Hi! We’re Novellic 👋 New to Substack, but expert book recommenders and book club community-builders since 2020.
Our mobile app is our bread and butter (you can download it here), but we couldn’t resist joining Substack—the coziest, most bookish corner of the internet we’ve found in ages. Here, we’ll be sharing thoughtfully curated collections of new releases across literary, genre fiction, and non-fiction, tailored for real readers, not algorithms.
So if you’re overwhelmed by BookTok or craving something more personal, subscribe for straightforward, genuinely engaging recommendations—handpicked by us, for you. To start, here are twelve exciting books releasing this month!
🌸 UK Book Releases: May 🌸
May is the month that actually delivers on spring's promises. Blossom on the trees, evenings that stretch just a little longer, and the ever-tempting urge to crack open something new.
Your TBR isn't going to fill itself — here's where we think you should start.
The Last Contract of Isako — Fonda Lee — May 5
Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow-to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her legacy. But when a competitor offers her a final mission, it's one she can't refuse. Soon, she's thrust deep into a world of corporate espionage, duty-bound duels, and shadowy secrets. What she uncovers will change humanity's existence in the stars forever. The Last Contract of Isako is the sci-fi you didn't know you needed: corporate samurai... in space.
Boring Asian Female — Canwen Xu — May 7
Elizabeth Zhang has her whole life mapped out — perfect grades, immigrant work ethic, Harvard Law. Until she's rejected, and her classmate Laura Kim isn't. What follows is an obsession that starts as curiosity and curdles into something far darker. Layered, subversive, and wickedly satirical, Boring Asian Female is a razor-sharp exploration of ambition, identity, and how far a person will go when they believe they've been robbed of what they deserve.
How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance and the Race to Save Our Words — Sophia Smith Galer — May 7
When journalist Sophia Smith Galer's Italian grandmother died, she took with her a dialect — and with it, an entire world. It's a loss playing out on a global scale: by the end of this century, half of the world's 7,000 languages could be gone. Travelling from Ghana to Ecuador, Greece to Oman, Smith Galer reports from the frontlines of this quiet extinction, meeting those fighting to keep their languages alive. How to Kill a Language is an urgent, deeply personal investigation into one of the least visible crises of our time.
Honey — By Imani Thompson — May 7
Yrsa doesn't mean to kill the Cambridge professor — she just flicks a bee into his drink, expecting a sting. But he dies, and she feels something unexpected: control. What follows is darkly comic, sexy, and completely unpredictable. Honey is a deliciously subversive novel about justice, boredom, and the particular thrill of a woman who decides she's done playing by the rules.
Such a Nice Girl — Andrea Mara — May 7
The morning after a luxury wedding, two mothers open the door to find their daughters gone — just a smashed lamp, a bloodstain, and a ringing phone. As they race to unravel what happened, a devastating question emerges: is one of their daughters trying to kill the other? A propulsive, twisty thriller about friendship, motherhood, and the secrets we keep even from those closest to us.
The Things We Never Say — Elizabeth Strout — May 7
Artie Dam lives a quiet, outwardly contented life — history teacher, devoted husband, weekend sailor — but inside he is consumed by a sense of isolation and a nagging question: how little do we truly know the people closest to us? When a long-kept secret surfaces and upends everything, he is forced to reckon with his relationships and his life anew. Written with Elizabeth Strout's signature precision and tenderness, The Things We Never Say is a deeply moving novel about grief, friendship, and the liberation that can come from finally facing the truth.
Hunger & Thirst — Claire Fuller — May 7
In 1987, sixteen-year-old Ursula — adrift after years in the care system — finds something like family in a squat, a wild new friend, and the ramshackle promise of belonging. But a terrible dare carries consequences that follow her for decades. Thirty-six years later, living under a pseudonym as a reclusive sculptor, her past is closing in from more than one direction. Claire Fuller's Hunger and Thirst is a chilling, compulsive novel about loneliness, female friendship, and the dangerous lengths we go to in order to feel truly loved.
American Fantasy — Emma Straub — May 14
Annie is freshly divorced, being replaced at work by her own intern, and somehow on a cruise with her favourite boyband and a thousand die-hard fans. Keith is fifty, still doing hip thrusts on stage, and quietly convinced his marriage is over. When a meet-and-greet throws them together, something unexpected sparks. Warm, funny, and completely charming, this is a novel about second chances, unlikely connections, and what happens when real life interrupts the fantasy.
Common Decency — Tom Allen — May 21
Oak Drive is the kind of street where bins must be returned promptly and paintwork stays tastefully muted — a place where small things matter enormously and big things are left to sort themselves out. Until they don't. When ruthless developers threaten a beloved oak tree, the residents band together, and in doing so, begin to unravel. Common Decency is a sharp, wryly comic portrait of suburban life, repressed resentments, and the secrets that simmer beneath a very well-kept surface.
Murder at The Spirit Lounge — Jess Kidd — May 21
When Gore-on-Sea's resident medium reports a robbery and invites Detective Inspector Rideout to a private séance, sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen smells trouble — and she's right. The evening ends in murder, and more attendees are soon in danger. Atmospheric, witty, and delightfully twisty, this is a mystery that asks whether the killer is entirely of this world.
John of John — Douglas Stuart — May 21
Broke and directionless after art school, Cal Macleod returns to the windswept island of Harris to find himself caught between the same two forces that shaped his childhood: his devout, quietly disappointed father, and his sharp-tongued Glaswegian grandmother. As the seasons pass and Cal quietly searches for connection in an isolated place that has little room for him, the threads holding the community together begin to fray. Douglas Stuart's John of John is a tender, heartbreaking portrait of belonging, expectation, and the weight of coming home.
The Secret Thread — Eve Chase — May 28
Mimi Mott, celebrated interior designer and style icon, is auctioning off her estate, intent on telling the true story of her life in objects. Her new assistant, Jo O’Mara, is determined to win Mimi’s trust. But Jo has secrets of her own, and time is running out to unpick the past. Who is Mimi, really? A woman who rose from humble beginnings – but at what cost? What happened in that Wiltshire manor house during the summer of 1969?
We hope you’ve found something that piques your interest! Let us know in the comments. And be sure to download the Novellic app to peruse all of our curated collections.
Happy reading, book friends!