Most Anticipated Books of 2026

2026 is full of eye-catching covers and so many hopefuls! These are some of the most anticipated books of the first part of the year and they span from swimming with massive sharks in Hawai’i to a trad-wife waking up in the 1800s to an extraordinary archeological mystery. We have nostalgia and intrigue and a flat-out thriller. What books are you most excited about? 

THE FUTURE SAINTS
The best love stories are the ones you don’t expect.

When record executive Theo meets the Future Saints, they’re bombing at a dive bar in their hometown. Since the tragic death of their manager, the band has been in a downward spiral and Theo has been dispatched to coax a new—and successful—album out of them, or else let them go.

Immediately, Theo is struck by Hannah, the group’s impetuous lead singer, who’s gone off script by debuting a whole new sound, replacing their California pop with gut-wrenching rock. When this new music goes viral, striking an unexpected chord with fans, Theo puts his career on the line to give the Saints one last shot at success with a new tour, new record, and new start.

But Hannah’s grief has larger consequences for the group, and her increasingly destructive antics become a distraction as she and her sister Ginny—her lifelong partner in crime—undermine Theo at every turn. Hannah isn’t ready to move on or prepared for the fame she’s been chasing, and the weight of her problems jeopardize the band, her growing closeness with Theo, and, worst of all, her relationship with her sister—all while the world watches closely. The Future Saints’s big break is here—if only they can survive it.

A novel about sisterhood, friendship, and the ghosts that haunt us, The Future Saints is “a mesmerizing look at grief, love, and the music industry that's so raw and emotional, you’ll want to play it on repeat.” (Laura Hankin, author of One-Star Romance).

THE SHARK HOUSE 
A haunting mystery beneath the ocean’s surface. One woman’s reckoning with the past. Long-buried secrets waiting to rise.

Hawai’i, 1998. When a string of rare shark attacks unsettles the once-peaceful Kohala coast, marine biologist Minnow Gray is called in to investigate. Known for her uncanny connection to sharks, she is the island’s best hope for uncovering why the attacks are happening—a mystery that has both the local community and the tourism industry on edge—and for determining whether the same great white still haunts the coastline.

Witness to an unspeakable tragedy involving a white shark and her own father, Minnow has carried a darkness with her ever since. She knows, deep inside, that unlocking the memories of that long-ago morning is the only way to truly heal. And as she searches for answers, the past and present collide, revealing shocking and unexpected truths that cut deep as the sea itself.
The longer she's in Hawai'i, the more she comes to see that her journey here might be as much about finding herself as finding the shark.

An atmospheric exploration of the intricate/fragile dance between humans and sharks, set against a backdrop of stunning Hawaiian landscapes and deep-sea danger, The Shark House is a tale of resilience, redemption, and the raw power of the natural world—and of the courage to face what lies within.

Dive in, if you dare.


YESTERYEAR
A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

RUINS
“Lily Brooks-Dalton's novels are rich literary feasts,” and her latest one is a sweeping, deeply resonant story about an archeologist in search of an ancient artifact that could not only change her life, but upend the story of civilization itself. (Geraldine Brooks)

Professor Ember Agni is a rising star in archeology, trying to balance an unfulfilling career in academia and a crumbling marriage, all while pursuing her true passion: unearthing a lost empire that no one else believes existed. Just as she’s about to give up on the ambitious expedition she spent a decade trying to fund, a message arrives from overseas. A former student claims to have found something extraordinary—an artifact that hints at the forgotten world lying beneath history’s tidy surface.
With vindication finally within reach, Ember risks everything for the sake of discovery and undertakes an odyssey that will either make her name or ruin her. Driven by unwavering faith in her vision of the past, she challenges the limits of her nation, her colleagues, and herself in order to exhume the missing pieces of how humanity began. But as she journeys deep into an untouched wilderness, in dogged pursuit of a dead civilization, she collides with the wreckage of her own life. On the brink of either discovery or destruction, Ember must choose who she wants to be, and to what kind of world she wants to belong.


THE MIDNIGHT SHOW
An immersive, page-turning novel about surviving as a funny woman in the male-dominated world of comedy—and what happens when the most promising female star of her generation disappears.

In the 1980s, women were not supposed to be funny. But when a group of college improv comedians gets the chance to join a new late-night show, it’s Lillian Martin who stands out. The new show was called The Midnight Show and it would air every Friday night, live from New York, and change the landscape of TV and comedy forever.

But first it would change Lillian’s and her friends’ lives. When the show becomes a runaway hit, the cast is thrown into the spotlight. Suddenly, they’re skipping the line at the city’s hottest clubs and posing on the cover of Rolling Stone. Lillian, in particular, seems destined for bigger things—until one winter night in Lower Manhattan, she vanishes, leaving nothing behind but questions. Was Lillian a victim of her own excesses? Was it a mugging gone wrong? Or could she have been killed by someone in her own inner circle?

Forty years later, Lillian’s disappearance has still never been solved. But when a budding journalist looking to examine Lillian’s story from a modern lens begins asking questions, she stirs up decades-old drama—as well as tightly-held secrets some comedy legends would much rather stay buried.

A propulsive story of fame and friendship told through a variety of media—compiled interviews, articles, transcripts--The Midnight Show takes readers behind the scenes of the cutthroat world of comedy in 1980s New York and asks if the rush of getting a laugh is all it’s cracked up to be.

THE ONE DAY YOU WERE MY HUSBAND
From the New York Times–bestselling author of Ghosted and The Love of My Life comes an unmissable emotional thriller: an up-all-night, page-turning love story with a very dark secret at its heart.

Carrie and Johan marry on a beach in Thailand only months into their whirlwind romance. Carrie, a British surgical intern, knows she’s being impulsive but is too happy to care. Then, as the wedding festivities stretch into the night, a group of armed men suddenly swarm the beach, taking Johan away. She never sees him again.

Twelve years later, Carrie is living in the English countryside with her husband, Robin, and their six-year-old twins, running a holiday cottage rental. One night, she stumbles across an online post in which she discovers that Johan escaped from Thailand years ago and has been living in Stockholm ever since. As the memories of their passionate relationship flood her, she becomes obsessed with discovering exactly what happened on their wedding day.

But just when Carrie thinks she knows what she must do, a shocking twist explodes, tearing apart everything Carrie thought she knew. The One Day You Were My Husband asks readers what—and whom—they would give up to return to a first love, and to the people they once were.

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