Cara Bastone has the honor of making me cry. I think only two authors have done that, ever. So I was determined to not let Promise Me Sunshine make me cry again. Unfortunately, it did anyway - which to be honest is a good thing, emoting is healthy and good! Cara has such a poetic way with words.

"I'm uncontainable. I've just cracked the code. How to live a perfect existence: just embrace it all, every lovely/excruciating color."

How am I supposed to form a coherent thought about how much I loved this book? In the most underwhelming of reviews, all I can say is you must read it! What a heartbreaking, emotional, and relatable book. Laced with humor, you know, for balance. Miles it the epitome of, well, everything! These characters and their story will certainly stay with you long after you've finished reading!

Thank you to the publisher, Cara Bastone, and NetGalley for the eARC.

This was one of the most beautiful books i’ve read in 2025 this far, it managed to navigate the ins and outs of grief but also tell such a magical story about over coming hardships.

I loved lenny and miles, the way they disliked one another so much in the beginning but also managed to become genuine friends which blossomed into one of the most well written love stories.

This book was sad but it was also very real and raw, I loved cara’s ability to just grasp at the readers heartstrings and make them really feel for the characters of the book.

This is one of the best books ever written about romance and grief intertwined. Miles and Lenny are such loveable characters. Thanks netgalley.

But the thing about losing the person you love the most on earth is— somehow— you still have to do mundane things like tie your shoes and make enough money to continue to exist in this punishing world.

Grief… it’s not like any other emotion. It is utterly discombobulating. Among many other things.” “I’m so sorry,”

“Grief is a relationship,” he continues. “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

I loved this so much. This is a book that will make you feel ALL the things. I laughed, I cried, I felt the depths of the characters’ grief, I laughed some more, and then I cried happy tears. These characters are so lovable and sweet and adorable and they just made me so, so happy. I can’t wait to read more from this author. Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC!

This book made me cry so hard. Cara Bastone is so good at writing about healing and connecting and I just want to live inside one of her books

This book has quickly become one of my favorite romance books of the year. The way that @carabastone is able to so seamlessly and honestly write about navigating grief and learning to live, while also incorporating so much humor and love in the littlest of moments is truly incredible.

This book hold so much - deep grief, beautiful hope, an incredible and enduring love story, all wrapped into one 💗

Lenny and Miles will forever be a book couple I think about and keep going back to. The way they help each other grow and keep looking for the light in the dark together is amazing! ☀️

Thank you to NetGalley and Randon House Publishing Group for a digital ARC of Promise Me Sunshine.

I'm sorry, WHAT! I am KICKING myself I didn't read this when I first got the ARC, but I'm also glad because it was the perfect read to get me out of my reading slump.

There are only two books this year (that aren't rereads) that I've given easy five stars to, and this is one of them. It had everything I love in a rom-com. A slow-burn romance that I didn't feel was too drawn out. Emotional themes that were, I feel, adequately conveyed. Laugh-out-loud humor. The writing, ugh, I loved. The pace, plot, I mean it, everything, was so perfect to me. I laughed and cried in the first chapter and I knew immediately it would be at least 4 stars. I can't wait to dig into the author's backlog. Her voice is distinct and those are my favorite. This one will stick with me all year and I'll recommend to everyone.

I first read PROMISE ME SUNSHINE back in September and absolutely loved it. Then I read it AGAIN last week and it gone even better…

Lenny is struggling after the loss of her best friend Lou. She’s passing the time – and staying afloat – with nannying gigs, which is where she meets Miles, the grumpy uncle to one of her kiddos. When Miles finds out that Lenny is in the throes of grief, he offers to be her support (he’s been there and knows the pain) in exchange for Lenny’s tips on how to get his niece to enjoy spending time with him.

A rom-com about grief… that sounds completely contradictory. but somehow Cara Bastone manages to make this albeit sad story, very funny. Lenny, though going through the worst time of her life, still hangs on to the essence of who she is, and that person is bright sunshine. The play between her brightness and Miles’ gloom so expertly highlights these two characters and WHY they work so well together. This book showcases what it means to fall in love in real life. Miles and Lenny fall in love running errands and sludging through one of life’s toughest battles. It’s honest and real and refreshing. And Cara’s voice, as with READY OR NOT, just has that pizzazz. You’re immediately in the story and with the characters for the long haul.

I absolutely fell in love with this book and Cara Bastone! This was my first by Bastone, and now I have a new favorite author. This is one of those stories that grabs you by the heart and does not let go.

Lenny is a bit all over the place after her best friend’s death has left her lost. Lenny is doing everything she can to avoid facing the pain, including her parents and apartment. She ends up with a babysitting job watching a little girl, Ainsley. Through this job, she meets Ainsley's uncle, Miles, who through his own grief can see through Lenny's facade and wants to help her. He makes Lenny an offer: he’ll help her tackle her “live again” list (the sweetest!) if she helps him figure out how to connect with Ainsley and Reese (his newfound family).

Through the ferry rides, late-night texts, and help from Miles, Lenny realizes she is going to be okay. This book was a different spin of love and loss that I loved on every single page of the book. I laughed out loud and cried a few times. I continue to think about Lenny and Miles regularly and am genuinely so happy I read this book!

A favorite for 2025!

*Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and to PRH Audio for the gifted ALC*

I love Cara Bastone, I really do. Let's plan a choreographed dance to Robyn's Dancing on my Own, mk?

I felt like this had all of the spirit and humor of Ready or Not, but with hard-hitting themes of grief and loss. And yet somehow, it still felt so bright and sunshine-y? Part of that is from Lenny's quirkiness and comedic asides, but there was also so much love between all of the characters. Ainsley was my favorite of course, but I liked how much Miles grew on me. The flashbacks to Lou huuuurt, but this was such a great display of a healthy adult friendship. It did feel like it ended kind of abruptly, but I also may have been distracted at the end of the audiobook. Alex Finke's narration was utterly charming, especially when Lenny was fantasizing about her dramatic futures (and break-ups) with random men.

This book gave me a rollercoaster of emotions. one chapter I'm laughing and the next Im crying. I felt more towards this book because the FMC was so relatable and the things she was going through definitely hit close to home. The way she experienced and went though her grief and how you keep on living after losing such an important person in ones life was so relatable to me; she felt like a real live person, The author did such an amazing job with her writing her that it made us readers empathize with her and what se was going though and it made us feel everything she was also feeling. The MMC, Miles was the most caring and loving person ever written. He always knew what the FMC needed and was always there for her no matter what...even when he started loving her as more than a friend. Even the side characters in this book were well written and perfectly added more to the story and even then main characters. I love that the author added some past scenes of the FMC with the lost friend because it made me feel like I was in those moments with them and made them feel even more real to me. Love that the author wrote the romance to be a slow burn one and that the main characters didn't have insta love or lust; took their time to get to know more about each other though their friendship and focus more about the FMC working through her grief and how to live again after such a big loss.

This was a story about learning to live again after loss.

I really enjoyed this book. Miles was such an amazing lead, I could really see how much he cared for the people in his life. Lenny was a quirky and loving main character. I could feel her grief and worry about being able to live even though her other half had died. It was refreshing to see a story where it really did feel okay to move on from such a devastating loss. At first, Lenny seemed weary about moving on, but she got a sign from Lou that it was okay.

Me and my friends do a monthly book club, and I chose Promise Me Sunshine as our March pick and it was a total success. We met for book club night and it turns out a night with the girlies discussing this amazingly tender beautiful book was just what we all needed ✨

Promise Me Sunshine has been my favorite book club pick so far! I loved it so much, it has a little bit of everything, I laughed, I cried, I swooned and it made me appreciate my time with my best friends even more 💕 From now on, I will read anything and everything that @carabastone writes!

Thank you @prhaudio for the audiobook, Alex Finke @finkeboutit is an incredible narrator. And thank you @thedialpress for putting this one on my radar at the floral event! 💐

All the feelings 😭

This book made me feel how I felt when I read Looking For Alaska for the first time 15+ years ago.

So much grief. So much love. Done in such a delicate, tender, humorous way that now I'm crying again thinking about it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you are looking for a book to break you apart and then put you back together - this is it!

TRIGGER WARNING: Grief

I don’t know that I can put into words all of the things this book made me feel. I cannot imagine having to deal with the loss of a best friend like Lenny did with Lou. My heart truly ached for our FMC trying to continue on in life without the comfort of the one person she had always had by her side.

The MMC Miles can only be described as a prince! This man was the best example of support after loss. The way he worked with Lenny step by step to heal her spirit was beautiful. Move over to all of your previous book boyfriends because this man deserves to be #1!

Next I will be going through all of Cara Bastone’s previous works! 🤩

Thank you NetGalley & Random House for gifting me an advanced reading copy of this book! Best ARC I’ve had the pleasure to read yet!

Cara Bastone excels at writing deeply down-to-earth romances where the stakes feel high but never melodramatic. Her latest is a masterpiece exploration of grief through which the romantic plot is part of the FMC’s healing journey but avoids suggesting she needed a man to come along to fix her. Miles is so perfect for Lenny because he’s been where she has - the survivors guilt, the disorientation, the inability to be able to grasp how to exist in the world without the one you love. And while the plot is undeniably focused on Lenny mourning the loss of her best friend, we also get such a lovely exploration of Miles’ relationship with his sister and niece. You just want to wrap yourself up in this one and have a good cry.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dial Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We meet our main character Lenny, who is grappling with the lost of her best friend. She feels as though she is just existing and isn't truly living. She decides to take a babysitting job for a single mother where she meets the moms brother Miles. Miles sees Lenny in a way that no one else did and he offers to help her fully live again as long as she can help him navigate his relationship with his niece. Cara Bastone does an incredible job of writing the characters and their development in a way that makes you feel like you are there with them. This story involves themes of grief, seeing the good in the hardest moments of life, and seeing others deeply.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for review

TY to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC. While I didn't love this story and characters as much as the author's previous book Ready or Not, I still loved this one. The male MC should be goals for anyone! Heavy emphasis on grief.

Overall good read.
Loved Miles character.
Lenny's development & growth was written well
I did not feel Lenny's grief however, and for me there was a disconnect on who her best friend was despite loving a random band and having cancer. I wanted to see more of their relationship, so perhaps more flashbacks would have improved the story for me.

Slow burn romance-which really worked for most of the book (I love a slow burn) but towards the end it felt dragged out.