GIVE THIS BOOK ALL OF THE STARS!!!

This is my first Cara Bastone book and I'm so so so glad that this beautiful story is my first impression of her writing. It took me a long WHILE to build up the courage to read this book even though I was the one who requested for the eARC.

I shed an ungodly amount of tears while reading it, and still am tearing up while trying to write a coherent review over an hour later. I just want to give Lenny the biggest hug possible and tell her how much I understand her and what she felt. Reading how much Miles showed up for Lenny while she was chest deep in her grief made me cry all over again.

Lenny is barely surviving after the death of her best friend Lou to cancer less than a year ago. During a babysitting job, Miles enters her life and on her way to the subway afterwards, he rescues her and another guy from a crazy city driver. This is a moving story that I really enjoyed.

Cara Bastone had me hooked from the very first page of Promise Me Sunshine. This was an incredibly beautiful and heart wrenching story about love, dealing with loss, and learning to find happiness again. I was deeply moved by Promise Me Sunshine and I look forward to reading more Cara Bastone novels.

After loving her previous novel, I just had to grab this one! I listened to it so quickly! I just fell in love with the characters and was rooting for them every step of the way. Bastone really knows how to write realistic grief and loss while infusing humor and romance. She is an autobuy author for me now - can't wait to see what she does next!

Cara Bastone is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She really knows how to hit me in the feels. Promise Me Sunshine features Lenny who is struggling after the death of her best friend. She is completely adrift and just working things through day by day. They way Bastone handled grief felt so real to me. I also appreciated that Miles didn't enter and save the day. He entered and helped Lenny save herself and gave her the space she needed to grieve, while also helping her work through it.

Lenny and Miles were the best kind of slow burn, you could truly feel their relationship grow and change, as well as how they made each other better and helped them work through their issues. No magic fixes here!

A heart-achingly raw story about a woman coming out the depths of grief and depression to find light again. As someone who has experienced the loss of a dear friend, a mother, and a brother, grief is something that I carry with me. It is something I don’t shy away from and it’s subplot I love reading about especially in romance. Cara Bastone has remarkable talent in writing so much emotion. The grief AND the love for Lou was palpable. I felt as tho I was grieving right along side Lenny. The way Miles showed so much care, patience, and support for Lenny was truly beautiful. Everyone needs a Miles in their life!

I love this story so much but please read with a box of tissues nearby and make sure to hydrate!

Wow. This book had it all. Lenny was quirky and unpredictable and the way that she was dealing with her grief was heartwrenching. Miles was a perfect grump turned softie! The way he helped Lenny was so dang sweet! The dinner scene was one of my favorite scenes in a book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Cara Bastone and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the ARC!

I am normally a huge fan of Cara Bastone, but this one fell a little short. It was a really great premise and I loved the cover art, but the characters seemed a bit wooden and I just didn't ... feel the FEELS I was supposed to. Better luck next time.

♾️⭐️

This book was everything. I HIGHLY recommend listening to it on audio because the narrator is fantastic. She embodies Lenny perfectly. I honestly have not been able to stop thinking about this book.

Lenny. Cute, quirky, bubbly. That’s how I would describe her, well during the day when she’s working as a nanny just to fill her time. At night, when she’s alone, she’s sad, wrecked, depressed, grieving, and emotionally drained. She just lost her best friend to cancer and her world has been crumbling ever since. She’s lost and has know idea what direction she wants her life to go in.

Miles. Awkward. Helpful. Inspiring. You would never know he’s struggling with his own loss as well. He meets Lenny when she comes for her first day as a nanny to Ainsley…who btw, is just the cutest. He desperately wants to be a part of Ainsley and Reese’s lives, but doesn’t know where he fits in.

Miles and Lenny embark on a journey to fulfill Lenny’s “Live Again” list that she and her friend Lou wrote before Lou passed away. Up until meeting Miles, Lenny hasn’t been able to cross off a single thing. In return, Miles needs Lenny’s help to be more a a part of Ainsely and Reese’s lives. This story is actually really beautiful from start to finish. Watching Miles and Lenny help each other while both battling their own issues was beautiful in the sense that you’re happy to see these two healing.

What starts out as a rocky encounter between the two, blossoms into a friendship and eventually love and my God it was beautiful to watch. I wanted so much more of these two because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I’m officially a Cara Bastone stan and want to ready anything and everything she writes now.

Thank you NetGalley and Cara Bastone for the eARC.

Cara Bastone writes the type of romance I love — relationships that feel real and authentic, just the right amount of banter, and emotional stories that tug deep at your heartstrings. PROMISE ME SUNSHINE had all of this, especially the emotional arc in the form of grief over the loss of the main character’s best friend.

There’s a lot to appreciate about this book. I felt Bastone’s exploration of grief was very relatable; anyone who’s lost a loved one could empathize. And she is skilled at crafting love interests you can’t help but swoon for.

Where this one lost me just a bit was in the FMC’s characterization. I felt she was a bit young in terms of her development, not the nearly 30-year-old she was supposed to be, and this made it difficult for me to relate to her and understand her grief / buy into the love story.

But overall I would recommend this to romance readers who enjoy depth to their reads. It’s sure to make you feel deeply, ponder life, and examine the fragility of our relationships.

Cara Bastone does it again! She makes you fall in love with each character and their journey from the start. Sign me up for any of her books.

Such an emotional read that I loved every second of! I don’t think this book would effect me as much as it did but I truly felt the pain the FMC went through the entire book!

Cara Stone has done again, she’s made me cry and healed my broken heart with Promise Me Sunshine. This novel beautifully encapsulates what grief feels like, in particular to losing your best friend in your 20s. It’s a love story but not your typical one, and I loved that.

I just finished and want to immediately pick this right back up and read it again. The way Cara Bastone tells a story and the emotion she injects into her characters is so beautiful. Grief envelops you and Milo and Lenny brought each other back from the depths. (Could I order a Coach Milo??)
Patiently waiting for Caras’s next book!

Thank you net galley for the ARC! I was also lucky enough to meet author, Cara Barstone on her book tour.

This book is funny and honest and deals with grief in such a poetic way. I really enjoyed Lenny’s visions of each “lover” she has and Miles kind heart is shown right from the start.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars easy baby!

This was a great book about finding love while Lenny deals with the grief of losing her best friend. I loved Lenny’s humor and her relationship that developed with grumpy ol’ Miles.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow right book right time. But also, needed this book and a miles years ago after my best friend died. I was very nervous going into this because I’m hit or miss when it comes to best friend grief with a book, but I would trust Cara Bastone with my life.

It’s so easy to forget to take care of yourself and to live each day when navigating grief, so Lenny was incredibly fortunate in finding the safety of miles when she did. Miles truly might be one of my favorite MMC’s I’ve read in so long. He truly understood what it meant to help Lenny remember to live life.

There are few books that I’ve felt like detailed grief, living, and moving on well, but this book truly did such a good job. Absolutely beyond thrilled I read this and suspect it will go on to be a comfort read around the anniversary of losing my best friend.

Cara has a way with words that I cannot explain! I was so excited to read another book after ready or not and this did not disappoint.

Cara Bastone deserves to be as big and popular as Emily Henry. This story is a romance, yes, but it is also SO much more. Watching characters work through grief in a way that is so incredibly human was healing for me. I will recommend this to all my friends.

The best book I’ve read all year!! Without a doubt Cara Bastone is an auto buy author and her work never ceases to blow me away! Promise me Sunshine was so heart achingly tender and absolutely had me crying my eyes out! You see such a raw portrayal of someone deep within the throws of grief and their efforts to try and live again while also finding love when least expected! You will be rooting for Lennon from beginning to end!! Then we have the romance? SEDATE ME! The most natural build from strangers to friends to more?! I ate it up and would gladly have read an additional 400 pages just to see more Lenny and Miles.
Can’t wait to see more from Cara!!