25 May Book Releases We’re Excited About

By Ashly Moore Sheldon • April 14, 2026

Reading ahead

Our TBR shelves may be stuffed full, but there are always new books that we want to cram in. From Pulitzer prize-winning authors to highly anticipated sequels to frothy beach books, May’s most anticipated list is packed with must-reads! Here are 25 upcoming releases across a mix of genres. These titles are available for preorder, but in the meantime, we have recs for similar reads that you can enjoy now.

Plus, find out what's new or coming soon in paperback.

Contemporary fiction

John of John by Douglas Stuart (May 5)

From the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain comes a vivid, moving novel following a young man returning to his Hebridean island home, a portrait of a father's expectations and a son's desires. Named a most anticipated book of 2026 by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Oprah Daily, and more.

What to read while you wait: Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

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The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (May 5)

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge comes the story of Artie Dam, a man living a sort of double life. Outwardly, he is a beloved history teacher and a devoted husband, yet he is plagued by feelings of isolation and despair. Then, one day, Artie learns a secret—one that threatens to upend his entire world.

What to read while you wait: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel (May 5)

After grudgingly moving into a retirement community, seventy-seven-year-old Pepper Mills is surprised to find she loves it. She not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. She fears the worst, but tests reveal something completely unexpected. She's pregnant.

What to read while you wait: The Farm by Joanne Ramos

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig (May 26)

For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything. No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there.

What to read while you wait: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Mystery and thriller

Treat Them as Buffalo by Blair Palmer Yoxall (May 5)

In 1885, Nikosis “Niko” Eriksen spends his days playing buffalo hunter, even though it’s been many years since any of the once-ubiquitous animals have been seen. But when teenage boys begin to disappear from his great plains Métis community, Niko must uncover the evil force lurking out of sight.

What to read while you wait: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

26 Beauties by James Patterson (May 7)

SFPD's Sergeant Lindsay Boxer's best friend, Claire Washburn, is named medical examiner of the year. But an uninvited guest crashes the Women's Murder Club's party: a concerned father seeking investigative reporter Cindy Thomas's help in locating his missing daughter. And she's not the only one.

What to read while you wait: 1st to Die by James Patterson

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The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung (May 12)

Alice Li, a first-generation Chinese American, has long lived in the shadow of her mother, Vivien, a world-renowned human rights activist. When an international attack is traced to China, mother and daughter are called upon to overcome their estrangement to prevent a global catastrophe.

What to read while you wait: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh (May 19)

Carrie and Johan marry on a beach in Thailand only months into their whirlwind romance. But amidst the wedding festivities, a group of armed men take Johan away. She never sees him again. Twelve years later, Carrie has moved on when a shocking revelation upends everything she thought she knew.

What to read while you wait: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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The Divorce by Freida McFadden (May 26)

Naomi was living the quintessential love story. Boy meets girl. They fall in love, get married, buy a dream house, start a family. It's perfect . . . until he kicks her out, hires the city's best divorce lawyers, drains their accounts, and takes up with a twenty-something. But Naomi's not about to go down without a fight.

What to read while you wait: My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney

Sci-fi and fantasy

Platform Decay by Martha Wells (May 5)

After volunteering to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realizes that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn't know. Including human children. Ugh. This may well call for . . . eye contact. Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment of the Murderbot Diaries series.

What to read while you wait: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean (May 5)

When Mercy Chan washes up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, she rebuilds her life working as a ghost talker and dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt the slum of Kowloon Walled City. But the past Mercy can't remember isn't done with her.

What to read while you wait: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty (May 12)

Set sail into the second adventure of pirate Amina al-Sirafi. Charged with a seemingly impossible quest, Amina must leave behind her beloved daughter Marjana. Braving the high seas with her criminal companions to the island lair of a cunning sorceress, she finds herself caught in a deadly game.

What to read while you wait: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by X

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie (May 12)

This standalone space opera is set in the same universe as the author's Imperial Radch series. When the Radch allows one last man to become a "living saint" in the controversial Temporal Location of the Radiant Star, the decision will ripple out to affect every part of a city in crisis at the fringes of a dissolving empire.

What to read while you wait: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman (May 12)

As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they're forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon. It's off to the races in the explosive eighth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

What to read while you wait: Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

Historical fiction

Liberty Island by Virginia Hume (May 5)

Two women, living a generation apart, grapple with the cost of their bid for independence. Set in coastal Maine during the first tumultuous decades of the twentieth century, this sweeping saga is an ode to mothers and daughters, love, friendship, and the ways in which women define freedom on their own terms.

What to read while you wait: Haven Point by Virginia Hume

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (May 5)

Oxford, Mississippi, 1933: Eleven-year-old Meg has learned to rely on no one. Outspoken Birdie has come seeking her socialite sister's help. Charlie is a woman with little left to lose. When their three fates converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious—but dangerous—plan to claim what's rightfully theirs.

What to read while you wait: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony (May 12)

Set in the dual timelines of present-day and 1950s Ireland and based on real historical events, this powerful, poignant novel of feminism and resilience follows the life of a young woman consigned to work in a home for "fallen girls" who realizes she must risk everything to protect them.

What to read while you wait: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

The Hope Keeper by Heather Webb (May 5)

1919, Washington D.C.: Elisabeth Beaumont comes from a renowned jeweler family, but after the untimely death of her twin brother, she's left running the failing family business. Desperate for work, she reaches out to wealthy socialite Evalyn McLean and is swept into a toxic world of dark opulence.

What to read while you wait: Queens of London by Heather Webb

Romance

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Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune (May 5)

Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong, they've always clashed. But they always come back together. Until now. It's the eve of Frankie's wedding weekend, and she doesn't know if George will even show up as her best man.

What to read while you wait: People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey (May 5)

After the worst day in her professional life, burnt-out NICU nurse Daisy Stevens runs away to coastal North Carolina, looking for a new life—and possibly new romance. But on her first day at her "simpler" job, the discovery of an abandoned baby sends ripples through the tight-knit town of Cape Carolina.

What to read while you wait: Under the Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Soon By You by Dahlia Adler (May 19)

After one too many bridesmaid gigs, Arielle Becker is officially over it. Especially when they keep coming with the same smug, judgmental wedding singer. As New York's go-to Modern Orthodox wedding singer, Judah Klein has become jaded, until repeated clashes with a fiery bridesmaid wake him right up.

What to read while you wait: Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

Dolly All the Time by Annabelle Monaghan (May 26)

Dolly is a problem solver. That's why she's moved with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and brother keep their home. So when Stewart, the annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family asks for her help to deal with a humiliating public breakup, it's in her nature to help.

What to read while you wait: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabelle Monaghan

Nonfiction

Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children by Mac Barnett (May 5)

From a bestselling children's author comes this rallying cry for art and imagination, and a celebration of the power of storytelling in all our lives. It's an incisive, intimate, and timely invitation to approach children's literature not only as a respected art form, but as a portal into the lives of children.

What to read while you wait: Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy

This Dark Night: Emily Brontë, A Life by Deborah Lutz (May 5)

Emily Brontë (1818-1848) was only twenty-seven-years old when she began work on one of the most important novels in the English language. It took the world almost a century to catch up to Brontë's masterpiece, and it has taken even longer to know Brontë—an elusive figure, with a ghostly legacy.

What to read while you wait: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Take Me To Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (May 12)

America's favorite astrophysicist has written the most entertaining and universally appealing book of his stellar career: a practical guide for dealing with Alien visitors, an exploration of how it might happen, and a cultural history of our fascination with extraterrestrials.

What to read while you wait: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

New or coming soon in paperback!

• The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett—A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush from the author of Unlikely Animals.
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler—a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.
• The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose—High-powered attorney Sarah Morgan grapples with the fallout from another unfaithful husband in the explosive sequel to The Perfect Marriage.
• On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer by Rick Steves—Stow away with a veteran travel writer for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 career-making journey.
• The Devils by Joe Abercrombie—an epic fantasy featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey
• Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks—A heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey towards peace, from the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse.

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