ARC REVIEW

Savor It
By Tarah DeWitt

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/ 5 (3.5 rounded up to 4/5)

Publishing Date: 5/21/2024

Sage has lived in Spunes, Oregon, her entire life. She loves her small town, animals and local townspeople, but she can't help feeling hurt when her ex becomes engaged to someone else...

Fisher, a chef from NYC, is raising his teenage niece after the death of his sister.  After losing his Michelin star, his boss sends him to Spunes to help launch a new restaurant.

Sage and Fisher decide they can help each other....Sage needs a partner for the annual summer competition, and Fisher needs help being welcomed by the locals.

They didn't intend to catch feelings...BUT Fisher will be leaving at the end of summer. Can Sage and Fisher find the strength to walk away?

REVIEW:
I enjoyed this!

I unfortunately didn't love it as much as the high good read ratings. The first half was slow for me. I felt like it took too long to get into the story, which caused me to give a lower rating.

Once I hit 60% in, I LOVED it. I loved Sage and Fishers chemistry. Fisher? Ohh.  *CHEFS KISS* I wish we had an entire book about these two being in love. The romance was SO good, but I wanted MORE!!

It would have been a 5 star read if it wasn't for the slow start. But I still recommend this one!

As always, thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley ! Also appreciative of the ARCS!

This book was okay. While I really loved the characters themselves, it felt like at 60% through the book nothing had even happened yet.

I think the tension/fake dating aspect could have been introduced earlier in the book and it would have made it more enjoyable.

Savor It was literal perfection, and the book to best this summer. Full of small town hi-jinx, DeWitt’s signature charm, emotional depth, and heaps of steam, this is easily Tarah’s best work yet. I loved Sage and Fisher’s meet cute, their friendship, and eventually their burgeoning love that helped heal all sorts of emotional wounds. Highly recommend a visit to Spunes! You won’t be disappointed.

Loved Loved Loved this book. I’ve never read anything else by this author but the description sounded good so I gave it a shot and I’m SO glad I did. Sage’s fierce and warm personality mixed with Fisher’s honesty and natural charm makes for great chemistry that will have you swooning. Their banter will have you laughing out loud. There’s baby farm animals, lots of love and laughter but there is also some heartbreak. You’ll be feeling all the feels by the end of this book, but you won’t regret it.

I never knew there could be so many innuendos around canoes lol

Also Geese bond for life and can actually get depression #indyandgary4ever

“I thought being with Fisher would be like cut flowers in a vase. Something lovely I let in, even knowing it couldn't last forever. The problem is, I messed up and planted him here in all my places. I gave him my dirt, my heart, my home, and now he's been uprooted again and I'm left with the upturned mess of it all.”

Thank you NetGalley, Tara Dewitt and St. Martin’s Publishing for Advanced Readers Copy of this book and the opportunity to share my honest and unbiased thoughts.

The sweetest book!!

The small town vibe, the farm animals & the loveeeeeee was just so pure!

I love everything Tarah writes and can't wait to read more <3

This was a pretty early DNF for me. I do enjoy romances, but I found I did not look forward to picking this up to keep reading. I have not read any other books by this author, but she clearly has a great following. If Hallmark movies are your thing, you would probably enjoy this book because very early on, those were the vibes. It felt like things could have been fleshed out more when they were glossed over.

This book is such a sincere and heartfelt romance. I love the opposite worlds the characters come from: small town farm girl and a Michelin-star New York chef. Opposites really attract in this romance, and I love the constant use of open communication throughout their story.

There are so many motifs that make this romance unique (Sage's robes, for example—iykyk). I also like the themes of overcoming work burnout, figuring out how to parent teenagers, small town versus big city, savoring things while they last, and choosing to live a happy life no matter what that looks like to you. I really identified with that last one, and it made me love and appreciate the journeys the characters went on both together and separately.

My only critique is that the tension did drag a bit for me at some parts, making me want to skim. But overall, I think this romance is special and worth reading.

Writing Aesthetic/Style: 4
Plot/Movement: 4
Character Development: 5
Overall: 4

Thank you, St. Martin's Griffin, for the arc!
Releases May 21, 2024

Trigger/Content Warnings: death of loved ones (off page), injury, four-ish open door scenes

Fall in love with the town of Spunes in this small town summer romance book. We’ve got Fisher, the former big city chef who has recently found himself primary caregiver of his teenage niece and in charge of creating a menu for Spunes’ new, controversial, restaurant. And Sage, the girl next door, who is the heart and soul of this small town. Sage is quirky, passionate, and ultimately exactly what Fisher and his niece didn’t know they needed in their lives.

Mental health representation and personal growth were also important components of this book. Fisher works through his grief and is impressively self aware, while Sage works on her confidence and letting go of what others think. Sage having her mom’s book of advice was something I found to be very special and I’m glad it was incorporated into the story as it was.

This was a quick read with realistic characters, a small town you will definitely want to visit, slow burn with good spice and a bit of humour. Oh and did I mention there are super cute farm animals??

This is my first ARC from NetGalley and my first 5-star read of the year!
I was in a book slump before picking this up but Ms.Tarah Dewitt knows how to write a book that just gets you out of it!
I loved everything about this story from the setting to the side characters and especially the animals. If you love the small-town and summer romance tropes, you will love this book.
Sage and Fisher’s relationship blossomed so beautifully, they had me laughing and crying. I love them so much.
I don’t think I’ve ever related to a character so much as I did with Sage. I love how deeply she feels and as someone who feels too much, I just felt seen.
I can’t wait until May 21 to get a physical copy!

dnf at 30%

while i like the premise of the book Tarah Dewitt writing is just not for me, i’m finding it really hard to get into the book & connect with the characters. i find myself forcing to pick the book up rather than being excited to pick it up.

Tarah DeWitt doesn't miss, and Savor It is no exception. Tarah's take on a small-town romance was fun, emotional, and (best of all) realistic. I loved that she never glosses over the downside of small-town living. The rumor mill, knowing everyone's business, etc. The pacing of this book was perfect, and Tarah builds the tension beautifully. When the main characters find their way to their happily ever after, it feels like all the heartache was worth it.

To me, this book exemplifies the old saying "life is what happens when you're busy making plans." Fisher moves himself and his niece to Spunes for the summer to clear his head and help a friend get their restaurant off the ground, planning the entire time to return to NYC. Enter Sage Byrd. I love how unapologetically she loves her town and the world she's carved out for herself. She's charming and funny and everything Fisher needs to find solid ground again.

This book left me wanting more stories from Spunes (and more cranky yet loveable geese!)

I absolutely adored this book! There was so much growth both main characters went through - apart and together. I loved Sage's quirkiness from her love of animals and nature, to how she dealt with all the different people in her life. The mental health representation was amazing and such a central part of Fisher's story and growth. I laughed and cried at their story and was cheering them on the entire time.

Wow, this was my first Tarah Dewitt book and I am now mad at myself that I have not been reading her books sooner.

I devoured Savor It which is a bit of irony to the name and all, but listen it was too good not to get through. I wanted to see the HEA that they deserved.

Read this for:
- Fake dating
- Food related since he's a famous chef
- Found family
- Forced proximity
- Neighbors
- Single Dad (really a single Uncle guardian)
- Mental health rep
- Small town

Sage Byrd lives and breathes her small town life helping her neighbors and taking in all the stray animals who need a home. She has survived some immense trauma in her life, but through it the town she loves was there for her.

Fisher Lange was a start chef in NYC with a Michelin start until it all started to crumble and his career tanked. He has become the guardian to his beloved sister's daughter and has no clue how to navigate raising a teenage girl.

Fisher and his niece find themselves as Sage's neighbor in her small town of Spunes, Oregon in Fisher's attempt to redeem his career by helping to open one of his former boss's new restaurants there.

The two can offer one another help. Sage helping Fisher to navigate the workings of a small town and his niece, and Fisher to partner with Sage on the ultimate town competition.

These two just had the most swoon worthy dive into one another. The way Fisher blossomed and opened up to Sage and how she saw how wounded he was. How he accepted her and loved all the things she thought were too much. I just want to go to Spunes now and have myself a stay on the farm with Sage and all of her animals and get a meal cooked by Fisher.

Adored the mental health rep with Fisher in therapy and him trying to do better and improved. I am obsessed with all the animals Sage has. I cannot wait for more books in this universe because this small town and family already have my heart.

Thank you to SMP and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Savor It
Tarah DeWitt
Romance (some spice)
2024-35 ❤️❤️❤️❤️4.3
TBR May 21 PreOrder today!
📚📚 📚Sage has lived in her small Oregon town her whole life. She loves her job teaching at the high school, loves her gardens and home of needy animals. She’s even used to being shown some pity, after losing both her parents at a young age. But she’s grown tired of it, particularly after her boyfriend dumped her for her friend and everyone in town feels sorry for her. So when a Michelin star ranked chef comes to stay the summer at the house next door to her, she’s happy to meet someone without her whole history. Fisher brings his own history with him from NYC. He’s just been fired from a job he worked hard for, has lost his creativity, and is the new guardian for his teenaged, angry, grieving niece following his sister’s death. Small towns are not his thing and he has no interest in a hallmark movie moment. Yet he cannot deny his interest in the kind, beautiful and utterly chaotic woman next door. Will a summer be enough?
📖📖📖 Absolutely superbly sweet and funny. Fisher and Sage (despite the harlequin-ish names) are down to earth characters with relatable backstories. While you have the fun tropes of meet cute, friends to lovers, pretend to real romance, there is some real sweetness and substance to the romance. The ending is appropriately predictable as it should be for its genre, but how they get there will make you smile and root for love. Fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez, rejoice for another funny, sweet friend.
❤️❤️❤️JJ’s last words. Perfectly sweet.
📚📚Thanks to St Martin’s Press (with NetGalley) publishing gave me access to this advanced readers copy on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. @authortarahdewitt

Tarah has a way of writing characters who feel so tangible and real. Like I could just reach into the book and pull them out and we would be best friends in real life.

A wonderful book by an author I love! I had a great time reading this and will definitely continue to recommend it!

Savor It

4.25 ⭐️

Tarah DeWitt is such an amazing writer and I was so excited when I got Savor It on @netgalley! If you haven’t tried her romance books out, run!

Try if you like:
Small town romance
Dual perspectives
Single Uncle (Dad) romance
Heartfelt stories with grief

This book and its characters were beautiful. I loved the quirky town in Oregon full of meddling characters but also big loss that they work through as real people.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5

This book was just what I needed when I picked it up! There is a part of me that has always dreamed about living on a farm with rows upon rows of flowers. A life of reading on a wrap-around porch, swinging idly on the porch swing. Of finishing out the day watching the sunset with a glass of wine. *heavy sigh* That would be the life!

Savor It paints a picture of that life and reading about it made my heart so happy.

I am a BIG FAN of the small town romance and this story gave us the quirky side characters and all that country charm. The romance that blooms between Sage and Fisher also made me smile from ear to ear. I really loved to watch their relationship grow, as well as Fisher’s relationship with his niece. There was a lot of heaviness that accompanied this story, with both Sage and Fisher dealing with their own grief over losing loved ones. This piece really tugged on my heartstrings.

Overall, I waffled back and forth over my rating of this. While I really loved the story and the characters (Gary the goose, in particular!), there is a part of me that wanted a bit more Michelin-star cooking and more training for this big town competition. This aspect was hyped up SO MUCH, only to fall flat for me and be over and done in a few pages.

The ending, though, was perfect for me. Though there was a mutual third-act breakup, the realization that they had all made a mistake had me bursting with joy and renewed my love for this story! I was honestly almost full-on sobbing.

This was my first book by this author and I cannot wait to read more by her in the future!

Savor It will be published on May 21, 2024.

Thank you to Tarah DeWitt, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sage Byrd has lived in the small town of Spunes, Oregon her entire life. She loves it there, but it's been difficult since her boyfriend of five years left her and is now engaged to a former friend. Fisher Lange is a rising chef in New York City who just lost a Michelin star and his job along with it. He also recently took custody of his niece Indy after his sister Freya passed away. He comes to Spunes to help open a new restaurant and hopefully get his job back when he comes home. It’s supposed to be temporary, but things rarely turn out how they’re planned.

This book was adorable. Such a fun and easy read. Perfect for anyone looking for a small town romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins for the ARC!

Talk about the right book at the right time! I felt almost like I was going into a reading slump and starting to read slow this month . However , when I got this it had to be the perfect timing because I COULD NOT put it down! This book at me swooning one minute and the next chapter I am almost having tears! The banter and little grumpy sunshine was done so perfectly well. I absolutely loved Sage’s personality and character through out the entire book. Let me tell you though , Fisher Lange wow what a man. I absolutely loved his character growing through out this story. I clearly cannot put into words how much I absolutely adore this book! Oh and the Library scene ! 🤤 Thank you again NetGalley!