What starts off as a grumpy x sunshine story between two people who bond over their shared grief over losing loved ones quickly turns into a friends to lovers, LAUGH out loud and DEEPLY emotional romance. Cara Bastone does not hold back on delivering on ALL the feels and this latest is no exception. If you loved her debut last year, you are sure to love getting to know Miles and Lenny this year. Great on audio and HIGHLY recommended!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Promise Me Sunshine follows Lenny, a grieving New Yorker, as she “comes back to life” following the death of her best friend. Miles, the grumpy uncle of her current babysitting client, knows a thing or two about grief. The two strike a deal - Lenny will help him get to know his niece, and he will help her check things off a laminated list of things to bring her out of sorrow. Miles’s patience, understanding, protectiveness, and tenderness toward Lenny was incredibly heartwarming. Their slow burn, friends-to-lovers relationship was full of hope that things do always get better with time.

This is a story for fans of Emily Henry’s banter and deep emotion. It struck the perfect balance between the highs of falling in love and the lows of grief.

Promise Me Sunshine had the pacing and activity of a plot-driven novel while still deeply exploring the complicated spectrum of emotions and relationships between the characters.

I loved every minute of reading this book and am so sad it’s over. I’ll be counting down the days until Cara Bastone writes another incredible story.

After seeing this cover—like a serene painting you'd happily hang in your living room to feel peaceful and genuinely happy—and reading this beautifully written, heartfelt story of grief, friendship, and slow-burn romance featuring the most huggable book boyfriend, Miles, I had no choice but to give this book five-plus Staten Island Ferry stars!

I enjoyed the author’s Ready or Not, but I absolutely loved this book even more. It has already secured a guaranteed spot in my top five highly recommended romance reads of the year. The blossoming friendship between Miles and Lenny (a.k.a. Helena Elena—blame her family for their eccentric naming choices, and thank Lou for nicknaming her Lenny) as they bond over grief and work through the "Living Again" checklist will embrace your heart with sweetness and stir your emotions deeply. Anyone who has lost a loved one will resonate with these characters, and I found it easy to connect with their journey. The story’s honest, bittersweet, and heartbreakingly realistic approach is powerful enough to bring tears to your eyes and confront the repressed emotions bottled up inside.

The story follows 28-year-old Lenny, who is reeling from the loss of her best friend Lou to ovarian cancer. Barely holding herself together, Lenny avoids returning to the apartment she shared with Lou and instead sleeps on benches aboard the Staten Island Ferry. Her latest gig as a babysitter for seven-year-old Ainsley forces her to step out of her grief bubble. Ainsley lives with her single mother, Reese, in their Upper West Side apartment, where Lenny must contend with Reese’s protective older brother, Miles. Miles, in his 30s, is initially suspicious of Lenny and constantly complains about her to his sister.

Lenny and Miles’ early interactions are far from meet-cute territory and instead fall squarely into enemies-to-grieving-friends territory. One night, Miles follows Lenny and intervenes during a confrontation she’s having with a reckless driver who hit a cyclist. He even joins her on her nighttime ferry adventure. Over time, he convinces her to take a permanent job at Reese’s house, offering her grief counseling and encouraging her to tackle the "Living Again" list—a series of activities including camping, exploring new foods, and attending concerts.

Miles, too, is grappling with his own losses. Ten years ago, he lost his cousin and mother in a tragic car accident, leaving him without the only family he’d ever known. Only later did he reconnect with his estranged, dying father and learn about Reese, his stepsister, for the first time. His complex relationship with Reese and Ainsley highlights his struggles with opening up and trusting others. He urgently needs Lenny’s help to navigate his emotions and heal.

As they spend more time together, Lenny becomes increasingly attached to Miles. He is always by her side during her most emotionally vulnerable moments, helping her confront her pain and grow stronger. But, in turn, Miles begins to change as well. With Lenny’s influence, he learns to open his heart to his newfound family and new friendships.

Can Lenny’s suffering ever truly end, or will she remain trapped in her grief with the unhealed wounds Lou left behind? And, most importantly, do her growing feelings for Miles risk betraying the memory of her best friend?

Overall: This book is like the most comforting, soothing blanket you’ll want to wrap around yourself and never let go. It’s heartwarming yet emotionally triggering at times, gently pushing you out of your comfort zone to confront your feelings with honesty. I believe everyone needs their own "Miles"—someone they can trust wholeheartedly.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dial Press Trade Paperback for providing me with a digital review copy of this brilliant book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book is so much more than a romance. It focuses on so many different types of relationships, new and old. The grief felt in this book is so real and raw.

Cara Bastone never fails to amaze me with her books.

I love a Cara Bastone book- and although this one did make me smile and laugh, it’s deep! It’s not as light hearted as I first anticipated, so keep that in mind going into it. It’s a story of grief and friendship and love and explores it in such a real way!

In terms of romance, it’s the slowest burn ever. I’d probably classify this as more literary fiction.

Oh my gosh, I was not expecting this book or the emotions that came along with it. As someone who is dealing with the grief process, this book wrecked me in the best way possible. I loved every single minute of it!

I was hooked on this story from the start. Couldn’t put it down. This was my first Cara Bastone. I look forward to reading more of her work. I loved Lenny so much. Her character was so quirky and fun despite her deep heartache. Cara did such a wonderful job of navigating the theme of grief. Miles’ and Lenny’s friendship is so sweet and lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed them falling for each other. Miles is such an incredible male lead. His care for Lenny is beautiful, his desire for her health before exploring a relationship made my heart full. I’m more of a closed door girl but the spicy bits of this book were handled so delicately. They were intimate and not salacious which I appreciate. Nice touch with the mad libs at the end! I loved the light and hope in this story of living even when life gets really hard. This book gave me all the feels. Tears and full belly laughter.

love comes in many forms - friendship, family, romantic partners, pets, things - which means that grief comes in many forms, as well. there is no love without grief and no grief without love.
lenny’s world was turned inside out when her best friend and platonic soul mate, lou, dies after a second battle with cancer. lenny is clearly floundering as she tries to stand up amongst the tower-high waves of grief coming her way each day. she encounters miles one day on the street and he becomes her life ring. her constant, her sounding board, her grief expert.
i loved this book and it’s honest and raw take on grieving. if you told me it was based on the author’s true experiences, i wouldn’t be surprised. the entire journey from start to finish was palpable.
there is a romantic aspect in this book but it’s definitely not the main plot line. this book was heavier but more beautiful than i expected.

thank you to random house publishing group for providing this book for review consideration via netgalley. all opinions are my own.

ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ 4 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

In Promise me Sunshine, we follow our FMC, Lenny and her healing journey. After Lenny lost her best friend, and soul mate Lou, she is overcome with grief. Lenny is in survival mode and is taking day-by-day. After agreeing to take on a temporary child care position, she meets Mile’s.

Miles is misunderstood. While outwardly being closed off, Mile’s understands Lenny’s situation and the two strike up a friendship. He has experience with deep grief and thinks he can help Lenny navigate hers. He’s right.

I really enjoyed spending time with both Miles and Lenny. The author did a fantastic job with the characters - I thought they were loveable, cute, quirky and relatable. I will say, that at times Lenny felt a little immature to me- or maybe that was part of her grieving process that brought it out more?

Miles was adorable! Oh, how I loved him! But what a strange one in the beginning, he took socially awkward and ran for the gold with it. But he is literally the sweetest MMC I've read in a while. So attentive, so nurturing, so selfless. He just didn't know how to express it initially with his family.

The relationship that blooms between these two is beautiful, first as friends and super slowly to lovers. Miles helps Lenny through her grief and how to live again and open her heart again. And in turn, Lenny helps Miles deal with some of his lingering grief, and some other struggles without naming specifics.

This book truly felt like a warm hug the whole way through. I fully intended not to like this book lol I have a real beef going on right now with romances especially with cartoon covers. But this one really surprised me. When I read the synopsis, I expected this to be extremely sad, and while it does pull at your heart strings, I felt it was more of a heartwarming story, rather than a sad one.

There's tons of humor in this that 'breaks up' the sadness that is a major subject of the book - grief.

The writing was beautiful, the pacing was great. I found myself captivated by the story and not being able to put my kindle down.

The spice scene was super awkward between the two of them and I got some super secondhand embarrassment lol skimmed those pages. But all in all this was a beautiful and emotionally moving story, I highly recommend.


Thank you for buddy reading with me my lovely Cara 💗🤸‍♀️ I had a blast with you, so glad we enjoyed this one together! Please be sure to check out her thoughts as well!

Expected Release Date - 03/04/25

₊⊹⁀➴ 🧡Friendship and Grief
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 💜Standalone
₊⊹⁀➴ 💛Cinnamon Roll MMC
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 🗽Emotional Read
₊⊹⁀➴ 🧡Slow Burn
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 💜Swoony MMC
₊⊹⁀➴ 💛Healing and Loss
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 🗽Hurt x Comfort
₊⊹⁀➴ 🧡Grumpy x Sunshine
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 💜Friends to Lovers

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Connect with me on Instagram ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹


✨ Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced digital copy- all thoughts are my own. ✨

I love this so much. I adore Miles & Lenny. The depictions of grief felt true to me. I always appreciate when an author can handle it honestly. Lenny is a part-time nanny who is grieving the death of her best friend. Miles is the grumpy guy who thinks he might be able to help her on that journey. And he hopes she can help him connect with his young niece. I loved the absolute chaos of Lenny’s personality. I loved how serious Miles was about everything. And the care & attention he gave to everyone he loved. Perfect slow burn romance.

This book was absolute perfection! It was a love note to New York City, best friends and finding yourself again when life gets hard. Lenny has lost her best friend and is truly having a really tough time grieving this loss and living again.

I hope everyone has a ‘Miles’ in their life. A best friend that will pick you up when you are down, rooting for you on every accomplishment ad. Step you make towards your goal. A friend that will encourage you to put the hard pants on.

This book was perfect from the first page to the last. The way the grief part of the story was handled was so real, raw and could be felt on so many levels. My heart broke for these characters but also was cheering them on as they were finding their way. A journey of life, love and happiness.

Cara Bastone’s website tagline is perfect: she’s “in love with everyday love.” That doesn’t just mean seemingly regular love stories about the kind of people you might work with, or meet at the coffee shop, or who have been your best friend since elementary school — or, heck, they might even be you! — but also stories about more than most romantic love. Bastone writes a heck of a love story, full stop. Yes, that means the romantic kind but also the kind about the love between friends, or parents and kids, and especially best friends.

Her latest book takes on that concept to heartbreaking ends: when we meet Lenny, she’s so deep in a depression after the loss of her best friend Lou (her soulmate, truly) that she can barely imagine what the next day will bring, let alone what it might be like to fall in love. Miles is dealing with his own grief, and while that does bond them, it doesn’t define them, first as cautious friends and later, much more.

I love the worlds that Bastone builds because they feel so real and relatable, and I also love the premium she places on developing all her relationships. Lenny and Miles might be the main event, but I loved getting to see Lenny make new friends (Jericho!) and the bond between Reese and Ainsley.

This is a warm, romantic story, but one that also feels delightfully plausible.

I can understand why this book may not be for some but is for others. The story really focuses on grief and learning to live again and take care of yourself after losing someone close to you. This is a slow burn, the story and romance take time, but all of it is within reason, but i’d categorize this one as more fiction with a romance subplot.

The characters? They have their quirks and they are different than most of the characters i’ve read about in romance novels (at least to me they felt so different, but in the best ways) tears were shed when reading, both happy and sad. I felt ALL sorts of emotions when reading this one and i couldn’t stop thinking about it. Cara KNOWS how to write men whose love language is acts of service. I loved Miles and Lenny and watching them grow together and also individually was a real treasure. I’ll be thinking about all of the little ways Miles was there for Lenny, but also there for Ainsley. Even the smallest efforts go unnoticed.

From the start i was invested, i laughed out loud and had my heartstrings pulled. It’s a grief heavy book with characters who are grieving or have grieved.

I grabbed this one because I loved Ready or Not (by the same author). Cara Bastone has a knack for 1) capturing New York City living and 2) creating lovable characters. I laughed out loud many times. I cried a few times. I even learned a few things about kids and friendships. This one was endearing and grabbed me from the start.

This review will be posted on goodreads, Amazon and my instagram at or before the publication date.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Cara Bastone for the early access copy of Promise Me Sunshine.

Promise Me Sunshine follows the healing story of Lenny. After Lenny lost her best friend, and soul mate Lou, she is overcome with grief. Lenny is in survival mode and is taking day-by-day. After agreeing to take on a temporary child care position, she meets Mile’s.

Mile’s is misunderstood. While outwardly being closed off, Mile’s understands Lenny’s situation and the two strike up a friendship.

Promise Me Sunshine Is an overwhelmingly beautiful journey of fighting your way through grief and the importance of companionship. This story is the epitome of friends-to-lovers. It shows a love story through a real and raw experience. We should all be so lucky to find someone like Mile’s.

✨ARC Review✨

I am deeply, completely in love with Promise Me Sunshine.

Does @carabastone know how to write the most deliciously perfect MMCs? She does. But does she also know how to write the most relatable and interesting FMCs? Hell yes, she does.

Lenny is in the depths of soul-destroying grief after her best friend and almost-sister, Lou, has died. She’s taking temporary nanny jobs because she doesn’t have the emotional strength to commit to more than a couple of days at a time. She begins a weekend job caring for seven-year-old Ainsley (who is flippin’ adorable) where Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, is constantly hanging around.

They have bit of a rough start, but after he saves Lenny from a street side confrontation, they start to develop a friendship. He has experience with deep grief and thinks he can help Lenny navigate hers. He’s right.

Through the next days, weeks, and months, he helps Lenny check items off the list she and Lou had created for how to start living again.

These quests allow Lenny and Miles to connect in such a core-deep way. Watching these two fall in love is an absolute pleasure. I cannot tell you how much I love Lenny and Miles and all the wonderful side characters.

I give this book all the stars. I’m going to be thinking about this forever. I have no doubt.

I received this eARC via #netgalley and @randomhouse and @thedialpress. All thoughts are my own.

#booksbooksbooks #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #bookreview #bookrecs #bookstagram #promisemesunshine #carabastone

I really wanted to like this book, but I think I'll be the minority here when I struggled to finish the book. While I appreciate how much this book emphasizes on mental health and grief recovery, the romance fell flat to me mainly because the main characters' chemistry feels very forced and not convincing. Especially the hostility that Miles shows towards Lenny at the beginning of this book is not reasonable, which makes Miles quite an unattractive person. Even though there is a redemption later in the book when Miles falls in love and turns into a sweet and loving guy, the beginning is still very disappointing. I wish we can have rivals to lovers stories where the MCs do not hate on each other as soon as they meet...

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my second book by this author and when I tell you this book is just amazing as the first. The journey that the characters go on was amazing. I loved how the main character was just herself unapologetically. I never wanted the book to end!!!

Between “Ready or Not” and “Promise Me Sunshine,” Cara Bastone is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I’m almost afraid to read more from her because I don’t want to ruin the 5-star review streak.

Neither of these stories were exceptionally unique, but there’s something about the way she structures her novels that sets her apart from other authors. I find that by the end of most romance novels, I am either bored or craving more, but with her books, I’m just left satisfied.

In particular, “Promise Me Sunshine” grabbed my attention from the first page. I know it’s considered a slow-burn, but I actually thought the pacing was brilliant. The romance felt realistic and the chemistry made sense. I could understand how the main characters fell for each other because I was alongside them for every step of it, progressively falling more in love with each of them as well.

Beyond the romance, the individual character development was so beautifully captured. I found myself able to relate to each character despite having completely different life experiences than them. This is especially true in the case of Lenny. I’ve never lost a best friend to death, but I have mourned my “Lou” after drifting apart. Likewise, I’ve gone through my own periods of needing to learn to live again after losing pieces of myself. I felt like I knew Lenny intimately and was rooting for her the entire time.

And Miles…
He was perfectly imperfect. Even though Lenny was struggling more in the moment, it never felt like there was an imbalance to their relationship. Lenny and Miles were both flawed and both benefited each other in the exact ways they needed it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a sweet, easy-to-read romance with likable characters.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.*

Promise Me Sunshine was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and oh my heart! Cara Bastone might just be my new favorite author. Her stories have everything! I mean all the stars! Lenny’s life has been flipped upside down since her best friend Lou did, but a nanny job leads her to meet Miles, the uncle of the girl she’s nannying for, and he makes it his mission to help Lenny complete her Live Again list and find peace. The grief of Lennny, oh this beautiful woman just trying her best! It is devastating how much pain Lenny is in, and it is beautiful to have a character like Miles come into her life—he’s a grump who is also trying his best, and there is so much friendship and love and power in these pages. Everyone needs a Miles—he is a pillar for Lenny, and their adventures had me smiling SO hard and big. Plus it was so emotional, I laughed, I cried, this is why I love romance. Miles and Lenny have great balance and chemistry with each other, the banter is amazing, the side characters add so much, and the flashback moments of Lenny and Lou—it made me want to hug my best friends and tell them how much I love them. It is real, it is heartbreaking, it is beautiful. And now what do I do the rest of the year now that I’ve read my top book of 2025?!