Oprah’s bookclub: Matriarch – a memoir by Tina Knowles

Expected publication: April 22

Genre: Memoir

pages: 432

Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware, and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that.

Reese’s bookclub: Great big beautiful life by Emily Henry

Expected publication: April 22

Genre: Romance

pages: 384

Reese announced her book club pick early – with the release of Emily Henry’s new novel Great big beautiful life. Henry already has a large following and is an auto-buy author. It will be interesting to see if beeing Reeses pick opens her up to a new demographic of fans or not.

Personally, I’m on the fence when it comes to Henry. I’ve found one or two of her books okay, but I’m not a big fan. I prefer Abby Jimenez and I’m looking into trying more romance books in May, but from different authors.

Read with Jenna: The names by Florence Knapp

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Historical fiction

pages: 336

In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son’s birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she’d like to call the child, Cora hesitates…

Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora’s and her young son’s lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.

GMA: The original daughter by Jemimah Wei

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Historical fiction

pages: 368

Set in Singapore, we follow Genevieve and Arin as they become siblings after a discovered shameful legacy. Family forms, and bonds are made, but betrayal dissolves them again. The story takes places around the turn of the century and asks the question of what matters most – your own ambition or family, home or the outside world?

Disappoint me by Nicola Dinan

Expected publication: May 27

Genre: Fiction, Trans

pages: 320

Finally this book is out! I’ve been wanting to rave about this for so long! I got the ARC in january and it hooked me! It’s my first book by this author, but I’ll definitely check out their other books too.

Max is a 30 year old transgender woman and poet with a law degree working as an AI Robot and she just started dating Vincent, a multicultural corporate lawyer who can’t stomach telling his dad that he’s dating a trans woman.

We get dual pov’s here where Max’s chapters are set in London 2023 navigating old and new relationships and Vincent’s are in 2012 on a gap year trip to Thailand, making mistakes that are bound to follow him into the future. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Can’t get enough by Kennedy Ryan

Expected publication: May 13

Genre: Romance

pages: 448

This is the third book in the Skyland series by Ryan. The books are standalone so they are fine to read by themselves. But I think I will tackle the entire series this May. I’ve heard great things about her books and I read the first chapter of the first book “Before I let go” and I was hooked. Love her writing style, so I my hopes are high for the whole series.

The third book centers around Hendrix, having a great time with her friends, family and a booming business. She’s never really met a man that can keep up with her until she meets Maverick Bell. He seems like the perfect match, but he is forbidden fruit.

My friends by Fredrik Backman

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Contemporary fiction

pages: 448

Most people don’t even notice the three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

I know better than to let a story description keep me from Backman. I almost didn’t read “Beartown” because “what do I care about hockey?” – I won’t make that mistake again.

While his books are 50/50 with me, either being “just ok” or my “favorite books ever”, either way he’s a autobuy for me now. And this book will be no different. I’m sure this book will be full of strings tugging on your heart.

The emperor of gladness by Ocean Vuong

Expected publication: May 13

Genre: Contemporary fiction

pages: 416

Nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink.

My name is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Historical fiction

pages: 304

In San Francisco 1866, an Irish nun, left pregnant and abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia Del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.

To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of sixteen, she begins to publish pulp fiction under a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can’t contain her sense of adventure any longer, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at the San Francisco Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.

As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, along with Eric, and while there, begins to uncover the truth about her father and the country that represents her roots. But as the war escalates, Emilia finds herself in danger and at a crossroads, questioning both her identity and her destiny.

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Romance

pages: 400

Alice is a photographer comfortable on the sidelines. When her grandmother falls and breaks her hip she comes to her side aid with a plan that they both go to recouperate at Barry’s Bay for the summer.

Enter a long lost love interest that only lives in her photos from the time she was seventeen.

The knight and the moth by Rachel Gillig

Expected publication: May 20

Genre: Fantasy

pages: 400

Rachel Gillig is a Tiktok favorite with her Sheperd king duology. I have yet to read her books, but I have the duology on my shelf, and I might have to get through them before the release of this one!

A gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a prophetess who is forced beyond the safety of her cloister on an impossible quest to defeat the gods with the one knight whose future is beyond her sight.

The man made of smoke by Alex North

Expected publication: May 13

Genre: Thriller

pages: 320

Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

The manor of dreams by Christina Li

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Horror

pages: 352

A gothic generational tale with dual timelines and rotten roots. Two families move into the manor of Vivian Yin, the first chinese actress to ever win an oscar, in hopes to inherit the estate after her passing. But as they try to piece together her last week, eerie things happen.

The missing half by Ashley Flowers

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Mystery

pages: 272

Two women are haunted by their sisters’ unsolved disappearances that have now become cold cases. Since their sisters cases are linked they team up find out what happened to their other halves, and in the process tear down everything they’ve ever known.

I remember loving her debut “All good people here” but I cannot for the life of me remember what it’s about. But I’ll easily pick this one up too!

The Tenant by Freida McFadden

Expected publication: May 6

Genre: Thriller

pages: 368

Freida McFadden is back with another thriller. Need I say more? Didn’t we collectively tell her to take a vacation?

Blake Porter is riding high, until he’s not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone that he shares with his fiancee, he’s desperate to make ends meet.

Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She’s exactly what Blake’s looking for. Or is she?