I absolutely ADORED Promise Me Sunshine! This book made me sob & look at my life differently. Lenny and Miles had such an incredible relationship as friends and then as more than friends. This book was a beautiful portrayal of grief, love, and how to live after you’ve lost someone. Cara Bastone absolutely stunned me with this novel, and I’ll be thinking about it for a very long time. Highly recommend! (check TWs)

Promise Me Sunshine was so beautifully written. I felt like I broke into pieces and was put back together right along with Lenny. Using all of her energy to put on a face for those around her while she’s facing grief and depression, but then feeling so drained when she’s by herself again and has no one around that she has to “be okay” for. And then to have Miles step in and say you’re not alone, I’m with you, and it’s okay for you to not be okay with me. He saved her and protected her, but he also made a point of teaching her how to save and protect herself. He didn’t want her to be dependent on him, he wanted her to learn to depend on herself again.

I wish I had loved this one more. I just didn’t connect to the characters. I don’t mind books about grief, but in this case, I feel like the topic of grief took away from the romance.

Friends to lovers. Grief and healing. Found family. Love when you least expect it. Sign me up! I loved the writing style, humor and relatability of Lenny.

First of all... I love the cover so much!!!! It's so pretty!!!! And then I got an Arc from Netgally (I'm so thankful for that! Thank you so much 😭🙏🏻) i just finished read it today and OMG you guys!!! I'm telling you! This! Book! Bring me back to read romance again 🤍 I love this book so much it's kinda sad at some point but along the way is really happy and funny 🥹 I love it so much. Thank you Cara for writing this book!! Please go pre-order you guys! This book will be released on March 4 2025 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another 5 star for my girl, Cara. She's becoming a new favorite of mine! Brb, on my way to read her entire backlog.

I never wanted this book to end!! I'm so upset it's over!! do you ever read a book and once it's over wish that you could read it all over again for the very first time? That's this one for me.

This book is so much more than a slow-burn romance.It's real life. I'll recommend this to anyone and everyone!! Please add it to your list because Lenny & Miles are some of the best characters you'll ever read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Cara Bastone, and Random House for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a truly beautiful, moving story that will stay with you long after the last page. It's the kind of book that breaks you down and puts you back together, leaving an unforgettable mark on your heart.

Lenny Bellamy is overcome with grief after losing her best friend to cancer. Despite her pain, she's plasters on a happy facade and takes short-term babysitting jobs, leading her to cross paths with Miles Honey (pronounced Ho-nee), the grumpy uncle. When Miles realizes what Lenny's struggle, he offers to help her heal if she'll help him connect with his niece.

Lenny and Miles are such layered and resilient characters who show incredible growth. Their love story is a slow burn and tender, filled with banter and deep understanding. Lenny's' quirky charm and Miles's gentle, unproblematic nature make them easy to root for. Even the secondary characters shine and contribute so much to the story.

The flashbacks with Lou allow the reader to understand the friendship that shaped Lenny's life and feel the depth of her loss.

This is so much more than a romance. Bastone captures grief and healing in a way that feels real and raw. Your heart will break for the characters, but you'll also cheer for them when they experience little victories. Although the book tackles heavy topics like death and grief, I often found myself smiling or laughing (and highlighting so many passages). Bastone's message is clear: no matter how tough the journey, keep going.

I truly wanted to like this, I have adored this authors work in the past but this particular story did not hook me. 😢😢

I did not feel any real connection between the main characters and although grief comes in many different forms, I did not see a genuine illustration of grief. The grief in this book was portrayed almost in soap opera style, so dramatized that it made it so hard to connect with the story. I also struggled with the content shift of not being ready to move on in life after the loss of her best friend, to being completely infatuated with the mmc. But this is truly just my opinion and many have seemed to love this story, so if the blurb draws you in- give it a try!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing this ARC in return for my honest opinion!

Promise Me Sunshine is a heavy and beautiful story. We follow Lenny on her journey of healing and stages of grief. We watch her deal or not deal with these in a realistic way and it can be pretty emotional. Miles is there for her and they become a solace for each other in a relatable way. I did enjoy seeing previous characters make an appearance as well.

Thank you netgalley for Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

Cara Bastone is great at creating highly likeable and relatable characters. Lenny and Miles are definitely that, although to be honest, I found Lenny's flaws both endearing and hard to take a times. Grief is a very hard thing to go through, and maybe I have never lost someone close enough to me to feel this overwhelming loss, but I did feel like she was attention seeking by being so traumatized by her friend's death. A very good friend lost both their partner of almost 20 years and their parent in the same year, and they have not descended into a depression like this. Mind you, I also feel like Lenny has some depression to contend with that is exacerbated by the death of her best friend.

Despite that, I was rooting for her. Rooting for Miles to get through to her, whether it involved romance or not. And rooting for her to stay in Ainsley's life because, well, she was a really cool nanny. A cheeky Mary Poppins? There were some great lines. Some great adventures. And some great characters. All moving the story through to its conclusion. Did I want an epilogue to wrap things up more? Maybe, but it wasn't really necessary either because they came to their happy place without needing to see it all.

This is my second Bastone, and I have not been disappointed yet. Good writing helps a lot to carry a story through that many pages. And yes, it was more pages than I like to "give" to romances.

Wow. This book punched WAY above its weight. I expected a feel-good romance but what I did not expect was the deep dive into grief and forgiveness of one’s self.

Lenny is learning how to exist in a world without her lifelong best friend who recently passed away from cancer. Miles is learning how to exist in a world without his mom and cousin, and how to find his place in his half-sister’s and niece’s world. You can imagine they each have a lot to learn and that they both learn some invaluable lessons from each other. Both Lenny and Miles showed vulnerability and strength, despair and hope, sadness and joy. This book offers what I imagine to be two very realistic and honest perspectives of grief, and highlights how the journey is different for everyone.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. It was beautiful. It took a really long time to get to the romance, but it was completely worth it. I’d recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss. I expect it to offer support and reassurance that there is no “right” way to grieve and no proper timeline.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With a previous book as delightful and wonderful as 'Ready of Not,' Bastone had her work cut out for her to on her next novel, 'Promise Me Sunshine.'--and she delivered.
Promise Me Sunshine is everything I want in a romantic comedy: fun, sweet, and safe, but containing depth and introspection. This novel deals with grief and companionship following the death of a loved one, and it is about community and self-love as much as it is about romance.
The grief our protagonist felt never felt secondary or cheap; instead, Bastone treats the relationship between Lenny and her best friend as precious, real, and vital.
The romance in this story is careful and safe, and Bastone does Lenny justice by pairing her with a partner who is understanding of her grief, but also attentive and patient enough to walk with her through it.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed getting to read this book. This was the first book I have read where the main character had lost their best friend. It was heartbreaking to read how Lenny had to go through every stage of the grieving process. This book definitely made me look at and cherish my own close relationships. I thought the characters were well written. Lenny was quirky and funny. This novel was entertaining throughout but I did feel that the ending was rushed. I would have liked to see the relationship aspect of Lenny and Miles play out for a bit longer. Overall, I would recommend this novel.

What an emotional read! I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. Grief is different for everybody and I loved seeing Lenny's growth. Day by day choosing to live. I also liked Miles' character. He was misunderstood and also had some healing to do. Beautifully written and it makes you want to hug your loved ones.

Ready or Not was absolutely one of my favorite books of this year, so when I saw a chance to get an early copy of Bastone's next one, I jumped at it. Her writing in Ready or Not is so beautiful and dang near perfect. It's hard to capture those early stages of love and the subtle yearning of moving from friends to lovers.

Luckily, Bastone does it again with Promise Me Sunshine. Lenny has lost the love of her life, her best friend Lou, months before she meets Miles, the uncle of her new nanny charge. She's lost in grief, unable to move forward and unable to grasp anything permanent because it feels like she's moving on from Lou. Miles understands, he's dealt with his own complicated grief and is willing to serve as her friend and guide through getting past the worst moments.

The two become friends, turned lovers, but its a slow, sweet, gentle journey. Miles is Shep-levels of caring and compassionate, and willing to be what Lenny needs in the moment, rather than what he might want. There's no unnecessary drama or miscommunication (I recognize those have their place), just two adults trying to do the best that they can for themselves and for each other.

My biggest complaint with the book is its abrupt end. There's no spoilers to be had here, but I got to the last page and thought, "that's it?" It's not an unfulfilling end, by any means, it just stops.

As a bonus, for Ready or Not fans, there is an Ethan and Miriam cameo! We get a little peak back into that world to know how some of the main players are doing about 15 months late.

* Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! *

AHHH. I absolutely loved this book and ended up reading it in under a day, only taking breaks when I absolutely needed to. My only complaint with this book is that it wasn’t long enough! I loved Miles and Lenny and Ainsley and Reese and the ending just fell really sudden and unfinished? And maybe that was the point!!! Because there is not always a neatly wrapped up ending with a bow in real life. But I loved these characters so much and Cara’s writing so much that I could’ve just kept reading about them forever and ever (same with Ready Or Not).

Lenny’s grief over her friend Lou’s passing was really devastating and I just wanted to wrap her up in a warm bundle and give her a hug. Grief is so complex and I think Cara Bastone did a great job putting words to it and showing that it pops up even in your happiest moments. I also thought despite it’s heavy elements that this book was so funny and it had me kicking my feet and giggling often. The relationships and friendships were written so well and I had a few teary moments (Lenny’s mom!!!). Found family is one of my favorite ‘tropes’ and the little group that Lenny and Miles formed for themselves was so great.

MILES!!! I have nothing bad to say about that man. He is an angel. Everyone deserves a Miles who is willing to walk through hell and drag them out. A truly strong and steady character and I adored him and how he knew exactly what Lenny needed when she needed it.

Ready or Not made me an instant fan of Cara Bastone’s but Promise Me Sunshine solidified her as a new favorite author for me. I can’t wait to go back and read some of her older books and I can’t wait to see what else she writes!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Themes:
Death/Grief
Depression
Friends to Lovers
Found Family
Slow Burn (realllly slow burn)

I think this book will be for a lot of people, but unfortunately this one wasn't for me - I anticipated reading this ARC after Ready or Not by Cara was a top read for me earlier this year, but sadly it didn't hit quite the same.

The Pros:
Funny, quirky characters. Beautiful prose in some parts of the book, entertaining and kept you reading/wanting to see where the story went. Lou's story was heartbreaking and I really rooted for the characters in the book even despite the cons I list below

The Cons:
Grief is so personal, so it's hard to articulate this gently, but I felt the representation of grief was completely unrealistic. Lenny, our main female character is one of the most unserious people in this story, throughout the story she seems incapable of making decisions, being responsible, and frankly reads like a very *very* young adult, it's hard to believe that she wasn't like this before her loss. She was the primary care taker of this person before their death. How?? That part didn't track for me, it wasn't believable that she was the right person to have that level of responsibility, or that position of care. She's avoiding everything in her life, favoring sleeping on the ferry over going home - which who can ditch their NY apartment for 6+ months but still pay rent? I found Lenny to be very frustrating and what was more frustrating was the way she would be completely aloof one moment and the next she was teaching Miles how to work with kids and be a care taker and teaching the family she nannied for how to be more communicative and work together better - like how is she the qualified person on that subject? Another flaw was as soon as Lenny realized how she felt about Miles, grief just completely disappeared from the story line until the very very end.

Miles, all of his best qualities were in his servitude/help of Lenny. You're telling me the guy who is doesn't know how to talk to other adults can pull Lenny out of her grief and become her soul mate even though he hadn't dealt with his own? He also has 3 residencies in NY and he doesn't live in 2 of them? Miles felt so flat for me. There was just a lot I couldn't overlook because they, as characters, were too non-sensical.

This book also felt LONG, There was so much unnecessary back and forth between Lenny and Miles, some of the slow burn was just pointless, and there were things that just didnt need to be written in to make the story complete or drive the point across.

Like I said, I think this could be for a lot of people, but I just felt a little critical of some of the biggest elements in this story and it wasn't my favorite read of hers!

ALL THE STARS 😭 this is one of those books that spoke to my soul in such a deep way. this is a story of grief in its messiest, raw, and vulnerable form. It’s also a story of friendship, love, and healing. Walking with Lenny through her grief was painful yet beautiful. Her thoughts felt so real and raw. The ability to feel the highs and lows was a testament to Cara’s ability to write an incredible/powerful story. I loved that Lenny was able to be quirky (my favorite kind of girls) but also sitting in the middle of her grief, it felt real. Also MILES. What a man. He is the definition of someone who will sit with you in the darkest of moments, letting you feel everything that comes with grief. He communicates in such a gentle yet purposeful way. Getting to know his story had me falling more in love with him. Their friendship is SPECIAL. The slow burn is so perfectly them. The romance moved me to tears. It’s a special kind of love. Lenny & Miles are soulmates forever!!!! I cannot recommend this book enough. I laughed, I cried. I read this book during a week each year where grief is at its hardest for me, the words in this book were such a comfort, while I sobbed my way through some chapters it really was this cathartic feeling walking through grief with Lenny. A million thanks and forehead kisses to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this ARC!

3.5 ⭐️ I wanted to love this book SO much, Ready or Not was an easy 5 star read for me and Cara’s books will always be a top read for me but there were a few things that prevented me from falling head over heels in love with these characters. To start, it is a heavy book about grief and loss of a loved one, your person really and I think it was very well done and captures how raw and complicated grief can be. I have read other reviews who say it felt like a caricature of grief and I think that is wholeheartedly false, grief looks different on everyone. The story itself was beautifully written and I loved the journey. Lenny was the hardest for me to connect with, she was written in such a quirky and overly free spirited way that didn’t feel realistic to me. I loved Miles, we all need a Miles in our life, no notes there. What I felt was missing was the love story, this felt too much like a best friends story. I believed their friendship but when it turned to more, I just didn’t swoon over it.

Other little things in the story that bothered me. Where were Lou’s parents and family in this? Did I miss it? I find it way too unbelievable that a year can pass and Lou’s things can just stay put in a shared apartment with a roommate that wasn’t family. I am a mother, I would have moved heaven and earth to get my child’s belongings even if they were an adult when they died. I was really hung up on that part and Lenny as Lou’s seemingly only caregiver, it just didn’t sit right since I didn’t know where her family was when she was sick.

Overall, this was a tragically wonderful story about finding your way out of grief and learning how to live and love again, I just wouldn’t call it a romance.

What a great and beautiful book. Cara has a way with words and a way with stories. She always knows how to grip you from the start and how to evoque so many emotions. I absolutely loved this one it was such a great read.