Upcoming January 2026 Book Releases to Look Forward to

Happy happy new year everyone! This month has just been SO busy for me I finally got some time to sit down and write this. There's only two since it's quite late this month but season two of the TV series to The Last Thing He Told Me is coming out in February and I am so so excited! Anyways, they are not ranked by number but displayed randomly. Can't wait for them to come out, happy reading!

1. The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave was released January 6, 2026.

Synopsis:

Five years after her husband, Owen, disappeared, Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter, Bailey, have settled into a new life in Southern California. Together, they’ve forged a relationship with Bailey’s grandfather Nicholas and are putting the past behind them.

But when Owen shows up at Hannah’s new exhibition, she knows that she and Bailey are in danger again.

Hannah and Bailey are forced to go on the run in a relentless race to keep their past from catching up with them. As a thrilling drama unfolds, Hannah risks everything to get Bailey to safety—and finds there just might be a way back to Owen and their long-awaited second chance.

Publisher Website: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-First-Time-I-Saw-Him-(A-Reese-Witherspoon-Book-Club-Pick)/Laura-Dave/9781668002964  

2. The Storm by Rachel Hawkins was released January 6, 2026.

Synopsis:

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive—and as deadly—as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…

Publisher Website: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250341884/thestorm/