Cover to With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. Image: HarperTeen.
There are plenty of exciting releases hitting shelves in May—meaning readers have a reason to make time to read, even while soaking up the spring weather.
May has arrived, and the warmer half of spring is officially underway. Most of us are excited to wave goodbye to the cold, at least for a little while, and spend more time outdoors. (We need to make up for all that rain in April, after all.) But even if saying farewell to cold, rainy days means less time for curling up with a book, it doesn’t mean that good books aren’t still coming out. In fact, there are plenty of exciting releases hitting shelves in May—meaning readers have a reason to make time to read, even while soaking up the springtime sunshine.
And luckily, the stories being published are well worth finding the time for. To start, plenty of YA science-fiction and fantasy authors are releasing books this month. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are putting their next collaborative novel out into the world, and Hafsah Faizal’s long-awaited and well-reviewed We Hunt the Flame is finally hitting shelves. Stephanie Garber is also wrapping up her Caraval series, and Victoria Aveyard is adding to the Red Queen books with a collection of content entitled Broken Throne.
Some exciting YA contemporary books are also coming out—and it’s the perfect time of year to dive into them. Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X, is releasing her newest novel, as is Maurene Goo (author of The Way You Make Me Feel) and Sandhya Menon (known for When Dimple Met Rishi and From Twinkle, With Love). Mason Deaver is also introducing an already well-reviewed and powerful debut, I Wish You All the Best. Finally, BookTuber Christine Riccio is debuting her contemporary novel, while fellow BookTubers Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings release the second installment in their science-fiction series.
All in all, this month’s YA releases are shaping up to be just as compelling as last month’s. (We can barely keep up with all the amazing YA stories coming out this year.) But if you’re still struggling to find something to read, here are the 10 books we recommend picking up in May.