Whether you’re traveling this summer, staying where you are or your plans are still up in the air, a good book can make all the difference. Luckily, this summer’s release lineup is full of romances, thrillers and continuations of beloved series. No matter what you find yourself doing this summer, you’ll be sure to find something that caters to your taste in books.
This year may be the time to try a new genre with all of the upcoming releases, especially when it comes to beloved authors publishing standalones or beginning new series.
“The Shippers” by Katherine Center is set to release on May 19. Described as a “swoon-worthy novel about a destination wedding on a cruise”, the novel follows estranged childhood best friends JoJo Burton and Cooper Watts, as Burton begins a plan to absolve her love life problems during her sister’s cruise ship wedding.
Christina Lauren, the moniker of authors and best friends, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, is due to release “The Romance Revival” on July 14.
After an accident kills Emery Finch’s husband, Luca, she breaks the rules of her “top-secret” research in an attempt to bring him back to her. However, when he is brought back, Luca doesn’t remember her.
“It may be a miracle of science,” the blurb says. “[B]ut for Emery, it’s her one shot at a second chance. And this time, she won’t waste it.”
Veering away from romance, “Land” from Maggie O’Farrell is releasing June 2. After O’Farrell’s success from her 2020 release “Hamnet,” which was adapted into a film starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley in 2025, O’Farrell is venturing again into historical fiction.
The story takes place in 1865, following father and son Tomás and Liam, who are working to record the Great Hunger. But before completion, Tomás has an unsettling encounter, one that changes both him and his family for the worse.
“Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog,” the book’s Goodreads description reads. “[A]nd how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.”
Following a theme of historical fiction, “The Great Wherever” by Shannon Sanders, coming July 7, follows a “semi-employed” Aubrey Lamb who is heir to a southern land in Lanyer County, along with some extended family.
In Lanyer County, Lamb learns about the history of her family and the land around it, while also hearing from her deceased ancestors, with a focus on how the past is intertwined with the present.
“The Great Wherever” is Sanders’ debut novel.
Matt Dinniman’s eighth installment of the “Dungeon Crawler Carl” series, “A Parade of Horribles,” is set to release on May 12. The book will follow Carl and Donut competing in races to upgrade their vehicle, but the seemingly simple tasks at hand take a turn when there are rumors of an ominous “Parade of Horribles” from the system’s AI.
“The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been,” the blurb says.
Matt Haig is traveling back into “The Midnight” world with “The Midnight Train.” The book is to take place in the same universe as Haig’s past book, “The Midnight Library,” and will be released in the U.S. on May 26.
“Nobody can change the past,” Haig’s website says. “But the Midnight Train can take you there”.
Though the novel’s blurb is vague, it seems to follow Wilbur, who is desperate to go back in time and rewrite his life, even with the risks involved.
Haig will be going on tour for the book, with stops all over the U.S., Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada.
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