Promise Me Sunshine – Book Review

Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of… a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again” list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.

After reading Ready or Not by Cara Bastone– which by the way was good, I got her novel Promise Me Sunshine which was released in 2025.

Lenny gets a job as a babysitter for a few days. She meets Miles, who happened to be the person she was working for, the brother. Miles wasn’t initially at first skeptical about Lenny but later on Miles realizes that Lenny was qualified and suited for the job. The two eventually get closer–Lenny is dealing with the loss of her friend Lou who died from cancer and Miles has a hard time making his feelings known as he is dealing with his own loss. The two get together and make a list of things they want to do so they could move on away from their grief.

About the setting and characters- initially, at first, the first part of the book wasn’t that great but when Lenny is dealing with the loss of her friend and when Miles and Lenny become good friends eventually in the end as lovers, then it was interesting. The story mostly deals about grief of losing a loved one and coping with that grief. Lenny lost her best friend Lou, and she has been grieving so much that she even refuses to go back to the apartment where she and Lou lived together. Miles is one of those people that you wish as a best friend–a perfect guy who would always be there whenever you are in need of help.

My thoughts– The book overall was slow burn romance–in fact about 60% of the book was Lenny’s and Miles’ friendship with each other and how they both started making other new friends and romance between them develops somewhere towards the end. Lenny is a likable and funny character whereas Miles, every girl would have wished to have a guy like Miles. The emotions, grief and making second chances are the main talk of this book and overall, I did like this book. The writing was great as the author manages to capture the feelings and emotions in the book.

Overall, this book is worth 4 stars.