Thank you very much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC!

This book follows Lenny who is grieving the loss of her best friend and Miles, the uncle of the child she is now nannying. Things get off on the wrong foot but when Lenny open up to him, he offers to help her through her grief.

This is a single POV strangers to friends to lovers slowburn romance. Miles starts out very gruff and turns into a complete and total sweetheart. I loved the romance between these two and how they both helped each other heal.

However, my one personal gripe is with Miles and Reese’s dad and the whole dynamic of their births. Otherwise, would have been a five star read for me.

I recently lost my best friend as well. And while this book is beautifully written, and I thought it could help me heal, I just can not get through it right now.

I absolutely loved following Lenny's journey in this heartwarming story! From the very beginning, I felt her pain and could relate to the feeling of being lost after losing someone so important. Her struggle to avoid her concerned parents and the apartment she shared with Lou was so poignant and real.

When Lenny took on the babysitting gig with Reese and Ainsley, I was thrilled to see her find a little bit of purpose again. Ainsley's uncle, Miles, seemed like a huge jerk at first, but I quickly realized there was more to him than met the eye. The way he saw right through Lenny's facade and offered her a proposition to help each other was both surprising and touching.

As Lenny and Miles spent more time together, I couldn't help but root for them. I loved watching their relationship develop and seeing how they both began to heal through their shared grief and support for one another. It was so inspiring to see Lenny start to complete her "live again" list and rediscover herself in the process.

Overall, this book was a beautiful and emotional read that left me feeling hopeful and uplifted. The characters were relatable, the story was engaging, and the message about finding yourself again after loss was truly powerful.

Thanks to Dial Press for this arc in exchange for a review.

Promise Me Sunshine brought me to tears and laughter. This story will break your heart and warm your heart at the same time. It's so beautifully written that I did not want it to end because the emotions are raw and so relatable.

Lenny is messy and struggling with her grief after losing her best friend to cancer. Miles is patient and understanding, willing to help after having battled with grief himself. The relationship between them burns slowly, but explodes when it catches fire.

Dare I say, this is my new favourite romance and Cara Bastone is a new auto-buy author? I think this is one of those books that I wish I could read for the first time again.

All the stars - 5/5 since that is the most I am able to give! I cannot wait to read more from Cara Bastone.

**I would definitely check the content warnings before reading.**

What an incredible story! It masterfully tackles the heavy themes of grief while weaving an emotionally rich narrative. Lenny’s journey is both inspiring and heart-wrenching, capturing the rawness of realistic grief. Having Miles alongside her as a co-pilot adds depth to the narrative; his own experiences with loss make him the perfect companion for Lenny during such a tumultuous time.

But it’s not just a one-way street; Lenny offers her support to Miles as he navigates his place in a new family that isn’t quite sure how to embrace him. I love stories that explore big themes but I wish this one was through dual point of view,. While Miles is definitely expressive and relatable, I found myself wanting to delve deeper into his thoughts and feelings—especially regarding how he could help Lenny.

Plus, I was thrilled to see a connection to her previous story with Ethan making an appearance! It’s a nice callback that adds to the overall enjoyment of the story. I can’t wait for Reese’ to get a story. I have a feeling Ainsley is eager to jump back into the spotlight. If you’re looking for a heartfelt read that beautifully captures the complexity of human emotions, I highly recommend this one!

This book made me feel all the feelings. The grief, the sadness, the slow creep of joy when I wasn’t looking. I loved falling in love as Lenny and Miles fell in love with each other, laughing hilariously as Ainsley and Miles danced on stage, crying near the end at the tender triumph. I wish I could read this again for the first time.

Lenny is nanny who is grieving the loss of her best friend when she meets a grumpy stranger who offers to help her live again.

I loved this story so much. Bastone perfectly balances the emotions in this heartfelt story of loss and living through grief. I loved the unexpected friendship with Miles and the genuine connection formed as he tries to help Lenny live with her loss.

I enjoyed Lenny’s quirky moments and the slow shift from friends to lovers as she and Miles bring the best out in one another. Highly recommend picking this up for a beautifully written story.

Thanks Dial Press and NetGalley for my advance copy.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House for this arc.

I loved this book hard. I have no doubt it will feature in my top books of 2025. It’s just gorgeous. It’s funny, sad, beautiful, incisive, quirky and deeply romantic. It does have a very strong through-line about grief. Those who’ve had a recent loss may want to avoid it for a while.

Promise Me Sunshine perhaps edges right up to the line of too much grief. Lenny cries often and struggles with her grief for much of the book. There’s no quick fix. It’s a book which gives space and time to grief. In some ways, it reminded me of Kate Clayborn’s The Other Side of Disappearing. It had the same kind of beauty to it and a similar tone, even though they’re different stories altogether.

Lenny is loyal and loving, generous and funny, kind and quirky. Miles is less quirky and perhaps slightly less funny but he’s all the other things Lenny is in addition to being rock solid. They are so good together. The writing is stellar, the characters complete, complex and relatable. It’s a story that will stay with me and one I expect to revisit. Recommended.

This book pulled me out of a reading slump.
Wow. I genuinely loved everything about it.
It had laugh out loud banter, heartwarming moments, and so much emotional depth.
The characters felt incredibly real, each one well-developed and full of depth.
The story explored grief and moving forward after loss in such a raw and authentic way, capturing the different ways people cope with heartbreak.
The romance felt natural, and the chemistry between the main characters was undeniable. Both were incredibly relatable, making their connection even more captivating.
This was a stunning story about love, loss, and healing, and I can’t recommend it enough.

🅁🄰🅃🄸🄽🄶 5

🄵🄾🅁 🅁🄴🄰🄳🄴🅁🅂 🅆🄷🄾 🄻🄸🄺🄴

☆ Romance
☆ Grief and Healing
☆ Friends to Lovers
☆ Slow Burn Romance
☆ Grumpy Sunshine

🄵🄰🅅🄾🅁🄸🅃🄴 🅂🄲🄴🄽🄴

After finding out that Lenny has been sleeping on the ferry because she can't return to her apartment, Miles offers her a place to stay in his empty apartment. Knowing Lenny wouldn’t willingly go back to his apartment night after night, he comes up with a crafty way to encourage her. He pulls a set of batteries from his pocket and asks her to do him a favor. He asks Lenny to check the smoke detector batteries when she returns to the apartment the next night.

🄵🄰🅅🄾🅁🄸🅃🄴 🅀🅄🄾🅃🄴

-The quotes referenced are from an advanced reader's copy and may not reflect the final version. Please refer to the finished copy for accuracy.-

"When a wolf is howling at the moon, it's not actually because it's lonely."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's sort of a location technique, for when members of the pack get separated and they need to find one another. So when you hear a wolf call, and then in the distance you hear another wolf call back, do you know what it could roughly be translated as?"
"Whats that?"
"The first one saying, I'm here! I'm here! And then the other says, Me too! Me too!"

✨️ Thank you so much, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, for the advanced copy of this heartfelt book in exchange for an honest review.

✨ARC REVIEW✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️.5

🖼️single POV
🖼️friends to lovers
🖼️exploration of grief
🖼️hurt/comfort
🖼️SLOOOOWW burn

Cara ripped my heart from my chest and I’m still putting the pieces back together now that it’s over. For me, this was such a wildly realistic depiction of grief that I’m shocked I made it through. I’ll admit it took me a bit longer to read than normal because I had to take a breather for some tears I shed. And it’s not that it’s overly emotional it’s just so dang realistic. Grief can be crippling. For me personally it has been. It’s hard to do the simplest of things and so many things can be a trigger.

Getting to see grief from multiple perspectives was an interesting choice. Although I wish we got a bit more of a look into Miles’ grief. We get a few mentions but we spent a good portion of the book with him helping Lenny through hers that a better look into his would have added so much.

As much as slow burn kills me I think it was done really well here for the purpose of the story. Having them go from strangers to friends to lovers was a smart move. The friendship let them both be more of their authentic selves and have honest conversations. Also the metaphors that Miles was consistently spitting out just melted my heart. The daisy one, so good. And when he explains the reason wolves howl, ughh.

Promise Me Sunshine is so much more than a story about grief. It’s about healing, doing the scary thing, making friendships, maintaining a relationship with family, falling in love, LIVING!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC

4.25⭐️

Promise Me Sunshine is a must read. It explores the different ways one responds to grief and how some days are going to be harder than others.

Miles, a little further on his grief journey than Lenny, proposed to help Lenny figure out her grief if she would help him get closer to his remaining family. Lenny had a way about her that immediately made people feel comfortable. Sure she was quirky (and sometimes immature), but I think she was putting out into the world what she so desperately needed herself. And Miles, who also approaches things in his own way, was able to pick up on that and be there for her. These two characters were everything. The way they helped each other live fuller lives with the pulling along instead of pushing - it was just beautiful.

The way this book was set up was wonderful. There were so many humorous moments that broke up the heavier feelings. The pacing kept you moving along but also allowed you to feel their growth (and setbacks). It was realistic, it was emotional, and I couldn’t put the book down!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC.

This book was so unexpectedly raw, unflinchingly honest and emotional, but also funny and sweet, poignant and redeeming. These characters will stay with me for a long time and the lessons they taught me will, too. Grief is a tricky thing so check trigger warnings before reading, but pick this book up when you want to really feel something as you read.

I honestly forgot I had this book in my NetGalley library and was jealous when I kept seeing reviews from others, but I think I read this book when I needed it the most. For me, this book was an emotional roller coaster in the best way possible. I think this book is going to hit readers differently based on where they are in life and what they have dealt with in the past/currently facing. I think Miles set the standards high for all future book boyfriends as he helped Lenny learn how to live again. I was not sure how the book was going to end but feel like it had almost the perfect ending.

Wow, the way this book hit me like a truck as I literally finished it in one sitting! THIS is strangers to friends to lovers done well. I take back anything bad I ever said about the trope because Lenny and Miles changed my mind.

I loved Lenny so much. Her grief process was so realistic and she was such a lovable and raw character. It hit hard at some points and I just wanted to wrap her up into a hug. She’s so precious and seeing her heal throughout the book was beautiful for her character development. And Miles was such a green flag! This man was everything and was so patient, gentle, and insanely selfless for Lenny. Their relationship was so natural, realistic, funny, and all no-nonsense. I loved the absence of an annoying third act conflict because these two communicated with each other so well. This man was in LOVE. The romance was so well paced. The slow burn was truly burning through the tension and banter. I loved every single moment they had together because it all made up the basis of their trust and understanding of each other.

I also loved their relationship with Ainsley and all the adorable moments they had together!

The first spice scene was kind of cringey for me but I eventually got over it. And I know that the main focus of the story was Lenny’s grief process and seeing her heal, but I also would have love to read more about Miles’s past and his own healing process for people he lost. He also deserved his own POVs for more character development because it didn’t feel fully resolved to me by the end.

Other than that, this was such a refreshing read and I really loved it!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so sweet. I did not know what I expected going into it, but it was really good. As someone who’s lost someone very important in their life, it’s incredible to have a Miles to go to hell and drag you out. I think she captures grief so well and honestly it was refreshing to get to be on the journey from stranger to friend to lover. Highly recommend.

Ready Or Not was one of my favorite reads of 2024 so I was really excited to be approved to read this early. I was not disappointed at all. What a beautiful romance with a great slow burn. But more importantly this is a story about light in darkness and overcoming grief. It’s about pushing forward and living life for those not with us anymore. I cried. I was moved. Bastone is definitely a voice to watch in the romance genre and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

The book is a really good reminder that you don’t have to be perfect (or even, be at your best) to be deserving of love. The book centers around Lenny, who is grieving the loss of her best friend - while nannying and trying to hold her life together. Through the story, Lenny and MMC Miles both explore the realness of grief, what it means to be a support system and caretaker, complex family dynamics - all while navigating growing romantic feelings for a friend.

Cara Bastone does an incredible job of developing not just the main characters but a cast of lovable side characters that really enhance the story. There are so many likable people in this book, from Lenny’s parents to Miles’ family to a new group of friends that they meet and both start to rebuild their social circles after loss.

Overall, it’s a definite must read for contemporary romance fans. Even though the novel deals with some sensitive topics, it does still have the typical genre qualities, like happily-ever-after, humor, and lightness sprinkled throughout. For fans of authors like Ashley Poston, Katherine Center and Carley Fortune.

CW: Grief

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advance copy of #PromiseMeSunshine. You can find it out March 4th - opinions are my own.

First I would like to thank Net Galley for a digital copy! And I would like to give this book a 3.75/5. Cara Bastone did an excellent job! So many emotions but I love Miles and Lenny, especially the character development. I really loved their friendship, the grief and their love story.

I loved Cara Bastone’s previous book, Ready or Not, and was thrilled to receive an advance copy of Promise Me Sunshine. Promise Me Sunshine follows Lenny as she deals with the aftermath of her best friend’s death. When she takes a temporary nanny job, she meets Miles and they agree to help each other.
While there is romance in Promise Me Sunshine, it is not a rom com and the romance is not the central focus. This is a raw, unflinching look at grief and how we never get over it we just get through it.
While I liked the story and Lenny and Miles, it felt like something was missing. Maybe a pov from Miles would have helped or more focus on the background characters who were lovely and brought some much needed levity to the story. Promise Me Sunshine deals with a heavy topic with realism and grace and fans of Bastone’s previous work will enjoy this one.

This story follows Lenny, a young woman who has recently lost her best friend, Lou. At its core, this book follows Lenny's journey through grief. Along her journey, she meets Miles, the uncle of the young girl that she is nannying for. Her and Miles begin to bond and we watch their relationship grow.

As a story of grief and healing, this book did a wonderful job. Lenny begins our story in a very dark place. We watch her grapple with these emotions and learn how to live her life after Lou, while also trying to remember her. For anyone that has gone through the loss of a family member or friend, I think that you will recognize part or parts of your journey in Lenny, and that really connects her to the reader.

I also really enjoyed the writing in this book. Although it deals with a very heavy theme, there were several parts where I actually laughed out loud. The writing helped to insert some light and humour into an otherwise very heavy and emotional story.

I also really enjoyed Ainsley's character/portrayal and her bond with Miles. She was such a sweet, realistic child and she gave this book some extra charm and lightness.

Unfortunately what I think was done really well about this book, the story of grief, was also what I didn't like about it. This book is marketed (to my understanding) as a romance. To me, a romance book focuses heavily on a relationship between characters. It can include other themes or issues, but at its core, we focus on the relationship. This book did not do that in my opinion. This book to me was more of a general fiction story about the journey through grief and loss, with a subplot of romance. We go through a lot of the book focusing on Lenny's healing, and only in the last... 15% maybe, do we get any real romance. I saw the connection building throughout the book, but it wasn't enough for me to say that it was the focus.

The one other thing that I didn't like was (in general terms as to avoid spoilers) the second list. Instead of having a conversation about boundaries and mental health, this second list was made and used in a way that made me uncomfortable. It was like Miles wanted to be the judge on Lenny's journey and didn't trust her to make her own decisions and it really hurt my rating of this book.

Overall, I am rating this book a 3.25 star. I think that if you are looking for a story about grief and loss and enjoy a romance subplot, this book would be great for you. I think it would be helpful to set expectations that this book is not heavy on the romance at all really, so that they know that before going in.