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! We asked our staff what upcoming releases they are excited about, and of course they delivered. So much so that this is part two, covering April-December of this year. You can find part one here.
From highly anticipated sequels to lesser known debuts, there’s a little something for everyone. Read on for our most anticipated releases of April-December 2026, and may it be another great (reading) year for you!
In April I finally, finally get to put This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews on our shelves, which is by far my most anticipated release of 2026. I was lucky enough to read an ARC (I’ve actually read it twice already). This book has been on my mind every day since I read it, and I managed to make it my colleagues’ problem also. Damla would like to warn everyone in advance that she will be completely insufferable when this books comes out, because she will be recommending it to EVERYONE. It is an awesome portal fantasy that has everything you would be looking for in a fantasy book (think: political intrigues, heists, badass characters, and high stakes), done really really well. Lília also adds a recommendation for This Kingdom.
Sigrid is curious about what will happen to a trad wife and her values when she finds herself in 1805, with her children and her husband, in Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. April will also bring us Lady Chaos, the last book in the Sun Chronicles by Kate Elliott, and Else is very much looking forward to how this fun, high paced space opera will end. Damla has been getting more into cozy sci-fi stories, and Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer is a post-apocalyptic one that channels a bit of the magic of A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers and The Wild Robot by Peter Brown.
Maggie O’Farrell has a new release scheduled for 2026, Land. The publication date is confusing, but it’ll be in Sophie’s grabby hands in either April or June! All of O’Farrell’s titles have been Staff Choices at one point. Sophie just loves her writing style; she could write the phone book in her particular way and Sophie would read it.
Moving on to May, we’ve got another space opera in The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. Else loved the Green Bone Saga, and of course space operas are her one weakness. One of Lília’s favorite authors, Nalini Singh, is concluding her Guild Hunter series with Archangel’s Eternity, which Lília calls a worthy conclusion. Damla and Iris are looking forward to the new entry in the Murderbot series, Platform Decay. They just love everything about this series!
One of Sophie’s favorite authors, Ann Leckie, will be publishing Radiant Star. Else said (and Sophie agrees): A NEW BOOK BY ANN LECKIE SET IN THE WORLD OF THE IMPERIAL RAADCH. I REPEAT. NEW ANN LECKIE!! She absolutely loves anything Ann Leckie writes, especially her Imperial Raadch world (but also Raven Tower is amazing and often overlooked!) and we are getting a new standalone book set in this world. Sophie would live there if she could, even though they drink tea all the time. Lastly, for May, Sigrid is currently reading Canon by Paige Lewis, and so far so good!
July will bring The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy Brigitte Knightley. This is the conclusion to the Dearly Beloathed duology, and one of the books I myself am most excited about. The cover is gorgeous, and I have very high expectations. Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst will also be published this month, Júlia recently finished The Echanted Greenhouse from the same author, and it was a lovely read. One of the side characters is now getting her own story and Júlia can’t wait to dive into this charming universe again. Damla was caught by surprise by Arcana Academy by Elise Kova, with its charm and fascinating world built around tarot cards. She is looking forward to the sequel, Prince of Swords, and all the angst and power waiting within.
Jouke is hoping to start up his and Júlia’s Detective Agency again, so that they can read Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley in September.
In October, Damla is finally getting her wish! She is perpetually in a state of anticipating V.E. Schwab’s books (even before they are written) so obviously Victorious is at the top of her list. After eight years, we finally get a new book in the Villains series (which Damla thought was a duology, but now has become a surprise trilogy), and she is so excited to see the final chapter to this dark, twisted series with its reluctant antiheroes and god complexes.
It really is a big year for Sophie, because in November the third of her favorite authors is coming out with Code and Codex. Yoon Ha Lee is such an interesting writer! Not everyone’s cup of tea but definitely Sophie’s. She loves his incredible imagination, his attention to the little people, and his very diverse characters. This new book will feature forbidden languages and the Basilisk, who has been asleep for 1000 years…
Lastly, in December, the second book in The Evermore Trilogy by Julie Soto will be published. There is no title yet, but I am ready for it!
There will be lots and lots more exciting books in 2026, so which one are you looking forward to?
