It’s a little past time for this book tag, but it’s still close enough, right? I’ve lost track of who created it, and I feel bad about that. I have seen it this year at Kerri McBookNerd’s blog, Becky’s Book Blog, and Worlds Unlike Our Own. I’ve likely seen it a few other places, too–but I forgot to save those links (sorry if you feel I ignored you…it was unintentional).
When I started assembling this post, I joked to myself that I could just use Butcher’s Twelve Months for just about every answer. Then I thought about it, and it’d be legitimate to do so. But that sort of feels like cheating, so I won’t–but I will include it as often as it applies.
Best Book You’ve Read in 2026
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| A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper |
Twelve Months by Jim Butcher |
A Violent Masterpiece is just almost-impossibly well-written. Harper’s prose is sharp, the cultural critique is spot-on, he makes LA and the strange sub-cultures that populate it come to life (at least the ones he looks at in this book), and it’s thrilling as all get-out. Twelve Months is exactly the book that Butcher’s fans have been waiting for–not just because we’ve literally been waiting a few years for it, but it’s Butcher at his absolutely best–and therefore Harry Dresden and the rest of the characters are, too.
Best Sequel You’ve Read in 2026
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| Three Hitmen and a Baby by Rob Hart |
Electric City Switches by M.D. Presley |
Three Hitmen does everything that the previous books in the series did, but does them a little better. Actually, that’s the case for Electric City Switches, too. I was looking forward to both of these before I started, but part-way through, I got even more excited by the books and what they meant for their respective series.
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| Twelve Months by Jim Butcher |
Twelve Months–it really is the sequel to Peace Talks/Battle Ground (and almost every book in the series), not just the next book in the series–Butcher follows up with the aftermath of those two and helps both his fans and characters start to recover from them.
New Release You Have Yet To Read
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| This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews |
Prey of Angels by JCM Berne |
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| Crownfall by Michael Vadney |
Don’t Die Dave by A.R. Witham |
There are plenty of books that have come out this year that I haven’t read (obviously), but really I’ve done a pretty decent job of keeping up on the ones that I’m really excited about for one reason or another–these four, on the other hand, prove that I don’t have a clean sweep going on that.
Most Anticipated Release From the 2nd Half of the Year
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| The Killer’s Mark by M.W. Craven |
Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire |
I seriously cannot wait for The Killer’s Mark–we’re moving into a new stage of the series here, and I have no idea how it’s going to work. I need to know. McGuire’s Silver and Lead is a close second on the anticipation list, it’s going to be a new phase for that series, too (although this series is full of those). There are others I’m sure that I’ll be excited about–The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman, for example–but these are the two I’m really waiting for.
The embarrassing thing that I just noticed is that last year’s answer to this question was the previous book in both series by these two. Score one for consistency, I guess.
Biggest Disappointment
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| Worse than a Lie by Ben Crump |
Given the premise and the notoriety of the author, it could’ve been something else. I guess it was, but what it was rhymes with “a waste of paper and ink.”
Biggest Surprise
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| Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman, read by Travis Baldree & Jeff Hays |
The Dentist by Tim Sullivan |
Okay, I expected that Dinniman could write something (see: “50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong”), but I wasn’t ready for something that was amusing, heart-wrenching, and that did a careful job of addressing a touchy subject (it maybe shouldn’t be one, but it is). This could’ve easily been an overly-earnest screed with some out-of-place jokes attached. But no, that’s not what he brought us. Sullivan’s depiction of a detective on the Spectrum doesn’t resort to stereotypes, doesn’t play up the neurodivergence for laughs, and surrounds that great character with other well-drawn characters and some really well-conceived and executed mystery plots.
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| Twelve Months by Jim Butcher |
I was really surprised at the depth of the storytelling, the way Butcher could switch between emotional reactions so quickly (I mean, he does this all the time, but he does it more often here), and just how grounded his story about a wizard living in a magic castle in modern-day Chicago could feel.–and a couple of the story events, surprised me a lot, too.
Favorite New Author
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| Matt Dinniman | Callum McSorley | Tim Sullivan |
Between wowing me with Operation Bounce House and me finally succumbing to the cult of Dungeon Crawler Carl, Dinniman has to be at the top of my new-to-me authors. Followed closely by The Dentist‘s Tim Sullivan. See above. I have to add in Callum McSorely here–his depiction of Glasgow, the least-dirty dirty cop in fiction, and the criminals she’s up against. His debut is one of those that you can’t believe is a debut.
New Favorite Character
There are just so many characters I could put here…it’s truly difficult to restrain myself. But there’s Tim Sullivan’s DS George Cross–yeah, I keep coming back to him. That character is just a great creation. As is Grand Champion, Breed Winner Regional, National Winner Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk. If you’ve met her, you know. If you haven’t, I don’t know that I can sufficiently describe her.
Although, I think I have to give the crown to Harry Dresden’s Valkyrie bodyguard, Bear. Her combination of calm under pressure, sharp wit, wisdom, and strength added a breath of fresh air to the series–and to Twelve Months in particular. Harry needed another ally for the next stretch of books and Bear is going to fill that role so well. She cheered me a little almost every time she showed up.
A Book That Made You Cry
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| Twelve Months by Jim Butcher |
The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love edited by Alice Hoffman |
This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page |
I don’t think I actually cried (yet) because of a book this year. But Twelve Months wrecked me–Harry’s guilt and grief, his despair has to move you. Actually, some of the points that helped him start to get past those really make a guy think about losing a tear or two.
Hoffman’s book that could be considered a series of eulogies (a couple of them pre-emptively delivered) for wondeful dogs is of course going to make a reader misty-eyed. It started with the first essay and didn’t let up until the back cover.
Here’s another shocker–a book about a widow’s first year without her husband who has left an unbelievable series of gifts for her to help her in her grief? It doesn’t et maudlin, but it sure jerks at some tears.
A Book That Made You Happy
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| Twelve Months by Jim Butcher |
All the Best Dogs Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Manuel Preitano |
One last Twelve Months mention–yeah, it made me weepy, it shocked me with a couple of developments–but it just made me happy to be back in the wrold of harry Dresden, to see how he’s dealing with everything (and everyone else, too). It was a roller coaster for me, for sure–but even when I was lamenting I was happy. And then with All the Best Dogs you’ve got a bunch of elementary school kids in love with their dogs and having fun with them? The book is practically distilled joy.
What Book/s Do You Need to Read By the End of 2026
Well, that’s a long list. There’s the books listed in my summer reads challenges; the soon to be released Craven, McGuire, and Buehlman; I’ve got a couple of books by Mai Corland and Wesley Chu that are gathering too much dust; We Chase Shadows, the 30 or so books that I bought this year that I haven’t read yet…
As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.
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