Ep 463 – Most Anticipated Books for May + June!

Episode notes

Brea and Mallory talk about their most anticipated books for May and June. Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com!

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Books Mentioned –

Odd Man In by Stephen Whyno

Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka
MAY

Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer
Literary, friendship, senior protagonist, funny, lifelong best friends, petty crime

The May House by Jillian Cantor
Literary, sisters, family secrets, inherited beach house with conditions

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel
Literary, senior protagonist, Texas, woman accidentally getting pregnant in her 80s

June Baby by Shannon Garvey
Literary, romance, all over one summer, wealthy beach town, coming of age

Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Literary, romance, summer, Southern, North Carolina, beach read

Coyoteland by Vanessa Hua
Literary, Chinese American family movies into a gated community and sets off a series of scandals

Ghalen: A Romance in Black by Walter Mosley

Literary, coming of age, family saga, neurodivergence

Take Me with You by Steven Rowley
Literary, magical realism, romance, queer, man mysteriously abandoned by his husband

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Literary, family drama, teacher, isolation

Returns and Exchanges by Kayla Rae Whitaker
Literary, historical, 1980s Kentucky, family drama, queer, family business

Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu
Literary, incoming ballistic missile crash sends Asian American community in Massachusetts into chaos

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig
Sequel to Midnight Library

Waiting on a Friend by Natalie Adler
Magical realism, 1980s NYC, historical, young “dyke about town” has the power to see ghosts

One Leg on Earth by Pemi Aguda
Speculative fiction, Lagos, inexplicable force haunting pregnant women

The Summer Boy by Philippe Besson, translated by Sam Taylor
Literary, mystery, historical, 1980s, gay, six teens on a French island for a summer of discovery until one disappears

Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You by Julian Delgado Lopera
Literary, Columbia, underground queer scene, coming of age, possibly a curse

Homebound by Portia Elan
Speculative fiction, queer, historical, five interwoven lives, sentient robot

Canon by Paige Lewis
Speculative fiction, queer, sapphic, two lesbians battling for God’s favor

Babylon, South Dakota by Tom Lin
Historical, Chinese American family trying to survive on a farm under a looming military secret

Patient, Female by Julie Schumacher
Short stories about ordinary women

John of John by Douglas Stuart
Literary, gay, historical, Scotland, close island community

Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Book 6 of Before the Coffee Gets Cold

The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony
Historical, Ireland, home for fallen girls, 1950s, dual timelines

The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles
Historical, 1990s, American woman takes a job in a Paris library

The Young Will Remember by Eve J. Chung
Historical, 1950s, female war correspondent trapped behind enemy lines in the Korean War

Pixie by Jill Dawson
Historical, England, reimagining of Pamela Coleman Smith’s life, tarot

The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline
Historical, 1830s, reimagining of the sisters who married famous conjoined twins Chang and Eng

Five Weeks in the Country by Francine Prose
Historical, reimagining of the friendship between Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen

A Perfect Hand by Ayelet Waldman
Historical, 1800s England, a secret love between a lady’s maid and a valet

The Hope Keeper by Heather Webb
YA, historical, mystery, 1919, Washington DC, the Hope Diamond

A Zoom with a View by Jess Cannon
Cozy mystery, Texas, small town, real estate, body found on a property

The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman
Mystery, post WWII London, boarding house

The Great Houses of Pill Hill by Diane Josefowicz
Locked room mystery, woman who makes miniatures of murder scenes

Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet by Emma Mills
Mystery, celebrity gossip, reporter and her quirky neighbors solving a murder, 2008 Los Angeles

Murder Most Delicious by Danielle Postel-Vinay
Cozy mystery, quirky locals in a small Parisian neighborhood, sommelier who lost her sense of smell, food

Murder at the Hotel Orient by Alessandra Ranelli
Mystery, Vienna, spicy romance, whodunnit, historical hotel

Five by Ilona Bannister
Thriller, five random people are waiting for a train and one of them is going to die soon

Artifacts by Natalie Lemle
Thriller, museums, stolen artifacts, organized crime

Safari Murder Party by Rachel Moore
Thriller, two rivals must team up to escape wild animals, corporate retreat gone wrong

The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego
Thriller, locked room, haunted library, bookseller protagonist

The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick
Queer spy thriller, “if Guy Ritchie directed an episode of Queer Eye”

Abyss by Nicholas Binge
Horror, corporate, cosmic, “Severance meets Lovecraft”

The Dorians by Nick Cutter
Horror, five seniors on a remote Canadian island in an experiment to restore their youth

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
Horror, secluded community, healing

Dead Weight by Hildur Knutsdottir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal
Horror, thriller, novella, friendship, new friend who has trouble tailing her

Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka
Horror, haunted house, stressed out mom, frustrated artist, film director, upstate NY

House of Margins by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Horror, writing residency in exclusive colonial African mansion, disappearance

Mortedant’s Peril by RJ Barker
Fantasy murder mystery, cleric, ancient automata

The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
Fantasy, gothic, historical Hong Kong, ancient myths, ghosts

The Franchise by Thomas Elrod
Sci fi, Game of Thrones meets The Truman Show

The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston
Sci fi, extradimensional murder mystery, St. Berdoodle dog detective

The Rainshow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro
Fantasy, sci fi, Japanese folklore, dragons, sun spirits, hackers, underground crime

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie
Sci fi, space opera, queer, standalone novel in the Imperial Radch world

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee
Sci fi, space opera, corporate samurai, legendary swordswoman

Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler
Sci fi, speculative fiction, four teens caught between Nazis and the Red Army must survive winter with help of flock of crows with a secret

We Dance Upon Demons by Vaishnavi Patel
Contemporary fantasy, reproductive health worker who gets powers to fight malevolent attacks on her clinic

Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth
Fantasy, epic, dystopian, romance, soldiers

Startup Hell by Caitlin Rozakis
Fantasy, junior sales witch in literal corporate hell, hot demon

And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer
Sci fi, intergalactic art heist, ragtag group of misfits

The Bone Door by Frances White
Fantasy, YA, queer, trapped in an ancient labyrinth with a mysterious girl

Out Law by Jim Butcher
Fantasy, Dresden Files, novella

The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty
Amina Al-Sirafi book 2

Broken Dove by Dani Francis
Silver Elite book 2

I Hear a New World by Alan Moore
Long London book 2

A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo
The Singing Hills Cycle book 7

Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots
Hench book 2

Platform Decay by Martha Wells
Murderbot book 8

Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow
Romantasy, dark academia, magical veterinary college, London

Verity Guild by Mai Corland
Romantasy, ancient Rome, enemies to lovers, traitors

The Arcane Arts S.D. Coverly
Romantasy, academic, taboo magic, graduate student and her advisor

A Curse of Beasts and Magic by Jeaniene Frost
Romantasy, Beauty and the Beast meets The Witcher

Wings of Life by Meghan Le Fay
Romantasy, dragons, enemies to lovers, slow burn, spy bride

A Queen Crowned in Flames by Hazel McBride
Bonded to Beasts book 2

Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen
Wolves of Ruin book 2

Death’s Daughter by S.A. Barnes
Paranormal romance, dark academia with Greek gods

The Shippers by Katherine Center
Contemporary romance, destination wedding on a cruise ship, childhood friends to lovers

The Last Lady B by Eloisa James
Historical romance, gothic, ghosts, virgin widow starting over, pet piglet

By the Bootstraps by Alexa Martin
Contemporary cowboy romance, Texas, cowboy romance lover wants to find one in real life

The Summer Share by Jenn McKinlay
Contemporary romance, two people discover they’ve inherited the same beach house

The Undergrands: Student Union by Julie Murphy
Contemporary romance, rom com, college marriage of convenience

Fever Dream by Elsie Silver
Contemporary romance, small town, forbidden rivals to lovers, Western

The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore
Contemporary romance, Dream Harbor book 6

My Mother’s Daughter: Finding Myself in My Family’s Fractured Past by Tracy Clark-Flory
Memoir

Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe by Gail Crowther
Nonfiction

Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of An Immigrant Daughter by Ada Ferrer
Memoir

Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can’t Forget by Reyna Grande
Memoir

Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About by Isabel Klee
Memoir, NYC, search for love and the dogs who helped her find it

This Dark Night: Emily Bronte, a Life by Deborah Lutz
Biography

An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln
Lois Romano

A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World-And How It Can Save Us by Bruce Feiler
Self-Help

Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom by Jet Li
Self-Help

Ugly: A Letter to My Daughter by Stephanie Fairyington
Nonfiction exploration of queer motherhood and beauty standards

Mothman is My Boyfriend by McKayla Coyle
Romance, paranormal, ten tales of cryptid dating

You Pierce My Soul by Jessica Mary Best
YA, sapphic, dystopian, romance algorithm gone wrong

It’s Never Going to Happen by Sarah Levine
Romance, sapphic, contemporary, lobster fisherwoman meets head chef, enemies to lovers

Smash or Pass by Birdie Schae
YA, contemporary sports romance, sapphic, volleyball

No Fats, No Fems by Max Hovey
Nonfiction, guide to queer empathy

Plastic, Prism, Void by Violet Allen
Sci fi, queer, magical girl and mech pilot, trans protagonist, enemies to lovers

Decomposition Book by Sara Van Os
Horror, weird fiction, sapphic, women who finds dead body and gets attached

A Star Cursed Heart by Annie Mare
Romantasy, sapphic, enemies to lovers, witches who are mortal enemies

Running Home to You by Samantha Saldivar
Contemporary sports romance, sapphic, college softball

That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall
YA horror, Hawaiian gothic, supernatural thriller, teen girl looking for her twin at a luxury resort

I’ll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel
Horror, reimagining of Linda Taylor

We Could Be Anyone by Anna-Marie McLemore
YA thriller, horror, White Lotus meets Mexican Gothic

In Your Court by Kit Haley
Gay sports romance, contemporary, tennis

Spawning Season by Joseph Osmundson
Nonfiction, queer parenthood

No God But Us by Bobuq Sayed
Literary, gay, two Afghan men banished from their homes collide in Istanbul

The Maidenheads by Benny B. Peterson
Literary, queer, indie musicians, first love

Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson
Sci fi, epidemic of people vanishing, two Depopulation Affairs agents investigate woman who claims she has returned

The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch
Paranormal sports romance, half giant athlete with a maybe human cheerleader

Bromantasy by Maire Roche
Romantasy, cozy, queer, epic quest with two totally platonic best guy friends

Ode to the Half Broken by Suzanne Palmer
Sci fi, robot after the end of the world realizes they must go on a quest, with a dog in tow

JUNE

Pool House by Mary H.K. Choi

Literary, motherhood, Hollywood, grief, summer, family drama

The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff

Literary, couple in a collapsing marriage has their house go up in flames which reveals secrets

Long Island Girls by Gabrielle Korn

Literary, 2000s, indie music world, queer coming of age

Worse than Strangers by Kyleigh Leddy

Literary, retelling of Persuasion set in Nantucket

Alan Opts Out by Courtney Maum

Literary, man bombs a huge pitch meeting at work and decides to live off the land in his Connecticut home

When You Loved Me by Beatriz

Literary, mystery, romance, woman returns to her late father’s New England estate and is drawn into a pirate treasure hunt that consumed his life

The Animal Room by Lauren Acampora

Short stories, interconnected, human-animal relations, small town New England

Bookstore Girls by Kei Aono, translated by Hayden Trowell

Literary, Japan, two women put aside their differences to save their bookstore

They All Fall in Love at the End by Haili Blassingame

Literary, big messy open relationship

Contrapposto by Dave Eggers

Literary, coming of age, first love that transforms a young artist

Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh

Speculative fiction, magical realism, 1960s, girl with mysterious powers

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

Literary, coming of age, young man takes assistant job in Italy to wealthy widow, focaccia

Meeting New People by Daniel M. Lavery

Literary, older woman looking at failed friendships across her life trying to learn how to do things differently

Mad Eden by Morgan Thomas

Literary, trans healthcare worker whose life unravels, autism

The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain

Historical, reimagining of the last year of Sylvia Plath’s life

A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Historical, 1930s, NYC, a female prosecutor and madam team up to bring down a notorious gangster

Land by Maggie O’Farrell

Historical, Ireland, 1865, ancient forest, a sundered family, a good dog

Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See

Historical, 1870, three Chinese immigrant women come to Los Angeles

A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys

Historical, gothic, Prohibition-era Detroit, daughter of a car magnate goes to a retreat filled with secrets

Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom

Mystery, failed professor solving a murder on campus

The Dog Walkers’ Detective Agency by Michael Hogan

Mystery, cozy, dogwalker stumbles on a body in the woods and sets out to solve the murder with his fellow dogwalkers

Heather by Caitlin Mullen

Mystery, small town detective, unsolved case, New England, the unknowable inner lives of women

The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen

Mystery, funny, a group of disaster gays trying to solve a murder

Strangers Behind Closed Doors by Catherine Adel West

Mystery, woman disappears from a hotel room and a detective believes it’s connected to other cases about missing Black women

Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd

Nora Breen book 2

Whisper Creek by Allison Brennan

Thriller, Texas, storms, family drama, one family fighting for their land

The Final Chapter by C.B Everett

Thriller, book within a book, a famous author detailing his disappearance through the pages of a coded espionage novel

It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell

Thriller, woman trying to return lost dog gets entangled with a mysterious house

Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne

Thriller, mom who is actually an assassin and needs a babysitter

Valley of the Moms by Hannah Selinger

Thriller, Stepford Wives meets Big Little Lies

Tell Your Friends by Lauren Wilson

Thriller, a former child star and obsessive fan collide

You First: A Joe Goldberg Prequel by Caroline Kepnes

Thriller

Muñeca by Cynthia Gomez

Horror, sapphic, Latine witch, gothic, 1960s Oakland

Headlights by CJ Leede

Horror, serial killer, Colorado, innocent people waking up on the side of the highway wearing people’s skins

It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

Horror, Peter Pan meets It

Marion by Leah Rowan

Horror, retelling of Psycho from Marion’s perspective where she doesn’t die

The Children by Melissa Albert

Fantasy, estranged adult children of famous author were written into her fantasy series and must now contend with magical consequences

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Aden

Fantasy, historical, orphaned duchess must journey into mythical world

Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry

Fantasy, “blood soaked romp through high society”

The Traveler by Joseph Eckert

Sci fi, father son relationship, time travel,

Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein

Sci fi, out of work actor gets a job with an ultra luxury time travel company and her past might catch up to her

The Reimagining of Thornwood House by Jaleigh Johnson

Fantasy, cozy, witches, romance, a woman and her young ward discover a magical walking house

Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim

Sci fi, doppelgangers, corporate intrigue, when you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind

The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus

Sci fi, Alien meets Ender’s Game

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Sci fi, novella, doctor acquitted for performing an abortion is kidnapped by a fundamentalist cult desperately in need of OB/GYN

Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian

Fantasy, contemporary, London rockstar stumbles onto secret magic society protecting the city

Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Sci fi, noir novel but with animals

Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay

Sci fi, horror, near future tech nightmare, Philip K Dick meets the Coen Brothers

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett

Fantasy, Shadow of the Leviathan book 3

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman

Fantasy, Dungeon Crawler Carl book 8

Inkpot Gods by Seanan McGuire

Fantasy, Alchemical Journeys book 4

Nemesis Mine by Amy Archer

Romantasy, villain and hero fake a feud to boost their reputation and try not to fall in love

Witch Season by Julia Bianco

Romantasy, Los Angeles covens, rival witches must join forces

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher

Romantasy, YA, Casey McQuiston meets The Secret History, magical boarding school

White Lights by Lauren Kate

Romantasy, angels, elite film school, deadly competition

The Winged Game by Sophie Kim

Romantasy, sports romantasy!, rugby-esque violent magic sport, rivals to lovers

The Witch Queen by Heather Walter

Romantasy, Crimson Crown book 2

Reasons to be Loved by You by Hannah Bowen

Contemporary romance, rom-com, summer, dating show

Leave and Come Back by Lavanya Lakshmi

Contemporary romance, comedy of errors, family drama, two week long Indian wedding

Abby Offsides by Anna McCallie

Contemporary romance, woman leaves her cheating fiance and takes a job with an English football club

The Great Outdoors by Kayla Olson

Contemporary romance, high maintenance city girl books a hiking trip to prove her ex wrong

Dearly Departed by Chip Pons

Queer romance, gay rom com, Hades retelling

The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston

Paranormal romance, magic, gardener takes a job at a manor house and finds a mysterious man trapped in a secret garden

Scandal of the Summer of Alexandra Vasti

Historical romance, Regency, spicy, romp, debutante meets smuggler

Big Stick Energy by Sarina Bowen

Sports romance, hockey, New York Legends book 2

Father Material by Alexis Hall

Queen contemporary romance,  London Calling book 3

Tempting Venom by Rina Kent

Contemporary romance, Vipers book 3

Shattered Gods by Katee Robert

Paranormal romance, Dark Olympus book 10

Harvest Season by Brynne Weaver

Dark romance, Seasons of Carnage book 2

Dreams in Which I’m Almost Human by Hannah Soyer

Memoir, disability, genre bending

All This Want (And I Can’t Get None) by T Clark

Short stories of coming of age as a queer person in a small town

Moss’d In Space by Rebecca Thorne

Sci fi, cozy, queer, sentient spaceship

Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe by Sophie Lewis

Nonfiction

Sex in Public: The Transformative Social Power of Our Erotic Lives by Angela Jones

Nonfiction

Monster of a Land: On the Road in Search of Modern America by Lauren Hough

Nonfiction, queer travel

Nymph by Sofia Montrone

Literary, queer, Call Me By Your Name meets Elena Ferrante

You Won’t Forget Me by Mazey Eddings

Contemporary queer romance, rock band, fame, friendship, sapphic

The Call-Up by K.C. Carmichael

Queer contemporary sports romance, gay, hockey, second chance

Fully Baked: A Messy Memoir by Rosebud Baker

Comedian memoir

Don’t Buy What I’m Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole, Fat Self by Lu Chekowsky

Memoir

Transcendent by Laverne Cox

Memoir

Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition and the Biggest Scandal in Chess by Ben Mezrich

Biography

Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age by James M. Tabor

History

The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece by Stephan Talty

History

Decoding the Devil: Black Women Codebreakers and the Secret War Against Stalin’s Bomb by Sarah Valentine

History

Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register by Ann Larson

Nonfiction

When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class by Chris Smalls

Nonfiction

For the Bride by Becca Grishow

Sapphic contemporary romance, if Emily Henry wrote Bridemaids

Girl’s Girl by Sonia Feldman

Literary, sapphic, coming of age, pivotal summer between three teenage best friends

Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan

YA, novel in verse about navigating first love as a nonbinary teenager

Lovers XXX by Allie Rowbottom

Historical, 1980s, Los Angeles, porn filmmaking, friendship, queer

There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed Newson

Historical mystery, 1950s Hollywood, backlot fixer investigates suspicious death of a closeted Black actor

Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes

Historical horror, 1920s Mississippi, wealthy free all-Black town with monsters only women can see

Such a Lucky Girl by Wendy Heard

YA horror, influencer caught in dark magic

The Summer Fun Massacre by Craig Dilouie

Horror, summer camp slasher

Doe by Rebecca Barrow

YA horror, cheerleader makes a deal with a supernatural entity to beat her rival

Samantha Spük: Paranormal Wedding Planner by Aleese Lin

Paranormal contemporary romance, Salem Massachusetts

The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki

Short stories

The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk

Fantasy, cozy, romance, exes team up for a heist

A City Dreaming by Maurice Broaddus

Sci fi, Astra Black book 3

Tales of a Monstrous Heart by Jenniger Delaney

Romantasy, gothic, magic, monsters, love letter to Bronte sisters

Foundling Fathers by Meg Ellison

Sci fi, humor, billionaires clone the Founding Fathers in modern times

The Tinder Box by M.R. Carey

Fantasy, witch and soldier team up when they find a magical artifact

Heaven’s Graveyard by Grace Curtis

Sci fi mystery, sapphic, archaeology, ancient magic, ruins of an enchanted city

We Hexed the Moon by Mollyhall Seeley

Speculative fiction, Bunny meets The Craft

This Immortal Heart by Jennifer Saint

Historical fantasy, reimagining of Aphrodite

Letters from the Last Apothecary by Bita Behzadi

Historical romantasy, cozy, You’ve Got Mail but with magic

Valet by J.P. Lacrampe

Sci fi, helper robot and the man he works for go on an adventure to save the family company