our most anticipated book releases of 2026 | new books to look forward to!!!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Hello.

[00:00:02]Welcome back. I'm John.

[00:00:03]>> What happened to you?

[00:00:04]>> I don't know. [laughter] I feel like you sold your integrity for that. You were disappointed that I was doing dueling now.

[00:00:09]>> I was disappointed that she was doing dueling now.

[00:00:10]>> Okay. I'm sorry. I finished really quickly.

[00:00:13]>> Yeah, but like ew. I'm John. I'm [laughter] Sierra.

[00:00:15]I'm doing laughing. Got to try again.

[00:00:16]Okay. I'm John.

[00:00:18]>> I'm Sierra.

[00:00:18]>> And this is an air mediator.

[00:00:20]>> [music] [music] >> Today, we wanted to share with you some of our most anticipated book releases of 2026.

[00:00:40]>> Mhm. February Oh, yeah, you're right. I like to say summer releases cuz that's what I did. Oh, you did just summer? And a little bit of fall. Bless you. Bless you. The period.

[00:00:52]Don't try to start talking like this.

[00:00:54]>> [laughter] >> Depending on when you believe fall begins.

[00:00:56]>> [snorts] >> Isn't there like an equinox?

[00:00:58]>> Yeah, I don't know. I didn't look it up.

[00:00:59]>> Okay.

[00:00:59]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, so we're going to share those with you. Some of mine, [snorts] I guess technically I cheated. Um some of mine tonight >> You so cheated.

[00:01:06]>> Hey. Hey.

[00:01:07]>> You There were rules.

[00:01:08]>> Hey, ladies. Ladies.

[00:01:10]>> [laughter] >> Hey.

[00:01:11]Watch yourself.

[00:01:12]Yeah, there were rules. I didn't really look too far into the release date at until after the fact and I'm I apologize for that. Thank you for apologizing.

[00:01:21]>> Yes. Up front, I'm going to pre-apologize.

[00:01:22]>> you start? Okay. Since you have books that have already been released.

[00:01:26]>> Books that have already been released.

[00:01:27]Should I start with those? Yeah.

[00:01:31]Okay. It doesn't have to be cuz mine are not fully in order. There's one that's out of order, which is annoying to me, but I accepted it.

[00:01:35]>> The book that what The first of the two books that have already been released is called Where the Wildflowers Grow, a novel by Tara Shelton Harris. Okay. It came out February 17th. I'm sorry. It says it's a contemporary Southern fiction novel following Lee Lay Lee Wild, the sole survivor of a prison bus crash. Huh?

[00:01:56]>> She hides on a rural Alabama flower farm finding a found family and healing from a traumatic abusive past. The story focuses on survival, redemption, and rebuilding life. Um I'm going to have the cover somewhere up here and I'm going to be honest, the cover got me.

[00:02:11]There's so many pretty flowers on it and I was like that looks really fun. It looks I did that for one of my club letters too.

[00:02:15]>> Yeah. And like the average rating I think on StoryGraph or not StoryGraph, on Goodreads cuz that's what the the Google uses um was a four out of five.

[00:02:22]So I'm like, okay, that's that's solid for a new book. I think it makes sense that it was released in February cuz uh I think it's going to cover like some racial topics. The main character, at least as far as the cover portrays, is black. Um and it highlights it as a Southern fiction. So I think there's going to that tension will be played with.

[00:02:43]Um but I don't want to know too much about it. I kind of want to go in blind if I decide to pick it up. But I it just kind of like stood out to me of the like general fiction releases. Yeah. I never read the backs of books typically when I buy them. I read the first page.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah.

[00:02:57]>> I read the first page to see what I like. Yeah, but then we don't really know what we're getting into.

[00:03:00]>> And I love that. Sometimes.

[00:03:02]>> Sometimes you're right. Because we keep buying books of short stories and we never know the short stories.

[00:03:06]>> [laughter] >> SO ONE OF THE COMMENTS WAS LIKE, WHAT happened to her?

[00:03:11]>> [laughter] >> She hates short stories so much.

[00:03:13]>> am I know literally nothing. Maybe middle school and we were forced to read short stories in middle school. Yeah.

[00:03:20]Yeah. Okay. Like not a book of them. We were just constantly shoved short short stories >> yeah. Which like makes sense for a classroom.

[00:03:27]>> 100%.

[00:03:28]>> Okay.

[00:03:28]>> [laughter] >> 100% and maybe that's why I don't like them. Sure. Yeah. I don't know. I can't tell you. Something happened to me in my past and I don't know what it was.

[00:03:35]>> Write a book on that. Yeah. Uh Your turn. Okay. So, the first one I have is Land by Maggie O'Farrell.

[00:03:43]>> Just Land?

[00:03:44]Yes.

[00:03:45]>> Sorry. Called Land.

[00:03:47]>> By Maggie O'Farrell. It's releasing on June 2nd, 2026.

[00:03:52]I DNF'd Maggie O'Farrell. Hamnet?

[00:03:55]Hamnet. Yeah. And I want to try again, but not with Hamnet. I'm just going to watch the movie and move on with my life.

[00:04:01]>> a good movie. Yeah.

[00:04:02]>> what I've heard. So I'm going to watch the movie, move on with my life, and try another book by her.

[00:04:06]>> Okay. If it fails, I I will I do not read Maggie O'Farrell and that will be part of my identity.

[00:04:12]>> [laughter] >> Like you don't read Maggie O'Farrell.

[00:04:14]>> after in last week's video when you talked about There There, it it was because of the first word and the word was something that was going to be explained and like was kind of made up.

[00:04:23]Now I'm afraid for what your DNFing actually looks like. I don't think I knew the ins and outs of it before.

[00:04:27]>> But I'm still [laughter] going to read There There. That's true, but it did stop you in your tracks. The first time.

[00:04:33]>> [laughter] >> Okay. Anyway. So this book is uh I'm going to just going to read a blurb that I found on a website. On a wind-swept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomas and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the Great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland.

[00:04:50]>> Cool. I know. I'm like obsessed with Ireland, I think.

[00:04:52]>> Yeah, we love Ireland.

[00:04:53]>> It's 1865 and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one.

[00:05:00]>> Mhm. Tomas, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster. So we kind of follow them and then they had get into some oopsies. I lost my note. They get into some tricky moments and then yeah, they got to get lost in this kind of a crazy moment and then boom.

[00:05:15]>> Interesting. A story occurs.

[00:05:16]>> cartography story. Yeah. Fun. But I don't know how excited I am about this.

[00:05:20]I'm more so I'm excited to try Maggie O'Farrell again.

[00:05:22]>> Oh, sure sure sure. Yeah.

[00:05:23]>> Does that make sense?

[00:05:24]>> Yeah. Okay. Okay. Your turn. Fun. Um the second book that is already out, my apologies for that again, is Cleopatra by Sara El Arifi. It came out February 24th. Um and what I'm gathering is it's uh retelling of the story of Cleopatra and her reign, her her kingdom, queendom.

[00:05:48]You what? Honestly, so fair.

[00:05:51]>> Thank you. What What is this patriarchal business in our words? [clears throat] >> Yeah.

[00:05:55]Um anyway.

[00:05:56]>> Cleopatra. I keep misspelling this.

[00:05:57][laughter] That's it. Yeah. Isn't it the cover >> is spoiling. Right? Oh, what is this?

[00:06:04]>> I don't know.

[00:06:06]Anyway.

[00:06:07]>> think I'm going to like this book then.

[00:06:08]Oh.

[00:06:09]So I'm not going to read it. It's your turn. You can read the thingy. Yeah.

[00:06:12]>> [laughter] >> It says Cleopatra is a fiercely feminist, in quotes, historical fantasy reimagining that allows the titular queen to narrate her own life story from the afterlife. I did not read this BEFORE [laughter] THE VIDEO.

[00:06:27]I STARTED READING IT AND IT WAS ABOUT AND I WAS LIKE, OH, THIS is not for me.

[00:06:29]Uh that's actually really cool. Okay. The novel The novel aims to reclaim her legacy shifting focus from a scandalous seductress to a brilliant ruler, mother, and strategist who faces betrayal, manages complex romances with Caesar and Antony, and defends her throne. This is right up my alley. 100%.

[00:06:49]>> Yeah. This is right up my alley.

[00:06:50]>> Have a blast. And I will. And buy them now. No. No. Cuz you want me to go to the store and get Blood of a Bright Heaven. You just want to get me into a bookstore because you have ulterior motives and that's crazy. I do have to go to the bookstore because I ordered the third book in the Broken Earth trilogy my local Barnes & Noble.

[00:07:07]Barnes & Noble.

[00:07:09]>> [sighs] >> Little story. I wanted to go and buy it.

[00:07:12]I went to the store after the gym. Gym and bookstore across the street from each other, so convenient. Went to the bookstore. I was like, da da da da. I'm going to be so good and use my local bookstore.

[00:07:20]I walk in there, they have the first two books. I already have the first two books. Not what I need. I walk up to the man, nice man. I said, "Excuse me, do you have The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin?

[00:07:27]You have the first two. If you have the third one, I'm assuming it's going to be with that one, but maybe you have it somewhere else in the store." "No, we don't have it. How close are you to the other two locations?" I said, "I'm close to this location."

[00:07:38]He said, "You want to order it to the store?" I said, "No. Unfortunately, Amazon will win today." I walked home. I ordered it on Amazon. It came the next day, not the same size as my other two.

[00:07:45]>> Like a half an inch shorter.

[00:07:47]>> Yeah, significantly shorter and I said, "This is what I get. This is what I get for going to Amazon." So I expeditiously returned it to Amazon and I called my Barnes & Noble moping. I said, "I'm so sorry." I said they said, "Yes, the first time. Can you please order it to the store?" And they said, "Of course." And I was like, "Thank you so much." So I have to go to the Barnes & Noble. So I'll be in there and I'm scared of every time I walk into a Barnes & Noble. I'm afraid of what could happen.

[00:08:12]Um so there's a chance. All right. My next one My next one?

[00:08:15]>> Yeah. Okay. On Witness and Respair, essays by Jesmyn Ward.

[00:08:20]>> Now what does that word mean? Well, I looked it up before this because [laughter] I was curious.

[00:08:24]It means returning of hope. Woah.

[00:08:26]>> opposite of despair.

[00:08:29]And sometimes the English language is really cool.

[00:08:31]>> Yeah.

[00:08:32]>> [laughter] >> Um I've never read anything by Jesmyn Ward. I've heard great things um about her writings and so I'm really excited to buy read essays because I love reading essay collections, not short stories for some reason.

[00:08:43]>> Which is so strange. If that makes sense.

[00:08:45]>> [laughter] >> Um Is there someone named Jesmyn Ward with an E?

[00:08:49]That's her name, Jesmyn Ward.

[00:08:50]>> Oh, you I I mis- I mis- I mis- [laughter] I mistyped it. That's my bad. Okay, and why do we know that name? Book. Famous book.

[00:08:58]>> [laughter] >> You're not getting away with this. On top shelf. Top list. Top 100. Yeah. What did she >> Times. What did she write?

[00:09:08]>> [laughter] >> I don't remember. Sing, Unburied, Sing.

[00:09:11]>> Is that what I know?

[00:09:12]>> Yeah. That's the one I know. That's the one that was on the list. Sing, Unburied, Sing. Okay. Okay. Okay. So that's what Next. Uh okay. Okay. Okay.

[00:09:20]Now we're getting to the I'm so excited.

[00:09:21]Okay. So I've seen this book everywhere and I thought it was out and I was going to get it at Barnes & Noble when I went to pick up the The Fifth Season book, but it's not out yet and that's what I learned. Um It's called Take a deep breath.

[00:09:31]>> [laughter] >> It's called John of John by Douglas Stuart. Now if that name sounds familiar to you, it's cuz I read his other two books two of his other books. Um Shuggie Bain and Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo.

[00:09:44]Um this is It's called John of John. It comes out May 5th of 2026. So pretty soon.

[00:09:49]Um and it says uh it's an atmospheric novel set on the Scottish Isle of Harris following John Callum Cal Mc- McCloud McLeod. I don't know, a struggling artist returning from Edinburgh to his secretly religious, sorry, strictly religious sheep farming father, John.

[00:10:07]It centers on themes of homosexuality, repressive masculinity, and broken bonds with a tight-knit community. Very good.

[00:10:13]I'm very excited.

[00:10:14]>> Very good. We love Douglas Stuart. I loved Young Mungo even more than Shuggie Bain. Um, and I'm so I'm so excited.

[00:10:22]Uh, yeah, that's all I'll say about that. All of Douglas Stuart's books that I've read so far, there might be some that I'm not familiar with, have like themes of homosexuality, but usually around younger, like children. It's like them as they grow up. So, I'm interested to see this one from like an adult's perspective and see how that changes.

[00:10:39]Um, okay, so I chose this one because of the cover.

[00:10:42]I'm not actually excited about it. I just think pretty cover, going to read.

[00:10:45]Going to read?

[00:10:46]>> Going to read. Yeah.

[00:10:47]>> [laughter] >> It's called Via Cocco by Andrew Sean Greer. It's releasing on June 9th, 2026.

[00:10:53]And it says Via Cocco is a dazzling sun-soaked ode to life itself. And you're not excited? That's a good That is actually the line that got me to be like, okay, then I'll put it on my list.

[00:11:03]>> [laughter] >> Um, a romp through a youthfully self-constructed emotional obstacle course, a meditation on what we give and take from others, and a body Mediterranean ballad about becoming who you've always wanted to be.

[00:11:14]>> a romp. We love a romp. A romp? Count me in. [laughter] Count me in. So, I'm excited. I've never heard of this book or its author or anything, so that's why I'm like not inherently excited by like just the name, right? But the the the blurb really kind of got me. That was That was good. I'm excited to see what I thought of >> from?

[00:11:30]These blurbs are from a like a local bookstore site.

[00:11:33]>> Oh. Called like I'll look it up because I kind of want to give them credit.

[00:11:37]>> Mhm. You can pre-order books from their website.

[00:11:39]>> Mhm. And um, it just feels like a smaller bookstore kind of just vibing.

[00:11:43]Well, my next one I think is one that we both have. Um, yes, it is.

[00:11:47]>> And it's Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang. I found the website. It's called Snail on the Wall Bookstore. Oh. And they're writing all these blurbs, so I want to give them credit cuz I'm just reading them. Oh, look, yeah. It's just two people hanging out. Cute. So, yeah, they wrote all these blurbs that I'm reading, so give them credit. Nice. Snail on the wall bookstore. You can pre-order books online, it looks like, but I don't know if they ship to the store or to you.

[00:12:08]Mhm, good good point, good point.

[00:12:10]>> All right. So, Taipei Story by R.F.

[00:12:12]Kuang.

[00:12:12]>> Yes, we both have this on our list. Yes, I saw this on Instagram and my mouth had dropped.

[00:12:16]>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was served to me.

[00:12:17]>> like, you just wrote a book last year.

[00:12:19]Yeah. Calm down. Another one? Another one? Different genre, okay. She writes like she's running out of time. Wow. Um, and I kind of enjoy the cover. There's two covers that I've seen.

[00:12:28]>> I like both covers.

[00:12:29]>> Oh, I thought you said you didn't like the cover. You don't like the title.

[00:12:31]>> like the title. You don't like the title. I hope that the title has purpose. Mhm. If Taipei Story has a reason that it's the title, I'm happy.

[00:12:38]Okay. But just like a place's name Story. I see what you're saying. London Story.

[00:12:44]>> Yeah, and honestly, if it was if it came from somebody that wasn't R.F. Kuang, I I probably would have caught that immediately, but I think I'm a little blinded. Yeah. I read it and I said, "Do better."

[00:12:53]>> [laughter] >> But it might be right. I think It might be the correct title for the It's tough because her last book was called Catabasis, and then this is just Taipei Story. Ex- literally. Yeah. And like Yellowface was very Mhm.

[00:13:05]evocative. Evocative. But it also evokes something in me. THAT'S FAIR.

[00:13:09]>> [laughter] >> UH THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO GET AT.

[00:13:13]YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. UM, SO I'm I'm excited. I So, what my blurb, your blurb is probably better, but I'll see what mine says. It says, "It follows Lily Chen, a Chinese-American college student whose intensive summer language program in Taipei turns isolating, leading her to grapple with grief, Mhm. cultural cultural alienation, and family secrets after her grandfather dies."

[00:13:34]>> Yeah, and I think that's what made me want to read it.

[00:13:37]>> Mhm. Cuz I want Let me try again. Okay.

[00:13:44]>> [laughter] >> I think I'll really deeply connect with this book. Mhm. So, I'm excited to read it. Mhm. Mhm.

[00:13:50]Yeah, this one comes out September 2026.

[00:13:52]Yeah. Very excited. I >> September 8th. May or may not come before the equinox. [laughter] Equinox dependent.

[00:13:59]Um, I'm very excited. I think at this point I'm probably going to read anything R.F. Kuang writes. Same. Except for the POPPY WAR TRILOGY. EXACTLY. I'M SO SORRY.

[00:14:06]>> [laughter] >> HEY, I'M PROUD OF YOU FOR WRITING THAT AT 19.

[00:14:10]>> YES. OH, my mind is old.

[00:14:12]>> [laughter] >> She's getting cold. You can't do that.

[00:14:15]But I do feel like she's running like she's running out of time. She is. She is.

[00:14:18]>> she was 19, and it really made sense in my brain.

[00:14:21]>> Yeah, yeah. But she copyright tricks.

[00:14:24]Uh, yeah, so I guess you can go. Okay.

[00:14:27]My next book I'm really excited about is Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel. I can't believe she's coming out with another book. That's crazy. I still haven't read Sea of Tranq- Sea of Yeah, you know what I >> I haven't read [laughter] Station Eleven. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:41][clears throat] So, I read Sea of Tranquility, you've read Station Eleven.

[00:14:44]I'm excited about Exit Party. It says, "Los Angeles, 2031." Oh, no.

[00:14:50]Not another future. Is that all she does? Kind of. Uh >> [laughter] >> I think she done.

[00:14:54]"The first spring after the collapse of the United States."

[00:14:57]>> Yeah, okay.

[00:14:58]>> [laughter] >> "Peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city. The Jacaranda Jacaranda. How do I say that word again?

[00:15:06]Jacaranda. "Trees blossom and the curfew is finally lifted."

[00:15:12]OKAY. NO.

[00:15:13]>> [laughter] >> I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS OKAY. "I'M GOING TO BE FINE. Ari Waker and her roommate pass the gauntlet of bomb-sniffing dogs, the shantytowns, and the Red Cross tents as they walk across Silver Lake to a party. The mood is ecstatic inside the apartment. People drink and dance. A woman wears a silver dress pleated like tin foil. And then, a shift. A bewildered twin, an uncanny doppelganger stumbles through the crowd and out into the night. And Karim, the party's host, vanishes into thin air."

[00:15:43]"As Ari Walker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, Emily St. John Mandel unfurls a story that takes us from a future America splintered by civil war to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon." We're going everywhere, folks.

[00:16:00]>> Going everywhere.

[00:16:01]Paris is domed.

[00:16:03]"And we're on the moon now, which is not that unrealistic."

[00:16:06]>> No, yeah.

[00:16:07]Um, okay, so I feel like this is going to be super real and not real at the same time, which will be helpful to read the the real part.

[00:16:13]>> Sure, sure. Yeah, I did like the peacekeeping forces cuz that feels a little too real. Yeah, when do you think she started writing this? Who knows?

[00:16:20]Yeah.

[00:16:21]Who knows? Well, it's coming out on September 15th, 2026, right before midterms.

[00:16:27]>> [laughter] >> Cool. Yeah. Cool.

[00:16:29]>> And that's my last one. The dystopian stuff is a little too real right now. I don't know if I I don't know how much I can do.

[00:16:33]>> [laughter] >> Um, okay, my last one is The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.

[00:16:40]>> I love that title.

[00:16:41]>> Yeah. I didn't like the cover and I didn't That's why I didn't put it on my list.

[00:16:44]>> Oh, I liked the cover.

[00:16:46]Anyway, um, it comes out May 5th, 2026 as well.

[00:16:49]What's the book that you have? Do you not know Do you know? It has a bird on it and that's all I know. And it's like pale yellow.

[00:16:53]>> It's pale yellow. I'll look it up while you do this. Um, it says, "A poignant novel following Arty Dam, a respected middle-aged history teacher facing intense hidden loneliness and uh, I'll say thoughts of self-harm.

[00:17:07]Uh, while living in a seemingly ordinary, comfortable life in Massachusetts, Arty confronts deep emotional isolation, strained family relationships, and the unsettling truth that people rarely know each other, even those closest to them." I don't think I own this book.

[00:17:23]You don't? Yeah, I don't think I own the one with the bird. I think I own Olive Kitteridge. Oh, you do own Olive Kitteridge because the last time you picked it up and you could you didn't remember who was the author and who was the Yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughter] But this is this is a book that You don't own that. I don't own that. Isn't that weird? That I thought the same thing.

[00:17:41]>> [laughter] >> We need an inventory.

[00:17:44]Yeah, I just need to be able to search on my phone what's in my library.

[00:17:48]Um Did you catch it?

[00:17:51]>> No, it's all right. See you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was It was really It was really fast. Guys, it's really fast in there.

[00:17:56]>> Not Spider-Man anymore. Sorry, that was mean.

[00:18:00]Well, anyway, that's the end of the video. I'm going to wrap it up so I can kick C out of my home >> [laughter] >> FOR DISRESPECTING MY CRAFT. UM, I'M like genuinely buzzing about John of John. Um [snorts] I just need to [clears throat] finish Gundam Douglas Stuart.

[00:18:14]>> Gundam Douglas And then I need to read a books on my shelf. Yeah, yeah.

[00:18:18]>> How many Okay, let me ask you this.

[00:18:21]How many books do you think I need to read off my physical TBR before I start to buy books again? 15.

[00:18:27]I did not ask you.

[00:18:30]>> [laughter] >> Save it. Save it, C.

[00:18:34]15 plus, 15 PLUS.

[00:18:36]>> [laughter] >> YOU HAVE YOUR own thoughts and opinions.

[00:18:38]>> That's so true. So >> keep in mind how Tell them how many books you currently have. 111. Okay, just for context, just want to make sure.

[00:18:44]>> And you have 56.

[00:18:45]>> Yeah, and lest we forget.

[00:18:46]>> Thank you for counting.

[00:18:47]>> [laughter] >> Thank you for the person who counted and shared in the comments. Yes, we appreciate you. Um, and 111 was before the carrot cut out. Anyway, >> [laughter] >> Thank you so much for watching. Like and subscribe, and we'll catch you in the next one. Bye. [music] See you.

[00:19:02]I don't want to buy books.

[00:19:03]If you want to like buy some Let me know.