Rating: 4.75/5

Thank you Tarah DeWitt and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book via NetGalley!

Fisher has hit a wall. His career is stuttering and his niece may or may not hate him. But he’s ready to rediscover his love for cooking and he won’t let his niece down... again. And truly, I loved watching him give it his best shot. It was so endearing bc he was such a good guy in that kinda clumsy type of way. Like you know he’s trying but could use some help. And it’s downright unfair how simultaneously hot and cute this man is. The way he prefers to “savor things” and have them “good and slow and drawn out.” I’m… going to need a minute. 🫠 Juxtaposed with his innocent excitement, running to Sage for her to taste something he made? Our guy has multitudes!

And Sage? She hit a certain soft spot for me. If you ask her, she’s mediocre at best. Average, middling, “a lot of nots.” And all she wants is to make even the slightest difference. Tell me that doesn’t make you want to hype her the fuck up. I loved seeing her in her community bc, even tho a certain someone made her feel insignificant, there were plenty who clearly loved and appreciated her. It just emphasized that she was so much more than she gave herself credit for. And when she mentioned how she was once made to feel that the things that brought her joy was frivolous, I was ready to throw hands. Bc it was all those things, all parts of her whole, that made her special! And I loved that Fisher not only supported her in those interests but truly appreciated them, every last one.

CN: open-door romance, grief, past death of a family member, career burnout, bodily injury (off-page)

Super cute summer read! I loved Sage- she’s a perfect sunshine character. It lead to awesome banter between her and Fisher. I also enjoyed Fisher’s relationship with his niece Indy. I wished we got more of Indy’s relationship with others! Honestly, this book could have been a bit longer and talked more about the side stories! However, the main characters were really well-written. I read this book in a day cause it was so cute!

This was really cute!! It had a nice grumpy/sunshine dynamic that I love. I'm not usually a fan of small town romances, but I will make an exception to this one. Definitely worth the read!

I absolutely adored this book by Tarah Dewitt, which will be released on May 21, 2024.

Set in the swoon-worthy small-town of Spunes, it featured the grumpy/sunshine romance of Sage and Fisher, who were adorable and endearing. Fisher is renting the house next door while trying to balance parenting his teenage niece and reclaiming his career as a renowned chef. The book is centered around the realities of grief and burn-out, but it is filled with quirky farm animals, an annual canoe race, and small-town antics.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for the early e-ARC of this novel.

Tropes: Small town romance, neighbors, summer fling/friends with benefits, chef x gardener, grief

Five Stars. Ten. Just- Infinite.

Wow. My mind is crawling to try and get its thoughts in order. This was too amazing.

I’m honestly heartbroken that I’ve finished this book- I could have had it going on forever and ever. I’m a mess in the aftermath. This book was so beautiful and so sweet and just achingly heartwarming.

Fisher and Sage have altered my brain chemistry. They were so damn beautiful and funny and delightful and emotional. Their chemistry was so good. The way they were able to just- fit together and the way they understood how they both needed to show up for each other had me crying constantly.

I loved Sage, especially. She was a dream girl. I just thought she was such a lovely character. She was relatable and I think she had so much of the human experience packed into one character. Trying to find a place for herself and also hold onto the key elements of who she was, and just trying to love the people around her and feel the support of a community she cares for so much… she was just refreshing to read. And her animals!!!! Oh my god, I just loved them all so much. The farm was so dreamy.

And Fisher!!! He was so cute and so honest I couldn’t help but fall in love with him forever and ever. I think he was a “real person” character too. The imposter syndrome setting in a little, life hitting him with so many changes all at once and just trying to do the best he could with what he had- it was touching and I love him.

The grief and the struggle of just moving on in life in the small and big things was spot on.

Fisher and Indy’s relationship development was amazing to be a part of too. I thought it was realistic to their characters and their situations. And watching them both become entwined with Spunes - however reluctant was so sweet and so fun.

I just want to lay in the meadows with all of these characters and hold Sage’s geese and cry into a bowl of berries forever.

This was my first novel by Tarah DeWitt, and I liked it - not my favorite thing I've ever read, but I did enjoy it.

I really enjoyed that the MMC was a chef who was truly down on his luck and trying to navigate his new reality while trying to raise his niece.
The FMC is a small town girl who EVERYBODY loves and is nuts about rescuing abandoned animals. She would do anything for her small town and everybody in it, including her ex boyfriend and his new fiancé.

My favorite character out of the whole thing was Indy, the MMC's niece. She was going through the loss of her mom, her teenage years, and being moved to a small town in the middle of nowhere from New York. She had a goose bond to her for life, and she had a good relationship with the FMC.

Indy and the MMC ACTUALLY WENT TO THERAPY! Holy moley a healthy male actually going to therapy to make something work and to try and help his grieving niece! It was nice to see.

You'll like this book if you like:
. Fake dating
. Small Towns
. Complicated families
. Chef
. Slow burns

“Your laugh is . . . I don’t know what it is, Sage, but your laugh . . .I think your laugh could maybe defibrillate me.”

I had a feeling going into this one that I was just going to love it. And I was absolutely not disappointed. Sage and Fisher just felt so real and raw and like people I want to be friends with! I really loved that they met each other where they were at with no expectations except to be exactly who they were🥹 These two will be living in my head for a little while and I’ll just be wishing I was in Spunes with them.

I think that this is my new favorite Tarah DeWitt book. I could not put this one down. It’s out May 21 and should really be on your radar if it isn’t already! Thank you netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

A cute, beautifully written book that is heart warming and sweet, with a great cast of characters; this contemporary romance brought out tears, and makes you swoon. Through all of the difficult topics and struggles there is plenty of happiness; this book deserves to be savoured and was so much more than a romance novel. I highly reccomend you add this to your TBR, or even just start right away.

Review will be posted April 13th on my social media

i've tried to read this book multiple times since i got it and every time i put it down because i just cannot get into it. the writing felt choppy which makes me feel really sad because i love tarah's other books and i wanted to love it. but i just couldn't connect to the characters, it felt like this arc was too much of a first draft just with how it felt with the pacing. so for now I'm going to dnf it but i want to give it another chance with the published book coming out in a month or so.

Reading this book made me homesick for a town that I have never visited and for people that I have never personally met.

Sage Byrd has lived in Spunes, Oregon her entire life and has had to deal with difficulties of living in a small town, such as constantly having to be around your ex when he is newly engaged to someone else.

Fisher Lange, a once world-renowned chef, escaped to Spunes to not only help develop a new restaurant, but deal with the loss of his sister and current custody of his niece.

Neither Sage or Fisher could’ve expected what was to come from a chance encounter, but it turned out to be life changing for both of them.

I really loved this book and the mixture of both humor and real life issues. I thought the author did a great job with the pacing, making their fake relationship not feel too rushed and very authentic. I also enjoyed the side characters as well as the incredible description of the small town. The story really made you feel like you were standing with the characters and witnessing it happen in actual time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author Tarah DeWitt for the opportunity to read this book!

DNF at 15%. I think this book has a really cute premise and would be really enjoyable for the right audience. Unfortunately, that audience does not include me. The relationships between characters were too in depth with a lack of background information within the first 20 pages of the book and made it virtually impossible to follow/make sense of. Thank you to NetGalley, SMP, and Tarah DeWitt for the opportunity to try reading this book.

Ok I’ve been sitting on this trying to figure out how I want to review this book….i thought the idea and premise was cute but this one just wasn’t it for me. I felt like I had to force myself to finish it, if I love a book I’ll finish in a day or two and this took me 20 days to read. I’ve seen a ton of reviews raving over this so it could just be a me thing, but this small town romance just wasn’t a favorite - it wasn’t bad, but not phenomenal for me. I think one of my turnoffs was this use of extravagant vocabulary for seemingly no reason, I’m glad I read on kindle because I had to look up quite a few words that seemed like they came straight from a thesaurus.

She’s a small town girl with a ton of animals, is nice to everyone, and that includes her ex.

He’s a chef running away from his mistakes, trying to figure out how to get back to how he was before, while also taking on his teenage niece.

It’s a fake dating, turned real dating with a deadline, throw in a small town competition, a teenager who is living through trauma, and it’s just a lot going on. I liked that he was trying to figure out how to help his niece and actually did go to therapy to try to repair their relationship.

Honestly my favorite relationship is probably between Indy and the goose because the end was adorable when she realized geese bond for life.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

Sage Byrd has lived in Spunes, Oregon all her life. She loves her house, animals, farm, and the people in her town. One thing she can live without is people feeling sorry for her after her long-term relationship has ended but now that her ex is marrying someone not long after their breakup the pitying looks everyone keeps giving her are getting worse. She needs something to convince everyone that she’s fine and has already moved on.

Enter Fisher Lange, a once world-renowned chef who is barely holding on after the loss of his sister and the loss of a Michelin star causes him to question everything in his life. Now with custody of his teenage niece, he finds himself in a small town to get a break from the city life, reconnect with his niece and find his love for cooking again.

What he doesn’t see coming is Sage with a fake dating proposal that would benefit both of them. He would get less pushback from the town people with the restaurant he’s helping open, and she would get a partner for the annual summer competition to prove to people she’s moved on.

But as they begin to spend more time together and get to know each other, lines begin to blur and feelings become more real, what will happen when summer ends and their fake dating agreement comes to an end?



This book was a breath of fresh air, I can’t put into words how happy I am that I got approved for the ARC given that fake dating is one of my favorite tropes this book is right up my alley, but the way that this book has the FML and MML work as a team that COMMUNICATES and has the ADULTS ACTING LIKE ADULTS! Give this book all the awards, this is now the book that all adult romance books need to strive for. It’s a breath of fresh air when I don’t have to cringe at the conversations happening between our main leads, and the fact that it’s not an instant love at first sight romance but a romance that builds a very believable love connection with them that had me rooting for them as they become strangers to friends to lovers, just perfect!

And I can’t stress this enough. It has THE ADULTS ACTING LIKE ADULTS with any issue that happens between our main leads, they talk about it and deal with it like adults and given that this book deals with some heavy topics I appreciate the conversations that happen surrounding those character conversations.

The side characters are also amazing being a great support to the main couple and still having their own individual story that has me convinced this could be a series where each book is about a different couple in Spunes and if so (a note to the publisher) please send those books my way!

In conclusion, if Tarah Dewitt writes it, I will read it! So, excuse me as I go to read the rest of her books.

Solid 5 stars



Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

I can’t even put into words how much I loved this book. It has easily become my favorite book I’ve read, by far.

Sage and Fisher were fun, loving, flirty, heartbreaking and beautiful. From the banter to their declarations of love to their small, beautiful moments, I just felt so much.

The way Sage interacted with Indy and Fisher and made them feel welcome into her small community even though they had so much hatred for small towns, the way Indy fell in love with the animals next door (begrudgingly) and the way Fisher made Sage flourish and see her for what she is and treat her so beautifully just made me cry. I will not get over this book.

Thank you netgalley and Tarah for the ARC, I’ve never fallen harder for a book 🩷

A cute small town romance. I loved the two main characters but I felt like their introduction from strangers into lovers was a little fast. The dialogue was good and the story was engaging.

The moment I saw the cover of this book, I just knew I had to get my hands on it. Savor It started with a ton of promise, but the pacing was too slow. It felt like it took forever for things to happen, even though things were happening if that makes any sense. You either love a slow burn or you hate it and when the pacing is really slow, it makes the slow burn almost unbearable.

That being said, I did enjoy the small town setting and I'm a sucker for entertaining banter and grumpy sunshine characters. Even though this book wasn't a 100% hit for me, I'm still glad to have checked this book out.

A delightful beach read that will whisk the reader away to the charming coastal town of Spunes, Oregon. Thiis novel is a tale of love and healing and filled with chemistry between Sage and Fisher. I loved the small town magic and the quirky characters.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

At time of review the St. Martin's Press boycott is still ongoing as SMP has chosen to still not address islamaphobic and racist remarks made by a member of their team.

The boycott of St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and other related imprints is a direct response to the publisher’s lack of accountability regarding statements made by an employee in their marketing department and their failure to respond to concerns about possible systemic issues within the department.

See https://r4acollective.org/ for more information on the boycott and see how you can help not cross the line.

Savor It is a fun story. I laughed, I cried, and I cheered on the characters. As the title recommends, I took my time with this story and didn't rush through it.

Sage is quirky, passionate, and loving. She was basically raised by her older brothers and has never felt like she's quite enough. Fisher is a famous chef from New York, he's trying to get over the death of his sister and brother in law... and trying to figure out how to be guardian of his niece.

Sage and Fisher meet one night when he's renting her neighbors house. They have instant chemistry, but they seem like they are worlds apart. Read this cute funny story to get all the details!

I really enjoyed this book! I love the characters and I felt like the writing is really wonderful. The plot is very interesting and well thought out!