It’s that time again, my voyagers.
Every year, I share my top picks for the upcoming year of book releases, and if you were here last year, you know that I was a bit frustrated with the releases slated for 2025. But, I’m happy to say, the picks for 2026 look very promising. They’re a mix of many genres, and I think there might even be something in this list for everyone (considering many of us share a lot of similar taste).
So, I won’t waste anymore time with the introduction because I know we’re all anxious to see what new releases are coming out that we can all add to our TBRs.
If you’ve missed the previous posts in this yearly series, check out what books I was looking forward to in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.
16 Forever by Lance Rubin
It’s the morning of Carter Cohen’s 16th birthday, and everything’s going his way.
He’s psyched and ready to get his driver’s license, his little brother’s not hogging the bathroom, and, man, something smells good for breakfast…
But when Carter bounds downstairs, Mom bursts into tears. It happened again. It’s Carter’s 16th birthday—for the sixth time. Every time he’s supposed to turn 17, he loops back a year. His memory gets wiped clean, his body ages backward—the rest of the world moves on, just not him.
Maggie Spear, on the other hand, has been dreading this day ever since she and Carter started dating. When she spies him in the halls and he doesn’t seem to know her at all, it’s obvious that it’s over between them. She can’t be in a relationship with someone who is just going to forget her again and again. Since Carter doesn’t remember that they’re together, then it’s probably better if she just pretends that they never were.
Except Carter senses that there’s more to their story than Maggie’s letting on, and Maggie’s keeping secrets of her own—but in the process of trying to let the other go, they find themselves falling in love all over again.
With Maggie soon leaving for college and Carter’s birthday quickly coming around again, will they be able to find a forever that isn’t stuck at 16?
Filled with tender moments, silly banter, and lots of teenage angst, 16 Forever is the latest YA page-turner from New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Lance Rubin.
Release Date: January 6, 2026
I’m excited about this book because it really does take the time loop trope and flip it on its head. We’re not seeing the same day repeating—we’re seeing how one boy’s life (and his family’s life) are constantly thrown into upheaveal every year when he doesn’t age the way he’s supposed to. And that’s interesting for so many reasons that a repeating day is not.
Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean
From the New York Times bestselling author of Tokyo Ever After comes a laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving rom-com about a girl who starts receiving letters from the love of her life—writing to her from years in the future.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve loved you from the beginning.”
Seventeen-year-old Emma Nakamura-Thatcher doesn’t believe in forever love, not after her parents’ heartbreaking divorce. Which is why, when she attends the summer festival of Tanabata with her grandfather, she wishes for proof that love is real—and that it can last.
Emma doesn’t expect anything to come of her wish until she discovers a note from someone claiming to be her true love . . . contacting her from the future. Someone has to be pranking her, right? But as more notes pour in, Emma is forced to admit the mysterious writer knows her in a profound way, which can only mean one thing: This is real. Someone she knows now is actually contacting her from the future.
But who?
Is it Ezra, the absurdly popular musical genius? Theo, the literal boy next door, who knows Emma best? Or Colin, the overly confident, overly handsome, overly rich kid she meets when she starts cleaning his mega-mansion?
As Emma tries to uncover the identity of the letter writer, the mystery turns into something greater: a process of self-discovery. In the end, Emma will learn the key to making love last—and how it’s the point of, well, everything.
Release Date: February 3, 2026
I don’t read a lot of books like this, and I can’t even pinpoint why. It sounds so intriguing, it has potential for a really good character arc, and the romance sounds swoony and filled with the perfect amount of yearning. That being said, I’m also trying to intentionally read more asian authors because I find their stories so well-written and the way they weave their cultures into their stories is nothing less than brilliant.
If We Never End by Laura Taylor Namey
You’ve Reached Sam meets If I Stay in this epic romance spanning life and death, from New York Times bestselling author Laura Taylor Namey.
Sylvie Castellano is used to goodbyes. Every summer, her friends leave to vacation at faraway beaches and her parents jet off to work on a luxury yacht, dumping her with her tia Vivian. Sylvie may love her aunt Viv, but just once, she wishes the summer held a big adventure for her, too.
When Sylvie scores the thrift find of a lifetime—a vintage gold watch worth thousands—she thinks maybe her luck is turning around. Then a turn of the watch’s dial summons a ghost boy. With no idea who he is or why he’s attached to the watch, and only his name to go off of—Penn—Sylvie offers to help him unravel the mystery of his death.
Sylvie’s summer is suddenly full of road trips, beach bonfires, and ferris wheel rides as she and Penn try to piece together the life he lost. But soon, Sylvie begins to imagine a future together—a future they can never have. Then a devastating discovery brings everything crashing down. The watch’s secrets extend far beyond Penn, and it’s not only Sylvie’s heart at risk, but her life.
Release Date: March 3, 2026
Honestly, you had me at You’ve Reached Sam. Anything that is ever comped with that book pretty much becomes an immediate need-to-read, and I have every bit of faith that this will live up to the hype (or I shall be devastated forever). This also just has this innate We Were Liars tone to it that I can’t help but adore, so I’m very excited to read this one.
In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer
A gripping speculative romance about one girl saving her first love’s life by falling for the last person she ever should – his best friend.
Nieve Monroe is devastated after her boyfriend Carter dies saving her from drowning. Even worse she blames herself for his death . . . and so does his best friend, Max. He was there with them on that fateful day, and he’s never liked Nieve.
Unable to pull herself from her grief and wanting to hide from the accusation in his eyes, Nieve goes to stay with her grandmother, who has always had strange stories to tell of uncanny happenings, of magic and make believe. The next morning, Nieve wakes up on the first day of college, the year before.
This time she plans to make sure Carter never follows her into that river. She’ll do everything in her power to keep him safe, even if it means losing him in other ways. But the more distance she puts between her and Carter, the closer she gets to Max, drawn to him in ways she never expected.
But is she betraying Carter if the only way she can save him is to move on? And can she ever forget her past to embrace her future?
Kristin Dwyer’s In Time With You is a heartbreaking story of first love, loss, and one chance to change everything.
Release Date: March 24, 2026
This is essentially my dream novel. I genuinely believe this author woke up and realized she needed to write a book for Bree Dawn because I cannot tell you anything I don’t love about this blurb. Grief representation? Love. Desire to save your love? Adore. Falling for his best friend while trying to not fall for your first love? I’m already sobbing. If there’s an auto-buy on this list, it’s In Time With You.
The Gravewood by Kelly Andrew
IS IT LOVE . . . OR IS IT BLOODLUST?
Shea Parker has lived her entire life in the shadow of the Gravewood – a deadly forest that’s cut her town off from the world. With resources dwindling, she’s forced to ration her hearing aid batteries. When her stash runs out, she’ll be left in silence.
Her only hope is Oliver Lysander, the volatile leader of the vampires who rule the Gravewood. Their deal is simple: she gives him her blood, he brings her batteries. No lines crossed. Nothing personal.
Until Shea’s best friend is lured into the Gravewood, and her brother Asher Thorley returns from the frontlines, willing to expose Shea’s darkest secrets to get his sister back.
Ever the opportunist, Lysander offers a new bargain: if Asher kills his vampire rival, he’ll help find the missing girl. And if Shea agrees to Turn, he’ll cure her ailing mother.
But every deal pulls her closer to Lysander – and to becoming a monster herself.
Release Date: April 7, 2026
There’s a lot going on in this blurb, so I’m slightly hesitant, but again, she had me at vampires (you might sense a trend here with what makes me like a book lol). I’ve also got two other books by this author on my TBR, so I have a feeling if I like her writing once I finally read one of them, she’ll likely be an auto-buy author for me.
Maimed by Avery Timmons
Faerie Prince Exodus just wants to live a quiet life—but unfortunately, as the Autumn Court heir who holds the rare magical gift of mental manipulation, a quiet life is the last thing he’ll get. Even though he dreads the day he will become King and be responsible for his younger siblings and an entire kingdom, Exodus goes through the motions to appease his father, including agreeing to court the seemingly perfect princess of the Spring Court. But when Exodus meets Azalea—the Courtless Fae assassin anonymously assigned to kill him—he finds himself caught in a forbidden love affair, all the while trying to balance his responsibilities.
Six years after Exodus abruptly ends their relationship without explanation, Azalea is hired by Exodus’ father for a job with a price too good to turn down. All she has to do is kill the Summer Court King—and live under the same roof as her ex-lover while she plans to do so. Her one goal is to complete the job while ignoring her lingering feelings and get out, but what she doesn’t expect is to not only find herself giving in to her feelings for Exodus, but to uncover secrets that will threaten not only their second chance at love, but her life.
Release Date: April 7, 2026
I will at some point buy every book by Avery because she is an absolute darling, so this automatically went on my 2026 TBR without a single thought (although the assassin/fae love affair definitely didn’t hurt anything). Besides just adoring this author, I also adore everything about this blurb. The fae boy who doesn’t want his planned future? Slay. The assassin girl who clearly still has feelings for her ex? Even bigger slay. Sign me up for this wild ride as soon as it’s out.
Gods & Comics by Kat Cho
New York Times bestseller Kat Cho returns with a fresh contemporary, fantasy romance about a teen whose life is upended when the gods in her anonymous viral web comic inspired by a forgotten Korean myth come to life and the hero falls in love with her.
Seventeen-year-old junior class vice president Grace Bak has her entire future all mapped out with plans to become a doctor like her parents. But the weight of Grace’s own daunting expectations leads to debilitating panic attacks that have made her a virtual outcast at school, even to her longtime friend and crush. To make matters worse, her grandmother and only real support system has just died. Halmeoni was the glue that kept Grace’s little family together, especially after she and her dad lost her mother to cancer when Grace was too little to have many memories of her. To cope with the grief of another loss, Grace starts a webcomic inspired by the Korean myths her halmeoni used to tell her as a child.
In Sun God, Grace spins the tale of Korean god Haemosu and his love Yuhwa, but with a twist—the two gods are trapped in the bodies of teenagers and, worst of all, cursed to attend high school. Grace never expected her comic to go viral, but it has, and the new fandom has somehow conjured the real Haemosu. Now it’s up to Grace to get him back home. But when she starts to fall for Hae, sending him home is the last thing she wants to do. More troubling, Hae isn’t the only god to suddenly reappear. Hae’s sworn enemy—also brought back to the mortal realm by Grace’s comic—is set on destroying Hae, all while infecting humanity with a deadly disease.
As an epic battle between gods looms, Hae is without his powers, so it may fall to Grace to fight back against a vengeful god hell-bent on punishing anyone who gets in his way.
Release Date: April 21, 2026
I read one book by Kat Cho—Once Upon a K-Prom—and now I’m a forever fan. I still have to read the spinoff of that book, but this just sounds so cool. I’m not the biggest consumer of webcomics, but I do love them, so this is already a very intriguing premise. The addition of anxiety representation really just topped it off for me.
Last Kiss of Summer by Jessica M. Felleman
A Walk to Remember meets Everything We Never Said in this heartbreaking and swoony YA romance about a girl whose summer of love takes a devastating turn.
When Sera Watkins and her family arrive at their summer house on Cape Cod, she has one goal in mind: protect her heart from the boy who broke it, her next-door neighbor, Luke Tisdale. The problem is, Luke still has a piece of her heart—literally. When Sera received a new heart as a baby, the healthy valves of her old heart were given to Luke. Forever bonded, Luke and Sera grew up together, spending sun-soaked days swimming at their secret beach and painting at art camp.
Then, two summers ago, their friendship almost turned into something more. Key word: almost. Because one fateful night, everything changed. Sera’s health took a turn for the worse. A family secret sent Luke spiraling. And they weren’t there for each other when it mattered the most.
Now, Sera is ready for a fresh start, which means no more pining over the boy next door. But Luke has grown up a lot since she’s seen him, and the chemistry she felt two summers ago? It’s still there. Sera isn’t sure she’s brave enough to risk it all again, but when she gets some difficult news, she realizes there’s no time to waste. Maybe it’s finally Luke and Sera’s moment, their chance to enjoy the sweet kiss of summer together—before it’s too late.
Release Date: April 28, 2026
This is giving me all the lovely sick-kids-in-love trope that I loved so much in high school, so it already has a lot of nostalgic notes that I adore. I have such a weak spot for young adult summer romances, and I doubt this will be any exception. I cannot wait for summer so I can curl up by our pool and read this.
Meet Me at Midnight by Brianna Bourne
If I Stay meets Taylor Swift’s Midnights album in this breathtaking love story about a girl who sees the same boy every night in her dreams.
Every night at midnight, time stops and Aria wakes up somewhere she’s never been: under a sparkling waterfall in Bali, in the romantic Italian countryside, on a moonlit path between towering sequoias. And every time, there’s a boy who may be even dreamier.
As they are drawn to one another, midnight after midnight, Aria knows in her heart there must be a reason why . . . and if she gives in, their connection might be more than she could have ever dreamed of.
A truly timeless love story with a twist that will stay in your heart, Meet Me at Midnight is destined to be a classic epic romance.
Release Date: June 30, 2026
This blurb is so mysterious, and I kind of love that. A lot of blurbs give away too much of the plot for my taste, so I like that this one just kind of teases only enough to get my attention and then looks like it’ll leave the writing to stand up for itself to hold my attention.
The Season of Light and Darkness by Jillian Cantor
A girl is woken early from her cryogenic slumber to find the authoritarian rule her family had hoped to escape is still very much in effect in this unforgettable young adult dystopian thriller perfect for fans of Divergent and The Handmaid’s Tale.
In the months since a fascist dictator was elected president, the United States has been turned upside down. Dissenters are deemed terrorists, including sixteen-year old Ellie Jacobs’s family.
To escape persecution, the four of them—Ellie, her younger brother Scott, and their parents—decide to freeze themselves cryogenically for ten years in her father’s lab. In ten years, things will be better. They have to be.
But the government discovers the lab after only three years and thaws Ellie early. She awakens, completely alone, to a nightmare of a strange new world and is told the rest of her family didn’t survive. Suddenly, she must abandon everything she knows to go to through “ReAdmittance” and become “Initiated.” Ellie is terrified…until her boyfriend, Ryan, now a nineteen-year-old Initiated soldier, shows up and tells her everything will be fine, that she should trust the good people around her.
But Ellie isn’t sure if she can still trust Ryan.
What Ellie doesn’t know is that Scott never went through with the freeze. He ran away and has joined a band of teenage resistance fighters living in the mountains. No longer her “younger” brother, he’s now sixteen just like her. When Scott learns Ellie has been thawed early, he decides he must risk everything to save her before the brainwashing begins.
Together with other brave rebel teens, Ellie and Scott must navigate this terrible new world to find their way back to each other, before they lose everything—including who they are.
Release Date: August 18, 2026
This is one of those blurbs that spoils way more of the plot than I’d like (sort of like every trailer you’ve seen in the last two years), but I still have a lot of hope that this will match the hype it has in my brain. I think the plot is genius, and the comps sound promising, so I’m totally willing to give this one a try.
Blood of Silver by Allie Nguyen
A RICH, DARKLY WHIMSICAL FANTASY WITH A TOUCH OF HORROR AND A SLOW-BURN ROMANCE.
Linh’s mother was just buried this morning, and the guests are already clinking their glasses. At the funeral, Linh is visited by a strange boy who hints at secrets about her mother’s past and urges her to follow.
Desperate to learn more about Mum and intrigued by this boy who stirs vague memories from her childhood, Linh is thrust into another world—Ebrirene, a realm governed by six ancient magics: light, fire, earth, water, nature, and space—where the mysterious boy, Elior, happens to be Crown Prince. Here, Linh learns that her mother was a space mage and a princess who defended the kingdom from vicious demons by sealing the portal they came through, and with the seal weakening, the Crown believes Linh possesses the same space magic that can save Ebrirene.
But just when Linh’s hatched a plan to help the kingdom and get back home, somebody enters her into the annual Tournament at the Academy for mages, and this year, it’s deadlier than ever before. As Linh’s power grows, so too does her suspicion. Caught in a web of court intrigue and a dangerous attraction to the prince, Linh must fight for her own survival or surrender to the monsters that might be closer to her than she thinks.
Release Date: November 10, 2026
This sounds like the author wanted to create a blend of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Mortal Instruments, and I’m honestly so ready for that mashup. It has all the vibes of those 2010 fantasy series’ that we all loved, and I think it has some real potential to become a popular fantasy (as long as it doesn’t get in over its head).
Let’s Talk!
What 2026 releases are you most excited about? Do you have any of these books on your TBR? Which one are you going to buy as soon as it’s released? Did you read a lot of new releases this year? Let’s talk all things new and upcoming releases in the comments below!
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