Thank you to the Random House publishing group for the free ARC! I went into this book without knowing the premise. I liked Cara Bastone’s last book and began reading just knowing that I would like it. I don’t think like is a strong enough word for this book. I loved it. I can’t stop thinking about Lenny and Miles. This book is about grief, love and friendship and I found myself unable to stop reading. I loved the rich character building for both Lenny and Miles, the way they support each other through their grief and the way they know each other and show up for each other. And the way Lenny loves Lou, oof. I cried so much as I read this book and yet the humour in this book is so well done. Little snippets that felt like rays of sunshine. I love all the settings in the book and the descriptions of fall and winter. I think it’s safe to say I just loved the book. I don’t have any specific points or a well thought out analysis. It just healed my soul and my own grief a bit.

This one was pretty heavy with topics of cancer and grief (not a spoiler, obvious from the blurb). I gave it a try but now is not the right time for this one for me. Loved the writing style and the story, and will hopefully read it some day when the time is right for me.

Firstly, thank you to Net Galley, Dial Press and Random House Publishing for this ARC. Promise Me Sunshine is my new favorite Cara Bastone book! My first was Ready or Not, which I really enjoyed and led me to seek out the rest of Bastone's work, but nothing else had really hit the same as Ready or Not, until Promise Me Sunshine. This is such a meaningful foray into grief. I love a good, supportive and loyal MMC/love interest, which was why Ready or Not remained my favorite until Ready or Not and Miles came along. Oh my goodness, he is a gem of a MMC! He just loves her so well and so completely and the slow-burn is purposeful and intentional on his part to help her heal and grieve and find herself again. I really appreciated this deep dive into grief in a romance, I want to be able to read about characters facing and experiencing real, hard situations and still have the hope and promise of an HEA to look forward to. Well done Cara, I loved it.

This is the second book I’ve read by Bastone (the first being Ready or Not), and I can’t wait to read more. This friends-to-lovers romance between Lenny and Miles is a touching and heartbreaking exploration of grief and the process of working through it to be able to live and love again. I absolutely love how Miles is so committed to helping Lenny navigate her grief journey (following the death of her best friend), using his own experiences to inform the way he both supports her and gently and patiently guides her through her depression.

“You are not betraying her [her friend Lou] by healing,” he whispers directly into my ear. “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.” In return, Lenny helps Miles build a relationship with his half-sister and niece, the only family he has left.

Lenny has what Miles refers to as “love-at-first-sight fantasies” which are really just her first reactions to men she sees, and hers toward Miles is initially positive, but quickly dashed when he opens his mouth. Yet, she soon realizes that he’s just socially awkward (perhaps autistic-coded) and his gruff exterior masks a kind, empathic man. He turns out to be the perfect book boyfriend, sensitive to her needs and totally supportive and protective.

Bastone is wonderful at building tension. This is a VERY slow burn, but the wait is worth it with a hilarious, but spicy love scene towards the end. Highly recommended.

It's only March and I already know that PROMISE ME SUNSHINE will be my favorite book of the year. This book is absolutely STUNNING and I'm writing this review with tears in my eyes having just finished it three minutes ago. A love story in all its forms. It's a story about grieving the tragic death of your person...something that I have experienced and resonated with fully...and learning to find joy again without them. Miles and Lenny's romance is the ultimate slow burn. It's perfectly paced with Lenny coming back to life and boy does it deliver. Between Ready or Not and now this book, Cara Bastone has cemented herself as an auto-read author for me.

Lenny is grieving her best friend, Lou, who passed away from cancer fairly recently. She's a nanny who used to do long term gigs, but is now just doing short term ones because she doesn't feel capable of faking being okay for an extended period of time. She refuses to return to the apartment she and Lou shared, instead spending her nights in places in NYC that are open for 24 hours. She meets Miles, aunt to Ainsley, pretty immediately in the book and the two of them do not make the best first impression on one another. But Miles figures out what's going on with Lenny and he's determined to help her through it, in return for helping him figure out how to get along better with Ainsley.

Bastone pairs the deep emotions of grief with the overall lightheartedness of this romance with deft skill, as this book had me alternatively tearing up and then laughing. I have always loved her writing and felt like it shined even more than usual in this particular novel. In this novel, Bastone not only introduced us to a cast of characters that already had background with one of the characters, but also let us watch Lenny and Miles meet and befriend individuals throughout the course of the novel in a way that felt so very NYC for me. I liked it because I often think about how hard it can be to make friends as an adult and to build community, but in this book, Miles and Lenny demonstrate that sometimes it requires simply putting yourself out there and having new experiences and inviting others in. I really liked the discussion of complex family dynamics and the ways in which we got to know our characters and their struggles. Basically, I think Bastone shined in the ways that she always does with the creation of her characters and the dynamics between them. I loved this book a lot and am sure it's going to be one that sticks with me for a long time to come.

I absolutely loved this book! It was a great rom com with a serious topic of grief. I really enjoyed it! Lenny is grieving the loss of her best friend Lou and trying to navigate through life without her. She takes a job as a nanny for a single mom and meets Miles . Miles will help Lenny through the grief process and fall in love in the process. This book was definitely one of my favorites. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This started out really strong for me, I was swooning over Miles and loved how he was there for Lenny. The story was very sweet and fun to read, but… there was no ending. Like, did I get a different book from everyone else who is giving it five stars?? I wanted more!!

This was a cute book! I always appreciate a romance with a little more depth to it. Overall I liked the story and it was a good character study in grief. I do feel like after they finally got together the rest of the book felt a little out of place. Maybe because it was different from the standard romance format but it just felt a little forced.

Let me just start here and say, I loved this book!

Lenny, lifetime city gal and New Yorker, has just lost her best friend. She’s now unanchored and floating through the world, having lost her person. She’s meets Miles when she shows up for her first day at a new job, nannying for his niece. He thinks she’s a hot mess who can’t possibly be able to take care of a kid. She thinks he’s a big, broody, judgy jerk. Quickly, though, they both learn that there’s more to each other than meets the eye and maybe they might find that they may be the best thing for one another.

Favorite Scenes!
- The Camping Trip
- The Tattoo Parlor
- The Lightening Storm

This book was the most delightful blend of patience, friendship, kindness and love. I love the way Lenny and Miles slowly push each other to open up and grow. The way the hold space for each other. How achingly kind Miles is. And how they each to learn that there’s someone in their corner and for them to both become and be that person for the other.

Promise Me Sunshine made me laugh, giggle with giddiness and cry. Thanks for this beautiful book Cara Bastone! Can’t wait to read the next! ❤️

Thank you Random House and Net Galley, for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book!

I really enjoyed this author's last book, which is why I wanted to read this one. Unfortunately, it was a DNF for me. The FMC just came across as very juvenile (which would have been fine if she was a teenager but she was almost 30), and the MMC was just eh. I couldn't get into the story, and the almost constant cussing (again like a teenager) was off-putting. This book just wasn't for me.

I loved this book so much!
It was so cute, the perfect friends-to-lovers I must say, but at the same time it was a deep and raw exploration of grief and how we cope with that. All the characters felt real and their development was extraordinary. It was so easy to relate to them and get attached!
Miles was THE MMC and being able to understand his past made him even more real and human. I loved him on every single page.
Now I have to read Promise Me Sunshine asap!
Thanks to netgalley for providing me with the e-ARC

This book was everything I could have asked for and more! After reading Ready or Not last year, I became enthralled with Cara Bastone’s writing, and I think I love this book even more. This was such a beautiful story about grief, and I really love a slow burn. Lenny was a complex and dynamic character, and Miles was the biggest softie to ever exist. I loved seeing their layers being pulled back, and how they helped each other through their grief. This hurt me in all the right ways, and I will be grabbing a physical copy ASAP.

Thank you to PRH Audio for the ALC and to Dial Press and Netgalley for the eARC of Promise Me Sunshine!

This book had me completely captivated from the beginning but it also made me EXTREMELY sad. The narrator was almost too good in the way she read the really raw scenes. Lenny and Miles were a really sweet pairing (even if I worried a bit about codependency at the beginning of the story) and I loved watching their relationship develop. I also thought the book tackled grief in a really real way.

Losing one star for me because I feel like the sex scene at the end gave me major secondhand embarrassment and I actually think it felt really unnecessary in this book. I don’t think it needed one and the best parts of the romance were everything else that built it up. Lenny also cringed me out some times lol

Overall though, this was such a great story that really hit in a tender way. Miles is a top tier book boyfriend.

Thank you again to PRH Audio, Dial Press, and Netgalley for the chance to read this (a little late sorry)!!

I jumped at the chance to read Cara Bastone’s new novel and I was not disappointed.

Lenny’s best friend just died of cancer and she’s not doing ok. She’s sleeping on the Staten Island ferry to avoid going home. When she takes a new nanny job and meets the kid’s uncle, Miles, she thinks he’s a grump. And, he kind of is. He appoints himself her grief guide in exchange for Lenny helping him get to know his sister and niece better.

Books about grief keep popping up when I’m not looking for them. It’s hard enough dealing with loss in my own life. But this was so heartfelt and exactly what I needed. It’s funny, but it’s also so serious. Lenny and Miles both treat their grief in such realistic ways. This was an excellent novel.

I really like Kara Bastone’s writing! She’s got a great grasp on the one-liner beautiful descriptions of love. This one, probably more than her others, really delivered a lovely portrayal of supporting someone experiencing grief. I love her NYC backdrop so much, but especially loved the camping scene AND the dinner with Lenny's parents scene. Fantastically written.

Also, I appreciate the slow burn and obvious build up to the intimacy so if a reader were trying to access it as a closed door romance, it’s very possible.

I am so delighted by Miles as the MMC, he is so simultaneously fully himself and also self conscious in some relationships. It was a fabulously written dichotomy.

Lenny was also a very layered character. Like, what happens to a free-spirited person who is completely broken by grief?

I have loved everything I have read by Cara Bastone but this is my absolute favorite thing she has written. I can not express to you how much I love this book. This is one of those books that changed me as a person. I felt so much of what this book says to my bones. This book deals heavily with grief and recovery from loss. I recently had a close family member pass away and this book delt with a lot of emotions I was already feeling. This book made me feel so seen and put so many of my feelings into words. I am so thankful to have my own Miles who has helped me remember to live. I hope everyone gets a chance to pick this one up.

I went into this book and was caught off guard how emotional this book was (in a good way)! Lenny has lost her other half, her best friend. Miles, a grumpy neighbor, uncle to the kid Lenny is nannying for, decides to make a deal: he helps her through her grief and she helps him connect with his niece.

Lenny’s character is contagious! I loved the slow burn romance between her and Miles. Miles is now my new book boyfriend. He’s just perfection in my eyes. But this book is so much more than their love. It’s about learning to move forward and knowing you’ll never forget the one you lost. So many great quotes that I pulled from this book!

Words can barely describe how much I loved this book. While I hate comparing authors (oh if you’re a fan of this and this, try this!) I truly feel that fans of Abby Jimenez will love Cara Bastone’s work. Similar to Ready or Not, Cara tackles some tough topics, but creates incredibly vivid and read characters that you just want to be friends with in real life. I wanted to hug Lenny and take her out for coffee while experiencing her journey and definitely found myself kicking my legs and giggling with Joy whole also wiping away tears during other moments in the story. Cara is absolutely a new favourite author of mine and I cannot wait to see what she writes next!

Lenny lost her best friend to cancer and is now lost herself. Unable to return to the home they shared but in denial of needing help, she takes on temporary babysitting jobs to keep herself busy and uncommitted. But her latest job with Reese and her precocious daughter Ainsley comes with an unexpected bonus: grumpy Uncle Miles. He's the one who sees through all of Lenny's masks and offers her a chance to try to learn to live with her grief in exchange for lessons on how to be an uncle and have a place in Reese and Ainsley's lives.

This is a book about grief more than anything. The romance is there and sweet as can be, but be prepared to have a few good cries as Lenny starts in a dark place and goes back to it several times. Bastone understands grief and how it can hit you like a freight train out of nowhere, with all that pain sometimes bleeding off the page, even as you're seeing Miles put Lenny back together. I had to put it down a couple of times when the words on the page hit too close to home. But I was always happy to come back to see Lenny slowly come alive with every action that Miles helped her take, and it was even better when she was the one who began to take the initiative. It's a little bit of hope that there can indeed be fun and light after a terrible loss.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press Trade Paperback for the moving read!