The relationship that starts between Lenny & Miles is so beautiful. First as friends and very slowly to lovers. Miles finds Lenny through his half sister needing a temporary nanny, and Lenny at the moment is not doing to well. She’s absolutely coasting through life. Struggling with the realization that her best friend is no longer here. Miles picks up on the behavior that he knows all too well and offers to help Lenny yhrough it. And through that she learns to live again, and eventually opening her heart to love.

Like with all of Cara’s books it’s a warm hug, and a heartwarming story that you’ will be absolutely swooning over.

I was expecting it to be a lot sadder by the description. But it had a perfect balance.

I loved her last book which then sent me deep into her back catalogue and left me excited for this new one! And it lived up to all expectations! Bastone writes excellent rom-coms with a heavy dose of reality, typically a heavier topic they have to navigate through. This one had everything a look for- believable relationships, lighthearted moments, and great side characters. I appreciated the different looks at grief in this one too, especially since all the main characters were experiencing it but in very different ways.

I went into Promise Me Sunshine with high expectations after loving Bastone’s last novel, and this one delivered in its own beautiful, unique way. While it had the same emotional depth I was hoping for, the story felt completely fresh and unlike anything else I’ve read in the genre.

I absolutely loved Lennie—she’s so unapologetically herself, and that’s something I deeply admire in people. And Miles… he reminded me so much of my husband. He has that tough exterior, but once you break through, you find someone deeply thoughtful and loving. One scene in particular, where Miles gives Lennie a locket, just broke me. I cried—it was so emotionally charged and perfectly in character.

This book dives into themes of grief, love, and healing with a lot of heart. While I haven’t personally experienced the kind of loss Lennie has, I felt like it captured the universal truth of how hard it can be to simply keep moving forward after loss. It was heavy, but by the end, incredibly hopeful.

I will say it took me a bit longer to get through this one, though that was more about where I am with reading lately than anything to do with the story. The pacing felt steady, and the tone shifted beautifully from grief to light. If you’re someone who enjoys emotionally damaging romances, quirky and loveable main characters, or if you’re a fan of Abby Jimenez-style emotional arcs, this one’s for you.

My only real wish? That we saw more of Reese and Ainsley. Their storyline was such a strong thread in the beginning and felt like it faded a bit as the book went on.

Overall, Promise Me Sunshine is an emotional rollercoaster about grief, growth, and the people who help us fall back in love with living again.

I genuinely have no feedback other than saying this book was PHENOMENAL! So much emotion and depth. The topic of grief was handled beautifully. This was my first read by Cara and certainly will not be my last.

Let me tell y'all how much I absolutely and completely loved this story in so, so many ways. What I loved that it was the story of the depth of relationships and feelings. The story is grief-focused with Lenny navigating the death of her best friend. Taking on a nannying job, she meets Miles who's navigating grief of his own. They realize they can each help the other, so form an unexpected alliance. From here, the story is just beautiful and wonderful and all the things. I loved that it was a true spectrum of emotions and connections that were written in such an authentic way that drew me in. I could really just say over and over in different ways how much I adored this story and the layers of hope, of family, of friendship, and of love it was so full of. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the look at this March 2025 release.

oh my gosh you guys, this book surprised me so much and made me fall in love over and over again. PROMISE ME SUNSHINE is the story of lenny, a young woman grieving the death of her best friend, lou, to cancer. lenny is lost, avoiding her family, her apartment, and her responsibilities. then she meets miles, the uncle of the child she’s been babysitting, and he offers to help her navigate her grief so she can get back to living the way lou would’ve wanted her to.

while this is considered a love story, grief is truly at the forefront and is the force that drives each of the characters. personally, i loved how grief-focused it was because it kept many of the moments from feeling too cheesy.

this book isn’t just a romance— it’s an examination of grief and healing, love and heartache, and finding yourself again after the loss of a loved one comes in and destroys everything.

lenny’s grief was so relatable and raw which made it feel all the more real. it was messy and showed just how hard it is to take care of yourself when you’re drowning in grief.

miles was such an interesting character, and my only complaint is that we didn’t get to see more of his backstory. he was the perfect friend and support system to lenny, and although it took me a minute to warm to his character, once i did i was absolutely in love.

i’m not typically a huge fan of slow-burn romances, but with this story the pacing felt absolutely perfect. in this case, i was more invested in learning about lenny’s healing journey, and i don’t think a romance would’ve felt authentic or believable if it happened any quicker than it did.

this book broke my heart in parts and had me smiling, laughing, and swooning at others. highly recommend to anyone looking for a romance that has some deeper emotions involved in the story.

I loved Ready or Not by this same author and narrator.
This one took awhile to get into and was well done on audio. The book focuses on grief and loss of a friend.

Rating: 3.25 Stars

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback, and NetGalley for the eARC copy to read and review.

Cara Bastone's writing is easily bingeable, making "Promise Me Sunshine" a decent read overall. The book delves into the conversation on grief and the concept of having a grief partner to help you through tough times, which was handled beautifully.

One of the highlights for me was the mutual support between the characters. As he helped her navigate her grief, she in turn helped him connect with his sister and niece, where he was unable to before, adding depth to their relationship. Through it all, while initially uncertain about the romance, it unfolded in a sweet manner. However, towards the end of the book, some of the descriptions, especially during their first spicy scene, felt slightly cringe-worthy.

All in all, I would recommend "Promise Me Sunshine" to anyone looking for an easy read that touches on some important topics such as grief and surviving a loss of someone close to you.

I loved this book so much. Cara did such a great job describing grief. This was just as much a book about self-discovery as it was romance. I really enjoyed@

In Promise Me Sunshine we follow Lenny as she navigates the loss of her best friend and begins to take the steps in her life to "live again". She meets Miles at her new place of employment and Miles, familiar with grief himself, agrees to help Lenny "live again". Thus unfolds one of my favourite books of 2025 so far.
There are not enough words in the English language for me to be able to adequately express how much I loved this book. Since finishing it a few weeks ago, not a day has gone by that I have not thought about Lenny and Miles. Cara Bastone created characters with such incredible depth, and wrote a beautifully tender love story that did not take away from the deep and heartbreaking grief journey that both main characters experience. Bastone did not shy away from the raw emotion that comes with grief and I greatly appreciated that as a reader. This book made me feel big feelings which is not easy to do and I will hold these characters close to my heart for a long time to come. Highly recommend but please do check your trigger warnings.
5 Stars

This book is a heartfelt and quick read that immediately draws you in with its engaging characters and emotional depth. Lenny's grief is portrayed in a raw and realistic way, as she struggles with the loss of her best friend while navigating a life that feels unrecognizable. The characters, especially Miles and Reese, are admirable in their complexity and growth throughout the story. However, the book touches on some heavy topics, like grief and personal loss, which may be a bit overwhelming at times. Overall, it’s a beautifully written story about healing, connection, and learning to move forward.

This was a truly beautiful read. It was heartbreaking and heart warming. It made me cry several times. Every character was charming and wonderful. Cara Bastone just writes a beautiful book.

This was my intro to Cara’s work so I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I LOVED this book!

Lenny loses her best friend and she is overcome with grief. Struggling with the day-to-day things, she’s in survival mode. Miles is the misunderstood MMC and yet, he and Lenny strike up a friendship when Lenny accepts a temporary child care position.

At first, Lenny came off as a bit immature but then again she was going through all the stages of grief. I LOVED Miles. I loved that he was very nurturing and attentive, even if he was very outwardly closed off. The relationship that grows between them was lovely. I greatly enjoyed that they started as friends and slowly grew to become lovers.

"Grief is a relationship. 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."

One thing that Cara did so well and what ultimately made this a five star read was how raw and devastating grief can be and the work one has to do to heal. The romances gave me a tad bit of second hand embarrassment. Overall this book was really sweet and one of my favorite reads this year so far!

Lenny is grieving the loss of her best friend & cuts everything out of her life: being able to be at the apartment they shared, taking care of herself, talking to her parents, and getting through a “life list” she promised she would do. She takes a job babysitting & at first the uncle of Ainsley is annoying but then he offers to help her with her grief if she helps him connect with his niece.

This is such a beautiful and heartwarming story about learning how to live with grief. I was worried it would be too sad, but seeing how Miles was there for Lenny through all her pain and tough moments was so uplifting. There were so many funny moments & the slow burn romance was so sweet. This is one of those books where every character is lovable and I want to be friends with all of them.

This is my second book by Cara Bastone & I’ve loved them both, so she’s a must read author for me now!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing the ARC for my honest review!

I loved it! It was a slow start and a slow burn, but I feel in love with the main characters, and that was more than enough to carry me through. Despite the bright and sunny cover, the story is about grief. The tragic things have already happened and it focuses on how the characters help one another navigate life in the "after."

Ugh this book!!! It was truly amazing and written so well. I truly could relate the grief she was experiencing and the author wrote it so well.. This book was devastating but beautiful

I love Cara's books! Always written with so much heart and authentic and relatable human experiences.

This book follows our FMC who is grieving the lost of her very best friend and our MMC who comes in and helps her get through the depression, grief, and debilitating loss. Whew this is not a light rom com by any stretch! While the heavier topics did not bother me at all I did struggle some with the couple's relationship. The MMC basically saves the FMC and he fees like this wholly selfless person who makes supporting this girl his entire mission. I'm not sure she would have made it without it. Its hard when thats a basis for relationship especially the trauma bonding of it all. Despite that hurdle I still loved the book including all their adventures, the side characters and the way the author was able to bring fun and levity into such a truly difficult topic

This book found me at the most perfect time in my life and since cemented itself as a part of my soul. I am always drawn to romance book that have some element of grief in the story. How the author balances the dichotomy of the dark heaviness that is grief with the sweet and loving themes romance novels are known for is a combination I eat up every time.

Grief can be such an overwhelming emotion that at times can make someone feel like they are battling in the trenches, just to make it to another day. It can make you feel like you've hit rock bottom, with no clue where to go. And this is the state we find Lenny in when we first meet her.

Utterly distraught and lost after the loss of her best friend and platonic soulmate. She has no clue who she is without her or even how to take the next steps toward forward. Meeting Miles at her new babysitting job, he offers to help navigate Lenny through the grief, having experienced his own version prior to the start of the story. Starting at rock bottom, we join Lenny and Miles on the heart aching journey of re-entering life and trying to re-discover herself again.

Lenny and Miles have one of the most supportive and tender relationships I have ever read. Falling for someone when they are at lowest and getting to see their sense of self come alive again is so incredibly endearing it actually brings tears to my eyes.

I recommend this book to any person who will listen because it is honestly one of the best romances I have ever read. I loved Ready or Not but Promise Me Sunshine cemented Cara Bastone as a new favorite auto-buy author for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Promise Me Sunshine!

Overall I gave this 3.5 stars. I had a little trouble getting into this one. The romance/friendship of Miles and Lou started off really cheesy and predictable. He was extremely bossy right off the bat and she seemed to cave into it pretty quickly.

It gave the impression that she wasn’t capable of taking care of herself and needed someone else to tell her what to do. On the other hand, her depression had completely taken over making any daily task feel impossible which is very relatable.

I loved the aspect of completing Lenny’s bucket list and Miles helping her. Overall I did enjoy the book, it just took me putting it down and picking it up a few times to really get into it.