17 New Romance Books Out in May to Help You Through Spring Cleaning

This book is basically if Jury Duty and Legally Blonde had a baby. When Sydney gets picked for jury duty for a case in which a reality TV star is accused of murdering her husband, she thinks that’s the most interesting thing to have happened to her in a long time. But then Damon, her estranged childhood best friend, ends up on the jury as well, and being sequestered takes on a whole new element as she discovers how he’s changed over the past decade.  

Having recently watched Meet Cute (which was very good but not what I was expecting), I am a little wary of time loop stories (something I never thought I’d say!), but I know Jackie Lau won’t steer us wrong. All Noelle did was eat some dumplings at a night market, and now she’s stuck on the same Friday. Same work, same Wordle, same guy she keeps running into. She can’t get out, and she has to figure out if Cam is the key to making it to Saturday. 

If the only thing I knew about this book was that the author was inspired by Ilona Maher and the rugby player herself endorsed it, I would be all here for it. But then you actually tell me what it’s about and I’m sat, waiting with grabby hands. Robyn and Isaiah have been friends since rugby brought them together in college. Unbeknownst to each other, each one has a crush on the other, but they don’t figure out how to admit it to each other without the help of Robyn’s trainer, Del, who has a crush on both of them. Instead of making it awkward, though… polyamory!

What happens when two women who love love are paired together to do a project about that very subject? What happens when those two women are exes? 

“Oh no” is right, friends.

Gemma and Celeste, an advice columnist and photographer, have been assigned to produce a piece on modern love. The two are thrown together, and all those feelings from college come flooding back. Gemma might have just gotten out of a long-term relationship, but she is ready to fall for Celeste again. Can they stay professional with all the history between them? 

I don’t always include Harlequin category romances in my new releases, but two authors I would follow to the ends of the earth have new books coming out, and I had to shout them out! Heba Helmy is rocking the Harlequin Historicals with some great books featuring Egyptian characters, and this one is the first in a new series centering Egyptian princes?! Elise has written a few letters to Prince Saleem posing as her friend Lady Olive, but she has to spend a significant amount of time in close quarters unexpectedly when Olive disappears! Mystery and forbidden attraction in the Egyptian desert? Sign me up. 

Mona Shroff is one of my other ride-or-die Harlequin authors, because I know whatever she writes is going to tear me to pieces and make me smile, sometimes at the same time. Karina has been gearing up for a prestigious head chef position for years, but just as it’s within her grasp, she discovers her boss has created one more hurdle: she has to fight for it in a cooking competition show! Not only that, but her competitor is a past love she could never forgive.

Ellie runs away from her wealthy, micromanaging family to start her dream sugar-free bakery on the other side of the country, but finds herself in a bind when the building she expected to be able to open right away turns out to need major renovations. Enter Alec, her brother’s best friend, who needs a favor from her in return for helping her: pretend to be his girlfriend to help him land a business deal. Because that always goes well. 

Words cannot express how excited I am for this book! I’m looking forward to being delighted by the story of a young woman who marries the royal heir to the neighboring kingdom for political purposes, only to be saddled (lol) with a man who turns into a horse during the day after an assassination attempt goes very wrong. Very right? I dunno. This is very much for the reader who read/watched My Lady Jane and wanted more, or for the (ahem) slightly older reader who imprinted on Ladyhawke and has always wanted something similar… but much more fun.   

Rachel Lynn Solomon, queen of my heart, you’ve done it again. Dani, in a moment of desperation, applies for a job in Amsterdam that she never expects to get. When she does, she takes it, but finds herself feeling very alone on the other side of the world. When she literally crashes into the man she had a Thing with in high school (when he was an exchange student staying with her family), she winds up in a marriage of convenience that will benefit both of them—he needs to be married to inherit some property and she needs a visa when her job falls through. This is still Rachel Lynn Solomon, though, so there will be plenty of laughter through tears. 

When The Next Best Fling came out last year I knew I was going to have a new favorite author, but that was sealed when I saw the cover for Kiss Me, Maybe. Not just for the cover (though I mean, LOOK at it!), but also because of the indication of who the next protagonist was going to be, and I was excited AF to read her love story. Asexual librarian Angela has never been kissed. When she posts something declaring so on social media, she accidentally goes viral, leading to a scavenger hunt that would lead to the winner getting her first kiss. And who’s there to help her out? Bartender Krystal, who Angela has had a longtime crush on. But she’s off limits and uninterested in love. Right? 

If you’ve ever found yourself watching The Mummy Returns and wondered…how can this be even more sexy (no such thing, friends, but this is a hypothetical)? Digging Dr. Jones has all the vibes you might be looking for! Adriana Jones winds up with this really pretty bracelet, but when she puts it on, she can’t get it off! And then she discovers it wasn’t meant for her, but for Andrew Jones, an archaeologist who needs it to find some lost treasure in Colombia. But since she can’t get the bracelet off and he needs it, well. He’s just going to have to take her with him. Into the jungle. Not really what she wanted out of a vacation, but at least he’s hot. 

Look, I know very little about this book, but the subtitle is “A Queer TechnoThriller Romance with Superpowers & Rebellion,” and if that doesn’t sell you sight-unseen, you are a stronger being than me. 

Okay, fine. 

Two con-goers have an “electrifying experience” that leads them to develop superpowers. Then, they discover the oligarchical tech company that runs most of the world is a Big Bad and join The Resistance?? So they’re discovering their powers, falling in love, and saving the world all at the same time??? Yeah, sign me up!