Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

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🌦️ Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone ⭐⭐ (2/5 Stars)

👉 Grab Promise Me Sunshine on Amazon (affiliate link)

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⚠️ Trigger Warnings

This book includes:

• Grief & death of a loved one

• Cancer

• Suicidal ideation

• Mental illness & depression

• Substance use

• Awkward sex scene(s) 🙃

• Cursing

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My Take (Spoiler-Free Section First 🚪)

Okay, I have to ask—did we all read the same book?? Because this one… whew. 😬

I found Promise Me Sunshine boring. The writing felt WEIRD (seriously, who says “rewarded with a slicing smile”??), and while there were flashes of funny or romantic moments, it mostly landed in snoozefest territory. Lenny was quirky… but like, too quirky. Quirky to the point of please-stop.

The only saving grace? 🎧 The audiobook narrator. She somehow made Lenny’s quirkiness sound believable. Honestly, she deserves a medal. Without her performance, I might have DNF’d this one.

⭐ Final verdict: 2/5 stars. One star for the narrator, one star for some decent emotional beats. That’s it.

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📝 Full Spoiler-Filled Plot Summary

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: From here on out, I’m diving into the entire storyline AND the ending. Proceed at your own risk!

Helen “Lenny” Bellamy is a 20-something babysitter drowning in grief after the death of her lifelong best friend Lou, who died of cancer. Lou was the love of her life (platonic but soul-deep), and without her, Lenny basically stops functioning. She even avoids their shared apartment, choosing instead to sleep on the Staten Island ferry. (Yeah, not quirky… just deeply sad.)

Lou left her a laminated “Live Again” list, hoping it would help Lenny move on. Think bucket-list-meets-therapy homework.

Enter Reese Hollis, a frazzled single mom, her kid Ainsley, and Reese’s brother Miles. Miles is skeptical of Lenny as a babysitter (I mean… ferry sleeping), but soon realizes she’s grieving. Turns out, Miles has his own grief story: his mom and cousin died years ago, and he only recently reconnected with Reese after finding out they’re half-siblings.

Miles and Lenny strike up an odd bargain: he’ll help her work through grief if she helps him bond with his niece. Slowly, Lenny begins to tick items off the Live Again list, while also opening up about Lou. Miles cooks for her, provides emotional support, and plays therapist/roommate/love interest all at once.

Of course, this is a romance novel, so feelings bloom. 💕 But when they finally hook up, it’s… awkward. Painfully awkward. (That infamous “stepbrother porn roleplay” convo in the bedroom? YIKES. This is supposed to be swoony??)

Meanwhile, Lenny makes real progress. She cuts her hair and donates it, makes peace with Lou’s memory, and even helps Miles reconcile with Reese. Eventually, she goes back to the apartment she shared with Lou—her ultimate act of moving forward.

The twist? Lou didn’t actually write the “Live Again” list for herself; Lenny had written it years earlier for Lou. Lou gave it back to her at the end as a way of saying, “Live, idiot.” (Paraphrasing, but you get the vibe.)

By the end, Lenny finally opens the apartment door, faces her grief, and starts a real relationship with Miles. Sunshine achieved. Sort of. 🌦️

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🤷 Final Thoughts

This book had all the makings of a good grief-meets-romance story, but for me, the writing style was clunky, the pacing dragged, and the humor sometimes tipped into “this isn’t cute, this is cringe.”

Would I recommend it? Only if you’re a huge fan of Cara Bastone’s writing style already. Otherwise, you may be better off listening to the audiobook just for the narrator’s talent.

⭐ My rating: 2 out of 5 stars.

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📚 If You Liked This Book, Try…

Looking for books with better balance of grief, romance, and humor? Here are some solid picks:

• One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid (love after loss)

• In Five Years by Rebecca Serle (grief, friendship, and fate)

• The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (quirky but works)

• After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid (less quirky, more real)