When @authortarahdewitt announced this book I was screaming and packing my literary bags for a return trip to Spunes (not to be confused with Forks- IYKYK)

Anywho.. Wren & Ellis’ story is nothing short of beautiful. Heartbreaking, hopeful, healing, humorous, and just plain beautiful.

I think any “old married couple” can see a bit of themselves in this story and really resonate. AND YES, coming up on our 10 year wedding anniversary I’m including myself in that description

I was hooked after reading Savor It and being back in Spunes for Left of Forever was so much fun! I think this has become my favorite second chance romance. Wren & Ellis' journey back to each other was so well-written and I cried the last 30% of the book. The themes of therapy, complex family dynamics and reconciliation were very prominent in the story. I also enjoyed reading more about all the Byrd siblings (Silas & Micah are hilarious!) A five star read!!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Ever since reading Savor It, I was hoping that Wren and Ellis’s story would be written and Tarah DeWitt did not disappoint. She did an amazing job showing how they struggled in their marriage despite the love they both had for each other. If you enjoy second chance romance and enjoyed Savor It (I highly recommend reading that one first), then I would definitely recommend picking this one up.

My favorite book of hers yet. Achingly romantic. Wren and Ellis are so deeply intertwined and inevitable. Going with them on their journey of rediscovering who they are separately and together was a treat. There's growth from both leads, and I was rooting for them to find their way back to each other.

Beyond Wren and Ellis, we get to spend time with the entire Byrd family. All of the characters added to the story, and the setting of Spunes felt like a return to a familiar place.

(Plus a goose cameo! I'd like to increase my rating to six stars for the goose.)

This. Was. Perfect!!!!! I absolutely LOVED Wren & Ellis' story! It was so raw and so realistic and they're progression back to each other felt so beautiful and natural! I couldn't help but devour this story because it was so wonderfully written. This is hands down my favorite Tarah book to date and I cannot wait to reread, relisten, and shout about this to everyone I know. I loved this so much that I don't even have adequate words to fully describe how incredible this book was and the imprint it left on my heart and my brain.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advance reader copy, in exchange for an honest review. This is a second chance contemporary romance, wherein our main characters Wren and Ellis come together on a roadtrip after their divorce to see if there’s still anything between them and if they can make things work again.

I was so excited for this one but, elements of the story just fell a bit flat for me. The opening sequences, with the anonymous back and forth letter writing between a firefighter and a care package provider, that just happened to end up between our two main characters felt too coincidental for me to believe. Starting off already skeptical had me struggling a bit to get invested in the story and I thought a lot of the interactions just felt too surface level for me. I did enjoy the road trip trope and the characters themselves but, just couldn’t really get into the plot.

I know lots of other readers have been enjoying this so, it’s probably just a me thing. I know this book will find its readership and would recommend this to second chance romance fans!

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read
This is shining Tarah DeWitt, and I think outpaces her other books by a large margin. This is maybe the best book I've read so far in 2025. This is everything I didn't know I needed in a romance: second chance (can we talk about how brilliant a divorced couple reconnecting is?), marriage in crisis, parents (and therefore older leads), forced proximity, delicious banter, perfect chemistry, GREAT steamy scenes.... literally everything. As a 36 year old married woman...I want to put this book as required reading before tying the knot.
I cannot remember the last time I read a story and slowed down to get into the nitty gritty of the line level pacing. It was just THAT good. Every scene was so intentionally, purposefully placed. You see Ellis and Wren connect in letters first, in journals, in the moments when their past and present smooshed up against each other. The interiority of both characters, and their descriptions of their love for each other, are just superb. You GET them both, you feel for them both, and yet you're almost glad they got divorced so you could experience this with them. It's magical. Theres 5 years and a lifetime between these two and yet the rediscovery they go through while on this roadtrip also feels completely fresh and new.
The steamy scenes never feel forced and yet are insanely intense (hellllo never looking at ice cream the same again). You feel the love these two have for each other but are also on the journey with them as they reconnect and share the things that hurt them in their previous relationship. You feel the love the side characters have for the leads (although in this book they are firmly planted as side plot lines).
This is a love letter to generational love: every nuance, every mistake, every moment that makes it everlasting. I could quote a thousand lines here and it STILL wouldn't be enough.

Left of Forever
4 ⭐️

Tara DeWitt always does such a good job of melding together deep and light parts of a story, and this one was no different!

Wren and Ellis have been divorced for five years when they set off on a trip to bring their son to college. Their whole town keeps meddling tabs on them of course, as they try to find their way back.

I liked being back in this small town with the characters from Savor It! It felt both slow and fast at the same time - so the only thing I didn’t love was the pacing.

Thanks to @netgalley for this ARC!

one of the most poetically, romantic books i have read all year. genuinely.. the love that wren and ellis had for each other was practically dripping off the page (just how i like it).

left of forever was an incredibly, wonderful addition to her spunes series and i am sooooo grateful to have read it early !!

i was v emotional reading this one, knowing the overwhelmingly consuming love that wren and ellis had for each other.. yet they were strangled by little roadblocks along the way. eventually those roadblocks became to much and they decided to separate- bc the agony of being apart was easier to endure than being together and not being able to fully express their love for one another.

the YEARNINGGGGG. the LOVE. it was there and it filled my heart x1000 getting to watch them open up, be painstakingly vulnerable, and put each other back together again. all while still having the comfort of being each other’s person their entire lives.. like really coming HOME to each other !!!! UGH THE ROMANCE !!!!

i don’t know if im making any sense or just babbling.. but considering M and i will be hitting our 10 year anniversary this year, my sweet high school sweetheart… i just really enjoyed left of forever and the dynamic of wren and ellis being inevitable and the work they did to find their way back to each other.

Not usually a fan of second chance romances, but this was done so well. Wren and Ellis through all their mistakes never fell out of love. I feel that they needed that time apart to reflect on everything and grow in ways they never could together.

What’s that Taylor Swift song about crying in the gym? Yeah that was me finishing this book. I knew very quickly going into it that I was likely to be wrecked by this story. And it did not disappoint. Now second chance is always a hit for me and this flew its way to the top of my favorites list. Wow. I’m so flabbergasted I’m having a hard time putting how this book made me feel into words. And that was me just eyeball reading. I know I’ll cry and break down even more when I get my hands on the audiobook. What a phenomenal love story of two people finding their way back to each other. I’ll take another one, please Tarah!!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

We return to the adorable Spunes, Oregon for another excellent romance. This time we follow Wren and Ellis as they may finally get their second chance at true love.

I absolutely adored this book. It is so angsty and romantic and heartwarming and heartbreaking. I love these characters and hate that it is over. I must reread on audio.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not like savor it but had requested this before I read it. Otherwise I dont think I would have requested it. I did not really feel the tension. Something about DeWitt's writing just doesn't work for me. It was fine and sweet and there were parts I did enjoy but it did not blow me out of the water the way I wanted it to. The cover is the most beautful thing.

Tarah DeWitt can take all my money! I've read all of her work and this one is my favorite, by far. She writes relationships and conflict and tension so well! I laughed and cried and felt all the emotions and was so happy to finally get to see Wren and Ellis' story. I love the Byrds so much! Their chemistry and history together were so sweet to watch and seeing how much they still loved each other and were willing to do the hard work to come back together was just so, so good. And I LOVED seeing all the hints of Deacon and LaRynn from The Co-Op sprinkled throughout the book!

-second chance
-found family
-road trip adventures
-empty nesters
-flirty banter
-small town
-firefighter

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Tarah Dewitt for allowing me to read a complimentary advanced copy of this book. All opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I fear this might be tarah’s best work to date!! I knew immediately when we were introduced to wren + ellis in savor it that their book would be unlike anything i’ve ever read and that it was going to wreck me in a handful of different ways. without spoilers, let me just say, tarah executed the rekindling between wren + ellis perfectly. the pining was a dream. the raw journey we get to experience is definitely going to hit home for a lot of readers that can relate to the many factors that make wrellis who they are. the most unique second chance love story that will 100% have you ugly crying. the way tarah creates these characters that have so much depth and the story that is created amongst these characters is so special.

tarah has have gifted us with such a unique and quirky world in Spunes!! it’s always a breath of fresh air reading anything she has written — her sense of humor is constant within LOF, the spice is IMPECCABLE and the love story is one that we won’t be able to shutup about!!!

also she is a QUEEN at feeding us when it comes to little easter eggs of characters from her other books!!!!!

This is a second chance romance with forced proximity that was definitely a slow burn.

Wren and Ellis were high school sweethearts when a teen pregnancy upends their lives together. Now 18 years later this son is off to college and the pair decide to road trip together. While I enjoyed the concept of this novel I found the characters to be flat despite having dual POV and past/present timelines. I felt the conflict between the pair was extremely shallow and unrealistic which then made it hard for me to root for the couple to get back together.

I also found the dialogue to be choppy and didn't really feel the tension between the two main characters. This is an open door, slow burn novel with minimal spice (🔥/5).

My God... I had tears streaming down my face at the end and needed to redo my skincare routine. This is my first Tarah DeWitt, and I am in love, with her writing and with this town and these characters.

I loved this book. I give it 4.75 stars (rounded up to 5). Thank you to whoever made the decision to put this on the Read Now Section for 24 hours because you just helped me bump all of Tarah's books up on my tbr.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Tarah DeWItt for an Arc of this novel.

I love this book! Great romance book for lovers of second chance romances.

Ellis and Wren were both relatable and the story was beautifully written. I think this is a book so many people could easily enjoy. I was captivated by the writing. I didn’t wanna put down the book because I was so invested.

Left of Forever Review
✨4.5/5

When I saw this sequel to Savor It was a second-chance romance for Ellis and Wren, I couldn’t get my greedy little hands on it fast enough. Overall, it was a solid, swoony read and I LOVE when it’s about a couple who has a long loooong history like these two.

I do wish we got maybe just a tiny bit more tension between the two characters before they rekindled their relationship, but I felt like they did a good job communicating the second time around and working through their issues. This book does have some heavier topics discussed, so check the content warnings to make sure it’s right for you. If it is, I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

After reading and absolutely adoring Savor It, I was so excited to be back in Spunes, and to unravel the beautiful love story that gave us all that famous line, “She’s still a Byrd.” Unfortunately, while this one is winning hearts all over the place, mine sadly has not been moved this time.
Typically, second chance romance works for me because the angst is intense, and we usually get dual timelines helping us to discover why and how the couple originally fell in love-then we get invested and we really believe that they belong together, and we’re ready for them to right their wrongs and come back together. This time, however, it’s a single timeline, helped along by some journal entries from Wren, where we hear about when they first met, became friends, etc etc. I liked this creative way of getting us into their original love story, without committing to a full dual timeline.
Unfortunately, basically the minute Wren and Ellis start their road trip together, the journal entries basically stop entirely, thus ending our trip down memory lane to finding out how and why their love was so strong that it’s still burning 5 years after their divorce. This made the current timeline really difficult for me, especially since it felt like every time they were starting to have a meaningful conversation, they would end up in a spicy situation instead, and we were robbed of the emotional re-connection in favor of the physical one.
I am a friend of spice, but I do have a hard time when I feel like the spice is getting in the way of the actual story for me, and this did happen for me here. I wanted them to really get into their past and their pain and figure out how to do better this time, and I felt like the last 25% of that journey was spent in a spicy scene where I would have liked more talking instead. Does this make me old and cranky? Probably. But that’s where I am with this one.
I do feel like we’re not done in Spunes (??) and I’m ready to go back there again, but this second chance just missed the mark for me.
I gave this one 3.5 stars on the apps that allowed for half stars.