Hide Your Wallet: May 20th Release Week!

Welcome back!

We’re quickly approaching the end of the month. There are a couple books with historical settings (romance, fantasy, and horror). Of course, there are also always contemporaries on the list.

Which new releases are you excited for? Let us know in the comments!

• Behooved

  

  A charming slow-burn romantasy featuring a duty-bound noblewoman with a chronic illness, a prince who would rather be in a library than on a throne, and a magical ride through a world of cozy enchantment

  Bianca knows her duty comes before her heart. So when the threat of war looms, she agrees to marry the neighboring kingdom’s heir. But not all royal weddings are a fairytale, and Prince Aric, Bianca’s betrothed, is cold, aloof, and seems to hate her on sight.

  To make matters worse, on their wedding night, an assassination attempt goes awry—leaving Aric magically transformed into a horse. Bianca does what any bride in this situation would she mounts her new husband and rides away to safety.

  Sunset returns Aric to human form, but they soon discover the assassination attempt is part of a larger plot against the throne. Worse, Bianca has been framed for Aric’s murder, and she’s now saddled with a husband who is a horse by day and a frustratingly attractive man by night.

  As an unexpected romance begins galloping away with their hearts, Bianca and Aric must rely on each other to unravel the curse and save the throne.

  “Behooved is bewitchingly charming, a romantic fairy-tale adventure that will sweep you off your feet (or hooves)!”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

  Amanda: Look, I heard the hero can turn into a horse.

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• The Knight and the Moth

  

  From NYT bestselling author Rachel Gillig comes the next big romantasy sensation, a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a young prophetess who is forced on an impossible quest with the one infuriating knight whose future is beyond her sight. Perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout and Leigh Bardugo.

  Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum’s windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

  Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil’s visions. But when Sybil’s fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral’s cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she’d rather avoid Rodrick’s dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.

  Amanda: What a great cover and this sounds super compelling.

  Elyse: I liked Gillig’s other books and – whooo – that cover.

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• The Love Haters

  

  It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

  Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

  The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

  Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

  But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

  Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

  New Katherine Center contemporary!

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• Rebel in the Deep

  

  The rebellion’s fight turns into a battle of the heart in this pulse-pounding conclusion to the Crimson Sails trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Katee Robert.

  Nox has been steadfastly working for the rebellion for years. They don’t ask for much in return, except for one crucial their ex, the noble Bastian, stays as far away from them as possible. To say things ended poorly between them is an understatement . . . and it’s the only relationship Nox has never quite recovered from.

  But now the rules have changed. Siobhan, the rebel leader, has emerged from hiding to tell Nox that Bastian’s been taken captive and the secrets he holds tight are in danger of being revealed. The fate of the entire rebellion now rests on Nox and Siobhan’s ability to rescue Bastian from a Cŵn Annwn ship.

  Saving Bastian is only the start of their hardships, as the trio is tracked by ferocious pirates across Threshold. And Nox’s complicated relationships and entanglements with Bastian and Siobhan put not only their life at risk but their heart on the line.

  Book three in the Crimson Sails fantasy romance series. 

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• Rules for Ruin

  

  No one betrays the Academy. But now Euphemia must break the rules for her enemy, or let the rules break her heart.

  On the outskirts of London sits a seemingly innocuous institution with a secretive aim—train young women to distract, disrupt, and discredit the patriarchy. Outraged by a powerful politician’s systematic attack on women’s rights, the Academy summons its brightest—and most bitter—pupil to infiltrate the odious man’s inner circle. A deal is bring down the viscount, and Miss Euphemia Flite will finally earn her freedom.

  But betting shop owner Gabriel Royce has other plans. The viscount is the perfect pawn to insulate Gabriel’s underworld empire from government interference. He’s not about to let some crinoline-clad miss destroy his carefully constructed enterprise—no matter how captivating he finds her threats.

  From the rookeries of St. Giles to the ballrooms of Mayfair, Euphemia and Gabriel engage in a battle of wits and wills that’s complicated by a blossoming desire. Soon Euphemia realizes it’s not the broken promises to her Academy sisters she should fear. . . . It’s the danger to her heart.

  Amanda: I’ve been mostly off the historical romance train for awhile, but I am very interested in this one.

  Sarah: I’m so excited for this book – I have heard terrific things already.

  Read Lara’s review!

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• The Starving Saints

  

  Author: Caitlin Starling
  Released:
  May 20, 2025 by
  Harper Voyager
  Genre:
  Horror, LGBTQIA

  From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.

  Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

  Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.

  As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.

  Amanda: I love a fucked up book and this seems to fit that definition.

  Susan: Caitlin Starling is a master of messy, fucked up romances, and this looks like it’s going to be on in the same line of gothic paranoia that Yellow Jessamine was. I’m so here for it!

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  well. Thanks!