Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Tarah Dewitt writes a fun, flirty story about a down-on-his-luck, Michelin star-winning chef and a beloved school teacher in this cute, small-town romance. Fisher is sent on an assignment in Spunes, OR where he meets his temporary neighbor, and keeper of a menagerie, Sage. There is an immediate attraction and the two instantly flirt with one another. Their chemistry doesn't leap off the page at first. I felt the romance was meant to be instant, but for me, it had to build up. By the end, I was rooting for them, though it took me 85% of the book to appreciate it. In some ways this book was a train wreck of events that made reading it clunky and off-putting. I never felt a real connection with Sage, even though her character was cute and genuine. Fisher was shallow and I felt bored of him early in the novel. I felt Indy was put on the back burner too many times, they should have played up her storyline more and left others out completely. Dewitt should have chosen between the festival, the opening of the restaurant, and Sage's brother's accident, instead of having each of them be a major event in the novel. I also felt like Wren and Ellis were dangled in front of us, but were never offered. Unless she follows up with a second-chance romance novel for them, I'm left feeling disappointed about this book as a whole.

I did get a cozy feeling reading this book, with its small-town charm reminiscent of Gilmore Girls and Good Witch. The ending of the book is sweet and happy, it just took too long to get there with too many distractions. Also, Gary the goose needs more page time.

This book was simmering hot. Fisher a down on his luck chef (cooking is sexy) moves with his niece to a small town to help build a restaurant. His neighbor is Sage, a recently broken up with local woman who helps bring both him and his niece out of their funk.

I really liked this book. I loved all the relationships and the romance. It just simmered.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I really loved the small town vibes of this book, that’s always my favorite! Sage and Fisher are so fun and cute together. I feel like their chemistry came so naturally and it was just really lovely. I loved all the animal appearances in this book too!

This book had some really adorable moments. The Gilmore Girls type of small town vibes with quirky nosy neighbours and unique town festivals. I really liked Sage and Fisher and how their love developed.

What I didn’t love was the pacing of the story. I get that it is a slow burn and their friendship needed time to grow, but the general speed of the events kind of dragged. I felt like the humour that was in the author’s previous book “Funny Feelings” was kind of missing here. There were some silly moments and some really heartfelt moments towards the end, but it felt like so much story was left until the last 25% of the book.

▪️forced proximity
▪️insta attraction
▪️summer romance
▪️small town girl x city boy

i had a bit of trouble connecting to this story- mostly the characters. i can see them being lovable, fun, and swoony they just weren’t for me.
Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for the eARC!

Where do I even begin? This may be the sweetest book I’ve ever read.

Sage is a lifelong resident of Spunes, Oregon. This town is so Stars Hollow coded, so if you love Gilmore Girls, you’ll love this. She is preparing to compete in the Festival of Spunes because she wants to beat her ex, but she needs a partner. Enter Fisher, who is a chef with a bad reputation, so his boss has sent him to Spunes to help with her new restaurant and so him and his niece, Indy, can take the summer to just reset and work on their relationship. The town is giving him trouble with the restaurant, so since Sage is well loved around the town they decide to make a deal with each other.

In most romances, I feel like there are stand out moments - whether it be something cute between the love interests, a profession of love, or a spicy scene that you just can’t forget. I kept waiting for the stand out moments to happen, but then I realized that the entire book is so good that even if Sage and Fisher were breathing the same air it stood out to me. Every moment between Sage and Fisher felt so natural and so right that I literally could not stop smiling, even when I was crying. I think the best way to describe it is giddiness. I just felt so giddy the entire time I was reading this. Tarah has written this in a way that makes you feel like you are living in Spunes with them. So much so, that when I got to the spicy parts I had to put the book down and take a breather because I felt like I was invading their privacy. Sage and Fisher are like two magnets that have to connect, like two puzzle pieces that just fit. They are both fully aware of their own flaws and instead of trying to fix each other, they just love and wholly accept each other as they are. In doing this, they do help each other grow. Whether it’s realizing dreams don’t have to be big to be important or learning to savor every little moment they’re in instead of worrying about how it could end.

P.S. I am begging for a Wren and Ellis book. That is all.

Perfect For….
Fans of small town romance and fake dating.

Quick Synopsis
Fisher and his niece moves to a small town for the summer to help create a menu for the new restaurant that is going to be built there. In order to improve his image to the people in town, he makes a deal with Sage to be her partner for the town’s annual summer competition. But soon things start to change in their relationship, they realize that they are going to have to savor the summer before it ends.

My Review
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I loved the characters and their chemistry. Their relationship was kind of like a “they’re best friends” relationship. Very fun together. The setting and the plot were good too. Sage and Fisher are literally so cute together. Sage is a ray of sunshine and very popular in the town. I thought her animal farm was so cute. Fisher is being added to my book boyfriend list. That’s all I have to say. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because I did not like the end part when the summer ended. That’s it. It’s not a slowburn, which I usually prefer, but this book was still good. There is the single dad trope, small town, next door neighbour, and fake dating in this story. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

(I will be publishing my review on my blog and instagram a couple of weeks before release day)

If you love fake dating and small-town romance this is the book for you!

After being breaking up with her log time boyfriend; Sage struggles with the idea of him getting married only a year after they split. Sage is a teacher on summer break and is set on enjoying all that her small town has to offer. She hopes to finally be a part the Spunes’ festival and enter the iconic canoe race. The only problem is that she’ll need a partner to enter in the canoe race.

Fisher is a chef at a New York Michelin star restaurant Marrow; he is just not feeling the joy in cooking. He has stopped taking culinary risks and is in a slump which causes him to lose one of the restaurants stars. Then to top it off he gets fired and his sister is killed in a car accident which leaves him guardian of his teenage niece Indy. now all he has to do to get back the career he lost is help his former boss at Marrow get a restaurant in the small town of Spunes, Oregon off the ground.

As luck would have it Fisher rents the property just next door to Sage. Will Sage’s wisdom and advice be just what Fisher needs to find the joy in cooking again? Or will fisher be the one who allows Sage to be a part of the town she so loves by partnering up with her?

This was such a sweet read. It started a little slow for me, but once it got going I was hooked. The last 25% of this book was fantastic. The last 10% was perfect.

I didn’t really get attached to the town race aspect of the story, but there were so many things I loved enough to make up for it. Including: the many walks between their houses where all I could picture was the scene from the book cover, the small town quirks and characters, the animals.

I love small town romances and this one was well done. I loved seeing the character growth between the two main characters and watching them try to overcome their demons.

I would absolutely love to see more from this town and its characters in the future.

Chef’s Kiss…LITERALLY!

Oh my, Fisher BROKE the mold! Absolutely loved him. Sage was so cute and understanding and ahhhh! The bird and his girl!😂 I loved this book so much! Thank you so much for the ARC!

Hold on, I have to stop crying before I can continue…

OK. DEAR GODS. Where do I even begin? Sage & Fisher. My heart will never be the same. I laughed, I cried, I laughed while crying, and I cried while laughing. The last two being very different, but equally amazing emotional states. Sage & Fisher are EVERYTHING. Relationship goals, friend goals, found family goals, small town goals, adopted animal goals – just – ALL. THE. GOALS. I have not loved or been moved by a book this much in a very long time.

Sage Byrd has lived in Spunes, Oregon all her life. She lost both her parents at 12 and was raised by her 3 brothers. Now she happily lives in the house she grew up in on the edge of town and tends to her farm. Sage is a high school social studies teacher, mother to many orphaned animals, and lover of terrible puns. She is also very tired. Tired of being pitied, tired of being overlooked, and tired of being devalued. She dated the town golden boy, Ian, for 5 years and he belittled Sage the entire time they were together. They broke up a little over a year ago and he’s already engaged to someone else. Typical. Sage doesn’t ask for much from life. She wants to feel important to someone, she wants to feel useful, and more than anything, she just wants to be happy. And maybe – just maybe – one day she’ll find someone who will love her “as is”.

Fisher Lang is a three-time Michelin star winning chef. His sister died in a car accident three years ago, and life has been nothing but rocks in his pocket, dragging him down, ever since. After spending 15 years deeply ingrained in, and at the top of the culinary industry, Fisher is teetering dangerously close to a meltdown. Three months ago, it happened. The result? He lost his restaurant one of their Michelin stars and got himself fired. Two months ago, his niece, Indy, ran away from his parent’s house in Nebraska, and showed up on his doorstep in NY. One week ago, his former boss/business partner staged an intervention of sorts, and confronted Fisher about “the incident” that ended his career. She’s willing to give Fisher a second chance, so he’s now on his way to Sprunes, Oregon, teenage niece in tow, where he will design a menu, and set up her new restaurant, Starhopper. Oh, and Indy is resentful, angry, and seemingly hell bent on hating him, so life is going swimmingly for Fisher.

When Fisher arrives in Sprunes, his rental house is across the meadow from Sage’s farm. After an eventful first night, the two meet and Sage quickly realizes that Fisher & Indy are both struggling on every level. Sage befriends Indy and puts her to work on the farm and asks Fisher for help with some errands to make him feel useful. Along the way, she gives Fisher some sage advice, they become friends, and Fisher slowly begins to emerge from his funk.

Sage’s favorite place in all of Sprune, other than her farm, is the library. After unexpectedly coming face to face with her ex, Ian, and his new fiancée, Cassidy, Sage is shaken & embarrassed. In an attempt to help Sage take back her library, feel in control, and powerful again (and also to shamelessly flirt a little), Fisher offers to kiss Sage between the stacks so Ian can see. By the next day, the gossip train has barreled through town, and everyone thinks Sage and Fisher are dating. Shortly after, Fisher runs into some permitting problems with Starhopper, and Sage is still looking for a partner for the yearly Festival of Sprunes canoe race (that she’s desperate to win). Fisher and Sage agree to do a little bit of fake dating so Sage can help Fisher get Starhopper back on track with the Main Street Business Coalition, and in return, Fisher will be her partner for all the festival activities. But the more time they spend together, the more they realize this thing between them isn’t pretend. Their feelings are growing exponentially, and Fisher’s time in Sprunes has an expiration date. They are both in too deep, and deeply in love with each other.

Can Fisher and Sage figure out how to love each other “as is”? Will they win the canoe race? What happens to Bert and Ernie, the baby Nigerian Dwarf goats? Or the miniature donkey family, Rosemary and Ginger? And most importantly, will SageByrd, Fisher, and Indy get their happily ever after? Do yourself a favor and just read the book. It comes out on May 21, 2024. Pre-order now & thank me later.

Also, Gary the goose & Indy. ❤️ 👩🏻 🪿 ❤️
I’m just not emotionally capable of saying more about Gary right now. (IYKYK)

Mrs. DeWitt. You had absolutely no right to shatter my heart and make me ugly cry so hard that all 3 of my cats came to check on me. And then – THEN – you had the gall to put the teeny tiny pieces of my broken heart back together, better than before, and make me smile, and then laugh through those tears. I have been forever changed by Sage & Fisher. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU – but also – HOW DARE YOU. Savor It will live rent free in my head for a long, long time.

It’s been a privilege to read your novel, Tarah.

Aaaaand…I’m crying again.

** I received this book for free from St. Martin's Griffin, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. **

“I like mastering something, I think,” I admit. “I struggle when I don’t feel like I'm good at it, or struggle to jump into something when I don’t feel like I can see and control the outcome.” OK I SEE YOU AMY MARCH I WANT TO BE GREAT OR NOTHING.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! If this book interests you, make sure to check it out on 5/21/24!!!

Ok I have some very non-extreme opinions about this book. There were some elements of it that I didn’t like, but there were also some elements that I actually quite enjoyed.

First, the star of the show: the romance. I felt like there was absolutely no build-up to the sage and fisher just randomly making out. I wish there was more tension, more angst, more subtle flirting. Instead, they go from 0 to 100 with seemingly NO substance or spark.

Yes, the writing was a little cheesy, a little cliche, a little cringey (the trifecta of c’s!), but honestly, that’s just the standard for contemporary romance books nowadays. One major pet peeve/gripe I have about the writing is that it constantly references internet slang and current pop culture, which I can't imagine aging well. I know that this bothers a lot of people, so definitely keep that in mind if you want to read it.

Continuing the conversation about the writing in this book, sometimes characters would just come out with super profound, philosophical lines (see the above quote), and immediately follow it with the cringiest gut-wrenching sentence written in all of history. The whiplash was honestly hilarious.

The two main characters were fine. I don’t have any major complaints about either of them, and neither of them really irked me. I will say, Fisher’s niece Indy go on my nerves so much. She was supposed to be the moody, “no one understands me,” teenage girl caricature, but as a teenage girl, no part of her character felt remotely relatable. Like I understand that she went through some truly tragic events in her life, but she was SO ANNOYING.

The plot of the book was nothing groundbreaking. It followed the general plotline and pacing of any other contemporary romance book. However, I want to emphasize that this isn’t necessarily bad!!! Sometimes you just want a reliable story that won’t throw you for a plot twist!

Overall, this book was very classic-contemporary-romance book with a cute little cartoon cover. it was also very trope-y: small town, grumpy/sunshine, single dad, fake dating (kinda, not really). Although it wasn’t revolutionary, it definitely accomplished its goal of being a solid romance book!

Thank you to the Author & publisher for the ARC.
First off, this book cover is STUNNING. I was very excited to read this book as I’ve heard so much about her other books being amazing. So I immediately got into reading this one. Sadly I had a lot of trouble getting into it. Honestly the beginning felt like I didn’t know what I was reading. I was very confused. The only reason I knew who the main characters were was because of the synopsis. I really wanted to like this but I could not do it. It’s very hard for me to dnf a book especially early on.

“Has something ever been so good that you wanted to push it away? Maybe you’ve seen a film, read a book, or even had a vacation that was so incredible, you didn’t want it to end. You wanted to hit pause and stave off the inevitable.” Yes!! Each chapter I finished, I grew sadder that I had one less to read.
Properly named, I tried to SAVOR every last word of this story, as I never wanted it to end.

Sage and Fischer are meant to be. Their banter, her teasing, his flirting, they had me giddy with every interaction. The PUNS 😂 It seems like they’ve known each other for years, and can share parts of themselves that they wouldn't normally share with anyone else. I loved how they didn’t have any issues communicating what they were feeling. (not a fan of the miscommunication trope)

Sage is so relatable, in the fact that every one identifies her as the “nice girl”, but she views it as wanting to experience people’s joy and smiles as life is too short not to. She had been through so much at a young age, and I love that she could relate with Indy and give advice as someone with similar circumstances. She is sunshine, and we all need to be surrounded by someone like her.

Fischer and Indy’s relationship made me so emotional. He just wants to be steady for her and to connect with his niece while dealing with his guilt. The healing they went through individually and together is so heartwarming. And their connections built with the animals was so precious, they are the perfect side characters rounding out this beautiful story.

By far, Tarah Dewitt’s best novel yet. It is witty, moving, and just an overall great read.

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!!
(Review available now on Goodreads account linked below. Will post review to Instrgram May 7th, two weeks before release date.)

Withholding my review in solidarity with the readers' strike with Readers for Accountability: https://www.instagram.com/readersforaccountability/.

It’s like a Hallmark movie but with spice! Five stars for me!!!

Small town girl.
Big city chef.
Neighbors.
Baby goats.
A cat with three legs.

JUST READ THIS next! Good stuff!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Romantic, spicy, and pulls at your heart strings. Last few chapters may have caused a tear or two…

I wasn't sure what I would get out of this book but goodness I loved it. 5/5 stars.

The inner growth and inward challenges faced in this book keep you glued the whole time. The backstories and details feel cozy and sweet but there is a deeper level of emotions and challenges being faced. It has the right amount of romance, spice, plot, challenges and the last few chapters had me crying the entire time.

Thank you for the ARC!! I loved it,

I enjoyed the small town, friends-to-lovers troupe, though felt the FMC was a bit over the top at times and thought it had a slow start. I still enjoyed it overall and have liked the author's previous books. Looking forward to the next one!