All the May 2025 Prepub Alerts in one place, plus a downloadable spreadsheet of all titles from every post.

Fiction

Pop Fiction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bose, Disha. I Will Blossom Anyway. Ballantine. May 2025. ISBN 9780593875322. 272p. $30. FICTION

Bose, author of Dirty Laundry, a GMA Book Club pick already sold for a TV/film deal, offers a coming-of-age story about new starts, old ties, the bonds of blood, and the power of found family. Most of all, as it follows a woman who moves from Calcutta to Ireland, it is about becoming, and deciding, who one wants to be.

Cummins, Jeanine. Speak to Me of Home. Holt. May 2025. ISBN 9781250759368. 384p. $29.99. FICTION

Cummins, the author of the controversial bestselling Oprah pick American Dirt, returns with a 750K-copy first printing of a new multigenerational story tracing the history of a Puerto Rican family who move from the island to the Midwest and back again, across three generations and more than 50 years.

Curtis, Aaron John. Old School Indian. May 2025. ISBN 9781638931454. 352p. $28. FICTION

Curtis debuts with a 150K-copy first printing coming-of-middle-age novel in which Abe Jacobs returns to the Saint Regis Mohawk reservation, which he left at 18. Now 43, Abe is gravely ill and agrees to undergo a healing treatment by his Great Uncle Budge. But as Dominick Deer Woods, the narrator, makes clear, this story is far more wide ranging.

Evans, Virginia. The Correspondent. Crown. May 2025. ISBN 9780593798430. 304p. $28. FICTION

Evans debuts with the story of Sybil Van Antwerp, a divorced grandmother, gardener, and letter writer. Letters are her way of making the world make sense, until one day she receives a note that forces her to look back at a painful episode in her life. Foreign sales are buzzy.

Hamdan, Sara. What Will People Think? Holt. May 2025. ISBN 9781250329813. 336p. $28.99. FICTION

Hamdan, who has worked as a New York Times journalist and editor at Google, and who won both a Netflix short story award and a First Chapter Writers’ Fellowship, gets a 100K-copy first printing for her debut, a coming-of-age story about a media fact checker who secretly performs at NYC’s comedy clubs.

Hardcastle, Dylin. A Language of Limbs. Dutton. May 2025. ISBN 9780593852712. 304p. $28. FICTION

Hardcastle (Below Deck) makes their American debut with this coming-of-age story that has already won the Kathleen Mitchell Award in Australia and been optioned by Sony for a TV series. The book relates the mirroring of two lives across a similar timeline, as they almost intersect and then profoundly collide.

Knapp, Florence. The Names. Viking: Pamela Dorman. May 2025. ISBN 9780593833902. 336p. $30. FICTION

Knapp makes her fiction debut with a novel that traces one boy’s three alternative lives, one for each baby name that his mother is choosing between. Each name shapes his life, as well as his mother’s, over the course of 35 years. The novel was bought in a 10-way auction and was a hot title at the Frankfurt book fair.

Lamb, Wally. The River Is Waiting. Scribner: Marysue Rucci. May 2025. ISBN 9781668006399. 432p. $28.99. FICTION

Lamb, a bestseller whose fiction has twice been picked for Oprah’s Book Club, returns with the story of a young father who is sentenced to prison after he causes an unbearable tragedy. In jail, he forms kinship with the prison librarian and others, finding a way to transcend the walls of his cell and think about hope, mercy, and reconciliation.

Larkin, Allison. Home of the American Circus. Gallery. May 2025. ISBN 9781668008416. 432p. $29.99. FICTION

Bestselling Larkin (The People We Keep) offers a coming-of-age story about 30-year-old Freya Arnalds, who moves back to her hometown of Somers, NY, to the derelict house she has inherited. There she meets old friends, enemies, and exes, as well as her 15-year-old niece Aubrey. Together they begin to restore the house—and perhaps their lives.

Moore, Meg Mitchell. Mansion Beach. Morrow. May 2025. ISBN 9780063336964. 336p. $30. FICTION

Bestselling Moore (Summer Stage) returns with a modern-day retelling of The Great Gatsby. Three women spend the summer on Block Island: one of them is a curious observer, the other two are high-powered figures with plans of their own. As the summer unfolds, betrayal, a love triangle, and a dead body will feature. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Morris, Mary. The Red House. Doubleday. May 2025. ISBN 9780385544986. 304p. $28. FICTION

Morris (All the Way to the Tigers), who has won the Rome Prize in Literature and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, offers a mix of family mystery, coming-of-age story, and historical novel about the secrets of Italy’s involvement in WWII, all centered around a mother, a daughter, and paintings of a red house.

Palmer, Caroline. Workhorse. Flatiron. May 2025. ISBN 9781250360083. 304p. $28.99. FICTION

Palmer, who worked at Amazon Fashion and Vogue, debuts with a 200K-copy first printing for this story of an editorial assistant working in NYC at the turn of the millennium. She lacks the “right” pedigree and is surrounded by privilege and people cruising in the easy lane. She wants in.

Wilson, Kevin. Run for the Hills. Ecco. May 2025. ISBN 9780063317512. 256p. $30. FICTION

Bestselling Wilson, a Shirley Jackson Award winner whose Nothing To See Here was a Read with Jenna pick, returns with a road-trip story about half siblings who go on a road trip in search of their father and any other relatives they can find. With a 150K-copy first printing.

Literary Fiction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aw, Tash. The South. Farrar. May 2025. ISBN 9780374616281. 304p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

In award-winning Aw’s (We, the Survivors) latest, Jay and his family have inherited a farm suffering from drought and disrepair. Jay’s father sends him to work the land, and he’s drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager. Over the course of the summer, Jay and Chuan’s connection intensifies, and their families face their own secrets.

Azar, Shokoofeh. The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen. Europa. May 2025. ISBN 9798889660972. 624p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Azar (author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, an LJ Best Book that was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize) writes a story spanning 50 years in modern Iran. It follows 12 children who were lost inside a mysterious palace one night. Their lives play out against the backdrop of war, revolution, and cultural transformation.

Crane, Marisa. A Sharp Endless Need. Dial. May 2025. ISBN 9780593733646. 272p. $27. LITERARY FICTION

Lambda Award winner Crane (I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself) returns with a coming-of-age novel about two teammates on a rural high school basketball team in 2004. Mack and new student Liv find chemistry on and off the court during their senior year, but Mack will have to fight for the life she wants.

Kwan, Susanna. Awake in the Floating City. Pantheon. May 2025. SBN 9780593701409. 320p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Kwan debuts with a novel set in a flooded future San Francisco. After Bo’s mother was lost in a storm surge, she knows she should leave the drowning city. When an elderly woman in her building wants to hire her as a caregiver, Bo decides to stay, and they forge an unexpected friendship.

Lunzer, Fred. Sike. Celadon. May 2025. ISBN 9781250343123. 288p. $27.99. LITERARY FICTION

Lunzer writes a near-future debut novel in which Sike, an AI psychotherapy app, reshapes human interaction. Songwriter Adrian decides to try Sike after his latest failed relationship. Soon he falls for venture capitalist Maquie, who refuses to use the app. Alternating between their perspectives, the story follows their first year together and the impact of AI. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Ngangura, Tarisai. The Ones We Loved. Park Row. May 2025. ISBN 9780778387589. 304p. $28.99. LITERARY FICTION

Ngangura’s debut highlights the traditions of Zimbabwean oral storytelling, blending fable and fiction in a narrative that shifts back and forth in time. As three strangers escape for their lives—running from a crime, a loss, and a haunted past—their paths converge on a bus traveling across the rural landscape.

Ogrodnik, Mo. Gulf. Summit. May 2025. ISBN 9781668072141. 432p. $29.99. LITERARY FICTION

Ogrodnik, a filmmaker, writer, and profes­sor at NYU, makes her debut with this tale of five women from across the globe whose lives intersect in the Arabian Gulf. The women, all from vastly difference backgrounds, find that their actions of rebellion and resilience result in profound consequences as they navigate their challenging situations.

Ryan, Donal. Heart, Be at Peace. Viking. May 2025. ISBN 9780593834640. 208p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Ryan (The Queen of Dirt Island), a three-time Booker nominee and four-time winner of Irish Book of the Year, writes about a small town in rural Ireland, the same community featured in his acclaimed 2014 novel The Spinning Heart. Told in 21 voices, the story explores the forces that divide and bring people together as they try to weather past and present traumas.

Swift, Graham. Twelve Post-War Tales. Knopf. May 2025. ISBN 9780593803387. 176p. $27. LITERARY FICTION

Booker Prize winner Swift (Here We Are) presents a collection of new and previously published stories about lives shaped and haunted by war, from the aftermath of World War II to the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s and into the present. Scheduled to be published the week of the 80th anniversary of V-E Day.

Thien, Madeleine. The Book of Records. Norton. May 2025. ISBN 9781324078654. 352p. $28.99. LITERARY FICTION

Lina and her father arrive at an enclave called “the Sea,” a mysterious place where people from the past and future collide, and Lina reckons with her family’s past. Thien (author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a Booker Prize finalist) considers fate, faith, and the search for home in this century-spanning novel.

Wei, Jemimah. The Original Daughter. Doubleday. May 2025. ISBN 9780385551014. 368p. $30. LITERARY FICTION

Stegner Fellow Wei sets her debut novel in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore. Sisters Genevieve and Arin depend solely on each other as they pursue academics and seek a better future. When a betrayal estranges them, Genevieve must reconsider her own ambitions and allegiances.

Mystery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dent, Susie. Guilty by Definition. Sourcebooks Landmark. May 2025. ISBN 9781464236075. 384p. $27.99. MYSTERY

Dent, who worked for the Oxford English Dictionary and is the resident word expert for the UK’s Countdown, debuts with a mystery centered on a team of lexicographers working at a famous dictionary publishing house. They begin to get letters with clues to a decades-old secret involving one of their own, new senior editor Martha Thornhill, whose sister went missing. Every letter teases out a linguistic clue.

Doiron, Paul. Skin and Bones: And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories. Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250382122. pbk. 368p. $20. MYSTERY

Award-winning Doiron (Pitch Dark) offers a collection of eight Mike Bowditch short stories. “Sheep’s Clothing” is brand new and follows Mike as he comes to suspect that a horrible crime is more than meets the eye. Other stories, such as “Rabid,” a 2019 Edgar Award nominee, have been previously available but are collected here for the first time.

Goodman, Alison. The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin. (The Ill-Mannered Ladies, bk. 2). Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593440834. pbk. 400p. $19. MYSTERY

Bestselling Goodman returns with another romystery in her “The Ill-Mannered Ladies” series set in Regency England. The Colebrook twins are amateur detectives hiding out in high society as old maids as they secretly protect women and children that the law neglects. Lord Evan needs their help. His sister seeks sanctuary, and he must find a way to clear his name.

Hall, Rachel Howzell. Fog and Fury. (Haven Thriller, bk. 1). Thomas & Mercer. May 2025. ISBN 9781662522857. pbk. 300p. $16.99. MYSTERY

Bestselling Hall (The Last One) starts a new series featuring LAPD cop Sonny Rush, who moves with her mother to the peaceful town of Haven, CA, to join her godfather’s PI business. What seems to be any easy case of dognapping quickly becomes messy: Sonny re-meets her ex, a teenager is found dead, and Haven turns out to be anything but safe.

Hollis, Lee. My Father Always Finds Corpses. Kensington Cozies. May 2025. ISBN 9781496738929. 320p. $27. MYSTERY

Hollis, the pen name of author and screenwriter Rick Copp (The Golden Girls; The Brady Bunch Movie), offers a modern take on the classic murder mystery as former child star Jarrod Jarvis and his daughter Liv, with her brand-new degree in criminal justice in hand, stumble into a case when Liv finds her boyfriend Zel murdered in his apartment.

Mack, Catherine. No One Was Supposed To Die at This Wedding. (The Vacation Mysteries, bk. 2). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250326133. 352p. $28. MYSTERY

Bestselling Mack delivers book two in “The Vacation Mysteries,” with film rights already sold. Author Eleanor Dash is headed to her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island, now that shooting on the film adaptation of Eleanor’s bestselling murder mystery has wrapped up. A storm traps the wedding party on the island, along with a killer who leaves the bride a note.

Merson, K. A. The Language of the Birds. Ballantine. May 2025. ISBN 9780593874523. 368p. $30. MYSTERY

Merson debuts with a puzzle-, riddle-, and code-filled case that mixes fact and fiction and is solved by a brilliant teenager. Seventeen-year-old Arizona’s mother has been kidnapped. The ransom? Some secret that Arizona’s father knew before his death. Following the clues, she takes to the road with her dog, seeking answers in ancient texts, U.S. history, and the landscape of the West.

Sampson, Freya. The Busybody Book Club. Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593550557. pbk. 384p. $19. MYSTERY

Sampson (The Last Chance Library, a GMA Buzz Book pick) sets her newest within a dysfunctional book club that meets in a small Cornish village community center. The five members disagree on everything, but when someone steals the center’s money and suspicion lands on one of their own, the other members have their own book-inflected theories—and secrets.

Sutton, Paula. The Potting Shed Murder. (Hill House Vintage Murder Mysteries, bk. 1). John Scognamiglio Bks. May 2025. ISBN 9781496754813. 320p. $28. MYSTERY

Sutton (Hill House Living) turns to fiction with this cozy set in the charming Norfolk village of Pudding Corner, where Daphne Brewster has moved from London, with her husband and three young children. She sets up a vintage shop but soon is at work solving a murder—the school headmaster has been found dead in his allotment patch.

Swann, Leonie. Big Bad Wool. (A Sheep Detective Story, bk. 2). tr. from German by Amy Bojang. Soho Crime. May 2025. ISBN 9781641296625. 350p. $28.95. MYSTERY

Swann, a Glauser Prize winner for 2005’s Three Bags Full, picks up her “Sheep Detective Story” series with book two, as the sheep of Glennkill move to their winter home, a French castle, with new shepherdess Rebecca. But the castle is not safe—deer are dying unnatural deaths, and the goats in the neighboring pasture think a werewolf is to blame. The sheep are on the case.

Forthcoming Series Titles

Armstrong, Kelley. Death at a Highland Wedding. (Rip Through Time, bk. 4). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250321312. 336p. $28. MYSTERY

Gates, Eva. Shot Through the Book. (A Lighthouse Library Mystery, bk. 12). Crooked Lane. May 2025. ISBN 9798892420440. 272p. $29.99. MYSTERY

Haines, Carolyn. Doggone Bones. (Sarah Booth Delaney, bk. 29). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250377654. 352p. $28. MYSTERY

Horowitz, Anthony. Marble Hall Murders. (Susan Ryeland, bk. 3). Harper. May 2025. ISBN 9780063305700. 384p. $28.99. MYSTERY

Johnson, Craig. Return to Sender. (Walt Longmire, bk. 21). Viking. May 2025. ISBN 9780593830703. 336p. $30. MYSTERY

March, Nev. The Silversmith’s Puzzle: A Mystery. (Captain Jim and Lady Diana, bk. 4). Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250348036. 320p. $29. MYSTERY

Thrillers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finlay, Alex. Parents Weekend. Minotaur. May 2025. ISBN 9781250360724. 320p. $28. THRILLER

Finlay (If Something Happens to Me) returns with a thriller set in Northern California at a small private college, where families are visiting for parents’ weekend. When five students inexplicably go missing, the police are called in. FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear, which is in development for a TV series, makes a cameo. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Flowers, Ashley & Alex Kiester. The Missing Half. Bantam. May 2025. ISBN 9780593726983. 272p. $30. THRILLER

Bestselling Flowers (All Good People Here), host of the true crime podcast Crime Junkie, and Kiester tell the story of two women whose sisters have vanished without a trace. Nicole feels stuck in her hometown since her sister disappeared, but when the sister of another missing woman shows up offering hope, the two band together to find their siblings.

Hiaasen, Carl. Fever Beach. Knopf. May 2025. ISBN 9780593320945. 384p. $30. THRILLER

Bestselling Hiaasen (Squeeze Me), whose novel Bad Monkey was recently adapted as an Apple TV+ series, sets his latest against the backdrop of politically fraught Florida. Incompetent right-wing extremist Dale Figgo is on an errand that leads him into the depths of greed and corruption, and his life is about to become even more complicated by feisty adversaries Viva and Tilly.

North, Alex. The Man Made of Smoke. Celadon. May 2025. ISBN 9781250757890. 320p. $27.99. THRILLER

This new serial-killer thriller from bestselling North (The Angel Maker) receives a 100K-copy first printing. Dan Garvie witnessed a crime as a child and narrowly escaped an encounter with a serial killer, prompting him to become a criminal profiler. When his father dies suspiciously, Dan returns home to find the truth about his death.

Pavone, Chris. The Doorman. MCD. May 2025. ISBN 9780374604790. 400p. $29. THRILLER

Award-winning and bestselling Pavone (Two Nights in Lisbon) offers a new thriller set in New York City. Chicky Diaz is a doorman at the ritzy Bohemia Apartments, home to the rich and famous. On a night when chaos and protests erupt in the streets, Chicky becomes drawn into a web of intrigue—and murder. With a 150K-copy first printing.

Roberts, Nora. Hidden Nature. St. Martin’s. May 2025. ISBN 9781250370853. 448p. $30. THRILLER

While Natural Resources police officer Sloan Cooper is recovering from being shot, a woman vanishes from a parking lot, and Sloan begins searching online for similar cases. She finds several more, spread across three states, and is determined to stop the perpetrators. The latest from #1 New York Times–bestselling Roberts receives a million-copy first printing.

Slocumb, Brendan. The Dark Maestro. Doubleday. May 2025. ISBN 9780593687611. 416p. $29. THRILLER

Slocumb (The Violin Conspiracy, a GMA book club pick) pens another musical thriller. Cello prodigy Curtis Wilson has succeeded in the classical music world, despite growing up with a drug dealer for a father. When his father implicates his old bosses to the FBI, the family must enter the witness protection program, and they’ll have to take on the cartel themselves to survive.

Zhang, Liann. Julie Chan Is Dead. S&S. May 2025. ISBN 9781668079867. pbk. 336p. $17.99. THRILLER

Zhang debuts with a psychological thriller. Julie Chan is a supermarket cashier, while her twin sister Chloe VanHuusen is a glamorous influencer. They’re identical twins who were separated at a young age and rarely speak. When Chloe dies, Julie steps into her luxurious life, but it turns out Chloe’s world wasn’t actually so picture-perfect, and Julie may be in danger.

Forthcoming Series Titles

Abrams, Stacey. Coded Justice. (Avery Keene, bk. 3). Doubleday. May 2025. ISBN 9780385548342. 384p. $28. THRILLER

Du Brul, Jack. Cussler Untitled Isaac Bell 15. (An Isaac Bell Adventure, bk. 15). Putnam. May 2025. ISBN 9780593853566. 400p. $32. THRILLER

Connolly, John. The Children of Eve. (Charlie Parker, bk. 22). Atria/Emily Bestler. May 2025. ISBN 9781668083949. 512p. $29.99. THRILLER

Deaver, Jeffery. South of Nowhere. (Colter Shaw, bk. 5). Putnam. May 2025. ISBN 9780593717493. 432p. $30. THRILLER

Lawton, John. Smoke and Embers. (Inspector Troy, bk. 9). Atlantic Monthly. May 2025. ISBN 9780802164896. 416p. $28. THRILLER

Woodward, M. P. Tom Clancy Line of Demarcation. (Jack Ryan Jr., bk. 13). Putnam. May 2025. ISBN 9780593718001. 432p. $32. THRILLER

Science Fiction & Fantasy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abercrombie, Joe. The Devils. Tor. May 2025. ISBN 9781250880055. 560p. $29.99. FANTASY

Bestselling Abercrombie (The Wisdom of Crowds) offers a new epic fantasy. Brother Diaz is sent to Sacred City, where he finds a congregation made up of murderers, monsters, and magic practitioners. He will need their help to achieve his mission, as hungry elves lurk and greedy princes rule. With a 225K-copy first printing.

Cathrall, Sylvie. A Letter from the Lonesome Shore. (The Sunken Archive, bk. 2). Orbit. May 2025. ISBN 9780316565554. pbk. 400p. $19.99. FANTASY

In A Letter to the Luminous Deep, a mysterious sea creature spurred E. Cidnosin to correspond with scholar Henerey Clel, leading to an epistolary love story—and their disappearance. In this conclusion to “The Sunken Archive” duology, E. and Henerey explore a hidden world, while their siblings continue to look for them, and a new threat emerges.

Kay, Guy Gavriel. Written on the Dark. Ace. May 2025. ISBN 9780593953983. 400p. $29. FANTASY

Award-winning and bestselling Kay (All the Seas of the World) returns with another historical fantasy. Few plot details are known, except that it’s a sweeping story of love and war, following a roguish poet in a setting evocative of medieval France.

Onyebuchi, Tochi. Harmattan Season. Tor. May 2025. ISBN 9781250782977. 240p. $27.99. FANTASY

Award-winning Onyebuchi (Goliath) pens a hard-boiled fantasy noir set in West Africa. Private investigator Boubacar is down on his luck, with bills to pay and no work. When a bleeding woman appears in his doorway and then vanishes, he finds himself pulled into a mystery that uncovers horrifying truths. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Oyebanji, Adam. Esperance. DAW. May 2025. ISBN 9780756419912. 432p. $29. SCIENCE FICTION

Oyebanji (author of the LJ Best Book Braking Day) offers a new sci-fi crime thriller. In Chicago, detective Ethan Krol investigates two unusual deaths, while in Bristol, England, Abidemi Eniola is on a quest to return heirlooms to their owners, taking her friend Hollie along for the ride. But Abidemi isn’t quite who she seems, and when their lives intersect, the consequences could be deadly.

Tesh, Emily. The Incandescent. Tor. May 2025. ISBN 9781250835017. 432p. $28.99. FANTASY

Tesh (author of the Hugo Award–winning Some Desperate Glory, an LJ Best Book) writes a sapphic dark academia fantasy. Doctor Walden, one of the most powerful magicians in England, is director of magic at the centuries-old Chetwood Academy, where she teaches and protects the school from demons. But she must also keep the school safe from herself. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Yang, Neon. Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame. Tor.com. May 2025. ISBN 9781250357342. 176p. $21.99. FANTASY

Yang (The Genesis of Misery) pens a queer novella featuring a dragon hunter. Yeva is a devoted and legendary guildknight who slays dragons. When she’s ordered to hunt the dragon that a reclusive kingdom is harboring, she unexpectedly meets a beautiful and mysterious queen and must decide where her loyalty lies. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Forthcoming Series Titles

Lackey, Mercedes & James Mallory. Deliverance of Dragons. (Dragon Prophecy Trilogy, bk. 3). Tor. May 2025. ISBN 9781250375735. 688p. $34.99. FANTASY

Macallister, G. R. Sestia. (Five Queendoms, bk. 3). Saga. May 2025. ISBN 9781982167950. 480p. $29.99. FANTASY

Historical Fiction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jenner, Natalie. Austen at Sea. St. Martin’s. May 2025. ISBN 9781250349590. 320p. $29. HISTORICAL FICTION

Bestselling Jenner (The Jane Austen Society) returns with another Jane Austen–inspired tale. In 1865 Boston, sisters Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, both fans of Austen, correspond with Sir Francis, Jane’s last surviving sibling. He invites the Stevensons and a pair of brothers who are rare book dealers to visit him in England, launching them on a life-changing journey. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Kelly, Martha Hall. The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club. Ballantine. May 2025. ISBN 9780593354919. 336p. $30. HISTORICAL FICTION

Bestselling Kelly (The Golden Doves) offers a World War II story about teenage sisters Cadence and Briar Smith. In 1942, the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard, and Briar spots German U-boats lurking offshore. The girls find escape and community in a book club, which could make Cadence’s writing dreams come true—and change the course of the war.

Monroe, Mary Alice. Where the Rivers Merge. Morrow. May 2025. ISBN 9780063249424. 352p. $30. HISTORICAL FICTION

In 1908, young Eliza revels in the fields and wildlife at Mayfield, her family’s estate in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. While those idyllic days don’t last, Eliza becomes the matriarch of the family and must make difficult decisions to protect her family legacy and the land she loves. Bestselling Monroe’s (The Summer of Lost and Found) latest receives a 150K-copy first printing.

Horror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden, Christopher. The Night Birds. St. Martin’s. May 2025. ISBN 9781250285911. 304p. $29. HORROR

Bestselling Stoker Award winner Golden (The House of Last Resort) sets his latest in Galveston, TX, where Charlie lives on an old, half-sunken freighter. As a storm approaches, his ex, Ruby, arrives, accompanied by a mysterious woman who’s on the run with an infant. Ruby asks Charlie to hide them on the ship from the police—and a coven of witches—that are after them.

Pinborough, Sarah. We Live Here Now. Pine & Cedar. May 2025. ISBN 9781250343826. 304p. $30.99. HORROR

Bestselling Pinborough’s (Insomnia) newest, a gothic novel, receives a limited edition with stenciled edges and a 200K-copy first printing from Flatiron’s new Pine & Cedar imprint. After a traumatic accident, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a country house called Larkin Lodge, which Emily soon suspects is haunted by someone who was murdered there.

Starling, Caitlin. The Starving Saints. Harper Voyager. May 2025. ISBN 9780063418813. 352p. $30. HORROR

Starling (Last To Leave the Room) adds a touch of fantasy to this medieval horror. Aymar Castle is under siege, and supplies are running low, when the divine Constant Lady and her Saints arrive to heal the sick and replenish stores, earning the residents’ devotion and sending them into hedonistic ecstasy. However, three women who are immune from the Constant Lady’s powers set out to free the castle. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Romance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blake, Ashley Herring. Dream On, Ramona Riley. Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593815991. pbk. 416p. $19. LGBTQIA+ ROMANCE

The bestselling author of Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date returns with a small-town romance featuring Ramona Riley, whose dreams have been shelved, and nepo baby Dylan Monroe. They once kissed, but that was years ago. Now, Dylan is back in their hometown to film the big-budget rom-com in which she’s starring. Dylan is also hoping to prove that she can still relate to “regular folks,” so she reconnects with Ramona.

Center, Katherine. The Love Haters. St. Martin’s. May 2025. ISBN 9781250283825. 320p. $29. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Bestselling Center (The Rom-Commers) offers a new rom-com where Janie pretends to be the girlfriend of one brother to line up a career-making gig profiling the other, Coast Guard rescue swimmer Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson. She ends up falling for Hutch, but he thinks that she’s the one woman he can’t touch.

Chu, Lily. Drop Dead. Sourcebooks Casablanca. May 2025. ISBN 9781728291024. pbk. 384p. $17.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Chu (The Takedown) offers a workplace romance in which rival journalists Nadine Barbault and Wesley Chen are forced to collaborate to discover the secrets of a famous and reclusive author. They are given three weeks of access to her estate, to sift through someone else’s lifetime. Maybe the project will highlight what life has to offer them.

DeWitt, Tarah. Left of Forever. St. Martin’s Griffin. May 2025. ISBN 9781250329448. pbk. 336p. $18. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

DeWitt, bestselling author of Savor It, writes a second-chance romance. The divorced Wren and Ellis Byrd live in the same town but lead separate lives. When their son moves into his dorm freshman year, they both drop him off and then drive home together along California’s coastline, giving them one more chance to reconnect.

Fortune, Carley. One Golden Summer. Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593638910. pbk. 336p. $19. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Bestseller Fortune (This Summer Will Be Different) returns with a lake-set summer romance in which photographer Alice and Charlie, a shameless flirt, connect over balmy nights and long summer days, seeing each other and beginning to see a future together.

Gillam, Bianca. Bad Publicity. Penguin Bks. May 2025. ISBN 9780143138600. pbk. 336p. $18. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Gillam debuts with an enemies-to-lovers rom-com that also deploys the second-chance trope. Andie, a book publicist, is assigned to work with Jack, who’s her biggest author but is also the guy who ruined her life while they were in school. They will have to go on tour together, across Europe’s most romantic stops.

Kanter, Marisa. Friends with Benefits. Celadon. May 2025. ISBN 9781250358899. pbk. 384p. $18.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

YA author Kanter (Finally Fitz) moves to adult rom-coms with this marriage-of-convenience story featuring lifelong best friends Evie Bloom and Theo Cohen. If they marry, Evie gets health insurance, and Theo gets livable rent in Los Angeles. But Evie really doesn’t want to get married, while Theo has always been a little bit in love with her. Yearning and change come with the I-do’s.

Keeland, Vi. Jilted. Bramble. May 2025. ISBN 9781250359858. pbk. 272p. $19.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Bestselling Keeland’s newest is a slow-burn workplace rom-com featuring a wedding reporter who has hated weddings ever since her own fiancé abandoned her at the altar. At one particularly terrible wedding, she ends up in the coat closet with Wider Hayes, only to later discover that they will be working together. He is her boss’s son, and she has to cover every new wedding with him.

Matthews, Mimi. Rules for Ruin. (Crinoline Academy, bk. 1). Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593639290. pbk. 400p. $19. HISTORICAL ROMANCE

Matthews (“Belles of London”) begins a new series featuring the women of the Academy, who work to bring down the patriarchy of Victorian England. No one is allowed to betray the Academy once they’ve joined it. Miss Euphemia Flite is a key (if bitter) member who has been ordered to bring down a viscount, in exchange for her freedom from the Academy. Only bookie Gabriel Royce stands in her way.

Solomon, Rachel Lynn. What Happens in Amsterdam. Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593548554. pbk. 384p. $19. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Bestselling Solomon (Business or Pleasure) offers a steamy, marriage-of-convenience rom-com set in Amsterdam, where Dani Dorfman has relocated. When she crashes her bike into her high school ex-boyfriend, Wouter van Leeuwen, sparks reignite. In order for Wouter to inherit a family legacy and for Dani to stay in the country, they decide to marry, discovering unexpected delights.

Soltani, Simone. Ride with Me. (Lights Out, bk. 2). Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593818169. pbk. 400p. $19. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Bestselling Soltani (Cross the Line) offers her second Formula 1 romance, in which a marriage of convenience begins during a fling in Vegas and ends up with rings on fingers and something a bit different than regret. What if bride (Stella Baldwin, feeling a bit battered by life) and groom (race car driver Thomas Maxwell-Brown, who needs a break) have actually, accidentally found the perfect match?

Forthcoming Series Titles

Asher, Lauren. Love Arranged. (Lakefront Billionaires, bk. 3). Bloom. May 2025. ISBN 9781728292151. NAp. $18.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Daria, Alexis. Along Came Amor. (Primas of Power, bk. 3). Avon. May 2025. ISBN 9780062960009. pbk. 512p. $18.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Feehan, Christine. Thunder Game. (GhostWalker, bk. 20). Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593819630. 432p. $29. PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Robert, Katee. Rebel in the Deep. (Crimson Sails, bk. 3). Berkley. May 2025. ISBN 9780593639122. pbk. 352p. $19. PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Ryan, Kennedy. Can’t Get Enough. (Skyland, bk. 3). Forever. May 2025. ISBN 9781538706855. pbk. 448p. $17.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Romantasy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrews, LJ. Broken Souls and Bones. Ace. May 2025. ISBN 9780593818671. 416p. $29. ROMANTASY

Andrews (“Broken Kingdom: Ever Seas”) starts a new series set in a fantasy Viking world. Lyra Bien is captured by royal guard Roark Ashwood and forced to serve as the crown’s melder. Lyra is determined escape and turns to Roark for unlikely aid. Together they discover secrets and set out on a mission—restore the kingdom or tear it apart.

Jensen, Danielle L. A Curse Carved in Bone. (Saga of the Unfated, bk. 2). Del Rey. May 2025. ISBN 9780593599860. 416p. $32. ROMANTASY

Bestselling Jensen returns with book two in the “Saga of the Unfated” series (following A Fate Inked in Blood). Now that Freya’s divine heritage has been discovered, she forms an alliance with Skaland’s enemy to seek answers to the dire questions surrounding her future and the fate of thousands—all the while tied to her betrayer Bjorn.

McBride, Hazel. A Fate Forged In Fire. Delacorte. May 2025. ISBN 9780593972946. 416p. $28.99. ROMANTASY

McBride debuts with the first in her Celtic-inspired duology. Aemyra, born to rule, has been awaiting her time, hoping to bond to the current king’s dragon upon his death and claim her kingdom. Her path is blocked by Prince Fiorean, also a dragon-rider, but she must forge an alliance with him when chaos descends.

Stevenson, M. Behooved. Bramble. May 2025. ISBN 9781250375087. pbk. 352p. $19.99. ROMANTASY

Stevenson debuts with a romantasy in which noblewoman Bianca and Prince Aric are married to help save their kingdoms from war. On their wedding night, an assassination attempt turns Aric into a shapeshifter: a horse by day and a man by night. Bianca and Aric must figure out a way to undo the curse and save their kingdoms.

Forthcoming Series Titles

Woods, Harper L. What Sleeps Within the Cove. (Of Flesh and Bone, bk. 4). Bramble. May 2025. ISBN 9781250401229. 384p. $29.99. ROMANTASY

Nonfiction

Biography & Memoir

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bialosky, Jill. The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother. Atria. May 2025. ISBN 9781451677928. 272p. $28.99. BIOGRAPHY

Poet, novelist, and memoirist Bialosky (History of a Suicide) returns with a memoir about her mother, Iris Yvonne Bialosky, told from her death to her birth. In what amounts to an elegy, she explores her mother’s experience in a care home, her family and married life, and her teen and early years.

Chernow, Ron. Mark Twain. Penguin Pr. May 2025. ISBN 9780525561729. 1,200p. $45. BIOGRAPHY

Chernow, winner of the National Book Award for The House of Morgan and the Pulitzer Prize for Washington: A Life, and author of Alexander Hamilton, the biography that inspired the Broadway musical, turns to a literary subject, offering 1,200 pages on Mark Twain.

Choi, Jennifer Hope. The Wanderer’s Curse: A Memoir. Norton. May 2025. ISBN 9781324035510. 288p. $29.99. MEMOIR

Choi, an award-nominated editor at Bon Appétit, debuts with a book about wandering, finding, and leaving things behind. With her life upended and intrigued by the Korean concept of yeokmasal (a predilection to roam far from home), Choi begins a peripatetic journey. Along the way, this memoir explores a range of other questions and topics as well.

Dorfman, Tommy. Maybe This Will Save Me: A Memoir of Art, Addiction and Transformation. Hanover Square. May 2025. ISBN 9781335498564. 320p. $29.99. MEMOIR

Dorfman, a writer, director, and actor (Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why), debuts with a 100K-copy first printing for this memoir structured around the cards of a tarot pull. Dorfman writes about her early life in theater, her journey to sobriety, her relationships, and her path to self-acceptance.

Fugett, Karie. Alive Day: A Memoir. Dial. May 2025. ISBN 9780593231081. 336p. $29. MEMOIR

At 20, Fugett is out of work and living in her car. She marries her boyfriend, only to see him deployed to Iraq where he suffers severe injuries. Suddenly her world is upended. She is a caregiver, must navigate the veterans’ affairs system, and bears witness to her husband’s growing dependency on painkillers. Her debut memoir mines this tightrope and more.

Grammer, Kelsey. Karen: A Brother Remembers. May 2025. ISBN 9781400252817. 384p. $31.99. MEMOIR

Grammer, a five-time Emmy-winning actor (Cheers; Frasier), writes a memoir about his life in the wake of the violent death of his sister, who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered when she was 18. He discusses how that event affected him and his family and how he began a long path towards healing from such nightmare events.

Gurung, Prabal. Walk Like a Girl: A Memoir. Viking. May 2025. ISBN 9780593493274. 320p. $32. MEMOIR

Fashion designer Gurung offers a memoir of his life growing up in Nepal and India, his move to NYC, and his career in high fashion. Along the way, he details the inner workings of the fashion industry and his journey to become his true self.

Leamer, Laurence. Warhol’s Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine. Putnam. May 2025. ISBN 9780593716663. 336p. $35. BIOGRAPHY

Bestselling biographer Leamer (Hitchcock’s Blondes; The Kennedy Women) turns to 10 women who Andy Warhol manipulated and used for his own purposes as he centered them in his underground films.

Newsom, Gavin. Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery. Penguin Pr. May 2025. ISBN 9781984881939. 304p. $30. MEMOIR

The governor of California writes a memoir about his life in politics. He covers everything from his tenure as mayor of San Francisco to his work as a businessman to the current political climate. It is also an ode to California and the importance of family life and family history.

Prideaux, Sue. Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin. Norton. May 2025. ISBN 9781324020424. 432p. $39.99. BIOGRAPHY

Prideaux (I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche) offers a new biography of Gauguin, aimed at reexamining the painter’s scandalous reputation. Based in part on access to previously unexamined papers, she upends the current conception of the artist and discusses the importance of his work (featured in full-color reproductions in the book) and how it influenced Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso.

Tourmaline. Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson. Tiny Reparations. May 2025. ISBN 9780593185667. 320p. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Tourmaline, an award-winning artist and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, writes a biography of activist Marsha P. Johnson, a central figure in LGBTQIA+ history and the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Tourmaline, the leading archivist of Johnson’s papers, bases this work on two decades of research.

Young, Michelle. The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland. HarperOne. May 2025. ISBN 9780063295896. 416p. $29.99. BIOGRAPHY

Young, a professor of architecture at Columbia, writes a biography of Rose Valland, a member of the French Resistance who, while working at Paris’s Jeu de Paume museum, fought to save looted artworks and pass key information along to Allies. With a 100K-copy first printing.

History

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aikman, Becky. Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger during World War II. Bloomsbury. May 2025. ISBN 9781635576566. 384p. $31.99. HISTORY

In 1942, a group of American women, who weren’t permitted to fly for the U.S. Army, traveled to England to ferry fighter planes and bombers for the British Royal Air Force. Drawing on interviews and unpublished diaries, letters, and records, Aikman (Off the Cliff) relates the true stories of nine of these remarkable women pilots. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Dugard, Martin. Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World War II. Dutton. May 2025. ISBN 9780593473245. 400p. $32. HISTORY

Dugard, bestselling coauthor of Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing” series, offers the next “Taking” title, after Taking London. Recounting the codebreaking efforts of Lt. Commander Joseph Rochefort and his attempts to predict Japan’s next attack, Dugard tells the dramatic account of what ensued—the Battle of Midway, a victory in the Pacific that changed the course of World War II.

Rediker, Marcus. Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea. Viking. May 2025. ISBN 9780525558347. 416p. $32. HISTORY

Rediker (Atlantic history, Univ. of Pittsburgh; The Slave Ship) examines the Underground Railroad’s maritime origins in this deeply researched account. As thousands fled enslavement in the South, many of their harrowing escapes took place by sea. Rediker offers a new look into these lesser-known routes and the vessels that carried them to freedom.

Winik, Jay. 1861: The Lost Peace. Grand Central. May 2025. ISBN 9781538735121. 400p. $35. HISTORY

Bestselling Winik (1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History) chronicles the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s decision to go to war against the Confederacy. He highlights the efforts made to avoid war, from the peace conference at the Willard Hotel to Senator Crittenden’s efforts, and the work of Lincoln’s cabinet as they considered this difficult decision.