Promise Me Sunshine is a fantastic look at grief and dealing with the death of a friend. Cara does a great job of showcasing the impact of a tragedy like that and how honor those who have passed while also moving forward with your life. The book is sad, but it also has many great romantic moments that help lighten the subject matter and show how the world does keep spinning after death, even if we feel like it never will again.

I absolutely loved Ready or Not, so I was so excited when I saw that Cara Bastone was coming out with another book. This one did not disappoint. It gave me the same things I loved about Ready or Not but in a different story. The dialogue was fun and smart and quippy, the characters were dynamic and fallible and lovable. There were cute moments and there were sad moments. I loved it all. I will be HIGHLY recommending this to both patrons and friends alike. I think it's a beautiful story about grief, love, and the messiness of life, family and friends. Thank you so much to Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed ready or not so I was excited to jump into Cara's newest book. This one is VERY heavy, with grief being the main theme. It did start to feel a little repetative in the first 40% and I wasn't sure how I felt about Miles but THEN the last 50% won me over and then some! I thought Miles was such a great MMC and the way he handled their friendship turning to more was so mature and refreshing. I really loved how this book played out!

Cara Bastone does it again!!!
Absolutely adored this book!
Thank you to Netgalley & Random House Publishing for allowing me to read the ARC of this book!

Lenny is dealing with the loss of her best friend to cancer, trying to navigate life without her. Lenny lands a job babysitting temporary. Miles is struggling to connect with his sister Reese & Daughter Ainsley. Miles has the grand plan to help Lenny deal with the loss of her best friend, while she helps him connect with his sister & niece.

This book was so beautiful, wholesome, and just everything I needed. The grief representation in this book felt so real, and watching Lenny go through the phases was heartbreaking but bittersweet getting towards the end of the book.
Lenny was such an amazing FMC. I loved her energy and how strong she was with everything she went through with her best friend.
I was a little unsure of our MMC, Miles, in the first like 15% of the book. He comes off a little grumpy, rude, stand-off-ish but QUICKLY became one of my fav MMC’s.
Cara Bastone just knows how to write a gold retriever! He had so many layers to him that you find out as you read & I absolutely loved his character. The way Miles wanted to take care of Lenny & just make sure she was happy and taken care of was so PRECIOUS. Their banter together was so sweet, & I loved every single one of their interactions together.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book and all the emotions it had me feeling. It was a beautiful story about two people leaning on each other in a difficult time. Cara Bastone’s writing is amazing & I can’t wait to read everything she writes

Cara Bastone, WOW. Here I am, this tangled mess who's heart feels like it's been shaved against a mandolin, and then sewn up with surgical, MAYO CLINIC precision. I LOVED this book. There are so many quotes that I highlighted, and among my favorites are:

"What an awful word. Like a curse. Next time I want to say fuck you to somebody I'll just shout 'endure it' instead."

"My heart seems to be running up a hill inside my chest. I wonder what's at the top."

""Hey Lou. Miles says when you left, you took my heart with you. He says it was like a heart transplant. Only ..." I lean forward and thump my chest. My hair falls in a tent around me, blocking out the light. "I don't know what this new heart is supposed to be living for."
I hear the paper rustling as he sets it down. My hair gets swept to one side and the light gets in. Miles peeks through the door to the outside world. "That's okay," he says in a quiet voice. "You don't have to know yet."

I adored the relationship between Lenny and Ainsley/Reese. I, myself, nannied professionally for something like a dozen years, and this relationship does not miss! There's also a piece of sadness and heartbreak that yearns to watch something grow, and for me, this is what that was for not only Lenny, but for Miles, too.
Speaking of, let's talk about Miles. Swoon. Okay, I'm done. But seriously, I loved him. The romance element did not feel forced, and it made sense. The two characters were great together, and watching it develop aged in the pages like a fine wine. I loved that Lenny wasn't the only one with baggage, and that they helped one another navigate this grisly part of life.
Cara is a person who profoundly understands grief, and it is handled beautifully. She is able to showcase all the different elements: Humor, the way a simple statement can cause all your senses to stand up on end and make you laugh, or cry, or how a small gift can become a lifeline.
This was my first book by Cara. I had heard amazing things about her novel, Ready or Not, and it has now been added to my TBR, too.

From a critical point of view, the only thing I have to say is that it did feel a little disorienting to find out about the list as we went on, as opposed to having it ahead of time as a reference point on all of these adventures Miles and Lenny went on. For example, I did not get to share the awe and surprise with Lenny when she realized that by bringing her to the sandwich shop, they had just crossed something off of her list. Apart from that, WELL FREAKING DONE.

4.5/5.0

Thank you so very much for the opportunity to read this work, I devoured it and am hungry for more! I truly cannot wait to promote this one across social media, and the many book clubs that I lead. I have a shelf of books in my office which I recommend often, Little Paris Bookshop style. They will love this one, too!
-Emma

I read my first book by the author when it was a book of the month choice and feel in love. Somehow she writes characters you just can’t help but root for and relate too. I loved Lenny and could feel her grief. I wish I could read more of her and Lou together

I really enjoyed this one! I loved Bastone’s last book, and loved this one. Honestly, I feel like neither of her most recent releases should be categorized as romance and rather contemporary fiction. Other than that, I love the care and attention she adds to characters and settings!

I will say the blurb about this book wasn't kidding when it said slow burn, that was a slowwww burn!
I enjoyed this book but it felt like it was just the same thing over and over and really drug on. It had my heart broken 80% of the time, which is amazing to make your readers feel so strongly but by the cover I did expect more happiness, or at least quicker. I loved Miles and wished we could've gotten pov from both him and Lenny!
The story is about Lenny, dealing with the loss of her best friend Lou to cancer. She is a nanny and starts taking care of Ainsley. Ainsley has a grumpy, always-around uncle named Miles. Miles himself is dealing with a great amount of grief after the death of his mom, cousin who was like a brother to him, and recently his father. Miles wants to help out with Ainsley more and asks Lenny to ask him how to get along with kids and he'll help her complete her list, which is essentially a reason to keep going list that she and Lou had.
Bastone did a good job with such a sensitive topic, grief, but it didn't do it for me. I think the chemistry of the two main characters was lacking, they seemed more forced together and/or convenient than having true chemistry.
I recommend anyone who likes a heartbreaking story with a touch of slow-burn romance, to go grab this book when it's released on March 4, 2025.
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Thank you, NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cara Bastone is officially an auto buy author. Ready or Not was pure perfection and now this one?! Amazing.

Ok this was a new look at Cara Bastone as an author. It makes me sad that I can tell she’s experienced deep grief by reading this. But she is so spot on in her development of both main characters and how they each view grief and walk through it. This story is about friendship, vulnerability, and ultimately the human ability to expand our hearts even amidst intense depression and numbness. I loved this story so much and helped me view the loss of my own childhood best friend in a way that helps me sort of alchemize those emotions.

This was such a cute grumpy x sunshine-ish, because she's grieving the loss of her best friend, romance. I loved all the 'live again' list adventures Miles and Lenny went on and how much they both grew throughout the book!

This book made me cry and then made me smile. Lots of emotions but an excellent book and story. Very grateful for the opportunity to get to read it and can't wait for my friends to be able to read it

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone is an emotional love story that looks into grief and loss and learning to heal.

Dealing with the loss of her friend, Lenny is learning how to go about life and taking a short term babysitting gig but upon meeting the uncle of the child she's babysitting. Things get off on the wrong foot and his impression of her is questionable. He's gruff, grumpy and rough around the edges at first but he truly cares for his niece. Miles and Lenny are opposites attract at its finest. This is such a sweet and emotional story that deals with learning how to live with grief. Miles was a bit grumpy but he reminds me of Nick Miller so if your a fan of guys like that, you will enjoy this and a story that goes deeper than the romance and goes with individual development and will have you crying. It's such a great story that fans of Cara will love as well.

I was really hoping to be chosen as an ARC reader for this book because I absolutely LOVED Ready or Not. I'm SO happy that I was chosen! This was such a great slow burn romance that explores the deep wounds that grief can leave a person with. Lenny has become a nanny to a young girl named Ainsley (whom I loved!) and in the process, has gotten to know her uncle that lives in the apartment above her, Miles. The story follows these characters as they get to know each other in different ways. Miles and Lenny's relationship is built on Miles trying to help Lenny deal with the grief Lenny feels after losing her best friend, Lou, to cancer. Through this, they of course fall in love, but I love the way in which Miles handles this - sloowwwww burn.

I would rate this book 4.5 (rounded up for Goodreads). I do have a couple of gripes with it that sort of bothered me as I was reading, which prevented me from rating it a full 5 stars. Firstly, the author writes Lenny *gasping* really frequently. Frequently enough for me to notice how often the word *gasped* was written.

Second gripe was with how the first kiss was handled. It's difficult to explain why I didn't like it, but for such a slow burn, I felt like the first kiss fell really flat. Same goes for the eventual sex scene. It was honestly one of the most bizarrely written sex scenes I've ever read. It's not that I didn't like it, but it just was a little odd and took me out of the moment while I was reading it.

Final gripe - I know that one of the major themes of this book was about grief. I've been lucky enough to not have had a major loss in my life. I appreciated the main characters' journeys about navigating their grief and dealing with the challenges that come along with losing someone that is close to you. I loved that Miles did such a great job helping and supporting Lenny. I just wish Lenny would have went to therapy. I really think she would have benefitted. She was fighting an uphill battle that she shouldn't have had to fight alone, and I don't think that it should have fallen on Miles either.

Ultimately, I LOVED the book, though. I am so excited to read the rest of Cara Bastone's backlist. I love her writing style.

I received this book through Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book!

This book tore me open and then stitched me back together. A beautiful story of grief and loss and how that never really goes away but you learn to live with it and still allow yourself to thrive and love and live.

I have never read a romance book with a character grieving for a friend! I loved loved Miles and Lenny. I worried it would get old with how sad she was, but Bastone does an AMAZING job with filling the dialogue with laugh out loud lines.

My heart broke for both characters, and I loved how they took care of each other.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me a copy of this book!! I enjoyed it so much!

What a beautiful and silly and life-affirming exploration of grief, as told by an FMC with a unique and memorable voice.

It’s hard to write grief in realistic and genuine ways - in this book we got 2 different but equally rich and real portrayals of it in Lenny and in Miles. I left the book laughing with tears in my eyes.

I don’t know if a can properly communicate how importantly beautiful this story is. Grief is the hardest weirdest maze, and this novel articulates that so well.

I reviewed Bastones previous novel, Ready or Not, and emphasized how well she writes love in all ways, and she solidifies that praise in this book. Family, friend, and romantic love are written so beautifully and understood so well.

I am in awe of this book and this author.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for honest review!
Yall. This book is EVERYTHING. Seriously. I laughed so much because Lenny is incredibly funny and her personality makes me wish I knew her in real life. Lenny is also dealing with some extremely heavy grief so I also cried a lot throughout this incredible story. I honestly wish I could read this for the 1st time all over again. Lenny and Miles were both absolutely perfect. I love Cara Bastone's writing. I know this doesn't come out until March of next year but I'm already anxious for her next book.
You need to read this book. Trust me on this one.

4.8⭐️ 1.5🫑

Cara Bastone is officially an auto buy author. Ready or Not was pure perfection and now this one?! Amazing. I would like to formally request that the next book be about Ethan and Reese, PLEASEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

This book is so much more than a romance, it’s an exploration of grief and a journey of healing - that just so happens to feature a perfect man who helps her along the way. I cried so much and my heart felt so full when I finished.

And I laughed out loud a LOT. The banter is perfect. The side characters are ones I wish I could make my BFFs. the found family is pure gold. and the MC’s feel real and relatable.

The MMC has one flaw and it’s that he uses 2 in 1 shampoo - seriously, that’s it, he is otherwise perfect. BUT the man has LAYERS, like an onion, a blooming onion - he’s just self-aware and that makes me love him even more.

The ONLY reason i’m not giving this a perfect 5⭐️ is bc after all that talk about movie scene recreation and waiting (see GR for spoiler). It felt like a missed opportunity, but I’m a fan of grand gestures.

🫑 - a couple scenes but all non-explicit and non-specific - stuff I'd be fine with my teen niece reading.

Thank you NetGalley and The Dial Press for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.