Today I’m sharing some of the April 2026 books on my radar. These are books that are releasing in April that I’m excited about, interested in reading, or just wanting to share with others. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking on my link, I may receive a small commission.
The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn (4/7) – A woman tests the limits of her so-called amicable divorce when she flies to Paris for the destination wedding of her former sister-in-law, only to butt heads with the deliciously gruff best man, in a poignant and romantic novel from Kate Clayborn.
Physician Layla Bailey has spent over a year telling herself she’s moved on from a painful but amicable divorce from her college sweetheart. Staying friends with her ex seemed like the mature thing to do, but when Layla is invited to her former sister-in-law’s destination wedding in Paris—where Layla once spent her own romantic honeymoon—she knows her commitment to maturity might be her worst enemy…especially since her ex isn’t attending alone.
The only thing that could make the week more difficult is getting through it without the distraction of the wedding…. But when what Layla thought was a harmless conversation about the choices of her younger self leads to the bride getting cold feet, Layla finds herself facing down the groom’s mysterious, taciturn best man, Griffin, who will do anything to make sure this wedding happens.
Since she broke it, Griff demands she help him fix it. Going along with his plan to alleviate the engaged couple’s doubts seems like Layla’s best chance at maintaining a good relationship with a family she once called her own. But as she learns more about the past heartbreak that’s driving Griff to help his friend, she gets closer and closer to confronting the true depth of her own pain…while finding herself more and more willing to risk it all again for Griff.
The Write Off by Kara McDowell (4/7) – It’s been thirteen years since Mars Darling first met West Emerson on a bench outside their writing class. What started out as a friendly rivalry turned into a best friendship and then, for a brief time, a romance. Now over a decade later, as Mars stands at their college campus as a once-esteemed YA fantasy author, ready to take on a book festival, she comes face to face with West—the muse behind her infamous trilogy’s heartthrob hero, the man who betrayed her in the worst way.
Mars is determined not to let her comeback tour be ruined by the fact that West is also at the festival as an author. But the longer they are on the campus that holds so many shared memories, the more time they have to untangle their past, and Mars starts to question if maybe it’s not only her writing career that deserves a second chance.
Told in two unfolding timelines—Mars and West’s frenzied college days where they grapple with their undeniable connection, and their tension-filled present of heartache and familiar yearning—this charming romance shows that while you can’t rewrite the past, it’s never too late to chase your happily ever after and get back the one that got away.
The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke (4/7) – A PROPULSIVE DEBUT MYSTERY FROM EVELYN CLARKE, THE BRILLIANT AND DIABOLICAL CREATION OF CAT CLARKE AND V.E. SCHWAB
Six authors.
One private island.
Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.
Named one of the Most Anticipated Mysteries of 2026 by GoodReads, Marie Claire, and Page Six.
“In the running for the best mystery of 2026. With a trove of tropes that mystery lovers will love, it will remind you, in the best way, of Agatha Christie.”—Stephen King
Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.
Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.
It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.
Start At The End by Emma Grey (4/7) – This is a love story . . . but not the one you’re expecting.
Start at the End is a powerful, soul-stirring, sliding-doors novel from the bestselling author of The Last Love Note and Pictures of You that explores second chances and unwritten endings.
Audrey and Fraser tumble into a romance for the ages. After an unlikely start, they fall deeply in love and dream of the life they’ll build together—until one tragic moment upends everything. Facing the unimaginable and wrestling with guilt, they’re left haunted by “what ifs,” each asking where they would be if fate had spun a different story.
Start at the End is an unforgettable drama of two soulmates who have to find a way to start over when they had only just begun.
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer (4/7) – She can hop into any novel, but she just can’t stay there.
Come along with the Book Witch in this magical and inspiring love letter to reading from the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game.
“Meg Shaffer continues to surprise and delight me with each book she writes.”—Laurie Gilmore, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Café
Rainy March is a proud, third-generation Book Witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps in and out of novels to fix malicious alterations and rogue heroes like a modern-day magical Nancy Drew.
Book Witches live by a strict code: Real people belong in the real world; fictional characters belong in works of fiction. Do not eat, drink, or sleep inside a fictional world, lest you become part of the story. Falling in love with a fictional character? Don’t even think about it.
Which is why Rainy has been forbidden from seeing the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective who stars in her favorite mystery series. If she’s ever caught with him again, she’ll be expelled from her book coven—and forced to give up the magical gifts that are as much a part of her as her own name.
But when her beloved grandfather disappears and a priceless book is stolen, there’s only one person she trusts to help her solve the case: the Duke. Their quest takes them through the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, King Arthur, and other classics that will reveal hidden enemies and long-buried family secrets.
Like, Follow, Subscribe by Fortesa Latifi (4/7) – A searing investigation into the child influencer industry and the perils of childhood internet fame, Like, Follow, Subscribe is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the costs of internet fame, and the ethics of online content.
What is it like to grow up with a camera in your face 24/7? To have your childhood moments sold as “content” to millions online? What happens when someone who works in a largely unregulated multi-billion-dollar industry sells away their childhood and has no financial safety net as an adult? What does it feel like to have your private moments—your medical diagnoses, your first period, your first break up, your tantrums, potty-training, and breastfeeding-weaning—broadcast to an audience of millions? Like, Follow, Subscribe shines a spotlight on the deeply troubling world of the child influencer industry.
Journalist Fortesa Latifi dives into the lives of children whose parents mine their everyday activities for monetizable content, exposing issues like privacy violations, financial abuse, and the absence of child labor protections. Through expert interviews with psychologists, labor scientists, and even former child influencers and family vloggers, she uncovers the pressures, trauma, and consequences for children thrust into the spotlight.
This timely and eye-opening book doesn’t just reveal the harm of toxic social media culture: it also provides a roadmap to better regulating influencer families, safeguarding children, and questioning the role of audiences in perpetuating these cycles of exploitation.
Last One Out by Jane Harper (4/14) – From the New York Times bestselling author of Exiles and The Dry comes a captivating new novel set in a modern ghost town.
Carralon Ridge, a once vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of itself, its houses and buildings bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. A decade into its slow death, surrounded by industrial noise and swathed in thick layers of dust, the skeletal town is all but abandoned, with just a handful of residents clinging onto what remains.
After years of scorning those who left the Ridge behind as it fell into ruin, Ro never imagined she’d become one of them. But everything changed when she lost her son. Five years ago, Sam vanished while visiting during a break from college, leaving behind a rental car with his belongings inside. Sam had loved Carralon Ridge, and had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy before it vanished altogether. It wasn’t long after his disappearance that the rest of the family began to crumble away too.
But when Ro returns to Carralon Ridge to be with her husband and daughter on the anniversary of Sam’s disappearance, she begins to suspect that something important was overlooked in his case. Because while nothing can stop Carralon Ridge from dying, someone seems to want to make sure that its secrets die with it.
All Afternoon by Susan Kleinman (4/21) – River Ridge, New Jersey, 1978: As feminism takes root in this tight-knit Modern Orthodox community, women are starting businesses, rethinking their marriages, and challenging their synagogue’s long-standing rules.
Not Marilyn Weisfeld.
Once a promising writer, Marilyn gave up her literary dreams twenty years ago when she married Jerry, a self-important professor of economics. Now, she’s too busy raising children, braiding challahs, and entertaining her husband’s insufferable colleagues to think about what else her life might have held… until the night an old friend comes to dinner.
When bestselling author Henry Goldfarb asks for Marilyn’s feedback on his new novel, something long buried inside her stirs back to life. And when he encourages her to write again, she starts sneaking into Manhattan every week to see him. In long afternoons of shared stories, easy laughter, and soul-baring conversations, Marilyn catches glimpses of a more fulfilling life she could be living – if only she can find the courage to reach for it.
But change always comes at a cost. And as Marilyn’s feelings for Henry begin to blur boundaries and test loyalties, the tidy existence she has woven so carefully in River Ridge begins to unravel. Caught between the comfort of old rhythms and the thrill of new possibilities, she will have to decide exactly what price she’s willing to pay to live bravely, authentically, and without regret.
Warmhearted, funny, and relatable, All Afternoon is a powerful debut about the quiet ache of losing yourself and the courageous work of finding your way back.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (4/21) – From Sally Hepworth, the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and The Good Sister, comes a twist-filled, darkly funny mystery about the two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies.
Meet Mad Mabel.
Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She’s lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years–longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.
When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie’s past start coming to light. Who was “Mad Mabel” fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?
Told with Sally Hepworth’s twists, humor, charm, and heart, MAD MABEL is novel that weaves past and present together–through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion.
Will you add any of these to your to be read list?
