Aardvark Book Club May 2025 Predictions

Whistle by Linwood Barclay

Release Date: May 20, 2025

New York Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a supernatural chiller in which a woman and her young son move to a small town looking for a fresh start, only to be haunted by disturbing events and strange visions when they find a mysterious train set in a storage shed.

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North

Release Date: May 13, 2025

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin

Release Date: April 29, 2025

Repeat Author, Second Book in a series

Kristen Perrin is back with the second novel in her Castle Knoll series. Annie Adams is caught in a new web of murder that spans decades, returning us to the idyllic English village that holds layers of secrets.

Probably a long shot at this point, but I think the first book was popular enough that they might have the sequel.

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Repeat Author

A radiant escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune.

What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Repeat Author

Falling in love with your husband is anything but convenient in this steamy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of Business or Pleasure.

It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Repeat Author, Possible June pick

From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV actress-turned-Hollywood producer whose “fake it till you make it” mantra sets her on a crash course with her past, forcing her to spend a week on Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love.

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

Release Date: May 20, 2025

From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing fever dream of medieval horror following three women in a besieged castle that descends ravenously into madness under the spell of mysterious, godlike visitors.

The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in Christina Li’s haunting novel about the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet, and the intertwined fates of the two Chinese American families fighting to inherit it.

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Award-winning author of New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix show) Behind Her Eyes returns with a haunting Gothic novel about a house―and a marriage―gone terribly wrong.

The Night Birds by Christopher Golden

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Repeat Author

The next gripping, atmospheric horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden, set in a deteriorated, half-sunken freighter ship off the coast of Galveston, TX.

Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein

Release Date: May 13, 2025

From beloved author Hannah Orenstein, this love letter to lake life is “the Parent Trap for adults,” the story of two half-sisters who meet for the first time at their father’s cabin in Maine after his unexpected death.

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center, but so far it’s a disaster. The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk.

The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne

Release Date: May 13, 2025

Debut Author

“A debut of enormous ambition” spanning eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee as they are repeatedly visited by the Devil (Nathan Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness of Water)

Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Hit the dance floor with a coven of queer witches on 1980s Fire Island in this gay fantasy romance about finding magic, love, and family in the face of tragedy.

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Release Date: May 13, 2025

Naomi 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.