The best books of 2026

This list is part of the best books of 2026.

Join 219 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2026

Book cover of Automatic Noodle

Aimee Easterling ❤️ loved this book because...

This novella is a very upbeat, hopeful version of Murderbot meets Legends & Lattes. There's found family, robot weirdness, and a combination of sweetness plus thought-provokingness that feels unique.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Emotions 🥈 Character(s)
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Annalee Newitz ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Automatic Noodle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

An instant USA Today and indie bestseller!

Indie Next pick | Library Reads pick | Best of the Year at Elle, Gizmodo, Reactor, Library Journal, and more!

You don't have to eat food to know the way to a city's heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food-the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around-for the…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2026

Book cover of Bound and Unbound

Aimee Easterling ❤️ loved this book because...

This is exactly what I'd hoped Ali Hazelwood's foray into paranormal romance would be like. The first novella of the two particularly hooked me with her signature geeky protagonist (art history grad student) combined with a fantasy twist (magic plus art forgery).

Vampires often leave me cold, but in this pair of novellas they didn't suck! (Well, I mean, they did, but only literally...)

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Emotions 🥈 Character(s)
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Ali Hazelwood ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bound and Unbound as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood’s intoxicating paranormal romance novella duology—together for the first time in print and ebook!

Read the captivating dark academia romance in Bound, then flip your book over to unleash the dangers of forbidden love in Unbound.

Bound
A reluctant con artist and a professor with too many secrets are bound by an arcane text—in more ways than one.

Veronica “Vero” Mercer grew up with grifters for parents, and she knows her way around a con. When grad school bills pile up and her friends are in trouble, she turns her art history skills into…


My 3rd favorite read in 2026

Book cover of Beast Business

Aimee Easterling ❤️ loved this book because...

This novella is short, but it manages to pack all of Ilona Andrews' best writing into a small space. Great characters, immersive worldbuilding, and plenty of action. What's not to love?

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Ilona Andrews ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beast Business as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A thrilling novella by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews, set in the spellbinding Hidden Legacy World.

Show as little as possible. Make them think that illusion is all you have. Your life depends on it.

Augustine Montgomery is an Illusion Prime, the highest rank of magic user. The people who have seen his real face can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The people who've witnessed the full extent of his power are dead. Illusion isn’t just his brand of magic. It’s become his lifestyle.

One day Diana Harrison walks into the office of Augustine’s…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Dating a Direwolf

By Aimee Easterling ,

Book cover of Dating a Direwolf

What is my book about?

The last thing a lone wolf needs is an alpha protector.

I'm Dee, a theta werewolf who's spent ten years keeping my distance from anything that might disrupt my platonic mate bond. But when my government handler sends me to infiltrate a biotech facility and break out two young direwolf shifters, neither one is what I expect.

First comes the male, who doesn't transform into an impressionable kindergartner but rather into a very adult man who immediately decides I'm his to protect. The other is a frightened woman I can't stomach relinquishing to my handler to be turned into a tool.

On the run with the direwolves, my platonic mate bond wanes the closer the alpha and I become. Soon, every command I hear forces my body to obey others' wishes...terrible timing when both my handler and the facility's owner are hot on our heels, eager to weaponize the first direwolves to exist in ten thousand years.

Dating a Direwolf is the first book in the romantic urban fantasy Alpha Alliance series, featuring found family, fierce shifters, and a happily ever after in every book.

Book cover of Automatic Noodle
Book cover of Bound and Unbound
Book cover of Beast Business

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