4.25 🌟
Spice: open door

I'm glad I gave this author another shot. While K didn't care for Savor It, this one really left me feeling warm and fuzzy. I'm not usually a huge marriage reconciliation fan, but these two were so great. While the book does tough on some tougher topics, the events themselves happen off page. It felt like a very real take on what could happen in those circumstances. I loved their little road trip and how they did the questions along the way. No matter how long you've known someone, there is always something new to learn.

This was easily one of my favorite second chance romances and favorite romances of all time!!!! This is Tarah DeWitt at her very best. Wren and Ellis’ story is filled to the brim with raw emotion, depth, pure love. It is also gut-wrenching, angsty, and vulnerable all at the same time.

Wren and Ellis fell in love as kids, and had their son Sam as teenagers, further building their life in Spunes, Oregon (obviously not Forks Washington!!!). After their marriage fell apart and they got divorced in their 30’s, they live separate lives… but still a bit rent free in each other’s minds. When Sam is ready to move to college, Ellis persuades Wren to take a road trip with him to give their relationship one last chance. Can they make it for what is left of forever?

Second chance romance at its finest, forced proximity, and two divorcees who are madly in love with each other… utter, utter perfection!

The audiobook is just as amazing of an experience (if not more so) than the written version. It is absolutely, 100% the best time ever!!! I will never stop singing the praises of Tarah’s work, and this was my favorite of hers so far.

Tarah handled heavy topics with grace and sensitivity. Both characters are relatable and shine in their own ways. Very spicy, very cute, very emotional! The epilogue was everything, as were the letters. I will never get over those! I cannot get enough of my babies in Spunes and it was so nice to see Sage, Fisher, and the whole gang again! Also… she still likes it. As do I.

Perfection, 5/5, 10/10, NO NOTES!!!

Tarah DeWitt is a magical human being and i’ll forever read whatever she writes.

what a joy to listen to Wren and Ellis fall back in love.
this audio book was perfection.
gut wrenching perfection.
i’m on this emotional roller coaster with them and i’m never getting off of it.

this story had all of my favorite romance components, dual POV, written letters, finding love again, falling back in love, rekindling a connection that was so deep, it was inevitable for them not to find their way back to each other.

small town romances always get me going.

-getting updates on Sage and Fisher (Savor it) *chefs kiss*
- the narrators were perfect, 10/10 would listen to anything they narrate.
-cry count: 6 sobs (ugly tears and all)
-the spice was freaking steamy and listening to it was 🥵

In Left of Forever, Ellis and Wren were childhood best friends turn couple turn divorced co-parents. But when Ellis finally admits to himself he still loves Wren, he tries to better himself with therapy before attempting to woo her back during a week long road-trip.

I often don’t like second chance romances (the break up was normally for a reason…) but I was pleasantly surprised by Tarah DeWitt’s version. Their past is built out through memories, letters to each other, and journal entries, building out a believable depth while capturing the complicated feelings - the good and the bad baggage of a 25+ year evolving relationship. And I appreciated that you could see Ellis and Wren behaving differently than their previous relationship - finally facing the hard conversations head on instead of avoiding them.

My biggest complaint was that the rekindling felt overshadowed by physical attraction. A lot of their trip was focused on lust (despite claiming they would take it slow). Meanwhile, the final straw of miscommunication in their marriage felt like a large, important topic…but it was resolved in basically a page, coming across as surface level and perfunctory.

I listened to the audio book and enjoyed the narrators. Easy to get into and Connor Craig’s and Megan Wicks do a good job bringing the story to life. If you’ve read Savor It, you’ll immediately recognize all the Byrd family and friends but if you haven’t, you might need to pay a little more attention as a lot of people are thrown at you in the first few chapters.

Thank you to Tarah DeWitt, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review

Second chances never sounded so sweet... or so spicy.

Narrated by Megan Wicks & Connor Crais (a perfect pair!), this audiobook had me hooked. I usually prefer duet narration, but they imitated each other's voices pretty well!

I loved everything about the dynamic between Wren & Ellis. Him yearning for her, the letters between the two, their lasting & intimate connection! Their character development was incredible! Seeing their journey from high school sweethearts, to parents, to divorced co parents and their attempt to find eachother again was beautiful.

I do wish I read "Savour It" first, just for more background information.

What to expect:
- second chance romance
- roadtrip
- small town
- YEARNING
- forced proximity
- firefighter x baker

Thank you netgalley & Macmillan audio for the ALC

I loved Savor It! So, I was excited to go back to Spunes, Oregon for Left of Forever! I love the Bryd family! They’ve stolen my heart. The narration for the audiobook was fantastic! I definitely recommend listening to the audiobook!

Wren and Ellis were both really well developed characters! I could really feel their emotions and understand their motivations. I really loved them together. I struggled to understand why they separated in the first place, but I was glad they found each other again! I’m a sucker for second chances! I especially loved Ellis’ devotion to Wren. I loved how much he loved his family!

I definitely recommend reading this book, but recommend reading Savor it first! It can be read as a stand alone, but Fischer and Sage have my heart!

Read if you like:
❤️ Small Town Romance
❤️ Dual POV
❤️ Second Chances
❤️ Found Family
❤️ Letters & Journals
❤️ Roadtrips

Tarah's best work yet! All of her books find some way to worm into my heart and settle in, and this is one I'll be thinking about for a long time. I loved how relatable the storyline was, even though I've never been married---or divorced. I thought both Wren and Ellis were excellently developed with enough character growth and dynamic personality traits to keep them interesting. Tarah is such an amazing writer, her words flowing easily and wholly sucking you into the story in a way that makes it impossible not to devour.

Highly recommend!

A sweet, nostalgic story of two estranged young childhood sweethearts moving into their empty nest phase while navigating their lingering feelings after their divorce.

Infinity stars.

I read the ebook months ago and it changed my life. Then I devoured the audio version in less than 48 hours and this book changed my life again.

I cannot adequately convey how beautiful. lush, emotional, heart wrenching, and perfect this book is. The story, the characters, the WRITING, and now the audio??? Knock me over with a feather.

I'm now fully convinced that no one other than Megan Wicks and Connor Crais could have done this book justice. They brought all the emotion, all the heart ache, and all the intensity to Tarah's words—and I was RAPT. Absolute perfection.

Thank you forever to MacMillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

the 5 ☆ streak for books about Byrds continues🌲🌊🐦‍⬛🥹!!! my expectations for this book were SO high from the snippets we got of them in Savor It and i’m so pleased to say that Tarah not only met my expectations but exceeded them in so many amazing ways!!! i love them so much🥰🥰🥹🥹🤭🤭

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2nd read: idk how but it got better with time?? i loved it the first time around but listening to the audiobook elevated it and made me even more obsessed!!! hearing the emotion in their voices as they struggle through reconciliation & trusting each other again nearly brought me to tears!!! i HIGHLY recommend this book (& savor it!!!)!!! pls pls read them!!!


thank you SO much to the publisher & netgalley for the free e-arc & audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts!

✨ALC REVIEW✨

I listened to this is one day, that's how completely captivated I was. Five stars for entertainment, five stars for the vibes, five stars for the characters, five stars for the plot, five stars for making my cry, five stars for the spice, five stars for the humor. FIVE FREAKING STARS.

This was such a beautifully written second chance. I love a good second chance, especially when they tug on your heartstrings. The tropes in this are delicious: childhood friends to lovers to marriage in crisis to divorcees to marriage redemption to lovers. You get small town, found family, road trip with amazing banter, and forced proximity that has you giddy AF.

I loved the journey that these two get to take to see if they can do things right this time around. I loved them getting to learn to love each other again. I loved that the love never left. I absolutely ate these two up and rooted for them SO HARD.

I loved their chemistry, I loved their teasing OH SO MUCH. I giggled and found myself smiling way too much.

Everything was adorable. I just loved every aspect of this book. It just truly felt like such a breath of fresh air.

For me to finish an audiobook in a day, it has to enchant me - it has to capture my attention fully. And this did just that.

Wren and Ellis are a gorgeous couple. I loved their personalities and I love how raw and vulnerable they get for each other. I love how real they felt. I love how, even after everything, they just want the other to be happy. These two are truly best friends and I'm so glad they found their way back to each other. These two are just meant to be -plain and simple.

I could go on for hours about how beautiful this story was - but I think we get it! Just know, this is definitely worth the read or listen. I highly recommend this one and it's definitely pushed me to read more from Tarah asap!

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Tarah DeWitt for an ALC copy of this beautiful story!

I recently gave myself permission to stop reading a book at any point for any reason. I'm so glad I didn't listen to myself. The beginning took longer to grab my interest than I I would normally like but I continued because I love Tarah Dewitt and knew she would deliver. And boy did she deliver. The payoff would not have been as sweet without the beginning.

Much like the eyeball read, this audio changed my life. I am always more emotional over books when I’m listening, but even more than usual I could feel the emotions, the yearning, the heartbreak, the love…everything! Between Wren and Ellis. There is no one like Tarah DeWitt, and this audio is absolutely PERFECTz . hats off to the narrators. They are SUPERB!

Thanks to macmillan audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Left of Forever is my first foray into Tarah DeWitt’s writing, and I really enjoyed it.

I loved the setting and all of its details. This felt like such a rich story, and I’ll definitely go back to read the first book in this series.

There was so much emotion between the lines of these pages. Wren and Ellis burned for each other, and I felt the steam coming off them. I swooned as they rekindled their relationship, and my heart warmed as they healed.

I recommend this for readers who enjoy spicy, angsty romances with characters in their 30s.

What to expect:
💕 marriage in crisis / divorced couple
✨second chance romance
🧁 she owns a bakery
👨‍🚒 firefighter MMC
🚙 road trip
🏘️ small town
🥵 hot and spicy

I tandem read this with the audiobook. I highly recommend that format. Connor Crais and Megan Wicks sounded great!

My rating: 4.25⭐️

Thank you so much Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ALC!

Infinity stars!!

I have loved all of Tarah's books, but this one is on another level for me. This is an all time favorite book that I will be rereading endlessly. Left of Forever is not just a romance book. It's full of found family, heartbreak, tender moments, self discovery, healing, and hope. I found myself relating so much to these characters. This is a soul book for me. Each page made me ache in the best way. By the end, it had completely unraveled me and left me raw. I could seriously go on and on about the masterpiece that this is.

Left of Forever is a second chance romance between Wren and Ellis Byrd. They fell in love as kids, had their son, and then life happened. They end up getting divorced. They're both trying to figure out life without each other. The painful yearning that I felt from them both had me crying several times.

I loved every aspect of this audiobook. Connor Crais portrayed the perfect Ellis Byrd. His deep and gravelly voice fit Ellis's personality perfectly to my brain. Megan Wicks was phenomenal with Wren Byrd. Not only did she portray her attitude spot on, but she also her emotions so well that I couldn't help but be sucked in and sobbing for most of this book. I truly felt as if I was on facetime with them hearing their story. They took two fictional characters and made them REAL for me.

Left of Forever has:
- Second chance romance
- Small town
- They write notes to each other
- Found family
- Firefighter MMC
- Baker FMC
- Road trip
- One tent
- top tier YEARNING

I will be shouting and crying about this one into eternity!

This audiobook is actual perfection. Connor Crais & Megan Wicks were the most perfect narrators to portray Ellis & Wren and I was absolutely feral over the dual narration. 10/10! This is going to be a new comfort listen for me.

I don’t know how but this heightened my reading experience the second time reading this beautiful book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc.

When I saw the cover for Left of Forever, I knew I needed to find out more. I haven’t had a chance to read the previous book (Savor It) yet, but I had no issues jumping right into this one.

Left of Forever was an emotional and angsty second chance romance. It’s about love, family, and friendship, but also how love can grow, shift, and sometimes break. For me, the second chance romance trope hinges on the reason for the separation and this one nailed it. It’s so rarely just one thing that breaks a relationship. It’s the culmination of unsaid words, resentments, and ultimately deciding to not to keep choosing the other person. I’ll admit that some of the moments in the book hit especially close to home and I could 100% relate to both Ellis and Wren and understand how everything fell apart. I do wish there would have been an even bigger focus on them communicating honestly with each other instead of physically, but I understand that closeness is a language in itself. I loved how united the Byrd family was (especially in their meddling) and it was beautiful to see everything come full circle in the end.

I read half of the book via ebook and the other half via audiobook. Both narrators did a great job, but I loved Connor Crais’s performance so much, I almost went back to relisten to the first half. lol It was a fun treat to have the audiobook feature duet style text messages and letters too (ie: Connor Crais narrates letters/messages from Ellis while Megan Wicks narrates those from Wren). This was a really wonderful listening experience.

Audiobook Review
Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 4 stars

CW (from the author):
Ectopic pregnancy—occurs off page
Conversations referencing infertility in the past
Explicit language
Explicit sexual content
Death of an unknown character that occurs off page, caused by a fire

*I voluntarily read and listened to a review copy of this book*

Tarah did it again! I loved Savor It, but Left of Forever hit all the feels and left me swooning. This book was beautiful, moving, and oh so hot. The personal growth by both characters and their no nonsense communication made their connection even hotter once it finally boiled over (again). Connor Crais and Megan Wicks gave wonderful performances and I highly recommend listening to this one. 10/10- no notes.

“One day…when we’re very old and gray…one of us will open our eyes to a day that the other won’t…but we’ll smile knowing how full life has been…knowing how we spent forever…everything left of it…together.” - Wren (cue the tears).

Left of Forever is such a touching second chance romance. Sometimes couples go through things and they are not sure how to come back from it and this book was a perfect example of that. Although Wren and Ellis divorced the love they had for each other shined throughout this book. I thoroughly enjoyed their love and romantic connection and could see how it was possible for them to struggle within their marriage without the loss of love.

For the audiobook performance, my goodness. Connor and Megan did a superb job! I could not stop listening to this audiobook and finished it in one day. They did a great job at making me feel like I was just as invested as they were in the character’s lives. One of my favorites thus far.