Savor It by Tarah DeWitt: Book Review

Pub Date	May 21, 2024
Publisher	Piatkus
Page Count	322 pages
Genre	Romance, Contemporary, Adult
Goodreads Star Rating	3.92
My star rating	3

Savor It Book Summary

Savor It by Tarah DeWitt is a romance novel about Sage, a small-town girl who was recently broken up with by her fiance (who already moved on), and Fisher, a chef whose career is not going well and who has become the guardian to his niece. They meet when Fisher is sent to the small town to come up with a menu for the new restaurant and they become next-door neighbors. They decide to fake-date in order to make her ex jealous and in exchange, Sage will help Fisher come up with a menu that works for the people of the small town. 

Savor It Book Review

Since I remember enjoying Funny Feelings by Tarah DeWitt (as mentioned in my best autumn romance list), I decided to check out this author’s more recent releases. As authors write more books, their style evolves, and I usually end up loving their new books more than their old ones. 

I hoped that would be the case here, but it unfortunately wasn’t. Perhaps it’s the book, perhaps it’s me — but I really struggled with this one. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Savor It is not a bad book by any means, it’s just… well, generic. And I was looking for something that would blow my mind. This is what I mean when I say that it might be me, and why I couldn’t, in good conscience, give it less than three stars, despite my lack of excitement about it.

I would still recommend that you check it out. Especially so if you’re looking for a small town, fake-dating, grumpy/sunshine (if you squint and tilt your head) romance. It has a lovable setting and characters, a couple you can root for, and a busy plot that will hopefully keep you more interested than it did me. 

Side-note: The hero is hot and vaguely pirate-looking, rough around the edges but sweet on the inside, and very supportive of the heroine. So, if that’s also your jam — feel free to jump in. 

And before I get into the specifics — my main issue is that Savor It lacked passion, the je ne sais quoi, the charm. As I said many times, I’m able to overlook a lot if the romance can pull me in. For example, I loved Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas, even though the writing is not the greatest and the plot questionable. 

But other than that, I do have some more direct issues with this book. 

For one, the inner monologue was just too much. I understand that the author was trying to flesh out the characters and their back stories, but she does that really well within the first two chapters. We didn’t need all those extra thoughts and paragraphs upon paragraphs of reminiscing. 

It’s especially bad when these happen in the middle of dialogue. Sage, the heroine, will ask a question on one page, and Fisher will answer page and a half later, after a lot of inner monologuing. In the meantime, you forget what she asked and you feel awkward for both of them. 

I feel like romance readers — and readers in general — are smart enough that they don’t need this much hand-holding. They don’t need every little detail of every character explained, especially since this is a romance book and is therefore not doing a complex character study. 

My next issue would be that the plot was way too busy. And I hate how fake dating was used here. I said it before and I stand by it — fake dating is not to be used randomly. It’s a really clever plot device that brings people together when they don’t want to be, or allows them to see each other in a new light. 

As such, it’s perfect for friends to lovers that don’t have any feelings for each other (at least that they acknowledge) and experiencing romance with said friend helps them realize this. It’s also great for enemies to lovers — it forces them to work together. 

It is not great when used on people who already like each other and have no previous history. Remove the fake-dating plot from Savor It — Sage and Fisher would still get together by the end. 

But other than the misuse of fake-dating, this book has so many other things going on — the new restaurant, the town’s annual competition, the teenager that needs guidance, and more. I feel like the romance would be much better if the book was pared down; cut the shenanigans, zoom in on the relationship. 

Sage and Fisher are next door neighbors, they have compatible interests, a grumpy teenager to deal with, and a looming deadline to their relationship. They would have been fine — even better, really — if they were allowed to fall in love simply, naturally. 

It could have been a really tender, sweet romance full of cozy gardening, cooking, reflections on mental health, beach days, etc. But alas. 

And finally, the romance felt rushed. Which is strange, because the pacing felt so slow. But I didn’t feel like Sage and Fisher got enough time together to really develop. It was like the author really wanted to get to the kissing and spicy part, and skipped over everything else. 

But don’t mind me — my ideal romance novel wouldn’t allow the characters to admit their attraction and feelings to themselves until at least 50%, let alone kiss before then. When I say I like slow burn, I mean SLOW. So, Savor It might not bother you in that sense as much as it did me. 

Either way, I hope you enjoy it!