Tarah DeWitt is a fairly new to me author, but I understand why she is so beloved among romance readers. Savor It is a small town romance that explores what happens when life serves up something different than you ever expected.

Sage Byrd has lived in Spunes, Oregon her whole life but never felt true belonging. Fisher Lange is an acclaimed chef who is escaping the big city for a small town after an interaction with a reviewer goes viral and causes him to love his job. He’s also newly a guardian for his 15 year old niece Indy. Over the course of the summer, all three of them - Sage, Fisher, and Indy - all learn more about belonging in this delicious small town romance.

I really loved the development of the relationship between Fisher and Sage. They start as neighbors then become friends before they can’t resist their chemistry. It’s also impossible not to love the small town side characters. If anything there were some storylines that felt a little unresolved by the end but overall I loved the story.

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars!

The narrators did an excellent job bringing Sage and Fisher to life. I loved the depth they brought to the characters.

This book somehow managed to be both fun and full of heartfelt tender moments at the same time and I really loved that. I thought Sage and Fisher were adorable and their communication was top notch. Don’t even get me started on Indy and the Goose 💕 That might have been my favorite part.

I really enjoyed this and I recommend you read if you like small towns with nosy neighbors, quirky characters and lots of animals.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of Savor it.

This was a cute read! I gave it 3 stars because it just seemed kinda slow, and the characters didn’t actually seem to have anything in common. They didn’t really seem to have chemistry either which made it seem like they just fell in love out of convenience.

I also thought we would be solely focused on the restaurant aspect of the story and the story seemed mostly just about the dialogue between the two characters more than an actual plot. But at the same time, it felt like nothing really happened.

Overall, this was a quick read. Not my favorite but I didn’t hate it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt and St. Martins Press for the eARC in exchange of an honest review. Savor It is available May 21st!

Why did I sit on this for so long?!?! OMf*ckingG!!! I DIDN’T KNOW!!!!

I’m having g a hard time describing this book. While I had lighthearted vibes during most of the book, there were still many deeply emotional parts dealing with parental/sibling loss, work burnout, and teenage angst. This book made me laugh, made me hungry, and made me swoon. Sage, Fisher and Indy have stolen my heart. The way this book shattered my heart and put it back together in a new way that feels fuller and bigger and more appreciative. I was sobbing, like ugly snot nosed bawling! So freaking good!

This was my first book by Tarah and now I have to read her other books!

💞Small Coastal Town
💞Single Guardian MMC
💞Burnt Out Chef x Sunshine Girl
💞Forced Proximity
💞Fake Dating
💞Healing and Mending
💞Only for the Summer

my definition of heaven is probably somewhere described in a Tarah Dewitt novel. This book DELIVERED on all of the hype and was such a beautiful image of unconditional love, kindness and an excellent reminder to show yourself some grace.

This book is an absolute must-read this summer and so precious. Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

this was my first book ever written by this author and i really enjoyed it honestly, i love the main characters as well as the storyline! i can’t wait to read more by this author and see if i like anything else from her work!

I adored this story. Sage and Fisher were Vulnerable with each other from the start, and these characters were written so well, I truly felt the things they were feeling. Indy and Sage’s relationship was so sweet, and Sage always having the advice Fisher needed to hear was so sweet. Also the end of this book had me bawling, but also the characters were so realistic the entire time! They felt so real and this whole story was everything I wanted out of it. I’ve read from this author before, and will read from her again! I’m a big fan of her pacing, and all her characters are so easy to relate to.

What an absolute GEM of a book! DeWitt really has a lovely way with words. This is small-town romance done right!I love when authors absolutely nail what it's like to be in love. Love is a difficult emotion to capture in words, but authors like DeWitt just get it. The way she writes emotion is so wonderful. (Also, the guy on the cover looks, in my opinion, like Pedro Pascal. That's a win-win combo for me.)

If you like swoon AND angsty feelings, you'll love this book! I definitely recommend!

This was such a cute book that was so beautifully written! I absolutely loved the vibes that this book had and the characters and all the small town feels. It took me a bit of time to get into the story and there’s time I found the pacing of the story a bit inconsistent, however, I thought it was such a beautifully written book and I love the mix of depth and romance and humor that this book had. I also really liked the characters. I really loved Sage’s view on the world and her love for animals and Fisher’s growth throughout the book. I also felt like their romance felt real and I enjoyed watching them slowly falling in love. I also loved seeing Indy’s growth throughout the book. Another thing I really enjoyed was the town this book was set in and all the small town vibes.

Overall, this was a beautiful book that was beautifully written with amazing characters. A perfect summer read filled with fun, sweet moments, spice and real emotions.

4⭐️

Wow!! I’ve read all of Tarah DeWitt books, and this is hands down my favorite. She packs so much depth, swoon, and heart into her books. This one made me laugh out loud and tear up and everything in between. What a fantastic love story!

Savor It is the first book I have read written by Tarah DeWitt. This author writes a heartfelt look at life and loss, recovering and resilience. Fisher Lange has experienced the first now by coming on a much-needed summer sabbatical to small town Spunes, Oregon perhaps he can move on to the second part. Sage Byrd just needs for everyone to let her move on in life. Together Fisher and Sage along with Fisher’s niece find the way to do that.

Small town but big feelings make this an easy to read and characters hat are even easier to love. Sweet and hot this is a contemporary romance for the those who like the spice in their food and stories too.

Savor it
By: Tarah Dewitt

I was able to read an arc of this book through NetGalley. This is the same author of Funny Feelings which has been on my TBR for so long. After reading Savor It, I will definitely be reading more of her books. This book was so good. There’s romance, grief, and humor, but I would highly recommend this book. I gave it 4 stars.

DNF at 30%. Unfortunately I couldn’t get into this book, though I like the premise. Nothing really stood out to me in the first couple chapters. If you like small town romances and grumpy x sunshine, you’ll probably enjoy this. It just wasn’t for me.

This was the sweetest small town romance with perfectly executed grumpy/sunshine. The characters are so loveable, especially the side characters. You can't help but root for Sage and Fisher and their success in their personal lives and within their relationship. This book truly has it all - summer romance, small town, beautiful well-rounded main characters, and quirky small town side characters. This felt like a fresh take on small town and summer fling, and I will definitely be recommending it!

Fisher Lange is sent to a small coastal town in Oregon to prep a new restaurant after his career took a hit, and Sage Byrd is his neighbor. Sage just got out of a long term relationship with an absolute jerk cop who is also somehow the town’s golden boy. After witnessing an awkward run in with Sage, her ex, and her ex’s new fiance, Fisher steps in and does a little fake dating flirting, and they keep that going for awhile, until of course it becomes a lot less fake.

I’ve read a few romances lately where one of main characters is a chef and while I love it, it also makes me ridiculously hungry!

This one, while a fun and sometimes funny read, also dealt with some heavier topics, especially grief and the deaths of family members.

I wish we had spent a little more time with some of the side characters - in particular, Sage’s brothers and best friend. I also found the names of the MCs to be a little silly and distracting, but that’s my personal preference.

Overall, this was a sweet small town, opposites attract romance and I’d definitely recommend it!

Oh how I loved this book! Savor It is a beautiful small town romance that will give you all the feels. Set near the coast in Oregon, Sage and Fisher find each other after he has been sent there for a summer assignment. Watching these two fall in love was so endearing. I loved how they supported one another, and always encouraged the other to go after their dreams.

Sage comes from a family with lots of brothers that are very overprotective of her, and who's ex also is a cop in the same small town. Her home is a safe haven for animals (I think I fell in love with a goose), and she's doing her best to make her deceased parents proud. A cynic of love, after having her dreams previously crushed, she's also so very well loved by her town.

Fisher is a 5-star chef from N.Y., and has had a bit of his own bad luck. Also the guardian of his teenage niece, a small-town summer wasn't what either of them planned. Yet this man captured my heart. He took on all these challenges with grace and hard work, unknowingly creating a better life for both of them.

There are bits on grief throughout this book as well, and Tarah did a great job of capturing some of the emotion that comes with that - sadness, anger, guilt, and love.

I love the alternating POV throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Pub Date: 21 May 2024

This beautiful small town romance captured my heart with its blossoming love story and fun setting.

Sage is a small town girl, and Fisher is the big city chef who has come to Spunes for the summer to help his boss’s new project get set up in town. The pair live next door to each other, and they slowly build a bond over gardening, water sports, and long chats. The town immediately sees them as a couple, and they lean into it a bit as their chemistry starts to flare.

The chemistry between the leads was fantastic, and their relationship felt believable. Fisher is the guardian of his teenage niece, and I loved watching Sage bond with her as well and the way they became like a family over the summer. Every teen girl needs a female figure in her life, and Sage easily fills that role. Fisher is a grump to Sage’s sunshine, one of my very favorite tropes.

The small town life always sounds so good in books, with the crazy town hall meetings and the one super grumpy person living in town. It is like a giant found family, and we get that here in Spines, complete with a crazy town competition.

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for the arc. All opinions are my own,

I ended up DNF’ing this book around the 50% mark, so I am only rating what I read. It actually pains me to DNF because I have LOVED every one of this authors books thus far. I desperately wanted to fall in love with Sage and Fisher’s story. I appreciated the fact that he was raising his niece, and I loved his vulnerability. I stopped reading because at 50% I just wasn’t engaged in the story. I wasn’t gripped. It didn’t feel like a slow burn, it was just dragging and felt disconnected. I will still continue to read her books and recommend them to everyone I can, but this one just didn’t work for me, and that’s ok.

This is my first Tarah Dewitt book and I definitely will be reading her other works after this.

This was a slow burn, but in a way that felt like real life people building and developing a truly healthy relationship.

I thought Dewitt did a great job of covering heavy topics such as grief while also mixing in enough light-heartedness to make readers laugh along the way too.

An Oregon small-town teacher is enjoying her hobby farm on summer break, with a delightful cast of misfit animals. Her neighbor's home has been rented by a NYC Michelin-starred chef, here with his teen niece to regroup after losing a star and his job from the fall out of grief after his sister's passing. They have an instant connection, but it takes awhile for them to open up to each other after crossing paths multiple times, and realize that they can be real and lean on each other through their struggles. Sage helps Fisher figure out what the locals want in the new restaurant he's helping his former boss get started. He agrees to be her partner to win the annual town festival competitions.

You can expect:
Slow Burn
Fake Dating
Making Ex Jealous
Single Uncle
Small Town Drama
Working through grief
Finding joy in the little things
Late20s/Early30s MCs
Dual, 1st person POV
2 Spice

I liked that when the POV changed it rewinded a little bit so we could see what the other was thinking at the end of the last scene. I liked that the niece was a teen, which introduced deeper levels of a clueless uncle trying to be a caregiver, and she was able to a stronger side character than most single-uncle/brother stories. He owned his flaws and was willing to work on himself and accept joy.

Rating this 4.5 because when I started this ARC I kept thinking it was a debut novel, with awkward dialog and pacing. It picked up though after the first quarter and I ended up loving it as much or more than Funny Feelings, so rounding up to 5. I would be interested in reading a sequel starring one of Sage's brothers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins for providing an eARC for my honest review.