-of-towner Camille Bayliss, but the woman in red heels is really Aubrey Price. Camille’s life with her powerful lawyer husband looks perfect from the outside, yet she suspects he is hiding dangerous secrets and tracking her every move. Aubrey, haunted by a crime from her past, believes Benjamin Bayliss holds the key to the truth. Together they switch places for one night to spy and uncover answers. By morning, Ben is dead and only one woman has an alibi. One mistake could destroy them both.

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Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke 4/7

Natalie’s picture-perfect farmhouse life has made her an influencer superstar, even if the rustic charm is staged by nannies, producers, and hidden appliances. Her followers see an ideal womanhood and she is building an empire from the illusion. Then she wakes up in a version of her life that is brutally real. Electricity is gone, her children are feral, and her pampered husband is suddenly a hardened farmer. Forced to chop wood and survive off the land, Natalie realizes this is no fantasy. Whether time travel, reality show, or divine punishment, escape becomes her only goal.

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The Re-Do List By Denise Williams 1/27

After a very public breakup, Willow wants to redo the milestones she shared with her high school sweetheart. While dog-sitting for her brother during his deployment, she creates a “Re-Do list” and finds unexpected confidence with his best friend, Deacon. He promised to protect her and keep his distance, but helping Willow reclaim her firsts soon blurs into something deeper. As their connection grows, both know her time in town is limited and Deacon must choose between loyalty to his closest friend and the woman he is falling for. Can second chances lead to a lasting love?

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The Night We met By Abby Jimenez 3/24

One split-second choice after a concert changed Larissa’s life forever. She didn’t ride home with Chris, the man who would become her perfect match, but with his best friend, who became her boyfriend. Now Larissa and Chris are inseparable as friends, co-parenting a chaotic rescue Yorkie, swapping book recommendations, and judging bread, yet pretending their connection is only platonic. Chris wants nothing more than her happiness, even if it breaks his heart to stay silent. Trapped by loyalty and timing, they must face the painful question of how something that feels so right can also be completely out of reach.

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The Art of Loving You By Natasha Bishop 4/14

After the death of her mentor Tanya, model-turned-influencer Dani Jenkins is forced back into the orbit of Micah Wright, the artist who once shattered her heart. Dani keeps romance at arm’s length, but Tanya’s final wish sends the former lovers on a scavenger hunt road trip that reopens old wounds and sparks they never truly extinguished. Micah is determined to prove he will not fail her again, while Dani must decide whether to risk everything on love once more. As miles pass and tensions rise, they discover that healing may require facing the past head-on.

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Our Perfect Storm By Carly Fortune 5/7

Frankie and George have been inseparable since childhood, clashing as fiercely as they care about each other. But on the eve of Frankie’s wedding, their friendship hangs by a thread. When her fiancé abruptly leaves her with only a note, Frankie is devastated. Instead of letting her hide at home, George convinces her to take the honeymoon anyway with him. For one week in the wild beauty of Tofino, they set out to heal a broken heart and salvage a lifelong bond. But buried secrets and long-suppressed feelings threaten to change everything they thought they were saving.

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Score By Kennedy Ryan 5/19

Verity Hill never stopped being haunted by her first love, Wright “Monk” Bellamy, while Monk has spent more than a decade carrying the wreckage of their painful college breakup. Now fate throws them back together as collaborators on a major Harlem Renaissance biopic, with Verity writing the script and Monk composing the score. With awards buzz already building, the project could launch them to new heights, if they can survive working side by side. Old wounds, unresolved betrayals, and undeniable chemistry threaten to derail everything, forcing them to decide whether the past will destroy them or finally give them a second chance at love.

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Half His Age By Jennette Mccurdy 1/20

Waldo is a restless, searching young woman who feels unseen by nearly everyone in her life except her creative writing teacher, Mr. Korgy. Drawn to his passion for art and storytelling and the depth of his experience, she fixates on the connection they share and the way he seems to truly recognize her. The novel explores longing, obsession, and the blurred lines between admiration and desire, capturing the ache of wanting something you cannot fully explain. It is an intense, provocative coming-of-age story about being hungry for meaning in a world that rarely looks back

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The Seven Daughters of Dupree By Nikesha Elise 1/27

In 1995, fourteen-year-old Tati sets out to uncover the identity of her father, but her mother Nadia and grandmother Gladys refuse to share the past, including why Gladys fled Land’s End, Alabama, decades earlier. As Tati searches for answers, she uncovers the hidden history of the Dupree women, from 1917 to 1980, where passion, secrecy, and betrayal shaped each generation. Bound by a mysterious curse that ensures they only bear daughters, the family traces its pain and resilience back to an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.

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Kin By Tayari Jones by 2/24

Motherless daughters Vernice and Annie grow up as inseparable neighbors in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, but destiny pulls them onto radically different paths. Guided by a formidable aunt, Vernice escapes to Spelman College, where she enters a rarefied world of ambition, privilege, and inequality among powerful Black women. Annie, abandoned and consumed by the search for the mother who left her, follows a far more dangerous road filled with love, risk, and survival. As their lives diverge, both women confront how loss shapes identity and how the bonds of girlhood endure even when everything else falls apart

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The Natural Way of Things By Charlotte Wood 3/10

A group of women wake from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a decaying desert compound, forced into brutal labor under the watch of two cruel guards. With no memory of how they arrived, they slowly uncover the chilling truth linking them all: each was involved in a sexual scandal with a powerful man. As weeks stretch into months and hope of rescue fades, the women realize survival depends not on outside help, but on their own courage, solidarity, and will to fight back

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Lake Effect by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeny 3/10

In 1977 Rochester, New York, Nina Larkin’s quiet suburban life is shaken when she confronts the emptiness of her marriage and begins a risky affair with a prominent neighbor—just as her teenage daughter Clara is falling in love for the first time. The scandal fractures both families and leaves Clara deeply wounded. Decades later, Clara is a successful New York food stylist still haunted by that summer, until a family wedding draws her back home and forces a life-altering reckoning. Lake Effect is a sharp, compassionate novel about desire, betrayal, and the complicated bonds between mothers and daughters

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Last Night in Brooklyn By Xochitl Gonzalez 4/21

In spring 2007, twenty-six-year-old Alicia Canales Forten feels trapped by a life already mapped out—living at home, planning a wedding, and following her mother’s expectations. A night out in Fort Greene changes everything, drawing her into Brooklyn’s intoxicating creative scene. From her window, Alicia becomes mesmerized by La Garza, a flamboyant rising fashion designer whose legendary parties symbolize the freedom she craves. When her wealthy banker cousin moves nearby, Alicia is pulled deeper into both men’s dazzling but dangerous worlds, risking the future she thought she wanted.

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Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour 8/4

New Orleans, 1944. Odette Honore has always stood apart from her glamorous Creole sisters, dreaming of love and a life as an artist. Only with her cousin Delphine can she share her secret: her love for women, while Delphine hides her own forbidden romance. In their hidden garden, they imagine a future of freedom and passion. But five years later, Odette is a widowed mother in Los Angeles, and the cousins have drifted apart. When Delphine reaches a breaking point, Odette faces a devastating choice—one that could hold her family together or tear them apart.

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American Hagwon By Min Jin Lee 9/29

Spanning schools, churches, salons, and storefronts across Southern California, American Hagwon follows the Koh family after betrayal and the 1997 Asian financial crisis shatter their middle-class life in Korea. John and Helen immigrate with their children in a desperate bid to rebuild, only to discover that their hard-earned status means little in America. As friends and rivals weave in and out of their lives, the Kohs cling to an almost sacred belief in education as salvation. Min Jin Lee’s panoramic novel explores family, sacrifice, and the immigrant faith that the next generation will finally thrive.

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Rites of the Starling By Devney Perry 4/7

Calandra’s five kingdoms teeter on the brink of destruction, and after a devastating attack, she is separated from the man she loves. Lost, hunted, and tasked with protecting a little girl, she must rise as the Guardian. One fateful night of death, monsters, and shocking truths tests her courage and reveals the depths of her strength. Pressured to be queen, spy, or sacrifice, Calandra faces a choice: embrace her destiny, uncover hidden secrets, and wield her power to save the realm—and the man she loves. In a world of fear, she must confront the monster within.

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Fury Bound By Sable Sorensen 5/5

Against all odds, Meryn Cooper has inherited the crown—and a kingdom on the brink of war. With her bonded direwolf Anassa and loyal allies, she must navigate a fractured Nocturna, where nobles, commoners, and the Bonded all question her rule. Her younger sister, Saela, faces danger, and Meryn finds an unexpected ally in Stark Therion, the dark Alpha whose loyalty and presence both challenge and captivate her. As political intrigue mounts and shadows stir in her dreams, Meryn must fight to protect her kingdom—and her heart—from the enemies closing in on every side.

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Broken Dove By Dani Francis 5/12

After exposing her cover as a double agent, Wren Darlington finds refuge behind allied lines, turning her focus to aiding the Uprising against the Primes. But trust is fragile on the Mod base, and Wren worries that her lover and former commander, Cross Redden, may be hiding secrets that could jeopardize everything. A reunion with her former friend and operative, Grayson Blake, further complicates her mission. As the war between Mods and Primes escalates, Wren must navigate shifting loyalties, hidden agendas, and the brutal realities of conflict, confronting who she fights for—and who she’s willing to lose.

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The Knave and the moon by Rachel Gillig 9/1

With Aisling Cathedral in ruins and her allies presumed dead, Sybil Delling is trapped as the king’s drugged bride while Benji stages brutal tournaments to cement his rule over Traum. Refusing to surrender, Sybil plots to shatter the kingdom’s blind faith—even at the cost of her own soul. Hope flickers when a nameless, memory-less knave rises through the ranks, a living wildcard who could undo Benji’s power. In a realm where history endlessly repeats, Sybil must decide whether the only way to destroy the Stonewater Kingdom is, paradoxically, to save it.

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Who’s Watching Shorty by Reshonda Landfair 2/3

Reshona Landfair, known as “Jane Doe” during R. Kelly’s trial, was the 14-year-old girl at the center of the child pornography video that helped secure his 30-year prison sentence. In Who’s Watching Shorty?, Reshona recounts her story in her own words, revealing how family, industry insiders, and authorities failed to protect her. She shares the trauma of believing in his love, keeping his secrets, and surviving his control. More than a memoir of survival, it is a powerful, empowering account that gives voice to victims, transforms Jane Doe into Reshona Landfair, and offers courage to generations to come

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On Morrison by Namwali Serpell 2/17

On Morrison by Namwali Serpell offers a fresh, intimate way to read Toni Morrison beyond the myth of her public genius. Blending Serpell’s perspective as both an award-winning novelist and a professor, the book explores Morrison’s novels, criticism, poetry, and drama through elegant close readings and cultural context. The result is accessible yet rigorous—a master class in Morrison’s experimental craft and in how to read great literature itself. It’s a dynamic conversation between two Black women artists that deepens our understanding of one of America’s most essential writers.

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Black Single Mother Jamilah Lemieux 3/10

In Black. Single. Mother., Jamilah Lemieux brings her trademark wit, candor, and cultural insight to the realities of Black single motherhood. Blending personal essays with sharp social analysis and twenty-one intimate first-person testimonies, she explores the uncertainty, resilience, and radical love that define life for women too often maligned as “baby mamas.” Both fiercely honest and deeply affirming, the book reframes the American matriarch as a figure worthy of celebration, care, and respect—while igniting a long-overdue conversation about community, visibility, and self-acceptance.

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Phases A Memoir By Brandy 3/31

Discovered singing in a Mississippi church, Brandy became a star before she was sixteen—platinum albums, a hit sitcom, and a history-making turn as TV’s first Black Cinderella. But behind the flawless image and nickname “The Vocal Bible,” the pressure of fame took a heavy toll. In this deeply personal memoir, Brandy finally tells the full story of her meteoric rise, private struggles, and hard-won self-discovery. Tracing the highs and lows of life in the spotlight, she reflects on becoming her truest self—not just as a pop icon, but as a woman, mother, and artist.

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Everybody’s Fly By Fab 5 Freddy 3/10

Everybody’s Fly traces the extraordinary life of Fab 5 Freddy, a cultural architect who helped carry hip-hop from the streets of New York to the global mainstream. From turning graffiti into fine art and connecting Basquiat to downtown creatives, to bringing rap to MTV and inspiring Blondie’s “Rapture,” Freddy didn’t just witness history—he made it. Spanning New York’s creative explosions from the 1970s through the 1990s, this memoir is a fast-paced portrait of an artist whose gift was bridging worlds and making underground culture impossible to ignore.

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Aresenio A Memoir By Aresenio Hall 4/7

In this candid memoir, Arsenio Hall recounts his unlikely rise from a Cleveland childhood—where he hosted basement talk shows—to redefining late-night television with The Arsenio Hall Show. Along the way, he learned from Richard Pryor, bonded with icons like Eddie Murphy and Prince, and conducted groundbreaking interviews with figures from Tupac Shakur to Bill Clinton. Hall also reveals the personal costs of fame and the surprising decision to walk away at his peak. A lively behind-the-scenes portrait, the book celebrates a trailblazer who brought Black culture into America’s living rooms and changed TV forever.

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