diff --git a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/EdgeTTSClient.ts b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/EdgeTTSClient.ts
index 1c015165..9e47f9aa 100644
--- a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/EdgeTTSClient.ts
+++ b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/EdgeTTSClient.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,11 @@ export class EdgeTTSClient implements TTSClient {
     return { lang, text, voice: voiceId, rate: this.#rate, pitch: this.#pitch } as EdgeTTSPayload;
   };
 
-  async *speak(ssml: string, signal: AbortSignal): AsyncGenerator<TTSMessageEvent> {
+  async *speak(
+    ssml: string,
+    signal: AbortSignal,
+    preload = false,
+  ): AsyncGenerator<TTSMessageEvent> {
     const { marks } = parseSSMLMarks(ssml);
     const lang = parseSSMLLang(ssml) || 'en';
 
@@ -57,15 +61,19 @@ export class EdgeTTSClient implements TTSClient {
       voiceId = this.#voice.id;
     }
 
-    await this.stopInternal();
-
-    // Preloading for longer ssml
-    if (marks.length > 1) {
-      for (const mark of marks.slice(1)) {
-        this.#edgeTTS.createAudio(this.getPayload(lang, mark.text, voiceId)).catch((error) => {
-          console.warn('Error preloading mark:', mark, error);
+    if (preload) {
+      for (const mark of marks) {
+        await this.#edgeTTS.createAudio(this.getPayload(lang, mark.text, voiceId)).catch((err) => {
+          console.warn('Error preloading:', err);
         });
       }
+      yield {
+        code: 'end',
+        message: 'Preload finished',
+      };
+      return;
+    } else {
+      await this.stopInternal();
     }
 
     for (const mark of marks) {
@@ -102,6 +110,13 @@ export class EdgeTTSClient implements TTSClient {
               message: `Chunk finished: ${mark.name}`,
             });
           };
+          if (signal.aborted) {
+            resolve({
+              code: 'error',
+              message: 'Aborted',
+            });
+            return;
+          }
           this.#sourceNode.start(0);
           this.#isPlaying = true;
           this.#startedAt = this.#audioContext.currentTime;
diff --git a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSClient.ts b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSClient.ts
index 3e454355..92906c36 100644
--- a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSClient.ts
+++ b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSClient.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ export interface TTSVoice {
 
 export interface TTSClient {
   init(): Promise<boolean>;
-  speak(ssml: string, signal: AbortSignal): AsyncIterable<TTSMessageEvent>;
+  speak(ssml: string, signal: AbortSignal, preload?: boolean): AsyncIterable<TTSMessageEvent>;
   pause(): Promise<void>;
   resume(): Promise<void>;
   stop(): Promise<void>;
diff --git a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSController.ts b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSController.ts
index 9305270e..b2978c01 100644
--- a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSController.ts
+++ b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/TTSController.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,27 @@ export class TTSController extends EventTarget {
     await this.view.initTTS(granularity);
   }
 
+  async preloadSSML(ssml: string | undefined) {
+    if (!ssml) return;
+    const iter = await this.ttsClient.speak(ssml, new AbortController().signal, true);
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
+    for await (const _ of iter);
+  }
+
+  async preloadNextSSML(count: number) {
+    const tts = this.view.tts;
+    if (!tts) return;
+    let preloaded = 0;
+    for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+      const ssml = tts.next();
+      this.preloadSSML(ssml);
+      if (ssml) preloaded++;
+    }
+    for (let i = 0; i < preloaded; i++) {
+      tts.prev();
+    }
+  }
+
   async #speak(ssml: string | undefined | Promise<string>) {
     await this.stop();
     this.#currentSpeakAbortController = new AbortController();
@@ -63,6 +84,7 @@ export class TTSController extends EventTarget {
       console.log('TTS speak');
       this.state = 'playing';
       ssml = await ssml;
+      await this.preloadSSML(ssml);
       if (!ssml) {
         this.#nossmlCnt++;
         // FIXME: in case we are at the end of the book, need a better way to handle this
@@ -95,6 +117,7 @@ export class TTSController extends EventTarget {
   async speak(ssml: string | Promise<string>) {
     await this.initViewTTS();
     this.#speak(ssml).catch((e) => this.error(e));
+    this.preloadNextSSML(2);
   }
 
   play() {
@@ -107,10 +130,9 @@ export class TTSController extends EventTarget {
 
   async start() {
     await this.initViewTTS();
-    const resumeOrStart = this.state.includes('paused')
-      ? this.view.tts?.resume()
-      : this.view.tts?.start();
-    return this.#speak(resumeOrStart);
+    const ssml = this.state.includes('paused') ? this.view.tts?.resume() : this.view.tts?.start();
+    this.#speak(ssml);
+    this.preloadNextSSML(2);
   }
 
   async pause() {
@@ -149,6 +171,7 @@ export class TTSController extends EventTarget {
     if (this.state === 'playing') {
       await this.stop();
       this.#speak(this.view.tts?.next());
+      this.preloadNextSSML(2);
     } else {
       this.state = 'forward-paused';
       this.view.tts?.next(true);
diff --git a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/WebSpeechClient.ts b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/WebSpeechClient.ts
index fdabb475..c55ccc52 100644
--- a/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/WebSpeechClient.ts
+++ b/apps/readest-app/src/services/tts/WebSpeechClient.ts
@@ -205,7 +205,14 @@ export class WebSpeechClient implements TTSClient {
     return this.available;
   }
 
-  async *speak(ssml: string, signal: AbortSignal): AsyncGenerator<TTSMessageEvent> {
+  async *speak(
+    ssml: string,
+    signal: AbortSignal,
+    preload = false,
+  ): AsyncGenerator<TTSMessageEvent> {
+    // no need to preload for web speech
+    if (preload) return;
+
     const lang = parseSSMLLang(ssml) || 'en';
     if (!this.#voice) {
       const voices = await this.getVoices(lang);