Oh my gosh this was amazing!

Savor It is a small town romance focused on Sage, a high school social studies teacher, and Fisher, a renowned chef from New York. (Plus Sages entourage of farm animals and Fishers niece who he is guardian of.)

This is the first Tarah Dewitt book I've ever read and I had a feeling from her social media presence that she would write my kind of books - I was correct. Excuse me while I go devour everything else she's ever written.

There is not one character in this book that I didn't love, all of them stole a place in my heart. Even the ones I wasn't really supposed to like. Please take me back to Spunes immediately. The banter between Sage and Fisher was everything that I love about romance novels, and the PUNS. Amazing.

Read this if you like:
-Small Town Romance
-Grumpy/Sunshine
-Fake Dating
-Grief/Healing journey
-Puns
-Cleverly Named Animals

Thanks to NetGalley and Tarah Dewitt for the early readers copy! So grateful I got to put this story in my brain.

What does this author put in the books to make them so fantastic? I love this from page one and I can’t wait to read what comes next.

such a cute small town romance about healing yourself while also healing someone else with a small town bakery, a chef and all the animals we wish we could rescue ourselves

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read an ARC of Savor It.

Savor It is about Sage and Fisher. Fisher comes to the small town of Spunes, Oregon from New York City, trying to pick himself up after years of hardship and re-establish himself in the culinary world, all while trying to raise his still grieving teenage niece after the loss of her mother years ago. Sage is the girl next door if the girl next door had a farm full of misfit animals, a field of growing flowers, and after losing her parents young, a passion for trying to embrace life and all the little joys. Sage can't help but do what she can for Fisher and his niece, and Fisher can't help but fall for her as she does, but this can't last when he's only here for the summer....right?

I really enjoyed this book! I think that this book will really resonate with anyone who has ever felt the pressure to escape a small town for a big city. While for some that change is one that speaks to their soul, for others, it is a reaction to feeling the need to strive for something bigger because it seems as though it is better, and might make them better too.

I like Tarah DeWitt, her writing is great. I enjoyed "Savor It" but it felt like the chemistry between Sage and Fisher didn't have depth. One of my favorite thing it's that the book has dual POV so you get to really know both characters. Solid 3.5 stars.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

This was a slow start for me, but I definitely loved the characterizations of Sage and Fisher, as the story progressed.

I loved the family dialogue more than the romance, but still enjoyable.

A chef and an animal-loving, flower gardener falling in love?! Yes, please! I loved the quaint little town, and it's quirky characters all surrounding the lovers. I wish I worked in that library!

I am participating in the St Martin’s Press boycott. I will not publicly be reviewing this title until St. Martin’s Press addresses reader concerns.

📖 𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧 𝙄𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙏𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙝 𝘿𝙚𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙩

"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴."

Fisher, a renowned chef, lost himself along his rise to success. After the sudden death of his sister, his career tanked and he became the guardian to his teenage niece that he left in the care of his parents. Three years later he finds himself being sent to a small town for the summer to help start up a new restaurant. Fisher and his niece try to navigate their new normal and make friends with their neighbor and her eccentric farm.

Sage has spent most of her life trying to help others and is the golden girl of the town. A year ago she got out of a longtime relationship. Now she’s just trying to find her happiness in a small town where everyone knows everything.

Fisher and Sage’s relationship was a slow build and super sweet. They both helped the other heal old wounds and find a new happiness. The spice was nice!
Spice level: 2 🌶️

This was just a nice easy and non problematic love story between two people trying to find a path for themselves. The animal sidekicks really stole the show in this one! I loved each and every single one of the animals. The town’s people were great and added a lot of humor to the story! Fisher and Sage’s meet cute was PRICELESS!

Tropes:
🦋Life After Loss
🫶🏼Fake Dating
💞Dual POV
🪿Animal Sidekicks
🥵Library lessons
💋Finding Yourself

Thank you to NetGalley for my eARC of this story so that I could share this honest review! Savor It will be available in May 2024. If you are in need of a sweet love story, you definitely need to add this to your TBR!

What a joy this book was! This is my first book by this author and certainly not my last. I appreciate how this story feels like a hug but the author doesn’t shy away from the hard things. She made these characters feel SO real. They are flawed, funny, and relatable (I love you Sage and Fisher).

📖Read This If You Love:
- Small towns
- Hallmark movie vibes but with spice
- Relatable characters
- Witty banter
- Books that are funny and full of heart

Highly recommend for your next feel good romance! Thank you to @netgalley and @authortarahdewitt for my eARC 🫶🏻

Romances always help to improve the mood and this one with faking dating doesn't disappoint. Sage and Fisher plan to work together to help improve Fisher's image and he will fake date Sage. Sage doesn't plan on falling in love she just needs a partner for the competition. This book mixes steam with friendship very well.

This is my first book by this author and I loved everything about it!!! The cover is so cute. I can’t wait to get a copy for my shelf

Savor It was such a lovely book! It was warm, cozy, and uplifting! Fisher and Sage were adorable, funny, interesting, and mature. I really appreciate the lack of drama and focus on their individual growth. The setting of small-town was so sweet. I hope the next book focuses on another other Byrd family member.

I think we all knew where Sage and Fisher were headed from the get-go. Their chemistry was instantaneous and so hot (though it was definitely a slow burn!). Even when they were just friends, they were so aware of each other's feelings and needs. That's the dream! I was so uncertain of whether they would actually end up together due to the nature of Fisher and Indy's lives and relationships, and was very much happy with where things landed. Indy crying over her goose made me cry laugh. Quirky things like that made me fall in love with this book. A three-legged cat named Legoless? Genius! References to a phallic shaped building at the beginning of the book had me interested immediately - hook, line, and sinker.

This was a quirky, adorable romance novel that taught me some valuable lessons. I truly enjoyed reading it.

Wow, what a book. I read it in two sittings it was so great! I loved the small town, dual pov and fun writing. It really felt like my friends were telling me their love story and i just kept wanting more.

I have never read a book by ms. DeWitt and now all I want to do is start at the beginning of her catalog. I fell in love with the Hero and Heroine, loving how she played on the pun of Sage's name in so many ways. I love how this book made me feel like I need to move to Spunes tomorrow and buy a canoe. The little touches that circle this book back together were fantastic. There were so many touching moments but also so many fun ones, like Indy and her goose.

Please tell me there will be a second Spunes book with Wren and Ellis and then her other 2 brothers (then Sam and Indy in the future)!

I judged a book by its cover, and boy did this book live up to the beautiful ombre pinks and purples.

📔 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼: Savor It by Tarah Dewitt

📚𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲: Small town romance, opposites attract, only for the summer, all of the feels, chef vibes.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Fisher is banished to a small town in Oregon after losing his job and his Michelin star, doomed to consult on a new restaurant in a small town. While he struggles with his new normal, and his relationship with his niece, who is in his care, he can’t help, but get to know his quirky neighbor, Sage.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: This book is everything I hoped it would be.

Tara DeWitt has a way of writing these intensely relatable romances. While I may not be able to identify directly with the same things that Sage and Fisher are going through, there’s lessons in their journey about growing and appreciating the life you’re given.

But that is all an undercurrent, swallowed up in a beautiful romance that cracks your heart right out of your chest. I love a story where two characters legitimately can’t help but love each other. Fisher and Sage are helpless against the pull to one another, and it was so great to be back and Tarah Dewitt’s world of tension and feeling.

And if you know me, I would be remiss not mentioning the fact that I’m always searching for a good chef romance... A book where the food becomes part of the romance, and Tara, DeWitt nailed it with nods to some of my favorite kitchen-inspired shows and movies.

I can tell you I’m legitimately JUMPING for this book when it hits shelves, and it will be an immediate reread - the ultimate honor I could bestow. It’s just THAT good.

📝 𝗔 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲… It hasn’t been announced yet, but if Tara DeWitt doesn’t give us more books for the rest of the Byrd family, I will quite literally riot.

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3/5 🌶🌶🌶

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.

<b> a perfect title for a perfect book </b>

From the moment I picked this book up, I was immersed in the cozy, small town of Spunes, Oregon. I genuinely feel like this book is the equivalent of that one sweater you always end up putting on because it is just comfier than the other 35 you own. I am not sure whether it is the coastal PNW scenery or the lovable background characters of this small town, but it felt so endlessly comforting and I finished this and immediately wanted to dive back in.

Don't tell Farley or Meyer, but Sage and Fisher might have nudged them out of my favorite of Tarah's couples. These two just have such a tangible chemistry and an understanding of one another that their story just hit differently.

Sage is such a wonderful representation of being unapologetically who you are, loving big, and following your joy. I came out of this book really wanting to take parts of her with me, to aspire to be like her. Then we have Fisher... this man is so so so hot. I adored how lost and closed off he was when we first met him, and then as he found comfort and healing, he blossomed into a sensitive, loving man.

As always, Tarah gives us such incredible duality in the humor and the more serious topics. The comedic moments had me giggling and laughing out loud, while the depictions of deeper themes such as grief and career burnout were incredibly honest and handled with such care.

Another 5-star read that I can't wait to dive back into and experience all over again.

Tarah DeWitt has done it again! After reading Funny Feelings, Rootbound, and now Savor it, Tarah has officially cemented herself on my list of autobuy authors. The way she is able to create romance stories with so much depth is truly special. There were many parts in this book that spoke to my soul and I already can't wait to reread it! Although both characters carry a lot of baggage and trauma, it was truly refreshing to see how open and communicative they were with one another. They were both grieving different things, in different ways, and yet were able to come together so beautifully in times of need. I cried, I laughed, I SQUEALED. This was everything I needed and more and I can't wait for more people to read it.

The super short blurb: Fisher Lange's life is slowly falling apart. When he is forced to move to Spunes, Oregon, he meets Sage Byrd, the local "golden girl". Together they hatch a plan to help each other. What starts off as a simple deal, quickly grows into something so much more.

Releasing May 21, 2024. You will absolutely love this if you like:
- Small town romance
- Dual POV
- Grumpy x sunshine
- Forced proximity
- Single guardian
- Fake dating

"Summer won't last forever"

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt & St. Martin's Griffin for the ability to read this an eARC of Savor it. What a breath of fresh air! This is a story about Sage & Fisher, a couple who coincidentally meet when Fisher is tasked to take on the opening of a new restaurant in the small town of Spunes, Oregon, strike up a friendship, and happen to fall in love. Sage is a high school teacher who is passionately living her life while professional chef Fisher is facing burnout, challenges navigating custody of his niece & trying to find the spark in his life. I absolutely adored this book! It truly felt like I was experiencing the gentle sunrise of a beautiful day.

This is my first Tarah DeWitt book and I just adored how Sage and Fisher's relationship felt so organic. Their pacing & relationship progression was perfect and (I'm making a big assumption here) she seemed to really set the small town and side characters (e.g., potential future lead characters) without overshadowing the current book. I am pretty sure I smiled throughout the entire read as there are no major conflicts and the challenges faced are done so in a mature and healthy way. This is a perfect book for someone who is looking for a rollercoaster-free romance that still gives you butterflies.

I really hope this book turns into a series as I'm now invested in the other characters/siblings!

I absolutely adore this book. I love small town romances but big city girl and small town boy gets old after awhile so I'm glad this was the opposite. I love Sage so much. Her love for the little things, for animals, and for the world around her. Fisher was such a sweetheart and really was trying his best. I love when characters actually work through their problems. And no miscommunication!!! Usually romance books almost always give in to the miscommunication trope and it gets so annoying when you know what's going to happen in the last 50 pages. I was actually scared for a second that this book was going to end on a sad note but I was happy to see the happy ending for this. I love the message of this book basically being to stop and smell the roses.

Unfortunately I had to dnf this book. I just felt like the plot was going nowhere. The two main characters didn’t really have great chemistry either.

thank you to St. Martin’s and NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.