Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Today’s topic is: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026

• Today’s post is about the books I’m most excited about reading (hopefully) in the first half of 2026. Per usual, this isn’t a complete list, and I have no way of knowing how many of these I’ll get around to reading, or if I’ll get to read any of them at all! But, as of right now, these are the books coming out in the first half of 2026 that I’m most excited for this year.

(This post includes affiliate links. This means that if you click on one and end up buying something I might get a small commission. This doesn’t cost you any extra, and simply helps me out a bit.)

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Shadow Light by Ivy Emerson –

I only ever wanted to stay in control.
Run my security firm.
Find the truth about the past I can’t forget.
I told myself feelings don’t belong in this job—
until she hired me.

I only ever wanted to help people.
Start over.
Prove I could stand on my own again.
I was in my brave-face, teach-myself-to-knit, can-do-anything season—
until he walked back into my life.

The shadows are closing in, dragging the past with them.
But the truth we uncover might be the one thing
that finally brings us into the light—
or tears us apart.

Death Wish by JJ Samie Myles –

Some battles demand an unbreakable faith—and the ultimate sacrifice.

Former MARSOC sniper Ledger Romero faked his death to escape the Sombra Cartel after making their infamous revenge list. When a friend calls in a loyalty card and begs him to rescue his daughter from the ruthless regime, Ledger returns to Colombia and its deadly shadows—and walks right into an ambush.

Two years ago, Roxane Jaimes gave up a promising CIA career and infiltrated Sombra, the face of Colombia’s much-revered organization that funds pediatric surgeries with blood money. Her fiancé’s blood, to be exact. Determined to dismantle the cartel, she wrestles an inexplicable compulsion—which will destroy all her covert work—to save Sombra’s newest captive.

The cartel is hot on their heels as Ledger and Rox escape into the unforgiving Colombian jungle. When Task Force SEAR learns Ledger is still alive, they lock and load. However, squaring off against Sombra comes at a high price. Maybe higher than Ledger and Rox can pay.

Love Undercover by Mandi Blake –

He once saved her life. Now she needs him to help save someone else.

Zach Wilson never meant for things to go so far. Abducting Lauren Vincent was supposed to get him answers—until his brother took things too far. Sparing Lauren was the only right thing Zach had ever done, but one good decision couldn’t erase a lifetime of bad ones. So when he gets out of prison, he never expected to find the woman he hurt most waiting for him with forgiveness in her eyes.

Lauren has spent years haunted by that night and the man who saved her. She doesn’t understand why Zach protected her, but she’s never forgotten he’s the reason she’s still breathing. Now her cousin has been missing for years, and Zach is the only one with the connections to find him.

Living next door while helping with repairs, Zach tries to keep his distance, but Lauren sees glimpses of the honorable man he’s fighting to become. Despite his reluctance to risk her safety, she’s determined to find her cousin—even if it means trusting her heart to the man who once held her life in his hands.

As danger closes in and old enemies resurface, will they find answers, love, and redemption before it’s too late?

SEAL of Honor by Jessica Ashley –

She disappeared on their wedding day. Now she’s back, and someone wants her dead.

Zane Knox is a man who doesn’t exist. The former Navy SEAL has spent years buried in the shadows, forced into off-books missions for a government agency that doesn’t technically exist. He doesn’t do it because he wants to…he does it because if he refuses, the secrets he carries will send him to prison.

He’s made peace with living as a ghost. Until the woman who left him at the altar shows up on his boat, battered and begging for medical supplies.

Tessa Lane doesn’t know who is after her or why, only that nowhere is safe. She no longer believes in God, in love, or the vows she nearly made to Zane. But when the past collides with a deadly present, she has no choice but to trust the one man she swore she’d never face again.

Protecting her may be Zane’s mission, but restoring Tessa’s faith—and rekindling the love he never gave up on—is a fight he refuses to lose.

Even if it costs him everything.

Explosive action. Unfinished business. And a second chance worth dying for.

An Appearance of Impropriety by Jayna Briegh –

As the youngest female judge in LA, Mahalia Jackson has her career goals carefully aligned. But when her mentor tells her she needs to break her shell of professionalism and show a little heart by volunteering for the Junior Jurors program, her plans begin to falter.

Attorney JD Cash heads up the Junior Jurors program, a project born out of his own troubled past. He leverages his position as an attorney to fulfill God’s calling on his life, supporting the orphans and widows of society who have lost beloved husbands and fathers to TransNation’s eighteen-wheeled time bombs roaming America’s freeways.

Mahalia’s rule—never date a lawyer—is a straitjacket that tightens when she presides over the case where JD serves as a young widow’s attorney. But when an earthquake leaves JD and Mahalia in a vulnerable position, her resolve begins to waver and she finds herself opening up to the sad-eyed lawyer. But online, anonymous colleagues and adversaries attempt to destroy Mahalia’s reputation and career.

A legal drama threaded with romance, An Appearance of Impropriety will show readers that real love is worth the risk.

In Books & Battlefields by Heather Tabers –

A spirited librarian with a guarded heart. A haunted surgeon battling the past. A quiet deputy who never stopped hoping.

Isabella Pearson isn’t looking for love—only a way to serve. In 1917, she leaves her privileged Denver life behind to volunteer as a librarian at Camp Sheridan, Alabama. With a suitcase full of books and a heart determined to remain independent, she never expects to find herself being pursued by two Nathaniel, her brother’s steadfast best friend, and Byron, the brooding Chief Medical Officer who makes her pulse race for all the wrong reasons.

Major Byron McDaniel has buried his heart with his late wife and plans to keep it that way. Yet Isabella’s courage and compassion rattle the walls he’s so carefully built. Meanwhile, Nathaniel Steele has followed Isabella to Alabama with hopes of finally winning the heart he’s long treasured in silence. But as tensions rise at Camp Sheridan—with a suspicious fire, a string of accidents, and whispers of sabotage—Isabella must navigate more than just her feelings. When loyalty, love, and liberty hang in the balance, will she trust her heart—or her instincts?

Scars of the Revolution by Megan Soja –

Some scars are born from duty, others from rebellion—theirs were carved by both.

Libby Caldwell has been in love with Isaac Harrison for years, ever since her late father befriended him. While her head knows there is no hope of sharing her life with a British soldier, her heart is much more difficult to convince, especially now that he is quartering in her home. With Boston under siege and battle looming, each day together forces her to recognize how deep her feelings truly are…and how forbidden.

Bound by duty to both his family and country, Isaac is determined to serve honorably in the King’s army, despite never wishing to be a soldier. But quartering with the widow and daughter of his old friend places another obligation on his shoulders—that of their well-being. The more time he spends with Miss Caldwell, the more that duty begins to feel like something personal, something he cannot allow.

As the siege of Boston tightens, Libby finds herself drawn into a dangerous game of espionage that could save the Patriot cause—and destroy any chance of a future with the man she’s growing to love.

Will betrayal and war keep their two worlds forever apart? Or will they look to the One whose love knows no bounds to bring them healing and a future?

Where I Stand by Emily Ann –

The Charleston harbor shimmers with beauty and power. It’s a city of divided worlds: the privileged and the laborers.

Helen Woodard has grown up surrounded by luxury, and her future seems secure in a pending engagement to the charming and powerful Charles Wellman. But beneath her polished composure stirs a longing for something more.

For John Doherty, a young mechanic new to the city, Charleston offers a chance to prove himself. To build something honest and lasting with his own two hands. But when a draft notice arrives, his dreams are upended.

And for Lucas Woodard, Helen’s brother, life has always been easy. His future of privilege also seems certain, but tensions arise when he fails to meet his father’s expectations.

As 1917 dawns and America joins the war, Charleston becomes a city of blurred lines: where loyalty wavers, love defies logic, and whispers of betrayal stir in drawing rooms and shipyards alike.

In Emily Ann’s second novel, Where I Stand, war tests the limits of class and the depths of the human heart, revealing how courage, sacrifice, and unexpected love can rise from the ashes of a divided world.

~~This one is now up on Goodreads!~~

The Caregiver at Wounded Knee by Debby Lee –

Past and Present Collide on the Railway

When life seems weighed down by challenges, there are always pillars of enduring hope and love to be discovered.

Lily Mae Dodge flees Wyoming by night to find her mother, who sent her west on an orphan train ten years ago. After she’s arrested in Chicago, help comes from a man with a rare vision impairment whom she only just met on a train. Francis Basnett is a roustabout for the famous Hagenbeck-Wallace circus, where he helps Lily gain employment. Their friendship grows into more, and it seems Lily is closer than ever to finding her mother. . .until the night a rogue troop train slams into the stalled circus train, killing dozens and splintering hope.

Texas Reclaimed by Sherry Shindelar –

Can love blossom between a woman haunted by her family’s past and a man with a war-scarred heart?

Cora Scott is determined to hold onto her family’s Texas ranch and provide a stable home for her young half brother, Charlie, despite the mounting challenges of post-Civil War frontier life. But when a scheming creditor threatens to seize their land, she must accept help from Ben McKenzie, a former Yankee soldier sent by her late brother. Though Ben’s generosity and strength draw her, the man’s private struggle she stumbles upon—too reminiscent of her father’s alcoholism—makes her question whether she can trust her heart to him.

Ben McKenzie arrives in Texas intent on fulfilling his promise to his dying friend to protect Cora and Charlie. While using his inheritance to save their ranch, he battles not only the loss of their cattle but also his dependency on laudanum—a medicine that turned into a curse after his imprisonment at Andersonville. As his feelings for Cora deepen, he must choose between his promise to his father to take over their Philadelphia newspaper and his growing dream of a life with Cora in Texas.

When a Comanche warrior begins courting Cora and Ben’s responsibilities in Philadelphia threaten to tear them apart, they must decide if their love is strong enough to overcome their fears and forge a future together on the Texas frontier.

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Did any of these grab your attention?
Have you read any of them?

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