We've done it. We've made it to the halfway mark of the year! I can't believe it's half over already. 2026 has been a banner year for me with reading and coming out on top reading some incredible books I never thought I would get the chance to read.

I've had so many opportunities and changes and experiences in the last 6 months I almost feel like a different person sitting here typing this up. I've read ARCs, connected with authors, joined a writing cohort, taken on a job doing developmental edits, started a podcast, started an interview series...

All because I just like to talk about my weird and wonderful books.

So, halfway through 2026, let's talk about those wonderful books and what's been a 5-star read for me this year.

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

My first five star read of the year. Candon built this incredible, lush, weird, amazing world I wanted to live in. Fever dream mech fantasy about a man trying to figure out how to be normal and escape a past that won't let him go. Sunai makes horrible choices, but all of them consistently lead him back to the one place he never really left. I loved how wild and bizarre this was. I was left wanting more and more of this world and I hope so hard that Candon continues this series.

Slewfoot by Brom

If you want me to rate your book five stars, make it about female rage and killing puritans. Brom outdid himself with this one. He wrote Abitha with such conviction there's no way his wife didn't advise him on it, I refuse to believe a man capable of capturing the frustration and rage about the female experience so accurately. I love the tapestry of witchcraft and small mindedness and the blindness of religion and the effects of patriarchy on us all. This was so delightful and 5 stars well earned.

The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman

Book so good I emailed the author. I've never emailed an author before. Finn was the first. This book is a retelling of a real 13-century fairytale that was the first example of fiction in medieval France. Longman turned it into a beautiful test of prose, writing styles, and an exploration in chronic illness, queer identity, and what it means for love to endure. This book was so full of yearning and so beautifully written I finished it in a day and I bullied several other people into reading it after.

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

I picked this up on a whim because the premise was bizarre. A man is slowly turning into a great white shark because of a genetic disorder? And someone said it wrecked them? Okay, bet. And bet I did. I walked away sobbing over this heart wrenching, existence examining piece on caretaking, loss, illness, and love. Shark Heart does not get enough love for what it did.

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Muir is incapable of writing something that isn't five stars. Her use of prose and style, turning the writing itself into a character... nobody does it like Muir does. Every book in this series is different, it changes you. Nona was her solarpunk installation that gave me so many painful, beautiful moments of seeing characters I loved overcome and endure for each other. It also made me mad at Jod.

Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

I am a Malazan bro because of this book. MoI was the culmination of two books - 1800 pages - worth of trust in a process I was unsure could be trusted. Erikson delivered on every single front. He gave readers something incredible in this book and really proved to me how multifaceted and gifted he is at world building and writing. This was an incredible installment.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

I am a different person because of this book. Because of Sciona, unlikable heroine and dogged in her pursuit of knowledge. Because of Thomil who understands the cost of power and pushes to make Scion see it, too. I adored this book and how it addressed the importance of intersectionality and listening to marginalized voices. It was so beautiful and fearless and Wang knows exactly how to break your heart to teach you something important. This book should be required reading.

Headlights by C.J. Leede

This was the first ARC I have ever given five stars to. I was a mess. A disaster. If you had told me a book about an unretired FBI agent investigating wild killings where victims are skinned and the perpetrators have no memory would change me, I would never have believed you. I adored every second of this. It was about wildness and fear and loss and love and so, so much more than I can articulate in a single post. If I had my Bindery a few months sooner, I would have written pages upon pages about this. Leede's writing is poetry, her symbolism is subtle and unique, her approach to loss and grief is spellbinding.

The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes

Ennes will go down as one of the most stunning writers in the modern era. They have a grasp of language that I can only hope to have a fraction of. This book was weird and stunning and unforgiving. It made me forget I was reading about bugs because I was constantly engrossed in the characters and the world and the slow collapse of this bizarre government. It accosted my senses in incredible ways and showed the costs of power without question. I adored the characters and I will forever be rooting for Guy and his love of the theater. Ennes made politics, art, and theater inextricable from each other. One begets the others, every time. I am so, so impressed at this book.

The Soft Touch by Daniel Polansky

How did one man pack so much into a novella? Really. I finished this, stared at the cover, and bought everything Polansky has ever written. I loved this world. I loved how stubbornly optimistic Wren was and how he refused to let pessimism win in a town where pessimism already believed it had won. He was clever and sharp, the writing was witty and dry, and everything was so alive in such a short time. I didn't want it to end, this wild blend of steampunk magic. This novella made me realize the draw of urban fantasy.

The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay

I have a whole post about this book and I can never stop saying wonderful things about it. Hay created a masterwork here, just an absolute class in how to leverage the physicality of writing to meet the story and create something beautiful and tragic. II was so sad and so hurt for the Butcher, but I was in his grief with him in ways I didn't think I could be in a book. I am deeply impressed by this story and how David crafted it. Everyone should read it, especially if you love religious horror.

So this has been my year in favorites so far. I've read 100 books on the nose so far and this is the sliver of those who really changed something about me. Every five star I give out changes a piece of me - my perspective, my sense of self, my understanding of a genre, something. I walked away from each of these books with something new in my bones that wasn't there before. I love all our popular series just as much as the next person, but my heart will always be with books that dig deep and demand things of me nothing else does.