May TBR
It’s my birthday month, which means I’m having my cake and eating it too with this May TBR. I have no idea what I’ll finish, because 10 books is a lot, but I want to give myself a plethora of options.
I’m reading Kiss Me, Maybe right now and the last three books on the list are for Black Romance Book Festival. I will read some nonfiction this month, but I don’t really plan that out. I just read whatever seems interesting or is available on Libby. But let’s dive into what’s on my May TBR!
If I Could Go Back by Briana Johnson
An achingly compassionate and beautifully empathetic novel exploring the intersections of race, mental health, and the meaning of family—perfect for fans of Robin Benway’s Far from the Tree and Jas Hammonds’ We Deserve Monuments.
For Aaliyah Campbell, family is everything. Her cousin Ivy is her best friend and track costar, and Grandpa Joe is her rock. He may be crotchety and dramatic, but he’s raised Aaliyah since she was a toddler. Still, Aaliyah can’t stop thinking about what’s missing—her parents.
When Aaliyah secretly contacts her mom, Lena, she risks upsetting the family who’s always been there for her. But Grandpa Joe refuses to explain why her parents gave her up and, without answers, Aaliyah cannot silence the anxious voice telling her she’s never been good enough.
Aaliyah is hardly surprised when Lena ghosts her, though she’s shocked when her dad, Quincy, steps up instead. Quincy turns out to be immature but surprisingly fun to hang out with. And when the rest of the family finds out they’re in contact, old secrets will finally be forced into the light.
Aaliyah Campbell is a champion for young Black girls coping with anxiety and depression, and a voice for all teens navigating the messy process of learning how to advocate for ones’ self. Through honest storytelling and a voice that oozes humor and heart, Briana Johnson’s memorable debut explores sensitive topics with authenticity and compassion.
The Duke Steals Hearts & Other Body Parts by Elias Cold
A trans teen who steals and ransoms body parts with magic investigates a string of missing girls―falling in love with one of them from afar.
Wielding a magic that allows him to pop off limbs, con artist Phyllis steals body parts and his partner Lucent ransoms them. Everyone who knows about Phyllis’s magic is afraid of him―except for Lucent. But his partner’s love comes with one condition: Phyllis must keep stealing. But when a mark can’t afford ransom for his missing nose, Phyllis loses his resolve. The man claims his sister, Adeline, was taken, and without her money he can’t pay until she’s found.
Intrigued, Phyllis investigates Adeline’s disappearance, but she is not the only missing girl in their seedy city. To gain answers from the nobility, Phyllis masquerades as a duke―Lord Phillip of Rabbiton―and begins to fall in love with both stories of Adeline and the man he’s becoming to try and find her. Soon, he’s not sure he ever wants to return to Lucent and their life of crime together.
When he finally finds Adeline with another missing girl, it turns out they’re not dead―but undead.
To win Adeline’s heart and break from his toxic past, Phillip will have to scheme to keep his title and master his evolving magic.
The Art of Exile by Andrea Max
Legendborn meets The Da Vinci Code in this captivating light academia contemporary fantasy following a teen who infiltrates a secret school for the descendants of exiled Renaissance masters to steal their long-lost arts and sciences.
Unlike the high-achieving members of her family’s secret society, Ada Castle has mastered nothing but the art of falling for the wrong guys. But now she finally has the chance to prove her worth: she just needs to gain access to a hidden school that her family has been trying to locate for generations. Granted, she accidentally goes on a date with the recruiter first, then is temporarily abducted, but Ada manages to secure herself an invitation to the Genesis Institute, where descendants of exiled Renaissance masters practice long-lost arts and sciences.
The school is a utopia of sustainable technology, medical advancements, and myths come to life, yet they are unjustly hoarding their resources. Ada goes undercover to steal their innovations for the rest of the world, but Genesis nurtures her creativity and challenges her views, and she can’t help but fall for the school…and maybe also for her frustratingly off-limits recruiter-turned-mentor.
Ada’s tangle of lies starts to unravel when one of her new friends goes missing. To rescue her, Ada is forced to work with a dangerous (and dangerously hot) classmate whose suspicions threaten her cover. And when the information she’s shared with her family puts her missing friend and all of Genesis in peril, she’ll have to choose whom to betray: the family she loves or the school that has helped her find herself.
Get Real, Chloe Torres by Crystal Maldonado
When Chloe Torres plans the perfect summer to reunite her estranged BFFs—a cross-country road trip to see their favorite boy band!—there’s only one difficulty… getting them to actually go along for the ride.
Chloe Torres’ birthday has always marked the end of summer—but as she turns eighteen and prepares to leave for her freshman year of art school, it feels like the end of more than that. It’s the end of her adolescence, which means it’s time to leave the past behind… but can she really let go of the two estranged best friends she left there?
NOPE. Chloe decides to take one more shot at healing the friend breakup she’s always regretted: planning the bucket-list trip neither girl can say no to. She’s taken care of everything: the car, the hotels, and concert tickets to see their favorite boy band’s reunion show in Las Vegas—stage seats, so close they can fangirl right in front of the boys’ faces. But first, her ex-BFFs have to say yes.
And to say yes, they’d all have to be talking… which they haven’t done since Ramona kissed Chloe, and everything imploded.
But with some clever finagling (and some undignified begging) Chloe gets them all on board. Of course, being in a car together for two weeks brings back old feelings… a lot of old feelings… and soon enough, Chloe wants Sienna, Ramona wants Chloe, and everything is on fireeeee.
This sizzling summer adventure from YA star Crystal Maldonado is a hilarious and heartfelt romcom with a little something for everyone: fat positivity, sapphic romance, a blazing love triangle, ADHD representation, a diversity of Latine identities, a once-in-a-lifetime roadtrip—and the perfect it’s-finally-happening kiss.
This Could Be Forever by Ebony LaDelle
This compelling and complex romance about love across cultures follows a Black girl and Brown boy who find themselves—and each other—while pursuing their passions the summer before college.
Deja’s got a plan. The first in her large family to go to college, she wants to study chemistry and sell natural skin care products, like the ones she already creates from plants grown on her family’s North Carolina farm. It all starts with the Onward Bound summer program at the University of Maryland, the summer before school officially starts.
Raja’s got a dream. His traditional Nepali parents want him to study engineering and settle down in an arranged marriage, but his passion is art, and he wants to open his own tattoo parlor one day. In the meantime, he’s apprenticing at a tattoo shop in College Park, Maryland.
When Deja walks into the shop where Raja’s working, they both start crushing hard—over the course of the summer, they fall more and more deeply for one another. But the closer they get and the more their lives entwine, the more they find that dating someone who doesn’t match your parents’ expectations is harder than they ever imagined.
Can they bridge the divide between the vision their families have for their futures and the lives—and love—that are starting to feel like destiny?
When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
Four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen’s disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, True Detective, Mexican Gothic, and Midsommar.
When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh’s family. Disappearances like this aren’t uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.
For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poor—well, nothing good comes their way.
Neera sets out to investigate Dawson’s whereabouts—if he even still lives—along with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the town’s founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next. How deep does the rot go, and can they find a way to escape its reach?
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
A shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with, in this sparkling and heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest.
Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming a children’s books editor, but she’s been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over email turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain—until he ghosts her without a word.
Months later, Lily is still crushed, but she’s determined to get a hold of her life, starting with finding a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, who she feels drawn to for reasons she can’t explain. But little does she know, Nick is an author—her favorite fantasy author.
Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet girl from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over email months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but—not when he can’t get her off his mind…
The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann
Joy is in love with Malcolm.
But Malcolm really likes Summer.
Summer is in love with love.
And Fox is Summer’s ex-boyfriend.
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he’s met the love of his life—and no, it’s not Joy—she’s heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.
Fox sees a kindred spirit in Joy—and decides to help her. He proposes they pretend to fall for each other on the weekend trip to make Malcolm jealous. But spending time with Fox shows Joy what it’s like to not be the third wheel, and there’s no mistaking the way he makes her feel. Could Fox be the romantic partner she’s always deserved?
The Blood Gift by N.E. Davenport
Legendborn meets Red Rising in this stunning conclusion to N. E. Davenport’s fast-paced, sexy, action-packed sci-fantasy duology. Elite warrior Ikenna and her rogue cohort must outrun bounty hunters, their former comrades, and a megalomaniacal demi-god, all in the hopes of saving their friends and enemies from the racist and misogynistic oppression that threatens the continents from all sides.
After discovering the depth of betrayal, treachery, and violence perpetrated against her by Mareen’s Tribunal Council and exposing her illegal blood-gift to save her Praetorian squad, Ikenna becomes a fugitive with a colossal bounty on her head.
Yet, somehow, that’s the least of her worries.
Her grandfather’s longtime allies refuse to offer help, and the Blood Emperor’s Warlord is tracking her. She’s also struggling to control the enormous power she was granted by the Goddess of Blood Rites…and come to terms with the promises she made to get such power.
Amidst all of this, the Blood Emperor wages a full-scale invasion against Mareen and leaves a trail of decimated cities, war crimes, and untold death in his wake. As the horrors increase, Ikenna and her team realize they must assassinate the Blood Emperor and quickly end the war. But the price to do so is steep and has planet-shattering consequences.
The price to do nothing, though, is annihilation.
War has erupted. Alliances are fracturing. And Ikenna is torn between her loyalties, her desires for revenge, and the power threatening to consume her. With the world aflame, only one thing is certain: blood will be spilled.
