Early 2026 Releases I’m Eager to Read

A new year means new releases! Well, technically there are always new releases. But in January, your previous TBR no longer counts, and you can safely start piling up new books completely unhindered by your questionable past decisions.

I’m fairly certain that’s how it works. You know, just like calories from Christmas cookies don’t actually count. Plus, we’re all just coming off the high of setting a new reading challenge, blinded with (honestly probably unearned) optimism. It’s easy to see how an unassuming bookwyrm might fall into the trap of wanting to read all the new releases!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday we’re going to play Keep or Cut, meaning we’ll take a look at some random books on my list (with the help of a random number generator) and decide whether it should stay or whether it needs to go.

Today’s post is a special NetGalley edition, as all these books are ones that I have received review copies of on NetGalley (with the exception of one physical copy). Which means I will also be sharing the first lines of each of these, so you can drool over them with me! And maybe help me which one I should pick up first? Because decisions are hard.

City of Others

In the sunny city of Singapore, the government takes care of everything – even the weird stuff. Benjamin Toh is a middle manager in the Department for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders (DEUS), tasked with taking care of the supernatural occurrences and people no one else wants to deal with, from restless ghosts to immortal gods to conniving jinn. Overworked and under-resourced, he has to juggle the demands of senior management, an elderly father, and a new boyfriend, all while trying to keep his team out of trouble.

When an entire block of flats goes missing in the town of Clementi, drowned in an otherworldly wave, the information he needs to prevent another catastrophe lies in the pasar bayang – the shadow markets. But the demigod protector of the markets has neither forgotten nor forgiven their humiliation by the Singapore authorities decades ago. Ben will need to wrestle with the legacy of his government and the whispers of his own insecurities, navigating landscapes both urban and fantastical, both inside the soul and outside the real world, all so he can just do his goddamn job.

When I read the blurb for this one, it reminded me strongly of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World, which is one of my favorite reads from last year! There is something oddly comforting about dark, tongue-in-cheek, dry humor targeted at people just trying to survive their jobs and live their best lives. So relatable, right?! Also, I am pretty sure that the literary world is working out that middle management is an absolute trap, and I am here for it. More of this, please!

First Lines:

Operation Bounce House

All colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do is run the family ranch with his sister, maybe play a gig or two with his band, and keep his family’s aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking as long as possible. As a fan of Earth television and culture, he figures it will be a good thing when the transfer gate finally opens all the way and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora. But there’s a complication.

Even though the settlers were promised they’d be left in peace, Earth’s government now has other plans. The colossal Apex Corporation is hired to commence an “eviction action.” But maximizing profits will always be Apex’s number one priority. Why spend money printing and deploying their own AI soldiers when they can turn it into a game? Why not charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines and remotely pilot them from the comfort of their own homes?

The game is called Operation Bounce House.

Oliver and his friends soon find themselves fighting for their lives against machines piloted by gamers who’ve paid a premium for the privilege. With the help of an old book from his grandfather and a bucket of rusty parts, Oliver is determined to defend the only home he’s ever known.

I absolutely fell in love with Dungeon Crawler Carl last year, and from that moment forward, I decided I will read anything Matt Dinniman writes. Bonus points of the audiobook is also done by Jeff Hays! Hubby has already started buying every audiobook he can find that Jeff Hays does, and I think we’ll both be disappointed if he doesn’t do this one! While Operation Bounce House doesn’t exactly sound along the same lines as DCC, it does maintain the world-ending game element, and I’m super curious to see what direction it takes!

First Lines:

Strange Animals

After a series of inexplicable encounters upends his life, Green finds himself alone and terrified in the Appalachian mountains, full of questions about the transformation he’s undergoing and the impossible creatures he’s starting to see.

When he meets a hermit named Valentina, he realizes that something more than chance has brought him to her door. For she has devoted centuries to researching the hidden world of cryptids that Green is only now beginning to perceive.

As Green begins his studies beneath her watchful eye, he comes face to face with time-stopping giant moths, cyclops squirrels, and doorways to elsewhere. Along the way come clues about his own nature and the powerful beings who led him here—and, most wondrous of all, a sense of fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.

But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.

I am definitely not saying that I condone judging a book by its cover. I’m just saying that this cover is stunning, and I keep coming back to how attention-grabbing it is. To be fair, that is its job, and it doesn’t get bonus rewards for doing its job. I’m a sucker for both books about cryptids and books set in Appalachia, and this is both, so obviously I couldn’t pass this one up. This also says it’s a cozy paranormal, and I definitely need more of that in my life.

First Lines:

Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die

All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is, quite frankly, too handsome to die a violent and pointless death in battle. But when the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights predicting that the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Cameron, he finds himself in a situation too sticky for even his considerable wiles. Short of ideas, Cameron throws himself on the mercy of the one person who now actually wants him to survive: the mad sorcerer.

Merulo isn’t thrilled to be babysitting a spoilt, attention-seeking knight, but fate has tied them together. And transmogrifying Cameron into a vulture is at least a great source of entertainment. Cameron, meanwhile, is on a voyage of self-discovery. It turns out he’s really, really into surly sorcerers who lock him up and tell him what to do. Who knew?

As a legion of knights surround their stronghold, the sorcerer’s poisonous ambitions draw ever closer to fruition. Cameron is quite invested in not dying, but he finds he’s also invested in Merulo. And sometimes, supporting the sorcerer you care about means taking an interest in their hobbies. Even if that hobby is trying to kill God.

Even if it might get you killed, too.

I received a physical copy of this book from the publisher, and can I just say how utterly gorgeous this whole entire book is?! The cover, the edges. It’s all just *chef’s kiss* I love the trope where prophecies go awry. Also, like Sir Cameron, I am also into surly sorcerers who lock me up and tell me what to do. Erm . . . at least, I assume I am. Y’know, judging by the type of characters I go for. Sign me up for whatever crazy adventure these two are about to undertake!

First Lines:

Green & Deadly Things

Centuries ago, necromancy almost destroyed the world. That’s how history remembers it. History remembers it wrong.

Mathaiik has trained all his life to join the sacred order of the Idallik Knights, charged with defending their world from the forces of necromancy. Only vestiges of that cursed magic remain, nothing like the fabled days of the Grim Lords, the undead wizards who once nearly destroyed the world.

But when an even stranger kind of monster begins to wake, the Knights quickly prove powerless to stop them. Whole forests are coming alive and devouring anyone so foolish as to trespass, as if the land itself has turned upon humanity.

It’s a good thing, then, that the Grim Lords were never truly destroyed. One of their number sleeps below the Knights’ very fortress. And when an army of twisted tree monsters attacks the young initiates in his charge, Math decides to do the unthinkable: he wakes her up.

This is only the beginning of his problems. Because said necromancer, Kaiataris, knows something history has forgotten. The threat of this wild magic is part of a cycle that has repeated countless times–life after death, chaos after order. And if she and Math can’t find a new way to balance the scales, this won’t just be the end of the world as they know it, but the end of all life, everywhere.

The A Chorus of Dragons series is one of my favorite, so Jenn Lyons has become one of my auto-read authors. Also, she had me at necromancy. I’m also more than a little jealous that I don’t have a twisted tree monster. I confess that I never really find Lyons’ blurbs to be all that enticing, so I don’t have a whole lot to say here. At this point, I just trust the author enough to know that I will probably enjoy their newest work. 🙂

First Lines:

Hell’s Heart

Earth is a ruin, and the scattered remnants of humanity scavenge what they can from the stars under the watchful auspices of a grab-bag of collectives, corporations, and churches which are all that remains of what we once called society. Having long exhausted any conventional sources of energy, life in the solar system is now sustained by a volatile, hallucinogenic substance called spermaceti, which is harvested from the brains of vast cetacean-like Leviathans that swim the atmospheric currents of Jupiter.

Finding herself with no money and little to occupy her groundside, the narrator (“I”) takes a commission aboard the hunter-barque Pequod as it sets out in pursuit of precious spermaceti. Once aboard, however, she finds herself pulled inexorably into the orbit of the barque’s captain, a charismatic but fanatically driven woman who the narrator names only as “A”. As the Pequod plunges ever deeper into the turbulent, monster-haunted atmosphere of the gas giant, the narrator begins to lose herself in the eerie word of Leviathan-hunting and the captain’s increasingly insistent delusions; the only thing that might keep her grounded is the bond she develops with Q, a woman from the wreck of Old Earth whose skin is marked with holographic light and who remembers things otherwise lost.

This one absolutely had me at Gideon the Ninth meets Moby Dick. There’s a combination that I never even knew I needed until I realized it was an option! This world sounds absolutely wild, and I absolutely can’t wait to dive in. I don’t know what terrors await in this obviously inhospitable world, but I’m here for it.

First Lines:

How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay

Jenny Lawson is full of contradictions. She’s a celebrated author but battles self-doubt, paralysis, and anxiety. She’s an award-winning humorist but struggles with treatment-resistant depression. The question she’s most often asked by people is “How do you do it? How do you keep going even when it feels impossible? How do you keep creating?” This book is her answer.

In How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay, Jenny shares one hundred humorous, heartfelt, and genuine tools and tricks that she relies on to keep her going even when her brain isn’t working properly due to depression, anxiety, and ADHD. She also offers tips to stay passionate and focused on creative endeavors, especially when everything around you is saying to give up.

With chapters like “Wash Your Brain More Than You Wash Your Bra” (sleep, you beautiful human), “Work on Easy Mode” (asking for accommodations is okay!), “Celebrate Good Times, Come On!” (make it a habit to celebrate the good things), and many more, How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay is a balm and companion, reminding us all that we are not alone. It’s for anyone who struggles with self-doubt, guilt, motivation, and mental blocks and wants to rekindle their passion for creating. Funny, simple, empathetic, and inspirational, it will encourage you not to just survive but to find and curate joy in the face of difficult times.

Jenny Lawson is another author that I will always come running to read the minute I see a new book drop. She is somehow witty, funny, and wholly relatable. Her type of broken perfectly matches mine, and I appreciate her insight and chaos. As someone who also has depression, anxiety, and ADHD (well . . . AuDHD), I will take all the tips and tricks I can get to navigate this craziness we call life! (And hopefully keep my creativity intact, as well.)

First Lines:

Piper at the Gates of Dusk

It’s been twenty years since the monstrous war that almost tore New World apart, and there’s a new generation on the planet. Todd and Viola’s sons Ben and Max have known only peace growing up on the family farm outside a bustling human settlement. They dream of the usual things, like school and adventure, until the nightmares begin . . .

A sudden sickness has infected the young people of New World with Noise in the form of their worst thoughts about themselves. Some suspect the Spackle, the indigenous people with whom humans have a very uneasy truce. Others wonder about a connection to a mysterious object looming in the sky. And then, one by one, the children of New World begin to disappear.

Ben, with his mother’s logical mind, and Max, with his father’s courageous heart, become caught up in separate quests for answers, journeys that will test their beliefs in their parents, each other, and in their very existence on the planet.

I confess that I have not read Ness’s Chaos Walking series, and I probably should before reading this, given that this is a return to the same world. That being said, A Monster Calls is one of my all-time favorite books, so I couldn’t stop my excitement at a new series from him! I’m not always the biggest fan of science fiction, but this sounds sooo good!

First Lines:

We Burned So Bright

Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.

Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.

Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.

On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.

And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.

Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?

T.J. Klune is another auto-read author for me! While his books aren’t always favorites for me, I’ve always enjoyed them, and I expect this newest one will be no exception to that. Even though it’s only a novella. Actually, I’m kind of curious how Klune does with a novella, because a lot of his books are quite long (which I love, because I don’t want to leave those worlds!). I’m also a sucker for books with older protagonists, mostly because the older I get, the more I relate to them and want to believe that older people are also worthy of having books written about them, too.

First Lines:

Bromantasy

Fellas, is it gay to kiss your bff while on a quest through the forest you’re unqualified for?

Juniper O’Reilly is good at only two demolishing a pint of mead and finding the perfect skincare routine. Everything else—taking care of the farm, bartering for goods, any sort of manual labor—falls to Juniper’s best friend, the absurdly capable, endlessly patient Mo Elmthorn.

But when Juniper accidentally volunteers them both for a quest to kill a fearsome monster, he knows he’s finally gotten in over his head. Juniper hates camping, he hates the dark, and there’s no way all these foraged mushrooms are going to sit well in his stomach. One thing he doesn’t hate? How good Mo’s thighs look in his questing pants—he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, with a monster to hunt and their futures on the line.

But monsters come in all shapes and sizes. When Juniper and Mo realize that the terrifying beast they’ve sworn to kill is just a scared little girl torn from her family, they’re off to find not only the true villain of the story, but maybe even a happy ending.

I’m still very much on a cozy rom com kick. I love how bright and cheery this book is, and the funny, tongue-in-cheek way the blurb is written gives me a lot of hope for the actual book. The hopeless friends-to-lovers romantasy vibe this is giving has me ready to pick it up sooner rather than later! Plus, those first lines? This one’s gonna be gooood!

First Lines:

The Disaster Gay Detective Agency

Meet the disaster gays: They’re messy. They’re queer. And they’re about to solve a murder… Or die trying.

Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew—a group of loveable and messy queer twenty—somethings—and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love, and Jon ghosts. Case closed—or is it?

When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cellphone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him, thinking that this must at last be his Cinderella story.

But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder—and sees Jon fleeing the scene.

Determined (and not in over their heads whatsoever), Brandon, Ollie, Nicole, and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon’s true identity…they just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs.

I’ll be honest: this one had me at the title. Because I am a super shallow bookwyrm, as it turns out. But what’s not to love about a disaster gay detective agency? Oh my gosh, this book sounds like so much fun. It sounds like it smooshes together all my favorite things: mystery, murder, campy queers, and doomed romance. I cannot wait to meet these characters!

First Lines: