Every month we share the top picks of new releases from BookSparks CEO, Crystal Patriarche. This month, she’s getting us ready for summer reading with beachy love stories, carry-on worthy thrillers and historical tales that will take you back to another time. These are the must-reads of May 2025.

One in Four by Lucinda Berry

A reality show featuring former child stars in recovery would present enough drama just based on the premise. But Dr. Laurel Harlow couldn’t prepare for what she would face. When one of the stars is murdered, she’s determined to find the killer while dealing with a cast of self-absorbed attention junkies. Not to mention her own secrets she’s trying to keep buried.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

No Man’s Ghost by Jason Powell

Charles, a new firefighter fresh out of the academy, is balancing gravely serious training with the expected hazing that comes from being the new guy. Alan, is going through a divorce and keeps reporting fake fires at his soon-to-be-ex’s apartment. When their two world’s clash on the streets of NYC, it’s hard to say who will get burned.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Tell Them You Lied by Laura Leffler

Anna was mesmerized when she met Willow in art school. She imagined the bright future they’d have together as collaborators. But five years post school, Anna is exhausted trying to survive the scene and Willow has revealed just how cruel she can be. In an effort to restore order, Anna plans a fake mugging to rid Willow of her nastiness. But this isn’t an ordinary morning. It’s September 11th, 2001 and Willow disappears. Now the true events of what happened that day are haunting Anna and she can’t figure out if she’s the victim or the perpetrator in a complex story of toxic friendship.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Names by Florence Knapp

Told in a groundbreaking structure, The Names follows Cora after a catastrophic storm where she goes to register her son’s birth. Her husband–a respected doctor in the community and a terrifying abuser at home–expects her to name the boy after him. The story follows three name choices and the different paths they lead based on one fateful decision. Exploring themes of domestic violence, identity and family, Knapp explores what is truly in a name.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Love Haters

The Love Haters by Katherine Center

Katie’s career can go one of two ways: she can wait to be laid off as a video producer or she can go to Key West to profile a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. The latter isn’t exactly a job she’s qualified for, but alas, better than being fired. Unfortunately, she’s keeping the secret that she can’t swim while attempting not to fall completely head over heels for the handsome subject of her project in paradise.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

A famous painting with three figures sitting on the end of a pier may look like, to most, a depiction of the sea. But Louisa knows the three people featured mean a whole lot more. Twenty-five years earlier, a few teens would gather on the pier to escape their difficult homes. Now, Louisa is determined to learn more about them and sets out on an adventure to discover the origins for the artwork in her possession.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

At 19, Hai is prepared to jump, but then a voice crosses the river. It belongs to Grazina, an elderly woman suffering from dementia. Talked down from his plan, but out of options, Hai becomes Grazina’s caretaker and develops a transformative bond over the course of a year.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Jane was the sitcom punch line as a child star back in the day, but now she’s trying to be taken seriously as a studio exec. The problem is she had to lie about her access to a rockstar to get her project greenlit. Now she must rely on the one person she can’t stand in order to up level her career. A one-week trip with the egotistical cinematographer, Dan, is something she’ll have to tolerate in order to cover up her lie.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

One Golden Summer

One Golden Summer by Carly Fortune

Alice only spent one summer at the lake, but a photo she snapped changed everything. Now a professional photographer, she’s craving something more. When her beloved Nan breaks a hip, Alice returns to Barry’s Bay hoping to recapture the magic. But peace is short-lived when Charlie Florek, the boy from the photo, now very much a man, enters the picture.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Girls of Good Fortune

The Girls of Good Fortune by Kristina McMorris

In the late 19th century, amidst a time of anti-Chinese sentiment, a woman awakens in an underground cell in Portland. Kidnapped with the intent to be shipped off to a forced labor camp, Celia is about to be the victim of being “shanghaied”. Exploring the path that lead her here, she desperately attempts to escape her fate.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe

Told on two timelines, Where the Rivers Merge tells the story of Eliza and her family’s estate in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. From being a young girl with a wild spirit in the time of the Great War to a woman of 88, desperate to save the land that is her legacy as well as her family, Eliza’s unstoppable spirit will put the fate of the Rivers family in her hands.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

She Watches

Do you need a little time to kick back and chill after all this reading? We all do. So these are the shows that have Crystal hooked this month!

The Four Seasons

Three lifelong friends go on four couples trips through different phases of life is this hilarious new Netflix show starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey. When one of them divorces, throwing a wrench in their tradition, everyone must navigate the question of whether or not it’s possible to spend a lifetime with your spouse.

The Better Sister

Amazon’s next big show has arrived. Starring Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel in a twisted family thriller, The Better Sister is about murder, secrets, sisters and a sinister mystery that will have you guessing until the end. Based on the bestselling novel by Alafair Burke, this is a can’t-miss adaptation.

Nine Perfect Strangers – Season 2

If you were obsessed with the first season of this psychedelic healing series based on Liane Moriarty’s novel, it’s time to dive back into another mind-bending batch of episodes. Once again starring Nicole Kidman with an all-new cast of patients, you’ll find yourself questioning all over if healing is worth all this.

Miss Austen

Janites unite! In this beautiful historical tale, Cassandra Austen, Jane Austen’s sister feels responsible for caring for her sibling’s legacy. But her choices will ripple throughout history for centuries to come.