by Naomi
What better way to end the year 2025 than by looking forward to 2026? We’ve looked back on all our favorite books of 2025, but we’re booksellers! There are always more books to look forward to! So we asked our staff which upcoming releases they are excited about, and of course they delivered. So much so that this is only part one, covering the first three months of the new year. Keep an eye out for part two, with titles releasing later in 2026.
From highly anticipated sequels to lesser known debuts, there’s a little something for everyone. Read on for our most anticipated releases of January-March 2026, and may it be another great (reading) year for you!
We’re off to a great start in January, where Bob is curious about The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson. According to him, it seems to be a good one for those who enjoyed Lucy Rose’s The Lamb. Else has already read Arborescence by Rhett Davis, which is about a cult of people standing still long enough to turn into trees, and everything that people turning into trees means for society, the world, the planet. Very thought-provoking and awesome. She’s also ready to hand-sell The Poet Empress by Shen Tao, and she has this to say about it: “This book is dark, like, really dark. Somehow the marketing of this book seems to want to push this into the Romantasy subgenre, but I can tell you, this is not Romantasy. This book is dark, beautifully written, about a peasant girl who just wants what is best for her village and family, so she enters the contest to become a concubine to a cruel prince. Please read the trigger warnings before reading, and go in knowing this book is dark. I really liked it.” Lília can’t wait to read Such a Perfect Family by Nalini Singh, who is once again doing something very different from her usual romantic fiction.
In reply to my request about what books we’re excited about at ABC, my normally fairly stoic and subdued manager sent me “THIS ONE!!!!” I think it’s safe to say Martijn is very excited about the 18th book in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Twelve Months.
Sigrid is looking forward to Michael Pollan’s February release on consciousness, A World Appears. She finds that he always chooses interesting subjects to dive into, and tackles them in-depth. That same month, Sigrid is excited about As If by Isabel Waidner, while Damla can’t wait for people to get their hands on Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi. It’s an impressively well-written mythological story that perfectly embodies Cleopatra’s charming, self-confident voice ringing with power, wisdom (and the inevitable disappointment in society and history) with a bit of a fantasy twist.
And then it’ll be March, which is a big month for new publications! Bob had a lot of fun with Alvaro Enrigue’s previous book, You Dreamed of Empires, which was a drug-fueled fictionalized meeting between Hernan Cortes and King Moctezuma. His new book, Now I Surrender, seems to be a radical retelling of how the west was “won.” It will probably be great and also quite relevant with the current tensions at the US / Mexico border. Júlia will be picking up The Primrose Murder Society by Stacy Hackney, purely based on the amazing cover. Both Iris and myself are excited about Nobody’s Baby, the follow-up cozy scifi novella to Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite. Iris loved the first part so much, it made it into her Top 5 Books of 2025. Iris was also recommended Hell’s Heart, which is Gideon the Ninth meets Moby Dick in space, apparently, by a friend who knows her taste in books very well. Another March release is Under Water, and according to Else it is about someone who experiences two different catastrophes eight years apart: one of them the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, the other hurricane Sandy in New York City. This book is about grief, loss, marine life, and friendship. Beautifully written. Else is also a big fan of Mark Lawrence’s darker stuff, so she’s looking forward to Daughter of Crows, kicking off a new series that is said to be his darkest yet.
Speaking of series, Adrian Tchaikovsky will be releasing Children of Strife in March, which is part four in the Children of Time series. Iris had thought the series ended after the third book, so she’s very excited to see what new world this book will take her to. We’re finishing off March with Galahad and the Grail: Merlin’s Isle Vol. 1, which is a new interpretation of Galahad’s verses. Bob is a Tolkien fan and has been slowly getting in to the Arthurian Legends. He came across the author, Malcolm Guite, on YouTube, where he occasionally reads bits of Tolkien. Bob is fully convinced Guite is a real Hobbit.
For more titles releasing in 2026, check out part two! Spoiler: April will see the highly anticipated release of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, aka the book Damla and I Will Not Shut Up About.
