The Most Anticipated Books of 2027
It may still be 2026, but it's never too early to start looking ahead to what's coming out next year. As I hear about books I'm already excited about in 2027, I'll drop them here.
As a bonus, I'll include links to those where I'm fortunate to receive an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) and read prior to release, so that hopefully I can help you as you ponder which to pick up next.
Love Interest
Why not kick off the year with a heartwarming romance? This time Chloe Liese tackles enemies-to-lovers when a kindhearted librarian must work with a cantankerous writer. As the librarian, Helen, starts to chip away at the writer, Sam's, gruff exterior, she finds she may go from supporting role to love interest for the first time in her life.
A Court of Forgotten Melody
Sarah J. Maas delivering a new ACOTAR book in 2026 would have been enough (Book 6, A Court of Splintered Harmony, to release on October 27, 2026), but she blew minds earlier this year by announcing not one but two new ACOTAR novels, the second (and 7th in the series), A Court of Forgotten Melody, to drop on January 12, 2027. Make sure you get all of your rereading of the first five ACOTAR books (AND Throne of Glass, AND Crescent City) done before October!
The Stars Look Like Home
Oh boy. TJ Klune can tug at one's heartstrings with the best of them, and this time he tells a tale from the perspective of a dog, Burke, who finds out his time is short and is determined to make the most of all life has to offer. After many starts and stops, he finally finds his human, only to be tragically separated, requiring Burke to journey through the wilderness for what I'm sure will be a reunion that leaves me in a puddle. Klune promises us up front that the dog doesn't die, but I'm still bringing extra tissues.
The Things You'll Never Know
As good as Audrain's debut novel The Push was—one of my Top 25 Mysteries of the Last 5 Years— she hit a bit of a sophomore slump with her follow-up novel The Whispers. So which will this be?
Once again, motherhood is at the center of the tale, this time told from the perspective of a ghostly mother just after her death. “All those moments in life that mark a before, and an after. Before the death of me, and after. Before they knew the truth of what happened, and after.”
Instant Classic
Fagan's 2025 novel The Three Lives of Cate Kay was a five-star read for me and landed in my Top 20 that year. In Instant Classic, she once again explores queer identity, this time with a focus on women's sports.
A struggling Hollywood director, Marion May, sets out to tell the story of Harper Kidd, a former women's basketball player turned coach whose story reaches back into the 1950s. While focused on a lineage of women who fought to play, to love, and to be seen, Marion begins to confront the parts of herself she’s long kept hidden.
Mickey Prime
The latest in Ashton's "Mickey7" series this time sees our lovable expendable pushed back into his old duties when a virulent plague hits the colony. Mickey is expected to die and be replaced as many times as necessary to find a cure, but there's a problem: he's the only one that can't seem to contract the virus.
I enjoyed both the original Mickey7 and its follow-on novel, Antimatter Blues, and so I'm looking forward to lots of chuckles as Mickey again tries to navigate scenarios that require someone with his "particular set of skills."
Serious Music
It's going to be hard—maybe impossible—for Everett to top James, his incredible 2024 retelling of Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but it's not a competition. This time, Everett crafts a wholly original story, focused on Arthur Champion, who in 1918 is one of only a few Black students attending the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. When he gets on the wrong side of a vindictive professor, he finds himself enrolled in the United States Army, and we, as readers, embark on a decade-long journey with Arthur. This is sure to be on everyone's must-read list.
The Last Days of Vic and CoCo
Another that is certain to be on every 2027 preview list, Taylor Jenkins Reid is back after her triumphant last novel, Atmosphere. This newest offering follows two female pool hustlers in 1974, Victoria Lucchese and Colette Wilson. Word starts to spread about two women to watch out for, and they’re running out of places to hide and marks to hustle. That’s when they set in motion a plan that will bring them their biggest payday yet…or cost them everything.
The Worst Wife
Percival Everett and Taylor Jenkins Reid will get all the buzz, but if I'm picking up one new book on March 2, it will be the latest from Amy Tintera, whose excellent previous book Listen for the Lie made my Best of 2026 list.
This new novel focuses on Charlotte, the third wife of George—a man who is both significantly older and much wealthier than she is. When George suddenly vanishes, Charlotte realizes she will likely be suspect #1 in everyone's eyes. Rather than sit back and wait, she sets off to find George herself before the police can pin his disappearance on her.
Tell Me What You See
Samantha Jayne Allen had one of my favorite mystery debuts of 2022 with her first book Pay Dirt Road, which spawned a 3-book series featuring main character Annie McIntyre. This upcoming offering is a fresh start, focused on Cheyenne Mitchell, who gets dragged into an investigation when a local teenager goes missing and answers might lie with her mother's past.
Paris Match
The story centers on a tense cat-and-mouse dynamic between two men after a brutal murder on Île Saint-Louis: one who finds the body and is worried about being the prime suspect, and another who tries to silence him before the truth emerges.
The Far Blue
Ridley Scott's adaptation of Peter Heller's The Dog Stars likely helped put this fine author on the radar of many new readers, and The Far Blue sounds like it will carry forward some of the themes he has consistently explored in his previous novels. In this latest offering, a man is swept out to sea in the midst of a Nor’easter after he tangles with looters trying to ransack his home, leading to a multi-layered survival story.
Emerald Lake
From the author of The Maid comes a new mystery in which long-buried secrets float to the surface, and an elderly woman must decide whether to protect the secrets that have defined her life or tell the truth before it's too late.
For most of her life, Jane Weber has kept the secrets of one devastating summer submerged in the brooding waters of Emerald Lake. Now, at eighty-four and in failing health, all Jane wants is to live out her days in peace at her lakeside cottage—the place where she first fell in love and where she suffered a loss so profound she wishes she could forget it. But when her young granddaughters stumble upon human remains by the lake, the discovery sends shock waves through Jane’s entire community, reopening a mystery everyone thought had been laid to rest long ago.
The Fire
The wildly popular Kristin Hannah returns with her first book since The Women, and her first book in more than a decade that isn't a historical novel. Dubbed as one "set in our own deeply divided time", the novel follows a woman who embarks on an impulsive cross-country journey to reconnect with her estranged daughter in this "epic novel that reckons with the history we are all living through...an anthem to those who feel invisible and forgotten and a rallying cry for women of every age to stand together to be seen…and heard."
I read to escape our own deeply divided time. Plus, I'm in the small minority of readers who found The Nightingale utterly underwhelming. There is exactly zero chance that I will be reading this, but I know I will once again be in the minority.
White Smoke
Marketed as "Ocean's 11 meets Conclave," the book sounds like a banger. Aging conman Nikola Camilleri is recruited by a mysterious criminal mastermind known as "Dante" for one final, monumental score. The objective is to break into both the Vatican Secret Archives and the Treasury of St. Peter's Basilica to pull off the biggest artifact heist in history. However, as Nikola assembles his crew and prepares the operation, the Pope dies suddenly and unexpectedly. As hundreds of Cardinals, international security forces, and millions of tourists flood the city-state for the upcoming papal election (conclave), the crew decides to press forward, using the chaos, ancient tunnels, and stolen clergy disguises as cover.
We Shall Be Monsters
This debut novel is being pitched as as "Gone Girl meets The Secret History"—okay, I'm in! Dark academia, toxic friendships, obsession, murder...this one promises to have all the things. The story centers on Eve, a clever and ruthless young woman who escapes a bleak childhood to attend Newcastle University. There, Eve is drawn into an elite group of English Literature students who share a passion for the poetry of the Late Romantics and a desire to push life to its extremes. Those passions lead to lies and obsession, and eventually to a dark turn that ends in murder.
The Guerrilla Republic
On the heels of the first book in The Decurion Saga, 2026's The Infinite State, we have to wait only a year to see how this planned duology wraps up. Book 1 was a strong 4-star read for me, and now that the foundation is in place, I'm excited to see how Swan finishes the story.
One email on the first of every month with a summary and rating of each book reviewed over the past 30 days, and a look at where the year's ranking stands.