October 2026 has one release that is going to eat the entire internet, and it lands on October 27. A Court of Splintered Harmony, the sixth ACOTAR book, is the most pre-ordered book of the month by a mile. Before that, V.E. Schwab finally closes out the Villains trilogy (and I get to see her on tour this Thursday, and I could;d not be more excited), Freida McFadden goes full Salem with The Witch, and Barbara Kingsolver, Bonnie Garmus, Audrey Niffenegger, Louise Penny, and Michael Connelly all have new books out.
This month I am doing things a little differently. The two books I am most excited about are at the top, and everything else is sorted by release date, week by week, so you can see exactly what is landing each Tuesday. If you are still catching up, the September 2026 releases are all on shelves now.
Heads up: some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through one I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping support my book loving habits.
🎁 This month's giveaway: comment the October release you are most excited for at the bottom of this post to enter. One winner gets a copy of the book they named. Entries close October 31st. US and Canada, 18+. Full rules at the bottom.
The Two Most Anticipated October 2026 Book Releases
If you only make room for two books this month, make it these two.
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas Book Cover
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Romantasy (A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 6)
This is the one. Prythian is still patching itself together after the Hybern War when Koschei the Deathless, bound to his lake for millennia, starts stirring and pulling allies toward the human lands. The Night Court has to fight back while its inner circle is still bruised from betrayals and secrets that came out the hard way.
Maas has also confirmed this is the first half of a two book arc, with book seven, A Court of Forgotten Melody, following in January 2027. So yes, expect to be left hanging, and no, the wait will not be long this time.
I have every confirmed detail (titles, dates, covers, and what we know about the plot) in my running ACOTAR 6 and 7 guide. If you want to reread before the 27th, here is the ACOTAR series reading order.
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Koschei has been hanging over this series since A Court of Silver Flames, and he is finally the main event.
- Book seven is only a few months behind, so the cliffhanger has an expiration date.
- It is the biggest preorder of the year, so get yours in early or plan on a week long shipping wait.
Out October 27, 2026 (Bloomsbury).
Victorious by V.E. Schwab Book Cover
Victorious by V.E. Schwab
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Fantasy (Villains, Book 3 and finale)
Thirteen years after Vicious, Schwab brings Victor Vale and Eli Ever to the end of the board. Victor, Sydney, and Mitch take the fight to EON, and the trilogy that made morally gray main characters cool finally gets its ending.
If it has been a while since Vengeful, give yourself a weekend for a reread.
This one is personal for me this month. My sister-in-law and I have tickets to Schwab's Victorious tour stop at NC State's Stewart Theatre in Raleigh on Thursday night, October 8 (hosted by Quail Ridge Books). I cannot wait!
📌 Why you'll love it:
- Thirteen years of setup, and this is the payoff.
- Victor Vale is still one of the best morally gray leads in fantasy.
- Schwab's signature writing
Out October 6, 2026 (Tor).
Try a Book of the Month Pick This October
Not sure where to start this month? Book of the Month regularly features new fantasy, thriller, and literary titles the month they drop, and it is one of the easiest ways to get a hardcover for less. Try your first month for $5
New Books Out October 6, 2026
The first Tuesday of the month is stacked. Spooky season starts here.
The Witch by Freida McFadden Book Cover
The Witch by Freida McFadden
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Gothic Psychological Thriller
Julia loses her job and her apartment and ends up back at Pemberton, her family's seventeenth century estate in Massachusetts. The grandfather clock stops at the same minute every night, a voice cries outside her bedroom door, and the family history leads straight back to a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692.
McFadden doing a haunted house in October is the most on brand move of the year, and it is the second most preordered book of the month for a reason.
Out October 6, 2026 (Poisoned Pen Press).
Partita by Barbara Kingsolver Book Cover
Partita by Barbara Kingsolver
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Literary Fiction
Livia has made peace with a quiet farm life until an old lover calls and asks to see her. That call pulls her back to her years as a gifted conservatory pianist and everything that broke along the way, told in sections shaped like musical movements.
This is Kingsolver's first novel since Demon Copperhead, so expect it on every book club list by Thanksgiving.
Out October 6, 2026 (Harper).
Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger Book Cover
Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Literary Speculative Fiction (follow up to The Time Traveler's Wife)
Alba, the daughter of Henry and Clare, has the same involuntary time traveling as her father, and she is trying to build a steady life with Zach and a found family of artists while the world around them gets less stable.
Readers who grew up on The Time Traveler's Wife have been waiting more than twenty years for this. Go in knowing it is a bigger, stranger book than the first one.
Out October 6, 2026 (Hanover Square Press).
Reap & Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Gothic Romantasy (Book 1)
Eda brokers illegal deals between desperate humans and a demon called Mr. Night. When a deal goes wrong and her brothers are arrested, she makes a pact of her own with Kit'rath, the one demon Mr. Night seems to fear.
This is the debut I keep seeing on fall TBRs, and the comps (Rachel Gillig, Hannah Whitten) tell you exactly what flavor of gothic it is going for. The first printing is a deluxe edition with sprayed edges.
Out October 6, 2026 (Berkley XO).
Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson Book Cover
Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Book Club
A novelist and the critic whose review sank his debut go at it again four years later, and their feud goes viral. Then they start talking privately, and it turns into something neither of them planned on.
Enemies to lovers built on book reviews is a premise made for this blog's readers specifically.
Out October 6, 2026 (St. Martin's Press).
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong Book Cover
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Supernatural Horror
A rainy night, a chain of car wrecks, and five strangers stuck in a backwoods bar waiting for morning. Time is moving wrong, and going outside is a very bad idea.
Armstrong's own pitch is Final Destination meets The Cabin at the End of the World, which is a perfect October double feature.
Out October 6, 2026 (St. Martin's Press).
This Shattered Tempest by Thea Guanzon Book Cover
This Shattered Tempest by Thea Guanzon
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Romantasy (The Hurricane Wars, Book 3 and finale)
Alaric and Talasyn are pulled apart as their nations go to war, and the enemies to lovers trilogy that built a huge BookTok following comes to an end.
Out October 6, 2026 (Harper Voyager, deluxe edition).
Quick Hits: Also Out October 6
Broken Rival by Tessa Bailey (a romance with a time travel twist), The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth (YA, an alternate universe Divergent where Tris chooses differently), Coiled at the Roots by Scarlett St. Clair (romantasy), The Lost Guardian by Natalia Hernandez (fantasy, Red Tower), The Stolen Crown by LJ Andrews (romantasy), The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo (gothic fantasy in New York high society), Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (literary horror), Do You See What I See by Peter Swanson (thriller), Dark Reading Matter by Jasper Fforde, Before You Were Anne by Emiko Jean, What Happens at Nightfall by Lauren Willig, Mrs. Christie and the Mystery by Amanda Chapman, Portrait of a Haunting by Madison Tyler Nelson, and, for nonfiction readers, The Rush by Nathaniel Philbrick.
New Books Out October 13, 2026
Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus Book Cover
Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Literary Fiction / Comedy
The Lessons in Chemistry author is back. Batter Gray is a twenty-something in 1980s New York who wants the least practical career possible, poetry, and lands a job at the most prestigious and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world.
If you loved Elizabeth Zott's dry humor, this is the book club pick of your fall.
Out October 13, 2026 (Scribner).
Solace House by Will Maclean Book Cover
Solace House by Will Maclean
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Literary Horror
Summer 1993: a group of broke students clearing out a hoarder's Victorian mansion finds his journals, which describe a parallel world and how to get there. One of them gets obsessed.
It already came out in the UK this spring and the word of mouth has been strong. Think The Secret History with a haunted house attached.
Out October 13, 2026 (Grove Press).
As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Cozy Science Fiction (new duology, Book 1)
On a struggling colony world, a botanist could save a sick pilot, but only by breaking the rules that keep everyone alive. Chambers is the queen of gentle, humane sci-fi, and a new series from her is always worth knowing about.
Out October 13, 2026 (Harper Voyager).
Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
A cartoonist house sitting for a very strange cat starts having nightmares and drawing things he cannot explain. Rekulak gave us Hidden Pictures, so you know there will be art on the page doing some of the scaring.
Out October 13, 2026 (Flatiron).
Quick Hits: Also Out October 13
Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung (fantasy), Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe (rival ghost tour guides cursed by a matchmaking ghost), Love You to Death by Jenna Levine (a grim reaper romcom), Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones (horror), Dark Horse by C.R. Jane (romance), I Never Knew You At All by Christine Pride, D by Neal Stephenson, and in nonfiction, Vibe by Adam Grant.
New Books Out October 20, 2026
Miss Wolcott's Ghost by Louise Penny Book Cover
Miss Wolcott's Ghost by Louise Penny
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Mystery
A new Louise Penny is always an event, and this one comes with one of the biggest first printings of the month. If you are a Three Pines regular, clear your weekend.
Out October 20, 2026 (Minotaur).
Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas Book Cover
Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Historical Romance
A Victorian economist trying to open a bank for women discovers her butler is actually an undercover detective investigating her mentor. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this one and I could not put it down!
Out October 20, 2026 (Avon).
Undone by Peyton Corinne Book Cover
Undone by Peyton Corinne
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Hockey Romance (The Undone, Book 4 and finale)
Toren Kane, the team's resident villain, gets one last shot at redemption and runs straight into Lily, his childhood best friend and first love, whose father is now his coach. Second chance plus angst, which is exactly what Corinne fans signed up for.
Out October 20, 2026 (Atria).
A Married Little Christmas by Abby Jimenez Book Cover
A Married Little Christmas by Abby Jimenez
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Holiday Romance (three connected novellas)
Abby Jimenez is one of the few romance authors whose every release is an event, and this is her holiday book. Three linked novellas set in a town called Little Christmas: high school exes fake dating through a Christmas dinner, a diner worker and a very reluctant zombie Santa, and a best friend trying to talk someone out of a whirlwind wedding.
It comes with recipes and full page illustrations, which makes it an easy gift for the romance reader in your life (or for yourself). Jimenez always mixes the funny with something that actually hurts a little, so expect that here too.
It is the first of a lot of holiday romances this season. I am rounding up the rest in my holiday romance list.
Out October 20, 2026 (Forever).
Quick Hits: Also Out October 20
With Hearts of Flame by Briar Boleyn (romantasy, deluxe edition), Royal Witch by Philippa Gregory (historical fiction), The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City by Susanna Clarke, The Throwaways by Greta Kelly, Crowned by Roses by Elizabeth Helen (romantasy, deluxe edition), Milkteeth by Caitlin Starling (horror), The Haunting of Lavender House by Natalie Kikic, The Family Cross by James Patterson (Alex Cross, out a day early on October 19), and the memoir Daphne and Me by Jane Leeves.
New Books Out October 27, 2026
ACOTAR takes the headline (it is up top), but the last Tuesday of the month has plenty more.
The Hollow by Michael Connelly Book Cover
The Hollow by Michael Connelly
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Crime Fiction (Harry Bosch)
Bosch looks into the death of a friend from his foster care childhood, which makes this one more personal than most. Connelly's annual release is a guaranteed bestseller.
Out October 27, 2026 (Little, Brown).
The Keeper by Ana Huang
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Sports Romance (Gods of the Game, Book 3)
A grumpy goalkeeper and single dad has run out of nannies right before the World Cup, so he hires Carina, the one woman he is sure cannot stand him. Grumpy sunshine, single dad, forced proximity.
Out October 27, 2026 (Bloom Books, deluxe paperback).
To Dream in Darkness by Ann Liang Book Club
To Dream in Darkness by Ann Liang
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: Adult Romantasy
Death and a god of healing are punished together and sent to find a missing crown prince in a world inspired by ancient China. Liang's first adult romantasy, and the premise alone sold me.
Out October 27, 2026 (St. Martin's Press).
Mortal Things by Marie Lu Book Club
Mortal Things by Marie Lu
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
Rose serves Raven, the god of Death, as his human Harbinger, and when a murder shakes the immortal world she is named his heir. The rival Harbinger testing her is charming, infuriating, and obviously a problem.
Out October 27, 2026 (FSG Books for Young Readers).
Scorpion Deep by C.G. Drews
Preorder: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Audible
Genre: YA Horror
A lonely boy on a gloomy island pays a tithe to a sea god everyone thinks is a myth, and it wakes up obsessed with him. Drews wrote Don't Let the Forest In, so expect the creepy and the tender in equal measure.
Out October 27, 2026 (Feiwel & Friends).
Quick Hits: Also Out October 27
The Brightness by Chad Harbach (his first novel since The Art of Fielding), A Fable for Hollow Creatures by R.R. Schaeffer (fantasy), Savage Lake by Nick Medina (horror), A Waltz to Remember by Mary Balogh (historical romance), Falling for a Villainous Vampire by Charlotte Stein, and the memoir In My Own Time by Christopher Lloyd.
Looking for more Christmas and holiday romances? There are a lot of them landing this month, so they get their own list. Start with the ultimate holiday romance list.
Prefer to Listen? Try Audible Free
You can start most of these October releases as an audiobook with an Audible free trial. A spooky audiobook on an October walk is a top tier fall activity.
Final Thoughts on October's New Releases
Preorder ACOTAR now if you have not, because October 27 is going to be chaos. Then use October 6 to stock up on the spooky stuff (The Witch, Dive Bar at the End of the Road, Reap & Sow) and keep Victorious and Partita for the cozy weekends. Watch Instagram on Thursday night for the Schwab event, and look for the recap here after.
Tell me in the comments; which October release are you most excited for? That comment is also your entry into this month's giveaway.
October Giveaway Rules
- To enter: comment the October 2026 release you are most excited to read on this post. It does not have to be one we listed. Commenting requires a free Ink & Imaginings membership. One entry per person.
- Prize: one copy of the book you commented, any edition (standard or deluxe, your choice), shipped free.
- Eligibility: 18+, US and Canada (excluding Quebec).
- Entry window: now through October 31, 11:59 PM ET.
- Winner drawn at random via Random.org from all valid comments and notified by member email. We do not publish winners' names, though we may share which book was chosen.
- Winner must respond within 48 hours or an alternate is drawn.
- No purchase necessary. Not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Amazon.
What to Read Next
📚 A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas: The book that introduced Koschei, and the best reread before October 27.
📚 Vicious and Vengeful by V.E. Schwab: Two books of homework before Victorious, both worth it.
📚 The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig: If Reap & Sow is on your list, this is a must read.
📚 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: Catch up before Peck & Peck.
Already read one of these? Come back and check out the full guides:
→ ACOTAR 6 and 7 Guide | ACOTAR Reading Order | Books Like ACOTAR | The Fall Gothic Reader | September 2026 Releases | 2026 Book Club Picks
Try your first month of Book of the Month for $5 →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest book release in October 2026?
A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas, the sixth A Court of Thorns and Roses book, out October 27. It is the most shelved October release on Goodreads by a wide margin. The Witch by Freida McFadden and Victorious by V.E. Schwab, both out October 6, are the next most anticipated.
When does A Court of Splintered Harmony come out?
October 27, 2026, from Bloomsbury. It is ACOTAR book six, and book seven, A Court of Forgotten Melody, is scheduled for January 2027.
When does Victorious by V.E. Schwab come out?
October 6, 2026. It is the third and final book in the Villains trilogy, after Vicious and Vengeful. Schwab is touring the US for the release in October, including a stop at NC State's Stewart Theatre in Raleigh on October 8, hosted by Quail Ridge Books.
When does Abby Jimenez's A Married Little Christmas come out?
October 20, 2026, from Forever. It is a collection of three connected holiday romance novellas set in a town called Little Christmas, with recipes and illustrations included.
What new romantasy books are coming out in October 2026?
Top picks include A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas, Reap and Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb, This Shattered Tempest by Thea Guanzon, To Dream in Darkness by Ann Liang, and Mortal Things by Marie Lu.
What are the best spooky books coming out in October 2026?
The Witch by Freida McFadden, Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong, Solace House by Will Maclean, Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak, and Scorpion Deep by C.G. Drews are the best new picks for spooky season.
Is there a new Barbara Kingsolver book in 2026?
Yes. Partita by Barbara Kingsolver comes out October 6, 2026. It follows a woman whose call from a former lover pulls her back to her years as a promising concert pianist.
Is Life Out of Order a sequel to The Time Traveler's Wife?
Yes. Audrey Niffenegger's Life Out of Order, out October 6, 2026, follows Alba, the daughter of Henry and Clare, who inherited her father's involuntary time travel.
Where should I preorder October's new releases?
You can preorder through the Amazon and Bookshop.org links in this post, or start any of them as an audiobook with a free Audible trial.
