We’re all booked up
Whether you crack a spine every other day or are still working through a resolution you made in January, May’s release calendar has something to pull you in. This month’s titles span the full breadth of what great fiction can do—thrill, disarm, devastate, delight—proving that whatever mood you’re in, there is always a book that meets you there. From page-turning thrillers to dopamine-induced romance, these are the most irresistible reads of the month.
All the new books to read in May 2026:
The Calamity Club
Kathryn Stockett
In the dust and shadow of Mississippi in 1933, three women find each other—and in doing so, find everything. Kathryn Stockett, beloved author of The Help, returns with a novel as bold and big-hearted as the women at its centre: unbreakable, underestimated and utterly unwilling to accept the lives the world has handed them. Calamity, it turns out, is only the beginning.
Release Date: 5 May
Our Perfect Storm
Carley Fortune
When her engagement unravels mere days before the wedding, Frankie does the only thing left to do—she finds herself on the misty shores of Tofino with her estranged best friend, George, who refuses to let her disappear into the wreckage. What begins as a quiet attempt to repair their friendship becomes something neither of them expected—unearthing secrets and long-buried feelings neither knows how to handle.
Release Date: 5 May
Fury Bound
Sable Sorensen
This follow-up to Sorensen’s much-loved debut, Dire Bound, is equally engrossing and dauntless. Meryn Cooper did not ask for the crown—but fate, it seems, was never particularly interested in what she wanted. Now, with a kingdom splintering beneath her and enemies closing in from every direction, she finds herself turning to the last person she expected: Stark Therion, whose loyalty is as unshakeable as his presence is dangerous.
Release Date: 5 May
Caller Unknown
Gillian McAllister
From the author of Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a thriller that asks the most unsettling question a parent can face. When Simone wakes on the first morning of a mother-daughter holiday in Texas to find Lucy gone and a stranger’s voice on an unknown phone issuing instructions, she makes the only choice that feels possible: she goes alone, tells no one and drives out into the desert night. What she finds at the other end is not a ransom demand but something far worse—a request so unthinkable it redraws every line she thought she’d never cross. What follows is a breathless, dust-drenched race through remote Texas towns that is as much a moral reckoning as it is a rescue mission, pushing Simone to the outermost edge of courage, desperation and the terrifying lengths of a mother’s love.
Release Date: 5 May
Broken Dove
Dani Francis
If fantasy realms and romance-drenched tales aren’t your foxhole, then it’s time to venture into dystopian landscapes, where broken societies and resilient souls offer a different kind of escape. In this jaw-dropping sequel to the best-selling dystopian romance, Silver Elite, Broken Dove dives back into the world of the Continent, where Wren Darlington finds herself caught in the middle of two wars: her home and her heart. Finally safe, behind allied lines, she must now navigate how to overthrow the Primes and assist the Uprising. But when hotshot fighter pilot, Grayson Blake, comes barreling in and confuses her feelings for Commander Cross Redden, she needs to decide who is worth fighting for.
Release Date: 5 May
Fair Game
Ruth Stilling
Ruth Stilling returns with a slow-burn romance set in the ruthless world of professional hockey—this time, the tension isn’t just on the ice. When Beckett Cole becomes one of the most watchable loose cannons, his new team’s PR department is desperate to contain him. When Drew Callaghan—his childhood friend and the team’s publicist—arrives with a folder full of ground rules, Beckett starts to sharpen his image. But somewhere between the media training sessions and the unspoken glances, the professional distance they’ve both agreed to maintain starts to look a lot less certain.
Release Date: 7 May
First and Forever
Lynn Painter
Leave it to Lynn Painter to make a PR disaster look like the best thing that ever happened to someone. In this romantic comedy by the bestselling author, Duffy Distefano is a diehard Coyotes fan who becomes the internet’s villain overnight after a run-in with the team mascot goes spectacularly viral—and a morning show appearance meant to clear her name turns into an on-air sparring match with the team’s star tight end that the internet likes even more. Connor Cunningham arrives expecting damage control and leaves thinking about her. The team’s PR machine does the rest, engineering a relationship that is—officially—entirely for show. He knows this. She doesn’t. What neither of them anticipated is how little of it feels like pretending.
Release Date: 12 May
Fever Dream
Elsie Silver
Emmett Bush has ridden bulls professionally his whole life—but nothing has thrown him quite like Julia Silva. When the professional bull rider signs up for a reality dating show to save his family’s farm, he arrives with a plan: perform, charm and leave with the prize money. What he does not account for is the location consultant who turns his carefully rehearsed life quietly, irrevocably upside down. Now, with cameras rolling and everyone depending on him, Emmett faces the only question that has ever truly unsettled him—what does he actually want?
Release Date: 19 May
The Divorce
Frieda McFadden
The house was perfect. The marriage was perfect. The life, by every measure, was exactly as it should have been. Then he left—and took everything with him. Naomi should grieve, regroup and move on. Instead, she watches. And what she finds is far more dangerous than heartbreak. Freida McFadden returns with her sharpest, most unsettling novel yet—a razor-edged portrait of love curdled into obsession, and a woman who refuses, at any cost, to lose.
Release Date: 26 May
The Midnight Train
Matt Haig
A sweeping, time-travelling love story set in the world of The Midnight Library, this book will leave everyone feeling reflective. The contemporary fiction follows Wilbur as he rides a supernatural train that lets him re-live moments from his life—his best days with Maggie and his honeymoon in Venice. The book focuses on themes of regret, love and second chances, as Wilbur navigates his past to appreciate his life now.
