Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Books | December 5, 2025
As 2025 comes to an end, we find ourselves turning towards a bright new future. Well, at least a bright new cycle of book buying to distract us from all that other stuff. The best books of any given year, in my opinion, are usually the surprises that come out of nowhere. But there are also some fascinating new works on the horizon and I'm never going to turn down the opportunity to talk about them. Make sure to let us know in the comments what books you're most excited about in 2026.
Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
Few writers consistently delight and surprise me as much as Emily St. John Mandel. The ways she spins these multi-threaded tales that seem so disparate then braid together so intricately in the end are a true marvel, and they all make me cry like a baby. You try reading Station Eleven and not feel true hope for the world. Not much is known about her next novel. The blurb simply describes is at Mandel's 'new mind-bending a story of crimes committed and loves lost across space and time.'
Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy
With her explosive memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, former Nickelodeon actress Jennette McCurdy gave us one of the most devastating and darkly humorous portraits of life as a child star with an abusive stage mother. Her fiction debut promises to be just as provocative, portraying the obsession and confusion of a teenage girl who becomes involved with her teacher. The concept and title have already inspired some controversy but I think McCurdy is skilled enough (and has lived enough of that life herself) to portray it with deftness and a keen modern eye.
Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher
T. Kingfisher's one of our best gothic horror writers working today, and she always does it with a dash of black humour, some gnarly body horror, and a loving nod to the classics of the genre. The year is 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a scientific illustrator who is offered a job with the reclusive insect expert Dr. Halder. But moving into a mysterious manor house, full of strange-acting animals, owned by an enigmatic professor whose wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances is never bound to end well. Are there dangerous maggot parasites that burrow into human flesh? Yes, there are!
Platform Decay by Martha Wells
Murderbot is back. The sci-fi world's favourite misanthropic sec unit and soap opera addict is sure to once again become embroiled in human jackassery against its will. Now that Murderbot is a big TV star and the readership for Martha Wells' multi-award-winning series has grown, the eighth book in the saga could be an interesting starter point for many newbies. It could also be a whole new level of hell for Murderbot. In this one, it has to interact with children. That might involve having to make eye contact. Yikes.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
True story: if you have a book with the title '[insert country here] Gothic', I will always buy it. Every single time. It's my version of the 'A Blank of Blank and Blank' fad. Kylie Lee Baker's addition to this trend, Japanese Gothic, sounds especially juicy. In October 2026, a man murders his college roommate but can't remember how or why he did it. After fleeing to his father's home in Japan, he uncovers the story of Sen, a 19th-century samurai in exile and in hiding from imperial soldiers. But, as the blurb notes, 'One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.' Sold.
Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton
Whenever I'm asked for an underrated SFF read, I always recommend Jo Walton's Thessaly trilogy. It's a dense blend of Greek mythology, ancient philosophy, robots, and petty gods that delves so thoroughly into ideas of autonomy versus destiny that I'm shocked it's not more widely read. Indeed, the hugely talented and wide-reaching Walton often feels like the SFF's writer's SFF writer: a secret to those not in the know but beloved by those who are (which includes practically every awards body in the publishing industry.) Everybody's Perfect is a Venetian mystery-fantasy with cozy elements and a curious mystery at its heart. Frankly, I'd read anything Walton writes. Every book is so wildly different from the next and I'm always delighted by what she presents.
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
When you've written two of the best non-fiction books of the decade, expectations are expectedly high for any follow-up. New Yorker journalist Patrick Radden Keefe gave us one of the most intriguing works on the human cost of The Troubles, and Empire of Pain was one of the key forces in exposing the crimes of the Sackler dynasty. Now, he's turned his attention to an intriguing mystery. In 2019, a teenager named Zac Brettler mysteriously fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the River Thames. When his parents began to seek answers, they found out that their son had been posing as the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. Did this strange double life lead to his untimely passing?
She Made Herself A Monster by Anna Kovatcheva
It's time for the token vampire novel of the list. Set in Bulgaria of the 19th century, this historical fantasy follows a con artist who sells her wares as a 'vampire slayer' to paranoid villagers. Yana tells people that there are monsters in town and she quickly disposes of the fake problem. The village of Koprivici, however, is plagued real problems, and monsters are the least of them. Yana must deal with plague, patriarchy, and legacy.
Red Sheet by James Ellroy
What's that? Kayleigh's once again talking about her current literary obsession, James Ellroy? Will wonders never cease?! Freddy Otash is his current obsession. The real-life former private investigator and king of digging up dirt on Hollywood icons has become the conduit for Ellroy to explore his most enduring themes of power, corruption, and Los Angeles sleaze. Red Sheet is the third book in the Otash series (I haven't read the second one yet, no spoilers), and will reportedly take place in 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis has just ended, JFK's popularity has plummeted, and the red scare is making a revival. Expect conspiracy, treachery, and a lot of alliteration.
The Bride Bet by Tessa Dare
No joke, I've been waiting YEARS for this book. The fourth title in historical romance author Tessa Dare's Girl Meets Duke series was supposed to be released in 2020. That's a whole other generation of romance fiction! Now, it's the BookTok era but I find myself yearning more and more for the pre-trend days of the genre where we got beefcakes on the cover rather than cutesy cartoon characters. Blessed be to Dare for delivering on that front. The Bride Bet is an enemies-to-lovers tale of a Duke who needs to get married and his former nemesis, a bookish wallflower, who he's convinced will one day be enraptured by him.
