Oooh I really liked this one. The relationship Lenny and Miles build while Lenny is recovering from the loss of her best friend was so special and written so well. There were so many moments that made me teary eyed but this also had so much joy spread throughout it that I loved it!

4.5 STARS

I haven't had a book make me cry in a long time, but this one got me! Beautifully written and a realistic depiction of handling grief in a world without your person. Cara Bastone is officially an auto-buy author for me! Can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

freaking phenomenal. 4.5 stars

"He treats you well?"
"Mom, he walked into hell and dragged me back out"

Hey Siri, where do I find a love like that? This book will live forever rent free in my mind. The way this book beautifully balanced love and grief, gave us fleshed out characters, moments of joy, pain, laughter and sadness needs to be studied because wow.
I am usually not a fan of friends-to-lovers but seeing how Lenny and Miles' friendship blossomed into one of pure love pulled on my heartstrings.
It almost felt as we were experiencing the journey of grief with Lenny, and for her to have a grief "expert" like Miles navigate grief with her, be by her side through it all and never judge her was very wholesome and touching.
The inserts of past conversations between Lenny and her best friend Lou were also quite touching and it shows us that even when you lose someone, they never really leave your life.

Amazing body of work.

thank you net galley, random house publishing and dial press for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and Libro.fm for an ARC and ALC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

Cara Bastone is, officially, an auto-buy author for me. This ripped my heart right out of my chest. The narroator is TERRIFIC. My god, all the awards to the narrator she absolutely nailed this. If you're going to read this, read it on audio.
This book was EVERYTHING. I TELL YOU EVERYTHING.
Hard triggers for grief though. If you recently lost someone maybe ... maybe give it a few years, or decades.

eu gostaria de encontrar palavras o suficiente para descrever oq foi essa leitura, mas acho que nunca serei capaz de explicar

o livro é perfeito! nao tem nada que eu mudaria. na verdade, eu gostaria de passar mais tempo com essa protagonista (uma das poucas), mas eu acho que é essa a magia da escrita da cara: ela te deixa imaginar e criar os cenários que te deixarão feliz assim como o livro ja te deixou

enfim, o livro trata sobre essa questão de oq tu é depois de tudo aquilo que ti ja foi com alguém ainda é tu (faz sentido? na minha cabeça sim) e entao trata de forma leve e muito sensível uma das formas que o luto toma na vida de alguém e isso fez o livro ser lindo! perfeito! maravilhoso! revisitavel! e um dos meus favoritos!

cara, você esta ganhando meu coração facil facil 🥹🫶🏽

Thank you to Dial Press/Random House and Netgalley for a gifted advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

What an amazing book!! The writing drew me in right away and I fell in love with all of the characters. It’s a story about navigating grief, friendship, and love. What more could you want?

I laughed so hard when Miles was eating the multi-course Italian meal. I think that’s the highlight that’s going to stick with me 🤣

*Immediately put Ready or Not on hold*

4.5 stars [Loved it]

I absolutely loved the characters in this book. Every single one of them! I loved going on this journey with Lenny. And Miles.. swoon!! I think the hype for this book got to me a little bit and I was waiting for this imaginary big moment to happen. So when it didn’t happen, I was just like, oh ok that’s it? But this was not the author’s / books fault, sometimes hypes are just too much. Overall, I adored this book and I will think of these characters for a while. 🥰

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an enjoyable reading experience. I loved the relationship and the writing style! I will def be checking out her future releases

I read Cara Bastone's previous novel, Ready or Not, and when I heard everyone talking about her upcoming release, I knew I needed to read it. Death and grief are fascinating to me. It looks so different for everyone, yet there's also something universal about it.

What makes this book stand out from other books that deal with grief is the fact Lenny isn't mourning the loss of a family member or romantic partner. She's mourning the loss of her best friend, Lou. The idea that your best friend can be a soul mate is something I absolutely believe in. Female friendships, especially, have deep, emotional roots.

I loved the contrast of Miles. To Lenny he was kind, caring, and suffering his own loss. To others, especially Reese and Ainsley, he was gruff and stoic. He was awkward and their interactions were uncomfortable. Watching Miles reveal himself to his family was as moving as watching Lenny's journey through grief.

If you like an nontraditional love story, you should definitely check this one out.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I've been meaning to read Cara Bastone ever since I came across Ready or Not. So I jumped when this became available on Netgalley.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. I can’t personally relate to the kind of loss the main character experiences, but even so, the way her grief was written felt a bit unnatural—more like a plot device than something that felt lived-in or emotionally authentic.

Also, Lenny wore me out. She has way too much energy, and her actions often felt confusing and inconsistent. I couldn't take her seriously, let alone connect with her emotionally. Miles, on the other hand, was more grounded and tolerable as a character, but the way he instantly threw himself into helping a complete stranger felt hard to buy into.

There were some sweet moments here and there, especially in the last quarter of the book, which did manage to get a couple of smiles out of me. But the middle dragged, and the romantic moments felt more manufactured than organic. Overall, it just didn’t leave me feeling satisfied.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted copy!

Thank you, Dial Press and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Reading an amazing book is always a gift, but reading an amazing book that arrives at just the right time to help heal your heart feels like a miracle. This stunning book addresses grief in a way I haven’t encountered in a novel before. It focuses on the loss of a best friend in early adulthood and the gut-wrenching process of moving forward when someone you love dearly can’t do the same.

As someone who has lost a very close friend unexpectedly, I can say that this book does the grieving process justice. The trauma, the guilt, the void—they’re all present and all portrayed accurately. It can be such an isolating world to live in, and I applaud this book for honoring that reality and the importance of community to help pull us back into the light. We all deserve a Miles in our lives!

This practically perfect novel only fell short for me in one small way, and that’s the length. Portions towards the middle felt drawn out, and the suddenly slow pace caught me off guard. It does pick back up again, though, and ends in a heartfelt and realistic way. Cara Bastone’s wit and way with dialogue are a big reason why! Considering the subject matter, they helped offset the darker moments so the grief never felt too heavy. I laughed, cried, and felt so cared for reading this novel.

Please check the trigger warnings, especially if you have dealt with or are currently dealing with grief. This novel was both tough and cathartic for me, so be kind to yourself and read it at the right time for you!

Thank you to the author, publisher and @netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have fallen in love with Cara Bastone’s work since I read Ready or Not last year. @carabastone makes you feel ALL the feels with her writing and these story lines have been perfection.

I don’t know another single author that has handled the grief of losing a best friend like Cara did in Promise Me Sunshine.

I went into this book not knowing anything about it but I loved this author’s last book so I was eager to read this one. Lenny’s life is a mess. She is grieving the death of her best friend Lou and she is unable to get her life back on track - she is overwhelmed with her grief and can’t move past her despair. After taking a temporary babysitting job she meets the child’s Uncle Miles. He soon sees that Lenny is struggling and begins to draw out what is happening in her life as he starts to help her overcome some of her issues and process her grief. Miles has had his own losses and struggles with grief and as he helps Lenny he also deals with some of his own problems. This book had depth and heartbreaking moments and they were so well written. I loved the banter and the slow burn relationship of the main characters. Miles was a wonderful character and I loved seeing him evolve as his romantic relationship with Lenny evolved. Overall a well written and thoughtful book.

LOVED this one!!! Even more than ready or not. Obsessed with Miles & his tender heart. Such a raw read that is circled around grief, but Bastone does it in such a wonderful way with romance. Thank you Dial Press for my arc!!!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lenny is a 20 something woman who lost her best friend to cancer. She is deeply grieving and ultimately does not know how to stop the cycle. She has shut out all her loved ones and cannot even go back to her apartment because that's where she lived with her best friend. Lenny takes on a short term nanny gig and meets Miles. Miles seems a little odd hanging around the apartment and even follows Lenny when she leaves at the end the end of the weekend. Miles sees in Lenny what he himself went through when he lost his mom and younger cousin. He is the support Lenny needs to grieve but he also pushes her to move forward with her life. About halfway through the book I definitely was in love with Miles and was routing for Lenny to get to the place where she could love him and return to living.

I really enjoyed this book. Loved that Cara brought in a character from Ready for Not for a cameo.

Thank you Cara Bastone, NetGalley, and the publisher for this e-ARC copy of Promise Me Sunshine.

I'll admit, this one was really hard for me to get through. Not because it was bad... it definitely wasn't! It was because I've been in a unique season of life processing two elderly grandparents battle massive health issues. Not two weeks ago we lost the matriarch of our family to aggressive end stages of COPD. I read this book while she was going through severe complications involving ICU visits, and lots of anxiety for our family. I normally don't share personal things on platforms like this... but I am sharing this knowledge so that you know how impactful a good story can be.

Cara Bastone has been one of my favorite audiobook authors for quite sometime. Her stories are wholesome, engaging and inspiring. This one was no different.

In the process of healing from life altering grief, our main character goes on a journey of finding herself again. By slowly learning to pick up the pieces of her life after losing her best friend one day at a time... Lenny finds herself babysitting for a single mom. This single mom comes with an adorable child... and grumpy uncle that grates her nerves.

The thing is though... life's biggest blessings come when we least expect it. Miles sees right through the walls that Lenny puts in place while pretending she's not falling apart inside. Turns out this duo coming together was the very thing they each needed in order to heal, and grow in their own lives.

I am holding onto this ideation, and learning to lean on those around me while I journey through my own grief process. Thank you Cara for writing such wholesome stories that helped this reader process through some of her own journey. I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

I want my books to completely wreck me... and then stitch me back together in the most beautiful way. Promise Me Sunshine did exactly that. I laughed, I cried, and felt every emotion right alongside the characters. Huge thanks to The Dial Press and NetGalley for this incredible ARC! 💛

I loved Cara since Ready or Not and this one was even more gut-wrenching yet healing. I loved the dynamics between the two characters and while at times it was a sob fest, I found that the book was not unnecessarily sad. Will continue to read her books!

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for feedback!

I really enjoyed this book! The pacing was well done and I loved the character development between our two main characters. I thought the romance was so sweet, and it didn't feel rushed or out of place for the story. Another solid read from Cara Bastone! 4/5 stars!!

Absolutely loved this! The perfect romance for a more mature audience that values healthy communication, self-reflection and positive growth. Cara Bastone is an author who I KNOW I can recommend to almost any reader (can easily skip the few spicy scenes if that is an issue for someone). The writing is funny, heartwarming, and touching. The romance was such a slow burn but the love was deep! Loved every relationship in this book, especially the one that grew between Miles and Ainsley.

Cannot wait to see what Bastone writes next!