Your weekly stack just dropped, and honestly? May is coming in hot.
OK but THIS week. My featured pick is Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen. The Dire Bound sequel that approximately 164,000 of us have been losing sleep over. Meryn has the crown, Stark finally gets POV chapters (his thoughts are exactly as unhinged as you hoped), and the early reviews are saying it's even better than book one.
If you need a refresher before you dive in, I put together a complete Dire Bound guide with the full plot, every character, and that ending explained.
Also out this week: Kathryn Stockett writing her first book in FOURTEEN YEARS (I'm reading the ARC right now and a full guide with book club questions is coming next week).
Carley Fortune's new best-friends-to-lovers rom-com, the next Murderbot (human children! eye contact! chaos!), a Founding Mothers historical novel that genuinely made me cry, and a debut where the main character is literally the daughter of Death.
If you missed last week's releases, go check out the April 28 new releases post.
It's a lot. There is a lot. Let's get into it.
⭐️ Featured Release
Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen Book Cover
Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen
The Wolves of Ruin #2
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
If you read Dire Bound, you know exactly why this is the featured pick. Meryn Cooper has inherited the crown of Nocturna and a deadly war. The commoners, the Bonded, and the nobles don't trust their new queen. Her sister Saela is more at risk than ever. And the one person Meryn can trust is Stark Therion the dark, dangerous Alpha she thought hated her.
The early ARC reviews are unanimous: Fury Bound raises everything. Higher stakes, bigger twists, stronger emotions, and Stark's POV chapters are a major addition. If Dire Bound was Fourth Wing meets The Hunger Games, Fury Bound is the Empire Strikes Back moment.
Need a recap before you dive in? Our complete Dire Bound guide has the full plot summary, every character, the big reveal, and the ending explained.
Series: The Wolves of Ruin #2
Tropes: enemies to lovers, direwolf bonds, hidden royalty, political intrigue, slow burn to inferno, morally grey alpha
If you're looking for more reads like Dire Bound and Fourth Wing, our Books Like Fourth Wing list has 15 picks.
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Read if you love: Fourth Wing, The Hunger Games, Dire Bound (obviously)
Historical Fiction
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett Book cover
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Kathryn Stockett's first novel in 14 years. Let that sink in. The author of The Help returns with a Depression-era story set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi. Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, travels to her socialite sister Frances' home to borrow money for their widowed mother. What she finds is a crumbling marriage hidden behind a beautiful mansion and a mother-in-law no one questions.
When Birdie volunteers at the local orphanage, she befriends Meg, an eleven-year-old "unadoptable" abandoned by her mother Charlie. From there, Stockett delivers two stories. Meg's terrible experience at the orphanage and the unraveling lives of Frances' household with Birdie sitting firmly between them, a good soul with no money, an unsupportive sister, and a growing determination to fix what she can.
The women Birdie and Charlie enlist to form The Calamity Club will make you cheer. The racists in town will make you furious. And the writing is just as sharp, funny, and devastating as The Help.
I'm reading an advance copy right now and a full guide with book club discussion questions and ending explained will be on the blog next week.
Read if you love: The Help, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Depression-era historical fiction with fierce women
A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray Book Cover
A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
From the NYT bestselling authors of America's First Daughter and My Dear Hamilton comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams timed for the 250th anniversary of American independence. While her husband John rises from country lawyer to nation-builder, often away for years at a time, Abigail builds her own independence. Managing their farm, making investments, battling plague and loss, and defending their home. She famously urged her husband to "remember the ladies" and warned that if particular care is not paid to them, they will rebel.
The novel follows Abigail from war-torn Boston through the French countryside with Thomas Jefferson, court life in London, and the parlor politics of the early republic. It presents a fair and honest assessment of the founders' justifications for rebellion and their hopes for the country and it is impossible to miss the relevance to today.
I read an ARC and it's phenomenal. On the cusp of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this is a must read.
Read if you love: America's First Daughter, My Dear Hamilton, women who shaped history from behind the scenes
Romance
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune Book Cover
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
From the #1 NYT bestselling author of Every Summer After. Best friends Frankie and George haven't spoken in months. When Frankie's fiancé dumps her on the morning of their wedding, George convinces her to go on her honeymoon anyway. With him. One week in Tofino's lush rainforests and misty beaches to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long-buried feelings neither knows how to handle.
Tropes: best friends to lovers, failed wedding, forced proximity, one last chance
Read if you love: Every Summer After, One Golden Summer, People We Meet on Vacation
Rules for the Summer by Meghan Quinn Book Cover
Rules for the Summer by Meghan Quinn
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Renley bought a failing candy shop. Theo ended up across the ocean after a drunken dare turned botched online engagement. They're next-door neighbors for the summer and neither is ready for what comes next. Collapsing drywall, gossiping neighbors, a meddling aunt, and forced proximity that turns into something dangerously close to real.
Tropes: forced proximity, opposites attract, small-town summer setting, grumpy/sunshine
Read if you love: Beach Read, laugh-out-loud summer rom-coms
Daisy Chain Flower Shop Book Cover
Daisy Chain Flower Shop
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Daisy's flower shop has gained a reputation for being cursed after several weddings she did the flowers for ended in divorce. Dream Harbor newcomer Elliot has been avoiding the shop at all costs. But when his family visits, he reluctantly walks through her door. The perfect spring cozy romance with a fake relationship dynamic, small-town setting, and guaranteed HEA.
Tropes: fake relationship, cursed flower shop, small-town romance, cozy mystery
The Undergrad's Student Union by Julie Murphy Book Cover
The Undergrad's Student Union by Julie Murphy
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
From the #1 NYT bestselling author of Dumplin'. Clover needs married-couple housing to afford her dream school. Bennett owes her from years ago. A college marriage of convenience that goes way beyond chemistry 101.
First in a new trilogy. If you loved Julie Murphy's Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl (like we did here's our review), you'll want this immediately.
Tropes: marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, one bed, college setting
Read if you love: Elle Kennedy, Hannah Grace, new adult romance
Fantasy
Death's Daughter by S.A. Barnes Book Cover
Death's Daughter by S.A. Barnes (Deluxe Edition)
📖 Buy on Amazon| Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Deluxe hardcover with sprayed edges, foil case stamp, and designed endpapers. Jocasta is the only child of Death, hiding her true nature at Beecher University. She feeds on her classmates' disappointments and failures to survive. When a descendant of Lust shows up because Death just named her as his successor, her safe little bubble is about to burst. Neon Gods meets dark academia.
Tropes: dark academia, mythology reimagined, hidden identity, morally grey heroine
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Looking for more dark fantasy romance? Our Books Like ACOTAR list has you covered.
Library of Flowers by L.C. Chu Book Cover
Library of Flowers by L.C. Chu
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
For centuries, the Hua women have held sway over emperors and billionaires with magical perfumes. Every fifth generation, an eldest daughter is born who can summon true love. Lucy was supposed to be that miracle. When her magic failed, she fled. Now a death in the family brings her home, and saddles her with the centuries-old family register full of secrets, formulas, and forgotten truths.
Tropes: magical family legacy, identity and expectation, returning home, generational secrets
The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean Book Cover
The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters. A stunning Gothic tale set in historical Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City. Mercy Chan works as a ghost talker in the infamous, ghost-infested slum. When a powerful spirit claims to know her and the secrets from her past best left forgotten she's drawn into a deadly game with a monster that may be one of her own making.
Read if you love: The Book Eaters, Gothic horror, historical Hong Kong settings
Thriller / Mystery
Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister Book Cover
Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
A Read with Jenna Book Club pick. Simone and her daughter Lucy are on vacation in Texas when Lucy vanishes from their rental cabin. A voice on the phone issues a ransom demand: don't tell the police, come to this location, be prepared to do a deal. The kidnapper doesn't want money. They want Simone to do something unthinkable. From the author of Wrong Place Wrong Time.
Read if you love: Wrong Place Wrong Time, The Last Thing He Told Me, maternal thrillers with impossible moral dilemmas
I, Spy by L.M. Kemp Book Cover
I, Spy by L.M. Kemp
📖 Buy on Amazon | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Ex-spy Kendal was one of the best, but now she's wearing the toughest disguise of her career: Mom. When her hiding place is discovered, she's whisked to London with her daughter Rosie and offered an assignment investigating a dad at Rosie's new school. Mother is the perfect cover. But the world of coffee mornings and playdates comes with its own web of allegiances and betrayals.
Read if you love: spy thrillers with a women's fiction heart, Killing Eve energy
The Great Houses of Pill Hill by Diane Josefowicz Book Cover
The Great Houses of Pill Hill by Diane Josefowicz
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Cookie Cooke makes miniature reproductions of crime scenes. When her dream renovation client is murdered at the housewarming party, the detective is sure the key is hiding in one of Cookie's miniatures. A literary locked-room mystery about possession, consumption, and an artist struggling with her ambitions.
Literary Fiction
Five by Ilona Bannister Book Cover
Five by Ilona Bannister
📖 Buy on Amazon | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Five seemingly random people waiting for a train. One will die in five minutes. Before it happens, you learn their stories. Then you decide who deserves to walk away. A novel that breaks the fourth wall and asks the reader to be judge, jury, and executioner. Motherhood, disability, addiction... every stranger has a story.
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel Book Cover
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Pepper Mills is 77 when she moves into a retirement community. She makes new friends, falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. The diagnosis is even more shocking than cancer: she's pregnant. An urgent novel about female agency, bodily autonomy, and what happens when you don't get to choose anymore.
Sci-Fi
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #8) Book Cover
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #8)
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back. Murderbot has volunteered to run a rescue mission, which means spending significant time with humans it doesn't know. Including human children. This may call for... eye contact.
Read if you love: the Murderbot Diaries, sarcastic AI narrators, found family in space
Nonfiction
What's Going Right by Dr. Paul Conti Book Cover
What's Going Right by Dr. Paul Conti
📖 Buy on Amazon | Buy on Bookshop.org | 🎧 Listen on Audible
Backed by Lady Gaga, Mel Robbins, and Kim Kardashian. Dr. Conti poses that the key to mental health isn't fixing what's wrong, it's tapping into your generative drive, the factor that's already going right. Based on his popular series on Andrew Huberman's podcast.
Waiting for Fourth Wing Book 4? Our tracker has everything we know so far
That's the stack for May 5.
Fifteen books. Romantasy sequels, Depression-era friendships, Revolutionary War feminism, a nepo baby at summer camp, and a 77-year-old woman who gets pregnant. May is not messing around.
If you want this in your inbox every Tuesday. New releases, honest reviews, and the books I'd actually text a friend about The Weekly Bookmark delivers it all in one email, once a week, no spam.
Already subscribed? You're the best! Share this post with someone whose TBR needs rescuing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best new book releases for May 5, 2026?
The biggest releases for May 5 include Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen (Dire Bound sequel), The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (first novel in 14 years), Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune, A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray, Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister, Death's Daughter by S.A. Barnes, Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Murderbot #8), and The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean.
What new romantasy books come out May 5, 2026?
Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen is the biggest romantasy release for May 5, the highly anticipated sequel to Dire Bound. Death's Daughter by S.A. Barnes is also out in a deluxe edition, blending dark academia with mythology.
Is Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen worth reading?
Early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with ARC readers calling it even better than Dire Bound. Stark's POV chapters are a major addition, and the stakes, twists, and emotional weight all escalate. If you loved Dire Bound, Fury Bound delivers.
