I was so excited to get a copy of Tarah Dewitt's newest book. Her last two books were 5 star reads for me. I absolutely devoured them. However, this book fell a little short for me. I had a hard time getting invested in the main character's second chance love story. I did enjoy the author's descriptive writing and being back in Spunes, Oregon. I love second chance romance and this one had a pretty good ending. I just struggled during the begging and middle. I got frustrated with the characters. Certain things in the plot just made no sense to me. I think I would have enjoyed this better in audio book perhaps. I did really like how well Ellis and Wren coparented and always put their son first no matter the cost. I recommend giving this a read if you enjoy a spicy second chance romance.

Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

When I tell you that I could not put this book down, I flew through it in one day! This might be Tarah DeWitt's best book yet. I am not usually a fan of second-chance romance but it was done perfectly. The connection between Wren and Ellis was insane and even in Savor It, you could tell that there was unfinished business between the two and that they were going to gravitate back to one another. I loved the communication between Wren and Ellis. There was no beating around the bush in terms of what their motives or expectations were and it was so refreshing! What made me love this book even more was that there was no unnecessary drama at the end and Wren and Ellis were just able to move forward with one another.

Read if you like:
- Second Chance Romance
- Secret Letters
- Small Town Romance
- High School Sweethearts
- It's Always Been You Vibes

Tara Dewitt my darling you’ve done it again. Slowly but surely you have made your way to my top 5 favorite authors, I will read your to do lists if you let me.

Just right out of the gate I have to say, THIS IS HOW YOU TALK ABOUT BODY IMAGE IN A BOOK!!! I don’t think I’ve read a book that has written a woman talking about her body so well. And maybe because it wasn’t a major plot point in any way, just a quick little peak into Wren’s mind, but genuinely I NEED all authors trying to write about a plus size main character or a FMC with body insecurities to take that page out of this book and match it.

How to my thoughts about the book a whole: loved. I LOVE a 2nd chance romance, I LOVE a marriage in trouble trope (even though they already were divorced), I LOVE proper communication, I LOVE to see people grow in therapy, and I LOVEEEE no third act breakup.

To watch both of them so intently focus on improving themselves and communicating their needs was refreshingly beautiful. To go through why they got divorced and what happened and what they needed from one another to make things work and then to be listened to and worked on. Why we aren’t writing healthy relationships into romance novels more often I’ll never know but when I find them I hold them tight, kiss their little heads, and squeeze until they can’t breathe.

As a second chance romance doubter - this book definitely convinced me to go into this trope with more of an open mind moving forward. I am a sucker for any book that includes letters or journal entries and this one we have both. I also typically don't love books with kids in them but with the child of our main couple going off to college, I felt pretty good about it in this case.

I do enjoy seeing Ellis and Wren, they are flawed human beings who are growing up and learning - both independently and eventually as a couple. As their child, Sam, goes off to college after they have been divorced for the past 4 years, they decide to go on one last road trip together. Honestly, the road trip itself did not start until about 50% through the book...I thought it would be sooner but I flew through the first half of the book as we worked to build up to this event. There is spice in this book and I think it was some of the best spice I have read in a contemporary romance in a very long while. Especially some of the snippets we got earlier on, it felt very intentional and not just spice for the sake of spice.

My only complaint with the book was that the roadtrip was only one week...I was hoping for like 10 days...at least. Just because I wanted a bit more of the yearning and the angst and the hurt, and I knew it would be hard to accomplish all of that in a week - which turned out to be true. I still loved their relationship and there were some real raw moments that had me in tears, but I wanted a little bit more.

Overall, I finished this book in a single day and I had an amazing time with it, would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Tarah does it again. I absolutely devoured this book and found myself as a better person on the other side. IDK how she does it!

I knew from the moment we met Wren and Ellis in Savor It that I NEEDED their story, but this went far beyond my expectations!!!! I love the emotional vulnerability of Tarah's writing so, so much.

TARAH, MY HEART

I don’t know what is in the water but I can’t get enough of second chance romances and Left of Forever just raised the bar.

There are two things a second chance romance must get right (imo):
The breakup. I want PAIN, COMPLEXITY, LAYERS. I need to feel their hurt and understand both characters. The rift between them should feel insurmountable. Make me believe love alone was not enough. Make me believe that walking away was the only option. Miscommunication has no place here, GET OUT.
Their reunion. Finding their way back to each other has to be earned. They have to talk about what went wrong, what’s changed, and how they’ve grown. Therapy? Personal growth? Life experience? Make me root for them, make me believe that it’ll work this time.

Left of Forever does both of these things phenomenally. The heartbreak was gutting. Their journey back to each other was hard-won and sooo beautiful. I was invested in them since before page one and cheering with every step forward. I felt proud of them.

Despite all the heavy emotions, the book had a great balance of humor. There’s a particular scene involving hot peppers and emergency ice cream that lives rent-free in my brain. Pure joy.

If you love a romance with real depth, real pain, and real hope, this one deserves a spot at the top of your list.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy.

I am not sure I have the words to review this yet, I need to dry my tears first.

I’ll be back.

Okay, now that my tears have dried.

This book follows Wren and Ellis who we met briefly in Savor it. They were married young, had a falling out, now on a road trip together years after their divorce. I’m hesitant to read Second Chance romances, but this was a perfect story for that trope.

The New Moon soundtrack is mentioned, which is a top tier soundtrack (movie not so much).

If you want a real, raw, messy story with a lot of heart and happiness* this is it.


*happiness by Taylor Swift

4 STARS
friends to lovers
second chance romance
small town
interconnect standalone

Wren and Ellis find each other again five years after divorce. They finally communicate and it is true love. Found it a little unrealistic how they hid from each other and never really spoke after the divorce.
I did love Tara DeWitt’s writing in this one. Heavy topics were handled with care. *Check trigger warnings
I need Sila’s book!

“We have whatever’s left of forever, you and me.”

and the Co-Op cafe 🥰

There are just books that you know you will love from the very first page and Left Of Forever by Tarah Dewitt was one of those books for me. Left Of Forever is a beautiful second chance romance that will make your heart skip a beat while Ellis and Wren find their way back to each other. Dewitt wrote so many tender moments into their road trip, along with laugh out loud moments. Their story was one of forgiveness, for letting go of past regrets and moving forward with a hope for something new something better.

I can’t tell you how much I loveddddd this book! The banter, the history, the tension…. It was all so good! I couldn’t put it down! I honestly contemplated calling in to work just so I could read it and I NEVER call in- thats how good it is!

“If you won’t have me back anymore, then I’ll find you in the next life.”

I have been eating up second chance romances lately and this one was absolutely perfect. I truly loved everything about this one. Watching Ellis go through the steps of trying to win back his ex wife had me completely swoon. The letters broke me. Secret tattoos? Sign me up. I feel like it went from past to present so flawlessly and there honestly isn’t anything about this one that I didn’t love.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Tarah DeWitt for this ARC!

I found Left of Forever to be way better than Savor It! I guess Savor It had the quirkiness, but Left of Forever had so much emotional depth and angst.

The first 30% of the story was really hard to read, not because there was anything wrong with the writing, but there was so much emotion and longing and the care people still had for each other while also having minimal contact.
It was almost devastating in a sense. I was also mildly frustrated with all of their bottled emotions, which could've easily been resolved with proper communication (not to be mistaken for "miss communication"). This is just me not being a fan of "right person, wrong time." (and the whole point of the plot, I guess 🤣).
But it was also an opportunity for Ellis to work on himself, which all worked out for the better in the end, and this is what made me fall hard for him🥹

Everything after that 30% got a little lighter. Wren and Ellis finally go on the road trip, and they share all of the good and the bad that's on their mind.
The second part made me finally take a breath and just enjoy the rebuild of a broken relationship. The love and attraction were still pretty evident, and that just told me that everything would work out as it should... and it did😭

Tropes:
♡ second chance romance
♡ roadtrip
♡ divorced couple
♡ marriage reconciliation
♡ forced proximity
♡ angst and yearning
♡ he pines for her
♡ small town

*𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯-𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*

wow. all i can say is wow. Everyone needs to take notes because THIS is how you write a second chance romance. These feel like people you know, you get invested in their lives and their relationship and by the end of it you’re cheering like it was your best friends falling in love again.

Tarah DeWitt writes books with so much soul that the characters jump off the page and feel like living, breathing people. I was hooked from the beginning of this book and I truly don't have the words to capture how sweepingly romantic this book was and how much it made it feel. The sheer amount of pining and yearning in this story was immaculate. I fell hard for Wren and Ellis and the reasons they broke up were painfully realistic. I adored this book and highlighted an obscene number of lines because they all made me feel so many things. I laughed, I swooned, I cried. I couldn't put it down because I was so in love with these characters and invested in them finding their way back to each other. This book made my heart ache in the best way. It's going on the all-time favorites list for me. If you're looking for a book to make you feel things please pick this one up.

I enjoyed this book tremendously although it did take some time to catch my attention once I did. I never looked back. Binge read it so hard.

I absolutely devoured this one! Tarah did an absolutely incredible job of crafting both chemistry, connection, and, between these two and it was addictive to watch them reconnect and heal old wounds. Both characters had fantastic growth together and individually. The writing is absolutely beautiful and invoked so many emotions layered in with absolutely impeccable humor that had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. I cannot wait to read more by this author!

A second chance romance between a a divorced couple that just sent their only son to college. This is not usually my style of romance, but I loved it. It was real and showed how hard it can be to be in a long lasting relationship with the same person, how easy it can be to grow apart and how hard it is to fight to come back together. Especially after a teenage pregnancy, a struggle with infertility, and a near death crisis.

Ellis is really willing to work on himself and even starts going to therapy. Amazing. Wren is willing to try and work to put the past behind them, while also making sure they don’t just fall back into easy patterns without a real conversation. Altogether, a beautiful love story of growth and acceptance. Plus, the spice didn’t hurt either.

This second chance romance is everything I hoped it would be. Be warned - the wooing is at an all time high. Ellis and Wren's story is so realistic to what most couples deal with today that it may hit you straight in the heart. But their journey of finding each other again is heartwarming and sexy of course. We also get a cameo from another couple.

God how I love this beautifully crafted small town!!!

I am truly such a fan of Tarah's work and she continues to get better and better each release she makes.

My sweet babies Ellis and Wren:( I truly loved getting to see the ups and downs of their very long and ongoing relationship. I felt for each of them and I was constantly rooting for them to reconcile in the end. I really loved how Ellis put in the work to better himself and really face his truth. I sooo appreciated the level of communication in this one!!! They were mature and honest in their wants this go around and I loved getting to see their love blossom again.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the meddling of the Bryd family throughout the novel. It was so funny and pure which made for such an enjoyable reading experience. They make my heart so happy and it was a joy to be back in Spunes. I cannot wait to see how Silas and Micah's stories pan out heheh.

There was a good amount of angst in this one but not too much to the point that I was feeling bad about myself hahah. I found myself cackling at some many moments throughout the story which made this read truly unforgettable.

This audio narration is truly fantastic and I will highly recommend this audio to anyone.

Thank you Tarah Dewitt for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.