What We Read in May 2026

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Here we go again, 10 days into the month and I’m finally putting this post up. May was a slower reading month for me, but a good one!

Here’s what we read in May:

Cathy

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura, translated by Yuka Maeno

The Cherry Blossom Bookshop appears when its visitors need it most during cherry blossom season. There, they’re greeted by Sakura, the owner, and her cat, Kobako, and have space and time to reflect and heal on difficult times in their lives. The book is split into sections with one guest arriving per season and the shorter chapters in between give you a glimpse into Sakura and Kobako’s life at the bookshop between visitors.

I feel like I say this every time I read a book like this but I adore this genre of cosy fiction. The stories are always so warming and give me such a nice feeling. The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop is no different – I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the stories a little bit more sad than other books in this genre but the bookshop’s visitors do get a happy ending and you’re left with a positive feeling at the end.

This one is 4 stars for me.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Brimstone by Callie Hart

I devoured the first book in this series, Quicksilver, when I read it last year. The characters are amusing, the writing is fun, and there’s a good balance between action and description to make the book engaging. However, I don’t know if I think Brimstone is as good as Quicksilver. I have a feeling my problem is that I read the first book a while ago and can only remember bits of the story. And there’s more politics happening in the first half of the book so I’m hoping my feelings towards the story will change the more I read.

Brimstone starts in the middle of Saeris’ story so I’d recommend starting with Quicksilver to get the full background. The world / lore / history of the universe the series is set in is very well done, enough details for you to feel like you understand why things are happening, and the banter between the characters is funny. I’m holding out hope that I just need to give the story a bit more time to get going and then it’ll be good.

So far though, it’s 3 stars.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Joli

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-Reum, Translated by Shanna Tan

Every Day I Read is a pretty quick read full of short essays on different aspects of books, reading, and life as a reader.

At first, I really liked it. The essays made me so nostalgic about falling in love with reading and I enjoyed getting to know the author and her thoughts and feelings about books.

It does start to get a little bit pretentious as you go on, though. The author reads a lot of classics and some really highbrow stuff and isn’t afraid to talk intellectually about them. I didn’t mind that, but I did notice that some reviewers were a little bit put off.

I definitely liked the essays at the beginning more than the ones later in the book. I was enchanted…and then I got a little bit bored because I wanted her to talk more about books that I’ve read or at least heard about more.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Audiobook)

I needed an audiobook that was more of an adventure or otherwise entertaining. When I was scrolling audiobooks available now on Libby, I came across Piranesi. I remembered hearing about it a lot when it came out and knew it was really popular, so I went for it.

Did I read at all about what the book was actually about, or even its genre? Nope! I just started it and hoped for the best. And it turned out to be a good choice!

I was pretty rapt at first, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The main character is in this weird world, but he has a friend who seems to have access to things that aren’t a part of that world. It was confusing as heck, to be honest, but definitely held my attention and kept me wanting to listen to figure out what on Earth was going on!

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline

Christina Baker Kline is one of my favorite authors. I loved Orphan Train, A Piece of the World, and The Exiles, so I was really looking forward to reading The Foursome.

Man, what a ridiculously challenging concept to take on in historical fiction. The story is based on the true story of Eng and Chang Bunker, conjoined twins who immigrated from Siam to North Carolina in the 19th century, before the Civil War. They are why conjoined twins are also called “Siamese twins.”

The two men married two sisters and had large families, and The Foursome attempts to explain what it might have looked like inside of those relationships. Pretty fascinating stuff, and I thought Kline did an amazing job of getting into the characters’ minds. It wasn’t my top favorite of her books, but it was definitely worth the read.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Megan

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

The Singing Hills Cycle is a beautiful set of novellas following the adventures of the traveling archivist-cleric Chih and their talking bird(-like being) companion Almost Brilliant.

The two I’ve read so far, Mammoths at the Gates and Into the Riverlands, manage to pack vibrant characters, rich worldbuilding, and deep themes around memory, history, and storytelling into their short page count.

Immediately after finishing Riverlands, I was ready to go back and read it again to try and pick up on how all the different stories fit into the completed puzzle revealed at the end. These books can be read in any order, so go pick up whichever you can find! The seventh book, A Long and Speaking Silence, was released last month.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Molly

I only made it through one book this month, but it was a long one!

The Strength of the Few by James Islington

The sequel to The Will of the Many picks up where the first installment left off (minor spoilers ahead, as it’s difficult to talk about the book without them).

Vis returns to Caten and must navigate his new position as politician and celebrity while fighting to secure the place in the Hierarchy that he sacrificed everything for. All the while, he also tries to discover the truth behind Callidus’s murder, keep his remaining friends safe, and uncover the secrets on Solivagus that he only scratched the surface of during the Iudicium.

In the world of Obiteum, where the air and water are poison and an undead army patrols the desert, another version of Vis unites with his adoptive uncle Caeror. He learns of a coming Cataclysm, and dedicates himself to training so he can destroy Ka, Obiteum’s godlike ruler, and save his friends in Caten.

The third version of Vis in the world of Luceum must navigate without the help of a guide. To save his life, he has to quickly learn the politics, beliefs, and language of his new environment. Tenuous relationships between druids and kings threaten him at every turn as he reinvents himself to survive.

I thought the book did a great job of balancing between the three storylines and showing the connections between them. The pacing was expertly handled. There were a few moments where it felt like Vis was conveniently handed exactly what he needed at exactly the right time, but overall I enjoyed it and will be anxiously awaiting answers to the new questions asked by the ending.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Renee

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

PJ Halladay is a good but deeply flawed person. His ex-wife still cares about him, but she left him for the neighbor, Fred, after their oldest daughter died. Their youngest daughter, Sophie, resents him. And even though he’s typically a friendly drunk, he’s still an alcoholic.

Throughout the course of the book, PJ is on a roadtrip with his newly unemployed daughter Sophie, who is mostly along to drive (he lost his license) and make sure he doesn’t kill the kids.

Because PJ is now the legal guardian of two orphaned children.

Joining them is a mysterious orange cat, Pancakes.

They’re roadtripping to Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona so he can find the newly widowed love of his life, Michelle Cobb. The one who got away. He’s imagining proposing to her and riding off into the sunset together.

Full of dark humor, this book has a lot to say about second chances, redemption, and the nature of family and what constitutes as one. Everyone in this book is fighting some kind of battle they don’t always outwardly share. It was a delightful read. I couldn’t put it down, but I didn’t want it to end.

See my full review on StoryGraph.

PS: This one made Joli’s list of favorite reads in 2025!

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak

This was the perfect thriller to kick off the summer. The setting at an upscale camp along the water in New Hampshire was atmospheric and added to the tension throughout the book.

Frank hasn’t talked to his daughter, Maggie, in 3 years. Then she calls him up out of the blue to say she’s getting married and wants him to be there.

Frank is excited at first, and thrilled that his daughter is back in his life again. But as the wedding gets closer, he can’t shake the feeling that something is really wrong and he wonders what Maggie is getting herself into.

Right as he’s about to leave for Osprey Cove, Maggie’s new in-laws’ upscale camp where the wedding will be held, he gets a mysterious piece of mail that simply says “Where is Dawn Taggart?”

After doing a bit of research, he comes to learn that Dawn Taggart has been missing for a while, and she was last seen with Maggie’s fiance, Aidan Gardner.

The Gardners are very wealthy. They can make any problem go away. Frank knows he’s becoming a problem, but he needs to help his daughter.

This book is full of secrets. The twists aren’t super twisty, but I didn’t find them super predictable, either. It was just the perfect amount of suspense. I couldn’t put the book down and wanted to be in that camp setting, even if it did feel deeply unsafe.

See my full review on StoryGraph.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Lizzie hasn’t seen her best friend and college roommate, Bex, since Lizzie flew across the country to visit her after college and Bex wouldn’t answer the door. She sent Lizzie an email saying she didn’t want to see her anymore.

But Lizzie has still been following Bex’s life from afar. More than a decade later, now, Bex, who now goes by Rebecca, is a trad wife social media influencer. She homeschools her kids, bakes everything, tends to the chickens and goats, takes care of farm chores, and is the perfect wife to her husband Gray, a man of importance in his church.

It’s definitely not the life Lizzie ever saw for Bex, but it’s the only glimpses she gets now.

Then Bex messages her one night out of the blue, asking her to attend a mom-fluencer conference where she’ll be making a big announcement she wants Lizzie to cover for the women’s magazine where she works.

Lizzie goes. She has one perfect night of catching up with Bex, putting the past behind them.

And then Bex’s husband is found dead the next morning, and Bex is missing.

While everyone is sure Rebecca did it, Lizzie doesn’t believe it. She keeps getting secret messages from Bex giving her more clues to lead her to the real story.

The story is captivating, but also completely believable in the sense that these influencers really do exist, and they’re really good at putting a shine on their lives that just doesn’t exist in reality. Everything you see is fake. Everyone is lying to you.

Check out my full review on StoryGraph.

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph | PangoBooks

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That’s it! That’s what we’ve been reading. What did you read in May?