Sure, it’s June and I am still behind, but at least I have finally finished May books! 🥳🥳

The Summer of Lost Things by Jenn Bennett
Canon by Paige Lewis
The Gatepost by Tim Weed
The Dorians by Nick Cutter
Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer

The Summer of Lost Things by Jenn Bennett
Published by Avon a on May 26, 2026
Pages: 284
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Sexy new adult romance meets swashbuckling adventure when ex childhood friends Paige and Seb reconnect to finally track down the treasure that has been a legend in their small Michigan beach town for decades. Perfect for fans of The Gooniesand Netflix’s Outer Banks who are craving more romance!

Star pupil Paige Malone just finished her first year at Harvard. Dropout Seb Jansen spent that time pumping gas for wealthy yacht owners at a Lake Michigan marina. They haven’t seen each other since high school. A shame, considering that they were once inseparable childhood friends who combed their coastal hometown’s sun-kissed beaches along with a couple of other middle-school pals—hunting the Golden Venus, a legendary local treasure that’s distantly connected to Paige’s family. A treasure rumored to be worth millions of dollars. If it even exists. These days, however, the former BFFs have traded adventure for reality. Paige is home for the summer and is spiraling after losing her college financial aid. While across town, Seb fell in with a bad crowd and now regrets his life choices, big time. Both feel colossally stuck. And alone. But when Paige stumbles upon a hidden secret in her grandmother’s beach cottage, she must get their old treasure-hunting gang back together to finally unravel the mystery that has eluded her family for generations. Who the thrill of the hunt might help Paige and Seb find a path back to their lost friendship…or something more.

The Summer of Lost Things
brings the summer heat with its combination of a high stakes treasure hunt and a swoony love story. Tropes Childhood friends to lovers Second-chance romance Treasure hunt Family secrets Partners in crime Summer love Small beach town setting Overachiever x bad boy Loveable rogue

Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a true “beach read” that will still leave you emotionally fulfilled, look no further!

Canon by Paige Lewis
Published by VIKING on May 19, 2026
Pages: 480
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

“A scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic.” —John Green, #1 globally bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!

Yara can’t comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of Bad Guys. Cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship, Yara has never felt weaker—but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning, Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead.

Meanwhile, Adrena, a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power, is determined to become the hero of this story. Desperately seeking the glory of God’s approval and the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her beloved mother, Adrena must first persuade Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, that her plan is God’s will.

As their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara and Adrena are propelled toward each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny in this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction.

Canon wholly lives up to its promise of being unique and quirky. As such, it was definitely mostly enjoyable. I had a few minor complaints, but for the most part, it delivered!

What I Loved: 

• The humor and tone were fabulous! Really, it was probably my favorite part- I loved being able to take some darker themes and make it feel less dark through humor. Without the humor, this would have been depressing, instead it feels very clever (and equally entertaining). I also really enjoyed the breaking of the fourth wall, which for me worked great (and we all know this can be hit or miss- for me, it was definitely a hit).
• The characters were great. There are quite a few of them, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Even the more minor ones (and no worries, you’ll know who you needn’t concern yourself with, as the narrator tells you) had some purpose, even if just for comedic relief. We learn quite a bit about the main characters, too, which I appreciated.
• The commentary really did work for me. Why does Yara have to kill Dominic? Because God said, of course! What makes Dominic a Bad Guy? See previous answer. There is just so much great stuff in here that you’ll just have to read to discover, but it made me appreciate the book even more as I read along.

What I Wanted More Of:

Worldbuilding. That is the whole answer here, really. I mean, you get the gist that it’s an alt-US sometime circa the 1990s. Probably, anyway. I feel like the choice to make everything, including the “reasons” (or lack thereof) for the fighting is very deliberate, but I felt frustrated by it nonetheless. Give me something, you know? Because in a nearly 500 page story, it becomes hard to believe that no one is going to comment on any of the world-building topics, none of the lead-up, etc. The characters do delve into their own personal histories, but nothing of a broader nature. I think considering the length, it could have either been shorter, or expanded more, but not neither.

Bottom Line: Loved the commentary and the humor and the characters, would have enjoyed a bit more explanation. Overall, a definite win! 

The Gatepost by Tim Weed
Published by Podium Publishing on May 26, 2026
Pages: 264
Format:ARC, eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

From the author of The Afterlife Project: One woman’s quest to find her vanished father pushes her beyond the boundaries of space, time, and the human mind.

Esme Weatherhead was twelve years old when her father, an amateur scientist and the author of a best-selling book on Mesoamerican shamanism, walked up into the forest on their rural Vermont property and never came back. Twenty years later she quits her job in San Francisco, gets divorced, and moves back to Vermont with the goal of writing a book about her father’s life and disappearance.

In the course of her research, Esme finds an old field journal referencing a cave on the property she hadn’t known about, a series of experiments involving high doses of psilocybin mushrooms, and a series of strangely vivid hallucinations. After searching unsuccessfully for the cave, she hires Lucas St. Pierre, a local geologist, to help her find it. As they try to unravel the truth of her father’s disappearance, Esme and Lucas confront hidden forces that will test their sanity and put their lives at risk, leading to new insights about love, death, and the hidden secrets of life on earth.

Perfect for fans of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, and Richard Powers’ Bewilderment, Tim Weed’s The Gatepost blends modern science and ancient cosmology to take readers on a journey offering hallucinatory glimpses into worlds beyond our own.

"This well-researched tale is sure to entertain.” — Publisher’s Weekly

“A compellingly trippy journey.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A wild, luminous ride.” — Crystal King, bestselling author of The Happiness Collector

After absolutely loving Tim Weed’s The Afterlife Project last year, I was so excited to get my hands on The Gatepost. I won’t say I loved it as much, but there were definitely some very interesting bits. We meet Esme, who after a divorce, finds herself back at her childhood home, retracing her missing father’s footsteps for clues of what might have happened to him. She claims it’s for a book, but I think it’s more for her own closure, as you’d imagine is necessary. Anyway, she finds a cave, and seeks the help of a geologist (enter Lucas) to navigate the place. Esme’s story was appealing, as she’s clearly going through a lot, and I too was invested in what happened to her father. The problem I had was that I really never got a sense of who Esme and Lucas really are as characters. While we know what happened to them in their pasts, it felt more like a bulleted list than character development. View Spoiler »Their romance also felt very quick, and equally quick was how Esme felt “betrayed” by Lucas, despite him not even knowing the details of the thing she was mad about. « Hide Spoiler

We also learn very quickly that Esme’s father is in Graniteworld. He got there via the cave, and via some Psilocybin mushrooms, but we don’t really know the details. Neither does he. But his chapters provide both commentary of the world he finds himself in as well as the Mesoamerican archeology studies that led him to the cave he’s in now. It’s certainly interesting, and the possibilities that the author posits really were quite thought provoking. I will add that while I enjoyed finding out about Esme’s father’s past, some of those chapters felt very dense, and often the book felt longer than its 260 pages would suggest.

Bottom Line: Essentially, I enjoyed the theme and the concepts, but the characters and some of the “extra” messiness didn’t hit as hard for me. Still, an overall worthwhile read.

The Dorians by Nick Cutter
Published by Gallery Books on May 19, 2026
Pages: 400
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

On a remote island in the Canadian wilderness, five elderly volunteers from different walks of life are given a tantalizing offer: to stall their biological clocks or even reverse them, restoring their lost youth. The chance to put death on pause—forever, perhaps. The remarkable secret lies in the high-tech harnessing of an ancient and extraordinary biological agent…one with no conscience, yet possessed with a single-minded purpose that has helped it persist for eons: the will to survive. The dark heart of unbridled human ambition finds its apex in an unholy experiment that now tests the limits of both creator and subject, eclipsing all bounds of morality and sanity….

The Dorians is such a unique and thought provoking story, one that hooked me from the very first page. I want to encourage you to read it without giving too much away, because honestly this book is a trip. The gist is, a bunch of elderly folks are approached as they’re about to medically end their lives, all plagued with terminal illness. They’re asked if they want to participate in this experiment to reverse their aging, and they’re in, because what have they got to lose, right? But you know that playing god never goes well. Astrid, our very young genius responsible for this experiment, obviously lacks the life experience needed to understand what may be at stake. Obviously from a scientific perspective, she’s got it all figured out, and the test subjects are kind of looking forward to their new lease on life.

What happens next is… a ride. And I won’t get in your way of experiencing it. The characters are not always very likable, there is certainly a little bit of suspension of disbelief that needs to occur, but the science bits are wildly entertaining, and the concept itself is so thought provoking, so relevant to us all, that it makes the story compulsively readable. The atmosphere is on point, the stakes are sky high, and I absolutely could not put this book down. I am unsure of how I felt about how things turned out, but it was definitely done well, regardless of my feelings!

Bottom Line: This was bananas, in the best, wildest way.

Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir, Mary Robinette Kowal
Published by Tor Nightfire on May 26, 2026
Pages: 160
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs—or even bodies—in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of
The Night Guest.

Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.

Trying to do the right thing, Unnur reunites the lost pet with its owner—a young woman named Ásta who is in desperate need of some help. Unnur reluctantly agrees to take in the cat until Ásta is able to care for it again herself.

Soon, Ásta becomes a fixture in Unnur's life and the two form an unlikely friendship. But like a black cat, trouble is tailing Ásta, and Unnur is the only one there when things take a violent turn.

Nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.

After loving the author’s The Night Guest, but feeling a bit ragebaited by the ending, I was excited and cautious going into Dead Weight. Thankfully, I found the latter to satisfy me until (and through!) the last page, with all the stuff I enjoyed in the former. I’ll say this, it is a little less outwardly unsettling than TNG, in that the struggles the characters are going through are a bit more internal, a bit more mundane, but I think I actually liked it because of that, because the characters undergo some truly relatable experiences (unfortunately). This is a short novel, and supposed to be suspenseful, so I won’t say much more. Just… even though Unnur is going to make you kind of mad, especially at first, stick with it. You’ll feel satisfied by the end, in more ways than one.

Bottom Line: Hildur Knútsdóttir is quickly becoming one of my absolutely favorite horror authors- or actually, just authors, period.

Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer
Published by DAW on May 26, 2026
Pages: 416
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Forty years ago, the world nearly ended.

Be is an old robot who was there, and doesn’t want to think about what happened, or what role they played in that conflict. They have settled into a life of isolation in the abandoned ruins of an old mill in the former New York Botanical Gardens, disinterested in what has happened in the outside world since they stepped away from the war. Someone out there, though, has not forgotten about them, and when they are attacked, their person vandalized, and one of their leg stolen, they set out to find the thief accompanied by a cyborg dog and a human mechanic.

The world has changed, but the recovery from the war is uneven and faltering, and Be begins to suspect a malicious hand trying to rekindle the old conflict and finish what was started. In order to stop them, Be needs to come to terms with both their own past and who they have become, and how everything and everyone else they knew has changed in their absence. Being left alone is no longer an option, and peace may be impossible.

This is a story about coming to terms with your past, with who you’ve become and who you still want to be: a tale of resilence and hope, an ode to those struggling to become whole in a world half-broken.

What a charming adventure story this was! And cautionary, certainly, but there is so much hope that it doesn’t feel nearly as dark as it might’ve. I’ll say this: it did start off a wee bit slow for me, but I am so very glad that I stuck with it. We first meet an old, disgruntled, reclusive robot who isolated themself so much they don’t even have a need for a name. They do, however, have a need for a mechanic because they wake up with their leg missing. This is where our adventure starts, decades after much of the world is decimated by all sorts of global disasters: war, disease, climate catastrophes, etc., and what is left of humanity has sort of agreed to live with mechanical entities, but the Crappy Humans In Charge™ do not really like that idea. Our MC had a not-insignificant part in some of the messiness of the past before they gained autonomy, and it’s clear they’re being dragged back into the fight.

But first, they really just need their leg back. So they set out to track it down, meeting a lot of amazing friends along the way, both mechanical and human. I loved this found-family of random adventurers. It was all the things I love the most about your typical apocalyptic road trip, with the added benefit of all kinds of beings. They had to fight to survive, use their wits, but most of all, they had to learn to depend on each other, which is really quite lovely. There is a lot of commentary about how the world of today could very easily lead to the world we see in this book, but there is also a lot of commentary on how to do better. Truly a heartfelt and entertaining story, one I am so glad to have read.

Bottom Line: High stakes apocalyptic road trip, but make it a heartwarming death robot and their band of sidekicks.

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