This book was everything you could want out of a romance. Deeply emotional and touching while also building a beautiful love story between Lenny and Miles. I found myself tearing up and laughing in equal measure. The pacing was great, as was the characterization of both of the leads as well as the secondary characters. Cara Bastone has become a must-read author after finishing this ARC. The unflinching portrayal of grief and the valuation of platonic love was a welcome surprise in a genre where the topics of grief, pain and loss can so often veer into the territory of cheesy platitudes. Baston deftly navigates Lenny's pain and creates a perfect foil in Miles. Their love story feels earned and reaching the end of the book (and the beginning of their life together) felt cathartic.

thank you to netgalley and random house publishing-Dial Press for this e-arc

promise me sunshine is one of the most beautifully wonderfully books I have ever read. it’s an exploration of grief and love and moving on after grief and accepting love back into your life. it will reduce you to tears one page and then make you swoon the next and make you laugh the next page. I loved lenny and miles journey and their relationship. its achingly tender. really loved this one. cannot wait to read more from cara bastone!

perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez.

Dealing with the grief from her best friend's death, Lenny attempts to avoid her emotions by picking up babysitting jobs to fill her time. During her time working, she meets Miles who's the misunderstand uncle to Ainsley. Miles seems to be the only one to understand what Lenny is going through and agrees to help her complete the bucket list that's supposed to remind her to live in exchange for her to help him with Ainsley.

Oh my god! This book has me in tears so many times since it was so good at delving in to the realities of grief and how sudden it can be even when you are having fun. I love the way it mainly focuses on the concept of dealing with grief and finding your place in the world again rather than the romance being the focal point to Lenny's journey. There's so much lightness to their relationship and I was laughing just as much as I was crying. This was such a well-balanced book that the pages just flew by.

I did get second-hand embarrassment in some instances but that wasn't particularly a bad thing and I think readers are meant to feel like that in order to understand Lenny's way of hiding her pain. Also, I loved the few scenes we got between Lenny and Lou. They were so heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time since you were reminded that Lou was really gone and I came to mourn the friendship between the two. It really felt like I was going through this loss with Lenny.

Even though it is sad, there's so much love and happiness alongside it and it's almost like you've got to cry in order to laugh.

I highly recommend this!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing!

I was excited for this book and thought it would be a good 3-4 stars because I loved Ready Or Not (4 stars) but was not sure about the tropes/overall plot. Wow, I have never met two funny main characters that stayed funny throughout the entire book before. A lot of witty banter and lovable characters going through a rough, sad part of their lives. I felt like I was reading an Emily Henry x Hannah Bonam Young hybrid. Trigger warnings would definitely be grief and losing a loved one, I don’t know if I would be able to read this shortly after losing someone or still suffering through grief. However, the author is so tender with the characters, you can tell she really cared about how they were written and how their romance blossomed. I was in desperate need of a slow burn romance and this did not disappoint. Lots of squealing and feet kicking moments!

📚 Promise Me Sunshine
✍ Cara Bastone
📖 Contemporary Fiction/Romance
⭐4/5
🌶️ 🌶️
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🙏 Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Promise Me Sunshine. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: I ADORED Bastone's Ready or Not and jumped into this one whole-heartedly. If you've read her previous book and you're anything like me, you probably loved the light-hearted, feel-good banter of that one and though this book is anything but light-hearted, much of Bastone's characteristic wit and charm is still there. This book was heavy and centered around the main character Lenny grieving the loss of her best friend. There are a lot of raw, unfiltered feelings and moments where Lenny's behavior seemed erratic and concerning- something that I think anyone who has ever grieved can relate to. It didn't romanticize loss and it seemed clear that both Lenny and Miles were giving people that, despite having been through hell, were meant to find a modicum of happiness.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: I liked this book. A lot. But know going in that it's not a romcom and the romance was really only a small part of the book.
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Read if you love:
*raw, unfiltered mourning and grief
*slow-burn
*friends to lovers
*grumpy/sunshine
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See also: The Happy Ever After Playlist, The Last Love Note, Four Weekends and a Funeral

looking for a romcom that shows the pain and messiness but also the absolute wonder that is being alive on this earth?? you’ve found it. i was warned i would cry and i really doubted it when i got 40% in with no tears but by 80% the tears were falling. A beautiful, silly, wonderful book about grief and friendship and love and living. cara is now firmly cemented as an auto read/buy author for me.

What a gorgeous book. What a real and honest study of grief while also being so light and fun and funny. I loved Lenny and Miles so much. Literally I can’t stop crying - from sadness, from happiness, from hope. Thank you!

This was my second novel by Cara Bastone and by far my favorite. There were moments when I laughed and cried. If you have experienced the loss of a close loved one I think this book just hits different. I believe that this was a beautifully written and accurate on how you are feeling. We meet Lenny who just lost her best friend. She takes a job babysitting Ava and is introduced to her uncle Miles. Lenny and Miles strike a deal, and this is her journey to living again. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced digital copy.

This was my first Cara Bastone and wow, I was really impressed. There's some very deep grief being dealt with here, but I still found it funny and charming. Sometimes people describe certain books as having a lot of heart, and I think this might be the first time I was reading a book and thought "oh, THAT's what they're talking about." I loved the characters in this so much, and I felt like Lenny's grief was handled with such care and sensitivity. She and Miles were both so dimensional - they weren't just flat caricatures of grief. I think that some of that was because Lenny had her laminated "live again" list, which provided a sort of structure for the exploration of grief. I also think this is one of the few books (if not the only book) that I've read in recent years where the main character's was grieving the lost of a best friend and not a family member or romantic partner, and I loved that Bastone (and by extension her characters) talked about Lenny's best friend as her soul mate - it was like a beautiful love letter to friendship through the lens of grief.

This book was a treasure. I love Cara Bastone and this book is her best yet. We are introduced to Lenny, who is working to make sense of her life after the death of her best friend. She dives headfirst into nannying for a wealthy family and meets her new best friend, Miles, along the way. If there ever was a true definition of a slow burn romance, this would be it. I enjoyed following Lenny's character arc throughout this story. Miles was initially overly grumpy, but lightened up fairly quickly, making this a great read. Cara did a great job with character development in this story - all main characters felt like well-rounded, whole people. I finished this book in one day. Read this if you love New York City, sweet romances, and a great self-love arc.

This was great realistic romance with some flashbacks that make the main character even more endearing and relatable. Pace was quick and I actually would love a sequel!

To put it simply: I loved this book. Cara Bastone, I was unfamiliar with your game. Promise Me Sunshine has all the ingredients that make a contemporary romance book so good. I think the best kind of romance novels are ones that are not only about the romantic relationship itself, but of self-discovery, of growth, of grief, or of finding meaning in life. The characters in this novel feel so realistic, they leap off the pages. Lenny is a main character that might be divisive to some, but I loved her. I love a good voicey main character who feels real, messy, and full of personality, and Lenny absolutely delivers. She’s flawed in a way that makes her human, and watching her navigate love, loss, and her own sense of self was so compelling. This book reminds me of why friends to lovers, criminally overhated among the book community, remains supreme. Lenny and Miles relationship was so tender and sweet and full of tension, and I loved watching them come to terms with their feelings to eachother. Promise Me Sunshine is the kind of book that lingers with you, not just because of the romance, but because of how much heart it has. I have no doubt it will be in everyone's favorite romances of 2025 lists. Fans of The Seven Year Slip, hop on this book immediately.

“I think when you’re depressed sometimes it’s easy to think everyone is depressed? But right this very second, there are billions of people having happy moments. I kind of forgot about those people.”

This book had such a unique perspective & plot as it’s all about Lenny’s journey through grief after the loss of her best friend.

I found this story heartbreaking and captivating as it’s not a topic that is as commonly covered in fiction stories. Friendships are such important relationships in life and losing the person you’re used to going through every season of life with has to be so hard.

Lenny meets Miles, who also has experience with grief and he makes a deal with her that involves challenging her to “live again” and helping her in learning how to do so. Along the way, Miles also learns to live again without realizing that he had stopped for a while there.
I would recommend this book as an emotional & endearing slow burn romance read :)

Thanks Netgalley & Random House publishing for this pre-release ARC!

I’m not sure how to describe how I felt reading this. I liked it, it made me sad and it made me happy at the same time. It’s a beautiful story about grief and love. I really enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters, however I also found the female lead character to be a bit annoying at times. I do wish there were some flashbacks where we could have actually met Lou. I just felt a bit distanced from that relationship and to me, it was the most important relationship in the book. Overall, it is a beautiful story. It does tug at your heart and I would recommend this book.

5 FREAKING STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I almost have no words and tons of words at the same time. When I first started this book I wasn’t in the right headspace to read it. I’m so happy I set it down then and picked it back up because wow, I’m going to reread this one at least once a year.

“Fine. But if you keep looking at random men the way you first looked at me, one of them is going to decide that you’ll look better as the upholstered for his couch pillows.”

The way I laughed out loud and felt my heart being ripped out within the same chapters is just something I haven’t experience in a book for a long time. If you want a story that will truly make you feel something while reading, then this is for you. Cara Bastone has done it again folks.

Please don’t go into this thinking it’s a happy go lucky romance. Lenny is grieving the loss of her best friend Lou when she takes a nannying job and meets Miles. Miles is also on his own path of dealing with grief, and at first seems kind of unlikable and grumpy? I initially didn’t like him but he’s become my #1 book boyfriend.

I can guarantee this book will be with me for a long time. Please pick it up if you’re in a good headspace to read about grief and loss.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing and Cara Bastone for my ARC copy!

When I had cried four times and was only 24% in, I knew this book was going to consume the rest of my weekend. Cara Bastone I didn’t know your lore!!!! Sometimes I want a romance to just be a lil rom com without depth, and sometimes I want it to destroy me before putting me back together. Promise Me Sunshine did the latter. It was funny and gut wrenching and such a beautiful look at friendship and love. I don’t typically love friends to lovers but how could I not when that’s exactly what Lenny needed? When Miles helped her heal without jumping in headfirst and replacing her grief temporarily with something else? I know this is going to be one of my all time favourite romances and I’ll be recommending it to EVERYONE who will listen.

I wanted to read this for so long but I just can’t pick it up. I haven’t seen any negative reviews so I would recommend people to read this

“Promise Me Sunshine” is the second Cara Bastone book I’ve read after “Ready Or Not”.

“Promise Me Sunshine” is about grieving nanny Kira who is coping very badly with the death of her best friend Lu. Until one day she goes to work for a new family, a single mom and her daughter, and meets their upstairs neighbor and half-brother/uncle Miles who is also grieving, trying to process the death of his mom, cousin, and dad in rapid succession.

Miles and Lenny help each other come back to life after grief and not so surprisingly fall in love while doing it. The pace of their journey feels realistic, their problems aren’t manufactured, their chemistry is genuine – truly everything I look for in a romance. And Miles is an all time great book boyfriend, someone who deserves a space in the book boyfriend hall of fame.

Obviously the general concept of the book is sad so if a romance centered around grief feels like something you’re not ready for, skip this one. But otherwise if you like a barely steamy slow burn realistic romance I think you’re going to love this one.

4.25⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

This book has officially been added to the list of “unique books that make you think”. Going into this I thought I was getting a traditional romance book, but I was very wrong. There are traditional tropes (forced proximity, grumpy sunshine, opposites attract) but the story did not follow the typical outline that I had envisioned. The FMC is one of the quirkiest characters I’ve ever read about, but her experience walking through grief was so realistic.

This story follows two people, Lenny and Miles. Both have experienced huge loss and in turn struggle heavily through grief. While there are light-hearted moments throughout, this story is overall a heavier read. It truly is a character driven story. It is about learning how to live again after tragedy and allowing people to step along side you to help.

There were several times throughout this story that I was unsure about how this was going to land for me, but by the end of it all I can say that this was a beautiful story. Is there a lot of plot? No, but it’s not meant to. This book was written for those that have experienced grief or tragedy and find themselves struggling to keep themselves moving in a world that never stops turning.

Oh I love love loved this one!! Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for the free eARC <3!

Miles and Lenny have my entire heart! I want to wrap them up and protect them forever. What a beautiful love story but also a relatable life story! I wasn’t sure how heavy the storyline would be around grief but Cara did an outstanding job adding the happy, funny and quirky moments at the right times. I felt every single emotion while reading this book and cannot wait for it to be out in the world. Promise Me Sunshine was one of my most anticipated reads this year and Cara did not disappoint.