I really liked this book! The plot was unique and touching. Especially as someone who has lost a very close friend. That kind of grief isn’t talked about enough and this book describes it perfectly. I did find my mind wandering around the halfway point. It seemed a little drawn out and I found it difficult to picture the characters. But overall I did end up really enjoying it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who recently has had an existential fear of everyone around me dying, this was a hard read but it was SO GOOD. Cara Bastone created a beautiful story of grief, love, and self discovery. Promise Me Sunshine follows Lenny as she tries to put herself back together after her best friend’s death. I probably cried through about half of the book and laughed through the other half. There was a great balance of sweet, tender moments and comic relief. Lenny and Miles were intensely witty, likable, and the character development was incredible.

I took one star off because the plot was very dialogue heavy initially, which made it hard to grasp the storyline and hold my attention. This is more of just a personal preference and I’m so glad I kept going, as the middle and end sucked me in.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good rom-com. For someone who has recently experienced loss, this one may be tough initially, but also has the potential to be healing. Thank you to Cara Bastone, NetGalley, and Random House/Dial Press for this book in exchange for a review.

It feels too niche for our little free libraries, but the writing style is accessible and the story itself was very sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Cara Bastone does it again. This is a truly stellar slow-burn romance and navigation of life after loss. I absolutely adored Miles and Lenny. I wish this book could have gone on forever.

Mark your calendars for March 2025 when this book releases.

Also, leaving a sneak peak of the author’s next novel at the end of an ARC is a pure evil-genius move. I now will be impatiently waiting for THAT book’s release too.

Have you ever read a description of grief that is so horrifically relatable that you’ve had to breathe through it? How about a depiction of grieving that is so raw and honest that you almost have to look away?

Come for the phenomenal storytelling, excellent banter, and overall good energy. Stay because Cara just kneecapped you with a reminder of how it feels to be so thick in the fog of grief that you genuinely cannot find a hand or foothold to even attempt to get yourself out.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Lenny is so raw and exposed and clearly flailing, and has surrounded herself only with people who do not know her well enough to see through her facade. But Miles recognizes her pain, and with a gut-wrenching combination of determination and tenderness he helps guide her through the maze of her own grief to the hope that can be found at the center.

Her messy, aching desperation practically pours off the pages. And so to does the genuine kindness Miles shows her. Due to the nature of their friendship, they’re unusually open with each other quite early on, and lean on each other in a way that is both beautiful and bittersweet. And watching them offer each other a hand (or a shoulder) as they find their way out of the hollows they’ve found themselves in had me ugly-crying in the best way possible.

This was honestly really good.

My favorite part was that the characters developed, but that they didn’t change as people. Miles stayed grouchy and Lenny stayed snarky. It was the perfect amount of sadness and growth to make it a good story.

I liked Ainsley and Reese as characters, but wished we got more in depth action with them. Their scenes felt a little surface level to me. Same with Jericho and the gang. I was left wanting so see how their connection actually flourished when they were getting to know Lenny.

I think everyone deserves to find their Miles. He truly did go to hell for Lenny and bring her back to Earth, and without ever making her feel bad about it. I wished we got to hear a little more about his grief, but I understand that the focus was more on her. Lenny herself was a solid character, and a lot of what she was going through resonated. I wished we got a little more into how she made it from okay to good, but I understand that the story needed to continue on.

The intimacy was genuinely some of the best I’ve ever read. It was extremely sweet and perfect for them (and also pretty hot).

Lenny is lost in her grief, after losing her best friend. She takes on a temporary nanny job and runs into the kid’s awkward uncle. He sees how excellent she is with kids, and that she’s also a hot mess, so he proposes helping her through her grief if she’ll help him figure out how to not be weird around his niece and previously estranged sister. MY GOD THIS BOOK. It’s heartbreaking, and lovely, and filled with an absolutely insane number of incredible one liners. Like I want to grab a cup of coffee and just hang out in Cara Bastone’s brain. Because it’s brilliant and so unique. This book was wonderful.

I can't find the right words to express my love for this book.

Cara Bastone's writing feels like a true masterpiece. The way Bastone writes about grief is real and raw, but she is able to infuse humour throughout with ease. I don't always love a friends-to-lovers trope, but the way they eased into the romance in this book was perfect. The romance felt more like a subplot (in the best way). I liked that the focus was on Lenny as she navigates life after such a significant loss.

This book made me laugh, and I ugly cried a bit at some points. I couldn't recommend it enough. it enough.

2.5⭐️ Thank you Net Galley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read the eARC.

This book, I believe, explores grief in its complexities and all. There is no linear path to how individuals handle and navigate such strong emotions from the onset of grief itself and this book highlights that. The two main characters, Lenny and Miles, are both grieving different people in their life when they first meet. Lenny is maintains her people pleasing facade pretending everything is fine and Miles is an overbearing, unreadable, and kinda grumpy man. What I enjoyed about this story was how all it takes is one person who just meets you where your at to help guide you through the difficult moments—a reminder that we don’t need to do everything alone. It’s the small steps that count and Miles and Lenny both showed up for each other in ways to help them overcome some of their obstacles.

The one thing I struggled with was this being identified as a romance. I don’t know if it was how they met and the situations that they were in but they seemed to more believable as platonic friends who love each other rather than anything romantic. I just couldn’t imagine anything between them. The writing overall was decent too, but there were moments where it felt very chopped up and skipped around a lot.

Overall I do believe there were some good moments in this book that others will find healing and beneficial. This is a book that when it lands in the right hands will be deeply loved and cherished.

I have found one of my new favorite books of all time. 5 stars, infinity stars, alllll the stars in the world go to this book. Cara Bastone is officially not only an auto-buy author for me but now one of my favorite authors.

This book had a lot of grief and moments surrounding profound & deep loss, and the way Cara handled grief was BEAUTIFUL. She portrayed it in such a real, raw way, showing the dark sides and also the hope & love that can be on the journey. What stood out to me was the conversations surrounding feeling like you’re losing a part of yourself, or your closeness to the person you lost, when you begin to heal from grief or even just feel better. These conversations were beautiful & so perfect. Not only was this book about grief, but it was about HOPE, HEALING, and LOVE.

Lenny my girl!!!! What an angel, I loved her so much. I felt her loss so deeply at times it felt like it could be my own (which is a huge testament to Cara’s writing). I felt like I knew her best friend through Lenny, which was gorgeous in itself, but was such a strong example of how beautiful best friendships and female friendships could be.

Miles… this man sat with her at rock bottom and was just WITH HER in it, human to human. Beautiful!!!! Beautiful!!! Beautiful!!! He had such a deep empathetic energy & was continually there for her whenever she needed it, through all the different ebbs and flows grief has. He didn’t save her but he sat with her in it and taught her how to save herself.

And that ending you guys… I sobbed harder than I have for a book in a long time. But it was in a beautiful, amazing, so-in-love-with-this-book-i-could-die type of way!!!!!

One of my new favorites of all time. Read for love, read for romance, read for grief, read for empathy, and most importantly read this book for the gift of human connection & how we can truly heal one another in a magical way.

I love books that are sad because they make you feel something deeper. In Promise Me Sunshine we meet Lenny who is stuck in her grief. Carla Bastone does a great job of capturing what being stuck in the depths of grief is like. We all need friends like Miles to help us climb out of the depths.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Thank you, thank you to NetGalley for an e-arc of this book!

Ready Or Not was a giant FIVE STAR read for me, so I had the highest of expectations going into Cara Bastone’s next book, Promise Me Sunshine. And holy smokes, did it deliver. Grief was a HEAVY theme throughout the book, and the way the two main characters deal with theirs. I adore the characters Bastone creates, and the worlds in which they live.

Another thing I simply adore about Bastone’s writing style is the banter between the two main characters. I am a sucker for good banter, and Lenny & Miles certainly delivered! Along with a solid cast of supporting characters (her parents, Jericho, Jeffy, Rica to name a few), this story was incredibly fulfilling in so many ways.

For me, 4/5 stars is because of a few things I think should have been fleshed out a little more, and a few things that seemed entirely unrealistic.

Overall, solid story and I cannot wait to read more by Cara Bastone!

Cara Bastone wrote this sweet book about grief and loss that is honest and raw. I think anyone that’s experienced life-altering loss (specially in their 20s) will resonate with this one.
I enjoyed that the romance takes a backseat and is almost used as a plot device. It allowed for the story to feel genuine and focused on how main character Lenny will handle all-consuming grief.
The proses were lovely and the overall message profound. I wish I could time travel and give myself this book in 2021.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good but I also cried so much. It wasn’t even bad crying because I do sometimes really appreciate a book that can make me cry. It was just so good and so beautiful. Definitely a slow burn but it made a lot of sense for the story. I think anything quicker would have been messy. Definitely recommend.

I was afraid the sad subject matter of grief would hit me too close to home in this book and it did. I was balling at all hours reading this book but it also helped me heal my own self in a way. It was tough for me to read at times but I still enjoyed it.

This story was so beautiful and also so sad and heart wrenching. I had a hard time reading it if I’m being honest. I’m generally not a fan of books that make me cry in a sad way. But it was beautiful and special and lovely as well. If you suffer from health anxiety/anxiety like I do, this might not be a great book to read. I knew going in what it was about but I thought I’d try it. I had to skip some parts to protect my mental health. If you don’t deal with this or you love books that make you cry, read away!

I needed an escape and this book gave it to me. I really like the leads and their relationship together. I was a bit wary that if this was real life, Miles maybe liked Lenny more because she needed him and less because of herself. But ultimately, I just let that go and enjoyed our journey. Happy with the ending. Happy with the slow burn. Absolutely tore through this and will be immediately picking up Cara’s other works.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Dial Press for the ARC.

Thank you net galley and publisher for this ARC. I enjoyed this story and the vulnerable truth of trying to get your life back together after such a difficult loss.

Wow. Casa Bastogne has done it again. I fell in love with Miles just as Lenny was. He was so kind and patient and giving and I TRUSTED him as a character. He never had a “bad moment” where I lost trust in him and I really really loved that. I actually really liked Lenny and found her so relatable. The topic of grief is weaved throughout the entire novel in a delicate and beautiful way. I already can’t wait for Cara’s next book!!!

if you are looking to feel deep, real emotion while reading and truly love a book you HAVE to read ‘promise me sunshine’ by cara bastone. Not many books make me feel sadness, grief, and heartache while also making me kick my feet and giggle, feel joy, and love.

Lenny is deeply struggling after losing her best friend and grieving someone you love is something miles is an expert at. through time shared with miles’ young niece and completing a “live again” list, the two hesitantly begin a mutually beneficial friendship.

this is an emotion-packed, extremely slow-burn story all about learning how to live with grief and not drown in it. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt as many emotions while reading as I did while reading this booked. you do not want to miss this one. 🩷☀️

thank you so much to netgalley, random house publishing, and cara bastone for the ARC of this beautiful story! 🫶🏻