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

That sentence, which is as perfect a sentence as there ever was to encapsulate this story, is a tiny glimpse of the incredible journey this book takes us on in this:

✓second chance romance about a
✓divorced couple in a
✓small town who decide to take a
✓road trip where they go from
✓friends to lovers and
✓find their perfectly imperfect HEA

This story was an absolute masterclass in writing — captivating and emotional from page one, detailed in a way that immerses you without being overly “telling,” heartbreaking in a way that you feel in your bones (and tear ducts) and joyfully touching in a way that puts your broken heart back together (stronger than it was before).

As with Savor It, I know I’ll never get over this story. It is quite literally perfect in every way and I feel truly lucky to have been able to read it in advance.

Thank you to Tarah and St. Martin's Press (St. Martin's Griffin) for this arc through NetGalley!

Wow, I loved this book! I'm not typically a huge fan of second-chance romances where it's a marriage-in-trouble situation. This was a bit of a different take since they are already divorced, but I truly fell in love with these two characters and their story. Tarah weaves a wonderful story of two people who are still very much in love. Ellis and Wren have been best friends since they were children, but eventually that friendship turned into love, and their lives changed when Wren became pregnant at 17. Later in life, they went through some difficult situations that left them in a weird place, and divorce was the ultimate solution for them at the time.

This story picks up about 5 years after the divorce. Ellis and Wren are very much still trying to adjust to post-divorce life while still being good co-parents. When their son gets into the school of his dreams, and they end up having to spend some time together on a road trip, Ellis asks Wren to use this road trip as a chance to get their cards on the table and see if they can find a way back to what they had before it went bad.

I just loved how Ellis planned things for them and how open Wren was to giving this a shot. This story was beautiful, and that ending was so cute!

Thank you to SMP and Tarah for the ARC!

Left of Forever, a novel by Tarah DeWitt, available May 20, 2025!

I knew I would love Ellis and Wren’s story after he stood up in Savor It and shouted, “She’s still a Byrd!” and boy, was I not disappointed. This second-chance romance is one for the books. It begins with a pen pal situation, as Ellis fights fires in Colorado and Wren bakes pastries for the heroes in the field. Their witty, flirty letter writing made me giggle and kick my feet. Then, the road trip to drop off their kid, Sam, at college, and the will they?/won’t they? had me wondering WHEN…OH WHEN…will they finally admit that the five years since they’ve been divorced have been the pits! Sprinkle in the quirky Bryd family and the small town of Spunes, and you have the ingredients for a fantastic romance novel!

There was so much interiority in this story, I don’t know how to capture how impressed I was with the writing in this book. I think it’s my favorite Tarah DeWitt to date. Definitely one I will recommend (including Savor It, because…you need Sage and Fisher’s story to learn about all the pining!). Dare I ask if there’s another one coming? Whenever there are siblings, we just want them all to have happy endings. Silas and Micah could use their own HEAs!

I'd also like to mention how beautiful the cover is for this book. It’s worth buying just for the art! (The story is great too…you won’t be disappointed!)

Thank you so much to SMP/St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced (e-)reader copy and a chance to rate and review this book!

5 ⭐️ 1 🌶

I love a marriage in crisis book so this one intrigued me since they were exes. Loved how they both eventually found therapy and journaling helpful and I loved that they reconnected.

However the story drug on for me. I needed a little more action.

But I would recommend this for people who love second chances and road trips.

I REALLY loved this book. I love Tarah’s writing in general (she is truly hilarious) but this was a particular treat. The storyline was really original which I honestly feel like is hard to come by lately. Also, Ellis = HOT. Only knocked a star off because the timeline was a bit hard for me to follow at times, but that could have also been due to my own shitty attention span. Highly recommend reading this when it’s released this week! (But read Savor It first!)
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this highly anticipated book!

After reading Savor It, I was REALLY wanting a book on Wren. I found her to be such a great character and loved her so much. Well, the wish was granted and it was everything I was hoping. Second chance romance can be such a hit or miss trope for me, but it was done so well in this case. I really loved that Wren and Ellis focused on better communicating their feelings, even ones that had long passed. I loved all the meddling Byrd siblings (especially Silas and Sage) and the winery trip scenes were an absolute hoot. The spicy scenes were SPICY and my goodness, I loved it. Especially, again, the open communication they had. I love this world of Spunes Dewitt has created and I’m very excited to see where it goes next. Maybe a Silas book?
CW: mentions of infertility, divorce, fire, injury, miscarriage, death of a parent

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the digital reader’s copy!

Not to be dramatic but this book saved me😍

Life has been crazy lately and I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump and nothing has hit the way I needed it to but I had high hopes for this book and ooooh it delivered!

I love second change romances and this was an amazing one! After being divorced for five years, Ellis convinces Wren to go on a road-trip after dropping their son off at college. This trip is their opportunity to see whether they can give their relationship one more chance and upon realising they both want to be together again, they do everything they can to ensure they get back home together.

Wren and Ellis were great characters! They knew each other deeply and even after years apart they still knew each other so well. Ellis did change a lot during their time apart (most off-page I’d say, with therapy and lots of reflection) and it was great to see him surprise Wren and actually do the work and actively fight to be more open and honest with Wren, even when his natural instinct would be to keep things to himself or fight alone (even though he always had good intentions).

I loved seeing them talk through their past and not only the problems thy faced and how they reacted to them, but also reminisce about the good time and all the wonderful memories they made together throughout the many years they knew each other. They had some great conversations and I loved seeing them open up and be vulnerable together.

I also loved the way this book focused so much on the present, and not too much on the past as second chance romances often do. And the use of the letters and diaries? Incredible! It’s something I haven’t seen often and I just adore this format, the insight it gives you into a character and how beautiful it is.

This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions and felt so much for these characters. I loved every second of it! If you love second chance romances, make sure to add this one to your list!

I loved every second of Wren and Ellis’s journey. Their second chance romance stole my heart with the banter, letters, and definitely the smut. The road trip setting along the California coast had me laughing especially the "cottage" chapters. Their love story is so sweet, I didn’t want their story to end. Their chemistry, their heartbreak, and their hope had me hooked from beginning to end. Thank god I preordered this book because I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC.

I am absolutely unwell after finishing this book.

I am pretty sure I spent the majority of this book choking back tears because of how heart wrenching and devastatingly beautiful it is. This book breaks you and remakes you in the best way possible. It has been a long time since I've read a book like this. I want to keep Wren and Ellis so close to my heart and never let go.

The prose in this book is absolutely stunning, and the characterization is equally immaculate. I've genuinely been a fan of Tarah Dewitt for a while, but this book truly may be her best work yet. I swear it felt like my heart was beating outside my chest the whole time I read this book and my only catharsis had been tears streaming down my face. This book was hard in places, ugly in others, but overall just so tender, loving, and hopeful that it was hard not to be fully invested in Wren and Ellis' story.

Probably my favorite book of the year.

This is Tarah DeWitt's best yet, I can say that will full confidence.

Here's the thing about me: as the child of a very ugly, messy divorce (who is in therapy, yes, don't worry) I avoid second chance romances that deal with divorce like the plague. Usually they're enough to send me running screaming from even my most favorite author's newest release. Tarah DeWitt did the impossible: she not only got me to pick up a second chance romance between two divorced characters, she got me to fall head over heels in love with it. Heck, I'll be first in line at the local indie on May 20 when this releases so I can read it all over again via physical copy.

Part of the reason I dared to pick up this book in the first place is because we first meet Wren and Ellis in Tarah's most recently published book, Savor It, which served as our introduction to Spunes, Oregon and it's small town charm and magic. My biggest trigger with divorced couples is the animosity - the lovers to enemies to lovers again. Again, that's my own personal history speaking but hey, we're allowed to have opinions as readers, and that's one of mine. I didn't sense any of that with Wren and Ellis however; in fact, after reading Savor It, I was actually really intrigued and excited about a potential future book that would center around their story.

This book was everything I hoped it would be and more. It's everything a second-chance romance should be, and more. I felt every single emotion while moving through this book; watching Wren and Ellis facing their individual internal battles during their years apart, to slowly reconciling as friends, then taking tentative yet brave steps looking towards what their future could be. You can feel their pain and love, in equal parts, coming off the page. Each show so much vulnerability, and the communication (which is honestly the bedrock of second-chance romances) is stellar and so refreshing. Tarah writes both Ellis and Wren in a way that lets the readers see their external dialogue they share with each other and their internal dialogue - things they aren't yet brave enough to share. But it's that writing style that allows us as readers to get a full picture of the emotional depth each of these characters holds, and what makes this story of healing feel so much more moving and complete. Tarah has really hit her stride with writing (not that she hadn't before, but she found a new kind of magic when writing this one, I swear).

Also can we talk about the cover?! Whoever Tarah's cover designer is, they've been knocking it out of the park, and I think this one is my favorite by far.

10/10, 5 stars, no notes, gimme 15 more please and thank you.

Yearning. It´s all about the YEARNING!
What I love most about Tarah Dewitt´s writing is that she is capable of creating very real characters with great depth, while maintaining the spark of a striking and yet poignant rom-com.
This was my first trip to Spunes (not to be confused with Forks, Washington), and I felt relieved to find out tha this was a stand alone story, and although I haven´t read (yet) Savor it,
I love second chance romance stories, and genuinely I can say that LoF set the bar very high. I love all the characters, I can see tha Tarah is keeping the essence of all of them. This book succesfully blends humor and drama. I loved the dual POV, I loved all the internal monologues and the interaction between Wren and Ellis, now they´re living rent free in my mind and my heart.
Thank you NetGalley, thank you St. Martin´s Griffin for this ARC.
And thank you Tarah Dewitt for that beautiful note at the beginning of the book. It really helped me to understand Ellis and Wren´s motivations and a powerfull phrase that will stick with me is: “…So often the villain is simply Life”.

Tarah is the queen of Big Feelings, and this book is Exhibit A. 🥲 This book is RAW. It’s ARDENT. It’s PROFOUND. It really captures the utterly romantic yet mundane essence of marriage.

“I’ve known you my whole damn life, and you still surprise me.”

“All my life’s greatest happiness can be traced back to her.”

I have enjoyed every one of DeWitt’s novels. When I read Savour It, I was intrigued by the relationship between Wren and Ellis, so I was excited to read this novel. This book is great for fans of Out of the Woods By Hannah Bonam-Young or the Ex-Vows by Jessica Joyce. Ellis never stopped loving Wren and wants to win her back, years after their separation. Though normally I would be skeptical (mild spoiler) the reason for the difficulties that ended their marriage, fertility struggles, is a realistic reason why a marriage may end though feelings remained. It was a realistic portrait of the toll infertility takes on relationships. I felt so deeply for these characters, who struggled to grow with each other, through pain, since they got together in high school. I truly appreciated how vulnerable they were willing to be with one another and how adult all of their conversations were. I appreciate a mid-age love story that treats the characters with so much respect. This book put me through a roller coaster of emotions; I cried more than once. This book was even stronger and more romantic than Savor It. I appreciated seeing a glimpse of what LaRynn and Deacon from the Co-op are up to today. I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this from Net Galley and St. Martins Press. 4.5 stars. I will continue to read everything DeWitt rights, she really gets the complexities of love/relationships.

Oh, wow! Left of Forever might just be my favorite book of the year. Every Tarah book that I’ve read has been real and raw, and this book is no exception. Wren and Ellis’s second chance was so beautiful and messy and I loved every second. Marriage is hard, and it takes effort to remember all of the good things, and Left of Forever replicates that feeling so well!

I enjoyed Funny Feelings and Savor It, but Left of Forever was not for me. The pacing felt off to me and an early storyline that was made to feel important didn't amount to much. I'll still seek out Tarah DeWitt's books in the future because she does a great job bringing big emotions into stories. Readers who like emotional and angsty romance will enjoy this.

I absolutely adored this book. DeWitt does an amazing job of blending grief and emotional moments with humor, and that skill shines in this book. I cried 8 times, laughed probably even more, and at one time near the end was sitting in my bed slapping my mattress because I was so giddy over this book and these characters. Tarah DeWitt is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors, and this book only solidifies that position in my mind.

This book had so much pain, regret, and yearning on the part of both Wren and Ellis. Even though they had gotten through getting pregnant as teens and raised their son until he was a teen, they had never really figured out how to effectively communicate with each other, so when their relationship started falling apart, neither could figure out how to try to save it. As a result, the relationship self-destructed, although it was clear that neither of them wanted it to.

Several years later, Ellis has finally gotten himself to a therapist (big shout out for the positive portrayal of therapy for the MMC) and realizes he's not willing to let go of Wren for good without making one more try at reconnecting. He just has to be open to finally talking about what went wrong and convince Wren to do the same.

The perfect opportunity presents itself when they jointly go to drop their son off for his first year of college and Wren agrees to spend a week with him on the way home. There were so many emotional and heartfelt moments between them and it was clear they still adored each other as they slowly worked out their issues.

I'm sometimes skeptical of second chance romances unless there's been sufficient growth/change on the characters' parts but I feel like in this case, Wren and Ellis had changed in meaningful enough ways. My biggest niggle was that there were way too many bedroom scenes, but the love and yearning came through loud and clear. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

A second chance romance done right! A realistic love story wrapped in every bit of emotion and feelings that entrance you. I loved this one a lot more than the first book, as I enjoyed the pacing, the chemistry, and a kind of intimate look into the minds of Wren & Ellis.

Ellis & Wren have been divorced for five years now but they have been co-parenting their son Sam beautifully and cordially. Now they are about to send him off to college, and Ellis asks Wren to take this road trip with him and spend some time revisiting their relationship. As she reluctantly agrees to it, Wren can see Ellis is honestly making an effort, and what if they still have a chance at their great love. Why Ellis makes this request, what re-kindles that fight in them is something sweet and fateful. We get to know both of these people through bits of flashbacks and also through their honest conversations on this trip.

This whole thing felt so mesmerising and i loved how it was a dual pov, giving a peek into their innermost thoughts, their mutual pining, making me root for them.

Since this journey involves forced proximity, yes there are spicy moments that make it more interesting. I would like to think Tarah did a good job balancing the importance of communication, intention, therapy, action, grovelling with physical attraction.

Also, this is a perfect example of - “if he wanted, he would”. Also, no question about Ellis coming out as top book husbands 🙌

“Miles and miles of serpentine road, one long sunset and a whole damn sunrise, plus a lifetime’s worth of memories. And I spend every second of it coming to accept that I’m still in love with my wife.”

You should expect deep gut wrenching, emotional vulnerability & the soft intimate yearning of truly loving, and losing, someone who has whole heartedly been yours.

Wren & Ellis…these poor babies have spent most of their lives loving one another, growing up and with each other until love finally brings them together as a family. That is until five years ago when it came tumbling down, but when fate or kismet brings they together unknowingly- will they find forever again?

Tarah…there will never be enough or the right words for what you’ve given us readers in this story. The emotional wreckage I experienced (about 18 times if i counted correctly), the deep yearning on the characters behalf, the laughter that sprang out of me at their banter and the glowing feeling within when their love shone through the heartbreak🧡 LOF changed my DNA, my soul’s chemistry and the way i think of love- perfectly imperfect with the human you are one with.

4.5/5



Second-chance romance with a divorced couple just hits different, in the best way. Ellis and Wren love each other deeply, and their emotional connection was intense, but somewhere along the way, they lost that spark. Watching them claw their way back to each other was healing, beautiful, and truly made this a special love story. The narrators brought the emotions to life and made me feel everything the characters were going through. They were fantastic, definitely try this one on audio!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫