Member Reviews

I absolutely adored this book! It's tender, funny, heartwarming... all the things I want in a book! I loved the small town setting of Spunes (lol) and the cast of characters-- it was the perfect backdrop for Sage and Fisher's romance, which was just so, so sweet. I loved every second of this book, and I can't wait for what Dewitt gives us next!

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I enjoyed the quirky small town of Spunes, all endearing farm animals, a man who legit cooks, the found family aspects, and Sage’s character especially. While I adored every aspect of Funny Feelings (also by Dewitt), Savor It took me a bit longer to get into and feel invested in, though I did eventually care deeply for these characters.

Would recommend to readers who loved Part of Your World or any of the Lovelight Farms books!

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It was really good. I adored it. I know that my copy was a very early, partially, or mostly unedited version but it was utterly brilliant. The chemistry was fantastic!

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3.5⭐️

Tarah’s books have become such a source of comfort for my heart over the years and I have reread Funny Feelings multiple times (I’m never not thinking of Farley and Meyer). Tarah’s stories are so beautifully messy and layered and even when they break your heart, they skillfully put the pieces back together. Her characters and their stories, struggles, heartbreak, and dreams are so relatable and it is truly a testament to Tarah’s writing that so many readers have found a home with and recognize themselves in her books.

Sage and Fisher were deeply human and gosh, there were so many moments my heart ached for both of them as they opened their hearts and bared their souls with each other. There was such vulnerability and tenderness wrapped up in Fisher and Sage’s story and I loved how they didn’t try to mask their hurt and pain… I definitely got teary in the moments when they clung to each other and wept together. It was such a gift getting to share in their lives.

Perhaps one of my favorite things about Savor It was the town! This book is brimming with quirky small town charm and Tarah has created a world full of memorable characters that is so vibrant, endearing, and nothing short of magical… I wish I could pack my bags for a weekend trip to Spunes. I want to spend the day at Sage’s farm and snuggling with baby goats and geese. I fell in love with the supporting cast just as much as I did with Sage and Fisher, but because of the large cast, there were some storylines that felt unfinished and I was a little bummed we didn’t get closure for some of these characters. Indy is such a big part of the story and I desperately wish there had been more interaction between her and Sage, especially in the epilogue.

There was so much about this story that I absolutely adored, but the main issue I had was with the romance. I love a grumpy sunshine trope and thought Fisher and Sage settled into their roles perfectly, but I was desperately missing the tension from their dynamic. I also thought the fake relationship storyline could have been eliminated, especially when so many people in town knew the truth.

This book was soft and beautiful and I loved so much about it, but ultimately, for me, the romance component didn’t come together and I thought the spice felt forced and didn’t organically flow with the story. That being said, I still recommend picking this book up because the story is deeply human and these characters’ lives will resonate with many readers.

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small town romance, but it felt real and not cliched
Great character development!!
loved the ending!!!

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While this was slow to start for me, this was a sweet story about grief, redemption, and finding one's place. I adored the characters in this book as wel.

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I wanted to love this one - I really did. It had lots of the elements I love - a small town setting, a single parent, and a FMC who is finding herself. Unfortunately, the writing style just didn't work for me. It all felt a bit too disjointed - the scenes were too short and just as I felt like I was getting into a moment / scene - it ended too quickly. I think this disjointed writing style contributed to me not feeling the chemistry between the two leads - and to me not connecting with any of the characters. Sage was also a touch too manic pixie dream girl for me as well.

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3.5 stars. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. I was very interested with the synopsis but sadly this book wasn’t for me.

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my favorite small town romance of all time.

MY FAVORITE SMALL TOWN ROMANCE OF ALL TIME.

Tarah somehow managed to include a lengthy list of tropes, and to subvert at least half of them. So, not only was she honoring her readership, she was also delighting and surprising them.

This was hilarious and tender, swoony and subtle.

In the acknowledgement, Tarah said something about making this book hard on herself by obsessing over every line.

Babe, it shows. This book is a magnum opus.

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DNF - I really wanted to like this as the premise sounded good but I thought it just fell flat. I
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC

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Fisher and Sage, a duo that's just irresistibly adorable. Fisher's grumpy pirate vibe perfectly complements Sage's absolute joy for the little things in life.
This book had a bit of everything; romance, humor, grief, family relationships, and amazing characters!! Everything fit together so well and this story was so well written and lovely! I would also love to see another book in this world with the other characters!!

I love the small town and the antics that come with it. This story has so many interesting characters and dynamics I would love to see more of. I loved reading about Indy, I wanted to see more & more of her character but I loved how Fisher and Indy's relationship grew and blossomed anew.

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This book was so freaking cute, I absolutely loved it. It has a Gilmore Girls-esque cast of townies, a goose in love, a three-legged cat, a chef…. literally everything.

The characters were well developed and flushed out. You can’t help but to fall in love with each of them, just like the small town. Additionally, the MC’s make a great couple, and even make healthy choices from start to end.

I loved this book, so much that I’ll be going back and reading Tara’s backlog!

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Savor It was my first Tarah DeWitt book and I can guarantee you it won't be my last! I loved both Sage and Fisher so much! Their relationship is one of my favorite ones I've read about this year. They were just so real to me. I seriously did not want to put this book down!

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3.5 stars. This had promise but lacked depth. Local farm girl Sage and disgraced chef Fisher have hot chemistry but their individual and collective growth happens mostly off-page. Even though Fisher is supposedly having an identity crisis in his career, we hardly see him cooking or struggling to. Weirdly, most of the detailed food scenes were from Sage’s POV, so we never see what’s going on in Fisher’s head when he’s inspired.

Dewitt sets her book in a fictional town on the Oregon coast (where I also happen to live—on the coast, not in the fictional town that I could never figure out what it was supposed to represent), but she makes the odd choice to slightly disguise real place names (Coos Bay becomes Yoos Bay (??) and Bandon is Gandon), but doesn’t give them much of an identity in the story, so the name change feels jarring and unnecessary.

The bare bones of Fisher’s humiliation, in which he yells at a critic who once lauded and then eviscerated him for becoming boring and predictable, feel very similar to the movie Chef. The book and the movie go in very different directions, but I couldn’t tell if it was a coincidence, an homage, or a borrowing of that plot point. (I believe they both even serve beef cheeks, but I’m not going to go verify that so don’t quote me.)

I also had issues with some of the outdated and potentially problematic language used. More than once someone is described as "on the warpath" and Fisher refers repeatedly to his new town and its people as "sheisty". I expect better from a contemporary author in 2024.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

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I absolutely love the heck out of this book!

It got off to a slower start than what I typically like, but once I was into it, I was fully engulfed. Fisher and Sage have my heart. They compliment each other so much it's insane. I loved them individually and together. They're a couple that will stay with me for a very long time.

Tarah's writing keeps getting better and better. Savor It is my new favorite Tarah book by a mile. I can't wait to see what she does next with Spunes. I can see a reread of this book in the very near future!

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Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for sending me an e-ARC!

3 stars! This was a heartwarming read. I have read two other books from Tarah DeWitt. While I LOVED Funny Feelings and enjoyed The Co-op a lot less, it didn't give the same satisfying feeling as Funny Feelings.

The story is told in dual pov in Spunes, Oregon. We follow Sage, the town's beloved HS teacher who recently underwent a breakup with the town’s golden boy, and Fisher, a Michelin-starred chef who became a guardian to his niece, Indy after his sister's passing. Fisher and Indy stay in a summer rental across Sage's home where Fisher finds his life's purpose of once again becoming a passionate chef and Indy attends summer school to make up for the lost time while she was (and still is) grieving the loss of her mother. After a misunderstanding during their first night in their rental, they meet Sage and the story then evolves from there.

Funnily enough, this had a couple of Twilight references that I was not expecting especially when our MMC points out the irony in staying in Spunes, Oregon. It was corny but every small-town romance is so I got past this. Sage is super quirky but her fashion sense left a sour taste in my mouth because it wasn’t entirely necessary. Though it explains why, I didn’t find it contributing to the storyline much. I do, however, love how the relationship between Fisher and Indy was portrayed. It was more realistic and it was refreshing to see a rocky relationship compared to other happy and overly cheesy guardian/child relationships we see in many of these types of books. Let’s not forget about the interactions between our two protagonists. So much tension, you can’t help but giggle.

As we see a rise in small-town romances with one of the main characters being from out of town, this captures this essence in a more realistic approach with its real-life problems. If you are a fan of the Chesnut Springs series by Elsie Silvers or The Edens series by Devney Perry, you’ll enjoy this!

I hope this is one of an interconnected series because this introduces characters that have a potential storyline of their own and I would happily read them.

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This was such a sweet and refreshing read. Sage meets Fisher Lange and his niece when they move to the small town of Spunes for the summer. While Fisher learns how to be a parent to a grieving teenager, Sage learns to embrace her true authentic self.

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Everything Tarah DeWitt writes is magic. She has a way of making the ordinary seem magical, and many of her books are such an ode to small towns. I thought it was hard for her to top “Funny Feelings,” but I think she might’ve with Sage, Fisher, and Spunes, OR.

“Savor It” is an applicable name for this book, because I wanted to savor every word and sentence. I have far too many highlights from this to include in my review, but I’ll leave it with something us “too much” girls need to hear: “You once told me you thought you were a lot of nots… I want you to know that to me, you’re everything.”

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Savor It is sweet and charming and angsty and sexy and just everything I want in a romance read. In a coastal town, Sage Byrd needs a win and the Festival of Spunes seems like the perfect opportunity for her, if only she could find a partner. Fisher Lange was a hotshot chef in NYC who needs a reset after becoming responsible for his late sister’s daughter Indy and ends up in Spunes. Together, these two strike a deal: Fisher will be her partner if Sage helps him to win over the townspeople before he leaves when the summer ends. The writing sparkles in this book. It’s the perfect summer read, and it really has everything. It’s funny and quirky with big small town charm and characters. The characters are so real, filled with grief and love and honest anxieties and they just really feel real and relatable. Sage is beautiful and strong. She has so much love, and Fisher is so charming and endearing. I like his kind of shy charm. I do wish there was more to incorporate Indy—as a major player in the story, she felt really deep in the background. But honestly that’s my only complaint. The story is stunning. It has all the angst and love and my heart was so full with how these two loved and supported each other. What a beautiful small town summer romance!!

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Let me start off by saying I absolutely loved Funny Feelings and The Co-Op by Tarah! I couldn’t put them down and still recommend them often. I was looking forward to this one since I saw its announcement so I’m bummed to say I didn’t super love it. From the get go I kinda struggled to get into it but thought maybe I wasn’t in the mood. But after taking a few days off and coming back I still struggled to really get into it. I like Tarah’s writing and I always like her characters so it’s hard for me to really pinpoint why this one didn’t work for me? But by the 60% mark I still found myself questioning how we got this far and it feels like nothing has really happened? I liked both characters separately but felt nothing for them together and that continued on for quite some time. It just felt like they did a lot of internal processing but not a lot of communicating. When they did communicate it felt that they were really mature and I enjoyed that. But for me, there was no spark and the story just felt too bogged down by other stuff to enjoy the romance. Regardless, I’m excited to read the new version of the Co-Op and for Tarah’s future work!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy!

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