If you want a book that will promise you witty banter, heartbreak, laughter, grief and love this is the book for you! Lenny and Miles complement each other perfectly. Grief and loss look different to everyone and the way Miles helps Lenny through her journey is beautiful! The way he is there for Lenny but ultimately gives her the strength to heal throughout the story is brilliant.

As Miles and Lenny discover what it’s like to live again their budding relationship formulates naturally. Although one might call it trauma bonding they share a somewhat similar experience that strengthens their relationship in ways that not everyone would be able to relate. While it was a slow burn, we readers are rewarded with a happy ending!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy! All opinions are honest and my own.

WOW WOW WOW! This book left me speechless and ooing and ahhing on every single page (but huge trigger warnings for those battling cancer or have recently lost a loved one to cancer.) I would like to buy this for every single man trying to court a female to study Miles every move. He may ruin all male leads for me because I don't know how anyone can live up to him.

Lenny just lost her best friend and other half Lou to a battle with cancer. Her grief has her sleeping on the Staten Island Ferry (scared to go home) and taking only part time babysitting jobs (doesn't want any full time commitments). One morning, she finds herself babysitting for a new family. Reese (a successful business woman) and Ainsley (six year old daughter). Lenny welcomes the distraction of Ainsley's youth, until a dark brooding man begins to shadow her every move. That brooding man is Miles, Ainsley's uncle who lives the floor above.

Miles doesn't seem to be able to connect with his sister or niece and desperately wants to as they are his only family left. He needs help creating meaningful connections with his niece and sister and Lenny agrees to tutor him. As they begin to spend more time together, Miles notices how badly Lenny is struggling. She can't eat, is constantly crying, and seems all around lost. He realizes he needs to help her with her debilitating grief, a "grief wingman" if you will. He brings her food when she's hungry, forces connections to make her feel alive, gets her out of the house,. With each small step, Lenny's grief seems to subside.

A wonderful story of how two humans can help each other navigate the worst chapters of life. Thank you to Penguin Random House for the ARC.

Wow! What a read. I found this book to be a heavier romance with bits of comedy. I believe the author captured a beautiful picture of emotional grief. As someone who has lost many loved ones, the grief Lenny experiences for Lou is so relatable. Grief is not a linear process, but one that ebbs and flows in a myriad emotions and appearances. The love part makes me soft around the edges!!! Miles acts as a grief guide for Lenny. Together they tackle a "how to live after death" bucket list established by Lou. I am so glad I live in a world of emotional intelligence. Miles, through his own history of grief and loss, is steadfast and kind. Lenny is a joy to see develop. She has a lot of quips and is fun. This book is truly a gem to experience! Just read the book!! Feel the feels! Cara is a wonderful writer with an exceptional vocabulary.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this ARC.

This is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story following Lenny and her grief journey after losing her best friend. The writing is emotional and raw. Lenny's experiences felt relatable as she struggled with deep grief. Themain characters are well-developed and the enjoyable. Lenny's character is refreshing with her vulnerability and her quirkiness. Romance felt like a sub-plot in this story and was the perfect slow burn romance. Promise Me Sunshine was a very quick read as I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and would recommend it to others.

4.5 stars

I loved this book. Cara Bastone's books are definitely my style of romance. If you liked Ready or Not, then I'm sure you will enjoy this one as well.

This book is full of sweet and playful banter, and the main guy is just perfection. I absolutely love a nice guy who treats the girl like a queen. It deals a lot with trying to figure out how to navigate life again after losing someone very close to you, and I thought that this was done very well. I also really enjoyed the open communication between the two MCs; there is nothing I dislike more than a whole book based around the miscommunication troupe!

If you enjoy slow burns and sweet romances, then you will love this one.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the digital ARC! I loved everything about this book. Lenny and Miles’ story is heartwarming. It was a bit slow at the beginning, but still enjoyable. This is a slow burn romance with discussions of grief.

If you liked Ready or Not you’ll like this!

3.5 ⭐️

This was a (very, very) slow-burn romance that follows Lenny and Miles, as Miles helps Lenny deal with the grief of losing her best friend/sister. Miles is also dealing with a lot (including his own grief and his relationship with his sister/niece). It was a beautiful and emotional story, but maybe a little slow. Thankfully no OW/OM drama. If you are a fan of <i>Ready or Not</i>, you'll love this.

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.

I can't believe is a work of fiction. I feel like this is a movie, I've watched a 100 times and yet it's brand new. It's raw exploration of grief and how you navigate through living in a new normal when you've lost your forever person. Promise Me Sunshine is the most beautiful platonic love story and romanic story I've ever read! The love between Lou and Lenny was so palpable. It made my heart ache and I sobbed reading about their friendship and love for each other. I want to give all my besties a big old squeeze asap. The friendship between Miles and Lenny was incredible!! It was intimate and loving. I wanted to jump through the book and give Miles a hug. This was a book that was written for the 2000's girlies. It was Uptown Girls meets Anna Ferris and Chris Evans in Whats Your Number x Patrick Verona's care for Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You.

I will post a more in depth review closer to the pub date on my instagram account. Will update this with the date when I do so. Thank you so much for this ARC Net Galley and Penguin Random House: The Dial Press. I'm so honored that I was able to read this book and fall head over heals for each character. I can't believe I have to wait until March to get a physical copy.

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!