Romance readers, add these May releases to your TBR

BookTok favourite author Elsie Silver is starting a brand-new series with a Western romance novel set in the fictional town of Emerald Lake. The reality TV show storyline is finding its way to more books these days, so expect The Bachelor but featuring farm hands. Of course, it’s set in a small town. Of course it features two leads who are supposed to hate each other. But (of course) they really don’t. To save his bankrupt farm, professional bull rider Emmett Bush agrees to star in Romance Ranch, a not-so-subtly named reality TV series. Julia Silva is the location scout for the said show, and they dislike each other on sight. She’s also his professional rival’s little sister and they’ve both sworn off relationships. We’re taking one shot for every trope covered in this spicy book.

Release date: May 19

This one’s got all the ingredients of a beach read—small town, forced proximity, nosy neighbours, opposites attract, and...a British lord. The female main character is trying to revive her favourite childhood candy store in a town where no one believes in her, while the male lead is a millionaire (duh) who flies to Cape Meril on a dare. Over-the-top chaos, flirty banter, and miscommunication ensue. It’s light, it’s frothy and it literally has the word ‘summer’ in the title and a beach on the cover.

Release date: May 5

In author Carley Fortune’s own words, Our Perfect Storm is her best book yet. Yet another romance trope is ticked off—this time it is friends-to-lovers. It’s about Frankie and George, who have been best friends since they were eight years old. Like all of Fortune’s novels, it takes place in a locale you can picture with your eyes closed. Our Perfect Storm is set in Tofino, a small community on the west coast of Vancouver Island surrounded by rainforests and misty beaches.

Release date: May 5

Football, the original sports romance sport (before Heated Rivalry put ice hockey in the lead), makes an appearance in this new romance novel by Lynn Painter. First and Forever features a footballer and a die-hard fan who first meet as part of a PR stunt. Of course, this leads to some fake dates leading to real sparks and maybe (who are we kidding, it’s guaranteed) a happily ever after?

Release date: May 12

A romance novel featuring a destination wedding on a cruise ship. Need we say more? Katherine Center’s latest romcom takes on the childhood bestie-to-lovers trope. JoJo, our female protagonist, is bad at love. She decides to fix her ‘curse’ by wooing her first crush, not the aforementioned childhood bestie, Cooper, but another guy from her hometown, now a newly divorced wedding guest aboard her sister’s wedding ship. Cooper enters the plot as the one she enlists to help her flirt with the other dude. Friend-’ship' turns into fake flirting, which turns into jealousy, and, eventually, a real relationship.

Release date: May 19

A Pretty Woman-inspired story if Julia Roberts played a single mom instead. Dolly is a quintessential supermom taking care of everything and everyone; Stewart is a rich businessman from a prominent family in town. On a visit to her Rhode Island hometown, Dolly bumps into Stewart, the town’s wealthy workaholic who is dealing with a breakup and a flat tyre. Dolly, of course, knows how to fix one and a picture of them together gets leaked to the tabloids. Stewart, trying to prove himself to his family, makes her a fake dating offer she can’t refuse. Pick it up if you want a three-hour flight to feel like 30 minutes.

Release date: May 26

DIY home renovations take a turn in this new romance book from much-loved author Alexa Martin. Luna Starr has her head in the clouds and an obsession with cowboys, and when dealing with a crisis her solution is to buy a tiny farm in Texas. That’s where she meets self-declared cowboy hater Tate Jacobs, also the town handyman, who grudgingly helps her rebuild her new property. Written entirely from Luna’s POV, early reviews love her story growth and the sunshine-meets-grump romance angle.

Release date: May 26

Two colleagues forced to work together at a law firm is familiar territory for an office romance. But Naina and Tejas also had a rebound, no-strings-attached fling a year and a half ago, back when they didn’t know each other, and that kind of complicates things. Plus, there’s the actual murder case the duo is working on while dealing with their pesky feelings. Mix in some banter, a work bestie, the male lead’s Golden Retriever energy and you may have a winner.

Release date: 12 May

This one’s a second-chance romance set in Hollywood written by Kennedy Ryan. When Verity and Monk broke up back in college, they weren’t just upset about it—it was devastation, heartbreak, and despair. After 10 years, they’re set to work together on the set of a Harlem Renaissance biopic, one with definite Oscar buzz. Score, though, isn’t just a fun, frothy romance. Ryan also tackles caregiving and mental health diagnoses in communities of colour.

Release date: May 19

Bestselling fiction author Matt Haig rolls into the romance genre with a time travel story. Wilbur Budd, a bookstore owner, dies of a heart attack and is taken back through time to the most important moments of his life—his regrets, his life with his wife, Maggie—all on a midnight train. Conceptually similar to his 2020 novel The Midnight Library, this book is also classic Haig—poignant, romantic, with traces of hope thrown in. The blurb, though, is giving modern-day A Christmas Carol.

Release date: May 26