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Sure, it's still April, but May's big releases have us ready to pack a bag, embrace summer, and find the nearest pool. Today we've also got a sun-drenched historical fiction set in 1950s California, a steamy billionaire romance, and enough new releases to keep your TBR stacked all summer long.
Quick links:
The Best Books Hitting Shelves in May 2026
The closer we get to summer, the hotter the releases get! When a new novel from a Pulitzer Prize winner and a contender for 2026’s biggest romance are just a taste, you know it’s going to be a great month for books.
The Things We Never Say
by Elizabeth Strout
Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout’s new novel is an intimate, deeply human story about loneliness, hidden truths, and the fragile bonds that hold us together. In other words, it’s quietly devastating in the absolute best way possible.
Our Perfect Storm
by Carley Fortune
Carley Fortune’s One Golden Summer was one of 2025’s biggest beach reads—so, will she take the crown again this summer? Her new romance sends two lifelong best friends on a one-week escape to a beachy paradise to fix what’s broken between them.
The full list:
Guess the Book: Poorly Explained Plots
British schoolboys get a free island trip and instantly choose feral chaos over basic human decency.
Answer in footer
Bookmarks | Exciting New Releases
HISTORICAL FICTION SPOTLIGHT
The Island Club
by Nicola Harrison
Female friendship and sun-drenched beaches take center stage in this “Carrie Soto Is Back meets Big Little Lies delight” (Lynda Loigman). As their carefully constructed lives begin to crumble, three women form an unexpected bond that becomes their lifeline in 1950s California.
ROMANCE SPOTLIGHT
King of Gluttony
by Ana Huang
Ana Huang’s bad-boy-billionaire, New York Times bestselling Kings of Sin series continues with this steamy romance about an heir to a culinary empire and his childhood rival. You know what they say: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
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The Overstock
Here are a few more new books out this week that we didn’t have room to feature, but definitely deserve a spot on your radar.
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu
(Thriller)
Debut. Harvard said Elizabeth wasn’t interesting, so she’ll do whatever—whatever—it takes to prove them wrong.
Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta
(Literary Fiction)
New from the author of Mrs. Fletcher. A tragic summer in 1970s suburbia pulls one boy into obsession, danger, and the supernatural.
Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto
(Contemporary Fiction)
New from the author of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. A nearly divorced woman enters culinary school to win back her husband but finds a fresh start.
Bookworld
🩷 Rebecca Yarros has a new romance out this fall!
📚 See what Lucy Score, Meghan Quinn, and more are reading this spring.
☕ Attention, Bravo TV fans, Andy Cohen is releasing a scrapbook for your coffee table.
Guess the Book: Poorly Explained Plot Answer
Lord of the Flies by William Golding! The series based on the book that traumatized us all in middle school is hitting Netflix on May 4.