We are a few days past the halfway point of 2026 (we made it!) and I am asking an important, difficult question.
What is your favorite book you’ve read so far this year?
Rules: you may name 1 fiction and 1 nonfiction.
That is the limit.
Yes, I’m know. I’m terrible.
Also: the book does not have to be a 2026 book! Any book you haven’t read before is a new book.
Sarah: I’m the one asking, and here I am thinking, Oof, that’s a tough one, because I’ve read some really, really good books and I’m very happy about it.
My favorite fiction that I’ve read so far this year: Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood. I read this book on vacation in May, and it still gives me warm, fizzy feelings, probably because of the perfect combination of being a book that made me laugh and cry, and a book that I read in a swimming pool. Kirsty was my podcast guest last week talking about this book, too.
My favorite nonfiction, hands down, is Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online by Fortesa Latifi, because I am not going to stop thinking about the things I learned in this book for ages. I have been thinking about the children of the original mommy bloggers and influencer families for literal decades, and this book confirmed many of my suspicions about exploitation. It also forced me to confront some of my own conclusions and reevaluate them. (Fortesa Latifi was also my guest on the podcast earlier this year.)
Lara: I have read a handful of truly excellent books this year. If I were cheating, I would choose an author, rather than a book. My introduction to CS Harris/Candice Proctor this year has been glorious. But if you were to really turn the thumbscrews, I would choose Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian. That book had me cheering and breathless with joy for the duration! But if the criteria were which book had the strongest impact on me personally, then I’d say Vera Stein is Fine by Julie Murphy, as Vera and I both have big life changes happening.
Sarah, how badly did I cheat? Oopsy.
Sarah: I’ll allow it.
Amanda: I’ve only had one five star read so far this year and that honor goes to Against a Wall by Cate C. Wells.
Shout out to Katie for the recommendation. She had previously signed up for After Dark recs and we had a convo via email about Cate Wells and where I should start. She recommended this one with the caveat that it’s kind of an enemies to lovers, bully romance if that is or isn’t my bag.
I also want to mention DiscoDollyDeb’s really great description of Wells’s heroes:
As I frequently assert, her heroes tend to be men who want to do better but often lack the emotional bandwidth to do so without blunders. Wells’s style isn’t for everyone, but, if she hits your sweet spot, she’ll undoubtedly become an auto buy.
I really appreciated seeing a hero repeatedly try to get the heroine’s attention or try to understand her and her interests. I also thought it had an interesting take on small towns we don’t often see in romance and certainly, though briefly, touched on the socioeconomic issues and racism that lies at the foundation of these communities.
Elyse: My favorite book of the year so far really surprised me: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. This is a non-fiction book that recounts a period of time during COVID lockdown when Dalton raised a baby hare she found abandoned in her garden.
Dalton raises the hare with the intention that it returns to the wild (it does), but it also repeatedly returns to her home as well. It’s a beautiful memoir of appreciating wild things and allowing them to be wild, but also about her budding awareness of the natural world outside her home. It’s just an incredibly soothing and intimate read that was wonderfully relaxing for my brain.
What about you? What is your favorite book you’ve read this year?
Remember: you can name up to 1 fiction and 1 nonfiction, and it does not have to be a 2026 book!
Unsurprisingly: Villain, by Natalie Zina Walschots. It took some waiting but DAMN it was worth it.
Delightful surprise: Trust by Hernan Diaz. Very much a book about how myths are made.
Fiction: a re-read, and a comfort read: Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Armourer’s House. It’s a 1950s children’s historical novel with lots of description and lovely characters. Here’s someone else’s review: Random Jottings.
Non-fiction: I got a lot out of reading Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism through the Eyes of Ordinary People, by Julia Boyd. Here’s someone else’s review: Finding Time to Write. I will say that it was a four-star for me, despite being the best non-fiction I have read so far this year, so I’m still looking for a five-star.
Fiction:
Tie between T. Kingfisher’s Snake-Eater and Elizabeth Bear’s Angel Maker (sorry, this is an impossible choice)
Nonfiction:
Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist by Jasmin Graham
I’ve read a lot of good things this year (which is not always the case) but the romance that really stands out is Abby Jimenez’s The Night We Met. I gather that it’s quite polarising online but I loved it because it was that rare thing: a romance with a narrative arc that makes us (characters and reader) wait and really earn the HEA. Maybe experiencing it in audio format made it more emotional as well.
Favourite non-fiction was also an audiobook with delicious narration: Box Office Poison by Tim Robey. Not the usual catalogue of Hollywood flops but some lesser known fiascos from the silent era to today.