Hey bookworm friends. I hope you’re having a great start to May! This month is going to be super busy for me but I can’t wait, there’s a lot of fun stuff coming! And lots of great books coming too 😉. This list is slightly smaller than usual but still plenty to enjoy, especially in science fiction which is my biggest category this month. They’re organized loosely by genre categories and then by publishing date. There is one book that published May 1st so I’ll mark it with🎉. Here are 18 books to get excited for, I hope you find something you like🖤.
Book Titles lead to TheStoryGraph links. Except for when it’s not on SG in which case it goes to bookshop.org.
Books To Get Excited For This May
Fantasy
The Hanging Bones by Elle Tesch
⟡ Pub Date: May 12, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: YA Fantasy / Gothic
⟡ Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Some monsters are born. Some are made. All can be killed.
A girl enters a dangerous, magical hunt with the goal of winning the death of her predatory overlord.
The Lustrous Dark by Loretta Chefchaouni
⟡ Pub Date: May 19, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: YA Fantasy / Retelling
⟡ Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Orphaned as a baby, Shay has spent her life training as the midwife’s apprentice. Her role grants her stability, yet Shay has always yearned for more. Namely, motherly affection and answers regarding her mysterious birth—neither of which the midwife deems practical to provide.
Mortedant’s Peril by R. J. Barker
⟡ Pub Date: May 19, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Fantasy Mystery
⟡ Publisher: Tor Books
Irody Hasp is a Mortedant, a cleric tasked with reading the last thoughts of the dead—though no one thanks him for it. No Mortedant is popular, but Irody is scarcely tolerated even by the other members of his own guild, and rarely selected for anything but the lowliest of jobs.
The Palace Beneath The Sea by Lauren Wiesebron
⟡ Pub Date: May 21, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Fantasy
⟡ Publisher: Hodderscape
Nolwenn is sure that her life’s purpose is to defend her beloved city of Ys as a lighthouse keeper. But when a dangerous tide threatens Ys, the queen instead tasks Nolwen with collecting enough rare seasilk to shield the city from deadly sea monsters.
Science Fiction
Lovestuck Maggot by Jarret Brandon Early
⟡ Pub Date: May 1, 2026 🎉
⟡ Sub-genre: Science Fiction Romance
⟡ Publisher: Self Pub
Hardened scavenger, Mona, is smitten with a young recruit named Darien who catches the eye of the reviled Countess Desma Ghool. Darien is abducted and added to Ghool’s revolving collection of unwilling paramours. Mona sets out on a dangerous mission to liberate Darien from Ghool.
Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham
⟡ Pub Date: May 5, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Science Fiction Thriller / Romance
⟡ Publisher: DAW
A young woman from a dead-end planet gets cast on a reality TV show to compete for the hand of the prince—or princess. But not everyone is there for the right reasons…
Cousins From A Distant Sun by Tamar Myers
⟡ Pub Date: May 5, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Cozy Science Fiction
⟡ Publisher: Severn House
An archaeologist is drawn into a mission to save a mysterious community of supernatural beings hiding deep within the Andes.
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed
⟡ Pub Date: May 5, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Space Opera / Dystopian
⟡ Publisher: S&S/Saga Press
The Safina is a city ship, two hundred years into its voyage from the ruins of Earth towards a new habitable world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their ‘ancestors’. But a lot can change in two hundred years, and people are starting to ask questions.
And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer
⟡ Pub Date: May 19, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Science Fiction Novella
⟡ Publisher: Tordotcom
For three hundred years, humanity’s greatest works of art have been on loan at the Museum of the Seed-Born. It was finally time for them to come home…but the alien curators were disinclined to return them.
Romance
Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow
⟡ Pub Date: May 7, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Romantasy / Dark Academia
⟡ Publisher: Ace
Two scholars of magical veterinary science must put aside their lust and loathing to save the world as they know it.
Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni
⟡ Pub Date: May 12, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Romantasy / Dark Academia / Mystery
⟡ Publisher: Atria Books
Set within the perilous halls of a magical institute, as a death mage who hates her magic and a poison mage who hates her are forced to work together to stop a killer before one of them is next.
Behind Five Willows by June Hur
⟡ Pub Date: May 26, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: YA Historical Romance
⟡ Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
A homage to Jane Austen set in historical Korea, about a reader and a writer who secretly fight against government book banning and find themselves irresistibly drawn together.
Horr0r
Spider, Spider by L. C. Winter
⟡ Pub Date: May 5, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Historical / Gothic
⟡ Publisher: September Publishing
Young Nancy Ratcliffe is on the run. Her father had sought refuge for his family with the Brethren, led by the charismatic but dangerous Prophet. But now her father is gravely ill, and even the sooty streets of Victorian London hold less terror for Nancy than the brutality of Brethren Hall.
The Temptation of Charlotte North by Camilla Bruce
⟡ Pub Date: May 19, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Historical / Gothic Fantasy
⟡ Publisher: Del Rey
Be careful what you wish for. It might come true….
A rebellious young woman desperate to escape her predetermined life joins forces with an unlikely ally—a sinister spirit
Bone of My Bone by Johanna van Veen
⟡ Pub Date: May 26, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Folk Horror / Historical Fantasy
⟡ Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
It is said that if you reunite the saint’s skull with her body, a wish will be granted. Desperate for salvation, and each with secret desires of their own, a young nun and a sharp-witted peasant, follow a ragged map across the blighted countryside.
Mythology & Mystery
Library After Dark by Ande Pliego
⟡ Pub Date: May 5, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Mystery Thriller
⟡ Publisher: Bantam
A bookseller must escape the infamously haunted library that holds her darkest secrets, but with a murderer in her tour group, escaping alive is not as simple as it seems.
The Lost Book of Lancelot by John Glynn
⟡ Pub Date: May 12, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Arthurian Myth Retelling / Historical Fantasy
⟡ Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
A queer retelling of the legend of Sir Lancelot, following the famous knight as he grows up orphaned, falls in love, and attempts to fulfill his destiny at the Round Table.
Andromeda by E. S. McLeod
⟡ Pub Date: May 14, 2026
⟡ Sub-genre: Greek Myth Retelling
⟡ Publisher: Bantam
Blessed by the gods with unparalleled beauty, Andromeda lives a life of ease within her Aethiopian palace walls. Content with her sanctuary, the young princess has no concerns other than the royal expectations her parents have for her – until a single, fateful proclamation changes everything.
I wish you nothing but great books in May!🖤
I did my best to list the expected pub dates but you never know, dates can change. If you’re interested in any of these releases please make sure you keep an eye on the latest updates in your part of the world.
Let’s chat in the comments!
Are you looking forward to any of these? Or, did I miss any that you would add to the list?
May definitely has potential! I have a few of these on my plate: Strange Familiars, Mortedant’s Peril and The Temptation of Charlotte North. I hope you enjoy whatever you’re able to read😁