Nothing excites a reader more than a good new book just around the corner. With the Best of February 2026 list, you can easily connect your readers to next month’s well-reviewed new titles.
You have a lot on your plate each month, so feel free to print this blog out and keep it at the desk for those moments when you need a quick recommendation. This blog features just 10 titles on the list, so head over to NoveList Plus to see the whole thing. Search “Best of February 2026” and you’ll find it (and you can explore the rest of the amazing Curated Lists while you’re there!). Not sure if your library has NoveList Plus? Find out here. If you don’t, click here to request information.
Recommendation #1: Her Last Breath
By Taylor Adams
After years of excuses, Tess finally agrees to go caving with her best friend Allie, now a globe-trotting influencer. Deep underground, a stranger harasses them; Allie fights back, and Tess ends up trapped, struggling to survive. Twenty-four hours later, hospitalized Tess learns shocking secrets about Allie’s past. Was the attack random — or something far darker? And did Tess truly escape the danger when she left the cave?
Appeals: Atmospheric, Haunting, Intensifying, Plot-driven, Suspenseful
Recommendation #2: Belgrave Road
By Manish Chauhan
Mira's days are filled with duty and light on freedom. In a new country, living with a husband she barely knows and who she fears she'll never love — Mira is desperate to discover all that her new life in England might offer. And then there's Tahliil — the quiet, beautiful man she sees at work each day. He's the first person in this new world who listens to Mira's hopes for who she yearns to become. But they couldn't lead more different lives: The duties that bind them, the homes they are trying to build threaten to subsume them. As Mira and Tahliil navigate the deep and turbulent waters of their new worlds, can they find a way to be together, and will finding each other set them free?
Appeals: Character-driven, Richly detailed, Moving, Strong sense of place, Sympathetic characters
Recommendation #3: One Bad Mother: In Praise of Psycho Housewives, Stage Parents, Momfluencers, And Other Women We Love to Hate
By Ej Dickson
Ej Dickson takes a sharp, provocative look at one of society's most polarizing labels: the bad mom. What makes a mother bad, and why? Through the lens of pop culture and American history, Ej Dickson explores how this trope has evolved — from Victorian angels in the house to the infamous Mommie Dearest, from Instagram influencers like EmRata and Mormon momfluencers to fictional icons like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Each chapter dives into a different archetype of so-called bad motherhood — like the Stage Mom, the Tiger Mom, the MILF, the MLM hun — challenging us to rethink our assumptions about femininity, parenting, and societal expectations.
Appeals: Amusing, Issue-oriented, Persuasive, Thought-provoking, Witty
Recommendation #4: Rebel Of the Regency: The Scandalous Saga of Caroline of Brunswick, Britain's Uncrowned Queen
By Ann Foster
Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, Princess of Brunswick, was freed from her family's gilded cage by an unexpected marriage proposal from George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales and the eldest son of Britain's King George III. Always staying true to herself, Caroline stepped into her role of queen-to-be without compromising her character, despite being ostracized as an outsider by her in-laws, and thus became the unlikely figurehead of the anti-monarchists, aided by the just-emerging tabloid press. Nevertheless, George abandoned Caroline and their daughter — barring them from the royal court — soon after his coronation.
Appeals: Gossipy, Impassioned, Inspiring, Popularity
Recommendation #5: So Old, So Young
By Grant Ginder
For six friends since college, the only constant has been change — new jobs, new cities, new spouses, new kids. Through it all, they believed their friendship would endure. But time tests even the strongest bonds. From East Village parties and disastrous weddings to fortieth birthdays and backyard barbecues, this novel explores Millennial growing pains and celebrates how love can falter, shift, and grow into something bigger than imagined.
Appeals: Banter-filled, Character-driven, Flawed characters, Funny, Reflective
Recommendation #6: I'll Make Me A World: The 100-year Journey of Black History Month
By Jarvis R. Givens
On its one-hundredth anniversary, a powerful and essential meditation on the origins, evolution, and future of Black History Month from one of America’s leading historians of Black education and the author of American Grammar.
Appeals: Comprehensive, Incisive, Thought-provoking, Well-researched
Recommendation #7: One & Only
By Maurene Goo
Cassia Park believes in soul mates — it’s the family business. For centuries, Park women have used past lives to match clients with their fated love, guaranteeing success for everyone but Cassia. After ten years of searching for hers, Daniel Nam, she gives up and has a fling with Ellis — until he introduces her to his boss: Daniel. As fate collides with choice and family secrets unravel, Cass must decide whether to follow destiny or forge her own path.
Appeals: Evocative, Moving, Own voices, Plot-driven, Richly detailed, Well-developed characters
Recommendation #8: This Is Not About Us
By Allegra Goodman
Was it just a brief skirmish — or the start of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubenstein family, either is possible. When their beloved older sister dies, Sylvia and Helen are left adrift. A misunderstanding over apple cake spirals into decades of silence. Meanwhile, their children — busy with divorces, careers, college apps, bat mitzvahs, and ballet recitals — avoid taking sides. And the grandchildren? Forget it.
Appeals: Character-driven, Amusing, Moving, Multiple perspectives, Thoughtful
Recommendation #9: The Midnight Taxi
By Yosha Gunasekera
Siriwathi Perera never expected to be a taxicab driver in New York City, struggling to make ends meet, still living with her parents, and listening to true-crime podcasts. When public defender Amaya Fernando gets into her cab, they connect via their shared Sri Lankan roots. But she's suddenly dropped into her own true crime when she finds her next passenger murdered in the backseat, and she has to call Amaya sooner than she'd expected. The obvious suspect, Siri chases down leads across New York City with Amaya's help. But with her court date looming, they have just five days to find out who really killed the midnight passenger — or Siri's life will be over before she can even truly live it.
Appeals: Fast-paced, Intricately plotted, Character-driven, Spirited characters, Witty
Recommendation #10: The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science, And the Crisis of Belief
By Richard Holmes
Holmes recovers in Young Tennyson an astonishingly magnetic and mercurial personality, a secretly expressive and highly emotional man but now haunted by the great intellectual — and above all the great scientific — issues of his time. Holmes's extraordinary biography allows us to witness Tennyson wrestling with mind-altering ideas of geology and deep time, the vastness, beauty and terror of the new cosmology, and the challenges of social revolution. And how these inspired him to grapple with the idea of human mortality, the threat of suicide and depression, the struggle between love and loneliness, agnosticism and belief.
Appeals: Lyrical, Thoughtful, Poets, Scientific discoveries
Leigh Gaddy is the Marketing Specialist at NoveList. She is currently reading Moonbound: A Novel by Robin Sloan.