💬 What was the last book you added to your shelf? 🤎📖 When I received Co-Op by @tdwittreadsandwrites in the mail I literally jumped up and down!! I cannot WAIT to start this one!! • forced proximity • marriage of convenience • second-chance romance • dual pov • angst & banter • beach setting • home renovations I’m so here for this!! Thank you so much to @tdwittreadsandwrites for gifting me this copy!! 🤎📖 . . . s u m m a r y : They say love and construction don't mix. By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned. LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had one short and contentious summer fling when they were teens. Certainly nothing to build a foundation on. But a decade later, when their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building, they're thrust back together and have to figure out how to brace up the pieces. LaRynn has the money, but to access her trust, she has to be married. Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds. A deal is struck: Marry for however long it takes to fix up the property, collect a profit, and cut ties. Thrust into a home without walls, they quickly learn that it's easy to hide behind emotional ones, even in a marriage. But, with all the exposure and pitfalls that come with living with the opposite sex (and none of the perks) they'll also have to learn what it means to truly co-operate as a team. The Co-op is a steamy story about restoration and renovation, and uncovering all the things that build character within ourselves. It's about the never-ending construction project that partnership is, and finding enjoyment at every stage. . . . h a s h t a g s : #coop #tarahdewitt #funnyfeelings #romancebooks #bookaddict #cozyreading #novemberreads #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #mustread #readingtime #alwaysreading #booknerdsandfriends #hygge #lifestylephotography #bookphotography #bookpic (at Home Sweet Home) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckt0f14OkhL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
"If you're lost, I'll find you. I'll give you my body, my heart, and my soul. I'll cherish every bit of yours in return. I'll fight with you. I'll fight for you. I'll love you for everything left of forever, in every lifetime we get.”
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Spunes, OR - Book 2
Pages: 336 Pages
Format: Arc E-Book
Publication Date: May 20th, 2025
TROPES
🤎 Second Chance
🤎 Marriage Revival
🤎 Forced Proximity
🤎 Road Trip
🤎 Secret Identity
🤎 Single Parents
🤎 Small Town
🤎 Found Family
RATING :⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
SPICE :🌶️. 5
SUMMARY
Wren and Ellis fell in love as children, married young, and had a baby early. They were happy until everything they held dearly began to fall apart. Now, Wren & Ellis are divorced and living in the small town of Spunes where it's impossible not to see each other -- especially when Wren's best friend, is Ellis sister. When their son, Sam, gets accepted into college, Ellis convinces Wren to extend their trip after dropping him off at campus in hopes that spending time together is exactly what they need to find what they once had.
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I knew from the moment Ellis told his family in Savor It "She's still a Byrd," that I NEEDED THIS BOOK MORE THAN I NEEDED AIR TO BREATHE & I'm so incredibly grateful to Tarah DeWitt & NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc.
THE CHARACTERS
It's not very often outside of the fated mates trope that I willingly call a couple soulmates, but that is exactly what Wren & Ellis Byrd and what they have been their wholes lives. I knew that from the very first meeting in Savor It and watching these two realize what they still mean to each other in Left of Forever was just absolutely beautiful.
Ellis loves his wife. Has always loved his wife. He just didn't have a very good idea of how he was supposed to love his wife, raise his child and as the oldest Byrd when their parents died, raise his siblings all at the same time. I feel like he was doing he was doing the best he could, but I don't think he realized that in choosing to care for everyone over himself, he was choosing to care for everyone over his own heart and in turn, he lost everything...
I'm just thankful this man knew exactly what he needed to do to get it back.
He didn't just grovel and beg and plead for Wren to love him again. He put in the work. He made the choices. He plotted, planned and made sure that when the time came, that he was a man worthy of a second chance. And boy was he ever.
Wren loves her husband, but she also loves herself & she knows she deserves more. She was such a strong, resilient and soulful character. A loving mom. A badass baker. A beautiful friend. But she had this sadness about her that I really connected with... Maybe it's because she had a baby at seventeen (as did I) and in devoting her life to being a mother, she lost her sense of self along the way. She forgot that she was allowed to be a mother and have dreams that went beyond making sure her son graduated high school and got into college. She forgot that it was okay to choose herself.
Her story was my favorite part of this book. More so than the romance. Watching Wren find herself again and finally realize that it's not too late to find your true self was such a beautiful thing to witness.
THE STORY
I couldn’t honestly tell you what I loved most about this book, because I loved EVERY SINGLE WORD. Though, I could list just a few things that made my heart flutter.
The yearning.
The longing.
The aquarium.
The small touches.
The journal entries.
The “nothing we haven’t done before” challenge.
The peppered doodle.
The family dynamic.
Oddly enough, even the miscommunication and how they both still wanted to hold one another after five long years but didn’t think the other wanted the same had my heart galloping.
OVERALL
This was the perfect second chance romance! Ahh, I just can’t. This book was everything I needed. Tarah has quickly become my favorite auto-buy author and I’m fairly certain this book altered my brain chemistry. I CANNOT WAIT for the audiobook so I can replay it as much as I replay Savor It!!
FIND LEFT OF FOREVER ON : GOODREADS - AMAZON - TARAH'S WEBSITE
FOLLOW TARAH ON : INSTAGRAM
** A big thank you to Tarah DeWitt & NetGalley for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
By the time I started chapter 3, I knew I was going to really enjoy this. I’ve hoped for Ellis and Wren’s HEA since reading Savor It and I was thrilled to get an early copy of Left of Forever 🙂
*childhood friends
*only-ever-you
*second chance
*firefighters
*road trip
I loved Wren and Ellis, even though there were times when I definitely wanted to smack them both for not communicating. The emotional growth is terrific and I didn’t want to stop reading.
I love the Byrds and would love if Ms DeWitt writes future titles about SIlas and Micah - I need more stories about this wonderful family!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC
