Angela: There are lots of great books releasing this month. My TBR for May is out of control and since I have no willpower, I might have skipped ahead and read a few already. LOL.
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala 5/4/2021 Cozy Mystery– Here for all the cozy mysteries.
The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer….
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry 5/11/2021 Contemporary Romance– I couldn’t help myself and skipped ahead to read this one. I loved Beach Read and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this follow-up. This book features the best friends to lovers trope and it is so well done. So, so good.
All Fired Up (Ashes & Dust #1) by Jenn Burke 5/18/2021 LGBT Paranormal Romance – Yeah, I read this one early too. I LOVE Jenn Burke’s voice and will pretty much read anything she writes. This is a spin-off to the Not Dead Yet series and features a character we all know and love. Evan is about to be on his own and stuck right in the middle of a dangerous paranormal murder case. He will also meet a man who will rock his socks off.
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren 5/18/2021 Contemporary Romance/WF– Look, it’s Christina Lauren and I have to be excited about a new release. I’m not quite sure about the “finding a soulmate through DNA”, but we’ll see.
Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick 5/25/2021 LBGT Contemporary Romance–
When a lonely American event planner starts dating the gay Prince of Wales, a royal uproar ensues: is it true love or the ultimate meme? Find out in this hilarious romantic comedy.
I’m curious to see if this book resembles Red, White, and Royal Blue, I’m also curious to see if it’s a true romantic comedy or follows the latest pattern of the cutesy cover with a super angsty love story.
Melanie: My May TBR is about to fall over. I can only hope that I even get to some of these books by the end of the month. Lucky for me, I have ARCs for a lot of them and can get an early start. Like Angela, I’m also very interested in Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick. The blurb definitely has Red, White, and Royal Blue vibes and since I found that book utterly charming and delightful, I’m curious to see how this one compares.
Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan 5/4/2021 Young Adult – I don’t typically read a whole lot of YA but this particular story features a Bangladeshi heroine and a fake relationship trope, which is one of my favorites. This is a debut novel from this author and I’m very excited about the possibility of discovering a brand new favorite.
Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam 5/18/2021 Contemporary Romance – A heroine who owns a sex toy business. That’s really all that it took for me to be interested in this book. I love a heroine going against the grain and the heroine in this one is attempting to subvert family expectations to follow her professional dreams.
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall 5/18/2021 Contemporary Romance – I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to have to make sure I have ample baked goods on hand when I finally read this book about a down on her luck heroine who lands a coveted spot on a popular baking show.
How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole 5/25/2021 LGBT Contemporary Romance – Just. Look. At. That. Cover. Have you seen anything more glorious and wonderful? Gorgeous cover aside, one of the heroines in this book was a side character in the first book in this series and was a total scene stealer. I cannot wait to dive into this book that has her as one of the MCs. Lucky for me, I have an ARC so I won’t have to wait too long.
Melinda: I’m going to cheat and basically say ditto to almost all of these!
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala 5/4/2021 Cozy Mystery – I’ve heard great things about this and I desperately want to listen to the audiobook.
Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan 5/4/2021 Young Adult – I *have* listened to this one already and I loved it so, so much and I can’t wait for everyone else to read it!
Back in the Day by Katrina Jackson 5/7/21 Contemporary Romance – I read everything Kat publishes and this looks like a dual timeline with 2010 and 1967 and my interest is piqued.
Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam 5/18/2021 Contemporary Romance – I’ve known Thien-Kim just briefly online for a while and I’m so excited for her book to come out.
And Alyssa Cole…that’s just a given that anything she writes I’m there!
Jen: For the most part, I’m continuing my binge on fantasy romance in May. I can’t get enough fae, immortals, witches, the underworld and bad ass heroines.
The Rise of Fortune and Fury by Sawyer Bennett 5/4/2021 Fantasy Romance– I inhaled books 1-4 and am standing by for book 5. Cliffhangers on every book, but this one completes the series. It’s safe to dive in now if you’re not a fan of big cliffies. :)
Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard 5/4/2201 Teen & Young Adult Fantasy- Victoria Aveyard is back! I’m so looking forward to this one. Here’s the blurb: she is the last of an ancient lineage—and the last hope to save the world from destruction. But she won’t be alone. Even as darkness falls, she is joined by a band of unlikely companions.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid 6/1/2021 (It was a late May release…so hoping it will actually be out earlier)- Daisy Jones and the Six remains one of my favorite novels of all time. This one is about a famous family, an epic end of summer party, a giant fire, secrets and drama. Sign me up.
Lots of good books coming in May—my book budget is wrecked already!
The first of the month is when Harlequin drops ebooks for Harlequin Presents and Dare. So on May 1 I downloaded three of them:
Jackie Ashenden’s Dare release, WITH THE LIGHTS ON, companion to her IN THE DARK from earlier this year (the heroes of the two books are friends). WITH THE LIGHTS ON has a hero who is gradually losing his sight and a heroine who works for an escort agency—which should be interesting as I’m not sure I’ve read any Harlequins with sex worker heroines. (I’ve now read it and it’s very good. It’s a shame Harlequin is discontinuing the Dare line because WITH THE LIGHTS ON shows how much potential was there for the line.)
Also Caitlin Crews’s latest HP, HER DEAL WITH THE GREEK DEVIL (companion to Crews’s earlier THE SECRET THAT CANNOT BE HIDDEN—the heroes of the two books are brothers) which promises to be all sorts of angsty goodness with a Greek billionaire pursuing a supermodel who was briefly his step-sister a decade before. (I’ve now read this and it was extremely good but about as dark as I’ve ever seen an HP with an almost irredeemable hero. HER DEAL WITH THE GREEK DEVIL made my list of Favorite Reads of 2021, but the plot and hero could have been appropriated wholesale from a dark/mafia romance.)
Finally, Clare Connelly’s HP, CINDERELLA’S NIGHT IN VENICE. Quiet, shy heroine who works for a PR firm must attend a Venetian ball with her company’s biggest client—a Greek billionaire (natch!).
On May 6, Rina Kent releases the third and final book of her Deception trilogy and I can then read all three books (VOW OF DECEPTION, TEMPTED BY DECEPTION, and CONSUMED BY DECEPTION) in this dark mafia romance about a woman who agrees to impersonate a crime boss’s late wife.
Leonie Mack wrote MY CHRISTMAS NUMBER ONE (one of my favorite books of 2020), so I’m interested in her next book, ITALY EVER AFTER, arriving May 11.
May 18 brings the third and final book in another trilogy I’ve been waiting to read: Natasha Knight’s & A. Zavarelli’s The Society Trilogy (REQUIEM OF THE SOUL, REPARATION OF SIN, and RESURRECTION OF THE HEART). This is a dark romance with a forced/revenge marriage and a very damaged hero. (I do try to wait until all books in a trilogy are released before reading the entire set, but this is a custom often observed more in the breach—for example, see the next entry.)
May 18 also brings Skye Warren’s STRICT CONFIDENCE, the second book in her Rochester trilogy, a modern retelling of JANE EYRE. This is obviously a case where I did not wait for all three books to be published before I started reading! The first book, PRIVATE PROPERTY, ended on a cliffhanger, so I’m expecting STRICT CONFIDENCE to pick up the action right where the earlier one left off.
Sybil Bartel begins a new series called Alpha Elite with ALPHA, dropping on May 24. The hero of ALPHA runs a private security firm; the heroine is someone from his past. I love Bartel’s romantic suspense books full of former-military alpha heroes who meet their match in tough heroines who refuse to be compliant doormats. Let the games begin!
On May 25, Ruth Cardello releases HE SAID ALWAYS, the first book in her new Lost Corisis series about attempts to locate distant relatives after the previous generation’s family members were estranged. Does the past always have to influence the future? Also, I’m assuming the hero & heroine in the book are not related—even distantly, lol.
I loved Katie Golding’s relationship-in-trouble romance FEARLESS, published last year, so I’m eagerly anticipating WRECKLESS, the next book in her Moto Grand Prix series. It arrives on May 25 and promises all sorts of yummy antagonists-to-lovers goodness between a couple who have a decade of professional sparring behind them.
Another book arriving May 25 is Angelina M. Lopez drops SERVING SIN, about a couple who reconnect 13 years after he rescued her from kidnappers. He now runs an elite security service and she’s the CEO of a major company in Mexico. He’s trying to keep her safe…but will their hearts be safe? All kinds of catnip in this one!
Lots of enticing books above! I’m looking forward to reading Andy Weir’s new book, Project Hail Mary.