My Most Anticipated Releases from the Latter Half of 2026

When I made my mid-year freakout tag, there was a question asking about most anticipated releases for the rest of 2026, and I could have gone on for ages about all the books releasing in the latter half (seriously, this autumn and winter is stacked!) And while I made a post at the start of the year about 2026 new releases I was excited about, a lot have since been announced and I thought we were due a refresh. So here are eleven books releasing in the months August-December, with projected release dates and blurbs, as well as my thoughts on each at the end!

• The Castle and the Cloister by Laura E. Weymouth (Daughters of Light #1)

Release date: 4th August

Blurb: The Priory of the Orange Tree meets Black Sun in the thrilling launch of a political fantasy duology following three people—a wet nurse, a heretic queen, and a priest—as they attempt to shape the fortunes of a continent shattered by war.

Two hundred years ago, the warmongering Inver clan conquered the nation of Honoria, suppressing its pacifist goddesses, and ushering in an era of blood and battles. Now, after a brief but fraught peace, a king’s whims threaten to reignite the engines of war.

At the sun goddess Raea’s cloister, the last stronghold of Honoria’s matriarchal religion, Fia and her infant daughter are in search of a safe haven. Fia aims to offer her child more than the poverty and abuse she was raised with, but the price of the cloister’s protection will tear her from what she loves most and thrust her into a game more complex than she could imagine.

Within the Invers’ mountain fortress, Ariana is known as the apostate queen. Once a follower of the goddess of stars, she left her faith for the sake of a king. But old loyalties are not easily severed. Ariana treads a dangerous path, striving for peace in a court made for conquest.

Deep in the heart of the mountain, the Inver Priest bides his time, presiding over his people’s brutal religion. Blinded in the fight for the throne, he harbors a bitter grudge—one that could lead to Honoria’s ruin or renewal.

Amid a treacherous landscape of enemies, allies, and intrigue, three lives will intertwine. Each will have to risk the wrath of gods and kings alike to alter the course of nations.

• A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan #3)

Release date: 11th August

Blurb: Brilliant detective Ana Dolabra must prove a man’s innocence to stop a civil war in the third book of the series that began with The Tainted Cup, named an Edgar, Hugo, and World Fantasy Award Finalist and one of the best books of the year (New York Times Book Review, NPR, Elle)—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Sapirdad, two of the Empire’s most powerful families are moments away from going to war with each other, their hundreds of retainers gathered with swords drawn. If blood is spilt, the whole of the empire may be plunged into starvation and chaos.

To de-escalate matters, someone must do the impossible: prove that one family’s eldest son is innocent of a gruesome and unforgivable murder, despite the incontrovertible evidence against him.

It is with this undertaking that the great detective Ana Dolabra is tasked, her assistant Din at her side—and the two find themselves racing with great speed and little dignity to the scene.

As ever, the impossible proves little obstacle for the deadly combination of Ana’s intellect and Din’s keen eye, and mere hours after riding into the dusty town, Ana glimpses the greater pattern behind the crime. A deeper, subtler web of death is being woven in plain sight, by a mastermind with an ancient magical technology at his disposal.

But even Ana’s uncanny insight is of little use when each new suspect she uncovers ends up dead–with each new killing calculated to bring tensions between the two rival clans past the boiling point. And as Din pursues their adversary through the canton’s wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses, he finds his loyalties divided in unexpected ways.

• The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig (The Stonewater Kingdom #2)

Release date: 1st September

Blurb: Rachel Gillig, the queen of gothic romantasy, returns with higher stakes, darker mysteries, and deeper longings in this gorgeous sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling sensation The Knight and the Moth.

Aisling Cathedral is in ruins. Rodrick Myndacious, Bartholomew, and Maude Bauer are rumored to be dead—and the king has taken Sybil Delling as his bride. To show off their union and solidify his power over Traum, Benji proposes a series of tournaments throughout the hamlets. Captive and drugged, Sybil remains determined to vanquished him as she once did the Omens, even if she destroys the kingdom’s faith—and herself—in the process.

But then a mysterious knave rises to the top of the lists, a man with no name and no memory who may just be Sybil’s ticket to undoing Benji’s power. For in a land where stories repeat themselves, where a king can prove as cruel as a god, the only way to truly destroy the Stonewater Kingdom’s faith is to save it.

• Tempest by Victoria Aveyard (The Lyrian Sea #1)

Release date: 8th September

Blurb: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Aveyard comes an epic adventure of love and betrayal, amid a brutal war for the high seas. May the sea always sing for you.

Cat Rose knows what it is to live in two worlds, in two times. Before—as Lady Catrine Rose of the Meridian Empire, chained to a loathsome lord with a dwindling fortune. And after—as the Widow Rose, queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian Sea, determined to be the master of her own fate.

But tides turn and winds change. The Meridian Empire looms on the horizon, the full weight of her navy falling on the Lyrian, bent on reclaiming the wealthy colonies and crushing the pirate republic once and for all. Ship after ship is captured, save for one, captained by a pirate who continually evades both noose and blade: the legendary Valerian Kane.

With his fearsome ship and uncanny connection to the song of the sea, Valerian is the only man who might rally the pirates who remain. The only man who threatens the Empire. And the only man Cat has ever loved, blazing in and out of her life like a star.

Desperate for victory, the Empire offers Cat a devastating choice: bring them Valerian or hang. In truth, no choice at all. But Cat Rose is nothing if not a survivor.

• The Horrors We Harbour by Emily Cooper

Release date: 10th September

Blurb: DON’T LET THE LIGHT GO OUT.

Most lighthouses are a promise of sanctuary. Guinevere’s lighthouse is a threat. Its light fends off the horrors lurking in the ocean surrounding the isolated Ynys Halen. Guin has one keep the light on.

So, when Guin slips up, monsters are free to ravage the island and terror ensues for all who live there. No longer confident that the lighthouse can protect them, the islanders are all too keen to return to the ritual sacrifices that once sated the sea. As punishment, first in the firing line is Guin’s more-than-a-friend, Catrin Morgan. In a month, Catrin will be thrown to the ocean to be devoured by the secrets beneath the waves. 

But Guin won’t let that happen. She can’t. Because it’s not just Catrin’s life at stake; it will mean the floodgates for future sacrifices will be flung open, and anyone could be forced to pay the cost. 

To succeed against the island’s rapidly forming cult, Guin and the eerie Morgan sisters must take a stand, using the lighthouse as their fortress. And as the community descends into depravity, the women must unearth the pestilence beneath the waves and determine who the real enemy is.

• Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske

Release date: 15th September

Blurb: Grey’s Anatomy meets A Deadly Education in this dark academia fantasy from USA Today bestselling author Freya Marske.

At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, every mage with the healer’s gift has five years to master their power and to prepare for the infamous Grand Exam—a five-day trial whose results will determine their entire future.

The list of exam rules includes:
• You will perform five practical cases.
• Your exam group is chosen at random.
• You pass together, or fail together.

It does not include:
• On the first day, your exam group will find a classmate’s dead body in the exam hall.

And as they will soon discover, this particular group all have something to hide… and all have a connection with the dead girl, a brilliant scholar who would have been first in their class.

Five scholars. Five secrets. Five days in which to solve a murder, pass the most important exam of their lives, and uncover a secret larger than all of their own combined. One with the potential to change the world.

Are you ready? Let’s begin.

• Turncloak by L.K. Steven (The Silvercloak Saga #2)

Release date: 15th September

Blurb: Three rival mages race for power, vengeance, and the fate of Atherin in the epic second installment of the Silvercloak Saga, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Our Infinite Fates.

Revenge drove Saffron Killoran to go undercover in the Bloodmoon gang. But now, with any chance of retribution gone, she sees only one path forward: harnessing a long-dormant power to fix her ruinous mistakes.

Meanwhile, the new kingpin of the Bloodmoons has discovered Saffron’s true identity as a Silvercloak—and her ultimate goal of bringing his empire down. As old wounds resurface and fresh enemies close in, he finds himself torn between the cause to which he has devoted his life and the fate of the traitorous mage he loves.

Hot on their heels is an ambitious rookie detective sent to stake out the Bloodmoons’ growing rivals. She will stop at nothing to destroy both gangs—and anything or anyone who dares to stand in her way.

Caught in a cat-and-mouse game of trust and betrayal spanning continents, Saffron must choose where her loyalties lie—and determine if her quest to unmake time itself is worth becoming a villain to the whole world.

• The Thief and the Traitor Bride by V.L. Bovalino (The Hand and the Heart #2)

Release date: 29th September

Blurb: A ruthless spy. A deadly mission. A thief who could ruin it all. The Thief and the Traitor Bride is a standalone romantic fantasy set in the world of the Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling novel The Second Death of Locke.

Nore Gordon is a woman of many talents: she can speak a variety of languages, disguise herself in plain sight, and has made a name for herself as a successful wine merchant. But unbeknownst to those closest to her, it is all a front for Nore’s true role as the favoured spy of the Lindle crown.

Tasked with infiltrating enemy lands in search of a powerful relic, Nore is forced to engage the services of a great thief. Unfortunately, the only person for the job is her estranged husband Caspian. Both Nore and Caspian bear the scars of the disastrous end of their marriage, but if they are to survive their deadly new assignment, they must pose as a happily married couple to avoid detection.

As danger closes in, Nore finds herself tangled in a web of lies and deceit-and though Caspian is at the centre of it all, she may not hate him as much as she once did. But Caspian has betrayed her before, and trust can be far more deadly than deception.

• This Shattered Tempest by Thea Guanzon (The Hurricane Wars #3)

Release date: 6th October

Blurb: The highly anticipated conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Hurricane Wars trilogy makes landfall— and as the winds of war sweep through Lir, Talasyn and Alaric must confront the truth of their hearts and decide whether duty or desire will lead them forward.

When the storm swallows the world, who will be left standing?

Throughout their political marriage, Alaric and Talasyn struggled to resist the undeniable pull between them, even as rising tensions forced them on opposite sides of a looming war. Hand in hand, they vanquished the cataclysmic threat of the Moonless Dark—and started to hope for a future together.

That hope is shattered when a devastating attack sets off a chain of events that tears them apart once more. Now, as two rival nations prepare for a final, decisive clash, the Master of the Shadowforged Legion and the last Lightweaver fight to find their way back to each other. But the odds are stacked against them, and time is running out…

Is love enough to rewrite destiny? Can a new beginning rise from the ruins of the past? Or are Alaric and Talasyn doomed to meet as enemies on one last battlefield? This explosive third and final book brings the beloved Hurricane Wars series to a stunning conclusion—where passion and power collide, and the fate of a divided world hangs in the balance.

• Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung

Release date: 13th October

Blurb: An ambitious alchemist must uncover her university’s dark secrets while trying to escape from her mysterious past in this electrifying debut.

On a rain-soaked night in modern-day Paris, Larkspur Lee and her academic rivals find themselves at the center of an impossible crime-the murder of their university’s headmistress, the immortal Petronelle Flamel.

In the aftermath of Flamel’s death, the school devolves into chaos. The mysterious investigator assigned to the case, Violaine, believes a cult known as the Promethean Genesis is responsible for Flamel’s murder. But Lark, who knows all too well what kind of horrors that the Prometheans commit, will do anything to stay out of the cult’s reach. Matters are complicated when the mentor she crossed an ocean and a continent to escape re-enters her life, enticing her to his side once again while secretly wielding an agenda of his own.

As the Prometheans’ plans come to fruition and the university’s dark history comes to light, Lark has no choice but to decide whether the power she desires is truly worth the price.

• The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow

Release date: 20th October

Blurb: From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Everlasting and Starling House comes a new fantastical collection of stories about tricksters and ghosts, magics ordinary and spectacular. Alix E. Harrow spins tales never-told and seen just outside the periphery of reality–in the tradition of Angela Carter, Anne Sexton, and Carmen Maria Machado, these hauntingly resonant and defiant stories leap from the page and dance in and out of a history that never was (but could have been) and into a future startingly like our own.

Before I was a liar I was a historian, which is a kind of storyteller who doesn’t make any money and likes footnotes.

These are stories about the past as it wasn’t quite, but might have been, from ancient battlefields all the way up through roadside attractions off I-70. They’re about the people caught in the mean jaws of history: the women and workers, the soldiers and mothers, everyone shoved into the margins of the world.

• Vine of Hearts by Julie Soto (The Evermore Trilogy #2)

Release date: 26th November

Blurb: Return to a world sparkling with dark magic and desire with this highly anticipated sequel to the enemies-to-lovers romantasy sensation Rose in Chains…

Briony Rosewood escaped the worst of it – or so she tells herself. Though forced to serve the woman who gutted her kingdom, she has the protection of the powerful Hearst family. But even they have their limits. Now Briony must do the unthinkable: share her magic – and her heart – with Toven Hearst. Once her enemy…now her tentative ally.

Forced to travel to distant kingdoms to play the part of Toven’s adoring heartspring, their survival depends on Briony pretending to love the man whose family helped destroy her own. But the cruellest part is that her treacherous heart has always been his.

While she smiles for the enemy, behind closed doors Briony feeds the rebellion with whispered information and dangerous new alliances. And the Hearsts harbour secrets of their own – but none is darker than Toven’s shadowy, devastating gift.

When the lost daughter of Evermore finally chooses where her heart belongs, everyone will come to know the full force of their combined power – and her wrath.

(P.S. All expected release dates are taken from Goodreads and may vary a bit country to country!)

There are doubtless going to be more announced, particularly for November and December which are a while off yet, but these are the ones that are on my radar as of now. Hopefully some of the premises intrigued you – I know the concept of Grey’s Anatomy in a fantasy medical school setting in Bodies of Magic definitely caught my attention.

A lot of these are also sequels, and some are even conclusions to series I’ve loved these past years, such as the Knave and the Moon and This Shattered Tempest. I don’t consider myself a huge romantasy girl, but something about the Hurricane Wars series absolutely got me. I thought the second book, A Monsoon Rising, was markedly weaker, but I’m still hopeful that Thea Guanzon will stick the landing in this third and final instalment. If you’re looking for a good romantasy with genuine enemies-to-lovers, you need to check it out. As for the Knave and the Moon, I’m equal parts nerves and excitement, just because I love these characters so much, but I have faith in Rachel Gillig to give us the conclusion we need.

Aside from Knave, Tempest might be my MOST anticipated read on this list. I’ve been following Victoria’s journey on Instagram while writing this book, and every single thing I hear about it just makes me so hyped to read it. A brutal war for the high seas? Star-crossed pirates? Protagonist named Lady Catrine Rose, nicknamed the Widow Rose – oh, we’re so back.

I have actually already read an ARC of Turncloak, but I’m still so excited to see it out in the world because WOW does L.K. Steven take us on a journey in that book. Another one I’ve been lucky enough to receive an ARC of is The Horrors We Harbour by Emily Cooper (I actually received the proof in the mail on the day of writing this, so I haven’t had a change to read it yet, but trust that I’ve been staring lovingly at it on my shelves all day. Look at that cover! Talk about atmospheric!)

An auto-buy author for me is Alix E. Harrow and I’m so excited for her new collection of short stories, The Slantwise Histories. One of my favourite books (ever?) is the Everlasting and it was actually inspired by a short story that Alix wrote called the Six Deaths of the Saint, which is featured in this collection. So while I’m probably most hyped for that one, I’m also so interested to read the rest in the anthology. Alix is such a master of storytelling, so I have no doubt whatsoever that this will be excellent.

Finally, all the way in November (which feels so far away right now) is Vine of Hearts, the sequel to Rose in Chains. I do unashamedly love a dramione fanfic – always trying to fill the Alchemised-shaped void in my soul, and Rose in Chains is the closest I’ve come. I think Julie Soto is a really talented writer of romance, so if you’re looking for your next devastating romantasy, Rose in Chains will definitely do that. The fantasy elements were slightly weaker but I didn’t mind that considering I was mainly there for the romance. I just hope Vine of Hearts will build on that foundation and continue that trajectory.

What are some of your anticipated releases? Please let me know in the comments because, despite what this stacked TBR might lead you to believe, I’m always on the lookout for new books (which is precisely why I have a TBR as long as your arm).