New Book Releases | March 24, 2026
Including print, ebook, and audiobook editions
March is closing out with a stacked final week. New book releases March 24, 2026 include Alex Aster's adult romantasy debut, Eric LaRocca's grief-drenched horror novel, Nobel laureate Han Kang's latest, Pulitzer winner Louise Erdrich's new story collection, and a dual-timeline historical fiction about the woman behind King Tut's tomb.
Below you'll find new books coming out March 24 curated, sorted by genre, and picked for readers who want the week's biggest conversations and the best underrated finds in one place.
If you're catching up on March releases, start with New Book Releases March 17, 2026.
Shopping for this week's releases? You can support Ink & Imaginings by purchasing through the links below at no extra cost to you!
⭐ Featured March 24th Release ⭐
Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell Book Cover
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Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell
Genre: Gothic Fantasy / Literary Fiction / Dark Fairy Tale
This debut is one of our most anticipated fantasy releases of the spring. Based on the Welsh myth of Blodeuwedd, Honeysuckle tells the story of a lonely boy whose older sister weaves him a playmate. Daye, a girl made from flowers and words. But Daye is a seasonal creature who must be rewoven each season or fall gruesomely apart. As Rory and Daye grow older and the line between friendship and romance blurs, Rory grows desperate to end the cycle of bloom and decay. But the farther he pushes, the more Daye begins to wonder how much control she really has over her own life.
This is a feminist Frankenstein with flowers.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- gothic fantasy at its most lush and unsettling
- A dark fairy tale about consent, autonomy, obsession, and the ethics of creating life for your own desires.
- Ava Reid called it "a fever dream I won't soon forget"
If you love dark, atmospheric fantasy with romantic tension, our ACOTAR Reading Order guide covers every book, novella, and bonus chapter in the Maasverse. And the ACOTAR 6 announcement just confirmed two new books arriving October 2026 and January 2027 so there's never been a better time to be reading dark fantasy!
Romance
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez (Say You'll Remember Me #2) Book Cover
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The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez (Say You'll Remember Me #2)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Larissa chose the wrong guy to ride home with after a concert. She went with Mike but it's his best friend Chris who she has everything in common with. They co-parent a slightly unhinged rescue Yorkie, judge bread together (pumpernickel for the win), and share the kind of effortless connection that makes everything feel easy for the first time in Larissa's life of endless side hustles.
The problem? Chris is her boyfriend's best friend. He's standing by on the sidelines because making a move would destroy someone else. Jimenez does slow-burn yearning like nobody else.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Abby Jimenez
- slow-burn yearning with a genuinely impossible obstacle
- deluxe first edition with designed edges and color endpapers
Fantasy, Romantasy & Speculative Fiction
Starside by Alex Aster Book Cover
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Starside by Alex Aster
Genre: Adult Romantasy
Alex Aster's adult romantasy debut is one of the most anticipated fantasy releases of the year. Hundreds of years ago, a brutal war split a land in two. Starside, a realm of magic and immortals descended from the gods, and Stormside, where mortals fight for scraps of that power. Every fifty years, the gates open, and fifty challengers journey across Starside on a deadly quest to reach a pool of magic that can heal, grant wealth, or extend life.
Aris isn't after the gods' magic. She's going to kill them. As a child, a goddess set fire to her village, killing her family. First, she has to survive the Culling, the king's brutal competition to choose his challengers. But Starside is deadlier than it seems, and she can't trust anyone. Especially not Harlan Raker, the merciless king's guard who betrayed her years ago and who may now be the key to her survival.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- enemies-to-lovers with a deadly competition
- a vengeance-driven heroine
- The kind of spicy, sword-wielding romantasy that fellow Fourth Wing fans will devour
No Man's Land by Richard K. Morgan Book Cover
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No Man's Land by Richard K. Morgan
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Grimdark / Historical Fantasy
From the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author of Altered Carbon comes a standalone dark fantasy set in a post-WWI Britain where the real enemy isn't across the Channel. Overnight, villages across the British countryside were swallowed by the Forest. Within it lurk the Huldu, an ancient fae race who've decided humanity's time is up. Duncan Silver is a war-scarred veteran armed with an iron knife and a cut-down trench gun loaded with iron shot, and he retrieves the children the Huldu steal. When he's hired to find a four-year-old girl named Miriam, he discovers she's a pawn in a much larger game.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Richard K. Morgan's first fantasy in years
- post-WWI Britain overrun by hostile fae
- noir energy meets dark fairy tale horror
Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence (Academy of Kindness #1) Book Cover
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Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence (Academy of Kindness #1)
Genre: Grimdark Fantasy / Dark Academy
The Academy of Kindness exists to forge girls into avatars of vengeance, agents of retribution modeled on the Furies. A hundred girls are sold to the Academy each year. Ten years later, three emerge. Rue sold herself. Now, a lifetime later, she's an old woman who's found peace, until war arrives at her doorstep. That was a mistake.
Lawrence weaves Greek mythology, Celtic folklore, and dark fairy-tale sensibilities into a story that readers are already calling one of the best fantasies of 2026. The twists are intense, and Rue, a sixty-something protagonist who is definitively hard to kill, is unlike any fantasy lead you've read this year.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Mark Lawrence at his grimdark best
- an older female protagonist in a genre dominated by young heroines
- Greek mythology meets brutal academy survival
Aicha by Soraya Bouazzaoui Book Cover
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Aicha by Soraya Bouazzaoui
Genre: Epic Fantasy / Female Rage Fantasy
Set in Portuguese-occupied Morocco, Aicha follows the daughter of a freedom fighter who was born for battle. She's witnessed the death and torture of her people, and it's awakened something inside her. A creature that simmers beneath her skin and hungers for the screams of those who caused her pain.
Bouazzaoui rewrites the Moroccan fable of Aicha, a mythological figure in Moroccan lore, into an epic tale of rebellion, devastating romance, and hidden myth.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Moroccan mythology and anti-colonial resistance in epic fantasy form
- a creature-within-her protagonist burning with rage
- The ultimate female rage fantasy.
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Libro.fm
Heir of Twisted Lies by LJ Andrews (Broken Souls and Bones #2)
Genre: Dark Romantasy Series: Stonegate / Broken Souls and Bones, Book 2
The second installment in the Broken Souls and Bones series delivers everything that made the first book a hit. Dark Nordic-inspired worldbuilding, morally gray characters, and a slow-burn romance that burns hot. Lyra escaped Stonegate after her rare melder magic was revealed, and now she's vowed to end the crown's corruption. But to survive, she has to trust Roark Ashwood, the man who stole her heart and then deceived her.
Andrews weaves court intrigue, hidden identities, and vicious political betrayal through a romance that readers are calling "scorching." If you love romantasy with genuine political stakes and morally complicated love interests, this series delivers.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Nordic-inspired fantasy with court intrigue and hidden identity tropes
- slow-burn romance that pays off
- Broken Souls and Bones, Book 2
Deep Black by Miles Cameron Book Cover
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Deep Black by Miles Cameron
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Military science fiction from a veteran author known for authentic tactical detail. Cameron (also known for his historical fantasy Traitor Son Cycle) brings his expertise to a space-set military saga. If you like your sci-fi with tactical depth and no hand-holding, this is your March pick.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- authentic military sci-fi from a veteran of the genre
- complex tactical sequences
- fans of the Traitor Son Cycle will feel at home
Horror
Wretch: or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw by Eric LaRocca Book Cover
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Wretch: or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw by Eric LaRocca
Genre: Literary Horror / Body Horror / LGBTQ+
From the award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke comes a nightmarish, tech-Gothic thrill ride about sorrow, memory, and the brutal complexity of grief. After his husband dies, Simeon Link seeks comfort in an unusual support group called The Wretches, who offer an addictive and dangerous source of relief. They introduce him to a mysterious figure known as Porcelain Khaw, a man who claims he can let the grieving have one last intimate moment with their beloved. For a price.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- literary horror with gorgeous prose
- explores grief
Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense
Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh Book Cover
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Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh
Genre: Legal Thriller
The latest from the Irish author behind the Eddie Flynn legal thriller series. Cavanagh's protagonist is a former con artist turned defense lawyer, which makes for a courtroom drama with propulsive pacing and clever twists.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- con-man-turned-lawyer protagonist with real bite
- propulsive pacing and courtroom drama
- perfect for readers who love John Grisham but want something edgier
If you're building your spring TBR, this is a great week to use Book of the Month strategically! New members can get their first book for $5 one of the most affordable ways to snag new release hardcovers.
👉 Try Book of the Month for $5
Literary Fiction
Light and Thread by Han Kang Book Cover
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Light and Thread by Han Kang
Genre: Literary Fiction / Translated Literature
The latest work from the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. Han Kang's The Vegetarian became a global phenomenon, and now we examine violence, beauty, and the body with unflinching precision.
Any new work from Kang is always a literary event!
📌 Why you'll love it:
- new work from a Nobel laureate
- spare, luminous prose
- a literary event by any measure
Python's Kiss: Stories by Louise Erdrich book cover
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Python's Kiss: Stories by Louise Erdrich
Genre: Literary Short Fiction
A short story collection from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, written over two decades. Thirteen stories with staggering range. A tribal newsletter editor, immigrant farmers, bird lovers, artists, grade-school teachers, and romantics.
In one story, a girl decides to spend her life with a stone. In another, a man is confronted with a folk-singing thief. In another, a woman enters a corporately owned afterlife to seek revenge on her father.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- A Pulitzer and National Book Award winner at her most inventive
- two decades of stories with wild range
- commissioned artwork by Erdrich's daughter
Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave Book Cover
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Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Genre: Literary Fiction
Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances
Hargrave crosses from acclaimed children's and YA fiction into adult literary fiction for the first time. Known for the lyrical, atmospheric storytelling of The Mercies and The Dance Tree, she brings her signature blend of historical richness and emotional depth to an adult audience.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- a celebrated YA/children's author's adult debut
- lyrical and atmospheric
- perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People
Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin Book Cover
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Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin
Genre: Literary Fiction
Ollie spends his childhood in an English village where his bedroom is covered in glow-in-the-dark wallpaper bearing the planets and stars. Decades later, he has become one of the most renowned astronauts of his time. When an enterprising billionaire taps him to lead a landmark mission to the distant moon Europa, Ollie makes a choice that will send his whole world spinning.
The follow-up to Wandering Souls, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Pin writes about displacement, memory, and belonging with quiet precision. If you loved her debut, this is an immediate add to your TBR.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- A beautiful, heartbreaking novel about ambition, love, and space
- from the award-winning author of Wandering Souls
- quiet and precise
Historical Fiction
Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict Book Cover
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Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict
Genre: Historical Fiction / Dual Timeline
Benedict returns with a dual-timeline story connecting two women separated by over 3,400 years. In the 1920s, Lady Evelyn Herbert, daughter of Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle, played a crucial role in the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb, but history barely remembers her.
Nearly 3,000 years earlier, Hatshepsut became Egypt's first female pharaoh, ruling with a bold, visionary hand, until her reign was systematically erased. When Evelyn becomes obsessed with finding Hatshepsut's secret tomb, she risks everything to uncover the truth and keep Egypt's artifacts in their rightful home.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- dual timeline connecting two overlooked women
- Egyptian archaeology and the politics of colonial artifact ownership
The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore Book Cover
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The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
Genre: Historical Fiction
Historical fiction set among the Russian émigré community in Paris, from the author of The Witch and the Tsar. The Rue Daru setting, the heart of the Russian Orthodox community in Paris, promises a rich backdrop for a story about exile, memory, and reinvention.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Russian émigré Paris
- from the author of The Witch and the Tsar
- atmospheric historical fiction about exile and identity
The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann Book Cover
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The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann
Genre: Historical Fantasy / Feminist Retelling
Anne Boleyn wakes up the day after her execution. She finds herself in an arrow chest, her head wrapped in linen at her knees. She escapes the Tower, sews her head back on, and sets out to kill Henry VIII before he can marry Jane Seymour and erase her daughter Elizabeth's claim to the throne.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Anne Boleyn sews her head back on and seeks revenge... the premise alone
- feminist historical fantasy
- genuinely well written
Memoir & Nonfiction
Suit or a Suitcase by Maggie Smith Book Cover
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Suit or a Suitcase by Maggie Smith
Genre: Memoir / Personal Essays
The next book from Maggie Smith, whose memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful was a New York Times bestseller and whose poetry collection Keep Moving became a viral phenomenon during the pandemic. Smith's work explores personal transformation, the tension between security and freedom, and what it means to rebuild a life.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Maggie Smith's next book
- explores personal transformation and reinvention
Who Needs Friends by Andrew McCarthy Book cover
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Who Needs Friends by Andrew McCarthy
Genre: Memoir / Male Friendship
McCarthy's memoir Brat: An '80s Story was a surprise NYT bestseller that proved the actor-turned-writer has real literary chops. Now he tackles male friendship and the cultural conversation around men's emotional lives, a subject that's timely given the ongoing discussion around male loneliness and connection.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- tackles male friendship and emotional connection
- from the NYT bestselling author of Brat
- timely and culturally relevant
Also Out March 24
This Will Be Interesting by E.B. Asher: Cozy quest romantasy, sequel to the USA Today bestseller This Will Be Fun. A resurrected hero, an assassin sent to kill him, and a scribesheet reporter who wants to know why all on a quest across the sea with a strict no-romance rule that absolutely no one is going to follow. Sapphic friends-to-lovers, hero × villain romance, fake marriage, found family. If you loved book one, this expands the world of Mythria with new characters and a funnier, more adventurous plot.
More Than Friends by Kat Singleton: Billionaire single dad romance, Pembroke Hills #3. Friends-to-lovers with a fake cohabitation arrangement that gets very real, very fast. Kat Singleton's signature banter and spice with a baby-on-the-doorstep twist. Deluxe first print run with sprayed edges and special cover design.
What's on Your TBR?
March 24's release slate has everything from adult romantasy debuts to Nobel laureates, horror masterpieces, and dual-timeline historical fiction. If you grab just one: pick based on your mood, dark fairy tale obsession (Honeysuckle), sword-wielding vengeance romance (Starside), devastating literary horror (Wretch), or sweeping archaeological adventure (Daughter of Egypt). The range this week is exceptional.
If a title caught your eye, I've linked purchase options above and if you prefer listening, audiobook editions are available on Libro.fm (which supports independent bookstores with every listen).
What are you reading first? Drop your pick in the comments!
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FAQ
What are the biggest book releases on March 24, 2026?
The biggest releases on March 24, 2026 include Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell (gothic fantasy debut with 125K print run), Starside by Alex Aster (adult romantasy debut with 300K print run, releasing March 31), The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez (PW Top 10 Romance for Spring 2026), Wretch by Eric LaRocca (literary horror with two starred reviews), Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence (grimdark fantasy), The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann (Kirkus starred review, NYT mention), Tell Me Where It Hurts by Rachel Zoffness (200K print run), Light and Thread by Han Kang (Nobel laureate), and Python's Kiss by Louise Erdrich (Pulitzer winner's new collection).
What fantasy books come out March 24, 2026?
March 24 is one of the strongest fantasy weeks of the year. Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell is a gothic fantasy debut based on Welsh mythology with B&N "Best of March" recognition. Starside by Alex Aster is the most anticipated adult romantasy of the spring. Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence brings grimdark academy fantasy with a Furies-inspired premise. No Man's Land by Richard K. Morgan is a post-WWI dark fantasy from the Altered Carbon author. Aicha by Soraya Bouazzaoui is a Moroccan epic fantasy debut comped to The City of Brass. And Heir of Twisted Lies by LJ Andrews continues the Broken Souls and Bones series.
What romance books come out March 24, 2026?
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez is the week's romance standout the #1 NYT bestselling author's latest, named a PW Top 10 Romance for Spring 2026. More Than Friends by Kat Singleton delivers billionaire single dad romance with her signature banter and spice. Only You by Celeste Daniels is a contemporary romance debut with a 100K print run.
What thriller books come out March 24, 2026?
Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh is the week's thriller standout the latest Eddie Flynn legal thriller from an author with massive international momentum. For horror readers, Wretch by Eric LaRocca is a tech-Gothic thrill ride about grief with two starred reviews and praise from Chuck Palahniuk.
What literary fiction comes out March 24, 2026?
March 24, 2026 is outstanding for literary fiction. Nobel laureate Han Kang releases Light and Thread, Pulitzer and National Book Award winner Louise Erdrich publishes the short story collection Python's Kiss, Booker-longlisted Cecile Pin returns with Celestial Lights, Kiran Millwood Hargrave makes her adult literary fiction debut with Almost Life, and The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann brings literary historical fantasy with a Kirkus starred review.
