Another adorable romance from one of my favorite trusty romance authors! Tarah’s tone and her ability to balance serious emotion with joyful romance will always resonate with me, so I’m very grateful to the publisher and Netgalley for this advanced copy.

Sage and Fisher were so adorable and felt so genuine, I wholeheartedly enjoyed reading their story. Sage’s feelings about being too small or “too nice” were so interesting and deeply relatable. FMCs who struggle to take up space are nothing new, but this specific iteration of it hit me hard; the need for someone to see the rich inner life beyond the outward impressions of being kind and gentle and maybe even “average.” It was beautiful to read about her relationship with someone who really saw her. In that vein, one of my favorite things about Tarah’s books are the genuine and emotional MMCs, and Fisher was no exception.

***potential spoiler?***
Both of the MCs felt like real people, and while I’m not even one of the third act breakup haters (surprising, I know- the unnecessary ones are dumb but I don’t hate them when they make sense), this one felt not only understandable, but somewhat necessary.

My main complaint would be that the progression of some of the plot points/their relationship felt a bit fast to me, but that may have just been a personal preference. Some of the secrets they shared, their first kiss, etc happened fairly quickly, but maybe I’m just a closed off person, lol. Overall, I found the pacing slow but not difficult to get through at all. I also would’ve enjoyed seeing more of the progression in Fisher and Indy’s relationship, and even Sage and Indy, but I also understand that there’s only so much space in a romance book.

P.S. If the next book is about Wren and Ellis, I am SO seated

P.P.S. Indy and Gary >>>

Savor It is a small town romance. It’s only predictable in the way all small town romances are—one MC is from out of town and the other has lived in this place all their life amongst a cast of goofy characters, if there’s a third act breakup it’s because one of the MCs will inevitably leave, at least temporarily. But Savor It never felt gimmicky or tropey (just a little puny) and knew when to make fun of itself. Sage and Fisher are introduced because Fisher is renting out a cottage for the summer in Spunes, OR that Sage takes care of for the owners—the meet cute itself is hilariously original (Webber’s “police” voices are to die for funny!). Listen, if you can make me laugh out loud while reading, then I will always pick up your books. Although their start is a bit rocky, Fisher saves Sage from awkwardness with her ex in the town library. Their banter and sexual tension really begin in this moment; two things DeWitt is really good at writing. Savor It is low angst, high Stars Hollow vibes with the perfect dose of steam mixed in. It’s easily enjoyable without making you work too hard to have fun. Although the details may be somewhat forgettable, the sweet feeling will stay with you. I received this advanced e-copy from St. Martin’s. All opinions are my own.

DeWitt’s latest release is the perfect recipe for an emotion-packed rom-com!

“Savor It” follows Sage Byrd—a social studies teacher who has lived in the coastal town of Spunes, Oregon her entire life—and Fisher Lange—a Michelin-starred chef grieving the loss of his sister and navigating his rocky relationship with his teenage niece Indy. After a memorable middle of the night first meeting, Sage and Fisher agree to help each other achieve their goals just for the summer. Soon their partnership gets passionate, but they start to realize that summer is racing by much faster than they would like...

I have a special place in my heart for Sage and Fisher. Both are going through tough times. That make them feel real and relatable. I love Sage for how funny, strong, and kind she is. She prioritizes herself and the happiness she finds in the small things in life. I connected with Fisher and his efforts to reignite his passion. His relationship with Indy is incredibly endearing and I was pleased to see them grow closer as the story progressed. Sage and Fisher are very layered and that is why both of their points-of-view were equally compelling to me. I truly tried to savor each chapter.

Sage and Fisher’s relationship is so complex and I love how it developed. I especially admired how they didn’t try to fix or heal each other, but instead talked through their struggles and acknowledged their imperfections in an effort to better understand one another. In being vulnerable and honest, they were able to love each other fully and their love felt more authentic to me as a reader as a result.

Not only did I fall in love with the characters, but I fell in love with the small town of Spunes, Oregon. Even though there were many brief appearances by locals, I still felt like I knew all of the residents because DeWitt gives them each distinctive personalities. She also does such a great job acquainting the reader with important places that transport you to her fictional setting.

Tarah DeWitt you must be an evil genius or a mind reader or something??? It is perfect. So completely perfect.

I haven't been this obsessed with a book in so long. I've been in and out of about 10 different reading slumps over the last couple of months and this book alone has cured me. I'm 100% obsessed but now I feel myself descending into another slump because how can I possibly move on?? 😭 I kid you not, I cried 3 different times just from how beautifully this book was written. Add on top of that the realistic characters, the adorable small town setting, the raucous animals, and heartfelt outlook on life?? I'm done for.

I love the characters more than anything. I related heavily to people-pleaser Sage, who, after losing her parents at a young age, has adopted animals and friendships in Spunes and loves her little world so much. Now she just wants them to see her for who she really is after a tough ending to her last relationship. What better way to do that than win the annual summer competition that her ex always wins? When Fisher, a chef in town to open up a new restaurant while on sabbatical from his Michelin star restaurant gig in NYC, shows up with his niece to stay for the summer at the house next door, Sage agrees to a deal: The two agree to fake date in order to show Spunes that Sage is a force to be reckoned with and help Fisher navigate the tricky small town politics and antics to get his restaurant open as soon as possible.

Their love is one that feels so open and honest and natural. Watching Fisher and Sage go from strangers to neighbors to friends to more was an absolute joy. They have so much respect and care for each other and they're just so SOFT together. Big big hearts with these two. 🥹 The progression of their relationship, in company with all of the silly townsfolk, funny family members, hilarious one-liners, and timely pop culture references, makes for just about as perfect of a book as I could ask for. The third act absolutely ripped my heart out, shredded it up, ran over it with and 18 wheeler truck, and then lovingly put it back together and gave it back to me looking better than it did before. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. ❤️‍🩹🫶🏼

Read if you love:
🫣 Meddlesome small towns
👩‍❤️‍👨 City boy x small town girl
🧑‍🧒 Single parent/guardian
✌🏼 Dual POV
🪿 Geese & other farm animals
🧑🏼‍🍳 Hot chefs with dirty mouths
🗣️ Hilarious banter
💞 Heartwarming happy endings

I enjoyed this story a lot. I really liked the characters of Sage and Fisher, and our setting of a steamy summer in remote small town Oregon. I loved our minor characters and how it felt like a pacific northwest stars hollow at some points. I think that the characterization of Sage and Fisher, and their traits and issues were really nice and developed and their angst was very palpable.
What really did not work for me, though was the dual POV this time-I think for me as a reader of this it was kind of hard to take in the style of how colloquial the writing was at some points. It felt like they were talking to me directly sometimes and I think that when it is in first person that way it is hard for me to follow along with that sometimes, especially when there is passages of time, or going from Sage's POV to something that happened, then going into Fisher and rewinding, or fast forwarding a week, etc. I did not like feeling like the narration was talking directly to me instead of feeling like we were just in their head. I struggled a bit with the style, but I really liked the content if that makes sense.
Overall, I think that this story was very lush and atmospheric, and I liked the themes and characters themselves, but at points I struggled with the writing due to style, but that is a me problem.
3.5/5

𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧 𝙄𝙩 was my first Tarah DeWitt book!
It was cute, quirky, and light spirited.
Fisher finds himself in the Town of Spunes, lost, angry, confused with a whole new life that was thrown at him.

Fisher is grief ridden, lost sense of direction, hopeless; when he meets Sage, she comes to his like a healing balm.

Sage is a quirky hurricane, with a farm full of animals that loves eccentric robes.
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Although at times the plot was predictable, I love small town romance, grumpy + sunshine.
I throughly enjoyed reading this story!
3.8⭐️

𝘍𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴:

•"Whenever you think too little of the world, try to remember that somewhere, something, or someone is always waiting to be known.”

•Time will always give the best advice. Take care of your moments and the years will follow suit.

•She's the woman who has taught me to let go of so much so that I can wish and dream for more.

*Thank you St Martins press for the arc!

Savor It is a small town, forced proximity friends to lovers romance featuring high school teacher Sage and burnt-out chef Fischer. I enjoyed the small town shenanigans and Fischer's niece Indy was a real scene stealer. Sage's character was a real ball-buster and said exactly what she thought. I loved her quirky robes and shirts and her huge heart when it came to saving animals. Fischer had a deliciously dirty mouth and it's always a winner for me when the hero is 6'5" or above. The banter between the couple was what I loved most, especially when Sage dished out hysterical one-liners.

While I enjoyed part of the book, I didn't like this one as much as Rootbound. The book was a slower start for me and I never really became fully invested in the couple. I was honestly more interested in Sage's brother Ellis and his ex-wife Wren, who I truly hope we get a second-chance romance for in the future. The pacing felt off and almost surface level at times. There were hints of tropes, but they were never fully explored. For example, there's a part where it looks like we're going to get a fake dating trope, only to pull back and barely graze the surface of that plot line. I also wanted more character development out of both of the characters. The steamy scenes felt awkward at times, toeing a line between open door spice that rushed to the end with almost a propped open door feel. The writing wasn't bad, but I didn't love the way the story wove in and out of present tense, flashbacks and then the character's internal struggles.

4.5 ⭐️ I adored this small town romance! Sage and Fisher have the life I would dream of in an alternate reality. I love how the title “Savor It” came up several times throughout the story, each with a different meaning and context. The supporting characters, and animals, added depth and humor to the story. I felt like I was reading a Hallmark movie but with a few spicy scenes added in - the perfect combination! A must read summer novel.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book. This review is voluntary, and all opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this one. Sage is a complicated MC as is Fisher. They are written with a lot of depth. They both have past traumas that they are trying to get past. Sage is very rooted in her small town. Fisher is just passing through. It is well worth reading this to see what happens along the way.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. Savor it is the first book that I have read by Tarah DeWitt and I greatly enjoyed it. Savor it follows Sage, a small town girl, who has had a rough couple of years. Her life suddenly starts to turn for the better when Fisher and his niece Indy move next door for the summer. Savor It hits pretty much all the romance tropes you can think of. Some examples are friends to lovers, small town romance, and fake relationship. The setting was also perfect the story.

Savor It feels like spending time with your best friend, going home and being wrapped in a warm hug. I loved this small town girl meets city boy, forced proximity, fake relationship/no strings romance. I could definitely see this becoming a comfort read and a favorite that I revisit time after time.

Sage is our small town girl with a menagerie of quirky pets. She is your quintessential girl next door whose recent breakup after 5 years followed by her exes quick engagement has left her heart and confidence limping. She is convinced to turn things around she just needs to prover herself and decides the best way is to win the towns annual summer competition. Fisher Lange blows into town in the hopes of regaining his mojo, picking up the pieces of his career and spending the summer with his niece Indy healing over the loss of his sister.

Sage & Fisher are different in so many ways but both carry many of the same wounds both having suffered the loss of loved ones. They are also both feeling a little untethered and unsure of themselves at the same time. These two form an unlikely team. Fisher needs help with the town to get his project he was been tasked with off the ground and Sage needs a partner for the annual summer competition. I loved how the forced proximity of them being neighbors worked in bringing them together. What makes Tarah DeWitt writing so good and makes you connect with her characters so well is that they feel real and flawed and you can find pieces of yourself within them. I loved how Sage & Fisher didn't necessarily fix each other but they did the most important thing, they loved one another exactly as they were. When someone can meet you where you're at and love even the broken pieces of you then you have met your person.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Savor It might just be my new favorite Tarah Dewitt novel. It’s the perfect small town, summer romance but it’s so much more than that. It’s healing, and growing, and being loved as you are. It made me laugh and hurt and really just hit that sweet spot.

3 Stars Savor It by Tarah Dewitt is a story about love, loss, burnout, self-discovery, and finding the place where you belong.

Teacher Sage Byrd lives in the small town of Spunes, Oregon (not to be confused with Forks, Washington) with her rescue animals, her three older brothers, and her best friend, Wren. Her ex-boyfriend is recently engaged and Sage feels like a loser that the whole town pities. She's hoping to turn things around by winning the annual canoe competition at the summer festival. Recently fired New York City chef and recently appointed guardian Fisher Langue arrives in Spunes with his niece Indy, three years after his sister's death, looking to reset and reconnect with Indy. Assigned to help oversee a new restaurant, Fisher is hoping to rediscover his love of cooking after being burnt out. After helping Fisher navigate the town, Sage agrees to help him ingratiate himself with the town in order to help the restaurant opening go more smoothly and he'll be her partner for the competition. With their simmering attraction, she's also agreed to a summer fling with Fisher while he's in town. As time ticks on and summer winds down, Fisher is closer to leaving again and both Fisher and Sage are dreading having to say goodbye when their feelings have become so much more.

Savor It was exactly the cute romance I was expecting it to be. The plot was fairly predictable and I found myself wanting more stories about the secondary characters, especially Wren and Ellis (can we please get a second chance romance for these two?). My favorite parts of the book were the individual journeys that Fisher and Sage went on to grow and heal, and find the courage to keep going despite the inevitable pain that life doles out.

This took me longer to read only because I had a few distractions. I loved Tarah DeWitt's previous books, so this book is one of my most anticipated reads of this year, so I'm glad I received an ARC for it. One thing I love about Tarah DeWitt's characters is that they're all so emotionally raw. Sage and Fisher were no exception, especially Sage. She has my heart. Even Indy, even though it took a while for us to see it, but once she let her guard down, there was no holding back. I loved Sage's menagerie of animals and how they're all characters of their own, even though I confused them a lot. I also loved that Fisher came to learn to love them. I'm usually skeptical about characters falling in love early in the book. But that's not the case with Sage and Fisher, you really see them fall in love with each other gradually. Fisher's leaving might have encouraged the both of them to love each other fully, but it was still beautiful. I love the lack of miscommunication. They both know what they want, and they both know that they have to set boundaries because they'll get hurt either way. I also love how realistic the decision of Fisher and Indy to move to Spunes is. I'm a little attached to them now. I want more.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Spunes, Oregon, Sage Byrd is determined to bounce back from her breakup by winning the town's Festival. She teams up with Fisher Lange, a former NYC chef who's grieving his sister and struggling with his career while taking care of his niece. As their partnership turns romantic, they find healing and new beginnings just as summer flies by.

Even Sage admits Fisher’s forced summer in Spunes feels like Hallmark possibilities abound. They’ve both suffered loss but she chooses to find joy in the mundane, helping his character grow and develop. The heat doesn’t stay in the kitchen and instead ends up translating to a friends-with-benefits situation—my least favorite trope 🙃 I think what redeemed this for me was that their friendship shone through in a kind & caring way. I even enjoyed how their grief and similar life circumstances brought them together. Though you could fly through this beach read, I have a feeling you’ll want to savor it.

PSA- don’t read this book when you’re hungry.

I primarily listened to the audiobook and the male narrator sounded so precious 🥹

Thank you @macmillan.audio @netgalley @smpromance for the free books! #netgalley #MacAudio2024

Perfect for you if you like:
Friends with benefits
Food + more food
Grief and character growth

Similar to:
Love You Mean It by Jilly Gagnon
Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams (closed door)
Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

⛔️chapters 20, 21, 24, 26 & 31 contain explicit romance scenes (open-door)
⚠️explicit language (frequent), grief, death of a loved one (off-page), career burnout, bodily injury (off-page)

3.5 stars
Fisher, recently fired from his NYC restaurant job, ends up in Spunes, Oregon, for the summer, renting the house next to Sage. I'd describe her as the town sweetheart. People in Spunes want to look out for her.
The first half of the book or so I struggled with. It seemed like it would start gaining momentum and then stop abruptly, and then pick back up again. The initial action on attraction is to make Sage's ex and his new fiancee jealous. Then lots of moments or kisses only to be followed by crickets.
Their hearts don't get the message their minds agree on, with this just being for summer.
There were cute animals, good food, and some funny scenes. I enjoyed it overall.

3.25 stars!!

Thank you to Tarah Dewitt, St Martins press and of course Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance.

When I requested this book, I hadn’t heard much about it but it was really a book that I was amazed by. This is my first book by Tarah Dewitt, and it will definitely continue. As the setting, storylines and of course the characters were so well done. Our Mains having experienced so much loss in their lives but then finding moments to live life for themselves was a touching element that made the story feel grounded and human. The difference of her being on a farm and our MMC being a chef was such an interesting dynamic as most novels have it reversed. As many authors choose to write the FMC as a chef/ pastry chef in the small town with the handsome farmer… we got a celebrity chef MMC and a down to earth girl who lives on a farm.

As a self proclaimed “foodie” the talk of food in this book sounded so good. The different menu items that they talked about being in the restaurant seemed so delicious and gave me ideas on what to try out in my own kitchen. Loved it!

Read if you like:
🏘️ Small Town Romances
🌤️ Grumpy x Sunshine
☀️ Just for the summer
💋 Fake Dating
🌶️ Friends with Benefits
🥕 Hot Chef’s

The depth of emotion while balancing in banter and laugh out loud moments was so well done! This was my first book from Tarah and it most definitely will not be my last.

I loved the small town vibes, the chaos of the animals and the community members as that just added something so fun to the plot!

I am not one for single dad plots, but damn if I’m not all in on hot uncle/daddy plots now!

The way that emotion for both Sage and Fisher were written was just so well done, especially when adding in the complexity of Indy and her emotions too!

I really appreciated how the “third act breakup” happened because I truly think it had to be done for the story, especially for Indy and Fisher to get to where they needed to be with their story and their traumas.

The audiobook was so well done with two of my faves Karissa Vacker and Zachary Webber narrating!

Thank you so much to Macmillan audio for my ALC and SM Griffin for my ARC!

Savor It started very strong and fizzled out as the book progressed. The beginning was promising, but I found the rest of the book boring. Nothing interesting was happening, and everything was underwhelming. The romance, the foodie aspect, Fisher's relationship with his niece, and the small-town atmosphere were all underwhelming. Even Sage's menagerie of animals did not provide much entertainment. I started skimming the pages toward the end. I believe many readers will enjoy this book, but that was not the case for me.

This was my first Tarah DeWitt book and I will definitely be reading her other books!

This romance had depth and heart, and I loved the small-town featured in the book. Both of the main characters were developed and I especially liked the main female character. The romance was realistic and refreshing.

I would highly recommend this book.