I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though it's incredibly emotional. It's more about Lenny and Miles navigating their personal grief together than it is a typical romance.

Lenny’s journey through grieving the loss of her friend is deeply relatable. The author does a remarkable job of crafting characters and a storyline that feel incredibly authentic. It's a slow-burn romance that unfolds with emotional depth.

DNF @ 25%

I’m sad about this one because I was really excited for it and thought I’d like it. I think this author just isn’t for me though. I had to listen to Ready or Not on audio to finish it. It felt like the author just decided to write a book and just started writing with no structure or plan in mind. We didn’t even bother getting to know the main character before Miles was randomly introduced with no context. There was just so many random irrelevant things happening within the small amount of this book I read, like the bike thing with Jericho and the sparkly backpack? What even was that? This felt like Wattpad writing with some themes of grief. I’m sorry this was not for me.
Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the e-arc <3

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Expected publication date: March 4, 2025.

This was my first book by Cara Bastone, and it won't be my last! I've had Ready or Not on my TBR for a while, and now I'm even more eager to read it!

This book is about Lenny, who is deeply grieving the loss of her best friend who recently died of cancer. She's a nanny, but due to her overwhelming grief, she is only capable of taking on short-term gigs at the moment. While babysitting for a new family, she meets Miles. At first he comes across as a jerk, but as she spends more time with him, she realizes that she had him pegged all wrong. They quickly form a friendship, and he helps her navigate how to process and cope with her grief in a healthy way. However, as they spend more and more time together, their friendship slowly turns into something more in this slow-burn, heartwarming romance.

It took me a while to process my thoughts on this book, because I read it while going through some personal issues. At first I had a hard time deciding what to rate it because I had a hard time separating my thoughts and feelings about the book from my real-life feelings. However, it's been several days now since I've finished it, and after reflecting on it, I can confidently say that I really enjoyed it! I really loved that they started out strictly as friends. That made their romance feel more meaningful instead of just being lustful. Additionally, this book made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry. Not too many books have been able to do that! 4 stars!

5⭐

I'm so thankful for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this novel. It was absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. The story of Lenny's grief was handled so well. I felt like the emotions she felt were so valid and written perfectly to real life. Miles was amazing. The way he took care of Lenny, let her be who she was, and let her feel what she was feeling. 🥹 I also really enjoyed the growth in Miles relationship with Ainsley and Reese throughout the book. It was a beautiful story in everyway.

4,25*
I related a lot to the FMC of this book. I lost one of my best friend, one i considered a brother, at the age of 15 and the grieving had been hard on me. You never really forget them you just learn to live again. I loved everything about this book, the MMC was such a sweatheart, I love you Miles ♥♥♥. I want you all to read this book when it comes out on March 4th.

The way I am OBSESSED with Promise Me Sunshine. Cara Bastone already gave me one of my favorite reads of 2024 with Ready or Not, and now she's making a strong case for my Best of 2025 list too.

Lenny, adrift after the loss of her best friend Lou, takes a nannying job to find some semblance of normalcy. Enter Ainsley, a spirited 10-year-old who brings both chaos and joy into Lenny's life. Living under the same roof is Miles, Ainsley's brooding yet endearing uncle, who understands grief all too well. Together, Lenny and Miles form an unexpected partnership: he'll help her tackle the "live again" list Lou left behind if she'll assist him in connecting with Ainsley and mending family ties.

At its heart, this is a story about grief—not just the devastation of losing someone, but the impossible task of figuring out how to keep living without them. The way Bastone weaves Lenny's loss of Lou into every part of the book feels so real—never rushed, never forced, just present in the quiet spaces. And then there's the list. The one Lou made, full of all the ways Lenny promised to start living again when she was ready.
Watching Miles help her through it? I could have cried through the whole book.

Lenny and Miles are perfect, this book is perfect, and I already want to read it again. 🥹💛

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC—I adored every page.

Read this if you like:
•found family
•finding yourself again through grief
•friends to lovers
•tattoos

This book was so cute. A heavier romance good for sad girls. This goes through the different stages of grief and how everyone grieves differently. I loved the nanny aspect and the found family aspect. Matching tattoos are always a yes in my book too. Thank you Random House for the eARC!

Thanks to NetGalley, Dial Press and PRH Audio for the arc and alc.

This is a emotionally beautiful novel through and through. I think this is definitely going on my list of favorite romance novels of 2025! Cara Bastone writes a breathtaking story about love and loss and finding yourself. Without saying too much about the plot or the story, this book just feels like being wrapped up in a warm blanket.

As for the audiobook, Alex Finke does a beautiful job bringing these characters to life, and I think was the perfect pick to narrate the audiobook.

I am eagerly anticipating Cara Bastone's next read and I think she is sure to become an auto buy author for me!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Dial Press and PRH Audio for the arc/alc!

ugh i enjoyed this deeply. bastone’s writing is just so readable and the humor and heart expressed by each of her characters is lovely as always and a delight to read. this did not feel like a 416 page romance. 200 of those pages i read in one day because i just kept picking the book back up to spend more time with lenny and miles. if i had any minor complaint, it would be that while i loved watching lenny and miles’s friendship develop, i wish the change from friendship to romantic love happened more gradually. it happened quickly and rather far into the book, and it might’ve been nice for hints of it to start just a tad earlier.

grief served an interesting role in this story. of course a lot of the plot and relationship development centered around lenny’s grief and lenny and miles’s mutual experience with grief, but this book also related grief to the rest of life’s experiences. so much of life is asking yourself, “what now?” and deciding a path forward. and some paths feel more natural, some decisions easier, but ultimately every day we have to decide what’s next for us. the death of lenny’s best friend was just a harder, more immediate force demanding WHAT NOW from lenny. But in learning how to make those decisions, how to push toward a future you want, lenny learned how to do that in all areas of her life, not just with regard to her direct feelings about lou. this of course includes her romance with miles and it was really nice to watch her decide what she wanted with regards to him and actively push for it.

miles was so nurturing and caring and you simply can’t help but love him, awkwardness and glowering and all.

the many ways lenny and miles grow as a result of the other’s influence on them feels realistic and touching. of course we want someone who loves us for who we are, but it’s natural to be changed by that very love and by the person administering it. lenny and miles both see each other clearly and are transformed by knowing each other. there’s a moment where miles says, “Yes, I’ve been in love before. And it was real and I’m grateful for it and I wouldn’t change it. But with you, Len, when I met you… I sort of felt like I met *myself*.” and literally the same day i read the latest from the substack Scratch Paper, “Romance & Heteropessimism” in which Sanjana summarizes some theory i am admittedly not very familiar with but makes such perfect sense, saying, “My kind of shitty synthesis of this body of work is that intimacy is the closing of distance between Self and Other, and that in erotically experiencing the Other, we erotically experience the Self.” Despite her essay focusing more on sex and desire, and this book less, I think that idea of closing distance and seeing yourself in relief when examining your lover is something majorly going on in Promise Me Sunshine with regards to lenny and miles moving through the events of this story together.

speaking of sex though i do have opinions on the sex scene. i liked it. i suspect this might not end up being a popular opinion with the romance as escapism crowd because the one sex scene this book has is halting and awkward. but this sex scene wasn’t written for the pleasure of the reader. it was written as a benchmark to show growth in the characters and it does that very effectively. it perfectly encapsulates the ways they push forward and push against each other, and the ways they are changed as a result. so while it may feel less “Sexy” “Hot” “Erotic”, that isn’t what it is trying to accomplish. what it is aiming for, i think it achieves, and i think it fits well into the story. so. there.

if i have to do star ratings then this is higher than 4 but. i'm feeling stingier with 5s this year than usual.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the chance to read this book before publication.

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

I LOVED this story. First, let me say that I think we all deserve a Miles. Lenny was a person who I'd want to be friends with. At first, I was worried her quirkiness would be too much but it was perfect. She felt like a real person going through REAL grief. This book was touching, and as someone experiencing grief myself, was inspirational. Lenny and Miles had me smiling and kicking my feet. A light read that is perfect for anyone.

I really, really wanted to love this book.

I think the premise of Promise Me Sunshine is genuinely beautiful. I loved the idea of two people fighting their own battles and agreeing to help each other through those battles. And the discussions surrounding grief and healing after a loved one dying were really impactful and pertinent. I just wish that deepness, that insightfulness, was woven throughout more of the book.

Throughout my entire time reading Promise Me Sunshine, I really struggled with Cara Bastone’s writing style. I have read Ready or Not and I don’t remember feeling this way then, but I was not the biggest fan of the casualness of it all. It almost felt like Bastone was trying to make the FMC too quirky. In the midst of setting a scene, Lenny would interject with random thoughts. Because I’m explaining this so poorly, a few examples of this would be “I find a secluded area and prop my backpack behind my head. Hey, who turned on the waterworks.” or “The music is grimier, the people are wearing fewer clothes, and the drinks are more plentiful. Drinks! Maybe that’ll help.” Lenny’s random (fourth-wall-breaking?) interjections made it feel like I was listening to someone’s stream of consciousness recorded on their phone’s voice memo (not necessarily a bad thing!) and it took me out of the story every single time.

And I swear, these characters started every single conversation with “so” or were constantly crouching down (???). Both happened so many times that it just felt weird.

Another issue I had with this book was that by the time I finished it, it felt like I still walked away not knowing the full story. Promise Me Sunshine follows Lenny as she grieves the death of her best friend Lou, but I feel like I never got to know Lou through Lenny. And by not really getting to know Lou, I couldn’t empathize with Lenny in the way I wanted to. Of course I could sympathize with a great loss, but I wanted to understand Lenny and her connection with Lou on a much deeper level and I didn’t get that.

I also thought that Miles’ and Lenny’s relationship had a lot of potential. I enjoyed seeing them lean on each other and learn from one another with their respective problems. But their romantic relationship felt…stagnant? I love a slow burn, don’t get me wrong, but it felt like they were friends for 80% of the book and then—boom—romance. I think it would have felt more believable had it happened more progressively.

I’m also confused about how much real estate Miles has as a 30-something-year-old man living in New York City.

Like I said, this book had a lot of potential but ultimately fell flat for me. There were certainly some cute moments that got me but, overall, it wasn’t my jam.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is not your typical romance book. It honestly has more literary fiction material. which I don’t read a lot but this was so worth it. Lenny and Miles are such in depth characters that are so realistic and multifaceted. This is mostly a character based story rather than plot driven but in the best of ways. Throughout this book, I felt like Lenny was a friend and Miles is the friend that everyone needs, especially while navigating grief. Even still there is banter in the dialogue that uplifts in the midst of Lenny struggling in the place she finds herself in.
Thank you Netgalley for this arc!

Promise me Sunshine is a beautifully written book about grief, loss, and love. Lenny's best friend/soulmate, Lou, passed away from cancer. I could not imagine the feelings and thoughts that Lenny went through while mourning for her best friend. She couldn't go back to the apartment where she shared with Lou because everything reminded her so much of Lou so she sleeps on the Staten Island Ferry at night. She wasn't the same Lenny that she used to be. She is trapped with her grief and she couldn't move on with her life. Lenny hasn't been taking care of herself and she avoided her parents' phone calls and texts. When she landed a babysitting job for Reese's daughter, Ainsley, she met Miles, who is Ainsley's uncle. Miles was having trouble connecting with Ainsley and made an offer to Lenny that he will help her "live again" in exchange to connect with Ainsley. Miles was also facing his own grief in a different way. He lost his dad, mother, and his cousin, Anders. He understands what Lenny is going through and tries to help her overcome her grief together. I am so glad Lenny find Miles in this book because every moment they spend together while crossing off the "Live Again list" together was so wonderful. Lenny made new friends, went camping, explored new foods, went to a Kpop concert.. With Miles encouragement and help, she was able to heal. Miles was constantly her rock throughout the book. He shows up every time Lenny calls him and he pulls her out from her dark corner of sad thoughts.

Overall, the journey of grief and healing was so moving and touching. This book felt so real and emotional that it will stay with me forever in my heart. Life is constantly moving on but love will always remain in our hearts.

Thank you Cara Bastone, Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC of this book for an honest review.

If Cara Barstone writes it I’m going to read it! This was a quick read that did not disappoint. Definitely worth the read if you’re a fan!

What an absolutely stunning story of grief and learning how to continue living after losing the most important person in your life. Only the best books can make you laugh and cry in the same chapter, but Bastone was able to deliver a phenomenal emotionally charged experience with Promise Me Sunshine.

Promise Me Sunshine came highly recommended to me, most because my friends know I love a book that will break my heart and put it back together. I think so many people will relate to how lost Lenny feels after the death of her best friend. This truly is a story about learning how to keep going, even when the pain of loss is all consuming.

For me, the romance was good but not amazing, but real magic in the book was the portrayal of grief, and the friendship between Lenny and Miles. Hats off to the author for writing such a lovely cast of characters. Not only was Miles just the most thoughtful perfect person for Lenny (and he gets glasses mid novel, my literal kryptonite), but I just loved Jericho, Reese & Ainsley so much.

The main reason I didn’t give the book 5 stars is that for such a fast passed book, the ending really slowed down. This book is the epitome of a slow burn romance. The yearning and development of their friendship moved at a great pace, and then suddenly I felt like the romance kind of exploded all at once at the end. I would have liked to, ironically, slow down the ending and savor more moments of time after Lenny realizes her romantic feelings for Miles.

4.5 stars, highly recommend this book!

I loved this book. It is an interesting way to put the grieving process into writing. Lenny is working on dealing with the loss of her best friend, Lou. Cancer took her way too young, and Lenny doesn't know how to move on. She is staying commitment free in her life by working temporary nanny jobs. She gets one working for single mom, Reese, and her daughter Ainsley. Little does Lenny know, Ainsley's uncle Miles is there for her first day on the job and is keeping an eye on her. This leads to them talking and eventually he offers to help her deal with her grief and her Live Again list as he knows a bit about dealing with grief. Their chemistry throughout this book makes it impossible to put down as does all of the characters in general. Highly recommend reading this one!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Wow. Alright, let me get my thoughts together.

I’ll start by saying that I knew this was going to be a 5 star read really early on. This book has all the makings of a 5 star read. The perfect tension, humor that’s genuinely funny and real, a non-toxic mmc, a deep and meaningful plot, and really well developed characters. Bonus points given for not a single weird description during a spicy scene. No cringe worthy glistening mounds in sight.

I truly love this authors voice. This was my first book my Cara and now I’m sure I’ll start making my through her other works after this.

This spice level for this book is low and instead we get juicy yearning and a tension buildup that is perfect. There’s a scene in this book with lightning that I realized after it was over I was holding my breath while reading it. Please, I guess I’m one of those “she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding” people now. 😂 Truly, this book had me laughing, gasping, crying, kicking my feet. All of it.

I will be recommending this book til the end of time. I can’t wait for an audiobook to come out so I can do it all again.

I’m so thankful to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book as an advanced e-copy… because what if I had never found it.

Cara Bastone officially has me in a CHOKEHOLD with this one (started with Ready or Not). With only one open door physical scene, it has less ~active` writing but I'd take a million little touches over a collection of full-blown scenes. Plus, this story is much more about grief, healing, and trusting others than it is about falling in love; or at least it's fifty-fifty. Dialogue is top notch, characters are three-dimensional, ending is wrapped up nicely. It takes a little to let Miles in; I can see some readers being put off by him.

4 ⭐️
2 🌶️

This book. I kept fighting tears throughout the entirety. It, in fact, was not until the end when we read a list that I lost the battle. This was my first Cara Bastone and her writing style is just *chef’s kiss*. It’s so lyrical, I felt like I was there beside Lenny and Miles the entire time. The closed door scenes were cracked open enough to get a peek at what was happening without being explicit. There are minor details that I wish we got more of in the end to fully round out the completed story.

This was a love story to grief. Lenny’s struggle with grief is so visceral. Miles’ advice and support is so sweet and real. He leaves space for her to do what she needs to but also pushes her when she needs help. Watching Lenny grow and heal overtime and then help Miles realize the parts of his own grief that still needed to heal as well is so profound.

Their relationship, though founded in grief, exudes endless support, quips, and love. They learn how to read each other and can determine what the other needs without words having to be spoken. They learned to cultivate the relationships around them, with each other, and most importantly with themselves. It was beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC copy of Promise Me Sunshine in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars

Lenny is barely functioning and in a deep depression after the loss of her best friend at the beginning of this book. Miles is the uncle of a new charge that she is nannying for and sets about teaching Lenny to live again. The result is a heartfelt slow burn romance forged through stages of grief.

The family dynamics and burgeoning friendships are great parts of the storyline. The way that Miles treats Lenny on her own timeline in so tender. And despite the heavy topics of grief, cancer and death, Cara Bastone manages to include humor and hopefulness.

Thank you Dial Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.