Promise Me Sunshine was a fantastic book! Lenny is grieving the loss of her best friend, Lou. Lenny has had difficulty moving forward with her life since Lou passed away from cancer. She begins babysitting for a little girl, Ainsley, and her mother, Reese. It is through them, she meets Miles, Ainsley’s uncle. Their relationship starts out rocky, but Miles is determined to help Lenny push through her grief.
The characters are realistic and relatable. Lenny’s character arc is an integral part of the story. I rooted for her as she works through her pain and grief. The relationship between Lenny and Miles was touching at times as he helps her deal with her grief.
This was a wonderful novel about healing and moving forward with life.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I warn you, only read this if you’re emotionally strong!

Easily a 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read.

Lenny is dealing with grief after her best friend passed.
🧡“Hey, Lou. You ruined me for friends. I don’t know how to be casual friends with anyone. You were my soulmate. How do I settle for less?” 😭

She’s working random odd babysitting jobs that don’t require much commitment but will keep her mind occupied. Enter Miles, the uncle of the little girl she nannies for. Miles is super grumpy, but as we learn more about him we find out he is such a sweetie with the biggest heart.
🧡"Lenny, when I look at your face, I feel like I'm finally home after a really long day at work." I immediately turn my face into my pillow and attempt to withstand rapture.

This is a delicious slow burn romance, and I am obsessed with Lenny and Miles. They are so perfect for each other. Miles is the BEST man. Men should take notes ‼️

I cried so much. Lenny’s feelings of grief hit HARD and her journey of healing is too relatable to anyone who has dealt with grief.
🧡“I’ve spent the entire day pretending I’m not bleeding on the inside.”
But at the same time she’s hilarious and kept me laughing.

Quotes (I highlighted a million things, but these are my favorites):

🧡“My mom asked me if you treat me well, Miles. You know what I said to her?” “What’s that,” he says in a low, husky voice. “I said that you walked into hell and dragged me back out.”

This BROKE ME:
🧡"Miles," I gasp into the phone when he answers. "Lenny?" His voice sounds like it's already sliding into shoes, grabbing a coat and his keys off the hook. "What's going on?"
"I'm on the ferry again," I tell him. "I wanna be somewhere else." Somewhere painless and dark. "I'm coming," he says. "Don't hang up."

🧡"Grief," he says in a low voice, pinning me to him, holding me in place against him,
"becomes your companion, Lenny. As awful as it is, it's your constant.
"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 and going."

Siri, play Ripple by Good Neighbours 🥹

Thank you Cara Bastone, NetGalley, and The Dial Press for this eARC. 💛🧡❤️

Where do i begin with this wholesome masterpiece… Cara Castone’s writing is one of my absolute favorites especially with Promise Me Sunshine. The amount of love and care you can feel between the characters and real-life scenarios that they undergo was just so beautiful to read. Something I can find lackluster in romance books is what this book excels at.. premises and situations occur and affect characters not just because but because there is specific and heartfelt intention of these situations for the main characters. that alone in itself made this book so so good in my opinion.

The grief and the way is was explored and explained made my heart shrivel and tears drop from my eyes. the amount of love and adoration I had for lenny despite her having a really quirky personality (i am mellow as a cat lol so that was a fun surprise to read a very extrinsic main lead and still have a fun time with it)

Following her and miles friendship just felt like the warmest hug ever. there’s many instances in books where there is a lack of build up or it just feels like main characters are pushed to have feelings for each other out of thin air… but the gradual build up to lenny and miles friendship and then turned relationship hit the softest part of my heart and it hit really hard (hit me soft and hard lover here hehe)

I think i would have loved more scenes of lenny and miles as a couple and just figuring out her grief instead of it kinda coming together towards the end but nonetheless this book just felt the most mundane and human but in the best way possible. i can’t wait for what’s next in Cara Bastone’s writing journey because i am obsessed with the two i have read so far!! I can’t wait to go in store and pick up this book! i highly recommend you guys to read if you are in need of a heartfelt, emotional, but also healing romance (has hits of literary fiction/romance mix)!

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and Dial Press for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you for the arc @netgalley @thedialpress @carabastone
Here is my HONEST REVIEW 🩷

This book really captivated me from beggining to end. The way the author developed the story really left me speechless.
I loved the way Miles with kindness and understanding accompanies Lenny in her process of acceptance and liberation to find a way to continue living acknowledging her pain and grief. He takes her by the hand and is there for her through her darkest moments when she can’t bear to be in her head and deal with her own thoughts . He helps her find the way back to herself to relearn how to take care of herself and love living again. Grief is such a deep feeling that it can disconnect us from reality completely. We are the owners of the keys but sometimes a little push along the way can help us float back to the surface and live. I have no words to express how much I loved this book. It really touched my heart in so many ways, I couldn’t stop crying while reading it. It has definitely become the best book I’ve read this year. I will treasure every single bit of it and carry it on my heart and mind always

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book!

Sorry to anyone that may disagree and to anyone considering picking this up, I have to leave this rave review for you to ponder:

If I had to describe this book in just a few words, they would be: heartwrenching, beautiful and healing.

This is a hard but beautiful read for anyone who has lost someone. It takes you on the journey of grief in such a whimsical and easy-to-digest way that you laugh, cry, and self-reflect in a way you never thought a rom-com would make you. I'm tearing up just writing this review because this book left such a lasting feeling on me.

Lenny is a Zoey Deutch-coded, struggling ray of sunshine who recently lost her best friend and has been simply existing. Enter Miles - the uncle of her current babysitting gig and the person that ultimately saves her from spiraling to a place where she wouldn’t return. Between his steadfast and just downright swoon-worthy support of her grief/healing journey paired with the unfiltered joy and love from Ainsley, it really isn’t a shock that this book had me crying at several points.

It’s a beautiful story. Plain and simple. I went into this expecting a fluffy romance with a dash of hurt but was pleasantly swept away by Cara Bastone’s ability to suck you in, keep you smiling and always somehow manages to make you cry.

I truly adored every single character in this book and want to give them all the biggest hug and possibly never let go.

(also absolutely loved seeing Ethan from Ready or Not!)

It’s never easy reading a book that deals with grief, how do you add hope to a book that deals with losing someone and their journey of trying to cope with that? Well, I can honestly say Cara Bastone does that and more with this book. The way that I wanted to read this book in one sitting, but I forced myself to put it down and take my time enjoying this book because I wanted to live in this book a little longer. This story is about grief and living with that grief after.

The characters Leny and Miles go through so much and I love that the author takes the time to develop the characters as friends, you see the character development, they go through the way they learn how to lean on another person for help.

While this book might not be for many people, as grief is something everyone goes through, and you might not be in the right headspace to read it but if you ever find yourself ready to read about grief, I encourage you to pick up this book. It has a lot of heart and a lot of hope.

Solid 5 stars



Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Dial Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

DNF 27%. I tried hard to get into this one! The characters were not my favorite. I just kept thinking he just met her and barely knows her to be knocking out the list her and her best friend made. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for my review.

I have not actually finished this book, however, I am going ahead and sending feedback. I tried really hard to finish this before the release date, but emotionally, it was very hard for me. I just lost my dad to cancer in December, so this hit extremely close to home for me. Cara Bastone did a beautiful job of capturing grief and how complicated it is. As stated, I'm not finished with the book, BUT I already know it's a 5 star read for me. In a way, reading this has been so healing for me, but it also makes me cry every time I pick it up, so it's taking longer than expected to finish.

A poignant story that manages to be heavy and light at the same time. The portrayal of Lenny and her story shows a raw and honest look at grief, and a reminder that grief does not follow reason or a timeline. This book is more than a love story of girl meets boy, it’s about Lenny falling in love with living again and her life after loss.

Although I enjoyed the story, I did find Lenny to be a tad selfish and immature for an almost 30 year old, she was pretty frustrating and cringy at times. It was hard to believe she was almost 30 and not a teenager with her lack of responsibility.

Overall I liked it and recommend for anyone seeking an emotionally rich, slow-burn story that transcends the boundaries of a traditional love story.

3.5 stars rounded up

I love this book! Lenny has lost her best friend, or rather soul mate to a brutal cancer. She is stuck in a spiral of depression and heartbreak when she meets Miles. He make proposition to help her learn to live with her grief if she helps him get to know his niece. The love and consideration that is written into this book is so apparent on the page. A grumpy/sunshine romance and also a love letter to the ones who leave us too soon.

I'm gonna say it loud and proud but this is one of favorite read to start the the year!!
This was so heartwarming and I was laughing out loud at so many parts. I seriously adore Lenny and Miles so much, this will have you in your feels.
It's a slow burn about grief and finding yourself again, with strangers to friends to lovers and all the fun adventures in between! One thing I did hope for was an HEA epilogue to see how they ended up and all the side characters. But I loved this book and got myself a physical copy and I will be recommending this book to my friends! Cara is now added to my must read authors here on out!

4.5⭐

Thank you Netgalley and The Dail Press for this ARC

4⭐️

what a sweet book. cara bastone really hit the nail on the head when it comes to writing about grief and healing through it in such a beautiful and realistic way.
the over all lesson of healing and that everybody goes through grief and heals in their own retrospective ways.

i loved lenny so much, she was entirely relatable and even through her struggling with grief and losing her best friend, she is SO strong. the way she was with reese and especially ainsley melted my heart!

miles started out so grumpy but the way he actually showed up and cared for lenny and sat with her in her grief only to pull her out of it? i adored it so so much! and the fact that he was also grieving and healing made it all the more heartfelt and genuine.

i adored their slow burn romance, and the way they started as friends & slowly developed into real feelings for each other. they were adorable! i wanted more of their romance though.

i would highly recommend promise me sunshine! thank you to netgalley & dial press for the ARC ♡

This was a 5⭐️ read for me because I know I will be thinking about it for a while to come. It’s already sticking with me and it’s one I’ll recommend. I really liked so much of this book, but there were parts of it I didn’t like too. I never really connected to the female main character, Lenny. I’ve never thankfully dealt with big grief like hers but I found her actions at times immature and irresponsible. She was a grown woman actively avoiding life and responsibility and making her family worry. I know the grief journey is different for everyone so I tried not to let that form my opinion of her too harshly, but it was hard at times not to be frustrated with her.

At the same time though, I empathized with her so much on the loss of her best friend Lou. The more I read about their long friendship (like sisters really) the more I wanted my own best friend to swear to me she’ll never die. Her hurt and grief were palpable.

The writing was stunning. There were moments that gave me goosebumps and made me cry. Moments I grinned happily. Miles was a true spot of sunshine in this book. The subplot of him getting to know his niece and sister was delightful and poignant and really made the book for me. He had his own grief he was still working through and was such a kind soul. I loved the way he showed his love for Lenny. The wolf tattoo cemented him in my heart.

While this book is marketed throughout the romance genre, I didn’t feel like it was a romance book. Lenny only realizes her feelings for Miles towards the end, and there are no spicy or romantic scenes until close to the very end. While they certainly have fallen in love slowly and beautifully over the course of the book, it felt like more general fiction with a dash of romance. While the author isn’t standing out to me as a romance author, she is certainly a lovely writer that I will continue to read future work from!

After falling in love with Cara’s writing in Ready or Not, I was SO EXCITED for Promise Me Sunshine. I just knew this book was going to emotionally destroy and put me back together again. Everything in this book was perfect. I have zero notes, zero complaints, and if I could tattoo Promise Me Sunshine on my soul, I would. Cara is able to bring so much emotion and heart to her writing and characters. Books like these are why I read and this will be categorized as one of the best romances of all time. This story was heartbreakingly real and beautiful. I adore Miles and fell in love with him along with Lenny. Lenny’s growth and processing of her grief was lovely and so, so accurate. Thank you for bringing this story into the world, Cara. I loved every word and every page!

Thank you to Dial Press, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy!

Thank you NetGalley and Dial Press for this eARC!

Lenny has lost her best friend in the entire world, and is trying to figure out how to exist in a world without her. She meets Miles, who is grumpy and standoffish, when she starts nannying for his niece. Miles sees right through her "everything is okay" facade, and soon they form a connection over the grief of losing people close to you. Lenny learns to live again with help from Miles. Miles learns how to interact with his sister and niece and how he fits in their lives.

This was a beautiful story centering around how grief affects us and those around us. How to move through it, how to accept it, how to live again in spite of it. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

Rating 4.5 Stars

Promise Me Sunshine is such a heartwarming story and I really loved it! It follows Lenny, who just lost her best friend who was like a sister and soulmate to her. She is not handling it well when she meets Miles, who offers to help her get through this season, as he recently lost his mom and cousin and wants to make sure she is okay.

Lenny's humor through all that she went through was inspiring, and the banter between Lenny and Miles was amazing from the start. Miles is such a grumpy grump but underneath he’s such a softie! I also really enjoyed Miles getting to know his niece and half sister better. It was so sweet to see him connect with little Ainsley.

Miles!! The man that you are! The acts of service! The constant care! We love a man who shows up no matter what every time she needs him! This is such a lovely friends to luv-ahs story (as Lenny would say). It was definitely a slow burn but worth the wait. Reading their journey to love and healing after losing the people they were closest with was heartbreaking but I also appreciated the fact that there wasn’t a one size fits all/unrealistic approach to grief. Even by the end it’s not like the grief is just gone and magically healed but Lenny comes alive again and it’s beautiful to see it happen.

I truly ate this up. Even though it was difficult at times to sit in the grief with Lenny and Miles, I loved how Bastone added humor and fun to the story too. It was a great balance and even with the very slow burn of the romance, I felt like the pacing was well done and I was very engaged in the story.

This is a great reminder to live life to the fullest & not shy away from the hard stuff. As Miles said, “the only way out is through”.

Tropes:
Grumpy x sunshine
Strangers to friends to lovers
Slow Burn
Hair washing
He takes care of her

TW:
Grief
Cancer

Quotes:
“He’s wearing his new reading glasses, and I almost reflexively slap them off his face. He’s not supposed to be hot. That’s not part of our deal.”

“She’s not a mess,” he says in a low voice. “She’s perfect.”

“Lenny, I’ll do anything you ask me to.”

“Lenny, when I look at your face, I feel like I’m finally home after a really long day at work.”

“But with you, Len, when I met you … I sort of feel like I met myself.”

Promise Me Sunshine follows Lenny as she tries to navigate life after the death of her best friend. Enter Miles, the grumpy uncle of the girl she ends up nannying. They both need help: her with her grief and learning to "live again", and him with connecting better with his niece. Lenny and Miles have experience with what the other needs help with, and so an unlikely duo is formed.

I had a real interest in this book after reading Bastone's previous release, Ready or Not, and I am so glad I had to opportunity to read this before it released. I don't think I have ever been so happy to cry every other chapter while reading a romance book? The intense grief that Lenny is grappling with the entirety of this book was absolutely heartbreaking. But the way that Miles was there at every turn, no matter if Lenny needed immediate help or just someone to validate her feelings, was perfection. The dynamic between not only the two main characters but all of the supporting characters was exactly what I need in a romance book. And the slow burn build up of the friends-to-lovers plot line was, in my opinion, exactly what Lenny and Miles needed. You can feel the care that Bastone takes with these characters in how she handles them navigating their grief. I firmly believe that all romance readers will enjoy Promise Me Sunshine but please be sure to check all content and trigger warnings. The content of this book is heavy, and I definitely found myself needing to take breaks , but it was 100% worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC

Have you ever finished reading a book and all you want to do is flip back to the first page and reread it right away? That’s how I felt about this book. I loved every second of it. This book tells a beautiful story about grief and love that I think everyone should read.

Promise Me Sunshine follows Lenny who lost her best friend, Lou, and in the process of grief, makes an unexpected friend in Miles, uncle of the kid she is babysitting. They make a deal: he will help her complete tasks from her live again list and she will help him get closer to his niece, Ainsley and his sister, Reese. Their relationship grows deeper as they spend time together.

I absolutely love every part of this story. The writing, the characters, and the relationships.
The writing is clear and illustrative, helping me picture the story and each scene vividly in my mind. The first person narrative allowed me to be in Lenny’s head, and see her raw thoughts, something I really enjoyed. From the start, I loved Lenny’s character. Lenny is funny and caring and real, she is also messy and grieving. Miles is so caring and kind, he is also misunderstood and awkward. The characters are a big reason for why I love this book.

I loved the way Lenny and Miles' friendship and bond slowly grew. I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted to keep reading and seeing their interactions. There were so many beautiful moments between them that had me smiling so hard. These scenes showed how well they understood each other. I loved the buildup of Lenny and Miles. I'm a huge fan of friends to lovers and this book shows exactly why. They start off as strangers but the reader gets to see their relationship develop into friends and then more than that. I can’t put into words how much I love their characters and their story. You will just have to read the book to understand it!

This book is also about Lenny and Lou’s friendship and the grief Lenny experiences from her loss. We see glimpses of Lenny and Lou’s friendship throughout the story. Lenny’s love for Lou is seen through the way she talked about her and the grief she experienced.

This was a beautiful story about a girl experiencing grief, friendship, and love. I felt so many emotions. I went from happy to sad to laughing. I cried so many times. This was my first five star read this year! I think everyone should read this book, but don’t forget a box of tissues!

Review was published 03/04/25
Review was published on my Wordpress blog, mreadsandreviews.wordpress.com on my Instagram page, m_readsandreviews and my goodreads profile. All links are below:
https://mreadsandreviews.wordpress.com/2025/03/04/promise-me-sunshine-promises-a-good-cry/
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7233138691
https://www.instagram.com/m_readsandreviews/

This book was an absolute gem and, without a doubt, an easy 5-star read for me. From the very first page, I was hooked. The author’s writing style is nothing short of phenomenal. She has this rare ability to weave together humor, heartache, and romance in a way that feels so natural and effortless.

Finished this right in time for publication!
Cara Bastone wrote a beautiful book about finding y0urself after dealing with grief.
Lenny lost her best friend Lou to cancer. She is struggling through everyday tasks, and even has issues going back to the apartment they shared. Lenny takes a job as a nanny and meets Miles, who is the girls uncle. Miles decides he will help Lenny deal with her grief in exchange for Lenny teaching him how to interact with his niece.
I loved this book, but be warned that you should have some tissues close when reading it. As someone who has lost a best friend I really wish I had a Miles to help me through it. Cara Bastone did a wonderful job of dealing with such a heavy subject. This book will stay with me for a long time.
Thank you to Random House, NetGalley and Cara Bastone for the advance readers copy.