Voting is open for the 2026 Goodreads Choice Awards, with the opening round running from November 10 to November 22, 2026, and offering members one vote per category. The final round follows from November 24 to November 29, 2026, narrowing each category down to the top ten vote-getters before Goodreads reveals the winners on December 3, 2026.
Book Riot reports that you do not need to have read a book to vote for it. The opening-round nominees for six Goodreads categories are listed below, and four nominees have ReadNext guides.
Four Nominees to Read First
Romantasy Nominees
1. Threshing Day
Rebecca Yarros
Rebecca Yarros presents thirteen stories set across a single pivotal day within her Empyrean fantasy series. The Empyrean series is set at Basgiath War College, a brutal, competitive military college for dragon riders. Her official author website carries a content warning for the series that lists war, intense violence, brutal injuries, death, graphic language and sexual activities shown on the page. Skip it if that content warning is a dealbreaker.
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2. A Court of Splintered Harmony
Sarah J. Maas
Sarah J. Maas returns to the Fae territories in the sixth installment of the A Court of Thorns and Roses sequence. The plot follows the spreading threat of Koschei the Deathless, an ancient entity long bound to a mountain lake. Kirkus Reviews reports that the novel achieved 1.7 million release-day sales, excluding audiobooks and translations. Readers unfamiliar with the earlier novels should start with the first book rather than jumping in here.
Find it on AmazonMystery and Thriller Nominees
3. Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
Lucy Foley
Credited to Lucy Foley and Agatha Christie, this mystery is set in 1950 at the Grand Alpine Hotel in the Swiss Alps, where Miss Jane Marple is vacationing and an accident cuts the hotel off from the outside world. Four narrators tell the story. The Boston Globe notes that the rotating viewpoints leave Marple off the page for extended stretches. Christie purists who demand Marple as the primary focal character should look elsewhere.
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4. The Witch
Freida McFadden
Freida McFadden’s dual-timeline thriller is set in present-day and 1692 Massachusetts. Publishers Weekly’s bestseller report of October 19, 2026 calls it the number one book in the country. Its heroine goes to her family’s seventeenth-century estate, where the grandfather clock stops at 3:41 a.m. every night and a disembodied voice cries for help outside her bedroom door. Skip it if a haunted-house atmosphere is not what you want.
Find it on AmazonHow 2026 Goodreads Choice Awards Voting Works
The Goodreads Choice Awards run as a two-round vote across fifteen categories in 2026.
| Round | Dates | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Round | Nov 10 to Nov 22, 2026 | Registered members cast one vote per category among twenty nominees in each of fifteen categories. |
| Final Round | Nov 24 to Nov 29, 2026 | Members cast one decisive vote per category among the top ten vote-getters from the opening round. |
| Winners Announced | Dec 3, 2026 | Goodreads announces the winning book in each of the fifteen official categories. |
Voting is open to all registered Goodreads members, with each voter entitled to cast one vote per category in each round. According to reporting from Book Riot, you do not need to have read a book to cast a vote for it.
Goodreads says nominees are chosen from its statistics on books added, rated and reviewed. To qualify for nomination, a book must have been published in English in the United States between November 12, 2025, and November 10, 2026. Eligible releases include original publications, English translations, and substantial rereleases.
Goodreads also enforces baseline eligibility rules:
- Average rating floor: Nominees must hold an average community rating of at least 3.50 at the time the opening round launches.
- Series limitation: Only one book per series can appear within any single category ballot.
- Genre exclusivity: A book may only appear in one primary genre category, though it can cross over into Debut Novel or Audiobook if eligible.
The fifteen competitive categories featured on the 2026 ballot cover a broad spectrum of commercial and literary releases:
- Fiction
- Historical Fiction
- Mystery & Thriller
- Romance
- Romantasy
- Fantasy
- Science Fiction
- Horror
- Debut Novel
- Audiobook
- Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi
- Young Adult Fiction
- Nonfiction
- Memoir
- History & Biography
Which Nominees to Read First
At ReadNext, we start with the four 2026 nominees that already have a ReadNext guide, because those are the books where we hold sourced facts. The rule is coverage, not quality. We do not rank the nominees and we do not predict winners.
In the Romantasy category, Rebecca Yarros appears on the ballot with Threshing Day. According to the author’s official website, the volume contains thirteen distinct stories set across a single legendary day in the Empyrean fantasy universe. The book carries no standalone volume number, though Yarros identifies Fourth Wing as book one and Iron Flame as book two. Readers who enjoy competitive dragon rider schools and high-stakes military training can explore similar titles through our directory of books like Threshing Day.
Also competing in Romantasy is Sarah J. Maas with A Court of Splintered Harmony. Sourced coverage from a recent BookTok roundup confirms this release represents the sixth entry in the A Court of Thorns and Roses sequence, marking the first series installment since 2021. Additional reporting from The Pulse of NH notes the narrative focuses on the looming threat of Koschei the Deathless as darkness spreads across Fae territories. Kirkus Reviews reports that the book sold 1.7 million copies on release day, excluding audiobooks and translated editions. Readers looking to trace the full narrative arc should consult our guide to books like A Court of Thorns and Roses.
In the Mystery & Thriller division, Lucy Foley earns a nomination for Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel. Credited to Lucy Foley and Agatha Christie, the story places Miss Jane Marple at a Swiss resort cut off from the outside world by an accident. According to an assessment in The Boston Globe, the narrative splits duties among four distinct narrators as they investigate the death of Anthony Narracott. Kirkus Reviews describes the plot as adroitly plotted and intricately clued. Readers seeking similar snowy locked-room puzzles can find related titles in our guide to books like Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel.
Freida McFadden also contends in Mystery & Thriller with The Witch. Publishers Weekly calls it the number one book in the country in its bestseller report of October 19, 2026. The listing from Penguin Books Australia says Julia Barlow goes to her family’s seventeenth-century estate, where a grandfather clock stops at 3:41 a.m. every night, and that she finds the story of a woman executed for witchcraft in 1692. Readers drawn to thrillers about secrets can find matching recommendations through our guide to books like The Witch.
2026 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominees by Category
The following tables present the twenty opening-round nominees captured directly from the official Goodreads category pages on November 12, 2026.
Fiction Nominees
The opening-round ballot on the Goodreads Fiction page lists twenty nominees.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Hollow Bones | Jodi Picoult |
| Hollywood, Ending | John Green |
| Switzy | Emma Cline |
| Whistler | Ann Patchett |
| The Shampoo Effect | Jenny Jackson |
| The Things We Never Say | Elizabeth Strout |
| Partita | Barbara Kingsolver |
| Taipei Story | R.F. Kuang |
| Fruit Fly | Josh Silver |
| The Burning Side | Sarah Damoff |
| John of John | Douglas Stuart |
| Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt | Ben Reeves |
| The Thoroughbreds | Elin Hilderbrand |
| Transcription | Ben Lerner |
| Good People | Patmeena Sabit |
| Lost Lambs | Madeline Cash |
| Etna | Paul Yoon |
| Where the Wildflowers Grow | Terah Shelton Harris |
| The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman | Deesha Philyaw |
| Yesteryear | Caro Claire Burke |
Romance Nominees
The opening-round ballot on the Goodreads Romance page lists twenty nominees.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Score | Kennedy Ryan |
| Our Perfect Storm | Carley Fortune |
| And Now, Back to You | B.K. Borison |
| The Night We Met | Abby Jimenez |
| Lost and Found | Tarah DeWitt |
| Game On | Navessa Allen |
| King of Gluttony | Ana Huang |
| Bad Words | Rioghnach Robinson |
| Fever Dream | Elsie Silver |
| Into the Blue | Emma Brodie |
| In Her Own League | Liz Tomforde |
| Embrace | Bal Khabra |
| This Book Made Me Think of You | Libby Page |
| Pink Ink | Avina St. Graves |
| Love Song | Elle Kennedy |
| Dolly All the Time | Annabel Monaghan |
| One & Only | Maurene Goo |
| Every Version of You | Natalie Messier |
| Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It | Brooke Averick |
| Star Shipped | Cat Sebastian |
Romantasy Nominees
The opening-round ballot on the Goodreads Romantasy page lists twenty nominees.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Crown Me Dead | Liv Zander |
| A Vow in Vengeance | Jaclyn Rodriguez |
| Reap & Sow | Charlotte B. Plumb |
| Starside | Alex Aster |
| Daggermouth | H.M. Wolfe |
| The Washwoman at the River’s End | Megan Shade |
| Fury Bound | Sable Sorensen |
| We Who Will Die | Stacia Stark |
| Brimstone | Callie Hart |
| The Ballad of Falling Dragons | Sarah A. Parker |
| Because I Killed Him | Edith Birde |
| The Lion & the Deathless Dark | Carissa Broadbent |
| Burn of the Everflame | Penn Cole |
| The Knave and the Moon | Rachel Gillig |
| Broken Dove | Dani Francis |
| A Court of Splintered Harmony | Sarah J. Maas |
| Threshing Day | Rebecca Yarros |
| Grim Tidings | B.K. Borison |
| Rites of the Starling | Devney Perry |
| Half City | Kate Golden |
Mystery and Thriller Nominees
The opening-round ballot on the Goodreads Mystery and Thriller page lists twenty nominees.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| The French Illusion | John Grisham |
| Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel | Lucy Foley |
| Her Last Breath | Taylor Adams |
| This Story Might Save Your Life | Tiffany Crum |
| Anatomy of an Alibi | Ashley Elston |
| It’s Not Her | Mary Kubica |
| Heart of Glass | Jennifer Hillier |
| The Anniversary | Alex Finlay |
| Dissection of a Murder | Jo Murray |
| Best Offer Wins | Marisa Kashino |
| The Secrets We Hide | Karin Slaughter |
| Big Little Truths | Liane Moriarty |
| The Unknown | Riley Sager |
| My Husband’s Wife | Alice Feeney |
| Mad Mabel | Sally Hepworth |
| The Witch | Freida McFadden |
| Judge Stone | Viola Davis |
| The First Time I Saw Him | Laura Dave |
| Dear Debbie | Freida McFadden |
| It Could Have Been Her | Lisa Jewell |
Fantasy Nominees
The opening-round ballot on the Goodreads Fantasy page lists twenty nominees.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| A Trade of Blood | Robert Jackson Bennett |
| The Astral Library | Kate Quinn |
| The Book Witch | Meg Shaffer |
| Daughter of Crows | Mark Lawrence |
| Twelve Months | Jim Butcher |
| The Tapestry of Fate | S.A. Chakraborty |
| The Red Winter | Cameron Sullivan |
| The Poet Empress | Shen Tao |
| Dead Beat | Leigh Bardugo |
| The Unicorn Hunters | Katherine Arden |
| Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter | Heather Fawcett |
| Blacktail | Scott Hawkins |
| Weavingshaw | Heba Al-Wasity |
| Fishbone Cinderella | Elizabeth Lim |
| The Midnight Train | Matt Haig |
| This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me | Ilona Andrews |
| I, Medusa | Ayana Gray |
| Witch Queen Rising | Savannah Stephens |
| Bodies of Magic | Freya Marske |
| The Girl with a Thousand Faces | Sunyi Dean |
Science Fiction Nominees
The opening-round ballot on the Goodreads Science Fiction page lists twenty nominees.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Children of Strife | Adrian Tchaikovsky |
| Public Access Afterworld | Jane Schoenbrun |
| Under Story | Chloe Benjamin |
| A Parade of Horribles | Matt Dinniman |
| The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances | Glenn Dixon |
| As You Wake, Break the Shell | Becky Chambers |
| Fallow | Sarah Anderson |
| Scion | James Islington |
| Time Travel for Beginners | Jaclyn Moriarty |
| The Last Contract of Isako | Fonda Lee |
| The Faith of Beasts | James S.A. Corey |
| Exit Party | Emily St. John Mandel |
| Operation Bounce House | Matt Dinniman |
| The Radiant Dark | Alexandra Oliva |
| Victorious | V.E. Schwab |
| Slow Gods | Claire North |
| Platform Decay | Martha Wells |
| Seek the Traitor’s Son | Veronica Roth |
| Monsters of Ohio | John Scalzi |
| We Burned So Bright | T.J. Klune |
Goodreads also hosts active opening-round voting for nine additional categories: Historical Fiction, Horror, Debut Novel, Audiobook, Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir, and History & Biography. Readers can inspect the full ballots and cast votes across those divisions directly on the Goodreads Choice Awards page.
Who These Picks Are Not For
These picks do not suit readers looking for critical awards rankings, predictive winner odds, or an authoritative hierarchy of the nominees. We do not evaluate literary merit across the ballot, nor do we attempt to forecast which books will emerge victorious when the polls close. Our four starting titles simply reflect the nominees that already have a ReadNext guide.
Readers whose interests lie outside the six genres cataloged above should skip our short list and explore the wider competition. If you primarily read horror, young adult fiction, memoirs, or historical accounts, head directly to Goodreads to browse those ballots. Readers who want personalized suggestions tailored to specific themes or reading pacing can take our What Should I Read quiz to discover titles matched to distinct mood preferences.
Finally, readers who are sensitive to intense themes should approach specific titles on this list with caution. Rebecca Yarros’s official author page posts an explicit content warning for her Empyrean universe, noting depictions of brutal violence, wartime combat, blood, death, poisoning, graphic language, and sexual situations on the page. If any of those elements represent a reading dealbreaker, pass on Threshing Day and select an alternative title from the fantasy or mystery tables.
What Would Change Our Answer
Our reading recommendations and round schedules will shift as Goodreads progresses through its published voting calendar. The answer changes when the final-round top 10 for each category appears on November 24, 2026.
The winners announced on December 3, 2026 would change it too, and so would any change to the Goodreads rules or dates.
Vote once per category by November 22 and again from November 24 to 29 on the top 10. If you want to read before you vote, start with the four nominees covered here or the opening-round list in your genre, and remember that you do not need to have read a book to vote. Cast your vote in each category you care about by November 22, and read one of the four covered nominees before the final round of the 2026 Goodreads Choice Awards opens on November 24.