⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started "Promise Me Sunshine", but it was exactly what I needed after losing my Grandpa earlier this year. Cara Bastone beautifully envelops grief and the power of friendship in a season of deep loss. I laughed. I cried. I swooned. What a fun day-in-the-life of a woman grieving the loss of her closest friend and a man finding his place in his family. The strongest part of this story is how Lenny and Miles connect through incredibly vulnerable moments and selfless love for the other person. Another wonderful experience from Bastone.

This book made me feel all the feels. Lots of books don't fully get how grief really is but this one hit all the marks. I fell in love with the relationship between Lenny and Miles. Everyone deserves to feel seen and understood while going through a tough time. And what a way to fall in love.

4.5-5 ⭐️ Lenny, coping with the grief of her best friend’s death, takes a temporary babysitting position for single mom Reese and her daughter Ainsley. But Miles, Ainsley’s uncle, is always lurking. When Lenny falls apart one day, Miles is there to pick up the pieces having experienced his own bouts of grief. As the two become fast friends, and Lenny begins to process her grief, she realizes life does in fact go on.

This is such a slow burn romance, but in the very best way. When we meet our MCs, they are complete strangers, each suspicious of the other. But the build from acquaintances to friends to more is deliciously sweet as Miles helps Lenny not only cope with her deep seated grief, but also shows her how much more to life there can be. And as she slowly opens up to new friends, she finds herself surrounded by those who accept her just as she is.

🎧 This is absolutely terrific on audio. Alex Finke was one of the most entertaining narrators I’ve ever encountered. It was screwball comedy for the ears as she brought every single character to life. I will definitely be adding her to my favorites list.

Read if you like:
▪️friends to lovers
▪️forced proximity
▪️grumpy x sunshine
▪️cinnamon roll hero
▪️found family
▪️slow burn
▪️stories about surviving grief

Thank you Dial Press and PRH Audio for the advanced copies.

Slightly spicy, male female, 1st person single point of view, contemporary romance. I was hooked immediately! I thoroughly enjoyed this author's writing style. I loved every character and their interactions were funny, lovely, heartbreaking, and believable. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

Thank you so much to The Dial Press for the ARC!

Wow. I am obsessed with this book. I love it so much. First of all, these characters. I adore them. Lenny is such a wonderful character. She's so real. She's dealing with the grief that comes from losing a best friend. She's adrift in life and doesn't know what the future holds for her, or if she even wants a future without her best friend. It's so heartbreaking to watch Lenny grieve but I so loved those moments because it made me care for this character a lot more and sucked me even further into the book.

Miles. Oh my. What a man. He is amazing. The way he cares for Lenny was so sweet. He brought her back to life. I loved watching them fall in love. It was definitely a slow burn but it was so worth the wait. The way Miles loves Lenny was so pure. There was just so much genuine love there. He loved her for who she was and loved her at her lowest. It's so inspiring to read, knowing that even when you're grieving and at the lowest point at your life, someone can still wholly and completely love you, exactly as you are.

This book was just perfect. I'm absolutely in love with it. Cara Bastone, the woman that you are. You tug at my heartstrings. You break my heart and put it back together again. You make me fall in love with words on a page. Please never stop writing. I will read anything you write, even your grocery lists.

I don’t think I’ve ever read another book so deeply personal and so heartbreakingly true about death and loss. The process of grief is never linear and days can be good and bad at the same time. This book shows exactly that.

”Most of the time life is easy and we think it’s hard…then something actually hard happens.”

Cara Bastone writes books that feel like they’ve been ripped from my soul. I don’t know how else to explain it than that. Her books make me laugh, crave endless hugs, and wish the story would never end. I want to curl up on a couch with Lenny, instill order to my life like Miles, and find the easy pockets of joy like Reese.

The ability to capture grief, raw and genuine, on the page is no easy feat, and yet Cara has done it seamlessly. My heart ached for Lenny’s loss and Miles’s loneliness, and all I wanted to do was throw myself into their quirky newfound friendship.

“When I met you…I sort of feel like I met myself.”

When I tell you that I basically have my own Miles—someone I can rely on now matter how dark the days get. Someone who will be there to help pick up the pieces when I fall apart. Someone who I can rely on to be my smile when my face forgets how to pull the muscles into the curve it needs…and yet I want Miles. 😂

His willingness to drop absolutely everything (even sleep) at three in the morning to make sure Lenny is okay. His determination to guide her through her grief and to help her find her way to the other side. His desire to watch her pick up her own pieces and find a reason to live life even if it means doing so without her best friend…

“I’m not sleeping…I’m committing the moment to memory.”

There is no part of this book that isn’t beautiful. Every word, every scene, every character. I loved it. It’s poetically beautiful. It’s a book I need to reread annually. It’s a story I already hold close to my heart and will continue to do so for a very long time.

I also MUST say that if given the choice, PLEASE pick this one up on audio. You can feel the emotions through the narrators and it’s absolutely incredible.

Please don’t miss out on this one:
- Friends to lovers
- Forced proximity
- Cinnamon roll hero
- Found family
- Slow burn
- Surviving grief
- Grumpy x sunshine

CW: death of a friend, death of a parent

Happy pub day to my latest 5 star read! I really loved Promise Me Sunshine. In this book, Lenny is still grappling with the loss of her best friend when she meets Miles while working a temporary babysitting gig. Miles is the grumpy uncle of the girl Lenny’s babysitting, but you start to see very quickly he’s so much more than meets the eye. He helps Lenny knock out her “live again” list and work through her grief while she helps him with something in return.

Promise Me Sunshine is a slow burn romance that had me giggling/kicking my feet at parts. I also love the personality of the fmc, Lenny. Even though she’s working through things in the beginning, her personality and humor really shine through. Miles is also such a kind, patient gem of a man!

This is the second book I’ve read by Cara Bastone and she’s now an auto-buy author for me. Whoever the cover artist is also knocked it out of the park—the cover is so pretty!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

okay here is the review everyone was waiting for!!

i absolutely adored this book! lenny and miles reminded me of laurel and luke so damn much! lenny with her witty banter and flying comebacks; miles and his grumpiness with a total soft side for lenny.

it did not take long for me to be hooked on this book. i read this book in less than 24 hours. i love the decipition of grief, loss and healing this book portrays. it was beautiful and realistic and valid. no one’s grief looks alike and some people may be able to relate to this book for those reasons. lenny’s grief shows up as humor, and when that fails to work, she cries and cries. i do wish we had more insight on mile’s journey on grief. we do learn about mile’s story but i felt disconnected from his experience with grief.

lenny and miles work together beautifully and i love them together. i have seen a lot of comments about the *sex scene* in the end of this book… yes it was awkward but it felt very representative of their relationship as a whole too so i honestly just brushed past it lol

thank you netgalley and random house publishing for the arc in exchange for a review!

How do I even begin to put into words how incredible Promise Me Sunshine is? Cara Bastone has managed to capture the brutal journey of grief with such tenderness and accuracy while still maintaining a sense of hope even during Lenny's darkest moments. While this is definitely a love story of Lenny & Miles, I was drawn to all of the threads of love throughout: Miles & Ainsley, Lenny & her new friends, Lenny learning to love life again. I sobbed multiple times, both from sadness & from joy. Promise Me Sunshine is going on my all-time favorites shelf at home & will be something I recommend over and over again. I'd give this six stars if I could.

Trigger warning: This book includes very detailed descriptions of grief and resulting depression. It's handled with extreme care, but could be very triggering for those with a recent loss.

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone is a beautifully written story about grief, healing, and finding love. After losing her best friend, Lenny feels completely lost but then she meets Miles, a grumpy guy who sees right through her act. He offers to help her move on if she helps him fix his relationship with his niece, Ainsley. The chemistry between Lenny and Miles builds slowly, and I loved watching her learn to open up again. It's a heartwarming, emotional journey about starting over and finding light after loss.

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
416 Pages
Publishing today March 4th, 2025

•Trigger Warning• Death of friend, death by cancer, grief

Lenny, a young woman who is grieving the loss of her bestfriend, has her life turned upside down by a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again. Miles, the grumpy stranger, agrees to help Lenny complete everything on her “live again” list if she’ll help him connect with his niece after a hard relationship with his sister.

This book is so special to me. It broke my heart & put it back together. As someone who lost their bestfriend tragically in high school, I feel as though I could resonate with Lenny & her battle with grief. I loved that Lenny had someone to help work through her grief on her own terms. I love that this book truly showed that although grief will always be a part of you, there are ways to adapt & learn to live through episodes of grief. Beautiful writing with even more beautiful characters. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Read if you like:
✨Books that makes you cry
✨Grumpy x sunshine
✨Friends to Lovers
✨Slow Burn

#carabastone #friendstolovers #grumpysunshine #slowburn #romance

“This is a love story, I swear. This is what happens when you’ve promised someone you’ll live again.”

A massive thank you to Random House Publishing, Cara Bastone, and NetGalley for allowing me to access an eARC of “Promise Me Sunshine” in exchange for my honest review.

To begin, this is currently my favorite book I’ve read so far in 2025, and I have read so many good books this year. I think I enjoyed it so much because it perfectly encapsulates grief, resilience, and love all while serving Cara Bastone’s humor and wit that shines through her characters. I loved “Ready on Not”, and I love this one even more; I immediately ordered myself a physical copy after devouring this eARC because I needed a physical copy to hold and cherish after the emotional journey this story took me on.

Lenny is SUCH a refreshing character. She is unabashedly herself (and a little unhinged), but she was a realistic female main character with all of her quirks, charms, and humanity. And Miles! Don’t get me started on the man Miles Honey is. Seeing his interactions with Reese and relationship with Ainsley grow all while he helps Lenny find her way back her herself was such a treat to get to follow along with.

I wholeheartedly loved this story and will shout my love for it from the rooftops so everyone else in the world can see enjoy it as well!!

6 stars!!!

Cara Bastone has completely stolen my heart with Promise Me Sunshine! This book was everything I wanted—sweet, deeply emotional, and brimming with passion, hope, and love. The slow burn romance was beautifully done, unfolding in a way that felt so natural and tender, making every moment between the characters even more meaningful.

Bastone’s writing is effortlessly engaging, pulling me in from the very first page. The characters were so well-developed, and their journey felt incredibly real—full of longing, vulnerability, and those little moments that make love feel inevitable. I found myself completely invested in their story, and by the end, I was in tears.

This book is a perfect reminder of the power of love and second chances. It’s the kind of story that stays with you long after you finish, leaving you with a warm, hopeful feeling. If you love slow-burn romances with heart and depth, Promise Me Sunshine is an absolute must-read!

CWs needed for raw and painful depiction of grief. If you’re dealing with a recent loss, save this book for later.

Things I loved about Promise Me Sunshine:

-In Lenny we get a deeply real and unflinching portrayal of the way grief wrecks you; the utter lack of control and the nonlinear process of adjusting to a fundamentally altered reality. It’s heartbreaking. At times I had to stop and wonder to myself what Cara Bastone has been through to be able to write this..

-Overwhelmed with grief and barely functioning, all of Lenny’s walls are down, but this lets Miles see her and get to know her intimately. His gruff honesty, his calm determined acceptance of every unhinged or sad thing Lenny does/says— and importantly his status as a person who didn’t know her before—allow him to penetrate the fog of grief. Miles, in turn, desperately needed someone to care for and be strong for; to find some good use for the hard won wisdom of overcoming immense loss. And he needed someone steadfast and loyal, whose positive regard he didn’t have to work for. In this way they both end up with a person who they feel safe with, even as they’re still getting to know each other.

-This book is masterfully paced/timed/plotted. Friends to lovers is believable here because Bastone knows the beats she needs to hit to transition them, the signs to plant along the way so you know it was there all along. At the beginning of the book it’s impossible to imagine Lenny and Miles on equal footing. To use her metaphor, Lenny is drowning. Bastone shows you each step of her growth, so deftly that you don’t even realize it at first that she’s treading water until she’s almost on dry land.

-Lenny realizes her feelings for Miles in a huge rush, an overwhelming tide of feeling that almost reminded me of the Psy-Changeling books when the mating bond is accepted by both partners. The emotion has been building since they met, subconsciously because there was no room for it with the immensity her grief, but once her mind and heart are open she’s inundated by it. She has to grapple with the idea of allowing herself to feel joy, to plan for a future where grief and happiness are not mutually exclusive.

-Finally, I adore the tactile affection in Cara Bastone’s books. Chin and face touches, hammock snuggles, the best hugs ever written.

If I had one qualm it’s that, as a social worker myself and someone who has gone through devastating loss, I had to suspend my own judgement a bit because really Lenny was unwell and probably needed a therapist in addition to Miles’ support.

Lenny is mourning her longtime best friend, Lou. Her grief has kept her from doing anything much, riding the fairy all night to avoid going home to a Lou-less apartment, jumping from little job to little job, landing a short-term babysitting gig for Reese and her daughter, Ainsley. She has been putting off living, even if she promised Lou she woud live again once she was gone. She even has a laminated list of things to do, and she takes it everywhere, but has no idea of how to accomplish it. On the first day she babysits Ainsley, she meets Miles, Reese's brother, who is grouchy and seems like an ass, and who is very relunctant in leaving his niece alone with a woman who is such a big mess. They eventually start talking, and once he realizes she's grieving, he offers her his help, having been through it himself fairly recently, in exchange of her teaching him how to better connect with his sister and niece.
I absolutely loved Ready or Not, so when I saw a new title by Cada Bastone on NetGalley, I pounced on it so fast! And let me tell you, this grumpy sunshine, strangers to friends to lovers romance was just as good. Once you understand that Miles is just an awkward grouch and not an ass, he is so caring and sweet! I laughed out loud many times, even if the matter of greif is very present in the story. Keep in mind that this is a slow burn, but in the best of ways!
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I don’t think I can get my thoughts on this book to come out of my head right. It was just such a feeling of a book. There is a lot of grief in this book so please go in ready for that, though please know it is very well handled so if you feel in the right head space I’d go for it. I felt like I grew to know the characters so well especially the main two. It’s a slow burn too but it completely makes sense with what Lenny is going through and so never feels overly drawn out.

I do wish the ending hadn’t been so rushed just to get some more closure on Lenny’s journey and where she is at the end of the book.

I had read Cara Bastone’s novella for audible before this, which are very different in tone, still good just lighter by nature. So I was concerned about the heavier subjects in this book but as I said above they were handled with expert care.

If you are a fan of Abby Jimenez then I’d recommend this book, they have the same ability to find the happiness and humour while also handling more delicate subjects with care that they feature.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review. Cara is one of my auto-buy/auto-read authors. Her writing is phenomenal and unique with full of emotion. Cara has done it again with this friends to lovers romance. The way Miles is the perfect balance for Lenny and helps lift her up through her grief. I just love them together!

I absolutely loved Cara Bastone’s “Ready or Not” and was excited to see she had a new book coming out. I was super excited to read it! The subject matter is pretty heavy, however, and I have found it hard to read due to my own current circumstances. With that being said, Bastone handles these topics with the sincerity and delicacy they deserve. I’d recommend this book to anyone not bothered by the content warnings! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Cara Bastone’s books just keep getting better and better. I absolutely devoured this book and didn’t want to put it down. It pulls at your heartstrings and what an emotional ride. Miles and Lenny were so perfect together and I loved how they leaned on each other when they needed to but as their relationship progressed, there was a clear line of “we’re not in this relationship because we need each other but because we love each other.” I thought Cara Bastone did such a great job of making that line clear. I will read anything she writes at this point.