My first book by this author and it was refreshing to read about a small town romance where the main characters are not torn apart by the town drama, but instead leverage the backdrop to help them grow, heal, and learn to love themselves and each other.

Sage is a high school teacher with a big heart for people and animals even given her own past sadness. Fisher is a NY based Michelin star chef who is shipped to Sage's hometown to both retreat and reset himself after a series of unfortunate events including becoming his niece's new guardian.

I loved the banter and chemistry between the main characters, the love and pride of the small town folks and how they take care of each other, and the relationship with the teenage niece and her uncle was so spot on as they navigate their grief, relationship and her just being a teen.

Appreciate the ARC NetGalley!

Tarah DeWitt has done it again! Everything she writes is gold. I love how her characters have true human struggles, and that plays into the story development, as well as the development of the main characters' relationship.

Sage knows and accepts her flaws beautifully, while also finding herself in her relationship with Fisher. Fisher takes his cues from her on how to learn and grow from his. Without even realizing it, these two needed each other to become the best version of themselves.

Tarah DeWitt creates a small town vision with her words, her characters, the animals included, and her story. Without giving away the perfection of Sage and Fisher's story, I will promise, if Meyer and Farley are a favorite, you won't be disappointed.

This is honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read. I love it so much and I desperately didn’t want it to ever end.

Absolutely adored this book and can't wait for others to experience it!

I giggled all the way through it!

Small-town romance ✅
Swoony characters ✅
Slow burn ✅

Definitely pick this one up!

My new favorite by Tarah Dewitt! Loveable characters in a charming small town, with banter that made me laugh out loud, authentic and realistic conversations that made me cry, and a love story that gave me all of the feels. A truly five star read!

4.5 stars rounded up?!! What a lovely romcom to finish out my year. It gave me the same warm feelings as my experiences reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry and Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez (2 of my favorite romance books ever). You'd think this would read as a cheesy Hallmark movie with the premise- the small-town hero convinces the big-city chef to embrace the little things. And yet it's so much more than that. I loved their authentic conversations about grief and therapy. The minor book characters (really hoping for a second-chance romance book 2 with Wren and Ellis) And I love a good dual POV. The reason it isn't a 5-star for me is because I felt like some major characters (a la Wren) disappeared in the last 40% of the book when she arguably should've been the mainstay in a very difficult period for the FMC. And there were a few word choices that felt so out of place, like a thesaurus on shuffle mode. I actually had to look up if the author was British because of how proper the English was towards the beginning of the book. I was shocked when it was revealed the small town was in Oregon! Minor issues for me personally but I loved the book overall and would def recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! Publish date: 05/21/2024

Summary: Exhausted in the midst of rebuilding his career as a Michelin-star chef, Fisher is relocated from NYC to small-town Oregon. He brings along his niece as they hope for a fresh start while coming to terms with the loss of his sister. Sage is the small-town FMC hero character with enough love, farm animals, and advice to go around, but struggles to put herself first. She's determined to build her confidence in the midst of a bad breakup. Despite the multiple differences between their personal lives, can love bloom?

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Farah DeWitt for allowing me to review this ARC!

I just finished reading this book and all I have to say is that it was such a breath of fresh air. A sweet story taking place in a small town where Fisher and his niece move next door to Sage. Fisher not exactly feeling confident in his life right now, raising his sister's daughter after her death, he feels uncertain about his next steps. Enter Sage, a carefree teacher who makes him forget about needing to be the next best thing, the perfect chef with the most awards. They both find solace and comfort in each other and discover that maybe what expectations he had were not always what should happen; that's it's ok to live a simple life with those you love!

An inspirational story that shows that you don't have to be perfect, the best in your business, living a grandiose life to have a rich life. Sometimes what you believe should happen to make a person happy doesn't have to. I very much enjoyed this story. Low on spice level but with great charm. Will definitely recommend!

Savor It by Tarah DeWitt is a small-town romance and the story of Sage and Fisher.
 
Sage has lived in Spunes, Oregon all her life and she has built a happy place with a little farm surrounded by animals and a beautiful garden. I absolutely loved her farm and the charming coastal small town. Sage is such a loving and a bit eccentric person and I adore her. But life isn’t always roses and rainbows and when her partner of five years leaves her and is engaged to someone else shortly after, she is devastated by it.
 
Fisher is a successful chef from New York whose life gets turned upside down after the loss of his sister when he became the guardian of his teenage niece Indy. I liked how this book dealt with grief and showed how everyone has bumps in his life. And Fisher is on a down path with his career after he loses one of his Michelin stars. Therefore, a change of scenery is the perfect opportunity to fall back in love with his job and his life.
 
The people of Spunes are rather skeptical of Fisher and see him as an outsider. So, he desperately needs to improve his image and his neighbor Sage helps him with it and it’s a win-win for both. They spent more time together and slowly fell in love and I adored following that. This romance is very cute, and I especially loved how supportive they are of each other.
 
Overall, Savor It is my favorite of Tarah DeWitt‘s books and it’s a great small-town romance. 4 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

Fisher Lange is a New York chef who has recently lost a Michelin star. He’s also the legal guardian to his teenage niece, Indy. After the loss of the star and a public meltdown, Fisher’s boss sends him to Spunes, Oregon for the summer to consult on a new restaurant. Sage Byrd has lived in Spunes all her life. She lives in the house that belonged to her parents and runs a farm with a variety of animals. When Fisher rents the house next door to Sage, the two fall into summer love…

I thought that the character’s backstories and the tension were built up well. I’m no chef so I have no idea if they were realistic, but I enjoyed the descriptions of all the food. I enjoyed both Sage and Fisher as characters so watching their romance build was beautiful. I enjoyed their interactions, their self-reflections, their growth and honesty with each other.

I would agree with other reviews that this book started off a bit slow but I understand it was necessary in order to present the background.

Overall this was a cute and quick read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up! Savor It is a cute, small town romance about two imperfect people finding love and acceptance. A great, cute, and fast read!

I love Tarah DeWitt's writing and small town romances. So I had a feeling I'd like this book. Little did I know I'd be crying and laughing, sometimes in the same chapters, I fell in love with the side characters and misfit animals, and would love to visit Spunes again.

This was my first Tarah DeWitt book and was hoping for more but maybe I chose the wrong book to start with. I was hoping for more overall, but it was a bit of a letdown. The writing was a bit jumbled and the story wasn’t necessarily engaging. It could’ve been a sweet story but it was missing something.

A love story searingly thought provoking, genuine, and displays a vulnerability that can be relatable to many.
Tarah has a natural knack at weaving words and wisdom with such succinct that I take a pause at every moment. The kind of story that not only teaches you something but inevitably makes you fall in love with yourself as well.

I would definitely classify this as a small town romance. Two people with opposite views of what a "small town" mindset entails - learning about things they never thought they would. Force proximity allows some pretty slow burn scenes and open a window of them slowly falling in love with each other. Spice is PERFECT.

I love how Sage lives in the moment. How kind and caring she is to adopt a three legged cat, a giant dog, miniature goats, geese, and even a horse. Sage lives quite quirky but what a colorful life it is. I especially love all the animal moments. They make a very fun and cute comedic break in the woeful moments.

Fisher arrives in Spunes at one of the lowest points of his life, in tow a niece that he is now in charge of. Single parent life. I think Fisher's flaw is something many can relate to. When you are young you strive to be the best but when you are the best, it is a hard place to maintain because more than likely you will tumble down and Fisher had. Working so hard he forgot to live and enjoy life. I love that Sage's shows him how to live in the moment. "Impermanence" I love that Fisher shows his affection not just in physical touch but also food. A man that can cook is a KEEPER.

I have highlighted many passages in this book but my most favorite is "figure out what you want and where you want it, and you go after it...... and maybe anyone that fits into that is who your people are meant to be."

So poignant and such a kernel of wisdom to live by. But's definitely not easy but like Indy's mom says "courage is a muscle. You strengthen it with use".

I definitely teared up in many passages of this book. This book is GOLD. I cannot wait to get a physical copy. I cannot wait to hear people talk about this book. I cannot wait to gush about what an amazing book this is.

A perfect Spring romcom to be devoured.

Sage has lived in Spunes all her life. When her 5 yr relationship ends and her ex gets engaged right after, she needs a partner to stop everyone from pitying her. Fisher has never recovered from the loss of his sister. His boss sends him to Spunes to recover and Fisher wants to earn the town's approval.

Love the small town setting. The town itself is a fun character. Fisher and Sage are terrific together. Love their chemistry. A very enjoyable read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

DNF after 3 chapters.

I was incredibly disappointed with this book. Being such a fan of Tarah’s, I was thrilled this was read now.

Right away, this book felt very jumbled, but also pretentious. The episode of friends where Joey writes an adoption recommendation for Monica and Chandler… where he uses a thesaurus for every word to sound smart - “They have full sized aortic pumps” - that’s why reading this book felt like. I felt there was so much introduced in the first chapter alone that I couldn’t keep up.

What also bothered me is that Fisher and Sages chapters felt written by different authors.


Just overall, a let down

I stopped at the end of chapter 1 (5%). I found myself really bored. The writing isn’t engaging, and the plot setup seems like it will be very slow. Which, the title is “Savor It,” so it makes sense. It’s a me thing. There was some amusing humor sprinkled throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

Like a Hallmark movie with fantastic spice. It had all of the makings of a perfect romance; small-town, boy rents the house next door for an entire summer, a fake-relationship to make an ex jealous, a friends-with-benefits arrangement gone wrong, and two individuals worthy of love (seriously, I loved Sage and Fisher!). This was my first read from Tarah Dewitt and I will definitely be reading more from her.

Thank you NetGalley and Tarah Dewitt for the ARC of Savor It.

Read this if you like:
•slow burns
•small town romance
•single parent of niece
•Pacific Northwest

Two people doing the best they can and finding their way. Spunes was such a funky and cute small town. This was a quick read and I enjoyed! I will say the beginning started off choppy and took me a bit to get into. I usually like dual POV but there were times that when it switched POVs, it went back and replayed the previous scene just in the other POV and that felt repetitive for me. Once I got into the book though and looked past a few things, it was so cute! 3.5⭐️s for me rounded up!

Thank you St Martins Press for eARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5⭐️ I feel like an outlier with my review, but I was not gushing over this love story as much as I anticipated, especially because I LOVED Tarah’s other books.

I had the hardest time getting into the story, which I think influenced how I felt about the rest. However, once I got over that hurdle (50%), I became more invested in Sage and Fischer’s relationship and the realism DeWitt included in the budding romance. They were honest about their emotions and mature about the situations life threw at them. Plus, a hero who is a chef, is one of my favorites in a romance book. I will also add that I really enjoyed the side cast of characters, especially Indy, and I am excited to see where this series goes next.

Read if you like:
-Slow burn
-Chefs
-Single parent of niece
-Meddling townies
-Small town/ farm setting

Thank you SMP for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! Pub 5/21/23

I have to say, this was hard for me at the start. some books are just like that to me. I'll struggle to get past the first 10-15% of it, but I pushed through because I Love Tarah Dewitt's books, and because I knew it would be worth it, and worth it, it was. God this book tore a hole in my soul and I'm not sure I'll recover from it. My first Tarah book was Funny Feelings because @ivyfairbanksbooks posted about how happy she was that Tarah Dewitt, author of funny feelings had said she liked Ivy's book. Being a huge fan of Morbidly Yours, I figured Ivy must have a reason for liking Tarah's stuff, so I threw it into my KU tbr and a few days later started it, and finished it within the day.

Farley and Meyer had me laughing, crying, and cheering for them, but Sage and Fisher had me falling in love with them, and Spunes too. I too understand the small town life, and while I don't exactly love it where I live, I think I'll just end up finding myself in yet another small town somewhere down the line. They're cozy, they're lovable. They're hard to escape. I get why Fisher fell in love with Spunes (and sage), as much as I get why Sage fell in love with fisher (and was in love with life). Farley and Meyer were my favorites, but I think, maybe, just maybe, I have a spot in my heart a bit bigger for Fisher and Sage.

I guess all's to say I wouldn't have thought to check out Tarah's work if not for Ivy, so thank you Ivy for putting such an amazing author on my radar, and thank you Tarah for writing such a beautiful, heart wrenching book. I'm so glad to have been able to grab an ARC of it.