Wondering what to read now? Here are all the hot new May 2026 book releases for you. I’ll let you know what I’ve read, what I can’t wait to read, and what’s getting all the attention this month.
In case you’re new to Booklist Queen, every month I cover all the hottest new book releases. I try to read as many new book releases as I can to give you an honest perspective on what to read and what to skip.
However, I realize that my to-read list might not exactly match yours. That’s why I’ve also included some of the most popular May 2026 book releases from your favorite authors.
Enough from me, let’s get on to the May 2026 book releases so you can fill up your to-read list.
Top May 2026 Book Releases
The Midnight Train
Matt Haig
The bestselling author of The Midnight Library presents a new novel about second chances. The Midnight Train cannot change the past but it can let you relive moments that mean the most to you. Those moments that flash before your eyes at the end of your life. For Wilbur, his best days were his Venice honeymoon with Maggie. He wishes he could go back and change things but doing so might just risk everything.
Publication Date: 26 May 2026
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The Calamity Club
Kathryn Stockett
During the Great Depression in Oxford, Mississippi, three women come up with an audacious plan to take control of their lives. At the county orphanage, eleven-year-old Meg fights to keep her spirits up even though she is unlikely to be adopted. Birdie has come to town to beg her social-climbing sister to help the family she left behind. Meanwhile, Charlie is determined to overcome her past with fury and grit. Together, they must show resilience in a time where women’s freedom is fragile in the newest novel from the author of The Help.
Publication Date: 5 May 2026
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The Last Mandarin
Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung
A first-generation Chinese American food blogger, Alice Li has spent her life under the shadow of her mother Vivien, a Tiananmen Square dissident turned human rights activist. When fire and security alarms go off simultaneously all over the world, Alice and Vivien are called to the White House. Together they are sent around the world to decode an ancient legend and uncovering a secret language invented by women, for women.
Publication Date: 12 May 2026
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A Fortune of Sand
Ruta Sepetys
In 1927, Marjorie Lennox feels misunderstood, the artistic daughter of one of Detroit’s powerful automotive families. When she secretly applies to an exclusive arts program, she hopes to redefine herself. Except the lavish retreat begins to feel stifling – with oddly locked doors and whispers of disappearing women. As Marjorie’s grip on the truth begins to slip, she questions what happens to women who refuse to do what is expected in Ruta Sepetys’s latest young adult historical fiction novel..
Publication Date: 26 May 2026
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Mother Tongue
Sara Nović
After failing a hearing test at school, Sara Nović told no one had desperately stayed in the world of the hearing for as long as she could. Eventually accepting that she was deaf, Nović sought out the deaf community and was enveloped with love. Now the mother of two children, one hearing and one deaf, Nović talks about raising her children in the deaf world and accepting that their lives will be different than hers.
Publication Date: 5 May 2026
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The Things We Never Say
Elizabeth Strout
On the surface, Artie Dam seems perfectly fine. He teaches history to eleventh graders, makes small talk with the neighbors, and spends weekend sailing in Massachusetts Bay. However, Artie is plagued by a sense of loneliness and disconnecting. When a long-held secret is revealed to Artie, he begins to question his entire world and reconsider his relationships in the latest novel from the author of Olive Kitteridge.
Publication Date: 5 May 2026
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Take Me With You
Steven Rowley
After thirty years, Jesse del Roth’s husband Norman walks into the backyard one night and disappears into a beam of light. Feeling abandoned, Jesse can’t figure out what he is meant to do with his life without Norman. When Norman’s sister arrives with an unusual request, Jesse is forced to face what it means to be left behind.
Publication Date: 19 May 2026
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Read With Jenna Book Club May 2026 Pick
Caller Unknown
Gillian McAllister
With Lucy about to head to university, Simone takes Lucy on a mother-daughter trip to Texas. When she wakes up the next day, Simone finds Lucy missing and a cell phone in its place telling her not to contact authorities. Ready to pay a ransom, Simone is shocked when the kidnappers ask her to do an unthinkable task. How far will a mother be willing to go to save her daughter?
Publication Date: 5 May 2026
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The Most Anticipated May 2026 Book Releases
The Burning Side
Sarah Damoff
In the middle of the night, April and Leo’s house burns down. Retreating to April’s childhood home with their children, April and Leo find comfort and complication with April’s family. In the aftermath of the fire, cracks in Leo and April’s marriage threaten to tear the family apart. Told in alternating viewpoints, The Burning Side is a story of thorny family issues and the deciding what is worth salvaging.
Publication Date: 19 May 2026
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The Shippers
Katherine Center
At her sister’s destination cruise ship wedding, JoJo Burton decides she will seduce her childhood crush and first kiss for some long-awaited closure. Since her sister is busy with the wedding, JoJo recruits her childhood best friend Cooper as her wingman. The more time JoJo and Cooper spend on Project Conquest, the more JoJo realizes that he might actually have been the worst heartbreak of her life in this adorable summer romance.
Publication Date: 19 May 2026
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Enormous Wings
Laurie Frankel
At 77, Pepper Mills reluctantly moves into the Vista View Retirement Community her children have selected for her. Slowly Pepper makes friends and even falls in love. When she falls ill, she worries it’s cancer but is shocked to find out she’s pregnant. As word spreads, the press, paparazzi, and medical researchers all want a part of her story. But Pepper is faced with hard decisions about what she wants to do next.
Publication Date: 5 May 2026
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The One Day You Were My Husband
Rosie Walsh
After a whirlwind romance, Carrie married Johan on at Thai beach only to have armed men storm the wedding and take Johan away. Twelves years later, Carrie runs a holiday cottage rental business with her husband Robin in England. When Carrie stumbles on an online post that Johan escaped Thailand and is living in Sweden, she becomes obsessed with discovering what happened on that fateful day, a truth that might tear her current life apart.
Publication Date: 19 May 2026
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A Parade of Horribles
Matt Dinniman
In the eighth book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor in a series of races that seem weirdly normal. Yet with increasingly strange glitches and whispers of a Parade of Horribles on the eleventh floor, Carl knows that something is coming. Hatching a plan of his own, Carl may risk it all on one crazy idea.
Publication Date: 12 May 2026
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Broken Dove
Dani Francis
In a sequel to Silver Elite, Wren Darlington is safe behind allied lines after blowing her cover as a double agent. While Cross Redden works to disrupt the Primes inside their ranks, Wren must navigate the hidden agenda among the Mods with the help of her former friend Grayson. When Wren worries that Cross is hiding something from her, she must decide who she is fighting for and who she is willing to lose.
Publication Date: 12 May 2026
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On Witness and Respair
Jesmyn Ward
Acclaimed author Jesmyn Ward presents a collection of nonfiction essays and speeches. Ward reminisces about growing up in a multigenerational household in Mississippi and reflects on the authors that have transformed her life. Ward also contemplates raising a Black son in today’s world and the fresh hope after despair following her partner’s sudden death on the eve of the pandemic.
Publication Date: 19 May 2026
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UPCOMING MAY 2026 BOOK RELEASES BY DATE
May 5th Book Releases
May 12th Book Releases
Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung
May 19th Book Releases
May 26th Book Releases
What May 2026 Book Releases are You Most Excited to Read?
What books can you not wait to get your hands on this month? Did I miss any May 2026 book releases that you are anticipating? As always, let me know in the comments!
More New Book Releases:
Recommended
The Most-Anticipated Upcoming Book Releases
The New York Times Fiction Bestseller List
The Latest Celebrity Book Club Picks
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