ARC Review

Thank you Netgalley, Tarah, and St. Martin's Press for the free eArc!

IT HURT SO GOOD!!!!!!!!! The angst, the yearning, the pain, the personal growth, the wanting. It all just came together to create a book that had everything I could have wanted from this story. There was so much magic woven into this story. It is a beautiful reminder that some things in life are worth fighting for, worth fighting with!

I could not put this book down once I got into it. I physically felt the pain and angst from Wren and Ellis. These two were the embodiment of right person/wrong time. Childhood friends, turned accidental teenage pregnancy, turned married, turned divorced, turned second chance lovers. The road is a bumpy one, but trust the process because the way these two grow was SO good!!!

The way they both own up to their mistakes, and take accountability of their actions was so good. The way they both had so much personal growth after their divorce had me tearing up the entire time.

I loved every single moment of this book!

Was able to snag an early copy! Thank you to the publisher and author. Read & loved Savor It (my first Tarah book). Liked Wren in the first book while Ellis wasn’t really mentioned.

Need to sit with my thoughts. I think I’ll be in the minority of reviewers. Didn’t love this as much as Savor It. There were some cringe moments and I don’t think it’s very believable that >6 months of therapy would cause Ellis to communicate the way he is after all the years he didn’t? The letter true identity was resolved too quickly/not really talked through

Overall good read if you enjoy second chances, forced proximity and childhood friends to lovers

THESE TWO!!! Wow did I need this book. I don’t know if I’ve ever read something that resonated so deeply with me. How this book takes you through so many emotions and when they finally let their walls down and all the feels pour out…wow. This 1,000% needs to be on your TBR!

This is how you write a second-chance romance. Tarah DeWitt delivers an emotional, heartfelt, and utterly transformative story.
Returning to Spunes, Oregon (first introduced in Savor It) felt like coming home. Though Left of Forever can be read as a standalone, I recommend starting with book one to fully appreciate the rich community DeWitt builds.
Wren and Ellis are unforgettable. The tension, the yearning it's all here. Their journey is filled with honest, emotional conversations that lead to healing and growth. Ellis' character arc, especially his decision to seek therapy before trying again with Wren, was powerful and beautifully written. And Wren is a radiant force of love and light.
There were moments that made me laugh, swoon, and sob (yes, the tattoo wrecked me). Their story isn't just romance - it's redemption, grief, hope, and learning to love better.
While the ending dipped slightly, it never dulled how much I adored this story. I'm so invested in the world of Spunes-l'd read a hundred more books set here.
If you love second chances, emotional depth, and characters that feel real in every way, don't miss this book!

This story is absolutely stunning. Tarah absolutely out did herself with this one.

I enjoyed Savor It but Last of Forever is in its own league! The emotional depth and the storytelling is enthralling and captured my heart and attention immediately!

The pace of this story is perfect and I love the different timelines so we are able to get the full picture! The journaling and letters adds such a personal and intimate connection to the MCs. The way Tarah was also able to tackle sensitive topics in a tactful and impactful manner also really made this story come to life.

I was SO emotionally invested and as a married woman with kids marriage is HARD. Life is hard, but are the hard times worth losing the best thing you’ve ever had? Ugh. So many emotions.

This also had the perfect amount of spice and meaningful connection without over taking the story!


Second chance
First love
Marriage (divorce) in crisis
Found family
Trip/traveling
Pining/angst

I didn’t realize this was connected to the Savor It world—what a fun surprise to be back in Spunes! The small-town setting and the fact that he’s a firefighter gave me total Virgin River vibes in the best way. (Now I need more firefighter romance recs ASAP!) This second-chance romance was super romantic without being overly heavy or emotional, and the road trip element so fun. The audiobook narrators were great!

Thank you to NetGalley, St.Martins Press, and Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

♾️⭐️

This is one of those books that literally alters the course of your life and buries itself into every part of your soul. I know I will never be able to put into words how much I adore this book and how much these characters mean to me, but I will say I feel like the person I was before reading this book and the person I am now are two very different people. I’m not divorced and I don’t have children, but this book still resonated with so many parts of me and that is the biggest testament to Tarah’s writing. This story was so much more than words on paper. The type of love that Wren and Ellis have is the kind that I truly believe makes life worth living. To be loved is to be known and to be known is to be changed, and that is exactly what these two characters did for eachother-through the good and the bad. This is a book I know I'll be rereading for the rest of my life, so thank you, Tarah, for giving us this story and for sharing your words with the world. Please don't ever stop.

Five stars! This book just tugged on all my heartstrings. This was a second chance romance story (with a little forced proximity) of Wren and Ellis, who have been divorced for five years. What I loved most about this book was the way they both grew from where they previously were right after the divorce. I especially loved the rest of the Byrd family! I hope that the other Byrd brothers get their own book!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

The snippets of Wren and Ellis in Savor It made me yearn for their story… and no one does yearning quite like Ellis 🔥🔥🔥

This was a beautiful, complicated, messy, sexy, second chance romance!! There was so much vulnerability and honest communication that showed the good and the hard parts of long term relationships!

Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt is a heartfelt second-chance romance about Wren and Ellis, high school sweethearts who reconnect years after divorce. Set during a road trip along the California coast, the story mixes nostalgia, emotional depth, and hope. With honest characters and a touching journey of growth and healing, it’s a great pick for fans of love stories that feel real and raw.

Absolutely breathtaking, stunning, raw, beautiful, and so real! Maybe one of the absolute best second chance romances I’ve ever read! Absolutely a top contender for favorite book of the year!!!

Nothing like watching two people who were meant to be together and were even married in the past find their way back to one another. Wren and Ellis were young when Wren became pregnant with Sam and Ellis was the oldest Byrd sibling shouldering all the responsibilities for the younger kids and a job.

Wren and Ellis are fantastic people individually and neither one was more at fault than the other for the collapse of their marriage. While they do avoid interaction, they are cordial and truly want the best for each other. Now that Sam is leaving for college, they have the job as parents to send him off to school, together, road trip style.

This book is a reminder that marriage is hard, and relationships need to be constantly watered and fed like a plant under sunlight or they shrivel up. Communication is important and because Wren and Ellis decided to keep things to themselves, the divide only grew. The road trip is a little bit like starting over from scratch and all the reminders why they fell for each other in the past and now again in the present. This slow burn between a couple who have already been through it all was quite the process to behold at their older and wiser age. I really loved how the entire Byrd family rallied behind the reunion and how Wren and Ellis took their time becoming reacquainted with the road trip as a clever template for dating.

6⭐️ HIGHLY reccomend this series. But also HIGHLY do not reccomend listening to this at work unless you’re okay with absolutely blushing & getting jump scared because your boss walks up to you as your in the zone keying away while you’ve got ✨stuff✨ happening in your ears. I also recommend preparing yourself to BAWL several times.

If I had a nickel for every childhood friends to lovers second chance small town romance that I INHALED in a single day this week, I’d have two nickels… you know how the rest of the saying goes. This trope SLAPS (cringe I know). But I absolutely ADORED this book.

It had all the feels. All the pent up emotions. Beautiful family dynamic. Literally everything you want in a small town romance.

Ugh I ate this up & cannot wait to read more of Tarah’s work. She has TALENT. I was not aware of her game, but now she is quickly rising to the top of my favorite authors!

Omg this was so swoony and romantic! I just love Wren and Ellis so much and I was rooting for their happy ending. I felt that Tarah DeWitt really captured the perfect balance between the past and the present in this second chance romance. I don't always love this trope, but when it's done well it's one of the best and she killed it! I could feel how much Ellis and Wren cared for each other from the beginning and I loved the road trip set up. It's like all my favorite tropes wrapped up in the perfect writing voice.
My only thing is that I don't feel like they truly worked out their issues by the end - I wanted a bit more from them considered how deep and heartfelt the book was throughout the entire thing. But ultimately I still loved it so it's 4.5 stars!

Wren and Ellis Byrd, childhood sweethearts who became teen parents, built a life together in Spunes, Oregon, before their relationship fell apart. Now divorced and in their 30s, Wren runs a bakery while Ellis is a firefighter. Though living separate lives, they remain emotionally connected. After moving their son Sam into college, Ellis persuades Wren to take a road trip home together, hoping to rekindle their love. As they journey along the California coast, old feelings resurface, but so do unresolved issues.

This was a beautiful second chance love story, both steamy and heartfelt in all the right ways.
This is the second book in the series following Savor It. I read Savor It last year and now wish I had revisited it before diving into this one, as I struggled a bit to recall some of the characters.
Even though I could not personally relate to the character’s situations (childhood sweethearts, teen parenthood, empty nesting, and divorce), I still found the story compelling and emotionally resonant and I’m sure this book will find its audience, especially among those who appreciate deeply emotional romances with a touch of real life complexity.
I enjoyed this one more than Savor It and would consider rereading it sometime in the future. It's a tender, passionate story about love, growth, and the possibility of new beginnings.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!!

This is definitely my favorite romance of the year. It has one of my most favorite and one of my most hated tropes: second chance love and miscommunication. But the miscommunication is a lot less cheesy and so much more subtle than it normally is. It wasn’t in your face front and center.

Wren and Ellis seem so good together that I wondered why they were ever apart. I loved hearing their story. How they got together and what split them apart. And how they were working their way back to each other.

I usually choose rom coms over full on romance but DeWitt’s angsty and emotional books really connect with my heart. I loved Savor It and adored Left of Forever.

Their chemistry jumps off the page and those steamy scenes are a chef’s kiss.

I connected and rooted for them from start to finish. They were relatable and flawed and that is the heart of a good romance. And Ellis being a hot firefighter, I’ll dream of him for weeks. 💕

Connor Crais and Megan Wicks were great choices for narrators. Megan nailed Wren’s indecision and Connor’s deep voice fit perfectly with Connor’s protection gene. Their two voices meshed perfectly with the characters the author wrote. It was a complete package.

I’m sure this second chance romance will be the talk of the summer.

Left of Forever is a moving romance about two people finding each other again after years and milestones apart. I don't often find second chance romances appealing (if it didn't work the first time, what makes you think it will work the second time?) but the characters obviously put a lot of work into themselves and had worked through their trauma and relationship issues.

Wren and Ellis are such sweeties! They grew up together, grew into themselves together, grew apart from each other, and kept space for each other in their lives. They are so sweet, and the way they approach reviving their relationship felt realistic even in the more implausible circumstances.

Read this book if you love
- second chance romance
- childhood friends to lovers
- small towns with big personalities
- road trips
- love letters
- men in therapy

💚 second chance
💚 forced proximity
💚 first love
💚 secret tatoo
💚 found family
💚 firefighter x baker

"I grew up with my great love, so I think maybe my heart took shape around his."

" His DNA altered mine and our souls shaped themselves for each other"

4.5 Stars

Wow, this truly exceeded my expectations! After not enjoying the first Spunes book, Savor It, I was admittedly really hesitant to give this one a try. Funny Feelings was the Tarah book that really hooked me and turned me into a fan, and I've been holding out hope for another winner. I couldn't get enough of Wren and Ellis! I loved watching them heal their relationship and grow together. Ellis' yearning was impeccable, that man is so down bad for his wife!!! The road trip idea was so wholesome, like that right there is how you apologize and put in the work! I love that Wren knew what she needed from Ellis in order to move forward and mend their relationship, but that she also recognized his tendency to put himself down and feel like he has to prove himself, and called him out on it in such a compassionate way. Their love is so special, I'm actually obsessed with these two Byrds.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this eARC early!

I was hooked from the first page. This story kept me entertained, entranced and yearning for more the entire time. It was raw, it was emotional and beautiful and Tarah did such an incredible job. One of my all time favorite books!