Recs if you like Return to Sender: A Novel...

Here's every book so far from BOTM's monthly shortlist since February 2015 for anyone who wants to read them all like I do!

All the 2026 BOTM monthly, add on, and Allurial titles

This list features books with covers designed by New York-based, Houston-born designer Cassie Vu. She is a Senior Designer for Penguin Random House's art department. Her covers boast loud, bold lettering and striking colour gradients. Her website features a "cover graveyard", showcasing different iterations of covers that were ultimately chosen, which I highly recommend perusing.

Also known as The Bastone Effect (trademark pending lol) 😉 Promise Me Sunshine was one of the most recommended romances in 2025 and I believe it's because of the unique combination of love and grief. Here of some of my favorites. Recommendations are welcome in the comments but I will keep the list to ones I've read.

✎ᝰ. 𝓜𝔂 𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓼

Promise Me Sunshine More Than Forever Reminders of Him

𝑮𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑... 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔.

𝑨𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆...𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇...𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔.