This was such a beautiful story about living truly after loss. The grief process and finding joy and life in other aspects of your life while not forgetting the person you lost.

I thought it was very beautiful and the romance that bloomed through the story was expected but still beautiful.

Loved it.

I got an advanced copy from @netgalley and @randomhouse in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book releases March 2025! Put it on your list!

In the beginning, I had a hard time relating to Lenny’s grief, and the interactions between Lenny and Miles were slow burning. I can’t pinpoint an exact moment, but at some point that all changed and I became enthralled by the story. The character growth was really well done in this book. Miles and Lenny were so good for each other, and I really wish I had a real life Miles to rely on.

The death of Lenny's best friend Lou has caused her to feel completely lost. She's avoiding her parent's phone calls, the apartment she shared with Lou and the list of things she's supposed to do to start living again. She's even sleeping on the Staten Island Ferry. The only thing she can seem to do is temporary babysitting gigs and luckily she's just come upon the perfect one with overworked mom Reese and her precocious daughter Ainsley. In her time with Ainsley, Lenny is able to pretend she has it all together and then immediately break down on public transportation. However, Ainsley's grumpy uncle who always seems to be around is the one person who can see that she's barely holding on. Stricken with his own experience in grief, Miles offers to be that person for Lenny and help her start living again - crossing things off of her list included.

Cara Bastone.... You did it again. I absolutely adored "Ready or Not," especially because a surprise pregnancy trope is extremely hard to tackle. Amongst other romance readers I know, most avoid the trope all together, but Bastone was able to execute it perfectly. Now enter another subject that's a bit difficult to tackle: grief. For those who have been thrust into the dark place that is grief - it can be challenging to find a book or story that captures it so profoundly and accurately. I think that is what Bastone does here. Her characters are so complex, well rounded and real. You want to rip them out of the pages and give them a warm hug. You especially feel the depths of their grief and their emotions. There are other romance novels that attempt to write about and deal with grief - whether that is the death of a parent, friend or former partner. However, in these novels it is very much a "sprinkle" of grief that never quite gets there in describing it. Which maybe that is fine since it's a "romance" novel. What Bastone does in this novel is really take her time with grief - in explaining it, letting her characters feel and deal with it - and have it become a main character while the romance is an amazing, beautiful addition.

Cara Bastone is incredible and an author to watch. I look forward to her next work and can't wait for this to be formerly published as I will be getting myself a physical copy!

I really enjoyed Lenny’s story and journey through grief. I am also a sucker for friends to lovers, so when her grief guide, turned best friend, then turns lover, I was not mad. Cara didn’t shy away from the hard bits of grief, but she also balanced the story with sparks of humor to get you through. Overall, had a great time reading this one. My only critique- if you can call it that, I would have liked it to love I tiny bit faster.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this ARC!

Promise Me Sunshine is a beautifully crafted story that explores overcoming grief, healing, and finding love in unexpected ways. Be forewarned, it is loooooong and has one of the slowest slow burns I've ever read - but it is also incredibly heartwarming and makes you feel all the feels.

Promise Me Sunshine was truly one of the best books I've read all year. Bastone does such an incredible job depicting grief while also injecting this book with hope and joy. I loved every single page of this book and wouldn't change a single thing. Lenny's journey after losing her best friend to cancer is handled with such care without shying away from the fact that healing is not linear. I'm going to miss these characters so much now that I've finished the book.

If love means I’m-not-scared-off-by-your-worst-days unending care to you, this will speak to your soul. I adored Ready or Not last year, because it was such a beautifully unexpected take on the accidental pregnancy take, with gobs of nuance woven in. In Promise Me Sunshine, Cara Bastone handles the raw, gritty, doldrums of grief with a perfectly firm touch. We watch Miles and Lenny emerge from their respective darkness, and the blooming they find together is all the more meaningful after knowing how much they suffered. It’s not an easy, shiny, only-on-the-good-days-where-everything-magically-works-out type of story, Miles and Lenny’s love is for the rest of us.

I loved every single page of this book.

This is such a beautiful love story. A unique friends to lovers between Lenny and Miles. This story goes deep into grief that Lenny has from losing a loved one and also the grief Miles has had from losing loved ones. Their relationship starts off from disliking each other to slowly becoming friends to best friend’s to lovers while dealing with their loss and grief.

This story made me laugh and it made me cry. I really felt I got to truly know the characters. It was heartbreaking to feel Lennys despair and struggles at times - it felt so real. This book brought up the question of how do you live again after you lose a loved one. The author did a great job in showing the rawness of grief.

Both Lenny and Miles were strong and well developed characters. Once they got over their dislike for each other, they become fiercely committed to each other. So refreshing to have an amazingly well written romance story with a true to life experience.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. I would happily give it more than 5 ⭐️ !!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. And thank you for turning me on to this author. I will continue to read more books for Cara Bastone.

Promise Me Sunshine
by Cara Bastone
Pub Date: Mar 4, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
How do you find yourself after you lose the one you loved the most?

Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance.

It’s a beautifully written love story between Lenny and Miles. It's an in-depth exploration of grief and their whole relationship from meeting and disliking each other to slowly becoming friends to best friends to lovers while dealing with her grief and his family situation. It might also be the only friends to lovers romance I’ve ever enjoyed.
Great read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Cara Bastone, and the publishers for allowing me access to the e-Arc.

4.75 stars

This is an incredible story about grief and healing. I understand grief to an extent but not to the overwhelming and life-changing experience that the characters go through. Cara Bastone makes me laugh and cry while reading her books. These are the kind of romances that I love. The characters are well-developed. The story has depth to it. I know their romance will stick with me for a while. I will always pick up any of the books she writes in the future.

I highly recommend it!

Wow! This book was truly a ray of sunshine. The way that Bastone depicts grief is so real and raw. I love how this book didn’t just feel like a romance book, it felt like so much more. I have loved Bastone’s writing for a while now. Ready or Not was one of my favorite romance books of all time so I was so grateful to get this ARC. The only reason I didn’t give it the full five star rating is because the beginning felt super slow. I didn’t love the romance at the start and debated not finishing it. Once I hit about 20%, I fell in love with the characters and was so glad I stuck it out. Overall this was a hit!

I feel so lucky to have been given the chance to read this book in advance to its release. It was incredibly heartwarming! A glimpse of joy, amongst a hard time. Cara Bastone's writing took me by surprise because at the start of this book I was not taking it too seriously but slowly overtime it began to sneak up on me just how much I liked these characters. I was rooting for our protagonist, Lenny, to let go of her grief and embrace fully living her life. I became infatuated with the bond she forges with Miles Honey, his steady, unwavering presence was exactly what she and I needed. This book was full of silliness and hope and compassion. One of my new favorite romance books and I never could have seen it coming!

Firstly, thank you to Net Galley, Dial Press and Random House Publishing for this ARC. If you haven't read the Forever Yours trilogy, please do! It was my intro to Cara Bastone and I've been a huge fan since.

Now, this is a heavy and long read. I would definitely read trigger warnings or take your time with this one if you have struggled with grief. I normally read books in one or two sittings but it took me a couple days to get through this one. Partly because I was traveling and didn't want to cry in the Uber on my way to the airport and partly because it gave me the time to appreciate the slow burn in Lenny and Miles' friendship.

Lenny's sunshine to Miles' grump was really fun to see grow into genuine care and eventually love. Miles is THAT caretaker MMC. He likes taking care of Lenny and Lenny falls for him seeing his softer side. I would definitely say this is the most romance adjacent I've read from Cara Bastone. It veers a bit more into fiction than romance (which is totally okay) but I do want to let readers know that the love story almost feels second to the self-discovery and healing (which is more realistic anyway).

Overall, I enjoyed this read and it gave me a very hopeful feeling at the conclusion. I hope this read finds someone that could really use that.

I have not stopped thinking about this book since I finished it. i don't know how Cara Bastone does it, but this book made me laugh one page and then cry the next and then make me homesick for new York and also made me want to fall in love with my husband again. this book is honestly in a league of its own. i have so many parts of this book highlighted and I can't wait to share more when it gets closer to release day.
I know I said this in my mini review, but if you have read this, message me so we can play quote roulette and gush about how amazing this book is.
this brought me so much comfort, especially With the
state of the world rn. grief is so tricky to get right and this felt so raw and also so beautiful. you will NOT regret picking this one up.

Thank you NetGalley and Dial Press for gifting me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The best books make you feel something, and Promise Me Sunshine made me feel EVERYTHING. This beautiful story about the nuances of grief and love, was so potent and filled with every emotion imaginable. It had me crying on a Wednesday afternoon, fully ensconced in catharsis and appreciation.

This story follows Lenny, in the midst of her grief, as she begins a new job where she meets Miles. Miles has experienced grief in his own life, and offers to help Lenny through hers in exchange for her help. As they navigate grief and a myriad of human emotions, their genuine connection is what allows the emotions to translate off paper.

Cara Bastone always makes me feel like I am reading her story at exactly the right time in my life. I felt the same way when I picked up Ready or Not. And Promise Me Sunshine was no different. I saw myself in Lou, in Lenny, and in Miles. The way each character so perfectly embodied their experience allowed me to identify with them on a deeper level. Thank you, Cara, for the heart that you put into this book. It was an honor to get to read it early🤍

thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

I have not had a 5 star read in about 4 months and I am obsessed with this book.

It was such a beautiful story, I could not put it down.

I know I love a book if I have to pause all my regular activities for the day to read.

The way it tackles grief and love at the same time is so seamless. I think it makes so much sense since life is messy and a ton of emotions happen simultaneously, but wow I have not read anything so beautiful in so long.

My favorite part of the writing was that the start of each chapter really drew me in and I had to keep reading. Those hook sentences really got me.

This was also my first Cara Bastone novel, so I 100% plan to read her others :)

I finished this one a while ago, and somehow I never posted about it. Every book by Cara Bastone is amazing, and this one fits on that list. It took me a little bit to get into the story, but it was worth it! This book is heavy (dealing with the death of loved ones) and shows characters helping each other through dark moments. I loved the way the relationships were built and grew throughout the story. Grab this one, and be ready to smile, laugh, and maybe get a little teary-eyed, as you go.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The first 3/4 of the book were enjoyable but didn’t really speak to my rom-com loving heart. This portion focuses more on the process of grief and how that affects one’s day to day life. It also focuses on friendship and how Lenny (our protagonist) befriends Miles, who subsequently helps her embark on a journey of grief recovery. This is truly the slowest of slow burns, and I was dyyyyinnnngggg for them to FINALLY be together as more than friends. It was truly chemistry-laden and filled with sparks once it finally happened. I just wish I would have had more time to enjoy it! It felt like the lead up was soooo long, but then the final portion of the book was a bit rushed. Otherwise, I really loved this story.

Thank you NetGalley!

Earlier this year, I picked up Ready or Not by Cara Bastone and ended up adding it to my Favorites shelf. So when I got the chance to read an ARC of her upcoming release, Promise Me Sunshine, I was thrilled, and am pleased to report it did not disappoint.

Lenny is a nanny in NYC who is reeling from the loss of her lifelong best friend; at work, she is on top of things as always, but the rest of her life is in shambles. Her newest charge's uncle, Miles, a gruff and seemingly grumpy man, recognizes her grief because he's lived through his own tragic past, and offers to help her process her grief and get through it. In exchange, she'll help him learn how to relate to his niece and sister.

I enjoyed so many things about this novel. The New York City setting, the main characters, pretty much all of the side characters, the dialogue that felt real and not cheesy. Bastone's writing just speaks to me, and I could have easily read this in one sitting if I'd had the time - and that is even with the heavier subject matter. It's balanced with enough light that it didn't bog me down at all, while at the same time had me truly feeling heartache for Lenny's pain. Lenny and Miles were both relatable and lovable, and I was rooting for them all the way. And I loved the ending.

It earned an easy 5 stars for me, and is one of my favorite reads of the year. Cara Bastone is going on my must-read authors list, and I already can't wait for her next one. A huge thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was exactly what I needed to read at the exact moment I needed to read it. It was so touching and emotional and just so raw with the grief aspect, but at the same time it was heartwarming and hopeful. I loved every second of it.