5 new books you need to read in May 2025 - including Love Island thriller and ‘incredible' romantasy
Between Abby Jimenez and Emily Henry's latest romances and new releases from Suzanne Collins and Lauren Roberts, April was a big month for readers.
And May is shaping up to be just as big, with lots more exciting releases on the way, including a thriller that's been described as Love Island meets White Lotus, and a debut that's perfect for fans of Emerald Fennell's viral 2023 hit, Saltburn.
Without further ado, here are five books being released in May 2025 you need to read this year, whether you're a fan of romance, literary fiction, thrillers or fantasy. For more book recommendations, reviews and news, you can also click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter, The Bookish Drop, on Substack.
The Tenant by Freida McFadden
The Tenant is bestselling author Freida McFadden's latest thriller - and it looks to be just as twisty as all her others. The Housemaid author's new novel follows Blake, who has just been fired from his job and is left struggling to make the mortgage payments on the new townhouse he shares with his fiancée.
The synopsis continues: 'Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?'
Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter
The debut novel from the winner of #Merky Books' 2022 New Writers' Prize, Sunstruck follows a working-class Black man as he attempts to navigate the opulent world of his university friend Lily's wealthy family. He finds himself captivated by Lily's charismatic brother Felix as they holiday in the south of France.
But when they return to London, the cracks in the Blake family's careful facade begin to show, with their secrets and choices affecting all those around them. The book explores race, status and the parts of ourselves we risk losing when we fall in love.
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
If you've ever spent even just a couple of minutes scrolling through BookTok, you'll have heard of Rachel Gillig. The bestselling author of the One Dark Window duology is back with a brand new novel, The Knight and the Moth, which will be the first in a new gothic duology called The Stonewater Kingdom.
The Knight and the Moth follows Sybil, a diviner forced to leave her life behind and venture out on an impossible quest with Rodrick, the one knight whose future she cannot see.
This is one of Goodreads' most anticipated books of the month, with early reviews describing The Knight and the Moth as 'absolutely incredible' and 'even better than One Dark Window'.
People Pleaser by Catriona Stewart
People Pleaser is Catriona Stewart's debut novel and follows Maggie Lathrop, a struggling actress whose life is transformed overnight when she wins LoveShack, America's most popular reality dating show.
But when she is found murdered in a Los Angeles warehouse and the police fail to come up with any answers as to what happened to her, her sister Emma steps in to investigate herself.
Described as Love Island meets White Lotus, this pacy thriller is full of memorable characters and unpredictable twists. It's the perfect holiday read for anyone fascinated by the world of reality TV.
Ride with Me by Simone Soltani
Romance fans, this one is for you. Ride with Me tells the story of Stella, who was left at the altar before having to show up to her cousin's hen party just two weeks later, and Thomas, a Formula 1 driver with a new reputation as the most hated man on the grid.
When the two singles wake up married in Las Vegas, they decide staying together may just be the answer to all of their problems. Perfect for the summer, even readers who aren't used to the sports romance genre will find it hard not to immediately fall in love with Stella and Thomas.
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The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
A new start after 60: I read out my old diaries online – and my youthful secrets went viral
Betsy Lerner doesn't see herself as a TikTok star – though the New York Times described her as one – or an influencer. That means payment and swag – all she's had is a free pen. 'I really do it for myself,' she says, 'and for the people who follow me'. Lerner, 64, has for 20 years worked as a literary agent for writers including Patti Smith and Temple Grandin. She's an author of nonfiction and now of a debut novel, Shred Sisters – 'a love letter to loneliness'. But the 'doing' she's talking about is on TikTok, where she has amassed 1.5m likes for videos in which she reads from the diaries she wrote in her turbulent 20s. 'You don't know who you'll love, who will love you, what you will do for work, what is your purpose,' she says in one post. 'This morning I found one line in my diary that just sums [your 20s] up: 'I feel as if I don't know who I am, today.'' Lerner posts in her dressing gown, without makeup. Initially she explored BookTok to support her authors. But with her own novel forthcoming, she started posting, camera off, and got no followers. 'A friend told me, you need to be on camera and think of it as your own TV channel … I thought, 'Well, maybe I will read from my old diaries.'' She'd kept one from the age of 11, after reading Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. 'I wrote my first poems in there. I vented. I tried to analyse myself …' Her journals from the ages of 12 to 18 were lost when her car was stolen, but those from her 20s – about 30 volumes – were stowed in a crawl space in her attic. 'My diaries are very sad. They're all about being lonely, looking for love, looking for friendship, trying to figure out who I was,' she says. Lerner describes herself as 'a late bloomer'. She was accepted on to Columbia's MFA poetry programme at 26, entering publishing in her late 20s when most editorial assistants were fresh from college. 'I didn't fall in love till I was 30. I'd never had any significant relationships … I lost a lot of my teenage years and most of my 20s struggling with depression.' When she was 15, her parents had taken her to a psychiatrist, and she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 'I didn't want to accept that I had this illness. I fought it a lot,' she says. Her 2003 memoir, Food and Loathing, documents her relationship with her weight, food, depression and more, and at one point in her late 20s describes her straddling a ledge on a bridge above the Hudson River. The turning point came at 30. She found a psychopharmacologist – who 'figured out' the right lithium dosage (they've worked together for 35 years) – and she got married. Her diaries stopped. She had written them alone in bed at night. But now, 'I just didn't feel that sad and lonely any more', she says. For years, Lerner says, 'I gravitated toward a lot of intensity.' Now, 'I prioritise stability over everything.' She had never thought she'd write a novel. But in 2019 she came through 'four very tragic deaths'. She lost her mother, then her teenage niece and nephew, Ruby and Hart Campbell, who were killed by a drunk driver, and her best friend, the writer George Hodgman, who died by suicide. 'I still don't know who I'm grieving for at any given time,' she says. In the aftermath of these deaths she started to write Shred Sisters, partly inspired by the online workouts – shredding – she and her two sisters did during Covid to take care of each other, and as 'a way of working through all of that grief'. She is already writing another novel, and for as long as there is material in the diaries, and there is TikTok, she will continue to share them. 'It's all about trying to connect and communicate,' she says. 'There's a constant stream of comments from kids in their 20s who identify with my struggles. That's really what keeps me going. I feel this connection to these kids … I try to say, I felt the same. Hang in. Some heart emojis. Just a little something to say, 'You're recognised.'' Shred Sisters is out now, published by Verve Books. To support the Guardian, order a copy from the Guardian bookshop. Delivery fees may apply. Tell us: has your life taken a new direction after the age of 60? In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Scotsman
Why it is good to see Edinburgh Book Festival embracing the BookTok generation
BookTok has become a mainstay of bookshops across the country - and it is bringing a love of reading to a new generation. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... I spent Friday evening at the Edinburgh Book Festival, something that has become a near annual tradition ever since I went on trips with my school library as a child. No trip to the book festival is complete without a trip to the bookshop tent. This year there is a section for popular BookTok books, something that is becoming a familiar sight in bookshops up and down the country. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad BookTok started off as a subcommunity on TikTok, but more recently it has become shorthand for all social media content dedicated to books and reading. BookTok has brought a love of reading to a new generation. | Unsplash There has been an explosion in people's love for books since the pandemic. There are many reasons for this, but BookTok is one. A poll by The Publisher's Association found that 59 per cent of 16 to 25 year olds found a passion for reading thanks to BookTok. Forbes says #BooKTok has accumulated over 370 billion views. It is not without its critics. There are some who argue this is the end of 'proper' literature, as authors and publishers are sacrificing originality and creativity for the sake of online marketability. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This is true to a certain extent. There is a diminishing level of quality in some of the literature produced to help fuel the never-ending desire of the BookTok community. I have certainly read a fair number of BookTokbooks over the past year (that I have thoroughly enjoyed) that have been badly edited with spelling and grammatical errors. There are others where printing quality has fallen short of the mark because of speed. But this is no reason to deride the readers - this is on the publishing companies who need to remember to think about quality rather than solely on profit. It is also a rather simplistic view to assume all BookTok books are anti-intellectual and not as good as 'real' books. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Let's take The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller as an example (one of my favourite books) - it is a reimagining of The Iliad and one of the most popular BookTok books. The author spent around a decade writing the book, has a masters degree in classics and teaches Latin and Greek, and now hundreds of thousands of people are reading about ancient Greece thanks to social media. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice has seen a spike in popularity thanks to BookTok, despite being published 200 years ago. Readers can hardly be criticised for indulging in this just because they were inspired by an influencer online. I understand not all BookTok books are like this. Many are romance books that are written like a popular trope checklist, published at rapid speed and even copying cover designs of other popular books to hit a certain audience. Some bookshops wrongly assume these trope-heavy, quick-read romances are all BookTok is, and therefore fill their BookTok section accordingly. But there is so much more to BookTok in reality and it is an unfortunate symptom of the somewhat misogynistic view of the kind of readers on these platforms. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Personally, it is great to see Edinburgh Book Festival embracing BookTok. It is bringing a love of reading to a new generation and that, whether it is a literary classic or a pop romance, should be celebrated.
Wales Online
5 days ago
- Wales Online
England rugby star 'choked out' cast member in unaired TV footage as full story emerges
England rugby star 'choked out' cast member in unaired TV footage as full story emerges The dual-code England star was appearing on SAS Australia: Who Dares Wins in 2021 Sam Burgess pretends to choke out Phil Tufnell as he explains how he hijacked a bus (Image: YouTube) Former England dual-code rugby international Sam Burgess has revealed how he once hijacked a bus on a TV show, choking out the driver in unaired footage. Burgess, who played for England in the 2015 World Cup, was competing on the second series of SAS Australia: Who Dares Wins back in 2021 when he ended up commandeering a mini-bus. The show, which first aired in the UK in 2015 before an Australian version was made in 2020, pits contestants against a shortened training course designed to simulate a condensed version of the actual United Kingdom Special Forces selection course. However, in Burgess, producers clearly got more than they bargained for as he gave those involved in the show a taste of their own medicine after hijacking a bus following one challenge. Appearing on the Stick to Cricket podcast with Phil Tufnell, Sir Alastair Cook, David Lloyd and Michael Vaughan, Burgess dove into great detail - even using Tufnell as a makeshift driver to show how he manufactured his escape as he left the former cricketers in raptures. "Yes, it's a true story," said Burgess when Vaughan asked if there was a story from the show involving a bus. "They took us away and it's a 15-day course. "20 might start and it's just who can get to the end, basically. We get to day 12 and there's only four or five people left on the show. Article continues below "Throughout the whole show, you're sleep deprived, food deprived, freezing cold. It's really hard graft. Each night, they might come in and talk to you before you go to bed. 'Listen, if you're captured, you should always try and escape, because the longer you're in captivity, the less chance of survival'. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. "This is all sinking in my subconscious. The next day, we do this assault course for four or five hours. We're freezing cold, wet through. "Explosions go off and guns come in. They put hoods on you and tie you up. I felt like I was in a warzone. By this point, you feel like a zombie. "The training kicked in, what they've been teaching us over the last few weeks. I'm in a stressed position against the fence, with this woman kicking me in the shins. I'm thinking 'what is going on here'. "After about two hours in captivity, they've thrown us in a vehicle and are transporting us to another destination. They also said that on transportation is where you've got a great chance to escape, because it's generally someone low down the food chain - that's where you should attempt to escape. "So I've gone here's my chance. I've got a hood on and zip ties on my wrist. I'm so fired up because of that woman kicking me in the shins, I've popped the wrist straps. "We're on a bus that's moving. We're told we're on there with armed guys with guns so do not f*****g move. "So I've peeked through my hood and I see the other contestants. There's one guy driving, there's a camera man and one other guy. I think there's no guns on here. "I can take them. We're on a bit of a freeway. We're going about 100 km/h. I charge the bus and I get the guy at the front. I'm dishing him up. "It's no show in my head. I was convinced I was in Afghanistan. I was there in my head. This guy had an earpiece on but I ripped out his comms and get him under control. "I free one of my fellow contestants, John Steffensen, who is a sprinter." Burgess, who won the NRL title with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2014, then used Tufnell to show what he did to the bus driver. The panel were left stunned by Burgess, who continued his story. "I say 'don't you f*****g move'," said Burgess, stood behind the former England spinner. "I'm choking him and I say pull the van over now. "He's not saying a word. I start tugging the wheel and everyone's screaming. This guy didn't break character. "I say I'll put you to sleep. I say to John I'm going to choke him out. Handbrake on, keys out, he's out the vehicle as well as the other guy. I get in the front seat. The cameraman looks at me and I say you can get out as well." Ultimately, another contestant - former Australian athlete Jana Pittman - convinced Burgess to snap out of it, but not before he'd tried to find some food after nearly two weeks of brutal training. "I've then got the mini-bus, me and four other contestants," he continued. "I was starving. "I thought I'd go to KFC. But I had no money. I'm driving down the road, don't know where to go, but I'm free. I thought I'd completed the show. "I'm driving around and this vehicle comes towards us. It's definitely from the show. I took it on. They swerved off. I wanted to win. "There's a woman still on the show, Jana Pittman, amazing athlete. She said to me 'you've taken it a bit too far'. I came back into normal life. "I drove past a pub so I pulled in there. Within about 15 minutes, we were surrounded by six cars. Ant Middleton came back on the bus and they absolutely flogged us for about 12 hours. Article continues below "We lost two contestants that night. They never aired any part of that show because we weren't insured. None of it has been aired. "They loved it, though. They reckon it's the best escape story they've ever had."
