PROMISE ME SUNSHINE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. (Release date 3/4/2025) This book! Lenny, is a mess. After recently losing her best friend to cancer, her grief is so heavy & complicated…she’s ignoring life. With a temporary babysitting job comes along, she instantly falls for the kid, however, her grump uncle is constantly around. When he offers to get her with her “get back to life list”, her world begins to change. This book left me in sobs several times. I’ve never read grief so honest, raw, true, painful. This book also is a story of love, friendship, trust, personal growth. I absolutely loved it, and can’t wait for the world to read it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

almost knocked off half a star because this guy uses 2-in-1 shampoo, but he was unfairly described as “not good looking. low grade sexy,” which is a heinous crime to humanity, so I am returning the half star.

✧ 5 stars, this was the most dark, emotional, and in-depth exploration of grief in a book that simultaneously has the most hilarious writing style.

thank you to random house publishing group for the arc in exchange for an honest review

Thank you SO much to Random House Publishing Group for this ARC.

This is my favourite book this year hands down. I don’t think anything will top it. I am currently having an emotional hangover from this book and I have so much to still process. But I do already miss Miles & Lenny.

This story is way more than a love story. This is a story about working your way through grief, dealing with life head on, and finding people who care for you along the way.

While reading this I identified so much with Lenny and loved that underneath her pain she still could hold on to some life and happiness. And Miles… I mean… he might just be the perfect MMC. He experienced so much loss and pain in his life. Even though he is on the reserved side he is so loving, loyal, & caring. He showed up for Lenny when she needed it most and did not waver. The way he also showed up for Reese & Ainsley too was just heartbreaking. Even when he wasn’t sure that he was doing the right thing he still showed up and tried. And the fact he did the DANCE with her!!! Ahhh swoon.
I loved these two so much I honestly didn’t even care if it didn’t turn into a romantic relationship. I just wanted them to be happy together for the rest of their lives because their friendship was so beautiful. That being said, their relationship developed so naturally and authentically it brought tears to my eyes. The way they just knew it was time and that it would be forever reminded me a lot of my husband and I. We were friends for a long time first and when you know it’s time you do have a freak out moment because you know it’s a life long decision you are making. I would honestly would read another book about them just on the rest of their lives together.

I also feel that this book should be made into a movie. It would be a fantastic way to show others how to care for someone who is grieving. Just listening about their person, feeding them, getting them out of the house, letting them cry and letting them know it’s okay to have intense moments. This story as a book & a movie could be a beautiful tool for others.

Here are some beautiful quotes I loved from the book:

“Lenny, when I look at your face, I feel like I’m finally home after a really long day at work.”

“His eyes are as glossy and dark as the water underneath the ferry. I’m reflected back to myself as Miles sees me, wonderfully human, trying my absolute hardest, dubious haircut and an honest attempt at living.”

“Every time I fall in love with you there’s lightning.” He closes his eyes, opens them and there’s his brilliant love. “There’s only you, Lenny. Every time … it’s just you,” he says, muffled as he kisses me. “And you.” He kisses me again. “And you.”

“But with you, Len, when I met you … I sort of feel like I met myself.”

5/5 absolutely. VERY highly recommend.

I will be publishing this review on September 21,2024 on Goodreads and on Amazon.ca March 5,2025 on the publish date.

Wow. Where to start? I think this is the best book I have read this year. I loved Ready or Not by Cara so when I saw the ARC for this book, I applied right away. Best decision ever. Promise Me Sunshine is so beautifully written. I love being inside Lenny's mind. Her POV is emotional, insightful and so funny. I cant help but go through the emotions with her - sad, happy, in love, I felt it with her. It made me really root for her. Losing her bestfriend and the love of her life, Lenny is understandbly going through the worst bouts of sadness and grief. In comes our wonderful MMC Miles. How do I describe this wonderful specimen of a man? Haha I fell in love with Miles too! He is just perfect for Lenny and exactly what she needs in her life. I love how he navigated his issues with Reese and Ainsley with Lenny's help. Love all the side characters - Jericho, Jeffy, Rica, Emil and Lenny's parents of course.

Yes the book is about Lenny and Miles' love story but I think Promise Me Sunshine is a lot more than that. It's about family, making and maintaining friendships, starting over, learning to live!

I cant wait to get the physical copy of this book when it comes next year. Cara Bastone is now an autobuy author for me. ♾️/5 highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley, Cara Bastone and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy of this amazing book.

I loved reading Ready or Not and was absolutely honored and ecstatic to receive this ARC.
In Promise Me Sunshine, we follow Lenny's journey through her grief after losing her best friend/soulmate to cancer, with Miles as her guide. This book dealt with a lot of serious topics, namely grief, cancer, and death, and Cara Bastone writes about these phenomenally with a lot of depth. Lenny and Miles' characters were great together, when they were friends and when they were possibly more (banter was A+). They understood each other, were patient with each other, and were always 100% there for each other. I loved Lenny's character, and I admired her humor, resilience, and her determination. While she was suffering, she also had the space in her heart to help Miles with his struggles. It was uplifting to see Lenny gradually getting herself back and opening herself back up to friendship, family, and love. While this book was really heavy and emotional, there was still a lot of instances of funny/humorous moments sprinkled in between. I absolutely recommend this book, and I thought the grief was portrayed accurately and resonated very well.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was lovely in so many ways. This is an auto-buy author for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc.

I can honestly say this is the best book I’ve read in 2024. I know this book comes out in 2025, but honestly this is complete perfection.

In this novel we follow Lenny who just lost her best friend to cancer and has taken a job as a babysitter. As she’s babysitting, the uncle (only 5ish years older than her) shows up and is a bit judgmental until he finds out about Lenny’s friend. Miles says he will help her learn to live again if she will help him learn to be a good uncle. Together the two embark on a story that is pure love in so many forms: family, friendships, and romantic love.

I mean it when I say I am sort of speechless. This book just hit me hard but I loved every moment of it. I’ve lost many loved ones in my short life, and what Lenny experiences is exactly what it feels like. It’s raw, unforgiving, and just plain old life.

Lenny is a great FMC. I’ve never quite read a character like her. I felt a connection with her immediately. It didn’t take long for me to love Miles. He is so selfless when it comes to Lenny, his sister Reese, and niece. I wanted to hug all these characters because they have been through so much.

Shout out to Jericho and his friends as side characters. I swear, this book was just filled with amazing people. I especially loved Lenny’s mom and dad. They were perfect - I wish we had more scenes with them.

I will say this is a slow burn (think Marianna Zapata level slow). So slow but in the best way possible. It enhances the character development and plot 100%. You really have to earn the love. There is romance, but it isn’t all about kissing and bedroom scenes. No, this is deep “I will do anything to help you get better because you are my soulmate and I want to keep you safe” type of love.

Please read this book, but only when you are ready for a book that is deep and will slightly wreck you. You won’t regret it.

*An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review. These are my own opinions.

This might be my favorite book of this year so far. I finished it in 2 days and couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. It was beautifully written, the pain was viseral. I have enjoyed Cara's books in thr oast but this was next level.

Promise Me Sunshine is another heartfelt release from Cara Bastone, who remains one of my favorite authors of recent years.

This book is more than just a romance—it’s a moving exploration of grief. Bastone offers a raw, honest portrayal of grief with Lenny and Miles. Their shared experience of grief is what brings them together and heals them both.

Read if you like:
🩵 Grumpy x Sunshine
🩵 Found family

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for an eARC of Promise Me Sunshine. This book is sure to be one of the top releases next March!

This book starts in heartbreaking devastation and slowly transforms to utter joy in a way that is so raw and beautiful and profound to experience.

Cara Bastone creates some of the most vivid, alive characters I’ve ever read. Even in the midst of shattering grief, Lenny is so vivaciously alive. And the way Miles brings her back to the land of the living is so tender and pure.

Everyone deserves someone who understands grief in this way, and since many of us won’t get it, I truly hope this book helps readers process the losses in their lives.

Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a beautiful, tearful read! This book held on tight from the first chapter and all the way to the end! Cara Bastone has once again had me in tears! Each character was described in such a way that I felt like I was walking in this story beside them. Grief is easier when you are walking in it together!

I wasn’t sure anything could top Ready or Not for me. I shouted from the rooftops how much I loved this. And now Promise me Sunshine was even better. Cara Bastones writing style feels like magic. The pain, the grief, the LOVE. Lenny and Miles are going to live in my head and heart for a long long time.

This book was immediately a 5-star read for me. The author captured grief and the process of healing so beautifully. The love story felt organic and genuine I like that there were so many different different of love portrayed. There was platonic love, family love, and romantic love - it was all so wonderfully done!

Wow. I fell in love with Cara’s writing in Ready or Not but it did not prepare me to fall even further in Promise me Sunshine. The depths of character building and shaping the storytelling is done such in a unique way. There was a conscious layering of action and emotions that shape the moral of the story that was beautiful, I have not read grief and loss in a character in such a way that made me understand it so poignantly and such a raw reality of humanity. I read and felt Lenny really struggle and grow to come to terms with grief and become happy again but it touched that she would not always be happy. She would remember the sad moments but she knew how to get herself out of the phase. I saw her become happy.

Just beautiful. I would highly highly recommend this and I cannot wait to get a physical!!

What a beautiful novel about the stages of grief. The author wrote about Lenny and Miles’ grief so vividly; I found myself numerous times in tears. I loved the characters and all the love shown throughout the novel in different ways.

The way that this story went from friends to lovers was also beautiful. It was a natural, flowing progression that I felt was perfect for the tone of this book.

This is must read when it comes out in March!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

oh dear lord this may just be my favorite read of the year. It is utterly and sometimes unbearably devastating, but somehow still captivating and full of love. I found myself with a constant stream of tears running down my face from about 40% onward, but I would gladly emotionally suffer all over again to spend more time with these characters.

I can see those who have experienced the loss of someone close to them connecting to this book in a way that those who have not experienced deep grief before are not able to. I think my experience with grief attached me to Lenny and Miles from the beginning, but it’s having read nearly 1,000 books in the past 4 years that made me know fully aware this one is a good one, plain and simple. The perfect balance of darkness and warmth. It was a joy to see Miles love Lenny back to life.

Big thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I'm not sure I have the words to describe how much I loved this book. It's such a beautiful, real, and raw portrayal of grief and learning how to be alive again. It has the most delicious slow burn romance between a very quirky FMC (but not manic pixie dream girl) and a grumpy with a heart of gold MMC. Loved the very natural friends to lovers dynamic and how much time was actually spent building intimate moments between them.

One of my top books of the year and I had very high expectations after reading Ready or Not last year. I'm already anticipating her next release (Hoping for an Ethan book next).

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I read Ready or Not last year and it ended up being one of my top books of 2023, so I was thrilled when it was announced that Cara Bastone had another book coming out!

I don’t think I could even begin to describe how much I truly loved this book. Lenny is grief is very raw when she meets Miles, and he helps her work through it throughout the book since he’s been through it himself. The author does such a great job with writing rhetorical characters emotions so that the reader can truly feel them - I found myself crying more than once while reading. I also just love Lenny and Miles together.

Would definitely recommend!! Not a light read by any means but so worth it.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the early chance to read and review “Promise Me Sunshine.”

I *LOVED* this book. Once I got started reading, I could not put it down. This is an emotional story of characters dealing with extreme grief. However, the author manages to treat these issues so sensitively and also imbue moments of joy and laughter, throughout the sadder moments, The characters were wonderful - I loved Lenny’s spirit and the way she treated her baby sitting charge and Miles was the absolute perfect book boyfriend. Their progression from friends to lovers was very sweet and emotional. I whole heartedly recommend this book to readers of contemporary romance - its a 5 star read for me!

This is the equivalent to a hug in book form. I loved the story and the way the author framed grief. Miles was the perfect broody MMC who cares for Lenny in such a deep way. Lenny deals with the loss of her best friend and takes the journey of moving through grief and falling in loved. I adored this book and am so glad I got an ARC.