Goodness Ahead

Most Anticipated Books of 2026: Part Two!

Hey! You’re here. Thank you.

Back in early January, I wrote about some of the new releases I was most excited about in the first half of 2026. Is there anything better than a list of books you hope to read? There is something about the innate optimism of making a TBR that does it for me. It’s rough out here. There is so much I simply cannot predict, but I know these books are going to come out and I am going to read some of them (hopefully) and, right now, that’s enough for me.

So far, I’ve read 4 of the 12 books on my first most anticipated list and you know what? I am proud of that number. So don’t get it twisted and think this is just another to do list. No, this is a list of good things ahead - a bounty that we can partake in as we choose!

Speaking of bounty, I’m packing in a lot of goodness here and it may be too long to read in your inbox. Just make sure you click the tiny link at the bottom that says “view entire message” so you don’t miss a thing.

Good things are coming! Here are a few I have my eye on.

Etna by Paul Yoon // August 4th

You already know!! This is one of two books on this list that I’ve already read, and it just knocked me out. I don’t see how Etna isn’t the best book of the year. I will absolutely be reading this one again and I can’t wait to talk about it with you.

Take What You Can by Naima Coster // August 4th

Like I said in my summer reading guide, I mostly want to read this novel because of the cover. I mean just look at that cover. I love it so much. But also, that blurb by friend of Rosamond Reads, Catherine Newman? We trust her implicitly so we shall be reading this.

Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason // September 29th

Meg Mason’s debut, Sorrow and Bliss, was the first advanced reader copy I ever read as a bookseller. You never forget your first, and I got lucky because Sorrow and Bliss remains one of my favorite debut novels of recent memory. I got to tell Meg Mason all of this at Winter Institute this year and she was so funny and warm, and we talked about our mutual crush on Ann Patchett. Long story short, I am a big Meg Mason fan, and I can’t wait to read this one.

The W: A History of the WNBA by Tamryn Spruill // September 22nd

Hello?? Nobody told me about this book!!?? I’ve been waiting for someone to write this!! I have high expectations, but I am hopeful.

American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee // September 29th

I got to read an early copy of this one, and I need you to know that it lives up to the hype and then some. I wrote about it a little here. Min Jin Lee is a writer like no other. Remember when I met her and she told me she liked my dimples?? Yeah, me too.

True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw // September 29th

Deesha Philyaw’s short story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is another debut that took me out when I first read it. I was already excited to read her new novel, and when I saw that cover? Yes please, sign me up, I’m in.

All the Love You Can Use: The Letters of Carson McCullers edited by Carlos Dews // September 29th

Okay this one is even more niche and specific to me than the WNBA history, but yeah I am going to read my favorite twentieth century queer author’s letters. Give them to me!! Carson McCullers is endlessly fascinating to me and I just know these letters are going to be juicy. This one clocks in at 1136 pages and costs $65 so how about I get it with my bookseller discount, and you can come over and read it with me?

We Radiant Things by Franny Choi // October 6th

Franny Choi is a poet and writer who will constantly surprise and push her reader. I don’t know much about cyborgs, but if a queer writer I admire is writing about them you know I am going to learn. Franny is also a beloved Western Mass local author!

I’ll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry by Jacob Tierney // October 13th

Will I read this? Will I cry? Will I read it again? Will I cry some more?

Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li // October 13th

I read three books by Yiyun Li last year and I’m convinced she is one of our greatest writers. Her Pulitzer Prize winning memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, is a book so powerful I hardly know how to talk about it. Li has a new novel coming out this year and my girl Ann Patchett says it “may be the best contemporary novel I’ve ever read in my life.” I am sat. I am seated. I am ready.

Two Can Play at That Game by Zakiya N. Jamal // November 17th

More WNBA romance novels please!!! This one looks very promising, and that cover? I’m not the biggest fan of contemporary romance novel covers, but this one is telling me everything I need to know.

Wild Aster by Anna Hogeland // December 1st

Another local Western Mass author! I love the way Anna Hogeland writes about motherhood, family, and loss, and I am so intrigued by her new novel, a work of historical fiction that follows one remarkable woman through the twentieth century.

Okay, Christina says that’s just about enough out of me and maybe we should think about breakfast? She is always right.

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Before you go, tell me: what books are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Good things are coming.

I’m glad you are here.

I love you.

Love,

Rosamond