I knew from the first page I was going to love Wren and Ellis’ story. This is going to be one of top books of the summer for me.

The longing, the romance, the ultimate rekindling roadtrip brought out what makes Wren and Ellis so special. Ellis is a broody, quiet man with a sexy mustache who realizes he’s still in love with his wife, err ex-wife who in his words is “still a Byrd”. Wren is trying to workout what is next in her life. Whether it’s figuring out what her relationship future looks like, what it’s like having your only child off at college or trying to navigate feelings for her ex husband Wren is figuring it all out. When she agrees to a roadtrip from California back to Spunes she takes her time and is cautious about what is happening with Ellis. Ellis is determined in his own way to show Wren all the ways he is capable to take care and give her the world that he longed to give her since they were teens.

I laughed, I sobbed and I literally swooned in parts of this book. This second chance romance is pure gold- like Wrens hair it is perfection.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Tarah Dewitt for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I want to start this review by gushing about this book's predecessor, Savor It, which I read at a pivotal time and inspired me to pursue new avenues in my life. So when I found out this book featured the beloved community of Spunes, Oregon, I was elated.
Wren and Ellis Byrd have loved each other since they were kids, had their son Sam when they were only teenagers, and built a life together. It's the kind of love story that's one in a million, and they were beating the odds... until they weren't. Now divorced in their 30s, Wren and Ellis have spent the last five years carefully avoiding interaction outside of their co-parenting responsibilities. However, Ellis throws a wrench in the works when he suggests that they take an extended road trip after moving Sam into his college town to see what's left of forever for them.
This book made me realize I'm a sucker for deeply emotional second-chance romances between mature adults (e.g., Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan). The communication, the yearning, the conversations, the passion in this book were AMAZING. I love how their friends and family encouraged them to grow separately, then eagerly supported them in their reconciliation. The spice was spectacular give me 14 of them right now. The end of this book had me sobbing, not because it was sad but because it was so damn beautiful. Tarah DeWitt knows how to write what it is to deeply love someone. If it isn't already obvious, I highly recommend Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt.

SHE'S STILL A MF BYRD!!!! I don't even know what words there are to say about this book. It was perfect in every way and I will never get over it.

Left of forever
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫(4.5)

Tarah once did it again. I just started reading her books recently and I am so honored I got the opportunity to ARC read Left of Forever!! Thank you to st martins press & netgalley for the chance to read this before it released. I truly enjoyed savor it and I was ready for the next book in this series.

Going into Ellis and Wrens story I just knew I was going to be emotional and very invested into their story. The moment Ellis said “ she’s still a Byrd” in savor it I was like NOW I NEED THEIR STORY!! It was heartbreaking, beautiful, fun and I just am in awe of this book.

I look forward to reading more of this series & the rest of Tarah’s work!! Her writing is beautifully done and I am very glad I discovered her this year.

Hands down my all time favorite Tarah DeWitt book. I think it's so raw and real having a divorced couple find love once again. Everything with Wren and Ellis and their journey was the most beautiful, yet emotional ride. I can't say enough for how incredible and touching Left of Forever is. How will I move on? I'll never know.

I knew this book would wreck me in the best way and it did 😭. Wren and Ellis I’ve been so eagerly waiting for but also was hesitant to read because I didn’t want to be disappointed. I had nothing to worry about because this exceeded all my expectations. Deeply romantic and exploring heavy themes, we also have fun and silly laugh out loud moments while hearts are healing. Left of Forever has all the best parts of a second chance romance without any of the unnecessary drama. I love the Byrds so much and need a Silas book stat!!

Thanks to the publisher for the eARC, thoughts are my own.

I was honestly so excited for this book. I had heard literally nothing but raving reviews and I am a sucker for divorced couple/marriage in crisis vibes. I love the angst that usually comes with a story like this. And maybe I just went in with really high expectations, but this was just okay for me and I was pretty disappointed.

I thought the beginning was really strong! I immediately liked our characters and the town. I was so interested to see how everything would play out. I also will say that this book was so quotable! Like Tarah DeWitt can write beautiful books and some of the things specifically Ellis said had me swooning.

But I have to say, my main issue was that I personally felt no longing or pining between them. They both essentially knew they wanted to get back together and pretty much told each other that. So I didn't see the point of it all. Yes, they had some things to talk about, and that was cute, fine, but I also felt like there wasn't much mystery about what happened between them. We got the gist of it pretty early on.

Also, I felt like I had seen so much about this road trip that I was excited for, but felt like it took us forever to get there, And once we did, I felt like it was so fast so the pacing was off for me. Lastly, I had not read Savor It, but at the beginning, didn't really feel like I was missing anything. However, some of the things towards the end didn't really have the impact since I hadn't read that.

So overall, I am so sad that I didn't love this. It was overall fine, enjoyed the characters, but it just didn't blow me away like I wanted it to. But I am very much in the minority. So if interested, still give it a shot!

Thank you so much to the author and SMP Romance for the advanced copy!

Wren and Ellis fell in love as teenagers, had a baby at 17 and got married. They built a life together, but ultimately things fell apart and they separated. Now 5 years post-divorce, the two are road-tripping down to California together to drop their son off at college. The long drive home is the most time they've spent alone together since they were married, and it gives them an opportunity to talk through a lot of their issues and see if their love is worth rekindling.

I read "Savor It" last year and absolutely loved it, so I was excited to see that this sequel was being released about Wren and Ellis. I have read quite a few second chance romances recently and this may be my favorite. It was beautifully written and I was rooting for them from the beginning. I am excited to see if this series continues on for Micah and Silas!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Slow to get into but once I got about halfway I couldn’t stop! Definitely lived up to the hype that’s been all over Instagram and booktok.

I thought this was so romantic. As a second chance at love was just chef's kiss. By the end I was crying and not wanting them to be apart ever.

From the glimpses we got of Wren and Ellis in Savor It, I knew I was going to absolutely adore their story and I was 100% correct.
Their separation and time apart was written with so much tender care, allowing for their pain and longing to be felt so authentically.
I love a second chance romance so much and this one was so special. The work they put in both separately, and together in order to make it back to each other was incredible and so heartwarming.
I loved getting to see more of Ellis especially, he really is the epitome of GROWN MAN, and has been since a very young age, and getting more of his background was great.
I also very much appreciated the little cameo we got of LaRynn and Deacon while Wren and Ellis were in Santa Cruz.
Tarah DeWitt has created such a unique and beautiful community in the small town of Spunes and I loved being back with all these characters, despite sobbing multiple times throughout. I truly hope we get more of this world.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Griffin for sending me an eARC via NetGalley, AND a finished copy!

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!! 🥹🥹