Hi there! It’s time for another Spell the Month in Books. This was originally created by Reviews from the Stacks, and the idea is to spell the month using the first letter of book titles. Today, I have a bunch of 2026 releases I’m excited about. Let’s check them out!!
D: Deathbringer
Author: Sonia Tagliareni
Series: Deathbringer #1
Page Length: 432
Pub. Date: May 12, 2026
Publisher: Atria Books
Synopsis: For fans of Naomi Novik and Kerri Maniscalco, a dark academia romantasy steeped in necromancy, forbidden love, and a twisty murder mystery set within the perilous halls of a magical institute, as a death mage who hates her magic and a poison mage who hates her are forced to work together to stop a killer before one of them is next.
Born with the ability to speak with the dead, Viola hates her magic. It killed her sister, Olivia, and if she doesn’t learn why, it will kill her too. Her only hope lies within the perilous walls of Gorhail Institute of Magic, where Olivia spent her final days.
There, Viola clashes with Sylas, a poison mage whose magic stems from three magical snakes. Immortal, tormented, and reckless, Sylas is tethered to a life he never asked for and haunted by guilt for his father’s death. His hatred for death mages runs deep, and he’s determined to keep Viola at a distance. But when an attack forces him to heal her, their fates become intertwined by a magical bond that threatens to upend his loyalties—and his common sense.
As more students start turning up dead, Viola and Sylas are drawn into an uneasy alliance that pulls them deeper into Gorhail’s treacherous passageways, where secrets fester beneath the stone and the dead do not rest. And as enemy lines begin to blur and their undeniable attraction grows, Viola and Sylas uncover a chilling someone is hunting mages for their magical relics, and if they can’t uncover the killer in time, Viola will be next.
E: Entwined
Author: HM Long
Page Length: 304
Pub. Date: March 10, 2026
Publisher: Titan
Synopsis: Three sisters join the hunt for a stolen magical artefact in the start of this Gilded Age fantasy duology.
Ottilie Rushforth hides from the mighty Sorcerer’s Guild as secretary to a has-been detective. She is Entwined – threads of magic run beneath her skin, and the Guild would trap her in service.
But Ottilie has a plan to escape the Guild forever with her estranged fiancé, the enigmatic poet, soldier and smuggler Lewis Illing. All she must do is track down a mysterious artefact, claim the bounty, and leave the city forever. But Ottilie’s sisters – Pretoria, a quick-witted sorceress and thief recently emerged from exile, and Madge, a guild mage to the core, appear to make equally unwelcome offers. A new life at the cost of everything she has ever wanted, or prestige and safety in a gilded cage.
With her life on the line, Ottilie must track down the artifact in a city torn apart by prejudice and violence, and choose between the two sides of herself – the fugitive and the Entwined.
C: Carnival Fantástico
Author: Angela Montoya
Page Length: 464
Pub. Date: Feb. 3, 2026
Publisher: Joy Revolution
Synopsis: An unputdownable romantasy following a young woman posing as fortune-teller at a magical traveling carnival, where the handsome boy who once broke her heart resurfaces and warns her that carnival is more sinister than it appears.
Welcome to the Carnival Fantástico, a spectacle of magic and mischief, and the perfect haven for a runaway. Using her tricks and razor-sharp wit, Esmeralda becomes the carnival’s resident fortune-teller, aiming for the lead role in the Big Top Show. Success would mean freedom from her former employer, the commander of the King’s army.
Ignacio has defected from the army and is on the hunt for evidence of his father’s corruption. But the last thing he expects to find on his father’s trail of lies is the only girl he’s ever loved, spinning false fortunes at a traveling carnival.
Perhaps fortune has thrown them together for a reason. They strike a deal: she’ll help him expose his father if he helps her secure the main act. But old feelings don’t die easily, and the commander’s secret isn’t the only thing they’ll need to confront.
E: The Elsewhere Express
Author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
Page Length: 432
Pub. Date: Jan 20, 2026
Publisher: Del Rey
Synopsis: When you lose your way in life, the Elsewhere Express just might find you. Step on board the train that may take you to your life’s purpose in this wistful, Ghibli-esque fantasy from the bestselling author of Water Moon.
You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train seeming to carry very rare and special a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging.
Raya is one of those lost souls. She had dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead.
One day on the subway, as her thoughts wander, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, an intriguing artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world.
Together they find a train full of wonders, from a boarding car that’s also a meadow to a dining car where passengers can picnic on lily pads to a bar where jellyfish and whales swim through pink clouds.
Over the course of their long, strange night on the train, they also discover that it harbors secrets—and A mysterious stranger has stowed away and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train.
But in investigating the stowaway’s identity, Raya also finds herself drawing closer to the ultimate What is her life’s true purpose—and is it a destination the Elsewhere Express can take her to?
M: Midnight on the Celestial
Author: Julia Alexander
Page Length: 352
Pub. Date: March 3, 2026
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: Roe Damarcus has never been afraid of the dead. Her power to summon spirits has awed the guests of her esteemed family’s galas for as long as she can remember. Her future is certain, and her gift will be another shining jewel in the Damarcus legacy.
But when she fails her realm’s trial to keep her magic and is deemed too dangerous for society, she faces a harrowing choice: give up her gift or serve a punishment sentence aboard the Celestial, a luxurious magical cruise ship where staff members compete for guest votes to earn a coveted retrial.
As a concierge, Roe juggles the demands of affluent guests, cruel bosses, and the suspicion that an infuriatingly handsome silks performer, Ivander, is determined to keep her from a retrial.
But the true dangers surface after her shift ends when the Celestial transforms into halls of nightmares that kill staff members after dark. Faced with the reality of serving aboard, Roe begins to question the ship, trials, and the system that put her there. But the moment Roe sinks into the ship’s dark history, she’s wrongly framed for a guest’s murder. Vowing to conjure her own second chance, Roe will use whatever power she has to uncover the secrets of the ship, her family, and their entwined bloody past… before she becomes the Celestial’s next victim.
B: Broken Dove
Author: Dani Francis
Series: Silver Elite #2
Page Length: 608
Pub. Date: May 5, 2026
Publisher: Del Rey
Synopsis: LINES WILL BE CROSSED.
After blowing her cover as a double agent within Silver Elite and fleeing the Prime-controlled capital, Wren Darlington is finally safe behind allied lines. As her lover and former commander Cross Redden works to disrupt the Primes from inside their ranks, Wren turns her focus toward assisting the Uprising in overthrowing their rule once and for all.
LOYALTIES WILL BE TESTED.
Though she’s back among her own people, trust is hard-won and hidden agendas abound on the Mod base. And beyond those walls, Wren can’t help but worry that Cross is keeping secrets of his own . . . secrets that could jeopardize everything. Complicating matters even further is her shocking reunion with hotshot fighter pilot and undercover operative Grayson Blake. Once her closest friend in Silver Elite, Gray seems to understand Wren on a level she never thought possible.
AND THE FIGHT FOR THE CONTINENT IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING.
With the war between Mods and Primes growing more brutal by the day, and with her own role in the conflict becoming more essential than ever, Wren must confront some gut-wrenching questions. Who is she fighting for . . . and who is she willing to lose?
E: Ember and Ash
Author: Lisa Renee Jones
Series: Thorne Saga #1
Page Length: 470
Pub. Date: Feb. 10, 2026
Synopsis: In the dark of the night, there is passion and destruction…
Criminal defense attorney Ember Thorne thought the biggest challenge of her life would be her quest to navigate the justice system on behalf of the wrongly accused. That is, until she finds herself in the sights of an otherworldly evil, desperately hunting what she cannot kill, not yet, at least. Nothing in her life, or in this world, is what it seems, and when a blue-eyed stranger named Micah saves her life, their attraction is the fire that could become the death of all that exists or the salvation that blooms with new hope for all. Micah, royalty in his own right, will challenge her to stand against evil, but when you have never known true evil, can you really recognize it where it hides?
In a world where angels and demons are the truth humans call fiction, could it be a lie between lovers that equals salvation? Or is that lie the blade that delivers devastation?
Ember and Ash, the first book in the Thorne Saga, introduces you to a world filled with the magic of angels and the darkness of the monsters they hunt, where secrets and lies, and a passionate forbidden romance hold world-altering consequences.
R: The River She Became
Author: Emily Varga
Page Length: 416
Pub. Date: June 30, 2026
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Synopsis: A high stakes, action-packed romantasy from bestselling author Emily Varga where a relic-hunter searches for an ancient fae object to restore the magic to her world, but must learn to trust her own powers—and her heart.
I’m going across the River. And I’m going to save us all.
Yaseema is a brilliant scholar and loyal servant of the Empire—or so they think. By day, she catalogs the fae relics of her conquered kingdom. But by night, she reclaims the artefacts in secret to restore magic to her dying land.
Until she finds the long lost key to cross the River into the fae world and save her people. But a ruthless realm awaits her there, ruled by monsters wearing beautiful skin—especially the cold-eyed captain who sees through her lies. But even he isn’t what he seems—under the guise of upholding a cruel regime, he works to overthrow it from the inside. To succeed, he needs the same lost relic Yaseema the crown of an ancient Fae Queen.
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With magic that is a mystery even to her, Yaseema can help him find the crown and save his family from a fate worse than death. Unless she steals it first to help her own.
To survive, they must work together to outwit ancient curses, battle creatures born of nightmares, and find a power that could resurrect their worlds. But as secrets unravel and loyalties blur, they face the greatest danger of losing their heart to each other.
Wow! I love all these covers!
It seems like 2026 is coming before I even realized it’s mid-December! 🙂 So many gorgeous covers here, so much to look forward to!