Books Coming Out in 2026 | Anticipated Reads Pt 1

And we're back. Hello. Hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel, Laura's Little Library, and welcome to today's video, which are some of the books that I'm most excited about coming out in the first quarter of 2026. [music] So, I will be addressing books that came out from January through April. I am going to include books that have already come out in early January since it is the end of January and I'm just now making this video. So, some of these are books that have already come out and some of these are books that most of these are books that have yet to come out. So, we're going to go through them. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the books coming out in the end of winter, early spring, or all the books that I'm even looking forward to. I'm sure there are ones that I just don't have on my good readads or couldn't think of that I'm very excited for. So, it's not necessarily an exhaustive list, but also if it were an exhaustive list, this would be a very long video. So, we're just going to we're going to stick with these. Yeah. And so, let's just let's just dive right into the video. The first book that I'm going to talk about actually came out on December 30th of 2025, but it gets an honorable mention for books coming out in early 2026 just because it has been such a long awaited book for me. I am so excited and so happy that it's finally out. And that is In Your Dreams by Sarah Adams. This is the last book in the kind of Rome Kentucky series. So, it's the last sister. It's the last one in this town. I'm so excited. It came out, like I said, December 30th. So, it is already out and it came out before this year. I feel like it was right in the tail end of last year. And so, if you missed it, then here you go. It's a last book. It is about the sister that Madison, I believe, who went off to become a chef and she comes back to Rome. Of course, it's a small town romance. I'm not If you've read the other books, then I think you know what to expect. And if you haven't, you should probably read the other books cuz even though they're all standalones, I've enjoyed reading them in the order that they were released just to see as the writing changes and to have more context of the other couples and characters within the books. Now, jumping back into 2026 on January 13th, we had a couple of books come out. The first one being A Vow in Vengeance, and this is by Joselyn Rodriguez. This is the first book in the Immortal Desires. I don't know how many books there are going to be. There are definitely going to be multiple books. And this is this author's romanty debut. It is enemies to lovers, fake dating, only one bed trope. It's got a lot going on. Our main character, Rune, had her family basically all taken away by the immortals. And so she has this huge hatred towards them. She's going to have, you know, this rage moment where she wants to get back at them and blah blah blah. and she gets taken to go to this university. And when it's discovered that she has this very rare form of magic, they tell her that she has to study this magic with the only other person who also has it, which happens to be Prince Draven. So, I'm excited cuz it is a good oldfashioned like romantic, dark academia, dark romanty. Like, I'm excited. I'm excited for this. Also coming out on January 13th is a book called A Killer Kind of Romance. And this is by Leticia Lorini. And this is another one of those like true crime podcasty type books. We've had a couple of those come out in the recent year or two and I read one and I really liked it. Of course, it made sense that when I saw that there was this one coming out that I would be really excited for it. And so this one follows our main character who she is a true crime podcaster, but then her boss at work also just dumps this romance podcast on her. And so now she's doing both and romance is really not her vibe. But she also realizes that somebody out there has started to end people the same way that she describes in her true kind podcast. So now she goes on this whole investigation to figure out who that is while at the same time this mysterious bad boy from her past resurfaces and he's back now. So very excited for that one. And I think it's going to be one of those like light murdery books and I enjoy those a lot, especially around the spooky season. And even outside of the spooky season, I enjoy it, but definitely going to be one that's going to go on my autumnal TBR this year. You watch. Now we can move on to February. And on February 12th is Throne of Nightmares by Karen Scalco. So this is the third book in the Prince of Sin series. Prince of Sin theories. That's fun. Slight angle change because I feel like I'm just fighting the sun in this house. It's incredible. Anyway, uh, Third Prince of Sin, Throne of Nightmares, coming out February 12th. And this one is I'm so excited. So, this one is with Prince Sloth, and he has this giant library, right? And our main character, other than Prince Sloth, has the stone that allows her to kind of portal from place to place. And so they basically have to hop from book to book to stop the big bad the goddess of night from kind of taking over their world. So honestly once I saw that it was like a library kind of hopping from book to book Prince of Sloth I just kind of stopped and I was like yeah well I'm hi I'm going to read it anyway. So, we have another book that I have been waiting for for so long. And I don't know if like the release date just kept getting pushed back. I think that's what it was. Or maybe I'm just crazy and I kept thinking it was going to come out last year, but it didn't. But now it is going to come out this year, February 17th. And that is The Sun and the Star Maker by Rachel Griffin. I have loved all of Rachel Griffin's other books. They're all very like nature and witchy and they're just so much fun. This one is going to be a little bit different and I feel like you can tell it's going to be different because the cover art is so different from the covers of her other books. So, this one is a little bit more I think kind of like fairy taleesque than necessarily just witchy because this one you've got the star maker who is somebody who goes and brings light in the sky. And that is something that is crucial for the survival of this one village called Rey. And there's one person in this village named Aurora. and she apparently has this really rare like magic or ability. And when the star maker realizes that, he demands that she have to go live with him and learn from him, which is very interesting cuz he's like this grumpy like brooding kind of guy. Um, and I think she's going to be sunshiny, so that is going to be so much fun. And it's described as a romantic fantasy as opposed to romanty. So, I don't think it's going to be like I obviously I don't think it's going to be super dark and I don't think it's going to be super spicy. It's just going to be a romantic fantasy, which I absolutely love reading in the springtimes. So, I am so excited and so happy it's finally coming out this February 17th. All right, moving on. We have also on February 17th, another cozy fantasy. I'm so excited. And this is The Cat's in the Way. Agnes Oair's Mystical Cat Shelter. And this is by Heather Faucet. So, Heather Faucet wrote the Emily Wild series, which if you if you know, then you know, and also if you watch my videos, you know that I absolutely adored that trilogy. The first book and the third book are my favorites. The third book especially, I just loved it. So, the fact that Heather Faucet is coming out with another cozy fantasy book, I am so excited. So, also coming out February 17th, this book follows Agnes who recently had to move her cat shelter and her new landlord actually uses it as a front to his own shop, which is a magical shop. But the thing is is that he is a failed dark lord. And so, he kind of deals with more of the like darker side of magic. But he uses this cat shelter as his front for his magical shop, which she wouldn't mind except for the fact that now somebody from his dark magic world is threatening him and that affects the kitties and Agnes can't have that. So again, cozy fantasy. Really excited. I love all of these like cat cafe, cat bookstore, like all of these small business cozy fantasies. I absolutely love that that is becoming a thing and that is becoming such a strong trend in the bookish world right now. Love it. I cannot get enough of these cozy bookstores, cat cafes, things like that. I'm all here for it. Now, getting into March, on March 3rd, we have a book called Hunting the Strange, and this is by Caitlyn Calavania. This is actually the second book in the Mystery Royale duology trilogy series. Again, I'm not quite sure how many books are going to be in this. I just know that the first book was Mystery Royale and Hunting the Strange is the second book. And I read Mystery Royale. I liked it. So, I'll probably read this one just to finish the series kind or to keep going with the series kind of thing. Um, but Mystery Royale, if you didn't read it, is basically like picture the Jennifer Lynn Barnes books, the Inheritance Games, but then add magic to it. like it's this rich family and you have this competition for this inheritance, but each of them kind of have somewhat of a magical gift except the main character that we're following is not necessarily in with the family and she doesn't have any magic, but like she's participating. So, this is the second book in that. Continuing on in March, not until March 17, we have a book called, well, we have the next Finley Donovan book, Finley Donovan Crosses the Line by El Kasimano. I'm a big fan of the L. Donovan or Finley Donovan series. I have kept up with them and I'm pretty proud of myself for doing that and I enjoy them a lot. So, this book I hope will be no exception. And we are more so following Vera's backstory a little bit because when Vera was younger, she was the uh treasurer for her sorority. And so, she has been moved to Virginia where she now has to live with like her mom and her sister or something. Not going well. Um, and pending trial. But then also she's getting threats. Her and her family are getting threats from someone uh to give back the money that she stole when she was the treasurer of the sorority. But Vera didn't do it. So now Finley Donovan is going to head over to Maryland and help clear Ver's name while trying to get her away from trial and just all all that fun stuff. Um I I love the Finley Donovan series. I would definitely recommend it. You do hit a little book here or there within the series, but then you get some really good books out of it, too. Inamorata. It's called Inamoratha. Inamorada. Inamorada. Inamora. I don't speak Italian, but for some reason my I want to pronounce it very Italian way. Like instead of Emirada, kind of like how you would say in Spanish, it's a T. So, I would say imirata. Anyway, it's called Emorata and it is the first book of the House of Teeth duology. This is by Ava Reed. Ava Reed is the author who wrote the um study in Drowning and Theory and Dreaming, which I just read uh Theory and Dreaming and I really loved it. But it is the first book, but this is a duogy, I believe. Yes, it's going to be a duogy and it kind of has more of that like we've seen it before plot a little bit of you've got these seven houses and they each kind of deal with necromancy and death magic kind of things like that, but then something happens and they're all in trouble. And so the leader or the upcoming leader of House of Teeth, she is going to try and restore her house's honor and kind of take over and just be like enough is enough. I'm dealing with this. She has to go through her own responsibilities and one of the things that she has to do is to not fall in love which you know makes me think that there's going to be some some very attractive somebody on the scene to uh challenge this requirement. Um but I really liked Ava Reed's writing with her other books and so I am very intrigued to see how this will go. And the Fairway In is by Sarah Beth Thirst, who is the author of The Enchanted Greenhouse and The Spell Shop, which again, cozy fantasy. Loved them. Um, I think this The Fairway In is a little slightly different vein from those books. Um, but it is still cozy fantasy. You've got your main character who kind of got her heartbroken in her Brooklyn summer, so she's very disappointed. So, her parents say, "Go up to Vermont and help your aunt run her local inn, her little Airbnb." And so our main character is like, "Yeah, Khalisa is like, "Yeah, I'm going to do that. Sure." So she heads up to Vermont to help out with this inn. And her aunt doesn't really want her there. Her aunt was like, "I did not invite you up here." Um, and so our main character, Kalisa, decides that she is still going to help out. She's going to do some repairs and try and figure out how to make this in more popular because it only has very few patrons. But the more time she spends there, the more time she realizes that there might be something a little more magical going on with this in. And now we're moving into April. I've got three books that I'm going to talk about coming out in the month of April. The first April book coming out on the 7th of April is called The Book Witch. And this is by Meg Schaefer. Our main character, Rainey, is a book witch, which means she's able to hop in and out of books. And now she has actually gotten in trouble with her coven before because she started to fall for the detective and one of her favorite British detective novels, the Duke. So she is not allowed to go into those books or do anything because she is not allowed to have a love story with him basically. But something bad happens. This rare book was stolen and her grandfather goes missing and she can't think of anyone better to help her solve this but the Duke himself. So, we're going to see how that works out. The next week on April 14th, we have a book called Stay for a Spell. And this book is written by Annie Kum. Again, it's another cozy fantasy. I just I think 2026 is definitely the year of good fantasy books because I don't think I've had I've had like one book on here that isn't explicitly fantasy. No, two books. I've had I've had two romances. Um, and the rest are like either romanty or cozy fantasy. So, this is going to be a great year, a great 2026 fantasy year for me. So, this is fun. So, if you have any recommendations of other books, feel free to leave them in the comments below. This is what I'm going to be reading and I'm excited about it. Anyway, so on April 14th, like I said, Stay First Spell by Amy Kum. This is about a princess who is not super into the princessy duties, she really just wants to stay in bed and read all day. Um, but while she is out doing this promotional thing with her family or whatever, she actually gets cursed to take over this bookstore. She is not allowed to leave the bookstore. And she is just fine with that. She's more than happy to just sit there and run a bookstore, read books, get lost among the stacks. Everything that it takes to do a bookstore, she's perfectly happy. It is not really much of a curse. The only way to break this curse is to find what her heart truly desires. And she's like, "No, I'm good. I'm good here." However, because she is the princess, her parents kind of have an issue with her not fulfilling her royal duties. And so her parents are trying to break the curse by sending in prince after prince after prince to find her true love because that's what they believe will break the curse. I get the feeling it's not going to be a man that breaks the curse. And honestly, I am very intrigued how this is going to end. I feel like it's actually one of those books where I don't really know how it's going to end. If she is going to fall in love with the prince, if she gets to stay in the bookstore, if she doesn't. I I'm actually quite intrigued by this one even though it's cozy fantasy. So, that won't come out until April 14th, though. And then the last book I'm going to talk about also comes out on April 14th, and it is also the second book in the Rose Bargain series trilogy. Again, I don't know how many books there are going to be, but it's the second one. So, the first book is called The Rose Bargain. This next one is called The Thorn Queen, and so it's a continuation of The Rose Bargain. So, if you haven't read The Rose Bargain, I would recommend reading it. I read it and I really enjoyed it. I read it two years ago when it came out, maybe this past spring. Yeah, I don't know. I read it basically when I was still living in our house. And I really enjoyed it. And so basically, the Rose Bargain is like the selection with FA basically. The dogs are barking. They're not my dogs, so I can't do anything about it. But basically takes place in England. the fa queen is able to give gifts to women and they and she typically takes something in return. And so a lot of times women will say, "I want beauty. In return, you can take my pinky finger." Or, "I want this kind of um I want the ability to play this instrument really well. In return, I can't turn right." You know, kind of like these random fa bargains. And our main character just wants her sister back. Her sister has was her spirit was basically taken because of this rose bargain. She was missing for quite a while. Nobody really knows what happens. So, she is going to ask basically for her sister's spirit back or to undo the bargain that her sister made with the rose queen. But instead, she finds herself in this competition for the queen's son, the prince. And so, there you go. You get like this selection, but it's with Fay. And so, this is the Thorn Queen. It's the second book, and I'm really excited to read it because that was quite the um quite the ending in the cliffhanger from the first book. Um, so yeah, those are all the books that I am really excited that are coming out early in 2026. Some of them I cannot believe I have to wait so long for. Um, but others I didn't know about until I was trying to find new books that were coming out. And I'm I'm really excited to read all of these books. So, if you like this video, give it a thumbs up. Comment down below any of the books that you are excited that are coming out early this year, anytime basically between January or April. or if you have books that you know that are coming out later and you want to make sure I cover them in one of the in another video like this going forward, then also comment those down below. 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