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May's Most Anticipated New Books
Sometimes it can be fun just to scan the incoming books in any given month and ponder the wild variety of human experience on display. It’s a big world out there.
Consider these books coming in May: Chris Bohjalian tells of a 1964 Tanzanian safari gone wrong in The Lioness. Cleyvis Natera profiles a Dominican family in New York City in Neruda on the Park. And Shelby Van Pelt presents the curious case of a sentient octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures. Also on tap this week: temporal loops, haunted haciendas, and the world’s funniest writer.
Each month the Goodreads editorial team takes a look at the books that are being published in the U.S., readers' early reviews, and how many readers are adding these books to their Want to Read shelves (which is how we measure anticipation). We use the information to curate this list of hottest new releases.
The debut supernatural thriller from author Isabel Cañas is being described as a cross between the 2020 bestseller Mexican Gothic and Daphne du Maurier‘s classic suspense novel Rebecca. New bride Beatriz Solórzano has just moved into her new home, a remote countryside estate with a sinister past. It’s not quite what she was hoping for. A malevolent presence is haunting Hacienda San Isidro, and Beatriz’s only ally is a young priest who moonlights as a witch.
There aren’t many sure things in this world, but one truism has always proved accurate in every era: Rich people are weird. Author Hernan Diaz (In the Distance) returns with this story of Benjamin and Helen Rask, a flashy New York City couple living large in America’s Roaring Twenties. Just where did the Rasks get their seemingly endless wealth? Trust is a layered novel concerning foundational inequalities, and how power and money dictate what we come to think of as history.
Author Jennifer Weiner (In Her Shoes) has been called the undisputed boss of the summer beach read, and her new novel promises high drama for the high season. After two long years of pandemic lockdown, the spirited Danhauser family is preparing for a big wedding at the old beach house. Mother-of-the-bride Sarah has a lot on her plate: a resentful daughter, a secretive husband, an ailing brother, and her own complicated mother. When a series of misunderstandings goes unaddressed, the wedding day goes supernova.
Alice is about to turn 40, and it’s not as terrible as it could be. Things are OK, relatively. The weirdness commences on her birthday proper, when Alice wakes up to discover that the year is 1996, she’s 16 years old again, and she’s back in her childhood bedroom. Veteran novelist Emma Straub (All Adults Here) takes a dive into the deep end of the time-travel template with a love story that plays out in swooping temporal loops.
If you’ve ever looked an octopus in the eye at the aquarium, then you already know: Those critters seem spooky smart. That’s the hook in this fascinating debut novel in which night janitor and grieving widow Tova Sullivan befriends Marcellus, a giant octopus at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Heartfelt and imaginative, Shelby Van Pelt’s book is particularly recommended for fans of A Man Called Ove.
Award-winning YA author Nina LaCour makes her adult fiction debut with this carefully observed and deeply felt love story. Sara Foster ran away from home at 16. Now she’s an A-list bartender in L.A. Emilie Dubois is in her seventh year at college, stuck in a holding pattern. When the two women meet, the connection is immediate. But can they let go of the past? Early reviews suggest that this may be one of the year’s best literary love stories.
Kentucky-born author Leesa Cross-Smith (This Close to Okay) returns with the story of 40-something art teacher Vincent, who has retreated to the city of Paris after separating from her husband. A transformative summer soon follows, in which Vincent attends her son’s wedding and finds new hope in the arms of a handsome young man named Loup. Half-Blown Rose escorts readers around Europe—Amsterdam, London, Nice, Tuscany—so bring your passport.
This extremely buzzy debut novel from author Cleyvis Natera follows the fortunes of the Guerrero family, longtime residents of an old Dominican neighborhood in New York City. When encroaching gentrification threatens to upend their community, complex dynamics come between mother and daughter. Neruda on the Park is earning affectionate early reviews for its compelling story and lyrical prose. Bonus trivia: Author Natera was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City. She knows whereof she speaks.
Novelist Chris Bohjalian is one of the best and busiest writers in the business, with more than 20 novels to his name. His latest, The Lioness, is a historical thriller set in Tanzania circa 1964. American movie star Katie Barstow has arranged a luxury Serengeti safari for herself and her famous friends. The trip goes severely sideways when Russian mercenaries abduct the famous Americans and turn their vacation trip into a harrowing survival story.
Recommended for fans of Ninth House and The Night Circus, the new novel from accomplished YA author Holly Black represents the author’s first foray into adult dark fantasy. The gist: Desperate con artist Charlie tries to squeeze out of trouble by entering the treacherous world of shadow trading. Among the book’s many creepy delights: lethal swindlers, menacing shapeshifters, and the very concept of shadow magic, in which mistakes can cost you hours or days or years of your life.
This new book from historian Kelly Lytle Hernández tells the dramatic story of the magonistas, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution. The magonistas were a motley band of journalists, miners, and migrant workers, who organized thousands of Mexican workers—and American dissidents—to their cause. Hernández's research will introduce readers to one of the border’s greatest unknown stories.
Few things in life are as unambiguously awesome as the announcement of a new David Sedaris book. Happy-Go-Lucky, the author’s latest collection of essays, chronicles his time before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and features typical Sedaris topics: Dentistry. Death. Sex workers. That sort of thing. Sedaris is one of the planet’s funniest people, and he can make you laugh and cry on either end of a single sentence. We say this from direct experience. New Sedaris = Good News.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Check out more recent articles, including:
May's Most Anticipated New YA Novels
May's Hottest New Romances
Readers' Most Anticipated New Spring Books
Check out more recent articles, including:
May's Most Anticipated New YA Novels
May's Hottest New Romances
Readers' Most Anticipated New Spring Books
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Down to the River by Anne Whitney Pierce. This book is an enthralling family saga of a white privileged family in Cambridge Massachusetts in the 60's
I swear I’ve never hit pre order faster than I did on Bad Mexicans. My grandpa and his family were from Mexico and family legend is that they financially helped the revolutionaries while also living near the border. After it ended they had to flee to the US to avoid persecution and from research I’ve done I think my grandpa was actually involved in the revolution. He had to sneak over the border and change his name and now I wonder if this is a missing link to the family history as to how potentially the family managed to make it to the US as well as him changing identities
The octopus book sounds interesting, but the cover makes it look like a kiddies book. o_O.
The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian - can't wait to read this one. Love this author :)
Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History and African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals
Here Goes Nothing by Steve ToltzThe Island by Adrian McKinty
Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay
Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore
An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie
Book of Night and Remarkably Bright Creatures!!
Remarkably Bright Creatures seems interesting. Ever since I saw My Octopus Teacher, I've been so intrigued by octopi.
Y'all do not forget Elektra: A Novel of the House of Atreus by Jennifer Saint and Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay is my most anticipated book of the year, and is finally out this month.Guy has never written a book I didn't like.
I’m excited for Tokyo dreaming the sequel of Tokyo Ever after by Emiko Jean
Saba Tahir’s All my Rage was my fastest pre-order
LemonLinda, I’m looking forward to The Book Woman’s Daughter too!
12 books. 12 American authors.
There's a whole world out there, you know!
The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson
The Grand Design by Joy Callaway
Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton