‘I read every day and there are five books I can’t wait for’ | Books | Entertainment
New Year, new reading goals, and that opens up new potential for brand new books – isn’t it exciting?
It’s going to be difficult to top my reading journey in 2025, when I read more than 200 different titles.However, there are plenty of new books that I’m excited to get stuck into now that 2026 has arrived.
Readers will be spoilt for choice because there’s such a huge variety of literature being published this year. From standalones to non-fiction reads, romances and something a little bit more confronting, there really is something coming soon for everyone.
So which titles will I be putting onto my reading list? Here are five books I can’t wait to read in 2026…
1. Half His Age by Jenette McCurdy
After listening to ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ and really enjoying it, I can’t wait for Jenette’s first foray into the fiction world. It’s said to be a wildly confronting debut novel about sex, class, desire, and power, and I hope it’s as powerful as her non-fiction work.
Here’s the blurb: “Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Hurting. Endlessly wanting. And the thing she wants most of all? Mr Korgy, her creative writing teacher.
“Mr Korgy, with the wife and the kid and the mortgage and the bills, with the dead dreams and the atrophied looks and the growing paunch. She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films that she doesn’t? Or are they actually kindred spirits, sharing the same filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does.
“Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is an incisive study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles in her effort to be seen, to be desired and to be loved.”
It sounds like it’s going to be heartbreaking…You can pre-order a signed edition here.
2. The Brides by Charlotte Cross
The Brides is a prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and it’s been described as being “full of toxic love and monstrous ambition”.This feminist Gothic horror follows the three women who became the brides of Dracula – and the fourth who managed to escape. It seems seriously spooky.
This is the blurb: “1884. When Mafalda journeys to Budapest to care for her grieving aunt, her secret love, Lucy, hurries from London to comfort her, with a chaperone and a lady’s maid in tow.
“But Lady’s Maid Alice, blessed and cursed with the Sight, is tormented by terrifying visions. When chaperone Eliza falls prey to a disturbing wasting illness, the women hope to seek the healing waters of Transylvania. At a nobleman’s invitation, they set out for Castle Dracula.
“In the depths of the forest, miles from civilisation, their host reveals his true intentions: a monstrous ambition which will tear the women apart. And not all of them will survive”.
You can pre-order The Brides here .
3. The Rebel and the Peacemaker by Geraldine Roberts
A New Year’s Resolution of mine is to read more different genres – and this historical non-fiction book sounds seriously juicy.
Here’s the blurb: “When it came to Charles and Mary Bagot, the gossips of Regency England had more than their fill. The marriage, initially the toast of high society, was one marked with scandal and adultery. And when rumours of a particularly salacious affair broke through London, the couple were banished to the New World.
“Having sailed across the Pacific, Charles and Mary settled into their new home among the mudflows of Washington. It was here that they would serve their penance as the first British Ambassadors to America, at a pivotal moment in the new nation’s history.
“But against the odds and in spite of their misfortune, the Bagots would emerge as the leading diplomats of their day. Their innate gift for politics, culture and social affairs was a tonic to the Anglo-American tensions and would lay the groundwork for modern global diplomacy.
“Their trailblazing work, first in the United States and then later in Russia and Canada that would forever change the power dynamics on the world stage”.
You can pre-order The Rebel and the Peacemaker here .
4. Immortal Secrets by Taryn Knightly
After absolutely adoring Immortal Origins, I knew that I needed to read book two ASAP. Although it’s not out until the start of August (eek!), a re-read will hopefully satiate me until then, because I need to know what’s going to happen next in this fantasy novel (with dragons in!).
Currently, the proper blurb is not available, saying it’s “coming soon,” but it does say this: “Join us on the next adventure where Ambrose will discover more about her world than she ever thought possible.
“As she gathers her allies and prepares for the second trial by setting off to a new kingdom, she’s faced with so many lies and truths, she quickly realises, nothing in the empire is what it seems…”
I literally cannot wait, and I have my own theories as to who the main character can and cannot trust. But I’ll have to wait to see whether I’m right or not! As for you, you should 100% read book one!
You can pre-order Immortal Secrets here .
5. Wants & Needs by Roxy Dunn
I love a story that can resemble someone you know’s real life (or maybe even your own) so Wants & Needs sounds right up my street. All about being in your early 30s, it’s a book about dating, finding yourself, and realising we all have different wants and needs – and that’s okay.
The blurb reads: “Independence seems to be drifting away from Misty. Just months ago, she was living with her fiancé and planning their life together. Now she’s single, back in her childhood bedroom, on crutches from knee surgery, and relying on her mother to help her with the smallest of tasks. This isn’t how thirty-two was meant to look.
“When Misty turns to dating apps, she’s immediately intrigued by charismatic, handsome Christopher – so intrigued that she doesn’t even notice the acronym ‘ENM’ on his profile. By the time she discovers that it stands for ‘ethical non-monogamy’ – and that he’s in a long-term open relationship – she already feels such undeniable, dizzying chemistry that she decides to give things a go.
“And so Misty makes a pact with herself to date Christopher for the next six weeks while his partner is away. It’s all part of her plan: she wants to learn to become less attached, and to prepare herself for her next ‘real’ relationship. But is what she wants really what she needs?”
You can pre-order Wants & Needs here .
