perfect!! perfect!! perfect!!

tarah wrote an absolute masterpiece with this one!! achingly beautiful & so hot! you're going to LOVE wren & ellis's story!!!

tarah, thank you so much for sending me an early copy! this is my honest review.

[after reread]
incredible. show-stopping. i love everything about this book!!!!

okay but how do you write a review for a book that you love with your entire heart?????? because it seems too simple to say it was perfect. it seems too easy to say it's a masterpiece. when in reality, this book took a broken love and put it back together again in the most beautiful, emotional and humorous way. wren and ellis are everything to me. their love is everything to me. spunes is everything to me. this book is everything to me.

trust me, you won't regret reading this one!! it's fun and hilarous !! (will be thinking about the cooking scene for a long time) it's a classic small town book (hello meddling friends and family) and it's RICH with yearning and begging for a second chance (ellis the man you are). it's also easily one of the most hopeful books i've ever read (don't give up on love). and it shows that when you put in the work and fight for yourself and for your relationship, you can come out on top.

tarah is a mastermind and i will never not love every single word she writes.

ps thank you smp for the arc !! this is my honest review.

Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Spunes, OR book 2, but can be read as a standalone
Rating: 5 stars! (FIVE STARS ISN'T ENOUGH!!)



Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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

Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt was an absolute BREATH OF FRESH AIR. I read a lot of romance, and this was one of the best romance books I’ve read in a while!

While on a road trip to help their son settle into his new college dorm, divorced exes Wren and Ellis decide to use the time while traveling back to decide if it would be worthwhile to try again. This is a second chance romance and we have the time needed to see glimpses of who they were in their previous relationship with one another, but our primary focus is on them in the present.

*“She’s kissing me. Her lips are on mine after five long years. Five hundred years. She’s kissing me. I’m home.”*

This book was beautiful - absolutely beautiful. It was such a real and raw look at relationships - how we grow up and sometimes grow apart. The way we fail to communicate, either because we're not ready to put in the work or we just don’t know how. It is about how loss and time sometimes molds us into different people, and that different person isn’t always the one we began a relationship with.

*“’My DNA mixed with yours, and it altered your very bones, Byrd.’”*

This isn’t just a book about a failed romance. This is a story about change. It’s a story about how we find fulfillment outside of romance. Even Wren and Ellis, while they were once romantic partners, they grew up and rooted into each other’s souls. Their relationship is both passionate but also full of the comfort of a love that has always been there since their childhood.

This was such a quick, easy but emotional read, and with the right amount of spice. Our main characters were fully fleshed out and so real. This was so good!

Imagine if Happiness and You're Losing Me by Taylor Swift were a book, but with a happy ending...that is Left of Forever. And I adored every minute of it!

This was my first Tarah DeWitt book, and I was blown away. Her writing is beautiful. I love her poetic language and how she captures real and raw emotions. Wren and Ellis' story cements why second chance romance is one of the best tropes. I love reading about characters falling in love all over again—even though they never truly fell out of love—and working to repair their relationship after time and circumstance has changed.

The mature communication was a breath of fresh air. Wren and Ellis' relationship and initial fall-out was believable, and their hurdles and breaking points seemed realistic, given the circumstances of how they married in the first place. Both characters were three-dimensional, and the dual POV in a book like this was perfect. I enjoy seeing the two characters' perspectives as to what went wrong in the first go-around.

I loved how the forced-proximity road trip (which was, as an aside, the perfect summer aesthetic) allowed Wren and Ellis to come face-to-face with why their compatibility faded away. Yet after half a decade, especially at their age and stage of life, they were able to tackle their problems with a mature outlook. Left of Forever is one of those books that I think I will continuously appreciate more and more as I get older. I also liked that instead of having long flashback scenes to when Wren and Ellis were younger, their past was told via Wren's journal.

And circling back to the songs, this book was SO How Did It End, Exile, loml, Happiness, and You're Losing Me by Taylor Swift + I know it won't work by Gracie Abrams. Essentially...emotionally devastating. But the way the characters go from that to happily ever after, is just, true love! I can't wait to read more books about the Byrd siblings too and will definitely be picking up more Tarah DeWitt books.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's for an ARC of Left of Forever. As always, my reviews are one hundred percent voluntary and all opinions are my own :)

Oh wow. Tarah DeWitt is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

This book was so beautiful. To watch a couple who have fallen out of love, find it again and build it into something completely new was truly incredible. It has been a while since I read a book that has felt truly character driven, and this one was quite the journey.

I was really surprised about how much I connected with Ellis. How he lives his life. How he handles his trauma. These are things I recently had to face and having it all laid out in a book (although from a slightly different perspective) was a huge comfort.

Emotions were high and I was feeling all of them. I knew this going in, but I'm always surprised about how much it gets to me. The way she writes, I just feel it so deeply. I was also cackling out loud at certain parts, so it was a nice balance.

I just loved it. I knew going in I would probably love this one, but I wasn't sure how much. It was a lot! Like taking that first bite of one of Wren's scones a lot.

Just finished Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt and let me tell you—my heart went on a full emotional road trip right alongside Wren and Ellis. 🚗💔❤️‍🔥

This is book two in the Spunes, Oregon series, and I was so excited to get approved for the ARC because I loved the chemistry and storyline in book one. While this one didn’t hit quite as hard for me, I still really enjoyed diving back into this cozy coastal world filled with heartache, healing, and hope.

Wren and Ellis have that complicated, messy, still-in-love kind of second chance romance that just gets you. From bakery mornings to California road trip sunsets, and all the tension-filled moments in between, it had me rooting for them the whole way. Plus—firefighter + bakery owner? Hello, yes please. 🧑‍🚒🍞🔥

✨ Read this if you love:
💔 Second chance romance
🏔️ Pacific Northwest vibes
🍩 Foodie elements
🛻 Road trip adventures
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Found family feelings
🔥 Firefighters (yes, again)

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wren and Ellis are the perfect example of people loving each other through everything, and should be protected at all costs. I am not usually a fan of second chance romances, but this book was amazing! I love the way the characters learn to be vulnerable with each other again. Also their son and friends give parent trap vibes in the background and funny shenanigans ensue.

I do think the flash back period was a little long, but it did not take away from enjoying Wren and Ellis’s story. 4.5 stars

Really enjoyed this! I loved Tarah's use of metaphors throughout, it really tugged on my heart strings. It was a unique take on second chance romance and I liked how neutral-positive Ellis and Wren's relationship stayed. The side characters added a lot to the story. I really liked seeing more of Silas and Micah. I'd love to read books about them! I think the only thing I struggled with was the timeline. I found myself a little confused when we jumped back in time after the prologue. It made sense later, but took me a little bit to understand.

It's the summer of quick, easy-to-read romance! And this one was spicy as all heck...

Tarah DeWitt's latest follows Wren and Ellis. A divorce five years earlier led to them staying on "friendly" terms but those feelings are still just always there. It's hard to forget your first love! When their son, Sam, gets accepted to college and requests his parents to bring him down, Ellis takes the opportunity to plan a road trip for Wren and Ellis for one last shot at love.

The story itself was fun. I enjoyed the journey but the actual story that was advertised didn't start until about 50% of the way in. The beginning felt more like filler and, truthfully, slightly unnecessary in the grand scheme of things.

But the real gem of this story was that it was really no frills with raw emotion. You don't see many romances nowadays without some epic drama. Instead, the focus was on mature adults talking through things instead of typically just assuming and I ADORED that!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I truly have no words! This book was the absolute best thing I have read! Tarah had me all in my feels and I love when books can connect to your own life! I have read every.single.thing Tarah has written and this is hands down my favorite of them all! I love Wren and Ellis and I will carry them with me for a lifetime! I knew from Savor It that they had a story to be told and boy did it deliver! Their story is full of raw emotion that will wreck you but heal you at the same time! I know it does cover some heavier topics but I think Tarah handled with them with so much care. I will recommend Left of Forever to everyone that will listen because it was that good!! 🥹🥹

THIS BOOK!!!!! Where do I begin? We follow Wren ("She's still a Byrd") and Ellis Byrd, a divorced couple on the cusp of dropping their only son off at college. It's been five years since they divorced and they're totally fine...or so they say. What better way to find out than on a return road trip, where they can be honest with each other and themselves for one last shot at love.

These characters are so real, they jump off the page as does their love for each other and their CHEMISTRY!!! It was raw and palpable and believable. Yes, they are attracted to each other, but also the care they have for and show each other brought me to tears. Theirs is the kind of love story that makes me believe in soulmates.

As this was a second chance romance there is so much history for these two to revisit and rebuild with. I loved that this history was introduced to use through journals and letters, as well as banter between the two in an effort to reconnect and rekindle their love.

I'd be remiss to talk about this book and not mention the cast of characters behind Wren and Ellis. While in Savor It the whole town was part of the story, in Left of Forever we really zoom in on the Byrd siblings, and how their relationships with each other are shaped by their family history and how they grow together to forge new ones.

This book was heartbreaking and beautiful and lovely. It was a beautiful look into second chances, the power of honesty, the grit of determination, and the strength of true love. I will be thinking about this one for a long time!

Wren and Ellis have been friends since they were 5. They even fell in love, had a child together, and were married for several years before ultimately divorcing. Now, 4 years later, this story has them searching to see if they can make their relationship work after all. The book begins with them being pen pals while Ellis is on the front lines of forest fire duty. I loved this part of the book the best, where the characters didn’t know that they were writing to each other but the reader did. Unfortunately, the rest of the book (what felt like half of it) fell flat once they stopped writing and discovered that they both still had feelings for each other.
I really liked the first book in this series, but this one felt like it needed more of a plot. There was a lot more that the author could have done with the road trip aspect, and talking out their feelings for why they had gotten divorced in the first place. I am still a little hung up on the fact that they had loved each other forever but then got divorced and then just 4 years later discovered they still loved each other–without any additional relationship counseling or discussion of the break up. Still, I’d love to read another book from Spunes, OR (“not to be confused with Forks, WA”). 2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Left of Forever is one of the most romantic love stories I have ever read in my life.
Wren and Ellis after getting pregnant young and marrying not long after, weren't given the tools they needed to succeed in their marriage leading to their eventual divorce. Now, years later under the guise of a simple road trip after dropping their son off in college, try to see if the feelings they still have are genuine or if it's what remains of their shared past. .

Ellis is so determined to win his wife back, prove to her that he has changed for the better, after going to therapy and doing some work on himself, he wants to prove to Wren that he is deserving of her and her love. Wren, wary of even entertaining the idea of getting back together with Ellis, cannot deny that her feelings are still there, and never left.

I have never been so convinced that two characters genuinely belong together, that they are so deserving of their happily ever after, more that Wren and Ellis.
Not only did this book leave me in a puddle of my own tears, but it has rendered me totally- utterly- completely- speechless. As often as I refer to this book, as many times as I mention it or recommend it, no words can truly describe how beautiful this story was.
Tying in the communication through letters, reigniting the spark that never really extinguished in the first place, I love this book more than I know how to put into words

Wren and Ellis have been divorced for several years but are now sending their son off to college. They both still have feelings for each other and decide to take a road trip after they drop Sam off. They try to see if there is still something there or if they need get closure and move on. Great read! Love this author!

Are you kidding me? This is book has everything you need in a romance and more. Only thing I had a hard time with is they come off as really old but they were only 33/34. Haha. Didn’t stop me from loving it though.

Want a book that will sweep you away in a slow burn second chance romance? Add this book to your TBR!! This love story was raw, real and emotional. Wren and Ellis were childhood friends and sweethearts. They had a whirlwind love story that started fast and strong. As the years passed and some emotional events that have happened in their life they find themselves falling out of love. They separate but become co-parents for their son. Now the son is heading off to college and fate is trying to bring them closer together again. The chemistry between and Ellis was undeniable.

This book made me sob, laugh, swoon, and everything in-between.

I absolutely adore Tarah DeWitt's writing, characters, and everything this book gave me. I knew it would make me cry, but watching these two beautiful characters find their way back to eachother was so special. The found family, the close family dynamic, the OPEN talk of therapy ( so hot) and everything about this book just made me swoon.

I'm so greatful to have read such a masterpiece.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read Left of Forever. I enjoyed reading Ellis' and Wren's story. They are and feel so real, and relatable; I have not read Savor it, but I have a feeling Left of Forever will stick in my heart more than the 1st book in the series. Left of Forever has it all; it made me laugh, but also nostalgic, felt the characters' pain and doubts, but also their joy. Thanks again for the opportunity!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC and ALC!

"She's still a Byrd"
I don't know if I even have the words to express how much I loved this book. This book was everything. Wren and Ellis felt so real and so genuine. It's been a while since I've been sad to leave characters after finishing a romance novel. I just adored these two. They both grew so much throughout this book and I was holding my breath hoping things were going to work out (I know, it's a romance, it has a HEA, but this one really makes you work for it).
Both characters demonstrate so much personal growth while addressing that they've both made mistakes within their relationship. Wren may have given up too easily, but Ellis didn't fight it. We see them 5 years post divorce reuniting for a roadtrip to move their son into college. It's clear Ellis is absolutely all in, even if Wren needs a little more convincing she's willing to try. I loved seeing Ellis work on complimenting Wren more often and saying what was on his mind. They both opened up so much and were willing to talk about the great things about their relationship as well as their worst moments. I cried. Several times.
This book is the perfect exploration of what can happen when you meet your person too young. It digs into the work involved in being able to grow together.
The audiobook was fantastic! I've always been a fan of Megan Wicks but i think this is her best work yet! She was the perfect voice for Wren and brought so much life and emotion to the character.
I typically wouldn't read the second book in a series first, even if they are interconnected standalones. But I am actually so glad I dove into this one first because now I get to read Tarah DeWitt's entire backlist with a fresh perspective and appreciation.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of Tarah DeWitt's latest romance book. in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was my first Tarah DeWitt book. I know this a stand-alone story that is connected to Savor It, but I think I may have enjoyed this more if I had read that book first. I really enjoyed the letters back and forth at the start of this book. The story started off strong, but then I just go bored with it. The middle moved so slowly and it took forever for things to happen. It was mostly Wren's thoughts about her relationship with Ellis and why it failed. The book finally picked up once Ellis and Wren agree to go on a road trip together to move their son into his college apartment. They plan to take their time on the way back up the coast to see if they can work through their issues and see if they can try to be together again.
I feel like the physical aspect of their relationship happened quickly and that became a big focus.

While there were some enjoyable moments, I didn't really enjoy this book. The writing is good, I just wasn't invested in the story or the characters. I will probably try another of Tarah's books though!

What is Tarah DeWitt putting in her books?! This was AMAZING, and I'm addicted!! The depth of emotion and heart found in this book is unmatched. It successfully ripped my heart to shreds and painstakingly put it back together with care. I feel like Ellis and Wren are two characters that I'll carry with me for quite a while (the fact that I still remember their names after closing the book really proves that). And I found them to be just as relatable as Sage and Fisher in Savor It, which I honestly didn't think would be possible after how much I love(d) Sage in particular! I won't give anything about their story away, but I will say that I desperately want to stay in the little town of Spunes for as long as Tarah will have me!!! I loved Wren & Ellis, I loved the locations which I felt transported to with Tarah's beautiful writing, I loved the minor characters- each and every one of them (including the ones with hooves). My heart just feels so full!
If you're looking for a book full of heart, found-family, and two people doing the hard work to make forever happen- then this is the book for you. ♡

P.S. I DESPERATELY need Silas to get his own book, like PLEASE, I'M BEGGING! 🙏🏻

P.P.S. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU @Netgalley, for providing a copy of this book in exchange for review! ♡ Also though, how dare you- because now I have to buy a shelf-trophy of this one too because I loved it too much 🤣

If You Liked That, Read This:
• Savor It by Tarah DeWitt (obviously, but this is just as good, no sequel fatigue)
• The Lovelight Series by BK Borison

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶 (Open Door, Not Crazy Spicy)

TW's:
• Parent-Illness (MS)
• Infertility
• Miscarriage (Off-Page)

Tropes/Vibes:
• Second-Chance
• Childhood Sweethearts 💞
• Sprinkle of Miscommunication
• Road Trip 🗺