It’s time once again, gentle reader, for our annual Big Books of Summer celebration, in which we offer a genre-sorted selection of the season’s most anticipated new books. This time around we’re adding a little bonus content, too—a sneak peek at some of the biggest books coming later in the year.  
 
As always, the titles below are essentially selected by you, the loyal Goodreads regular. Books are chosen by tracking early reviews and determining which titles people are adding to their Want to Read shelves. All the books listed below are scheduled to be published in the U.S. between May and December of this year.
 
We’ve sorted the stacks into the standard genre designations—historical fiction, fantasy, romance, etc. But bear in mind that these lines often get blurry. Actually, there are several books this year that treat genre as dubious advice, best ignored. Which is good! Anyway, we did our best with the sorting. We’ve also included the planned publication date for each, although these can sometimes get delayed or switched around.
 
Some highlights and interesting developments for the summer reading season:
 
Historical fiction specialist Maggie O’Farrell (Hamnet) invites readers to 19th-century Ireland in her new novel, Land. Mystery lovers will be happy to hear about Liane Moriarty’s long-awaited sequel novel, Big Little Truths. For romance, try Tia Williams’ latest, The Missed Connection, concerning fortuitous airport encounters. Also look for highly anticipated new releases from Marlon James, Natalie Messier, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Riley Sager.
 
In the spec-fic aisles, Melissa Albert’s The Children offers a new spin on fantasy literature (and maybe the summer’s most beautiful cover art design). Isabel J. Kim delivers an intriguing sci-fi premise in Sublimation. And horror veteran Paul Tremblay returns with the SF/horror hybrid Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep. Oh, and heads up that this year’s DIY dystopian romance sensation Daggermouth is getting a traditional hardcover release in July. Nonfiction readers, you have a broad selection of topics to choose from this summer, including famous shipwrecks, Canadian garbage, and the end of the world.
 
Finally, those interested in peeking ahead to fall releases will find new books on the way from John Green, R.F. Kuang, Min Jin Lee, and Emily St. John Mandel, plus two very-big-deal series continuations from Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses) and Leigh Bardugo (the Alex Stern series).
 
And how about this: Both winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction are back with books in the fall: Hernan Diaz with Ply, in September, and Barbara Kingsolver with Partita, in October.
 
So dig in, click around, and feel free to use the Want to Read button to organize your 2026 reading queue. Happy reading! Happy summer!