I’m writing this review with tears in my eyes because this book emotionally destroyed me and then put me back together. Second chance romances are always so special to me and Left of Forever was no exception. The love and tenderness between Wren and Ellis was palpable from page one and I couldn’t help but feel what they felt.

It would be impossible not to root for Wren and Ellis both as individuals and as a pairing. This book is raw and vulnerable in the most beautiful ways. I truly felt the ups and downs throughout this story. They feel like such real individuals with real emotions and problems!

I will be needing 3-5 business days to recover emotionally from this book. Which means I need everyone I know to also read it. This book is the true embodiment of the saying that love will always find a way.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and St. Martin’s Griffin for the opportunity to read and review this book! I received a free advance copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

4.25 stars! I didn't love Savor It, but am so glad I read it last year so that I could fully appreciate this book! Second chance romance isn't my favorite trope, but Tarah DeWitt did the trope justice with some beautiful writing. I could really feel their deep love, history and pain. It was so gratifying to see them find their way back to each and fight for and earn their happily ever after. Wren and Ellis are truly meant-to-be and Ellis's devotion and desperation to be back with Wren was truly swoon worthy. There was a lot I could relate to as a mother and as someone who has been with her husband for many years. I also loved getting to know the other brothers (Silas and Micah) more and wouldn't be mad about Tarah DeWitt writing some books about them.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

4.5 ⭐️
Left of Forever is a story of two people who love each other figuring out their issues and making the effort for each other. The way Ellis went about reconnecting with Wren was so romantic and so thoughtful. Ellis isn’t an outwardly flowery type of male lead, but he’s solid and dependable and even when he isn’t saying it, he’s showing how much he loves Wren. I really enjoyed how open their lines of communication about the issues in their marriage were. I feel like a lot of second chance romances really breeze by the reason the couple broke in the first place, but in Left of Forever the characters really took the time to actually address their problems, from small annoyances to bigger picture things. I also appreciated that this was low on third act drama. There was one secret Ellis kept from Wren that I was worried would blow things up, but I was pleasantly surprised it did not go that way because third act conflict doesn’t go well in a second chance romance for me.

Reading this, you could just feel the love between Ellis and Wren and that’s exactly what I look for in second chance romances. This was another solid book from Tarah DeWitt, and I’ll definitely be tuned in for whatever is next!

This was a rough read. I was intrigued by the premise, the adorable cover, and the raving reviews. I've never read a second chance before and was excited to delve in.

However. I felt the two leads were dull, dopey, and incessantly annoying with their regrets. I also can't quite pinpoint the exact reason this wasn't working for me, but maybe the conflict itself was just so uninteresting? They werent together even though you still had all the feelings, had great sex, etc...because you couldnt deign to speak to each other for some reason? I just dont know. 5 years of that nonsense! I rolled my eyes at the penpal portion. No recognition of the handwriting, really? I also found the letters to be a bit try hard and overly flowery.

The Journaling and the questioning and the blah blah blah of it all was just not hitting for me.

It took me a long time to get to the 50% mark and it was painfully boring the whole way through. I believed this was considered a stand alone in a multi book universe and I honestly felt like the side characters were more interesting than our two mains. Yikes.

The roadtrip piqued my interest, but by the time it gets to the intimacy, I realized that i didn't care about either of these characters one bit. Not for me, unfortunately.

Thanks to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review.

This second chance romance absolutely destroyed me in the best possible way. The stakes were so real and clear, and Wren and Ellis truly fought their way back to each other. I loved this one.

I finished this book in a day because I could not put it down! I'm a sucker for childhood friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance 🥰 Ellis’s POV chapters were my favorite–he’s so earnest and genuinely tries hard to get Wren back 🥲 Ellis’s siblings are SO fun and bring humor to the heavy emotions throughout the story 💗 absolutely obsessed with this book and it’s my favorite Tarah DeWitt yet!!

4.5 rounded up

“I’ll love you for everything left of forever, in every lifetime we get”

I am a sucker for a well done second chance romance

Wren and Ellis have known each other since they were kids. They fell in love and had their son in high school. They are now divorced sending him off to college. Ellis convinces Wren to go on a road trip together after dropping Sam off. This time alone shows them how much they truly miss each other. They take time to work through what went wrong in the past and realize how much in love they still are. Dewitt does an amazing job writing about mature love and reigniting the flame. I fell in love with Wren and Ellis - their second chance, the way they treated the other, the flirting, admiration, sweet tender moments, origami birds…it all gave me butterflies and had me shedding a few tears at the end 🥰

truly i have no words, normally i avoid these tropes, but honestly, i am learning i will read ANYTHING Tarah writes. this was the most beautiful story and i think it topped savor it to be my favorite read of hers. This story was heartbreakingly beautiful and i think i will probably re-read it many times in the future. It's only February and this actually might be one of my top reads of 2025, hands down.

thank you so much to Tarah for writing the most wonderful stories and characters for us to get to know and love. actually, beyond grateful for this story.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I really enjoyed this follow up to Savor it. The characters, story line, small town setting, all make this story great! The heartache and rejoicing in this story were great!

Thank you NetGalley and SMP for this early copy!

Savor It was one of my favorite reads last year and when I saw Ellis and Wren were getting a book I knew I HAD to read it!

I absolutely adore 2nd chance romance, especially when it’s a marriage in crisis and falling back in love with your partner.

Ellis and Wren have such a great connection and origin story, childhood friends to lovers to having to grow up quick when she becomes pregnant at such a young age and then making it work while they both become guardians to his younger siblings. THEY WERE PUT THROUGH THE GAUNTLET!! Even though in later years they started to grow apart and their communication stopped they still had such a yearning for each other even while divorced. While on their road trip they decided to each name 2 bad things from their time during marriage every day and then they TALKED about it!

This book had me going from tears over the “realness”of marriage to laughing the next moment over Ellis and his “potty dance”, iykyk 😂😂😂

Tarah, thank you for this beautiful book and pouring your own personal experience into the story. 💗

Brb, just let me wipe my tears before I can start writing this review.
The way I highlighted so many quotes in this book because Wren and Ellis just resonated for me so much. This was the most beautiful second chance romance book I have ever read. Watching Wren and Ellis deconstruct what went wrong in their marriage while simultaneously remembering all the things that were so right between them, honestly felt like a gift. It was also so much fun to see Sage & Fisher again and watch their story continue on through the eyes of their closest supporters. While I loved Wren and Ellis’ love story, a huge part of this book that truly pulled at my heart-strings was how much their friends and family were rooting for them. Just the community in Spunes is so wholesome and the Byrds are just so adorable.
I truly hope that we get another story from Spunes ( Silas???) and I cannot recommend this enough.

I cannot get over how much I loved this book. I’ve thought about it and talked about it daily since I finished it.

I fell in love with both of these characters in Savor It and was so glad when we heard we were getting their story because it deserved to be told. I loved seeing the glimpse into the past and what caused their relationship to break, because it just made their journey back to each other even better. All the little hidden moments where he’s put so much effort and attention into. It felt like such an honor to be able to witness their journey, and their love. All the additional characters just made this better and the locations were perfect.

Also, my favorite microtrope is secret tattoos, so this just checked all the boxes for me. I can’t wait to listen to this again on audio when it comes out. I already have it preordered!

Oh my goodness, this was so adorable!! I didn’t read the first in the series but was taken in by this premise because I’ve been loving the reconciled marriage trope lately. I absolutely loved both Wren and Ellis! This was heartwarming and funny and hopeful and steamy, so many great things to be. No third act breakup, we all cheered!!!

While beautifully written, I was honestly very bored a lot of the time. The last 25% was really touching, but all the rest was just too slow for me unfortunately. The storyline is a lovely one though and as always I am grateful to have access to this ARC.

I genuinely can't express how in love with this book I am. I usually am hesitant to read second chance romance because if they broke up for a reason why get back together but this worked so well because of the honest and open communication the two characters had and how they had to rebuild their relationship from the foundation and it had me giggling and kicking my feet the whole time! I read this in one sitting, and I can honestly say I haven't felt this deeply in love with a romance since The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston! The prose was magical and emotional and it really had me rooting for these characters and I just am so genuinely head over heels in love with this book! I long for a messy divorce just to relate to these two <3

I mean literally 10/10. This is my first time reading this author but I literally have TWO of her books on my shelf and they were in my TBR and the fact that I didn’t read them is CRIMINAL. Ellis and Wren were so beautiful like I don’t know how else to explain their love and pain and redemption with one another. The honesty and vulnerability that it takes to grow with your partner while simultaneously growing as an individual is a lot. I believe in love again.

I wasn’t sure how I would like this book. I haven’t yet read Savor It (will be going back, if not just to read the “She’s still a Byrd, scene) but I really, really loved it! It managed to feel relatable and digestible even for someone who hasn’t gone through having a family or going through a divorce which I feel like is something many authors can’t accomplish. It was deep but also very funny, very spicy and perfectly paced. Has inspired me to take a cooking class and buy some ice cream… sorry not sorry

Ellis and Wren divorced 5 years ago. After many years of carefully tiptoeing around each other in a small town, old feelings start to resurface after accidentally becoming pen pals. Their son, Sam, is heading off to college soon. Slow burn encounters and heated conversations lead to a fabulous idea. What better way to celebrate the success of co-parenting than a friendly, not at all romantic, road trip? The Byrd’s embark on this trip as an effort to save their relationship all together and ends in explosive chemistry, mutual understanding, and showcases the power of love and devotion.

Ellis Byrd >>>>>

Ellis is such a sap and is head over heels for his ex wife. He’s so respectful and thoughtful with everyone but he puts his sweet Wren Byrd on a pedestal, as he should.
Wren is an extremely relatable character with her funny punchlines and her openness in expressing herself. She built major walls through the divorce that Ellis had to tear down brick by brick.

I did not marry my high school sweetheart, did not have a kid young, nor do I live in a small town, but Tarah DeWitt did an amazing job drawing me in with the raw emotion and open communication between the characters. I think there are many lessons to be learned about love and sacrifice in Left of Forever.

I had a really good time with this story and these characters! As stated previously, Ellis is a SIMP for Wren. Like, yes this is a second chance romance but I think they never really fell out of love in the first place. And boy do they make up for lost time with the help of some cancelled reservations leaving them with only one bed. I look forward to more from this author!

I’ve read several of this author’s books and this is my favorite so far. It was fun revisiting the same town and characters from her novel Savor It. The storytelling feels elevated from her other novels. The character development was so well done. They are flawed, but lovable and you want to root for them. The conflicts and experiences were genuine and authentic. Totally recommend this if you’re a fan of this author or romance.

This was a tear-jerking, out loud laughing, makes you think of all the things kind of book. I find myself read these types of loves a lot, the ones where you get the bumpy roads and the happy endings but this one hit differently. Seeing a couple who’s gone through it all - young love, young parents, young divorcees, and life long friends take a second chance was beautiful. We’ve seen this couple before, the parents who broke up but kept civil for a child, but when their child moves away, who do they become?

This book is an absolutely beauty and whether you’re single, married, divorced, etc. I highly recommend. It makes you feel all the feelings and then some.

My favorite quote: It’s as if time sped up on us somewhere, and it’s all happening too quickly. Time does that, I suppose. When you spend so much of it looking forward to the next thing, it can easily slip out from under you.