When I first opened this book, I was not expecting to love this book as much as did! Now that it’s finished, I wish I could start all over again for the first time!

The plot, the writing style, the characters, the setting, and everything else about this book dragged me in and kept me locked in the entire time!

I loved the plot! The way the characters started as very individualized people and slowly started to mold into each other’s lives was such a sweet transition to witness. The way that Lenny & Miles included Lou in so many aspects of their daily lives (even apart from the list) was incredibly charming and sweet. I felt like I was truly living in the moment with them as they trekked around NYC.

Every single character was an absolute knock out of the part! From Lenny & Miles, to Ainsley & Reese, to Jericho, Rica, Jeffy, and Emil the doorman, they all stole my heart! The character building with Lenny & Miles is so deep and thoughtful! They are so perfectly crafted and developed throughout the story!

The way the Cara Bastone writes has a way of transporting you to an exact spot or conversation. I felt like I was living this grief-filled healing journey rijjt alongside Lenny & Miles. Truly fantastic writing!

I don’t think I’ll ever not recommend this book, it was that good! You’ll get hooked & fall in love with this book immediately, I promise it’s worth it! 🌅⛴️💛

To be loved is to be seen. To be seen is to be understood. To be understood is to be heard.

I sit here with renewed hope in this little existence of mine. Some days will be hard, but you "push through to keep on living and living well."

And maybe, just maybe, you find someone whose existence complements yours. Someone who writes lists about you to make sure you're okay. Someone who will love you the way you deserve to be loved.

Grief can take the back seat on those beautiful days.



Thank you so much Dial Press for the eArc!

I don't know what Cara puts into these books, but holy shit.

"Ready or Not" was one of my absolute favorite reads of 2024 and "Promise Me Sunshine" may end up being one of my favorite reads of 2025. Not only is this an amazing romance novel, but also a phenomenal book about grief that handles the subject with such care and respect.

The characters in this book jump off the page and feel so human and relatable that they could be someone you know. Bastone excels at writing men who will do literally anything for the woman they're in love with. I don't mean this in a "down bad" way (though they are), but in a wonderfully caring and nurturing way.

"Promise Me Sunshine" deals with some very serious themes, but still manages to feel hopeful even in its darkest moments. Given the subject matter of the book, I really appreciated the pacing of the more romantic elements (without giving too much away).

Lenny and Miles are going to stick with me for a long time. I can't wait to see what Bastone writes next.

5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Dial Press Trade for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

So there was a me before this book and now there's a me after this. I cry every time I have tried to write this review. I feel like a rusty knife was dragged through my insides reading this gorgeous, beautiful, emotionally devastating, healing, heart wrenching book.

I am a sucker for books that explore grief and this book did it masterfully and made me feel ways I haven't felt in a very long time. It lives on a plane of existence with one other all-time favorite book of mine that spoke directly to a version of myself who was drowning in grief and needed to hear every single word that was poured into this book. It made me sob for the girl I used to be. It was beautiful and profoud and healing and devasting and I am going to be thinking about it forever.

I don't know what to say other then this book was perfect! My favourite book of 2025 so far!
Cara Bastone is easily becoming a favourite author for me

I was nervous going into this one after not loving Ready or Not, but this was incredible. The slow burn friends to lovers was executed so well—it was everything I wanted it to be and more!!

You can feel the love Miles has for Lenny (and vice versa) through the pages. I loved reading about their relationship from the beginning and seeing them get closer and closer to each other as time goes on.

I loved the flashbacks we got of some of Lenny and Lou’s memories together as best friends, but I wish we got more of them!! While I didn’t need these flashbacks to understand how Lenny was feeling, I think their backstory could have been deepened/explored more with the flashbacks.

This book handles the heavy theme of grief while also sprinkling in some lighthearted and comedic moments. I was crying one moment and then laughing the next on multiple occasions.

This book is a journey back into the light after being in a dark place and a story about finding yourself, falling in love when you least expect it, learning to have fun again after loss, and how healing is never linear.

Lenny is grieving the death of her best friend. She’s sad and lost but she eventually starts “living” again with the help of Miles.

This book! It’s such a beautifully written book about loss, healing and finding love after grief. It’s an emotional ride that will bring you to tears and put a smile to your face. Lenny and Miles are both complex and relatable characters, and their interactions are entertaining and at times laugh out loud funny. I loved Lenny’s sarcasm and Miles’s grumpy personality. The romance is a slow burn, but the focus is more about Lenny healing. If you enjoy romance which depth and emotion, check this one out. I loved it!

I had such high hopes for this book and I’m so sad it wasn’t for me. The story was super sweet but the FMC was unbearable. 🥲

Promise Me Sunshine turned me into a puddle. What a book. It is the story of a woman smack dab in the middle of grief after losing her best friend in the world. She is lost, flailing and ends up as a part time nanny for a little girl and her life starts to change. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. Sadness and overwhelming grief but also so much love, healing and hope. The romance was absolutely swoonworthy and a perfect complement to the raw, real ugliness of grief. This book stole my heart. All the stars.

Cara is one of my favorite authors EVER! Each book is a hit. She has a way of writing that immediately captures you by the first few pages. This was such a beautiful story. Dare I say this is her best book yet! Forever my fave!

Like Cara Bastone’s previous book, this story is full of characters that feel solid and rich, and involves an emotional storyline peppered with just enough lightness. My only complaint is sometimes it felt like the story dragged, but it was never so off putting I didn’t want to return to the story. Would recommend!

Promise Me Sunshine is a beautifully written, funny and endearing book about grief that will rip the tears right out of your eyes.

The FMC Lenny has been grieving the loss of her person/soulmate/best friend from childhood for 6 months and she’s still struggling to get from day to day when she meets the MMC, Miles. Miles is the uncle to the girl Lenny is babysitting and after a few run-ins with each other, they agree to help each other out. Miles will help Lenny through the grieving process and Lenny will help him figure out a way to better connect with his niece. Through this deal to help each other they become friends and so much more.

Lenny was definitely a quirky character but she was also extremely real and raw as she worked through her immense grief. That balance helped her feel authentic. And Miles is just so sweet, thoughtful and protective. I felt like his character is also well-balanced with how he is so caring and patient with Lenny, but also gives her gentle nudges to help her work through her grief and come out on the other side of it.

I don’t cry super easily with books, but this one definitely got me. It was so well-written though that the sad parts just felt true-to-life and not like the author was forcing it to get emotional moments.

I have always enjoyed Cara Bastone’s books, and Promise Me Sunshine is now one of my top favorites of hers. I absolutely recommend it. It’s worth the tears, I promise.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Pubkishing Group for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

A book about grief and opening yourself up to love. Cara Bastone knows how to write deep, emotional yet lighthearted book. I also love how it shows each person has a different journey with grief because that is so insanely true. A great book for love, second chances and opening yourself up.

crying at how much I loved this one. Cara can do no wrong and I think that everyone needs to read her. The emotions I feel reading her books has me in a puddle. Like give me all of her books please and thank you!!

This book is equal parts beautiful and devastating. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how Cara Bastone would be able to pull it off at first. While I do believe grief can unite people, I didn't think this was the greatest setup for a love story. But Cara Bastone did it so beautifully.

From the very first page, you can see the connection between our two protagonists. While in actuality, it takes a while for them to warm up to each other, there is something deeply enjoyable about the way they interact. Miles is determined to help Lenny overcome her sorrow, even if means getting her to do things she doesn't think she'll enjoy. In the end, this brings them closer together and they both push the other to become the best version of themselves.

This book also made me fall in love with Cara Bastone's writing. I had gotten a taste of it reading Maybe This Time last year, but this book just confirmed that she knows her way with words. One minute I was smiling, and the next I was bawling my eyes out (that scene at the cemetery got me BAD). I also love how she was able to craft an atmosphere. I felt like I was meandering the streets of NYC with our main characters. Every person, every scene felt so real.

The only thing I didn't 100% love is the ending. I didn't love how Lenny had to prove to Miles that she could take care of herself before he accepted to be with her. While I understand the reasoning, it rubbed me the wrong way.

Now, Cara Bastone is definitely on my authors-to-watch list! I need to go read the rest of her backlist ASAP.

3,75 ⭐️

After losing her best friend Lou, Lenny Bellamy struggles to navigate her grief, finding comfort in babysitting. Her latest job brings her into the lives of seven-year-old Ainsley and her mother, Reese, a single parent dealing with a tense relationship with her half-brother, Miles. Initially wary of Lenny, Miles eventually recognizes her pain and strikes a deal—he’ll help her complete the “Live Again list” she created with Lou if she helps him reconnect with Ainsley and Reese. Promise Me Sunshine is a heartfelt contemporary romance that thoughtfully explores love and loss. While the pacing felt too slow for me, the emotional depth made it a touching read.

This was just okay for me. A like not a love. I started to get bored with the storyline about midway through. I felt the pacing was too slow to keep my interest and found myself wanting it to pick up, so I could hurry up and get to the ending.

I enjoyed 'Ready or Not' by this author, but where that book was centered around the main character becoming unexpectedly pregnant and the romance not being the main plot of the story. This book is similar where as it is primarily focusing on grief with romance being more of a subplot, which is fine for readers who are looking for that. I feel Bastone's books are great for fans of Katherine Center and Annabel Monaghan for that reason and if you go in wanting that, you'll end up being happier reading this book.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

This book was a five-star for me! I absolutely LOVED Cara Bastone's debut, Ready or Not, and I just knew I had to read Promise Me Sunshine. This sophomore book by Cara was SO GOOD. I listened on audio and would highly recommend. Cara and Alex (the narrator) deserves all the stars and need to be a duo forever and ever thanks!

I had high hopes for this one but unfortunately, it fell flat in my opinion.
The FMC was not very likeable, and then the two love interests kind of dance around eachother for an incredibly long time. We are being told about the grief rather than shown it, I think it would have been useful to have some flashbacks way earlier on in the book to make us connect to the FMC. The writing is also very choppy, doesnt flow well at all.

"Every time I fall in love with you there's lightning"

"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"

This book was so devastatingly beautiful. I actually got this as an ARC (thanks NetGalley!) but it took me almost a month to read because death of a loved one by cancer is such a painful topic for me. I’m glad I persevered and didn’t DNF because I sobbed within the first 10%.

Lenny and Miles developed such a beautiful and genuine relationship and helped build each other up. Losing a loved one is such a devastating thing and this book portrayed that so wonderfully. Life and grief isn’t linear and this book made me feel less alone.