2026 | First Half of the Year in Books

We are somehow already more than halfway through 2026, so here’s a look back at what I read during the first six months of the year.

I finished 52 books between January and the end of June. Audiobooks did most of the work, with 31 audiobooks compared to 18 digital books and only three physical books. I’ve been running a lot of solo miles this year, and I tend to listen to audiobooks for a lot of those runs. It’s a great way to spend the time.

My average rating was 3.61 stars. I had one five-star read, six books that earned 4.5 stars, and four more at 4.25 stars. Looking back through everything I read, there really were not that many books that completely wowed me. Most of them were good-ish. I enjoyed reading them, but I do not necessarily remember much about them a few months later.

There was one major exception: I discovered the Eddie Flynn series.

The Eddie Flynn Series

Technically, I discovered the series at the very end of 2025.

I received Two Kinds of Stranger, the newest Eddie Flynn book, through NetGalley and finished it on December 29. It was my first introduction to Eddie and the people he works with, and I liked it enough that I immediately decided to go back and start the series from the beginning.

The case in Two Kinds of Stranger seemed almost impossible to solve, and I loved reading how Eddie and his team figure out how to approach it. The tension continued to build throughout the book, and there was always a lot happening without the plot becoming impossible to follow.

This prompted me to get the first book in the series from the library and put the rest on hold. A couple of these were even challenging to get my hands on as they aren’t sold in the US. Thankfully, the library actually had copies! I had to wait a while for them to come in, but worth it.

I read:

The Defense — 4.5 stars
The Plea — 5 stars
The Liar — 4.5 stars
Thirteen — 4.25 stars
Fifty Fifty — 4.5 stars
The Devil’s Advocate — 4.5 stars
The Accomplice — 4.25 stars

I don’t think I can pick one clear favorite. I just have a good feeling when I think about reading all of them, which sounds slightly strange because these books are dark and did not exactly make me feel good.

The Devil’s Advocate was probably near the top for me, though.

The pacing, plots, and characters all worked. Each book had a lot going on, and the cases often looked impossible until Eddie started putting together an unconventional courtroom strategy. Eddie is a former con artist, so he does not always approach a case like a traditional lawyer. Sometimes it feels like he is building a legal defense. Other times it feels like he is running an elaborate con in a courtroom.

I started the series out of order. That did work okay for me because Two Kinds of Stranger worked without knowing all of Eddie’s history. I’m glad I went back to the beginning afterward, though. There is a storyline in the earlier books that becomes important as the series continues, and I think the later books are better when you understand that background.

The Eddie Flynn books were easily my favorite reading experience of the first half of the year. The Plea was technically my only five-star book, but I would really recommend the whole series rather than singling out just one.

Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano

4.5 stars

Finlay and Vero were another obvious choice for this list. I already love both characters, and Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line gave me the same quirky adventures and increasingly questionable choices I have come to expect from the series.

What I especially liked about this book was that it moved the story outside of Finlay’s house and placed more focus on Vero. She has always been essential to the series, but this installment gave her more room and allowed us to learn more about her life and the trouble surrounding her.

At this point, I am already invested enough in these characters that a new Finlay book is an auto buy for me. It’s one of the few books I actually own a physical copy of, and I have the whole series on my shelf.

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

4 stars

I listened to Mad Mabel as an audiobook through NetGalley, and Mabel was easily the reason this one stood out.

She is an older woman who has been dismissed as “mad” and made to look like a bad person for much of her life. The story gradually gives us her real perspective and shows how much of what people believed about her was incomplete or wrong.

I liked getting Mabel’s actual story after watching the people around her define her for so long. She was complicated, but she was also much more observant and capable than anyone gave her credit for.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

4.25 stars

Funny story with this one. This one was chosen for book club. I don’t know why, but when I could not grasp the title of the book. My brain kept reading it as The Book Women of Troublesome Creek…. which I read and loved a few years ago. When it comes time to go to book club, everyone starts discussing the book, and I ask “This is about the blue people right?”… I got the weirdest looks from my friends!! Thankfully, I still went back and read it after book club and really liked it.

The relationships between the characters were what made this book work for me. Set in the 1960s, it follows a group of women who begin a book club and gradually start questioning what they have been told their lives should look like. The books they read matter, but the friendships that develop around them matter more.

I liked watching the women support one another while each dealt with her own marriage, family, expectations, and decisions. Their relationships felt like the center of the story rather than something included around the edges.

Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray

4.25 stars

I picked up Dissection of a Murder because it sounded like it might have a similar feel to the Eddie Flynn books, and that was exactly what I wanted at the time.

It did not have a former con artist running unconventional courtroom schemes, but it did have the legal-thriller feel I was looking for.

The story follows a defense attorney who is unexpectedly given a major murder case involving a well-known judge. Her client specifically requested her but will barely explain why, and her husband is on the opposing side of the case.

The case continued to get more complicated, and I liked trying to figure out which parts of the story were true. It was another fast legal thriller built around a case that initially seemed impossible, so it was not surprising that I enjoyed it.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley

4.5 stars

This was one of the first books I finished in 2026 and one of the highest-rated books on my list.

Tanner reluctantly becomes a live-in caregiver for Louise, an older woman who does not particularly want help. Then Louise unexpectedly insists that they leave town, turning the arrangement into a road trip involving secrets, police, and the possibility that Louise has a much more interesting past than anyone realizes.

I seem to have enjoyed several books this year about older women who have been underestimated or incorrectly defined by the people around them.

The relationship between Tanner and Louise made this one memorable. They were both stubborn and complicated, and neither was especially eager to open up to the other. Watching their relationship shift during the trip was the strongest part of the book.

The Reading Stats

Here is what my first half of 2026 looked like:

52 books finished
31 audiobooks
18 digital books
3 paperbacks
Average rating: 3.61 stars
8,385 pages read
150.98 hours listened
1 five-star book
6 books rated 4.5 stars
4 books rated 4.25 stars
19 books tagged as ARCs

I read plenty of books, but 37 of the 52 received somewhere between three and 3.75 stars.

That is a lot of reading that was enjoyable enough in the moment but did not necessarily leave much behind.

What I Want to Read in the Second Half of 2026

Looking back at this list has made me think more about how I want to approach reading for the rest of the year.

I like having access to upcoming books through NetGalley, and I have discovered some great books that way. The Eddie Flynn series began because I requested Two Kinds of Stranger, so I am definitely not abandoning ARCs.

But I think I have sometimes let the books I feel like I should read take over from the books I actually want to read.

Nineteen of my first 52 books were tagged as ARCs. That is more than a third of everything I read. Some were great, but many landed in the fine or good-ish category.

For the second half of the year, I want to focus more on what I am genuinely excited to pick up. That may mean continuing a series I already love, finally reading books that have been waiting on my list, or choosing something completely based on my mood instead of the publication date.

I will still read NetGalley books. I would just like them to be part of my reading rather than the thing controlling it.

The first half of 2026 did not give me a huge pile of unforgettable individual books. It did give me Eddie Flynn, though, and considering I went from trying one NetGalley book to reading almost the entire series within a few months, I would say that discovery carried the year pretty well.

All the Books I Read in the First Half of 2026

5 Stars

The Plea by Steve Cavanagh

4.5 Stars

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
The Defense by Steve Cavanagh
The Liar by Steve Cavanagh
Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
The Devil’s Advocate by Steve Cavanagh
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano

4.25 Stars

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick
The Accomplice by Steve Cavanagh

4 Stars

I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Cyclist’s Guide to Poppies and Predicaments by Ann Claire

3.75 Stars

Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan
The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
The Favorites by Layne Fargo
Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Winstead
The Murder After the Night Before by Katy Brent
We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune

3.25 Stars

Definitely Maybe Not a Detective by Sarah Fox
The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
Murder on an Irish Farm by Carlene O’Connor
Canyons, Caravans, & Cadavers by Tonya Kappes
Spies, Lies, and Alibis by Natalie Walters
Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister
Home for the Homicides by Elle Cosimano and Hannah Morrissey
The Unwedding by Ally Condie

3 Stars

That Night by Gillian McAllister
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston
Motorhomes, Maps, & Murder by Tonya Kappes
Bite the Bullet by Gina LaManna
Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Mayluna by Kelley McNeil
This Changes Everything by Lisa Scottoline

2.5 Stars

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison