Unfortunately this was a DNF for me, but, I still rate it 3 stars. Why? This isn’t a bad book by any means, the writer is talented and is great at creating characters and an engaging environment. The problem for me was this leaned into cozy, goofy territory at times. It feels like a Gilmore Girls episode come to life complete with goofy girl and grumpy guy. As someone who is not a fan at all of Gilmore Girls, and any work similar to that, this book simply wasn’t for me.

My favorite character was the goose. My favorite character should NOT be the goose.

Now in my defense I knew this was small town, this is exactly why I requested it but this was soft and cozy small town where I like angsty small town, think Book Lovers (marry me Nora & Charlie).

So while I DNF’ed this I do recognize that this book IS technically good, this is probably a 5 star book for a lot of readers. I’m sure there are readers who will love this couple and the cozy small town vibes, and it delivers on the coziness to the nth degree. For me it was just too cozy.

I’m just not the target audience and I wouldn’t feel right giving my typical one star DNF because again, not a bad book, just not for me.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the arc.

Wow I loved this book. Tarah Dewitt knows how to freaking write a book man. I was sucked in from the start but the last 15% was my absolute favorite.

I adore Sage. She is all the best parts of the best people. The helpers. The givers.

Fisher my dude. 😭 book boyfriend of my dreams.

I tried really hard with this one. I wondered why I hadn’t read a Tarah Dewitt book before, but then remembered I DNFed Funny Feelings.

I thought maybe that was a one off, but at 47%, I am finally hanging up the flag and also DNFing this one.

It had a lot of promise, and I really like the two personalities of the MCs… but there was too much inner dialogue and I also couldn’t really see the connection between the two. At least not as much quick as I would’ve liked to.

Definitely a slow burn, tension filled romance. So if those two tropes are up your alley, you probably would like this one.

Thank you to Netgalley, Tarah Dewitt, and the publisher for the e-arc. All thoughts are my own, and are left voluntarily.

This book snuck up on me. It started slow, and I felt like I was getting told a lot of detail and plot line instead of picking it up through the story as it unfolds. I would almost describe it as dense, which is not a word I usually use for a romance. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be for me. But…. I’m so glad I kept going because by the end I was invested and crying over a goose, a miniature horse, and people falling in love and figuring out how to get what they want. My favorite part of this book was that no one really messed up or did anything wrong, it was more about going through life and figuring out how and what to prioritize in order to be happy. In a genre full of third act breakups caused by avoidable situations, this was refreshingly different! And the descriptions of food- my mouth was watering!

Savor it follows fisher and sage after fisher temporarily moved to sage’s small town with his niece.. they find themselves relying on each other with their friendship building into more. I enjoyed this book, it felt a little long at parts but overall a good read

Savor It was my introduction to Tarah Dewitt and I wish I’d read her books sooner! I admired her writing, squealed, kicked my feet, laughed and teared up through this whole story. It’s a small-town, single parent, swoooooony summer romance and I gobbled it up.

WHAT I LOVED MOST:

Sage. No wonder Fisher fell so hard! She’s so loveable. Her quirks, her love for animals and her hometown, her growth as a character. She was hilarious and had so much depth to her. One of my top favorite FMC now.

Gary! That heartstruck goose honked his way into Indy’s heart and it was precious.

The 90’s-2000’s pop culture references, especially Twilight. Tarah Dewitt sung to my millennial heart.

Spunes. The cutest small town ever, and I hope there are more stories to come.


FAVORITE QUOTES:
“And god, I wish she’d appreciate a melodramatic rendition of, “YOU IMPRINTED ON MY SON?!” and get the reference, but alas, I think the nuance would be lost on her.”

“I nod and shrug in slow motion. ‘According to the holy trinity otherwise known as the Chicks, wide-open spaces give one room to make some big mistakes, too.’”

“Her hands float across everything as she passes it by, the touch loving and sweet. I imagine the plants all smiling at her adoringly as she goes.”

“Something tells me I couldn’t have you pegged in a decade, let alone a few days, Sage. But even I can tell that you’re vast.”

"I’ve known plenty of people who wear their hearts on their sleeves, but a handful of interactions is all it’s taken for me to determine that this woman carries hers in her fist, ready to hand it off at any given time."

Thank you Tarah Dewitt and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. I pre-ordered it immediately and it sits happily on my shelf as I finish this review.

3.5 stars
Having recently read Funny Feelings and falling in love with it, I was ecstatic to pick up another book by Tarah Dewitt. However, while I like her character writing and the setting of this novel, the story didn't hook me the way I was hoping it would. As I mentioned, the small town setting of this story is idyllic and dreamy, and Sage is a very sweet character, but I had a lot of issues with the pacing of this story. The pacing of Sage and Fisher's friendship and romance seemed rushed at times, and overall had an awkward timeline. Often, they were very blunt sharing their feelings and trauma with each other when I felt like they were hardly even established as friends. I did really like them as a couple once near the end of the book, but there were many moments reading this book when I couldn't tell if the romance was going to develop any more or stay in the limbo it was in. One a more positive note, I did really like the message of this book regarding career ambitions and personal happiness. As I get older, I grow weary of romances with billionaire love interests that promote idealizing wealth. Instead, I love when author's address that personal happiness should always take priority. So overall, I still love this author and this book had many elements I loved, but I feel like in it's production Savor It's marketable setting, vibes, and tropes got prioritized, when the priority should have been creating a cohesive and increasingly captivating love story.
Thank you to the publisher and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was beyond good. Great if I must say. I can’t wait to rave about this to everyone. If you are looking for a good book, pick this up.

୨⎯ 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒔 ⎯୧
rating: 3.5
narration: 4
plot: 3.5
characters: 4
writing: 4
romance: 3.75
spice: 2.5

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

°•*⁀➷ what to expect
small town
summer romance
opposites attract
he takes care of his niece
she collects animal babies
he’s a softie for her
she’s strong and independent
they both lost someone/s they love
neighbors

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

°•*⁀➷ the plot
a cute romance in a small town named spoons that’s all about canoes. it gave me gilmore girl mixed with virgin river vibes. fisher, a chef, and his high school niece indie relocate to a small town for the summer to help start a restaurant for his boss in new york. and he meets sage who shows the two around town and helps them both heal a little bit from their grieving and discover that small towns aren’t always so bad.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

°•*⁀➷ the characters
𝜗𝜚 sage:
i loved her, she was such a fun character and reminded me of actual sunshine and i loved her personality and how she just took in all the abandoned and stray animals, like no hesitation. that’s the dream farm. how she immediately clicked with indie was so cute.


𝜗𝜚 fisher:
i love that he first attempted to be so grumpy but was an actual melted buttery cinnamon roll for sage. we love to see it. i also loved to see him recover from his slump because of his time in spoons. and his progress with indie too.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

°•*⁀➷ the writing
this is my first Tarah Dewett book and will not be my last, it was put together so well and had me giddy ready for more. The writing was fast paced but not rushed and wrote even some of the side characters as intriguing and captivating to know more about.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

°•*⁀➷ the romance
so CUTE! i loved that sage and fisher were friends first, and that she was there for indie too. she was so quirky and just absolutely adorable. she definitely gave off the vibes of being an elementary school teacher, jessica day vibes for sure. the spicy scenes were even mild and shorter than most i’ve read so it’s a great story for beginner romance readers too.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

°•*⁀➷ in conclusion,
it was another fun small town romance that had me hooked with the delightful and down to earth real-feeling characters and romance.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

𓇢𓆸 do i recommend? —yes!
tysm netgalley for the audio arc ✎

I enjoyed reading Savor It by Tarah DeWitt. . You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

There is just NO WAY this book is this sweet and funny and hot! Fisher is THE book boyfriend. His summer with Sage was so heartwarming and even though there are so many comedic moments, I think many readers will be able to relate to both Fisher and Sage in the way that they move through the world. Love is so sweet when it comes so naturally and Tarah really knows how to develop her characters in a way that forces you to become slightly obsessed with seeing them get their HEA. This marks my second read by Tarah DeWitt and now I can't wait to read more from her. Instant buy author for sure!

I ended up loving this!! I wasn’t sure at first but around 25% I was having a great time! I loved sage and fisher. Their communication was so refreshing - they started out in a fake dating/friends with benefits situation but quickly realized their feelings went deeper and they weren’t afraid to speak about it to each other.

I will say, the length of time it took for them to tell each other they loved each other felt a little quick imo

Savor It was a delightful romance story, filled with the vibe of a small town in the Pacific Northwest, the fictional Spunes, Oregon, on the scenic Oregon coast. (Their Welcome To Spunes sign even has a sense of humor; it says “Not to be confused with Forks, Washington”!)

Sage and Fisher make a great couple. Fisher is a temporary neighbor, with his niece, for whom he has recently become the guardian. He’s in town to help set the menu and other startup details for a new restaurant for his boss. He’s a wonderful chef, but after experiencing some burnout, he was “exiled” to Spunes for the summer. New York City is his home base - talk about “geographically undesirable” for Sage! Sage is a teacher and has a magnificent garden. She is the caretaker for the neighboring house while the owners are away; Fisher and his niece are renting the place and that’s how they meet - in what is definitely not a “meet cute” situation. Their relationship goes from neighbors to friends to lovers. But what will happen when the summer ends and Fisher goes back to NYC?

Chapters are told either from Sage’s point of view (POV) or from Fisher’s. On the audiobook, there are two different narrators, but it’s not a true duet narration. The male narrator, Zachary Webber, does the chapters labeled Fisher, and the female narrator, Karissa Vacker, does the chapters labeled Sage.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and St. Martin's Griffith for this advanced copy! You can pick up Savor It now.

This small-town romance absolutely blew me away. The conflicts felt real and relatable, the main characters were flawed but vulnerable, and the romance was top-tier. Fisher and Sage were dynamic and achingly beautiful together, and all of their ups and downs felt believable.

I loved the small-town-girl meets big-city chef dynamic, as well as the way Fisher and his niece navigated grief together and grew into a family unit. I could read 10 more books about the life Fisher and Sage build together, but for now I'll just have to hold onto the crumbs we're left with at the end of the book.

Tarah DeWitt is an auto-buy author for me now, and if you're any kind of romance girlie, this book is for you!

*4.25 stars

Wow! I've had such a journey with this book and I just want to start this out by thanking St. Martins Press for the advanced e-copy of this book and my humblest apologies for not being able to finish it before it was published. However! I loved it!

This book felt like a sweet, summer hug. It felt like listening to "August" by Taylor Swift and lounging in the sun on a picnic blanket. It felt like all the iciness of winter was melting off of me simply because of Fisher Lange and Sage Byrd. What a duo, those two.

Things I loved about this book? The chemistry between these two characters was just amazing and I loved all the budding tension between them. I think, for a book that revolves around this idea of "savoring" things that might not last forever, that these two just hit all the marks. From being strangers, to friends-with-benefits, to saying things like "She'd sat up, starlight shining through the glass, draped in a sheet with a smile my way like I'd brought her the cure for something terribly, rather than some basic sandwich on a paper fucking plate." I MEAN COME ON!!!!

They're so hot together, end of story.

Things I didn't love about this book? There wasn't much, I loved the cast, the setting, the romance, etc., but there was just this one nagging feeling like I was missing chunks of the book. Like everything that is explored in this book was wonderful and interesting, but it was all very surface level. The topics of grief, for instance, were intriguing and united the characters together in a sweet, comforting way. However, it was just sort of brought up spontaneously and then put aside. I felt like Dewitt has so much packed into this story that she ended up only allowing her readers brief glimpses of each moment rather than a full submersion.

I will not tell you I shed a tear over Indy missing the duck (I did), but I will say that it was a compelling moment and a compelling story that will now grace my shelves forever and ever and ever!

I absolutely loved this. The small town vibes, uncle/niece relationship, and Sages relationships with everyone. It was very well paced. I can’t wait for the sequel.

4.5 stars

This book was amazingly beautiful. I felt so much reading it - happiness, sadness, laughter, tears. There are lessons in this book that made me cry.

Sage and Fisher, the two main characters, are just perfect. I loved Sage's outlook of finding beauty in everything no matter how big or how small, something that I've been working on so hard myself the past year or so with the help of a wonderful therapist. Fisher might be my favorite male MC in a romance, bar none. Although he has some grumpy moments here and there, he's gentle, kind, emotionally deep, and tender. Both he and Sage have faced untold grief in their lives, yet they are and have found ways to heal.

Fisher's relationship with his teenage niece Indy is a favorite part of the story for me. I loved all the side characters in the book, loved the setting of Spunes, Oregan, and I would DEFINITELY read another book set there (Wren and Ellis, anyone??).

So glad to have read my first Tara DeWitt novel and can't wait to read another!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

DNF @ 30%. I hate to give this book a bad review and I feel bad leaving any less than 3 stars since I didn’t finished, but I was so unbelievably bored reading this. I felt no connection to the characters. It also felt like I was dropped off in the middle of the story. Like I was supposed to know what was going on? I don’t know how to explain it really but I felt lost. The writing and storytelling just wasn’t for me.

The perfect dish for summer. Spicy, sweet, funny and captivating. I loved Sage and Fisher and wish this was a series that I could watch with the quirky town and amazing characters. I mean, who has a pet duck? I need more!

I’m kicking myself that I haven’t read one of the authors books before because this one was sooo good!! If you’re like me and you’re creating your summer TBR this one is perfect, it’s a summer romance with so much depth and heart. The location is charming and quirky, Fisher and Sage were both incredibly well developed and relatable characters and the romance aspect was so swoony. It’s sexy and flirty but also sweet and touching and has so much humor and wit. The audio version was such a delightful listen, Karissa Vacker and Zachary Webber were the perfect Fisher and Sage and their performances were heartfelt and entertaining.