Most Anticipated Upcoming Fantasy Releases in Winter 2026
Most Anticipated Upcoming Fantasy Releases in Winter 2026
I, personally, will never get bored of a good fantasy, and with so many good releases this year I couldn’t help but make a list myself. With each of these releases adding something new to the genre - from Chinese folklore to fairytale retellings, this list compiles the releases I am most excited for from September 2026 to December 2026.
Disenchanted by Lucy Jane Wood
Publish Date: 10th September 2026
Disenchanted is set to be the third novel in the Rewitched series, these books are for the cozy fantasy lovers. Filled with witches, curses, found family and mystery - Disenchanted is the book to read in autumn as the leaves begin to wilt and the night time begins to come faster.
Synopsis:
Sage Hemlock has no interest in embracing her witchy side. Magic has betrayed her before, bringing nothing but heartache, and she will not let something so foolish happen again.
Instead, Sage has thrown herself into her work and studies, running the local museum and largely preferring the company of her library and her cat to other humans. Her one goal is to fly under the coven's radar so that she can finally shed her blasted powers forever.
But when a strange historical book accidentally triggers a curse, Sage's quiet, small-town life is suddenly overrun and magic is running rife. A beanstalk grows in her garden, and her friend and co-worker Casimir starts to look an awful lot like a handsome prince. Fairytales are coming true . . .
Now, with the threat of the coven on her tail, Sage must confront the magic she’s always denied to solve the mysteries of the book and save everyone she’s come to love from being lost to a fairy tale forever. The question is, can she finally learn to be her own happily ever after?
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Reap & Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb
Publish Date: 8th October 2026
Reap & Sow is a gothic romantasy, filled with a slow-burn romance that is said to leave readers aching. It contains a strong-willed FMC with a murky history willing to do what it takes to survive, which I am personally excited to read about considering the skill it takes to do a character like that justice. There’s also a whole lot of demons, which is always a fun time.
Synopsis:
The penniless in Blackbridge only have two choices: sell your body, or sell your soul. And thanks to Eda Shaw, business is booming.
Indentured to a capricious demon known as Mr Night, Eda and her brothers arrange illicit Pacts on his behalf, luring the city's most desperate into trading years of their lives for their deepest desires.
When a Pact goes awry, her brothers are arrested and Eda quickly realises she'll need an infernal ally of her own: Kit'rath, a demon with a curious penchant for humanity, and the only being in Blackbridge Mr Night seems to fear.
But Kit's help doesn't come cheap. Eda's already given him her soul; she can't afford to give him her heart.
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Big Bad Wolf by Laurie Gilmore
Publish Date: 8th September 2026
From the renowned author of the Dream Harbour series, Big Bad Wolf keeps the same level of coziness but adds a new layer of fantasy. It is the first book in the Maple Hollow trilogy and clearly takes inspiration from Red Riding Hood, which fits Gilmore’s typical writing style perfectly. Each of her novels are tailored for the autumnal reading sessions with a cup of tea and a blanket.
Synopsis:
The darker the woods, the bigger the secrets…
Ruby Bellerose lives on the edge of the woods, in a cottage more akin to a fairy tale than modern day life. Her love life is practically non-existent, and she keeps away from the whispered gossip that travels through Maple Hollow.
Until a chance encounter with Rafe.
As mysterious as he is brooding, Ruby is drawn to the woodsman, curious to find out about the stranger who lives deep within the woods.
But Rafe is hiding a secret. And with something lurking in the shadowy forest, will Ruby find that Rafe is her knight in shining armor, or something altogether more dangerous…
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Tempest by Victoria Aveyard
Publish Date: 8th September 2026
The beloved author of the Red Queen series is back at it again with her newest project ー Tempest. This romantasy contains pirates, which is something I need more of in my reading escapades. There’s something special about a story taking place in ships in the ocean, with magic and love that just gets me every time.
Synopsis:
Cat Rose knows what it is to live in two worlds, in two times. Beforeas Lady Catrine Rose of the Meridian Empire, chained to a loathsome lord with a dwindling fortune. And after as the Widow Rose, queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian Sea, determined to be the master of her own fate.
But tides turn and winds change. The Meridian Empire looms on the horizon, the full weight of her navy falling on the Lyrian, bent on reclaiming the wealthy colonies and crushing the pirate republic once and for all. Ship after ship is captured, save for one, captained by a pirate who continually evades both noose and blade: the legendary Valerian Kane.
With his fearsome ship and uncanny connection to the song of the sea, Valerian is the only man who might rally the pirates who remain. The only man who threatens the Empire. And the only man Cat has ever loved, blazing in and out of her life like a star.
Desperate for victory, the Empire offers Cat a devastating choice: bring them Valerian or hang. In truth, no choice at all.
But Cat Rose is nothing if not a survivor.
A storm is rising on the Lyrian Sea. What will it leave in its wake?
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Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan
Publish Date: 3rd September 2026
Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan has technically already been released, but I couldn’t resist putting it on here as it is being released in paperback in September. This is the first book in a duology that works as a Cinderella retelling with Chinese folklore, morally grey characters and a mythical writing style.
Synopsis:
Life has become too dangerous for fairy tales.
In the harsh kingdom of the Iron Mountains, Yining forges a bleak existence as a skilled thief. When she discovers an enchanted ring of immense worth, it is stolen by her step-aunt, and Yining must venture into the imperial palace to seize it back.
Amid the grandeur of the palace, Yining catches the eye of the ruthless and ambitious prince, but she is soon trapped in a tangle of power and betrayal - her only ally, a cunning advisor from a rival court with secrets of his own.
To seek her freedom, she must embark on a perilous quest in a dazzling yet treacherous world where allies can be as deadly as enemies.
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For Ever More by Sue Lynn Tan
Publish Date: 29th October 2026
For Ever More acts as the sequel to Never Ever After - the Cinderella retelling with a fantastical twist. Heavily based in Chinese folklore, Sue Lynn Tan’s writing has a mythical feeling that makes you float across the pages.
Synopsis:
After fleeing the devastation at the Palace of Nine Hills, Yining flees the Iron Mountains, finally returning to her ancestral home. Yet a dangerous secret flows in her veins - the deadly magic she must learn to control before it consumes her.
But Yining is entangled between two hostile kingdoms, and her loyalties are warring with her heart. As a nightmarish curse sweeps across the land, the ruler of the Iron Mountains forges a terrifying weapon to conquer the realms. To protect her beloved family, the dragons and her home, Yining must devise a plan to fight this ruinous evil, even as she is torn between ally and enemy, duty and desire.
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A World Apart by Meghan Nesmith
Publish Date: 19th November 2026
A World Apart has been described as a ‘historical fantasy but make it queer’, and if that doesn’t make you want to read it, I don’t know what will. This will also act as Nesmith’s debut romantasy novel, which adds another layer of mystery to this release.
Synopsis:
London, 1866.
All Kit Finchley wants is to master the magic that keeps eluding him - and to live a life not dictated by title or expectation. Duty presses in from every quarter, but the one thing that quickens his pulse is the promise of real power.
When a miscast spell tears open a doorway into the Veil - a liminal realm where Wilfrith and his family have been trapped since a fateful bargain with the Faerie Queen 800 years ago - Kit stumbles into a love he never imagined. Their connection is immediate, impossible, and undeniable. Determined to free Wil, Kit hunts for the spell that could bridge two worlds.
By night, Kit risks everything to reach the boy between worlds, desperate to bind the realms without breaking them. But by day, Kit finds himself intrigued by a young bohemian woman of a very wealthy, aristocratic family. She's unlike any woman he's ever met: rebellious, clever, and best of all, she believes in magic.
Torn between first love, magic and duty, Kit will be forced to make a decision that will change all three of their lives forever.
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Vine of Hearts by Julie Soto
Publish Date: 26 November 2026
Vine of Hearts acts as the second book in The Evermore Trilogy - with the first book being Rose in Chains, which was a massive success and is still a BookTok staple. This series is full of yearning, betrayal and magic.
Synopsis:
Briony Rosewood escaped the worst of it – or so she tells herself. Though forced to serve the woman who gutted her kingdom, she has the protection of the powerful Hearst family. But even they have their limits. Now Briony must do the unthinkable: share her magic – and her heart – with Toven Hearst. Once her enemy…now her tentative ally.
Forced to travel to distant kingdoms to play the part of Toven’s adoring heartspring, their survival depends on Briony pretending to love the man whose family helped destroy her own. But the cruellest part is that her treacherous heart has always been his.
While she smiles for the enemy, behind closed doors Briony feeds the rebellion with whispered information and dangerous new alliances. And the Hearsts harbour secrets of their own – but none is darker than Toven’s shadowy, devastating gift.
When the lost daughter of Evermore finally chooses where her heart belongs, everyone will come to know the full force of their combined power – and her wrath.
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