Left of Forever by Tarah Dewitt

4.5/5⭐️
3/3🌶️ (spice)
3/3🦋 (swoon)

•My Thoughts•
What a beautiful and emotionally charged story! The portrayal of marriage and how life just freakin LIFES sometimes was so raw and real and absolutely had me in my feels. I loved our main characters, the second chance and the Byrd family. I loved the flashbacks and their emails. Ellis was stinkin’ swoony and so earnest in pursing his second chance. I loved Wren and her combination of soft and sassy. I think the speed at which things progressed felt a bit fast considering the amount of time they spent apart and the deep hurts they carried but I thought their communication was amazing. I felt twisted inside along with them and then felt everything align with the book’s ending and had that “deep sigh-everything is right in the world-feeling. The ending made me cry and I highlighted nuggets of wisdom through out. I love this kind of story with hard fought and won happily ever afters. Definitely recommend.

Thank you to Tarah Dewitt and St. Martin’s Press for the early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[ARC review]
LEFT OF FOREVER by Tarah DeWitt is a second chance romance with two of my favorite elements, some secret correspondence and the forced proximity of a road trip.

We first meet Wren and Ellis Byrd in Savor It, and I completely agreed with everyone clamoring for their story. They are two people who clearly never stopped loving each other, but just got married too young and just didn't quite figure out how to be adults together. But now these babies' baby is headed off to college, and Ellis proposes a vacation on the way back to celebrate...with the real motivation of seeing if maybe they can work things out.

It's so intimate and emotional, it's practically just fan service for all the female romance readers who wish their husband would go to therapy and learn to communicate (complimentary). But also, the Byrds have been through so much, they deserve the happy ending. It was tender and lovely and I really enjoyed it.

Oh my my my Miss DeWitt, I see you! I went into this fairly blind but the second I realized it was second chance I was quite literally giddy. It's one of my favorite tropes when done right. There's just something about the history mixed with the yearning that really gets to me. And then add into it that it tends to have a lot of emotional depth and it usually is a pretty solid recipe for me. And this one knocked that recipe out of the park... that doesn't really make sense but you get what I mean hopefully. Wren and Ellis have some deeeeeep history together. Childhood friends turned lovers turned parents turned divorce... oof. I was so eager to dig through their history together and see where they fell apart and see how they climbed back to each other (hopefully right?). The writing in this was so good. Like SO good. I can't wait to reread it and annotate it because Tarah really had some knock out lines in there. My man Ellis loves big and hard and I think I might actually be totally in love with him. He also has the absolute hots for his wife, my lanta. This book was way steamier than I expected, I'm surprised the book didn't burst into flames (which is funny when you know what the book is about lol). Anyways, so so good. My only complaint is that I felt like they both flipped to being ready to be back together too quickly. But man I love their love. I already cannot wait to reread this.

simply stated, this is my favorite book of all time. Utter perfection. Not one note to be mentioned.

I promise you I highlighted all of this book, annotated I'm sure the majority of it. Definitely a screamed every time words came out of Ellis or Wren's mouths.

I related to this book so much and no doubt, it healed parts of me. It helped me come to terms with emotions that I myself was feeling.

The letters, the characters, the effort, the setting. Every single detail. It felt real. The love between them was radiating off the page and engrained itself into my heart, mind and soul.

I plan to add more here after its release date but for now I'll leave you with, you NEED to read this book. It's not something to be questioned, you need to experience this.

You will laugh, you will cry, you will have the time of your life. And like me, you'll think about it every moment of every day.

Thank you Tarah for writing Left of Forever, I'll be thinking about it forever.

♾️ stars

I literally love them soooo much they love each other so deeply
Also one of my love languages is just noticing things and then doing things to show you care and that’s what the MMC did ALL the time and I was obsessed with it omg Tarah Dewitt can do no wrong
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review!

This book is a DREAM of a second chance/divorce in trouble (workshopping this, I don't think you can call something marriage in trouble if they're actually divorced), and it's just so goddamn grown up with EXACTLY the right amount of meddling relations where it's fun but doesn't hit my ick switch. I'd really like some more books in this world with the other Byrd siblings. I need Silas especially to find someone who is into phantom in a sexy way. But really. Read this book.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.</i>

Now, first things first I am a sucker for second chance romance. I just love a couple working through it and finding themselves back to one another. And the store of Wren and Ellis really sounded like it was about to hit the spot!

And they did…I found this book to be the perfect escape read. The characters were funny and real. I felt like every single character (main or side) was really fleshed out. Whenever they interacted it didn’t seem surface level. The dual POV I really appreciated because you were able to get into each of the characters heads.

The reason behind Wren and Ellis marriage not working out was different depending on the POV and I like how it came together naturally. The timeline didn’t feel like we were flying through everything and then suddenly they were back together. The smut was nicely placed too. Holy hell - Ellis has the hots for his wife and you learn that really quick.

Gosh this book was so beautiful I don’t even know where to begin. I loved it, I love them, I love the Byrd family. I feel like I know these people. I never want to leave Spunes. This is a heart-mending love letter to second chance romance and the beauty of hope.

Thank you Net Galley for this arc!

Tarah does it AGAIN! I was already bossed with Ellis and Wren from Savor It but this!? This is how you do a second chance romance. It perfectly balances chemistry, heat and pining with relatable moments, healing and open communication. I love how it built over time too. By the end I was SO happy and even more invested.

First 5 ⭐️ romance of the year! Thank you so much to St Martin’s press for my copy!

5/5

This was a very sweet story. I loved the beginning of it especially, with the letter writing. I almost wished that had been able to go on longer! But the roadtrip was sweet, and Ellis -- SWOOOOOON.
I will also say that this is one of the more 'real' second chance romances I have read. It's actually one of my most favorite tropes (I'm a SUCKER for nostalgia!) but in many cases I find that the reason for the split, and all that time apart, is probably something that in real life, should stand. Most of the time going back does not work. This one...was pretty realistic. Together young, fell apart with stressors from having a baby young and realizing they didn't exactly know who they were. That is one that might actually be able to work.

This was my first Tarah DeWitt. I was hesitant to request this one because of the amount of times it was detailed as 'super spicy'. That, for the record, was true lol. I am not a huge fan of crazy amounts of spice, but it was at least easy to tap past for the most part.

Thank you for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my review.

4.25/5.0

Sometimes, a book lands in my hands at precisely the right moment, and Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt felt meant for me. Wren and Ellis's story isn't just about falling back in love — it's about doing the messy, unglamorous work of healing, forgiving, and choosing each other again after life has worn them down. Their history is so deep and tangled, and watching them try to find a way back to each other felt like rooting for old friends who deserved more than just a second chance; they deserved a better opportunity.
I loved how the road trip along the California coast wasn't just a change of scenery — it became a quiet, beautiful metaphor for everything they were trying to rebuild: trust, friendship, the tiny daily intimacies that once came so easily but now had to be earned. Tarah DeWitt writes their silences as powerfully as they write their conversations — sometimes, what Wren and Ellis don't say hits me harder than their biggest arguments. And when those old wounds cracked open again? It gutted me. It felt real, like no tidy apology could fix everything.
This story never pretends that love is enough all by itself — it shows how love has to be fought for, protected, and sometimes broken down to its bones before it can be truly whole again. It's tender without being sentimental, raw without losing hope. Wren and Ellis's journey back to each other is the imperfect, earned love story that sticks with me long after the last page.

Before getting into my review, it might be best to go back and reread Savor It as you might not remember who everything is and how it’s connected. Personally, it took me a while to figure out how everything was connected. Either way, it didn’t end up hindering my enjoyment if you chose not to reread it.

Left of Forever follows Ellis and Wren, who were previously married and are now divorced, with a son about to go to college. From the start, it’s clear there is still some kind of connection there, but it becomes even more interesting when Wren starts writing to Ellis, but not realizing it’s him at first. That’s the exact thing that ends up kickstarting an interest in getting back together.

We watch as Wren and Ellis slowly start to become comfortable with each other again and start to learn about who they are now. They were married very young and had a lot of responsibility on their shoulders, which wouldn’t be easy for anyone. All of that, coupled with infertility, ends up being a huge cause of why their relationship doesn’t work out. Infertility is mentioned and discussed if it’s something you’re sensitive to.

Ultimately, Left of Forever is a story about two people with a lot of history, realizing that maybe their story isn’t done after all. This book is hard to read at times but it’s so rewarding to see Ellis and Wren make their way back to each other. Even the possible conflict ends up being something the two resolve quickly and the story goes from there.

There is so much to love and explore within this story that you won’t be able to put it down. If anything, it has me hyped for what Tarah DeWitt will do next. As long as you can handle the topics, then this book needs to be on your spring TBR.

DeWitt’s best book yet! I was so excited for Wren and Ellis’s second chance romance and it was such a good read. I couldn’t put this story down and loved following them on their road trip as well as some cameos from Savor It and even The Co-Op!

*I received an advance e-copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

This is by far my favorite Tarah DeWitt book! Savor It really was not doing it for me, so I am really pleased with how much I enjoyed Left of Forever.

Yearning ✅ Pining ✅ Groveling ✅ Mustache ✅

There’s lots to like about this! Ellis is an absolute simp for Wren and will stop at nothing to prove he still loves her. I personally love second chance romance/marriage in crisis, so this is right up my alley. I really appreciated the growth and therapy that we saw Ellis go through. I am Intrigued by Silas and Micah and look forward to seeing more of them in the future.

This story really proved that they were still in love, but that was never really the reason they divorced to begin with. So I’m not entirely convinced they worked through the problems that caused them to separate. Some conflict was a little glossed over to insert a spicy scene.

Overall, very enjoyable and romantic and sexy. Lots of great content from Ellis, I wish I’d seen as much depth from Wren.

Happy reading!

Tarah DeWitt became an auto-buy author for me after “Savor It” and “Left of Forever” will show readers exactly why.

This was a beautiful take on second-chance romance. I know readers were rooting for Wren and Ellis since “Savor It” because I was one of them too.

DeWitt brilliantly portrays why they are made for each other and how those big loving feelings never really went away.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s for selecting me for this ARC. I can’t wait to see it receive all the hype it deserves soon.

“New beginnings are best when you get to pick and choose what you carry over from the old.”

A romance novel you can read at your own pace and not have devour in one sitting. Ellis and Wren are divorced with a college aged son. They each must decide if they will remain apart or admit to spending what is left of forever, together. Tarah DeWitt paints a picture of characters that have real life issues, imperfections and ultimately just want to be loved.

Thank you to Tarah, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC.

I thought this was absolutely beautiful. The hurt and pain written in this story was tender, but it was handled with so much care. I loved Ellis and Wren. Separately but especially together. I’m a sucker for second chance romance! I loved getting glimpses of them in Savor It- I just knew their story was going to be a good one and I wasn’t disappointed! The longing between both of these characters caused feelings I can’t even explain and I’m just so happy to have gotten to be along for the ride while they reconnected 🥹💖

Left of Forever

5⭐️
3🌶️

Tropes:
Second Chance
Childhood Friends to Lovers
Divorced Couple
Road Trip
One Bed
Small Town

OMG. I don’t think I could have enjoyed this any more than I did! At first I was really concerned this was going to be an emotional roller coaster (similar to Untying the Knot by Meghan Quinn) but I was ready for ride. Then I got into it and was so pleasantly surprised. Yes it’s emotional but it’s done so well!

Ellis and Wren are some of the most raw, real, broken, and beautiful characters. Their story is devastating and uplifting. Everything that happened felt purposeful. I loved the snippets of their past (though I wish there was a bit more) and how forgiving they were to each other. I loved how Ellis grew throughout the story but he and Wren still fit so perfectly together.

This is the second book in the Spunes series. Though this can be read as a stand alone, it would be best to start with Savor It to gain the background on everyone.

CW: infertility, ectopic pregnancy, surgical procedures (not detailed)

Left of Forever blew me away — I’m completely obsessed! The emotion, the twists, the writing… it all hit so hard and stayed with me long after I finished. I honestly didn’t want it to end; it’s an absolute must-read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wren and Ellis are OVER. They've been divorced for five years. But their son Sam is heading off to college, so they decide to band together to help him move. On their way back, Wren and Ellis decide to have a little road trip through some GORGEOUS California countryside and examine where their love went wrong, and if they could ever make it right.

I've ready quite a few new contemporary romances lately, and they ALL pale in comparison to this one. DeWitt's love scenes made me CRY. The depth of emotion that these characters feel. The ways in which they try to come back to each other. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Second chance romances are, in my opinion, one of the HARDEST tropes to get right. The author has to make the break up believable and the yet make the reader NEED for the couple to get back together. DeWitt does this in spades!

This book is said to be a standalone, but it's the second book in the Spunes series, and the events in the first book are referenced quite a lot here. I enjoyed meeting these characters, but I honestly believe this'll jump from a five to a six star book once I read the first book in the series. (Clearly I still enjoyed it without reading the first book: Savor It.) I adored this ensemble cast, and I firmly believe we'll be seeing more Spunes novels to come. We also get a super sweet cameo of our couple from The Co-Op, which was another six star read for me. This woman can WRITE. Can't wait to read the rest of her backlist as I await the next release!

Trigger warnings: ectopic pregnancy (before story begins), teenage pregnancy (before story begins), divorce (before story begins), infertility issues (before story begins)

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.