A monthly meme to keep up with the latest publications, featuring at least two advance copy reviews to look forward to reading.

Last month I was tasked to read 9 ARCs for April publication. I only hit 7 of them (only, haha), and now I’m feeling very drained. I want to get back to reading published books and manuscripts — the bookends of ARCs — but there are a couple books I’m excited about for May publication. Some May books include Jenny Han’s PS I Still Love You, SJ Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Patricia Park’s Re Jane (a nod to Jane Eyre!). Hopefully I can read and review these ARCs for you! Until then, here are two ARCs I’m incredibly excited about, and hope to shove everything aside and make room for on the blog.

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
(Viking, May 5)

Peyton, Sydney’s charismatic older brother, receives the lion’s share of their parents’ attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton’s reckless behavior culminates in an accident, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

I will read anything Sarah Dessen writes. Gimme. She’s my YA automatic buy, my go-to author for new YA readers. I love her.

Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey
(Thomas Dunne Books, May 26)

Having fled from her abusive boyfriend on a late February evening and with nowhere to go, Jess stumbles onto a forgotten lane in London where a small, crumbling old house offers her best chance of shelter for the night. The next morning, a mysterious letter arrives and when she can’t help but open it, she finds herself drawn into the story of two lovers from another time.

In London 1942, Stella meets Dan, a US airman, quite by accident. There is no denying the impossible, unstoppable love that draws them together. Dan is a B-17 pilot flying his bomber into Europe from a British airbase; his odds of survival at one in five. The one thing they hold onto is the letters they write to each other. Fate is unkind and they are separated by decades and continents. In the present, Jess becomes determined to find out what happened to them.

WWII? Check. Epistolary? Check. Across-the-pond romance? Check. “Perfect for fans of Kate Morton”? GIVE IT TO ME ALREADY.

What books are you looking forward to in May?