All May, as a person who apparently requested 15 May books, because I am a problem. Another good batch, this 🥳🥳

Holloway by Elana K. Arnold
Seconds To Spare by Rachel Reiss
Ash by Louise Wallace
The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed
Abyss by Nicholas Binge

Holloway by Elana K. Arnold
Published by Clarion Books on May 5, 2026
Pages: 352
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Award-winning author Elana K. Arnold returns with a boldly visionary, deeply felt story that crosses space and time to examine loss and love in a world on the brink.

It is the late summer of 2021, and a girl named Nora is on the Paris Metro.

Nora, whose mother loved her, even though Nora was broken.

Nora, who couldn’t help her mother when her mother needed her most.

Nora, from whom the pandemic has taken nearly everything, save the object she clings to: a cylinder containing her mother’s ashes.

With no family left, no friends to speak of, and no way to turn back time, Nora has come to France to keep a promise she never got to make: to spread the ashes in a place her mother never got to see. But instead, Nora finds herself on the run through a forest in the night, taking refuge in a dark holloway. And when she wakes, and tries to make her way back to something she recognizes, she realizes that is impossible.

Because it is no longer 2021.

Questioning everything—including her own sanity—Nora sets out on a journey through a time and place completely foreign to her, and yet one that, much like the time and place she came from, is defined by death, loss, fear, and uncertainty. A journey in which she must find a way to honor her mother—and heal herself—in a world that feels irrevocably broken.

Bottom Line: While it started off a little slower, patience is a virtue here, as this book was well worth the ride.

Seconds to Spare by Rachel Reiss
Published by Wednesday Books on May 12, 2026
Pages: 320
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Buckle up for a wild ride with this airborne locked-door thriller. Previously a Wattpad WEBTOON Watty Award winning story.

Eighteen-year-old Evelyn Werth is trapped in what feels like a never-ending nightmare. She's the only person onboard Aloha Airways Flight 1333 who’s stuck in a 28-minute time loop, one that repeats over and over again. During each loop, four things always happen:

1. The Internet goes out and the pilot warns of upcoming turbulence.
2. There are five minutes of moderate shaking.
3. A woman in the very last row collapses.
4. The plane tilts forward and begins to nosedive.

When Orion James –the cute boy who's been asleep the entirety of each cycle– wakes, it triggers an alarming change in the events Evelyn has come to count on. As the two grow closer and learn to trust each other, they discover there’s more to the loop than they initially realized. They must discover the hidden clues, piece together the moving puzzle, and save everyone onboard –before it’s too late.

Seconds to Spare is quite a ride, and frankly, unputdownable. First, the premise: can you imagine a worse nightmare that reliving a plane crash hundreds of times? No go ahead, I’ll wait. So we all agree, it’s pretty much the worst, right? Well, that’s where main character Evelyn finds herself, hundreds of loops into this hellscape. Oh, and bonus awfulness, she’s alone, in that she’s the only one remembering the loops. The other passengers? They’ve no idea, blissfully unaware of what Evelyn knows is coming every time. She’s interacted with almost everyone, except sleeping Orion, who she met before the flight, but has been peacefully sleeping through all the loops. Only, one of her attempts to fix the loop goes awry (well- they all go awry, but this one more so) and wakes Orion. And then the loop changes, and they’re racing to figure it out before they’re really and truly out of chances. (So look at that, the nightmare can get worse!)

There are funny moments, poignant moments, and moments that we learn more about both characters’ backstories that really allow us to care about them outside of this 28 minutes. It also makes the book very readable- it isn’t all doom and gloom, and it nicely moderates the pace that we have both exciting moments and quieter moments. I was absolutely hooked, and could not stop reading until I finished. It was satisfying, entertaining, and heartfelt, which is a win across the board for me.

Bottom Line: Unputdownable but still full of heart, this one hit all the marks. 

Ash by Louise Wallace
Published by Mariner Books on May 12, 2026
Pages: 160
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

A dazzlingly original and bleakly funny debut novel that follows one harried working mother before and after a devastating weather event, capturing the everyday wonders and infuriating indignities of mothering in a time of ecological crisis.

Thea spends her days among stubborn animals, many of which are massive or in pain, but they’re not really what’s causing her to feel overwhelmed. A vet at a midsized rural practice, she’s been called back from her maternity leave early to find herself awash in meetings, family mealtimes, farm visits, her boss’s search for legal loopholes and the constant care of her much-loved children, Eli and Lucy. Her husband would like to know what he should get his mother for her birthday, which she’s had to remind him is next week—Calm down, she tells the listener, I’m not going to have an affair. This is a woman who knows intimately what it is to tend to a small child’s fever in the small hours of the night while The Bachelor glows silently from her phone.
And then, suddenly, in the time it takes to drive home from a rare evening out, everything is upended. Nothing is constant, now, except for the ash, and Thea is left marveling at the things that change and the ones that don’t at what may very well be the end of the world.

Propulsive and poetic, Ash is a novel that burns with rage and joy at once. Remarkably lithe and multidimensional, it celebrates the small miracles that thrive even in motherhood’s darkest moments.

Ash is short, but packs quite a bit into its pages. We follow Thea, a woman who is juggling motherhood, a large animal veterinary career, a shaky marriage, and trying to make time for family and friends and herself in the chaos. It’s all very relatably mundane, and then the ash hits, and it’s still… completely relatably mundane. Because there’s the rub: even in a crisis, nay, especially in a crisis, the mother and wife is expected to carry the load. The ash just makes things worse, and adds to the list of Thea’s problems. The struggles are real and heartfelt, and there is a glimmer of hope that makes Thea’s future feel less permanently depressing.

Bottom Line:  This short novel certainly makes a statement despite its quietness, despite that even the ash itself feels like a quiet intruder into Thea’s town and life.

The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed
Series: The Song of the Safina #1
Published by S&S/Saga Press on May 5, 2026
Pages: 480
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

The Safina is a city ship, two hundred years into its voyage from the ruins of Earth towards a new habitable world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their 'ancestors' - the final remnants of Earth's doomed Network Empire - by keeping them alive in cryostasis.

But a lot can change in two hundred years, and people are starting to ask questions. Why should the crew continue to toil for people none of them remember? What exactly gives Administration its authority over everyone else?

And when the blackouts start, they set in motion a chain of events that will change life on the Safina forever. A reckoning is coming. The system is only secure so long as those in power maintain the obedience of those beneath them.

And the crew has had enough.

A science fiction odyssey of breathtaking scope, The Republic of Memory is a gripping examination of what divides us, and what brings us together. This is a modern and ambitious work of Arabfuturism, and is perfect for fans of The Expanse, A Memory Called Empire or Children of Time.

There is a lot to unpack about The Republic of Memory. I will start with the premise, which is one that I like: a generation ship halfway through its journey ends up in dire straights (by happenstance or design, that is a pressing question throughout), and plenty of folks on the ship have had enough of spending their entire lives protecting cryo passengers who will get to live their lives on a new planet, lives whose way will be paved by the toil of those who’ll never see its benefit. I’d be mad too, frankly.

The ship’s divisions (sort of like neighborhoods in my mind) are based on language, which is a really interesting choice. I’d read that the chapters in other dialects could be hard to understand, but I really didn’t have any problem, especially after the first chapter or so. In fact, I found the whole construction of the language really fascinating, and if you have any basic understanding of Latin-based languages, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem.

Honestly, the whole concept is very intriguing, and I liked the characters, though I felt more like I was perhaps watching a movie about them than really feeling them. I did connect to them by the end, though, and will definitely be needing to read the next book. I also had a little bit of trouble with pacing at some points, especially in the middle, and thought that maybe it could have been a bit tighter, but these are minor complaints in an otherwise very good book.

Bottom Line: Such a complex world fueled by political turmoil and great characters.

Abyss by Nicholas Binge
Published by Tor Nightfire on May 12, 2026
Pages: 160
Format:eARC, Hardcover
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Severance meets Lovecraft in this surreal tale of corporate horror and existential dread.

Joe always had potential, but he doesn't expect much, and he hopes that his new job as an admin assistant won't expect much of him. But when he enters the offices of Ponos—a company he's never heard of and knows nothing about—he discovers that potential is exactly what they want from him.

A feverish dive into the inhumanity of both late-stage capitalism and the crippling anxieties of modern life, Abyss adds a new level of meaning to 'wage slave'.

I flew through this book. Flew. It’s so entertaining, but also makes a lot of excellent commentary. When we meet Joseph… well look, he kind of sucks? But the reason you think he sucks is because he lives the life we all live in some capacity- not keeping up with friends and family as much as we should, not living up to our potential, wasting the precious moments of our lives on stupid mundane nonsense, etc. There’s no way you don’t have at least one of Joseph’s bad habits, and I really think that is why he pissed me off. But as the story goes along, the reader gets to see that he is more than his less desirable traits, it just happens to take a big situation to push him out of his comfort zone of monotony.

Now, the office part I loved. When they say “Severance” vibes, they mean it. The “monster” portion… well honestly monsters are something I can generally live without, but it didn’t really dampen my enjoyment of the story, so I’m going to give it a pass. There are also some really profound moments in Joseph’s character development that I was not expecting, but was really happy with.

Bottom Line: I was surprised at how heartfelt this was, despite being wildly entertaining and unputdownable.

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!