This is a beautiful story about grief and also finding love—-with humor throughout to balance it out but you definitely still feel the emotions. Lenny (who gave me Jess from New Girl vibes) is grieving for the death of her best friend, Lou. She’s having a horrible time moving forward until she meets Miles (who experienced his own grief) who helps her navigate and heal through this difficult journey. Their relationship is sweet and their banter perfection.

Wow. What can I say. I loved this book. I laughed. I was emotional. I felt hope. I lost my Grandfather a few years ago and it was very difficult to move on—-just like Lenny. Through my grief and depression I was still able to joke, be a little weird (in a fun and good way) and laugh—just like Lenny.

I felt like this book was written for me. I was so connected to it. I cannot imagine life without my best friend. I don’t want to. Like Lou, my best friend is wacky, funny, loyal, smart and just overall amazing. Shout out to my girl DCO!! I really bonded with this story….as you can tell.

The story can be heavy and even heartbreaking but it is also uplifting and funny. My life too has been heavy and heartbreaking but it’s also been fun and inspiring. I have difficulty with emotions but Cara Bastone has a way of giving me all the heart feels.

I also want to add I appreciate how the author handled the sex scene. It wasn’t so….for lack of a better word “porn.” It was awkward. It was funny. It was sweet. Which is more realistic than what I’ve read in other stories.

So obviously I loved this book! Also to add, Cara Bastone is an auto buy author for me. Check out her previous novel “ Ready or not.” She also has a romance (and also humorous) series on Audible which I devoured. The narration and performance is muy excelente.

5 stars!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Releases 03/04/2025

Thank you NetGalley, Cara Bastone and The Dial Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure anything could compete with my love for Ready or Not, but the author delivered another captivating love story you will not soon forget. I loved it.

Promise Me Sunshine is a standalone story about friendship and grief. Healing and growth. And falling in love. This is a story that builds slowly. And I mean SLOWLY. Building a friendship from an initial dislike. The way that I SWOONED over Miles though. The way he cared for her. Supported her. Showed up for her. He was always one step ahead. He's like this broody cinnamon roll that I'm not sure I've experience before, but adored. We don't get his POV, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything. I felt everything. It took me a minute to get into this one, but once I did- I fell hard for them both and was completely captivated. Let this be your warning- stick with it, trust the slow burn.

Because this story is packed full of emotion, tender moments, and even humor too. If you're looking for a book with spice though, you won't find that here until the very end. And I really love how awkward and real the author writes that first time to be. But when I tell you that you don't need it here- I mean that you can feel their connection as their relationship evolves and grows. As they evolve and grow both individually too.

I really loved it. I highlighted so much of this book I wish I could share here. I highly recommend checking it out! And I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

*Thank you to Random House Publishing/Dial Press for the ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and given freely.

“And this journey through grief...It’s what we do for the great loves of our lives.”

Hey so this book destroyed me in the most beautiful of ways 😭. Promise Me Sunshine might just be my favorite romance book to date. The kindness shared between Lenny and Miles had me so undone. Cara Bastone truly has a fan for life. She has such an ability to blend the soft wonderful parts of life with the most painful and make you laugh while doing it. What a gift to anyone who is grieving or helping someone through grief. It healed such a deep part of me, and I am forever grateful!!

This book is out in March and I will not be shutting up about it until everyone has had the opportunity to read this beautiful book. Please put it on your TBRs! Thank you to @netgalley and as always @carabastone for the ARC.

This was the second novel that I’ve read and absolutely loved by Cara Bastone. This one was a heavy one for sure, the novel dives deep in to the grieving process. The heavy themes might be hard for someone fresh in the grieving process to read. I don’t think I’d recommend it to someone in that stage. However, I think she did a wonderful job balancing the heavy topics out with fun quirky characters that I loved. The two main characters were so well developed and I loved their super slow burn story. Their story was at times painfully slow but totally worth the slow burn in my opinion. I wished we had seen more of Reese and the little girls characters in this book. Their side story felt like an afterthought at times. Overall, a beautifully written novel that made me laugh and cry hysterically. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. Run to get your copy when it releases on March 4th!

Cara continues to blow me away!!

Amazing doesn’t even cover it. This book is exceptional and I feel honored to have read it. It’s emotional, heartfelt, comforting, and is one of the best books I’ve ever read that covers grief. She took two complicated characters and made them not only lovable, but honest, relatable, and real.

This book is raw, beautiful, and a must read!!! I urge everyone to read it. Miles and Lenny are complicated and lost, but end up not only finding each other but themselves in the most unconventional yet conventional way possible.

The way they lean on and trust one another makes me cry thinking about it. I had no idea what I was getting into when I read this book, but I never wanted it to end. They’re perfectly imperfect and I loved every second of their story and this book.

This book is like a hug. A story of found family, grief, and love.

This book has so many levels, from finding love, to standing up to people who do not truly know you, to supporting others through grief.

I cannot recommend this book enough

Cara Bastone’s Promise Me Sunshine is a beautiful depiction of one path through tragic loss. The two main characters have both experienced devastating loss, but one was sudden and one was prolonged through cancer. This plot choice emphasizes the similarities of grief as well as allowing for individual approaches to coming out the other side.

First, Bastone can write! Her descriptions and detail are beautiful and seamless. That alone is reason enough to read this book.

Second, she creates realistic characters who become interwoven in one another’s lives in natural ways that can be used as a roadmap for creating community in any circumstance.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. Recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Where do I start? This book is heavy, realistic and just beautiful. Its a story about life after grief and the struggles after losing someone. I feel like the book is a little long but I still love every bit of it! The romance and love story is also very natural and very realistic. Definitely recommend! ❤️

Cara Bastone is one of those authors that’s a given for me. I’ll read anything she writes and have read them all. This book did not disappoint. Lenny is in the midst of some horrible grief. She meets miles and he is essential to bringing her back. It’s super cute. I love the characters from the start. I felt their connection and grief. Thanks to NetGalley, Cara Bastone and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Promise me Sunshine is one of the best books I’ve read this year! I loved every. single. word.

Lenny is lost in her grief after losing her best friend, Lou. Miles is desperate to connect with his sister and niece, his only remaining family. A last-minute babysitting gig drops Lenny into Miles’s life, and the ensuing connection they find leads to a beautiful story filled with humor and emotion.

Main characters Lenny and Miles are a dreamy grumpy-sunshine match. They’re flawed and relatable, and I absolutely loved their character development. The secondary characters are equally entertaining, and added so much to the story.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House and, of course, Cara Bastone for this ARC opportunity!

Promise Me Sunshine held my hand and gently guided me through falling in love with Cara Bastone’s writing, again. I devoured Ready Or Not last year, giggling at a reading party in Brooklyn. It was the first of her novels I heard about/read. This one being the second. Now I have to go through the rest of her works — obviously. I’m in love.

As for a review, how do I say this concisely and comprehensively? NYC is one of my favorite cities to read about and there’s nothing like seeing this city illuminated in black and white, by an author who just gets it (much like there’s almost nothing worse than suffering through the POV of someone who doesn’t).

Cry in public! Hug in the middle of the street! Make out like no one else matters! These are moments pulled straight from my reality, and it makes imagining these characters all the more interesting. I truly love a blue collar worker. I adore the concept of a lovely and delusional ramble-brained lady.

When I read CB’s characters, I see myself reflected and I feel real. The whimsy and the laughter and the completely ‘unreal’ POV that most other people often ridicule and clearly don’t understand. Picturing myself in the oddities and strange synchronicities of it all is beyond words.

Long story short, Ready Or Not made me cry. And Promise Me Sunshine? My tears may or may not have been coincidental. I love Miles, I love Lenny, I love Lou. Every focal character in this book is deliciously flawed, but also kind and nuanced and enjoyable. I love it! (Can you tell?)

Thank you Cara Bastone for writing this book. Thank you #NetGalley for the digital ARC. Thank you for the existence of books about grief that can help me face my own losses and channel my tears through something more abstract than myself. And thank you for love stories that always make me want to see the other side.

4.5 stars. What a beautiful story of friends turning into lovers and a realistic portrayal of grief and losing a loved one. Lenny & Miles worked their way into my heart with their tender and easy way of being there for each other. The way Miles cared about Lenny and wanted to make sure she was happy and safe was actually everything to me. This book was not an easy read with the grief and flashback scenes but I thought the author did an amazing job keeping it lighthearted with humor and friendship. The character growth was absolutely stunning and I truly loved every character. The story was entertaining and fast paced, and I loved how Miles and Lenny were true friends to lovers. That really made this book for me and I loved it so much. Cara Bastone books will always tear me apart and put me back together and I love her for that 🧡

This book was amazing. I loved it. The raw grief that was portrayed was so emotional and real. Cara Bastone really knows how to write a good story!

I really enjoyed Promise Me Sunshine. The premise of the book, finding someone to help you through the dark days when grieving, isn’t something I’ve read before. I think this topic could have turned in a really dark direction, but Bastone did a great job of creating a lighthearted protagonist who portrayed the realities of grief while also having a great sense of humor.

<spoiler>
I loved the slow burn romance between Lenny and Miles. By the end I felt like I was practically screaming for them to get together already, and I appreciated how she let them each begin to heal together and separately before they proceeded with their relationship.
</spoiler>

I felt that the secondary characters were really well developed, and added so, so much to the overall storyline. Nobody felt gratuitous, everyone played a crucial role.

My only “complaint”, and I wouldn’t even say this is one, is that the book is very dialogue heavy, and that’s a writing style that is sometimes difficult for me to read and lends itself better as an audiobook for me to listen to. Really, that’s just an issue with my processing more than anything.

Bastone is making a name for herself on my shelf, if I ever want to really feel something when I’m reading/listening, I’ll be picking up one of her books.

Thank you to Cara Bastone and Random House Publishing for an eARC copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/4.75⭐️

this was my second book from Cara Bastone and now if she writes it, I will read it. I love the depth to her books and while this book wasn’t my fav compared to ready or not I absolutely loved it and the romance had me giddy. Cara knows how to write mmc that completely steal my heart and have me obsessed with their quiet steady love and it’s beautiful to see and read. Also the cover is absolutely stunning!

Thank you to NetGalley, Cara Bastone, and Random House for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Promise Me Sunshine is a beautifully relatable novel that explores grief, depression, and the slow, healing power of friendship and love. Lenny, a nanny between jobs, is a deeply empathetic character whose internal monologue brings so much warmth and honesty to the story. Her journey is complicated and real, especially as she navigates grief while daydreaming about a future with her charge's uncle, Miles. I appreciated how Ainsley, the seven-year-old Lenny is nannying, was portrayed with such realism—smart, funny, and true to life.

One of my favorite aspects was the slow-burn romance between Lenny and Miles. Their friendship builds naturally, with Miles offering unwavering support as Lenny copes with her past. This story really felt more like a friendship journey until about 80% through, when they finally shared their first kiss. For a romance novel, it made the experience feel special, even if I found myself impatient for that romantic turn! The mutual feelings and restraint made the payoff deeply satisfying.

At the end, the “live again” list was a wonderful touch, encouraging readers to embrace life and experience more. It felt like such a fitting conclusion to a story about moving forward and finding hope. This book was moving, beautifully written, and well-paced, and I’m so glad I got the chance to read it.

loved this one!!! although it felt a bit too long and i did find myself zoning out or skimming at a couple points, overall this is a really great story about grief and love and the journey of it all.

this is deffff a slow burn so keep that in mind going in, but i do think it’s worth it by the end. i love the love between lenny and miles, it just felt so geniune and emotional.

the portrayal of grief was done really well, although a bit .. dramatic? at times. another review on here says it almost felt like a caricature of what grief is “supposed” to be like and i feel like that describes it perfectly. it’s such a complex emotion and of course everyone goes through it in different ways, but it felt really basic at points.

if you want an emotional romance with hard hitting themes and possibly a couple tears mixed in, go for this one!! it does drag a bit but is still just a really great story.

thank you to netgalley & random house publishing group for the arc!! all opinions are my own <3

Promise Me Sunshine is a gorgeous novel about loss and love. Bastone does such a beautiful job of letting the reader into the mind of Lenny, the protagonist, as she navigates the raw grief of losing her lifelong best friend. The book portrays her struggles to function in her daily life and soon, meeting a stranger who also has personal experience with deep grief could be a way forward.

The tender ways in which Miles cares for Lenny are heartbreaking and sweet, and it was so beautiful to watch her slowly progress through many days and moments of blinding grief to finding joy again. This book doesn’t gloss over grief in any way, but shows how deeply healing it can be to walk through it with someone who’s been there.

The romance almost feels secondary in this novel, but not really! It's just an amazing slow-burn romance that feels utterly real and life-changing. I have to go and read all of Bastone’s prior novels now that I’ve seen what incredible emotional depth she brought to these characters. I cried while reading this, yes, but overall it left me with such a feeling of hope and determination to live well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this read. I liked Resdy or Not last year so I was happy to read Promise Me Sunshine this year. Oh I loved these characters and it was so easy to ready. Cara, you got great humour for writing !! Whatever she comes out with next I want to read.

I really loved this sweet and heartfelt book. Miles is so genuine, sweet, gentle, and thoughtful. The beginning of this book feels pretty chaotic being inside Lenny's head, but upon reflection I'm sure it is meant to as that reflects where Lenny is at mentally and emotionally at that time. We really go on a beautiful, emotional journey with Miles and Lenny and I already miss them! I will be re-reading this one for sure!