OH MY GOSH WHERE DO I EVEN START?! This book was everything I didn’t even know I needed.

I spent the entire time reading laughing, crying and swooning over them. The way these two belonged together, despite everything life had thrown at them, from finding each other at a young age to getting divorced and everything in between. Their souls were intertwined in a way you would only understand from reading the book.
They were magical.

Yes this was a second chance romance but it was so much more and so different from any other second chance I’ve read.

I would like to say a huge thank you to the little brown book group and Tarah herself for letting this wonderful book

i cant tell you how excited i was when i found out i got the arc honestly i was over excited jumping up and down like a mad woman ,
i have read every book of Tarahs and i fell in love with all her stories , and my gosh she only went and smashed it again . I can't tell you just how much i love this story a wonderful second romance the story pulled on every heart string .

the setting is the same as the last book savor it a cosy small town where everyone looks after each other perfect might move there myself .

The characters i thought were both were wonderful such strong characters .

Ellis and wren back stories i wanted to give them both great big hugs .they fell in love when they were in their teens got married and had a little one but in their 30s no longer together and figuring life out with wren running her own bakery and Ellis fireman .they are trying to do their best with what life has dealt them .

Tarah writing is always so wonderful She is so Clever at making you feel like your in the story . thank you Tarah for bringing this wonderful book to life it is now forever ingrained in my brain and my heart .

I am giving the book 5 heart beating stars

The epitome of second chance romance will grace our bookshelves tomorrow
The pure and RAW emotions I experienced while reading this book need to be studied because I reached points crying my eyes off and questioning life choices.
And this book really is the perfect example of life sometimes has other plans for you and you never know what might happen, so be grateful for everything you have and the circle you have created around you.
Wren and Ellis ?? The way you could see from miles that they love each other even after 5 years separated….. and the yearning they delivered throughout this whole book???? And they way they describe their love is something poets write about.


Thank you to the publisher for the book

An emotional, sweet and funny second chance romance

I love a second chance romance, and this one did it really well. Tarah DeWitt is one of my favourite romance authors, I recommend all of her books, and this one is connected to Savor It. Set in the same town , it focuses on a different couple, who had a kid and married young but have been divorced for five years.
Featuring a road trip, steamy scenes, lots of friendship, family and reconnection, this is a raw look at what went wrong,what went right and navigating a way forward.
The yearning and the angst had me in a chokehold!

4.5 stars!! I loved Wren and Ellis so much. Second-chance romance can be hit or miss with me but this is done perfectly. It had angst and bitter regret, YEARNING and love in all its many forms and stages. A truly tender, realistic, but romantic story about long-term love and life. I also couldn't wait to be back in Spunes for the same charming small-town, found family that I loved in Savor It, and Left of Forever did not disappoint. So good to see snippets of Sage and Fisher living out some of their HEA too. I'll probably add to this review when I've had time to sit with the story for longer, because i've *just* finished it, and had to scream about it right now!

"I was starving to be near you again.”

I adored this from the 1st page, full on yearning and open communication. I love the family meddling in a healthy way too. I didn't realise and requested this arc before reading Savour it, but I will be heading that way asap.
Also... there was only one bed 🖤

Thanks little brown book group for the opportunity to read and review this e-arc!

I enjoyed reading Left of Forever, the second book in a series of interconnected standalone contemporary romances.

Our MC' Wren and Ellis have been divorced for 5 years after having a child and marrying young. With their son about to start college in another state, Ellis proposes a 7 day trip to see if they can make a go of a second chance romance.

I loved that the main characters in this book were in their 30s, it made it feel relatable for me as the reader and was quite refreshing.

The book was funny and witty throughout, but also dealt with some heavy topics along the way such as mental health, child loss and fertility struggles. I thought these topics were handled well by the author and added depth to the story.

I didn't feel as though I needed to have read the first book in the series, until I reached the end of this book - we switched from reading about the MCs story, to another set of characters, which I think probably would have had a better impact if I'd read book 1.

Overall I enjoyed this read as a nice palette cleanser. This would be a great book for those looking for a short, easy to read steamy story of two people finding themselves and their love for each other again 💕

“This time, they’ll get it right.”

Left of Forever follows Ellis and Wren, characters we met in Savor it. They fell in love when they were kids, had their son Sam when they were teens and had a life together - until it fell apart. Now they’re in their 30s and divorced, living not so separate lives. When they go on a trip with Sam to help him move into college, Ellis convinces Wren to extend their vacation and give their love one last chance. Can they resolve the issues of their past and move forward together? “Will they make the most of what’s left of forever? Or will they let each other go for good?”

An honourable mention needs to be made for the playlist - which slaps, and I’ve had it on repeat since reading this.

I was obsessed with Ellis and Wren from book one - so clear he wasn’t over her! When he corrected O’Doyle that Wren is still a ‘Byrd’ in the town meeting. So I LOVE the fact we get a second chance romance with them.

Really enjoyed the letters and journaling elements! Such an interesting way to give us their backstory without the typical flashback scenes.

“We belong to each other in ways no one else ever will.”

Ellis was such an interesting MMC, since he was the oldest when his parents died he took on a father figure role for his siblings. From this he feels responsible for everyone - that guy has the weight of the world on his shoulders and he’s terrified of letting anyone down. I loved how he found himself throughout this book, going to therapy and trying to win back the love of his life.

I loved Wren - the fact that she had the strength to leave her marriage when it was no longer making her happy, to then succeed as a single mom and running her bakery business. But she also allowed herself the possibility of letting Ellis back in - took a leap of faith when the chance of getting hurt again was so high. She’s just such a strong, amazing FMC.

The small town vibes are so cute! Make me want to sell my house and move to a cosy small town where they’re like one big family.

I really hope we get more books in this series!

Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt is a soul-deep, slow-burning second-chance romance that gripped me from the very first page and refused to let go. Wren and Ellis’s story is a masterclass in emotional tension—layered with past heartbreak, lingering love, and the quiet ache of what could have been. From the start, you can feel the weight of their shared history in every stolen glance and avoided conversation. Their pain is palpable, and the pining is devastating in the most compelling way. It's the kind of story you fall into and feel your heart pulled apart by—because the love is still there, simmering beneath years of silence and sorrow.

Ellis, in particular, completely won me over. His growth throughout the book is so satisfying to witness—not just because he says he’s changed, but because we actually see the work he’s put in. He’s gone to therapy, he’s faced his flaws, and he’s trying—truly trying—to be someone worthy of Wren again. His vulnerability, especially in the letters they write to each other, is honest and moving. The letters were one of my favorite parts of the book: filled with hesitation, bashful flirtation, and a deep desire to reconnect. They serve as this beautiful reminder of how tender and messy love can be, especially when it’s rooted in such a profound shared past.

Wren, for her part, is guarded and understandably cautious. She’s not quick to forgive, but she is open to honesty, and that openness gives the story so much room to breathe. When she and Ellis finally have their reckoning—when all the grief, anger, and longing comes pouring out—it feels so earned. There’s no easy fix or perfect resolution, just two people trying to find their way back to one another through vulnerability and truth. And when they do, it’s breathtaking.

The final act left me in tears—in the best possible way. Their rewritten vows, the way they choose each other with clear eyes and open hearts, was everything I hoped for. This wasn’t just a love story about getting back together; it was a story about becoming better for each other, about growth, grief, and the slow rebuilding of trust.

Tarah DeWitt writes with such care and compassion for her characters. The supporting cast, especially the Byrd family, adds warmth and richness that balances the emotional intensity between Wren and Ellis. Left of Forever is a deeply moving, beautifully written reminder that love, when it’s real and rooted in something true, can survive even the most painful endings—and come back stronger.

Five stars, without hesitation.

★★★★★

𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧…
🌲 second chance romance
🧡 road trip to reconciliation
🌲 forced proximity
🧡 childhood sweethearts
🌲 he YEARNS
🧡 soulmates

𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨…
Wren & Ellis were childhood sweethearts, but after falling pregnant as teenagers, and then years of infertility, they divorced & parted ways 💔 Five years later neither one has fully moved on - and they take a road trip to see if they should give their relationship another go 🥹

𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨…
I’ve been obsessed with these two since Ellis’s “she’s still a Byrd” line in Savor It 🤭 and them finding their way back to one another absolutely did not disappoint 🥹

Wren & Ellis are everything, and their second chance love story is one of my favourites ever - they are absolutely meant to grow old together 😭 I really loved how Tarah showed us how sometimes things can go wrong even for soulmates 💔

Ellis yearns SO hard, and seeing how desperate he is to have Wren back in his life made heart hurt so much 🥺 Tarah’s writing is emotional and beautiful, and my heart was in a vice for 300 pages. Ellis is true book husband material, he loves Wren SO much 😭🫶🏼

The road trip setting is perfect, and made me wish I was driving up the west coast back to Oregon 🌲(and as soon as we learned the significance of the stops? I was a goner 😭)

I did find the format a little chaotic early on - you jump between letters, journal entries, past/present - but stick with it, and once you get to the road trip it’s perfect 🥲

This is hands down my favourite of Tarah’s books, I loved everything about Wren & Ellis finding their way back to one another. By the end I had tears streaming and my heart was so full 🥹🫶🏼 (the epilogue… the last line..?! 😭)

I love the Byrd family, and cannot wait for Micah & Silas’s books!

Left of forever, is a beautiful second chance romance story. While this isn’t normally my favourite romance trope, I really enjoyed this. This contemporary romance story is well crafted and their are lines in this story that will make your heart break. The characters felt so real and relatable and you go on this relationship journey with them through out the story. I rated this book 4 stars and defiantly would read more from this author.

I will publish this on my Goodreads and fable account.

My first book from Tarah DeWitt but what a fabulous start!

The tension, the yearning, the spice... I've never been the biggest fan of second chance romances but this one really worked for me.

This book takes a second to get going. and by that, I mean they don't actually go on the road trip to fix their relationship until way past a third of the book. But the backstory was key and laid the groundwork. making this book so incredibly enjoyable.

Ellis is just *chefs kiss*. I'm always here for an emotionally intelligent man who goes to therapy.

I love interconnected standalones and will definitely go back and read book 1, but you definitely don't need to read book 1 to enjoy this one! I think I may be adding Tarah DeWitt to my auto buy author list in the future. Praying that Silas' book is next!

I loved this book!!
Wren and Ellis were childhood sweethearts. They had a child and got married really young but have been divorced for 5 years. Now in their 30s, they still haven't moved on. Do they still have feelings for each other? Can they find their way back to each other?

I'm always a bit cautious with second chance romances as I struggle to relate. How can they go back after all the hurt. But it's not always that simple. Sometimes people grow apart, or they lose each other when they lose themselves, but the love is still there. I love this journey of them finding each other again. The letters had me giddy and the cooking session had me in fits of laughter.

The characters had such great chemistry. The banter was everything. Even the side characters were loveable. I have since realised this is book two in the series so I need to go back and read book one, and I cannot wait for future books in this series. I am hoping Silas is next!! I want to be part of the Byrd family.

I didn't realise this would be a therapy session for myself but there were some insightful points in this through the characters journey of healing which I will remember. Intimate and healing with some hot spice. This book will make you believe in fate and soulmates.

Thank you to Piatkus and Little, Brown Book Group for this advanced copy.

Lyrical, tender, and hot as hell – just gorgeous

This book was absolutely stunning – lyrical, emotional, and packed with all the grown-up, messy beauty of a second-chance romance done right. At its heart, Left of Forever is about redemption and love rediscovered after divorce, and it absolutely delivers.

Wren and Ellis’s story is intimate in every sense – their connection feels real and lived-in, and when the heat hits, it’s deliciously steamy in a way that’s also tender and believable. I was completely swept up in it.

The prose is beautiful, the setting atmospheric and vivid – I felt like I was there with them. The humour is pitch-perfect too, not overdone but natural and genuinely funny. It’s a story full of wit, joy, heartbreak, found family and healing.

By the time I reached the final chapter, I was crying happy tears – this was such a satisfying, emotional ride. A perfect summer love story that left me full-hearted and grinning through the tears.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Group for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I absolutely adored Tarah DeWitt’s Savour It when I read it last year and was hoping that we might get a Wren and Ellis second chance romance ever since the ‘she’s still a Byrd’ moment and boy oh boy did DeWitt deliver. Left of Forever is the most gorgeous second chance romance that’ll hit you in all the feels.

Wren and Ellis Byrd fell in love as kids, had their son and before they were twenty and built their life together in Spoons. They were made for one another, until they fell apart. Now in their 30s and five years separated they still can’t seem to get one another out of their minds. When their son Sam is accepted to college they offer to drive him there and then decide to journey back together and see if there is any hope in salvaging what they once had. But the two still have to contend with their tumultuous past in order to move forward. And when spoken words fail, sometimes the written word must bridge the gap.

This was such a beautiful, tender, hopeful and deeply real book. You just couldn’t help but root for Wren and Ellis throughout. There had been so many missed chances and hiccups leading up to their road trip where we as the audience could see how much they cared for one other and yet they kept seeing the wrong thing. And yet you know what, I think that worked perfectly, they needed the chance to reconnect and find one another again without the distractions of their home town and its inhabitants. They needed those chances to talk, figure out what they wanted and needed, what went wrong and where they might go next.

The duel pov worked so well, you could really feel just how deeply these two cared for one another but also how very scared they were too. They’re both such strong, rounded and developed characters, who along with the other Bryds (and Fisher) you’ll totally fall in love with.

I simply adored this novel.

Not to be dramatic but this book saved me😍

Life has been crazy lately and I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump and nothing has hit the way I needed it to but I had high hopes for this book and ooooh it delivered!

I love second change romances and this was an amazing one! After being divorced for five years, Ellis convinces Wren to go on a road-trip after dropping their son off at college. This trip is their opportunity to see whether they can give their relationship one more chance and upon realising they both want to be together again, they do everything they can to ensure they get back home together.

Wren and Ellis were great characters! They knew each other deeply and even after years apart they still knew each other so well. Ellis did change a lot during their time apart (most off-page I’d say, with therapy and lots of reflection) and it was great to see him surprise Wren and actually do the work and actively fight to be more open and honest with Wren, even when his natural instinct would be to keep things to himself or fight alone (even though he always had good intentions).

I loved seeing them talk through their past and not only the problems thy faced and how they reacted to them, but also reminisce about the good time and all the wonderful memories they made together throughout the many years they knew each other. They had some great conversations and I loved seeing them open up and be vulnerable together.

I also loved the way this book focused so much on the present, and not too much on the past as second chance romances often do. And the use of the letters and diaries? Incredible! It’s something I haven’t seen often and I just adore this format, the insight it gives you into a character and how beautiful it is.

Beautiful, raw, funny and sometimes heartbreaking. Left of forever was sometimes hard to read because it was so well written I felt like I was experiencing the multitude of wild emotions Wren and Ellis go through.

Such a beautiful heartfelt take on a second chance romance.

"All I know is that if I found out heaven was real and got there first? I'd hang back in the waiting room and save you a seat."

This novel was unbelievably beautiful! I feel so lucky to have discovered this stunning gem of a book on netgalley. I've already pre-ordered a physical copy so I'm able to admire it on my bookshelf!

It was real and raw and exhilarating! The blend of angst and explosive passion was divine. The emotions of these characters completely enveloped me. It was poetry. Every second of it.

This was an intense read! The author has done the perfect job of capturing the longing, heartache, and melancholy of these two fantastically well-rounded characters! Wren and Ellis were out of this world! I adored the massive crushes they had on each other despite having been together for over a decade. There were so many heartwarming, touching, exciting, and thrilling memories shared between them. And oh the YEARNING!

I married the love of my life last summer after 7 years and many hardships along the way, and I felt this story so deeply. I connected so much with Wren and Ellis and their fears and struggles. This novel felt so realistic and full of depth. I really loved the progression of our characters working so hard to express themselves and re-learn each other.

I also loved the little flashback scenes to the very beginning of their relationship, as well as moments when the relationship was crumbling. It helped to build such a full picture, and many of the scenes were so adorable.

I don't usually read second chance romances, but this one has completely changed my perspective. It was electric and so so beautiful; and made even more beautiful by our two love interests healing the rift in their relationship and falling back into love all over again.

Definitely check the trigger warnings for this one, as it's an emotional read, but it's so so worth it!

Thank you so much to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this!

*I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) for free in exchange for an honest review*

I loved this second chance romance, I knew very early on into the book that this book was going to give me all the right feels.

Left of Forever is the second book in an interconnected standalone series and while you can read them seperately, I highly recommend reading them in order to get the best experience.

This book follows Ellis and Wren, now in their 30s and 5 years post divorce. They were childhood sweethearts and teen parents, their son is on his way to college soon. The pair intend to road trip him to college, settle him in and make their way back together. Along the way old feelings and memories back their way back into the forefront of their minds and so the re-kindling begins 😍

This two were honestly made for each other, their story made me so happy. I felt all their emotions, this book is beautifully written.

Honestly I loved this book so much, being able to follow Wren and Ellis throughout this story was so fun and I loved every moment, seeing the love between these two rekindle in a way was so sweet