5 captivating books to read in May

The weather is edging toward summer, so now is the perfect time to kick off your summer beach read list. Grab these May releases to pack for your summer adventures. They include a memoir from WNBA star Brittney Griner, a YA bestseller's very adult crime thriller and a new release from the author of "Crazy Rich Asians." 

'Coming Home' by Brittney Griner and Michelle Burford (May 7) 

Griner spent months in the headlines after she was detained by Russian authorities, who claimed she had hash oil in her luggage in February 2022. After she was sentenced to nine years in prison, the star spent ten months in a Russian penal colony before the U.S. negotiated for her release through a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. In her memoir, "Coming Home," which she co-authored with Michelle Burford, Griner tells the story of her ordeal, "offering a raw look at the harrowing experience that has turned her into an outspoken advocate for Americans who have been wrongfully detained abroad," said Time. Order here. 

'The Return of Ellie Black' by Emiko Jean (May 7)

Young adult bestseller Emiko Jean ("Tokyo Ever After") makes the leap to adult fiction with her upcoming crime thriller, "The Return of Ellie Black." Though she features the oft-used trope of a missing girl, "Jean freshens the genre with an intriguing story about secrets and dysfunctional families," said Kirkus Reviews. When missing teenager Ellie Black returns home after two years, filthy with blood on her sweatshirt, she refuses to talk about where she has been. Despite her silence, detective Chelsey Calhoun is determined to solve the case that has haunted her for years. The novel has an "unexpected ending" and a "cadre of heroic female characters [that] make Jean a crime writer to watch," Kirkus Reviews said. Order here. 

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'All Fours' by Miranda July (May 15)

Filmmaker, artist and best-selling author Miranda July returns with her first novel in a decade, in what The New York Times called the "first great perimenopause novel." In "All Fours," the unnamed heroine, a 45-year-old artist, leaves her family behind for a cross-country road trip from Los Angeles to New York, only to end up in a motel minutes from home. There, she starts having an affair with a younger man who works at a rental car agency. The novel grew out of July's story published in The New Yorker in 2017, "The Metal Bowl." July's latest is "hot and weird and captivating," author Christina Smallwood said in Vulture, and is "one of the most entertaining, deranged, and moving depictions of lust and romantic mania I've ever read." Pre-order here. 

'Exhibit' by R.O. Kwon (May 21) 

R. O. Kwon's second novel, "Exhibit," which she recently described as "shot through with physical longing, queer lust and kink," follows a clandestine affair between a photographer and a ballet dancer as the instant connection between the two threatens the former's marriage and her faith as she deals with the specter of generational trauma. The story is a "haunting romance about desire, obsession and ambition that is sure to get your heart rate up," said Time. "Hypnotic and disquieting, this slow burn will stick in readers' minds," said Publisher's Weekly. Pre-order here.

'Lies and Weddings' by Kevin Kwan (May 21)

Kevin Kwan, the author of the "Crazy Rich Asians" trilogy, is back with another tale of the uber-wealthy with his latest, "Lies and Weddings." This time, the story starts at a "decadent Hawaiian wedding where secrets erupt with the force and heat of lava," said the New York Times. The story follows Rufus Gresham, the wealthy Viscount St. Ives, who has fallen in love with Eden Tong, a young doctor who lives with her widowed father, much to the chagrin of Gresham's mother, Lady Arabella. After burning through a significant portion of their fortune, she hoped Gresham would marry someone rich. "Lies and Weddings" is an "exciting, engrossing, and very, very funny story" that transports readers "around the world and wraps them up in the high stakes of the love affairs of the one percent," said Town and Country. Pre-order here.