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.

Share My 2026 Reads

My favorite read in 2026

Never Let Me Go

By Kazuo Ishiguro ,

Book cover of Never Let Me Go

H. J. Reynolds ❤️ loved this book because...

This was bloody haunting. I'd watched the film many years ago so I knew the story but I was curious to read the book, and god the writing just hooks you. It's utterly devastating - just rips into your soul. The tiny details Ishiguro gives, the complicated relationships, the epic feel of these lives crashing together, it is literary at its finest.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Emotions

  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it

  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace
Never Let Me Go

By Kazuo Ishiguro ,

Why should I read it?

28 authors picked Never Let Me Go as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the most acclaimed novels of the 21st Century, from the Nobel Prize-winning author

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense…

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My 2nd favorite read in 2026

The Raven Scholar

By Antonia Hodgson ,

Book cover of The Raven Scholar

H. J. Reynolds ❤️ loved this book because...

The beginning of this book is like reading the first book of a Song of Ice and Fire. It really is a book onto itself in those first 50 or so pages. And then everything that comes after is this crazy fun world with a bunch of twists that, yes, veer off the cleverly contrived and into the downright outlandish. Still, I love the directions the characters went in and look forward to more.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Character(s)

  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it

  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down
The Raven Scholar

By Antonia Hodgson ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Raven Scholar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Sunday Times bestseller from an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy - a masterfully woven tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar's quest to uncover the truth.

'IT'S THRILLING, ROMANTIC, OFTEN TRAGIC, AND ALWAYS FUNNY' ALIX E. HARROW
'SIMPLY GLORIOUS!' GEORGIA SUMMERS
'FIENDISHLY CHARMING AND CLEVER' TASHA SURI

She might win the throne. She might destroy an empire. Either way, it begins with murder.

After twenty-four years on the throne, it is time for Bersun the Brusque, emperor of Orrun, to bring his reign to an end. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders will compete…

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My 3rd favorite read in 2026

Broken Country

By Clare Leslie Hall ,

Book cover of Broken Country

H. J. Reynolds ❤️ loved this book because...

A new favourite author! After racing through this, I went on to read her other two novels and they are just as beautifully written. If you like Taylor Jenkins Reid, you have to pick up a Clare Leslie Hall.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Writing

  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it

  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down
Broken Country

By Clare Leslie Hall ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Broken Country as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*****AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR *****
INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK
FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK
AMANDA LAMB BOOK CLUB PICK

'An unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives . . . but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Seriously, that ending?! I did not see it coming'
REESE WITHERSPOON

'This story of a love affair is so addictive it could be at home with the thrillers . . . A simmering book of secrets,…

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Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Without a Shadow

By H.J. Reynolds ,

Book cover of Without a Shadow

What is my book about?

“Engaging and compelling . . .” ―Maria V. Snyder, New York Times bestselling author of The Study of Poisons
“The classic magical orphan story gets a refreshing twist.” ―Kirkus Reviews

You can only teach your shadow one trick . . .

Adlai Bringer remembers going to the desert market with her father: The colorful tents, the wink of gold, and her father’s shadow, black as night, as it moved of its own accord and stole whatever trinket she wanted. He called it the Shadow Game.

After her father disappears, Adlai keeps going back to the market determined to find some trace of him and stealing what she can with her shadow. Until one day she picks the wrong mark―someone who knows her little trick and tries to take her shadow for himself.

Everything Adlai thought she knew about her shadow is turned upside down, and her father’s disappearance takes on a new light as she’s forced to flee the city or risk being hunted. From the desert to the shadow world to even more unlikely places, Adlai knows one thing for certain: her shadow is a gift worth killing for.

Book cover of Never Let Me Go
Book cover of The Raven Scholar
Book cover of Broken Country

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