Yay, it's May! For a lot of us, school is over and we can finally enjoy the summer heat and the occasional spring showers. The month of May has some great upcoming reads, but let's start with the first day of May. These 11 new books were released on May 1st. Some are fictional, one is a historical retelling, one is based on a real life incident and one includes a collection of stories based on real life feelings and events. Some are about love and friendship, family and summer vacation, while others are about tragedies and controversial topics that affect us all today. No matter what you're into, these new May reads will definitely help you start your summer right!
All pictures of book covers were taken from Goodreads.com. Click on the pages to go directly to the Goodreads page of each book where you can find out more info on the book, read up on the author, check out reviews of the books, read a short preview, and perhaps even enter into a giveaway for it if the site is currently holding one for that particular book!
1. Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by Various Authors
Henry VIII had six wives who all met their deaths too soon. Each of his wives was killed in a different way for different reasons. These are their stories. Coordinated by Candace Fleming who tells the story of Henry VIII, six other authors come on to contribute a story from the wives' point of views.
2. The Lies They Tell by Gillian French
Everyone in Tenney’s Harbor, Maine, knows about the Garrison tragedy. How an unexplained fire ravaged their house and killed four of the five family members. But what people don’t know is who did it. All fingers pointed to Pearl Haskins’s father, the town drunk, who was the caretaker of the property, but she just can’t believe it. Stuck waiting tables at the local country club after her disgraced father is laid off, Pearl comes across Tristan, the last surviving Garrison who makes a point of sitting in Pearl’s section with all of his rich friends. Though she’s repulsed by most of them, Tristan’s quiet sadness and somber demeanor have her rethinking her judgments. Befriending the boys could mean getting closer to the truth, clearing her father’s name, and giving Tristan the closure he seems to be searching for. However, it could also trap Pearl in a sinister web of secrets, lies, and betrayals that could both change and take her life.
3. Deep Dark Blue by Polo Tate
Polo Tate was 11 years old when she knew she wanted to be in the Air Force someday, and at age eighteen, Polo finds herself in Basic Training at the United States Air Force Academy. She does everything right, except fly under the radar. No one prepares her for what comes next. Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of her superior. Betrayal at the highest levels of authority. Harassment from her peers, who refuse to believe her story. This is more than a YA memoir of surviving sexual abuse in the Air Force Academy, it’s about breaking boundaries and setting them. It's about learning to trust your instincts, it’s a story of survival, resilience, and finally, finding your joy.
4. If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say by Leila Sales
When Winter Halperin — former spelling bee champion, aspiring writer, and daughter of a parenting expert — gets caught saying the wrong thing online, her life explodes. All across the world, people know what she’s done, and none of them will forgive her. Winter knows she messed up, but does that mean it’s okay for people to send her hate mail and death threats? And is “I’m sorry” ever good enough? Besides being a novel about public shaming in the internet age, this story is also about an exploration of the power of words, the cumulative destructiveness of microaggressions, and the pressing need for empathy.
5. A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley
A collection of stories where fathers and sons attempt to salvage relationships with their friends and family members while confronting the mistakes they’ve made in the past. Themes of power and privilege, growing up and "being a man", puberty and sexual desire, the past and history. Jamel Brinkley’s stories reflect the tenderness and vulnerability of black men and boys whose hopes sometimes betray them, especially in a world shaped by race, gender, and class―where luck may be the greatest fiction of all.
6. Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne
17-year-old Stella Ainsley wants just one thing: to leave and go anywhere else. Her home is a floundering spaceship that has been orbiting an ice-encased Earth for 200 years. When a private ship hires her as a governess, Stella jumps at the chance. The captain of the Rochester, 19-year-old Hugo Fairfax, is notorious throughout the fleet for being a moody recluse and a drunk. But with Stella he’s kind, so he can’t be that bad, right? But the Rochester seems to harbor secrets. Stella is certain someone is trying to kill Hugo, and the more she discovers, the more questions she has about his role in a conspiracy threatening the fleet.
7. Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now by Dana L. Davis
For 16-year-old Tiffany Sly, life hasn’t been safe or normal for a while. Traumatized by the loss of her mother to cancer, Tiffany has to pack up all her belongings and move in with her biological dad, who she's never known. Anthony Stone is a rich man with four other daughters — and rules for every second of the day. Tiffany tries to make the best of things, but she doesn’t fit into her new luxurious, but super-strict, home — or get along with her standoffish sister London. But Tiffany has a secret. Another man claims he’s Tiffany’s real dad and she only has seven days before he shows up to demand a paternity test and the truth comes out. With her life about to fall apart all over again, Tiffany finds herself discovering unexpected truths about her father, her mother and herself, and realizing that maybe family is in the bonds you make.
8. Whisper by Lynette Noni
For 2 years, 6 months, 14 days, 11 hours and 16 minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four AKA ‘Jane Doe’ has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word. As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot...and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.
9. Ship It by Britta Lundin
Claire is obsessed with the show Demon Heart. Forest is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. After meeting Forest at a Comic-Con panel though, Claire is crushed by the reality of Forest when he laughs off Claire's assertion that his character is gay. She can't believe her hero turned out to be a closed-minded jerk. Unfortunately for Demon Heart though, when the video of the disastrous Q&A goes viral, the producers have a PR nightmare on their hands. In order to help bolster their image within the LGBTQ+ community, as well as with their fans, they hire Claire to join the cast for the rest of their publicity tour. What ensues is a series of colorful Comic-Con clashes between the fans and the show that lead Forest to question his assumptions about sexuality and help Claire come out of her shell.
10. Summer Constellations by Alisha Sevigny
Julia Ducharme just wants to enjoy peak season at the campground her family owns, but her summer dreams are quickly shattered. First, Dan, her annual summer fling with whom she was hoping for something more this summer, arrives for vacation with a new girlfriend in tow. Then, Julia discovers this may be her last summer in the only home she's ever known. Crushing medical bills from her brother's serious illness have brought her single mom to the brink of bankruptcy. And finally, a wealthy developer has been sniffing around the campground wanting to turn it in a casino resort. Heartbroken and afraid, Julia looks to the stars for some perspective. After taking her telescope down to the dock one night, she has a chance encounter with a guitar-playing boy who offers some helpful advice, who just so happens to be the developer's son, Nick Constantine. As plans for the resort start to move forward, Julia is desperate to find a solution that doesn't mean leaving the lake. Nick, on the other hand, is desperate to separate himself from his father's aggressive business tactics. He promises that, together, they can thwart the sale. But can Julia trust him to conspire against his own father? And could she ever she trust him with her heart?
11. The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green
In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a loveless political marriage that was arranged by her brutal and ambitious father. In Calidor, downtrodden servant, March, seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for cheaper thrills as he drifts from town to town. And in the barren northern territories, 13-year-old Tash is running for her life as she plays bait for the gruff demon hunter Gravell. Alliances shift and shatter, old certainties are overturned as these four heroes find their past lives transformed and their futures inextricably linked by the unpredictable tides of magic and war. A princess, a traitor, a hunter and a thief; these four teenagers have the fate of the world in their hands and four nations that are destined for conflict.
