i finished this and couldn't even take the time to write a review because i loved it so much and could not come up with the right words.

this is easily one of my favorite books of all time. the feelings of grief surrounded by care, patience, humor, and love was so incredible. i cannot wait to reread this when it comes out!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for granting me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. It is due to be published March 4, 2025.

I just finished this book and have wiped away my tears and will do my best to form coherent thoughts in order to review it. Needless to say, five stars. A new favorite. Cara Bastone has cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me.

This book follows Lenny months after she lost her best friend to cancer. She is absolutely not doing well and although Lou left her a list of things to do to help her live again, she can barely stomach the thought of even go back into the apartment they shared, let alone follow through on the list. While she is trying her best to function, she gets a nannying job taking care of a little girl named Ainsley. And Ainsley's uncle Miles is always around and sees right through Lenny's attempts to pretend she is doing anything but surviving day to day. So, he offers to help her with her list in exchange for Lenny helping him get closer to his niece and his estranged sister.

This is such a beautiful story. Through Bastone's writing, I felt like I was grieving for Lou almost as much as Lenny was. She does such a wonderful job at allowing us to get to know Lou through Lenny's memories in a way that made Lenny's grief that much more powerful. Lenny is such a relatable main character. I just loved her so much and cried for her and will be thinking about her for a long time. And Miles. Sweet, beautiful Miles. I think he ranks up there in the top book men of all time. Though he is prickly at first, the way he cares for Lenny and helps her with her grief (because he is well acquainted with grief himself) is just so beautiful to watch unfold. Not to mention the way that we get to see Lenny befriend Reese and her daughter Ainsley, then help Miles get to know them as well. The side characters in this story are all so wonderful and I'll always love a book (or movie) set in New York.

If you like beautiful, tear jerking, laugh out loud funny romances you absolutely need to check this one out. I will definitely be picking up a physical copy for myself when it comes out in March so that I can reread it a million times.

This book was absolutely perfect. Lenny’s journey through grief was deeply painful but so raw and real. Seeing Miles come into Lenny’s life at the exact moment she needed him, to drag her back from the depths of hell is exactly why I read romance books. Watching two lost people find and create a home in each other. The way Lenny describes Miles as the safest place on earth healed something in me. I’ll be thinking about these two and their beautiful love story for a long, long time. Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Press for this ARC. This book is absolutely added to my favorites ever.

cara bastone nearly ended my life. with this book. one of the BEST books i’ve ever read! IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE and i read A LOT of books.

let me give you a little insight… he calls her a rotting carcass and thinks she’s going to disappear so he makes her chili in the middle of summer because he wanted to feed her something that would stick to her bones!!!!

…and my heart is squeezing!!

he’s a scowly jerk who could really use a hug from time to time but on the inside… he’s a sugar cookie.

buy no less than three copies.

✨THINGS AND STUFF✨
-family dynamics
-she’s a nanny & he’s upstairs neighbor
-lucky cupcake 🧅
-the death of a loved one
-grief wingman
-the live again list
-flashback memories
-what happened to you, you’re bleeding (hurt/comfort)
-kpop
-the titanic 🤝🏼 if you’re a bird, i’m a bird
-there’s only one hammock
-#IsThisAKissingBook open door.

thank you random house for the advanced copy!

Cara Bastone has done it again, I absolutely loved Ready or Not but I loved this book even more. She is officially my newest auto-buy authors! So eternally grateful to have been approved for this ARC 🫶

Promise Me Sunshine was one of those books that, on the surface, promises a sweet romance, but dives much deeper into themes of grief, healing, and the complexities of family dynamics. Cara Bastone’s writing is absolutely beautiful—she has a way with words that makes you feel like you’re wrapped up in the story, and even the simplest moments have weight. Her portrayal of grief is gut-wrenching but honest, and I really appreciated how she didn’t shy away from showing the messy parts of healing.

If you’re looking for a book that gives you more than just a love story, Promise Me Sunshine is it. It’s heartfelt, emotional, and ultimately uplifting in a way that feels earned. The setting, the character growth, the relationship dynamics, the way grief and family are handled… everything felt so thoughtfully crafted. This is a book I’ll be thinking about for a while.

eARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review!

I am begging someone to turn this into a mini series or movie!! I’m obsessed with every character in this. It was difficult to relate to the main character’s grief in the beginning but it slowly started to feel like I lost my best friend too. The pain is so raw in this but the love and comfort found in friends made this such an enjoyable read. I wasn’t ready for this to end!

Did I stay up super late to read this book? Absolutely I did. This book was everything! Lenny’s grief was so raw and I appreciated how the author really got into life after loss. I’ve read other books on loss such as Crying in H Mart and Here After, both memoirs. While Promise Me Sunshine was a work of fiction, the author did an amazing job of conveying actions and emotions of what a grieving person goes through.

I loved the concept of Lenny getting help from Miles to learn how to live again, and Miles getting help to connect to his family. Even though I am a romance lover, I am especially grateful that the romance students start till later because it felt more realistic that it wasn’t until she was getting better that she had room along with her grief for romance. Miles was a real MVP I adored all the way he was there for Lenny.

Honestly I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like in this book. Everyone, please read it!

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
Publishing date - 03/04/25
Rating (5/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley , Random House , and author for this e-ARC. Cara Bastone is a must - read author for me! Ready or Not was one of my favorite reads so I was so excited to see another book from this author.

Synopsis - It’s a heart-wrenching yet heartwarming story about Lenny, a girl who’s trying to pick up the pieces after losing her best friend. She’s feeling totally lost until she meets Miles. Miles helps her through her grieving process.

These characters felt so real ; I was sad when the story ended. Would love to see a sequel to this one in the future!! Loved every second of this book!! Highly recommend it when it releases next March.

Promise Me Sunshine
By @carabastone
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release date: March 4, 2025

I'm so glad I snagged this ARC on @netgalley , because after reading and loving Ready of Not, I wanted more from Cara Bastone. This isn't a light hearted romance like you may think from the cover. It's heavy at times and explores navigating relationships in the midst of extreme grief.

Lenny forgets how to live after her life-long best friend dies from cancer. She is overcome with grief and has completely lost herself. She avoids her parents, can't return to the apartment she shared with Lou, and is avoiding the list of things she's supposed to do to live again. The only thing she can do is take temporary babysitting jobs, which leads to her babysitting Ainsley. This is when she meets Ainsley's grumpy uncle Miles.

Miles, having lost loved ones himself, helps Lenny not only check things off her "live again" list, but helps her through the grieving process. In return, Lenny helps him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with his sister, Reese.

This book had me in my feels, making me laugh and cry. I feel like it showed a realistic picture of grief, and also, the one spicy scene was laughably realistic. If I ever had a book boyfriend, Miles may be it. If you've read Ready of Not, you get a tiny cameo in this book.

I can't wait until Promise Me Sunshine is released, because I will be buying a physical copy.

Okay, so this book is basically sunshine in book form. ☀️

It's a heart-wrenching yet heartwarming story about Lenny, a girl who's trying to pick up the pieces after losing her best friend. She's feeling totally lost until she meets Miles, this super sweet guy who's been through his own share of tough times.

I love how this book doesn't shy away from the heavy stuff. Lenny's grief is raw and real, but it's also balanced with some really heartwarming moments. The slow burn romance between her and Miles is chef's kiss. It's one of those relationships where you can just feel the connection between the characters.

One thing I really appreciated was how the author handled the grief aspect. It felt authentic and didn't feel forced at all. And let's not forget about Ainsley, the adorable little girl who adds so much sweetness to the story.

If you're looking for a book that will make you laugh, cry, and feel all the feels, then you need to read this. It's the kind of book that you'll want to recommend to all your friends.

💌| This is my first book by this author, and I'm so glad I got an ARC of it. Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and everyone involved for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review. 🫂🤍

This book is a beautiful story of two people helping each other through grief and falling in love. Lenny has lost her best friend and her soulmate, Lou, and has not been doing well when she takes on a short term nanny job to care for Ainsley. Since Lou's death or maybe longer, Lenny imagines her life in love with different men and when she meets Ainsley's uncle, Miles, she does the same but quickly falls out of love with Miles because he seems grumpy and she doesn't understand why he is always hanging around Ainsley and her mother, Reese. Of course all of that is explained as Lenny begins to understand Miles' intentions while he helps her through her grieving. I love how not only do they fall in love through adventures and deep conversations and supporting each other but that Miles sets some of his own goals for Lenny (unbeknownst to her) to determine if she is self sufficient enough to be in a relationship before he pursues it. I have had this author's book, Ready or Not on Kindle for some time and now I can't wait to read another book by her!

Thank You Netgalley for the ARC of this beautiful book. I read Ready or Not early this year and was very pleasantly surprised with the writing and story. It wasnt my favorite but I liked it.
Enter Promise Me Sunshine…. wow! I loved it. It was so emotional and healing. The pain of grief of losing someone you love is so great. Its hard to put it into words sometimes. Its almost like a living creature taking over. I knew exactly how Lenny felt. My heart hurt for her.
But can we talk about how perfect Miles was for this situation? He was exactly what she needed to come out of her deep dark pit. I couldnt love this more. They made such a great team as friends to more. It was just so heart warming. I imagine he is what i would have needed to get me out of that deep pit if i didnt already have someone.

I turn to Cara Bastone when I want to read about a good, solid dude quietly falling in love with a slight mess of an FMC. Also when I’m homesick for Brooklyn. Promise Me Sunshine did not disappoint with regards to the former. And I will forgive her for setting this primarily in Manhattan (this time). Because she still wrote NYC in all its nooks-and-crannies glory and made me want to finally check out the Staten Island Ferry

Our heroine and POV character, Lenny, is still drowning in grief after losing her bff (named Lou) to cancer a couple months before. This is not a glamorous portrayal of grief by any means. By the time we get the full picture, you just want to throw Lenny in a shower and then tuck her into a bed made of feathers. Despite near-constant melancholy and a tendency to spend her nights on a ferry or at (Monday!) dance parties, Lenny remains functional and works as a freelance nanny.

Miles is Lenny’s new client’s brother. His story is too complicated to summarize here, but I will say that he is no stranger to grief and is also a bricklayer (!) from Upstate New York.

When Miles sees how good Lenny is with his niece (and finds out why she looks like a junkie), he proposes a trade: he’ll help her navigate through grief if she teaches him how to win his niece’s heart.

Friendship and love ensues and it is all very sweet and emotional and, as per usual for Bastone, uses the New York City setting masterfully.

Bastone is also very good at setting up classic tropes or introducing potential clichés and then quickly discarding them, opting for a more nuanced and realistic story that will leave you believing that you, too, can meet a bricklayer who will take you camping just as soon as he’s done playing badminton with his niece.

For instance, Miles is the son of a (recently deceased) famous musician. But this is not a story about celebrity or money.

There is also a list that Lenny had written with Lou to help the former “live again” after Lou passed. But where another author might use the list as a device for proximity or emotional connection, that is not the case here. Yes, they check things off as the story unfolds. But they don’t use it as an excuse to hang out, nor does a character ever point to the list as an excuse to deny their feelings toward each other.

In fact, I don’t think we ever actually see the list in its entirety.

Also, Cara Bastone never fails to provide what I like to call a “jump cry”. I’ll just be minding my own business and BAM, a sentence will knock the tears right out of me. This happened three times in this book, and all were tears of…not sadness and not joy. But tears of sweetness. Like the sentiment was just so simple and empathetic and perfect, that my nervous system couldn’t handle seeing that particular combination of words on screen.

Anyway, I liked this very much and if you like other Cara Bastone books (or friends-to-lovers in general), I think you will too.

Cara Bastone has sealed herself as a must read author for me! Ready or Not was so wonderfully written that I had high expectations for Promise Me Sunshine and I was just blown away by the story. This book was so real and raw and full of hope and a promise of good things to come even at your lowest point, if you just open yourself up to it. Lenny and Miles are a shining example of a healthy relationship formed from common experiences that may have destroyed them, but with the love, caring, and patience that they both needed, moved them towards their happy ending. Miles is the best type of guy, the green flag guy, who just wants to help guide Lenny to a place of living and not just surviving, of finding joy again. Grief is a beast that comes for us all at some point and Bastone delivers a gutting look into Lenny’s grief that doesn’t feel like she was trying too hard to sell a story. I’m still feeling all the feels after finishing this book, so I know my thoughts seem like they’re rambling but I wanted to get them all down while it’s fresh.

I want to give a huge thanks to Dial Press and Net Galley for the ARC. All the opinions and feelings in my review are my own.

I was completely and joyfully surprised by this book!
I've only ever read Cara Bastone's short stories on audible (which are so cute, btw). So when I discovered this novel, I RAN.
The plot, the character growth, the depth, the overall message, and of course... MILES! I highlighted many inspiring quotes, funny lines, and swooning moments. Beautifully done, and I can't wait to discover more of Bastone's work.

But why 4 stars instead of 5? The book got a little too steamy for me toward the end. But that's obviously more of a personal preference. If that's something that doesn't bother you, this may be an easy 5 star read for you ❤️

₊˚.༄♡ I'm a mess of utter delight and tears!

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 is a love letter to best friends, New York and that one special someone. And it explored all three in perfect harmony.

It's a book about standing again when life throws you down and the people who help you get back up. For Lenny, who's barely alive after losing her best friend, it's Miles who steps in to lend a hand.

- ~ -

The way the story progresses from Lenny being down on her feet to processing her grief to finally being cautiously hopeful and gaining new experiences even slowly realising she's in love and how seamlessly it was all knitted together is a testament to some great writing

Miles is a solid throughout Lenny's journey and although he at times was surly and grumpy he's quite a gentle bear and a perfect pair to her rambunctiousness.

- ~ -

4.02 / 5☆

Thanks to Random House Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cara Bastone’s 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘔𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 follows Lenny as she mourns the death of her longtime best friend Lou from cancer. Normally a nanny, Lenny’s grief has kept her from seeking a full-time childcare job; instead, she has been taking short-term babysitting gigs. In fact, it has kept her from a lot of things—dating, socializing, spending time with her parents, taking care of herself in general. This was the opposite of what Lou had wanted, as she had left Lenny with a “live again” to-do list to complete after her passing. Enter Miles, the grouchy, awkward uncle of Lenny’s latest babysitting charge. Noticing her sorrow, he offers her a deal: teach him how he can bond with his niece, and he’ll help her cross things off her “live again” list.

This is a well-written novel that portrays the complex and emotional nature of mourning. It is also a slow-burn romance between two people healing from their respective losses. The book moved a bit too sluggishly for me at times, but I think others will appreciate the measured pace of this friends to lovers, grumpy x sunshine love story. Thank you to Dial Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow--she's done it again. I was a huge fan of Ready or Not, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Promise Me Sunshine here on NetGalley. No one balances the bitter and the sweet quite like Cara Bastone. These characters felt so real, I didn't want to say goodbye!

Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This is my second Cara Bastone novel and I can safely say I like this author - she writes a quirky, lovable story that I can’t put down. This book is about grief, but there’s so much happiness and friendship in it too. It read like a YA book to me. If you’re looking to support someone who’s grieving this book offers helpful tips and perspectives.

Taking a big deep breath after that one. Phew. Grief is heavy. What a pervasive, all encompassing thing for Lenny to be living through.

Miles is the person we all wish we had in those awful moments. The light in the dark. The sunshine that warms us. And by all metrics, he’s a grumpy, standoffish, quiet man when taken at face value, but I loved seeing the depth of his character as the story progressed.

Seeing platonic love with Lenny and Lou felt so special and how lucky were they to find that in their lifetime and the way Miles held space for it was just so thoughtful.

This book really balanced humor with these deep feelings and Lenny was an absolute riot. Her inner monologue had me rolling at times. Truly hysterical.

Thank you, NetGalley for this advanced copy!