TOP PICKS – May 2026
It’s time for this month’s Top Picks!
That right, we’ve reached the end of another month, and now it’s time to share our Top Picks of the month!
Every month, we like to share with you our favourite reads of the month. We’ve rounded up our contributors and asked them each to recommend just one favourite read of the month.
A big thank you to Nils for coming up with this feature, and our contributors for taking part!
Let’s find out what the team has read this month…
Nils: Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombs
My Top Pick this month goes to Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombs. This is a comfortingly cosy fantasy about a princess cursed to remain in a bookshop until she finds her heart’s desire. Now this may sound like a dream come true, but wait until you meet the princes who come to break the curse! Tandy was a character who I loved watching grow and then throw in Bash, a pirate cursed to fear the sea, and I was thoroughly entertained.
I had such fun from beginning to end.
Hil: Paris Celestial by A.Y.Chao
I’ve had a busy month reading, and found it difficult to choose a favourite! Mortedant’s Peril by RJ Barker was phenomenal (read Beth and Nils’ review!), Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid had weird blurry and damp pages in the last chapter. Think that was a local issue, but other readers have had the same experience…
My read of the month was Paris Celestial by A.Y.Chao, 1930s supernatural Shanghai shenanigans, this time our heroine finds herself in gay Paris, entangled with her vampire heritage. I love the found family and the general level of sass. Read the first one (Shanghai Immortal) if you haven’t (if you haven’t, why are you waiting?!), as it’s a continuation. Definitely worth your time.
Cat: Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd
An easy pick this month: Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd. London-based, gritty and real otherworldly shenanigans, with magic, vampires and the most unusual protagonist you’ll ever find.
If Guy Ritchie did Supernatural – smart and utterly gripping.
Pre-order here (3rd Sept)
Lucy: What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher
Had a month of reading some weird and gory horror, as well as some classic ‘Lucy Books’ (aka the more f**d up the better), but my top pick is the third Sworn soldier T. KINGFISHER novel What Stalks the Deep.
Creepy cave breathing, flesh that moves about by itself, weird take on a hive mind, and the horror of being underground….. 10/10. Review pending. They sort of broke my rule (don’t be mean to the dog!), but I shall forgive Kingfisher, as the dog is not all he appears to be…
Theo: The Sword Garden by Peadar Ó Guilín
I have a couple of SPFBO semifinalists in this month’s read including A.C.Cross’s grippingly unsettlingThe Boddicker Letters and Elizabeth Schechter’s wonderfully diverse nautical adventure with The Sea Prince.
However, with a SPFBO finalist still to be selected I’m going to avoid pre-empting that discussion and will pick Peadar Ó Guilín’s The Sword Garden which I reviewed earlier and which is full of lush prose, inventive worldbuilding and more twists that a Gordion knot.
Kat: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss
I’m on a re-read kick at the moment so my Top Pick has to be The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss. A great stew of all your favourite characters from the classics all caught up in a murder mystery, all told from the women of the stories. Think Jekyll & Hyde, Doctor Moreau, Frankenstein, etc. an easy comforting romp with a fun commentary style of writing. Hugely recommend the audiobook if you have access to it.
Beth: The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher
My reading still isn’t quite back to it’s usual state, and I’ve not read as much this month again. I finally finished my re-read of Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee via audiobook this time, ahead of the release of the sequel, The Knight Watch, which I’m super excited for and is on its way so will most definitely be my next read.
As much as I love this book, my Top Pick has to go to The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher; Kingfisher has cemented herself as one of my favourite authors and one I can rely on to pick me up. I know I’m going to get a good read when I pick up one of her books. I was especially excited for this one, as it’s Kingfisher’s retelling of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, and I’ve been especially enjoying her fairytale retellings. It of course did not disappoint, with a talking raven called Mousebones who I could not get enough of!
What was your favourite read of the month? Share with us in the comments!
