The Best Grown-Up Reads of
May 2019
by the Brightly Editors
Are you craving a little fictional romance, or maybe a high-stakes novel that will help you blow off some steam? Either way, we’ve got you covered with this month’s best reads! We hope you’re getting reading time in — be it at the beach, on your commute, or between your kids’ summer activities. Trust us, these new titles are well worth your time.
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The Farm
Available from:Like most of the immigrant women living in her crowded Queens dorm, Jane works as a nanny for wealthy families. But when she’s offered an opportunity to make a life-changing sum of money, she leaves her community to become a “Host” at Golden Oaks, a luxury retreat for pregnancy surrogates. If she can birth one perfect baby — and live without contact to anyone outside — she’ll have the means to provide for her family and attain the so-called American Dream.
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The Bride Test
Available from:Khai’s mother fears her son will never find love. He’s incredibly smart and a successful accountant, but as someone with autism, he processes emotions differently, and he seems totally uninterested in romance. So Khai’s mother travels to Vietnam to find a potential bride: Esme Tran, a mixed-race woman who’s always felt out of place in Ho Chi Minh City. To her own surprise, Esme starts falling for Khai — but will he come to love her back before her time in the U.S. runs out?
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Her Royal Highness
Reeling from a breakup, Millie decides to skip town, all the way to a boarding school in the Scottish Highlands. But there’s one minor problem with her new living situation: her roommate — a literal princess — acts like, well, the royalty she is. Flora’s not a fan of Millie either, but a chance afternoon in the woods sparks the first flames of romance that will have you cheering on this modern-day Jane and Darcy.
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Star-Crossed
Available from:When Justine lands a job at Nick’s favorite magazine, she decides it’s time to take fate into her own hands. Since childhood, she’s been in love with Nick, an astrological enthusiast, so one day, she just ... tweaks the magazine’s horoscopes a bit. And then she does it again. And again. Of course, Nick isn’t the only Aquarius reading his stars, as we soon come to realize in this irresistibly sweet read that charts the course of more than a few romantic hopefuls.
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The Paris Diversion
Available from:We love Kate Moore, the American expat/spy/family woman based in Paris, and if you’re not already a fan, we have an inkling you’ll be one soon. In The Paris Diversion, Kate is juggling the usual tasks: getting her kids off to school, supervising her secretive operatives, planning a dinner party, and saving the city from a terrorist attack. It’s thrilling, sophisticated, and packed with a twist you won’t see coming — or as Kate would call it, just another day of career- and motherhood.
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Where We Come From
Available from:Set on the U.S.-Mexican border, Where We Come From is the emotional story of a Mexican-American family and the young immigrant boy they’re sheltering. Twelve-year-old Orly, grieving his mother’s sudden death, must spend the summer with his godmother, Nina, who’s secretly hiding Daniel from human traffickers and border patrol. The trio’s summer unfolds in tense and intimate moments, revealing an intricate and necessary human portrait.
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Looking for more page-turning adult titles to dive into this month? Visit our friends over at Read it Forward, a team of bookish editors dedicated to helping you find your next great read!