What better time than your spring cleaning to refresh your TBR? With all the new science fiction and fantasy being released in 2026, readers are spoiled for choice. As the sun starts to warm our skin and days stretch longer inch by inch, go ahead and pick a new read from our most anticipated list to bump to the top of your planned reading list to start the year off on the right reading foot.

Vigil by George Saunders (1/27)

Nobody wants to die alone, and Jill “Doll” Blaine has dedicated her entire afterlife to ensuring that never happens. This time, she is returning to Earth to comfort K. J. Boone, someone suspiciously in no need at all of any comforting. He’s had a successful life, left his impact, and is ready to head on out. In his final night, though, visitors are on their way from both sides of the veil to see him off and make plans for the fortune he’s leaving behind.

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The Johnson Four by Christina Hammonds Reed (2/3)

All any father wants is to craft a future for his sons. While Odysseus Johnson has been trying to help his sons rise to stardom with their many talents, the eldest, Roman, could care less about the stage, the middle son Rocco is marching to the beat of his own, confusing, drum, but the youngest River is fully prepared for a life of performance and fame. After yet another failed audition, the Johnson family encounters the ghost of a young Black boy who was once named Christmas Jones the Third. The child, who faced a life of suffering and minstrel performing, wants for nothing more than to join the Johnson family, which he eventually does after stowing away on their Cadillac. After a tragedy strikes the newly happy family, the sons scatter and Christmas vanishes, leaving the three sons to pick up the pieces of their hearts and family in the wake.

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Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett (2/17)

Anges Aubert would do anything for the many cats under her care to find their forever home, and that includes allowing her business to be a front to protect an underground magic shop for infamous magician Havelock. Like all mad mages, he is rough around the edges and eccentric to boot, as well as easy on the eyes. The only downside? He has made enemies. When they show up for Havelock the entire cat shelter is on the line. Now, Anges and Havelock must team up to protect the shelter, and it seems they are a much better-suited pair than they had originally thought.

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The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White (3/10)

Anneke might have been distant from her mad father, driven away by his obsession with the study of vampires. That doesn’t mean that she wanted him murdered, or for her to witness the murder at the hands of a devastatingly beautiful woman who vanishes without a trace. Now, Anneke has dedicated everything to her search for the killer, moreso now that bodies are stacking all over Europe and she knows they must be connected. Unfortunately, she is keeping key evidence from her team: a growing collection of blood-soaked and alluring letters from a certain Diavola. The closer Anneke gets to the heart of her search, the closer she gets to the heart of the beast responsible for the murders, and it beats warmer than Anneke could have ever expected.

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Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky (3/17)

In the fourth installment of the Children of Time series, humans have departed Earth in search for another habitable world for them to call home. One day, when crewmate Alis wakes to find only herself, her captain, and the ship’s intelligence are the only remaining inhabitants of their ship, she must find where all the other humans have gone, and what awaits her in the world below.

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The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (4/7)

Ellie’s mother is in a coma and the universe is collapsing. On top of that, her sister is bouncing between failed assassination attempts while claiming Ellie is not Chinese enough. In the background, shadowy figures work to claim the skunkworks for themselves, a technology that maintain the physics of the universe. When Ellie is granted the opportunity to keep her mother alive at the cost of the universe’s stabilization, she is not certain which option she will take.

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We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune (4/28)

In a marriage, there are lows that can feel like the entire world is crashing down around you. For husbands Don and Rodney, they’ve faced their fair share in their forty years of marriage and know that they will be together until the end of their days. Unfortunately, the end of their days are coming in about a month or so when a rogue black hole demolishes Earth and erases everything from existence. In their final month, they choose to roadtrip from Maine to Washington to try and tend to some things before the end.

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Broken Dove by Dani Francis (5/12)

In the sequel to Silver Elite, Wren has barely survived her deployment as a double-agent and has safely returned behind enemy lines, leaving her lover, Cross, behind to continue their mission. As Wren refocuses her efforts on aiding the Uprising, she begins to rekindle her friendship with Grayson. As war continues to grow and secrets become deadly, Wren must confront what and who she is willing to lose in order to continue the fight.

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 The Tapestry of Fate by S.A. Chakraborty (5/12)

Amina al-Sirafi is finally beginning to settle down as much as any pirate can; she’s offered a stable assignment that still allows her to adventure and return home to her daughter, Marjana. Everything is finally starting to fall into place until her husband, a spirit of discord, provokes the wrath of a council who holds Amina and Marjana’s fate in their hands. Amina, in an effort to save her family, is sent to an island from which no one ever returns to collect a spindle that can rewrite fate.

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The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham (6/2)

For Corin, fables don’t matter as much as surviving the ruin of her home kingdom. Her younger sister Elly, though, has lost herself chasing down the lost princess in an attempt to save their home, so Corin is following the fables regardless. When Corin enters a portal into the lost princess’ subconscious, she finds her sister in a magical world of dreams. Briar Rose, the bubbly alter ego of the princess, and Malicine, a magically-gifted demon, are waiting to greet the sisters as they venture through in search of an exit. As they dig deeper, though, they discover darker secrets within the mind of the princess.

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