Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone on March 4, 2025
Genres: Fiction / General, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / General
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
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I have been meaning to read Ready or Not by Cara Bastone but I got to this one first and now I will need to move that book up my TBR list for sure! This was a story about grief told in such a compassionate and funny way that I just loved this one!
In this book we meet Lenny and Miles. Lenny has fallen apart after her best friend since childhood passed away from cancer. And that is putting it mildly. They lived together and she can’t even go back to her apartment to stay. She rides the Ferry and sleeps there when she can get sleep. She isn’t able to hold down any long term jobs. She is a nanny so she only takes temporary jobs so that she doesn’t have to commit to anyone or get close to anyone.
That is until she meet Ainsley and Reese…..and Miles. Ainsley is a cute kid whose uncle lives in the same building. Reese is his half sister and their family dynamic is complicated. But she ends up talking to prickly Miles. At first they don’t really care for each other but Miles has to make sure this homeless looking girl is properly taking care of his niece and one of his only family members so he follows them and tries to hang with them. Then as they start talking more, Miles figures out what has happened to Lenny and he starts to soften.
Miles knows first hand about loss so he tries to help Lenny with her grieving process. Once Lenny finds out that Miles lost his mother and cousin in a tragic accident, she decides not to resist his plan. She realizes that the accident is what lead Miles to discover his half-sister and niece and want to have some connection to family. Lenny lets her vulnerable side show more and Miles becomes her support person.
This book just contains so many emotions! I was laughing and crying and laughing and crying again!! For anyone who has had to deal with grief, this will touch a nerve. I thought the author did an excellent job handling such a complicated subject matter. I felt that near the end, Lenny’s grief was going to be never ending, but then things did take a turn. This is one of those books that is comforting but emotionally jarring all in one. This author has such a gift to handle this subject to carefully. If this sounds at all interesting to you, I would recommend this book.
A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dial Press Trade Paperback for providing me with a digital review copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.