Happy Tuesday!
It’s a petite release week for us at SBTB HQ! Lots of fantasy and a graphic novel adaptation of a formative favorite.
Which releases are on your radar this week? Let us know in the comments!
Can’t Get Enough
Author: Ryan Kennedy
Released: May 13, 2025 by Forever
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Skyland #3“Kennedy Ryan pours her whole soul into everything she writes, and it makes for books that are heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY
Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry’s rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.
She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward. And in the midst of everything, she’s facing her toughest challenge caring for an aging parent.
Who has time for romance? From her experience, there’s a low ROI on relationships. She hasn’t met the man who can keep up with her anyway. Until…him.
Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer’s hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired and appreciated, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.
But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her, understanding her—is it time to let herself have something more?
“One of the finest romance writers of our age.” –Entertainment Weekly
The third book in Ryan’s Skyland contemporary romance series.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Devils
Author: Joe Abercrombie
Released: May 13, 2025 by Tor Books
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: The Devils #1A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey
Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.
Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.
Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.
Amanda: I’ve been a fan of Abercombie’s fantasy novels for a while and I’m a sucker for an ensemble cast of anti-heroes.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Dying to Meet You
Author: Sarina Bowen
Released: May 13, 2025 by Harper Perennial
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerThe acclaimed USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author returns with a twisty thriller that probes how well we actually know the men in our lives.
Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she’s a mess. She knows that stalking her ex’s avatar all over Portland on her phone isn’t the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she’s out of ice cream and she’s sick of romcoms.
Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He’s dining out while she’s wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car.
Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder—and the primary suspect.
But Rowan isn’t the only one keeping secrets. As she digs for the truth, she discovers the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past.
Struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him.
Will she be the next to die?
Sarina Bowen has another thriller coming out!
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Incandescent
Author: Emily Tesh
Released: May 13, 2025 by Tor Books
Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/FantasyNaomi Novik’s Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
“Look at you, eating magic like you’re one of us.”Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school’s boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job—no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from—is herself.
A queer, dark academia novel from Emily Tesh, who has been favorably reviewed on the site.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!Song of the Lioness: Alanna
Author: Tamora Pierce
Released: May 13, 2025 by Abrams Fanfare
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Song of the Lioness Graphic Novel Adaptations #1The first book in #1 New York Times bestselling author Tamora Pierce’s award-winning Song of the Lioness quartet, adapted into a gorgeous, full-color graphic novel
In Song of the Lioness, Book 1: Alanna, the first of four volumes adapting #1 New York Times bestseller Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet, we meet Alanna of Trebond, a young noblewoman from the kingdom of Tortall.
Alanna isn’t like other girls from noble families—what she really wants is to become a knight and earn her shield, something women definitely aren’t allowed to do.
But Alanna will not be deterred, and she arrives in the capital disguised as a boy to begin training as a page, the first step toward becoming a knight. Despite the tough conditions and grueling work, Alanna’s skills and stubbornness win her friends amongst the nobility and the denizens of the lower city. But not everyone wishes her well . . .
Filled with magic and mayhem, adventure and action, swords and spells, book one in the Song of the Lioness quartet is the ultimate introduction to Alanna and Tamora Pierce’s legendary Tortall universe.
Susan: Tamora Pierce was formative for me, so I’m basically the target audience for this graphic novel adaptation of the Lioness quartet.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
I’m really excited for Emily Tesh’s THE INCANDESCENT. Magic school from the point of view of the administrators sounds fantastic.
There are two other books that I’m interested in today. Viet Kieu: Recipes Remembered from Vietnam, which talks about the journey of Thi Le, a Vietnamese Australian chef-restaurateur. And a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216602917-a-curse-carved-in-bone”>A Curse Carved in Bone, is the second in Danielle L. Jensen’s Saga of the Unfated, a romantasy influenced by Norse Mythology.
Just one book on the tbr this week: Ainsley Booth’s THE NANNY GOAL (May 13) is the fourth book in her Off the Ice series of hockey romances. In this one, the MCs have a “history”—and then the FMC becomes nanny to the MMC’s daughter. I’m not the biggest fan of employer-nanny romances, but Booth is a long-time favorite, so I’ll be giving it a try.
Can’t Get Enough is on my TBR!
The Floating World by Axie Oh, Dream on Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake, Broken Souls and Bones by LJ Andrews, plus The Incandescent, The Devils, and the Alanna Graphic novel– actually a pretty big release week, though not as big as the last
Has anyone read Dying to Meet You? I value Sarina Bowen’s contemporary romance writing highly – how does she pack all that emotion into mere words? – but I can’t cope with graphic violence or imagined killers creeping up behind me if the house creaks while I’m reading.
Annabeth Albert has a new series starter, Want You Back, coming out on the 15th. I don’t love everything she writes, but I enjoy enough that I always give her books a try. Arden Steele has a new spin-off beginning with Definitely Dead coming out on Thursday which I am looking forward to greatly. Her books almost always hit the spot.
I just stumbled across LOVE SICK by Deidra Duncan, about two first-year OB-GYN residents. The author is doctor and the acknowledgments are snarky! I’m going to pick this one up!
Kelly Jamieson’s Gone With the Wine: A Pour Decisions Romance is out today–it’s part of a trilogy (the other books are written by Kate Davies and PG Forte) about three sisters who inherit a winery. I’ve liked their writing and am excited to pick the trilogy up.
Chiming in to say that Can’t Get Enough was sooo good. I initially put it down because I couldn’t get past the first page of the first chapter, but picked it back up after reading glowing Goodreads reviews. If you’re in the mood for a sexy romance that also tackles racism and is chock full of Black women empowermwent and friendship, this is the book for you. I also love that the heroine is a mature forty who has worked through many of her issues and is ready for an emotionally mature man.