It’s the end of the month, which means it’s once again time to look ahead to some great upcoming book releases. May looks absolutely stacked with awesome new books, including new releases from Fonda Lee, Olivie Blake, Sunyi Dean, Frances White, Shannon Chakraborty, among many others. If you missed my list of April 2026 releases, you can find it HERE. Without further ado, here are 22 of my most anticipated May 2026 book releases (covers link to Goodreads):

Get ready to be blown away by this searing standalone space opera where corporate samurai fight beneath merciless stars, and death is always a mere breath away.

Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow–to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her legacy. But when a competitor offers her a final mission, it’s one she can’t refuse. Soon, she’s thrust deep into a world of corporate espionage, duty-bound duels, and shadowy secrets. What she uncovers will change humanity’s existence in the stars forever.

The Last Contract of Isako is the space opera you didn’t know you needed: corporate samurai… in space. This is the first adult science fiction novel from the award-winning author of Jade City.

The devil has come to town. And he wants a library card. Star author Olivie Blake and artist Little Chmura kick off a deliciously dark graphic novel romance series with Clara & the Devil, Volume 1.

Clara has the rest of her life figured out. She’ll graduate college with the support of her best friend, Jonah; marry her adoring boyfriend; take a full-time job at her local library; and settle down in her small seaside hometown. But when an unusual tourist―tall, dark, and infernal―comes to town, Clara’s careful plans quickly start to unravel.

And even while the stranger, who openly calls himself the devil, strikes up a situationship with Jonah, he continues to tempt Clara with reckless talk of power, ambition, and lust. Over the course of one sultry summer, tensions between Clara, Jonah, and the devil mount to an intolerable degree, and Clara is forced to confront the desires she’s kept secret her whole life, even from herself.

This deliciously dark tale of Faustian bargains and seduction from New York Times–bestselling author Olivie Blake and fan-favorite artist Little Chmura kicks off a series that explores artistry and power through the temptation of the seven deadly sins.

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters comes The Girl with a Thousand Faces, a Gothic tale set in a historical Hong Kong that meshes ancient myths and local legends into a haunting story of ghosts, grief, and women who will not forgive.

When Mercy Chan washed up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, she was thrust into the horrors of World War II. She only survived by hiding in Kowloon Walled City, an infamous, ghost-infested slum full of lost and traumatized civilians. Since the end of the war, she has rebuilt her life and found work with the local triad as a ghost-talker, dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt this place. These days, the filthy gutters and cramped alleyways of Kowloon feel like home.

But the past she can’t remember won’t let her go. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. Unnervingly, it claims to know Mercy―and her forgotten childhood. As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.

33 years before, mere days ahead of the Japanese invasion, Sung Siu Yin and her mother flee Hong Kong, intending to hide out on her mother’s ancestral island home. It’s beautiful, tranquil, and remote. . . but also inhabited by ghosts ever since the entire village drowned in a storm many years ago. Still, it’s better than living under occupation.

But as the war drags on and isolation sets in, Siu Yin is increasingly drawn into the island’s grim past―a past that may still have a hold on the present. There is a darkness lurking beneath that idyllic ocean, and it has been waiting many years for someone to return.

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’ – the final remnants of Earth’s doomed Network Empire – by keeping them alive in cryostasis.

But a lot can change in two hundred years, and people are starting to ask questions. Why should the crew continue to toil for people none of them remember? What exactly gives Administration its authority over everyone else?

And when the blackouts start, they set in motion a chain of events that will change life on the Safina forever. A reckoning is coming. The system is only secure so long as those in power maintain the obedience of those beneath them.

And the crew has had enough.

A science fiction odyssey of breathtaking scope, The Republic of Memory,/i> is a gripping examination of what divides us, and what brings us together. This is a modern and ambitious work of Arabfuturism, and is perfect for fans of The Expanse, A Memory Called Empire or Children of Time.

‘No one likes death. It just happens to be our business.’ Nobody who meets Dr Jack Cuthbert forgets him. Tall, urbane, brilliant but damaged, this Scottish pathologist who works with Scotland Yard is the best the new DCI has seen. But Cuthbert is a man who lives with secrets, and he still battles demons brought back from the trenches.

When not one but two corpses are discovered in a London park in 1929, Cuthbert must use every tool at his disposal to solve the mystery of their deaths. In the end, the horrifying truth is more shocking than even he could have imagined. As he works the case, Cuthbert realises that history rarely stays in the past. And even in the final moments, there is still one last revelation that leaves him reeling.

The Silent House of Sleep is the first book in the Dr Jack Cuthbert mystery series.

The steamy mythology of Neon Gods meets dark academia in this contemporary romance from USA Today bestselling author S.A. Barnes.

Jocasta’s carved out a normal life at Beecher University—well, as normal as possible with a name like Jocasta and being the only child of Death.

She has good friends and a messy situationship with her former TA. But her friends, her crush, and her classmates don’t know the truth about who—what—she is. They would be horrified to discover Jo must feed to survive—and she feeds on them. But she refuses to take lives, feasting instead on their disappointments, failures, and rejections. It’s not a perfect system, but it works.

Until a sexy stranger—and descendant of Lust—shows up on campus because Death just named Jo as his successor, making her a powerful ally and a massive target.

Jo’s safe little bubble is about to burst, but she will do anything to protect the people she loves. Even if it means becoming what she hates…

Roll the dice, strike up the band, and get ready for a swoon-worthy summer! A charming gaming romance that blends the magic of D&D with the camaraderie of band camp–from the bestselling author of Dating and Dragons!

Hazel’s senior year at band camp is set to be epic—until Max, her childhood crush turned drum-playing troublemaker, waltzes back into town.Their sections have always been rivals, but a shared love for Dungeons & Dragons pulls them together, sparking a romance Hazel never saw coming.

Just when things feel perfect, rumors Did Max ask her out because of a lost bet? With band drama mounting and her first D&D game spiraling, Hazel must prove their love—and her leadership—are the real deal.A swoony, nerdy romance full of rivalry, redemption, and roll-the-dice chemistry from the bestselling author of Dating and Dragons!

Secrets built this republic; one truth could burn it down.

High Priestess Kerasea Vestal has spent her life hiding the truth―that she’s the last surviving heir of the magical bloodline the republic slaughtered. One wrong step could be fatal. But when a senator is brutally killed and a temple blade is found at the scene, all eyes turn to her.

Praetorian Torren Morvane has made a career of dragging liars into the light, and Kerasea is the one person he’s vowed to ruin. But locked on a mountain with a murderer, scheming senators, and a prophecy of death, he’s forced to work at her side. The closer he gets, the more dangerous the truth―and their attraction―becomes.

With traitors closing in and a nation on the verge of shattering, Kerasea and Torren must risk everything to uncover the real killer…even if it means trusting their sworn enemy.

A “richly detailed and evocative” 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 – a stunning debut novel from the author of Out East (Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author).

Hidden away on the Isle of Women, a nameless orphan has grown up among the island’s sisterhood, but always at a distance. He hears whispers of a prophecy that may shed light on his destiny—and his true identity. Lancelot. Determined to master the skills and knowledge worthy of the knight he is meant to be, he begins training alongside the handsome Galehaut. As the two grow closer, they guide one another towards their truest selves. But no matter how tightly they cling to one another, each has a role to play in the wizard Merlin’s grand prophecies. 

When Lancelot is forced to follow Merlin to Camelot, he fights to protect his heart while seeking the fabled Holy Grail. As he grows closer to his fellow knights, Lancelot must keep an explosive secret to himself—the truth of what he left behind on the Isle of Women, of the man he truly is beneath the armor. All the while, Roman legionaries too scour far and wide for the grail. As an army encroaches on their kingdom, King Arthur and his knights must race to ensure that this powerful object doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Steeped in rich medieval lore, THE LOST BOOK OF LANCELOT is an immersive, poignant reexamination of the most famous knight of the Round Table. It is the story of a once vulnerable boy who is forced to rise to the occasion, of a kingdom under siege, and of the battle between the old world and the new.   

How far will you go to open The Bone Door?

When Hop awakens in an ancient labyrinth, he has no memory of his life, or how he got here. He does not recognise the mysterious girl trapped with him. And he certainly cannot identify the shadowy figure stalking him, whispering terrible things…

But there is one thing he is certain of: He must escape.

The only way out of the labyrinth is through The Bone Door. But it lies behind a series of locked doors hidden across an array of strange realms. To open the way, Hop must complete impossible tasks before his time runs out.

As Hop travels deeper into the maze, he discovers that he and his companions may be more connected to the place and its horrors than he could ever imagine.

Unless Hop is able to unravel the true mystery of the labyrinth, and his own role within it, the Bone Door and any hope of escape will be lost forever.

A new epic romantic, dystopian fantasy begins in Seek the Traitor’s Son, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth

Elegy Ahn did not ask for destiny to find her.

She is happy with her life as a soldier, defending her small country from the Talusar, a powerful nation who worships a deadly Fever. A fever that blesses half of its victims with mysterious gifts.

But then she’s summoned to hear a prophecy–her, and the most ruthless of Talusar generals, Rava Vidar. Brought face to face, they learn that one of them will lead their people to victory over the other…but they don’t know which. And at the center of both of their fates: a man. A man that, Elegy is told, she will fall in love with.

In just one day, Elegy’s old life–her job, her purpose, and her future–is over. She and Rava are destined to collide, with the fate of their nations hanging in the balance. And when they do, only one will be left standing.

Elegy intends to make sure it’s her.

New York Times bestselling author Shannon Chakraborty sets sail into the second adventure of pirate Amina al-Sirafi as her quest to track down magical artifacts brings her to the island lair of a sorceress whose woven enchantments are impossible to flee.

Amina al-Sirafi thinks she’s struck gold. Tasked with hunting down arcane artifacts for the council of immortal peris, she can savor the occasional rollicking adventure on the high seas with her cherished criminal companions while still returning home to raise her beloved daughter, Marjana. But when Raksh, the spirit of discord with whom she is reluctantly wed, provokes the council’s wrath, Amina is charged with a seemingly impossible quest: steal a spindle capable of rewriting fate from a mysterious sorceress on an island no one can escape.

Forced to leave Marjana—who is increasingly frustrated at being peddled what are clearly lies about her mother’s life and her own past—Amina finds her mission almost immediately thrown into peril. But deadly storms, an erratic poison mistress, and old enemies are the least of her worries. For the peris’ story is unraveling, hinting at a far deadlier game whose rules Amina must swiftly puzzle out. A game that sets her against an adversary more cunning and powerful than she has ever faced.

A game that not everyone on her crew wants her to win.

Sports romance gets a Dungeons & Dragons makeover with the next book in the Magic and Romance series that follows half-giant Orok, forced into a PR relationship with a feisty, fan-favorite cheerleader.

Orok star defensive tank on the Philadelphia Hellhounds rawball team. Half-giant. Patron Urzoth, god of strength . . . only Orok’s tired of being tied to a god known for aggression. So (don’t tell his mother) he’s planning on renouncing Urzoth.

Until the cult of Galaxrien, Urzoth’s sworn enemy, ends up causing a lot of damage through their ill-advised attempts to summon him, and the followers of both deities find themselves blamed for the long-standing feud and its ramifications.

Alexo cheerleading intern with the Hellhounds. Smells like apples, which Orok only knows because he picked Alexo up. Accidentally—Orok publicly saves Alexo from a bar fight, and fans go feral for the muscly pro athlete being protective of the pint size dude-in-distress.

That’s enough to have the Hellhounds and Urzoth’s church both coming to them with a Orok and Alexo will start a PR relationship to put a positive spin on Urzoth. Orok is all set to refuse—and finally separate from Urzoth—when the team offers Alexo a starting spot on the cheerleading squad to play up the star athlete and cheerleader optics. It’s such an obvious dream come true for Alexo that Orok finds himself agreeing to the arrangement like the sap he is.

He can keep living a lie for a bit longer. But Orok starts to wonder if they can drop the fake part of this fake-relationship…

A hilarious contemporary fantasy about a junior sales witch stuck in corporate hell, who has to evade devilish pacts and her kickass, world-saving, demon-slaying mum to save a (surprisingly hot) demon, and work out how to hit her quarterly target. From the New York Times-bestselling author of Dreadful and The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association.

Morgan Blackwater’s mother is a kickass, world-saving, demon-slaying Shadow Council wizard. As for Morgan? Morgan’s a junior salesperson at a tech startup that can’t even decide what its product is. But with magic dyslexia and a disinclination to kick ass, Morgan is doing her best carving out a niche for herself in the mundane world.

Leaving work late one night, she discovers her boss dead from the effort of summoning a demon to trade his soul in order to make his quarterly target. The disturbingly-attractive demon, Lucareoth (Luke for short), is trapped here until he finds someone to sell their soul. While trying to sneak Luke out of the building, Morgan runs into her infamous mother. Apparently, someone has been summoning demons and she’s here to get to the bottom of it.

Trying to protect Luke from her mother, Morgan gets sucked into the Infernal Plane and discovers hell really is a corporate nightmare. She only gets back home with a promise to deliver a human soul of her own. While her coworkers are really annoying, she’s not willing to sacrifice their souls. The company’s tech bro CEO, though, is another story.

With Caitlin Rozakis’s signature wit, STARTUP HELL is a contemporary fantasy that exposes the demonic nature of the corporate world.

In a city of ancient automata, strange spirits, and sleeping gods, a cleric of death finds his own life on the line in this vividly imagined fantasy murder mystery from the acclaimed author of The Bone Ships and Age of Assassins.

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.

This impoverished existence would be dismal enough—but after reading the corpse of a low-level records keeper, Irody’s troubles quickly multiply when his own apprentice is murdered, and all fingers point to him as a suspect. The only way to save his own skin is to find the real culprit himself, an investigation that quickly attracts powerful enemies with few scruples, and draws him into a plot that threatens the entire corrupt yet wondrous city he calls home.

Perfect for fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora, Foundryside, and Witness for the Dead, this investigative misadventure begins a perilous new series by award-winning author RJ Barker.

A sweet, steamy AF contemporary MM romance! Find truckloads of hot, witty banter, exploration of queer solidarity, lots of tennis details but very little actual tennis, and amusing Australian/American cultural confusion.

Australian Matteo Russo is the first and only openly gay tennis pro. Once a brilliant junior, he was slated for a bright future – until a freak accident derailed his career. Now, he’s fed up, he’s struggling to qualify for tournaments, and he’s not sure he can afford dinner tonight.

After losing to his old rival—the rich, arrogant, American superstar Miles Callahan—Mat throws the man’s privilege in his face and sets him a challenge – one he’s sure Miles would never accept. But he does. Determined to prove he’s earned his success, Miles travels to Wimbledon on a tight budget – no support team, no coach, no fancy hotel. And now the American needs a hitting partner, and someone to explain laundromats, and what started as a dare soon becomes a searing off-court fling.

Mat should be focussing on his career, not falling for a glamorous star, but Miles believes in his game in a way Mat hasn’t for a long time, and is fast becoming everything he’s ever wanted. Only… love and tennis just don’t mix, because one day soon they’ll have to face each other on the court.

And in tennis, someone always has to lose.

Sam Adelson has spent over a decade pouring his heart into Silverman’s Deli, the beloved Cleveland institution his family has run for seventy-five years. So when a scathing review tanks his business, Sam develops some strong feelings about the critic responsible. Fantasies involving expired clam juice may be involved.

Then Jake Thompson walks through the door—Sam’s first love, the one who got away. Reconnecting after twelve years feels like coming home, and having Jake around makes even the chaos of saving the deli feel manageable. But Sam’s fought to move on from the disaster that tore them apart, and now pretending it never happened is becoming more impossible every day.

As Sam falls harder than he ever meant to, Jake’s past begins to catch up with both of them. Some recipes are worth perfecting, even when the first attempt was a disaster—Sam just hopes this one doesn’t blow up in his face…

Warm, funny, and delectably swoony—a second-chance romance with found family, a chaotic deli dog named Pastrami, and all the comfort-food you could ever want. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and TJ Klune.

A workaholic lawyer who’s got the world figured out.

An opposing counsel happy to prove him wrong…

Love has no place in Baz Hadley’s life. He is too focused on working hard, winning big, and becoming the youngest partner yet at his elite law firm. Enter Sami Adam. Cocky, gorgeous, oh, and right-hand man to Chicago’s most dickish legal shark. Baz despises Sami and his stupid, intoxicating smirk on sight.

But when Sami shows up at Baz’s doorstep at the end of a grueling week, the sparks of loathing turn into something far more dangerous. As the two entangle in a secret affair that threatens to torch the career Baz has worked so hard for, Sami challenges every one of his snap judgments. With the clash of prejudice and reality chipping away at his rock-solid views, Baz is forced to confront a life-changing chase the prestige he’s always craved or embrace the one person who makes him feel truly alive.

Brimming with heart, humor, and sizzling tension, this grumpy sunshine secret relationship MM romance explores the messy beauty of looking below the surface and proves love doesn’t care about a five-year plan. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, and Royal Blue and Adib Khorram’s I’ll Have What He’s Having.

A fraudulent teen quester must team up with a brooding, royal rival on a perilous adventure to save her brother’s life in this cozy young adult romantasy full of mythical creatures by the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This is Ever After.

Seventeen-year-old Ellinore has the best questing record of anyone in the kingdom’s history. She also has a secret: her fame is built entirely on lies. Tired of the charade, she shocks the kingdom by retiring at a royal feast. But her plans for a quiet life are disrupted when her twin brother Zig bets his life that Ellinore can retrieve the horn of the mythical Elder Beast. To save Zig, she reluctantly sets out on one last, perilous quest.

Accompanying her are Zig, determined to help despite his recklessness; Aven, her envious rival eager to prove their superiority; an ambitious bar maiden turned adventurer; and a young, magic-wielding bard. Together, they face an arduous journey fraught with mythical challenges and shifting alliances. As they search for the Elder Beast, Ellinore grapples with her growing feelings for Aven, her fear of losing Zig, and her identity as a reluctant hero.

With time running out, Ellinore must confront not only the legendary creature but also her own truths. Can she save her brother, embrace her potential, and finally decide her path?

In this seductive, provocative debut, two gay Afghan men—cast out of their respective countries of birth by circumstances beyond their control—collide in Istanbul, a city that will test their willingness to sacrifice everything for the ones they love.

When Delbar—a hapless twenty-something with dreams of becoming a drag queen—is spectacularly outed, he flees the insular immigrant-dense suburbs of Washington, DC to seek refuge with his sympathetic aunt in Istanbul. There, he discovers a vibrant community of dissidents, sex workers, activists, poets, and heretics. Among them are Leif and his boyfriend, Mansur, with whom Delbar quickly develops a blazing fascination.

But Mansur also nurses a wounded heart, having left his own family, and his first love, behind in Iran. This time, Mansur’s learned not to dream bigger than his own survival. He’ll keep a low profile, work hard to send money back, and remain faithful to Leif—at least until his refugee status is granted.

When riot police descend on attendees of the annual Istanbul Pride march, Mansur and Delbar are thrust into dangerous proximity. With the country surging into authoritarianism, each person must ask what constitutes a life well-lived, and how high is the price of freedom?

Told through the alternating viewpoints of Delbar and Mansur, Bobuq Sayed’s debut is a story of borders and boundaries transgressed, and a deeply engrossing exploration of what it means to make a home at the margins of society. At once an immigrant family saga, a thwarted love story, and a searing portrait of politics made intimately personal, No God but Us is an ambitious introduction to a bold new voice.

The first novel in a dazzling fantasy trilogy inspired by Japanese folklore and Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away, set within a mythical archipelago brimming with dragons and Sun Spirits, high-tech hackers and bubble tea.

Life is hard for the inhabitants of Rainshadow City, a place where poverty and corruption are rife and where they are terrorized by an underground criminal organization known as the Lucky Crows.

Toshiko, Jun and Mei Kawakami are a family, bonded through loyalty if not blood, who live outside the increasingly corrupt law and who are seeking revenge for the murder of their beloved “aunt” Reiko by the Lucky Crows. Haru is the son of the Emperor, destined to one day rule over the Archipelago and uphold his mother’s ignoble legacy, but he is more interested in making friends with the magical Sun Spirits it seems only he can see. Theo, forced to leave his homeland, is a reluctant foot-soldier for the Lucky Crows. He doesn’t want to be a gangster, but as an illegal immigrant to the city, his choices are severely limited.

When Toshiko steals a dragon pearl from the leader of the Crows, it sets them all on a thrilling path which will determine the future of Rainshadow City. Tightly set across two days and peopled with unforgettable characters, The Rainshadow Orphans blends the anime fantasy of works like Pokémon and Studio Ghibli and the anime science fiction of revolutionary cyberpunk like Akira to explore what it means to stand up to corruption and take charge of destiny.

Two heroes. One brain cell.

BROMANTASY is a cozy, queer fantasy about the mortifying ordeal of being known by your totally platonic best friend and the epic quest that might force you to confront the truth.

Fellas, is it gay to kiss your bff while on a quest through the forest you’re unqualified for?

Juniper O’Reilly is good at only two things: demolishing a pint of mead and finding the perfect skincare routine. Everything else—taking care of the farm, bartering for goods, any sort of manual labor—falls to Juniper’s best friend, the absurdly capable, endlessly patient Mo Elmthorn.

But when Juniper accidentally volunteers them both for a quest to kill a fearsome monster, he knows he’s finally gotten in over his head. Juniper hates camping, he hates the dark, and there’s no way all these foraged mushrooms are going to sit well in his stomach. One thing he doesn’t hate? How good Mo’s thighs look in his questing pants—he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, with a monster to hunt and their futures on the line.

But monsters come in all shapes and sizes. When Juniper and Mo realize that the terrifying beast they’ve sworn to kill is just a scared little girl torn from their family, they’re off to find not only the true villain of the story, but maybe even a happy ending.

What May 2026 book releases are you most excited about finally reading? Let me know in the comments below or over on BlueSky!