I don't even know where to start. First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Having this book in my hands months before publication was a privilege!

Being back in Spunes (not to be confused with Forks) felt like coming home. I knew as soon as I met Wren and Ellis in Savor It that I was going to need their story. I'm such a sucker for a second chance romance, especially one with a man who yearns the way Ellis Byrd yearns.

The dynamic between Wren and Ellis felt so true and honest that there were moments that made me ache for them. Following them through this week-long road trip as they hurt and heal and LOVE and try to figure out how to be whole again was just beautiful. The way Tarah writes her characters is deep and personal, and every single time I think I can't love one of her characters or one of her couples more than I already do, she releases a new book and I'm proven wrong.

That said, I absolutely adored the moments with Sage and Fisher (one of my all-time favorite book couples), as well as getting to know Silas and Micah a little better. (I can already tell Silas is going to wreck me when it's his time to shine.)

I cried some sad tears and a lot of happy ones, and I'm just so grateful this book is about to exist in the world!

Love love LOVED this one. The little pieces of their failed marriage/relationship in Savor It made me yearn for Wren and Ellis's story like none other. And Left of Forever did NOT disappoint. Truly. The writing was beautiful. The navigation of falling back in love, and ensuring it was done in a healthy way? Stunning. No notes. Read it.

Left of Forever
Wren and Ellis started dating in their teens, accidentally got pregnant, got married, built a life together. And well, life happened to both of them in between. Their marriage fell apart and now they’ve been divorced for five years. But the threads to each other never really left. Wren is still very much a part of the Byrd family (“she’s still a Byrd!”) and Ellis finds himself longing for any attachment to her when they become accidental anonymous pen pals. Months later, he gets up the nerve to suggest they do a celebratory road trip together after they drop their now-grown son off at college. He makes it clear that he also wants to reconnect and hopefully give them another chance and a fresh start. Wren reluctantly agrees to the trip on the condition that they both agree to unpack everything together with as much brutal honesty as they can muster, while also discovering each other again. What ensues is a beautiful fusing our souls who were always meant to be together and - even when separated - were never really far apart.

Rating: the easiest ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve ever given
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

I don’t even know how to begin processing this book.

Most romance books are about falling in love. But STAYING in love is a completely different beast. It is waking up every day and making the same choice forever. It is grit and work and fight and pain and joy and laughter. It is exposing every raw thread of yourself and asking someone else to hold onto those things for a while because sometimes doing it on your own is too hard and too heavy. It is trusting that they will know every ugly piece of you and never use it against you. Falling in love is easy, staying in love is hard.

That’s what this book is about.

Left of Forever is a masterclass in redemption, forgiveness and second chances. It is the most real representation of the true work necessary to sustain a marriage. Wren and Ellis two have been through it all and didn’t make it. I love, love, love that they were already divorced. It puts a completely different lens on what it means to reestablish the relationship.

Tarah Dewitt, you have truly outdone yourself. You wrote these characters so real, raw and authentic, from the way they fought to their inside jokes. I admired how they laid it all out on the line for each other. They engaged like people who had nothing left to lose because, well, they had already lost the most important thing. May we all love so bravely. (“What is bravery if not hope in action?”) The recurring symbols throughout the book like the cranes and the “save you a seat” were poignant nods to a bone-deep relationship.

The whole damn Byrd family is to be adored. I love that you get to know all of them so much better in this book than Savor It. I so hope that the other Byrd brothers get their day. I would love a Silas book (pretty sure that is happening). I would love a Sam book! I love that you get to see more of Sage and Fisher’s engagement. And I won’t spoil the end but holy shit, I loved the end.

This is the movie A Marriage Story meets Jessica Joyce’s The Ex Vows. This is undoubtedly a top read of the year for me, if not in my top books of all time.

🫡 Tropes deployed: second chance, marriage redemption, road trip, single parents, young parents, grief, small town, tight knit family

This was phenomenal. The second chance romance of my dreams. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc.

Dear Stranger,

Do yourself a favor and read this book. It will tear your heart out and put it back together with the perfect blend of humor, romance, and emotion. After reading Savor It, I could not wait to dive into Wren and Ellis's story. I was not disappointed and already know this will be one of my top reads of 2025.

"I grew up with my great love. So I think maybe my heart took shape around his."

The book hits on some heavy topics - teen pregnancy, guardianship, secondary infertility, and divorce - to name a few. Tarah was able to write about these topics in such a beautiful way while capturing how hard it was for the characters. Wren and Ellis are childhood friends who fell in love. They had a kid when they were still basically kids themselves and got married young. After growing apart and divorcing, they still have to co-parent their son, Sam, and coexist in their small town. Ellis convinces Wren to go on a road trip on their way back to Spunes after dropping Sam off at college to see if they can give their romance a second chance. They take the opportunity to get to know each other again and have tough conversations while making memories traveling the Pacific Coast.

This book made me laugh; it made me cry. It was everything I wanted it to be.

The story also had some of my favorite microtropes: only one bed & secret tattoos

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

If I could give this more than 5 stars I would because it is deserving of 100. Right from the start I was hooked and fully invested in Wren and Ellis's story. There are not two people more deserving of a second chance as these two are. They learned and grew from their past mistakes in a prominent way. No one was settling. It shows how true love will find a way.

These characters were all amazing. I loved being back in Sprunes and seeing all of our favorites and catching up with what they have been up to. Wren is such a strong character. I loved how she is unwilling to settle for less than she is worth. Her story truly resonated with me. While I may not be married, I am able to take her message with me as I go through my own bad relationships. I want to be like her and refuse to settle and find something that excites me.

Ellis is the blueprint. If men were like him and could actually learn and take accountability for their mistakes then this world would be a better place. He knew that he was to blame in their failed marriage, and while it took him a bit to get there, he finally began to work on himself. I appreciate that he did not just say he would put the work in while simultaneously win Wren back, but took the time to actually heal and grow before winning her back. He put words into action and showed that he is not afraid of hard work and that Wren is worth the time and effort.

I am so obsessed with this book. Like Wren and Ellis, I think this story changed by DNA.

Thank you to Tarah DeWitt and the publisher for an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

♾️ stars

i need to re-hydrate from all the tears before i can sit here and try to find the words to adequately say how spectacular this book was.

--
ok it's been a few hours and I am still sitting here trying to put all of my feelings into some sort of coherent thought to share..

This is Tarah's best work! It was truly phenomenal and her talent just continues to grow with each new release. Her writing was beautiful, filled with so much heartfelt emotion! Her characters and their hurts felt viscerally real to me. Even just now writing my review and thinking back to the book, I feel overwhelmed!! We got to see two people who lost each other, but that never fully let go, fight their way back to one another and it was everything! A story so full of yearning and longing you could drown in it! I felt an ache in my chest the whole way through and I loved every single second of it. Truly one of the best second chance romances EVER!

I knew these two would wreck me the moment Ellis said "She's still a Byrd." in Savor It.

Ellis and his damn sexy mustache, his tender heart and his willingness to do whatever it took to get the love of his life back had me in shambles. This man was determined but still so respectful of Wren, her feelings and her fears! The true desperation he felt to not fuck up this second chance was palpable.

I also feel the need to mention that the tension between them was heady!! The intimacy, whether it was emotional or physical, was all-consuming.

I'm honestly just sitting here feeling ruined because that was easily one of the best romances I've ever read. How do I move on from Ellis & Wren!? *sobs* I don't think I ever will.

10/10 her best book so far and I’ve loved every single one of her books. The yearning, the mutual pining, the pain of them being separate after so many years together was done so well. Wren and Ellis were perfect and I’m so happy they got their HEA (again)

Though Funny Feelings will always have my heart, this may be my new next-favorite Tarah DeWitt romance — and definitely my new favorite second-chance romance, period. The people aren't ready!

Wren and Ellis are a fantastic example of a couple who have seen some life, been broken by it, and still manage to find their way back together. As (slightly) older romance protagonists, they work through their problems in mature ways and work on their communication where it needs repairing (what a breath of fresh air in this genre). At the same time, I though the reasons for them growing apart and divorcing in the first place were entirely realistic, and made it that much better to follow their journey years later. This was like getting to see further down the line in a first-love kind of story, where you know the couple is meant to be together, but sometimes life gets in the way. All the more satisfying to read about Ellis and Wren fighting their way back to each other. Loved it immensely — Left of Forever should be the romance of the summer.

Oh to have a love like Ellis and Wren....

Left of Forever is probably my top rated contemporary romance books thus far. One of my favorite things about Tarah's writing style is the way she doesn't hold back in writing real-life, human emotions and instances. I rarely find contemporary romance that makes me feel as if the characters are real people i Can find pieces of myself in. There are discussions of therapy, ectopic pregnancy, heartbreak, lost love, parental loss, injuries and burns, self-doubt and negative body images, pregnancy at a young age etc. These are all things that occur in a real-life scenarios. They're the things that make us human. I get that people like to read romance as a way to escape from reality but I like to be able to see that I'm not alone in dealing with things such as agony or heartbreak or mental health issues or fertility issues.

While this books focused on rekindling the time lost after being divorced for 5 years, there were also many cute and humorous moments mixed in with the emotional wreck of a relationship. This brought together Wren and Ellis' story so well. It showed that no matter how much time they were separated or how far they drift apart, they were still able to be something for each other. Bring the joy to one another when they needed it the most.

Also, the amount of character building done with Silas and Micah as well as other characters throughout the world, set up for (hopefully) more books!! We get to see so much vulnerability from both of them that I know they're books (if happening (fingers crossed)) will hurt just as much as this one.

Tarah, you are such an honest and amazing writer. Wren and Ellis have my heart in a chokehold. Thank you for this.

The story of Wren & Ellis growing up together and falling in love young, getting married, raising their son and then drifting apart for some truly heart wrenching reasons was such an emotional ride. The yearning. The hopefulness. The open and honest communication as two people are finding their way back to each other. This book was like a salve to the strongest of heartbreak. Once a Byrd, always a Byrd.

I'm not at all exaggerating when I say that this is one of my favorite romances of all time. Everything from the stunning prose, the pacing, the characterization, the everything—I genuinely couldn't find a single fault while reading.

It's a testament to Tarah's writing that I could relate so deeply to two characters who I have very little in common with; she just GETS human nature and all the little joys and pains that come with it. I cried way too many times (and Tarah received way too many screenshots accompanied by way too many exclamation marks, but that's beside the point).

If you haven't read SAVOR IT, consider this your sign. LEFT OF FOREVER follows the FMC's brother and his ex-wife/her best friend. It can be read independently, but you'll definitely appreciate more after Sage and Fisher's story!