May 2025 Book Releases:
Your Ultimate Guide For The Third Week’s Must-Reads
19th May – 25th May: The third week of May features some exciting new stories as part of the 2025 book releases.
This Week’s May 2025 Book Releases
Discover my top 12 picks from this week’s exciting new book releases! In this line-up, I’ll share the captivating synopses and discuss which books will resonate with each reader. Kicking off the fantasy romance genre, we have a unique debut that explores the paranormal realm through food and grief, second, the final instalment in the Crimson Sails LGBT trilogy, and finally, the next big gothic romantasy phenomenon to hit the shelves.
For the romantic at heart and fans of spicy romance books, three new additions will catch your interest: the latest emotional and forced proximity romance in the Spunes, OR series, the fifth and final sport romance book in the sensational Windy City series, and a YA survival romance novel that focuses on the individual characters and their growth and bond in the wild.
For the thriller and mystery lovers, not two but three new additions arrive on this week’s line-up: from a propulsive and atmospheric novel that launches a brand new character into author Michael Connelly’s universe, an ambitious novel about a doorman at the toniest address in town drawn into a web of intrigue, robbery, and murder, to finally, a new territory for a bestselling author with his supernatural thriller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start.
Last but not least, not two but three other genre books wrap up this week’s 2025 book releases: a science fiction novel about four strangers who time travel to the past and find themselves stuck on the day all their lives were changed, an eerie, dark, and twisted narrative about a couple who move into a haunted country house, and finally, a hilarious, heartfelt coming-of-age debut about a woman’s secret comedy career, forbidden office crush, and a long-guarded family secret.
Genre – Fantasy Romance Books
Title: Aftertaste
Author: Daria Lavelle
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 400
Combining the magic of ‘Under the Whispering Door’ with the high-stakes culinary world of ‘Sweetbitter,’ the author’s epic debut is a dark comedy, love story, and synesthetic adventure through food and grief. It is an ideal read for fans of unique premises, the supernatural, and endearing, quirky characters.
The book’s synopsis;
Konstantin Duhovny is a haunted man. His father died when he was ten, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes.
Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.
Title: Rebel in the Deep
Series: Crimson Sails
Author: Katee Robert
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 352
From the New York Times bestselling author of Hunt on Dark Waters comes the final book in the Crimson Sails trilogy. The ongoing rebellion against the Cwn Annwn continues, and the fight turns into a battle for the heart aboard this erotic fantasy adventure. It is an ideal read for fans of love triangles, LGBT themes, and pirates.
The book’s synopsis;
Nox has been steadfastly working as a quartermaster for the rebellion for years. They don’t ask for much in return, except for one crucial condition—their ex, the noble Lord Bastian, stays as far away from them as possible. To say things ended poorly between them is a gross understatement . . . and it’s the only relationship Nox has never quite recovered from.
But now the rules have changed. Siobhan, the rebel leader, has emerged from hiding to tell Nox that Bastian’s involvement in the rebellion has been discovered, and he’s being taken to stand trial in the capital as a traitor. The fate of the entire rebellion now rests on Nox and Siobhan’s ability to rescue Bastian from the Cŵn Annwn ship.
Saving Bastian is only the start of their hardships, as the trio is tracked by ferocious pirates across Threshold. And Nox’s complicated relationships and entanglements with Bastian and Siobhan put not only their life at risk but their heart on the line.
Title: The Knight and the Moth
Series: The Stonewater Kingdom
Author: Rachel Gillig
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 400
From BookTok sensation and New York Times bestselling author Rachel Gillig comes the next big romantasy phenomenon: a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a prophetess who is forced beyond the safety of her cloister on an impossible quest to defeat the gods with the one knight whose future is beyond her sight. It is an ideal read for fans of the unique magic system, detailed world-building, and edge-of-your-seat action.
The book’s synopsis;
Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams, she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum’s windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.
Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil’s visions. But when Sybil’s fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral’s cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she’d rather avoid Rodrick’s dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.
Genre – Romance Books
Title: Left of Forever
Series: Spunes, OR
Author: Tarah DeWitt
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 336
USA Today bestselling author Tarah DeWitt returns with her latest emotional and spicy romance in her Spunes, or series. Brimming with big feelings and packed with steam, ‘Left of Forever’ shows the author at the top of her game. It is an ideal read for fans of second chances, forced proximity romances, and small-town settings.
The book’s synopsis;
This time, they’ll get it right.
Wren and Ellis Byrd fell in love as kids, had their son Sam when they were only teenagers, and built a life together in the coastal town of Spunes, Oregon. They were made for one another…until they fell apart.
Now divorced and in their 30s, Wren runs the bakery in town, while Ellis works as a firefighter. They live separate lives, though they are hardly off each other’s minds.
When Sam gets accepted into college and the pair help him move in together, Ellis convinces Wren to take an extended road trip back to Spunes with him to see if they can give their relationship one last chance. Amid the gorgeous scenery of the California coastline, dreamy destinations, and a great deal of long-yearned-for proximity, Wren starts to think it just might be possible. But the two still have to contend with their tumultuous past in order to move forward. And when spoken words fail, sometimes the written word must bridge the gap.
Will they make the most of what’s left of forever? Or will they let each other go for good?
Title: Rewind It Back
Series: Windy City
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 491
Rewind It Back is the fifth and final book in the sensational Windy City series which has gripped over a million readers across the world. It is an ideal read for fans of sport romances, second chances, and forced proximity-girl next door vibes, Can be read as a standalone!
The book’s synopsis;
HALLIE
When I was eleven, my family moved next door to his.
When I was thirteen, he was my first crush.
When I was sixteen, we fell for each other.
And when I was nineteen, we broke each other’s hearts.
Six years later, I’ve landed an internship with a big-name interior designer in a new city. Unfortunately, that city just so happens to be the one he plays hockey for.
I thought Chicago was big enough to avoid him, until I get the surprise of a lifetime and unknowingly move in right next door. Even worse? The renovation project I’m assigned to in hopes of turning that internship into my full-time dream job…
It’s his house.
But how am I supposed to update his bachelor pad into a family home when we can’t even stand to be in the same room?
I may have loved Rio DeLuca once, but I’m not that same girl anymore.
RIO
I never thought I’d be the only single one left in my friend group. But after years of trying to find love, I’ve concluded it may not exist for me anymore.
That is, until I accidentally hire Hallie Hart to renovate my house and our jaded history has me rewinding memories I’ve kept secret for years.
You see, there’s something that my friends don’t know.
That connection I’ve been looking for since I moved to Chicago, that one person some search their entire lives to find . . . I had already found her when I was twelve years old.
And now the only girl I’ve ever loved is moving into the house next door.
Again.
Title: Wandering Wild
Author: Lynette Noni
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing, Inc.
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 304
From the author of The Prison Healer series comes her latest YA survival romance novel that focuses on the individual characters and their growth while falling for one another through their trauma bonding. It is an ideal read for fans of unique premises, survival situations, and dual perspectives.
The book’s synopsis;
She hates him. He needs her. Can they survive when all they have is each other?
Zander Rune was the darling of Hollywood until he fell from glory and was labelled a problematic bad boy. His public image needs fixing—fast—or he’ll lose the role of a lifetime, and all his dreams with it.
Charlie Hart is a regular teenage girl who despises everything Zander represents. But thanks to her scheming best friend and an ill-timed social media competition, Charlie finds herself pretending to be Zander’s biggest fan on a four-day reality TV adventure led by renowned survivalist Rykon Hawke.
When their trip goes horribly wrong, Charlie and Zander are left stranded in the wilderness. No Rykon, no film crew, no rescue. The only way they’ll survive is if they trust each other. But in order to do so, both will have to let go of the ghosts of their pasts, and just maybe find themselves—and one another—in the process.
Genre – Thriller And Mystery Books
Title: Nightshade
Series: Detective Stilwell
Author: Michael Connelly
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 352
New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly introduces a new cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island. Propulsive and atmospheric, the novel Nightshade launches a brand new character into the Connelly universe. It is an ideal read for fans of gripping investigations, dark and gritty narratives, and richly developed characters.
The book’s synopsis;
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up on the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbour—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.
Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.
Title: The Doorman
Author: Chris Pavone
Publisher: MCD
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 400
From the bestselling author of Two Nights in Lisbon comes his most ambitious novel about a doorman at the toniest address in town drawn into a web of intrigue, robbery, and murder. ‘The Doorman’ is about class and privilege in a city poised to boil over its proverbial melting pot and the ever-starker divisions testing everything the City likes to believe about itself. It is an ideal read for fans of impeccable pacing, multiple twists, and a drawn-out cast of characters spanning all socioeconomic backgrounds.
The book’s synopsis;
Chicky Diaz stands on his little patch of the earth, the clean quiet sidewalk in front of the Bohemia Apartments, there sure are a lot of great places to kill someone in this city.
Chicky Diaz is everyone’s favorite doorman at the Bohemia, New York City’s world-famous home of celebrities, financiers, and the cultural elite.
Chicky serves at the pleasure of residents like Emily Longworth, who, up in her penthouse, leads a life of her perfect kids in her perfect home, her perfect worries about museum boards, charity work, and so on. Emily’s husband, though . . . perfectly wealthy, but she has quietly loathed Whit Longworth since well before the revelations that he’s a private-equity war profiteer. But their marriage came with an iron-clad prenup, and Emily can’t bring herself to leave all that. Yet.
Meanwhile, in apartment 2A, there’s nothing perfect about Julian Sonnenberg’s middle-aged life. Already struggling with the indignities of turning fifty—a stale marriage, teenage kids who no longer need him, his work as an art gallerist making him feel culturally obsolete—and now his doctor tells him that he needs openheart surgery, immediately. Things are falling apart awfully fast.
In the basement staff room, the life-and-death stakes of daily life are hardly news to the primarily Black and Latino hospitality. So when the NYPD fatally shoots an unarmed Black man and the streets swell with both protestors and counterprotestors, the staff’s concerns are less about the building and more about their survival—and what justice will look like.
Enter Chicky in his epauletted suit, manning the line between the turbulent streets outside the Bohemia and the far more sanguine world within. And not that the Bohemia’s residents care much (except maybe Emily Longworth), but Chicky has his own problems, the kind that mean that for tonight’s shift, for the first time in thirty years, Chicky will be carrying a gun. Because someone, tonight, is going to die.
Title: Whistle
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 464
New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start. They are haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed. It is an ideal read for fans of unpredictable narratives, eerie atmospheres, and Stephen King vibes.
The book’s synopsis;
Evil has a one track mind…
Annie Blunt has had an unimaginably terrible year. First, her husband was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, then one of the children’s books she’s built her writing and illustrating career on ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal.
But Annie’s year is about to get worse.
Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed on their property. Annie is glad to see Charlie happy, but there’s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night—she could swear she hears a train, but there isn’t an active track for miles—and bizarre things begin happening in the neighborhood. Worse, Annie can’t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a children’s book.
Grief can do strange things to the mind, but Annie is beginning to think she’s walked out of one nightmare straight into another, only this one is far more terrifying…
Genre – Other Books
Title: The Memory Collectors
Author: Dete Meserve
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 336
From award-winning film and television producer Dete Meserve comes her latest novel, about four strangers who time travel to the past and find themselves stuck on the day all their lives were changed. This stunning, heart-wrenching, genre-bending novel is brimming with hope, grief, and second chances. It is perfect for fans of the science fiction genre and fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Wrong Place, Wrong Time, and The Paradox Hotel.
The book’s synopsis;
What would you do if you could spend an hour in your past? Four strangers in the beach town of Ventura, California, are about to find out.
Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son, who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love, who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake.
Enter Aeon Expeditions, Mark Saunders’s groundbreaking time travel invention. This company allows some lucky clients to spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients, including Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth, yearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever.
But when their “hour” extends beyond sixty minutes, they find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared All their lives were shattered the same night on a secluded highway by the beach. As they delve into the hidden truths of that pivotal hour, a startling revelation emerges. They were not alone. Someone else was present, harbouring deadly intentions.
Title: We Live Here Now
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Publisher: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 304
From the internationally bestselling author of the Tales from The Kingdoms series comes her latest novel, We Live Here Now, with its atmospheric vibes, multiple well-written POVs, and haunted house setting. Eerie, dark, and twisted, ‘We Live Here Now’ is an ideal read for fans of realistically flawed characters, paranormal and horror elements, and shocking twists.
The book’s synopsis;
After an accident that nearly kills her, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a beautiful Dartmoor country house called Larkin Lodge. The house is gorgeous, striking—and to Emily, something about it feels deeply wrong. Old boards creak at night; fires extinguish; and books fall from the shelves—all of it stemming from the terrible presence she feels in the third-floor room.
But these things happen only when Emily is alone, so are they happening at all? She is still medically fragile. Her post-sepsis condition can cause hallucinatory side effects, which means she cannot fully trust her senses. Freddie does not notice anything odd and is happy with their chance at a fresh start. She, however, starts to believe the house is haunted by someone who had been murdered in it even though she can find no evidence of a wrongful death. As bizarre events pile up and her marriage starts to crumble, Emily becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Larkin Lodge. But just as the house has secrets so do Emily and her husband.
Title: What Will People Think?
Author: Sara Hamdan
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: 20th of May, 2025
Pages: 336
In her debut, author Sara Handan releases a hilarious, heartfelt coming-of-age story about a woman’s secret comedy career, forbidden office crush, and long-guarded family secret. ‘What Will People Think?’ is a heart-bursting exploration of what it means to discover and embrace the hidden parts of yourself and how love in all forms can make you whole. It is perfect for fans of Curtis Sittenfeld and Etaf Rum.
The book’s synopsis;
Mia Almas has a secret. By day, she works at a respectable job as a media fact checker—a position her conservative, Arab grandparents approve of—and, by night, she takes to the stages of New York City comedy clubs. She holds herself back in a lot of ways, especially in the romance department, but being on stage lights her up and makes being a wallflower the rest of the time more bearable. That is, until Phaedra, her stylish and bold new neighbor, inspires Mia to take a few risks.
As Mia pursues a forbidden romance with her boss, her standup gets better and bolder, leading to a surprise spotlight that exposes her secret gig. Horrified and worried that her rebellious act could mean big consequences for her reserved Palestinian-American family, Mia frantically dives into damage control. But all of her efforts to pull back from the spotlight expose a family scandal from the 1940s that could change everything…
Conclusion
The third week of May features twelve exciting new book releases, including a paranormal romance, an LGBT pirate love triangle, and an edge-of-your-seat action and gothic romance for the fantasy romance genre. The romance genre includes second-chance tropes, forced proximity and sports romances, small-town settings, and unique premises.
The thriller and mystery genre includes a gripping investigation, a web of intrigue, robbery, and murder in an apartment complex, and disturbing events and strange visions surrounding a mysterious train set. Rounding out the list is a stunning science fiction time-travelling novel, second, a haunted country house filled with shocking secrets, and finally, a hilarious, heartfelt coming-of-age story.
Stay tuned, as I will post my following articles next week about the latest 2025 book releases for the final week of May’s monthly line-up. Additionally, if you are interested in more book-related articles, check out my book section page for reviews, recommendations, details and discussions.
