The Last Innocent Year was a book I did not know I needed to read until I read it. Daisy Alpert Florin’s lyrical writing captivated me from the beginning. The pace and writing make it so easy to sit and take in every detail. I devoured this book in one sitting. Afterwards, I had to take a day long break before I could even pick up my next book just to process solely the ending. Dark and heartbreaking in the perfect consumption, the coming of age and loss of innocence is shown through Isabel’s eyes. Listening to the narrator speak about the haunting past and how it affected her future shows beautiful character development. I find it hard to believe that this is a debut novel. The pain felt in Isabel’s words, watching her struggle, and losing a part of her she never knew she had, all aided in the process of breaking me. “You were never the victim.” I think the most heartbreaking sentence in that entire book. It made me sick to my stomach. Such a short sentence but one repeated to so many victims that they eventually believe themselves. I think it is important to be in a good headspace when reading this book, but if you get a chance, I highly recommend.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. This book totally sucked me in. It ended up being different than I thought, but still by the ending I felt like it was well done & relatable to some of my own experiences.

My Last Innocent year follows Jewish college student Isabel Rosen through her final year at Wilder College- where a nonconsensual sexual encounter and the introduction of a new professor change her life.

Readers of My Dark Vanessa will likely enjoy this book as it covers similar subject matter, though this book is a lot less heavy than MDV.

The writing style made this book easy to get sucked into and once I got started, I read the book the whole way through in a single sitting.

After her nonconsensual experience with a fellow student Isabel is left to battle with her own feelings over what happened to her and whether or not she truly wanted it. Was it rape? Was it consensual? If she didn't make it clear she didn't want it- should she even feel this way?

And while she is still dealing with this, Isabel meets Professor Connelly. He makes her feel seen- talented. Praised. After a lifetime with a mother more dedicated to her art than her daughter and a father who has spent all of his time keeping the family afloat, well, it isn't too hard for Isabel to fall for this mysterious ex-poet.

I don’t have any major complaints about this book, but I do feel that we could’ve gone a bit further with the story? By the end it just rang a tiny bit hollow in a way that I find hard to put my finger on.

However, I did enjoy the use of the first person POV and found it to be done in a compelling way that enhanced the story. There was also a light use of past and present timelines that I think were useful in helping the reader understand why it is this affair was so easy for Isabel to fall into.

Overall, this is a well written book and I'd recommend it! Solid four stars.

The novel follows a Jewish, female student as she treks through her final semester of college, and all the ups and downs that can come with that. The feeling of completion, the uncertainty for the future, the friendship strain, the job searches. However, she experiences situations of greater magnitude as well, from a nonconsensual sexual experience with a perceived friend to an affair with a trusted professor.

I found the pacing and writing of this novel to be beautiful. It flows through the year without rushing her story and drawing the readers attention in when needed. We were able to see our main character grow and change (not always in the best way) as well as process her childhood through current experiences.

All of that being said, I struggled to see any wrap-up of this story. It feels as though there should be more, and I left myself wondering how all the moments that were detailed in the novel were connected, aside from being events in her life. This gave me deep My Dark Vanessa, vibes and what that novel did so well, this novel was lacking.

Content warnings for sexual assault/dubious content, domestic violence, death, and suicide.

This is a powerful and perceptive debut novel. Isabel has long felt like an outsider on the campus of her prestigious northeastern college. Beginning her last semester on campus, she feels like she has finally made a place for herself, until a nonconsensual encounter with a fellow student fundamentally unsettles her world. Still reeling, Isabel meets and then begins an affair with R. H. Connelly, her new writing teacher who is hiding several secrets of his own who seems to be the one person who truly believes in her talent and her future as a writer. This relationship, and Isabel's partial entry in Connelly's world, ends up having far-reaching consequences for the two of them and several others.

Highly recommend this well-written coming-of-age story, which explores important themes with strongly developed characters.

This novel was a stunning reflection of what it means to be on the cusp of adulthood and coming to understand choice -- being robbed of it, claiming it, and not knowing when it's actually yours. Isabel is both naive and jaded and while she could easily come off as a passive protagonist in her own story we see as she becomes more comfortable with her desires the ways that she takes control over her life. The backdrop of the late 90s and the Clinton affair add a rich social context that isn't heavy handed. My Last Innocent Year is the best campus novel to come out in the past decade and deserves a spot among the greats.

Isabel's story, at first, seemed to have no true direction. During the first third of the novel, i wondered what the purpose of the story was. I think that it took too long for the story to really take off, and some of the beginning moments could've been left out. However, once Connelly entered the story, it began to take off. I was able to see more of Isabel's characterization and how her past reflected on her present, then her future. Overall, I would pick up another book by this author.

I really enjoyed this book. it was beautifully written and flowed nicely.
The author paints a beautiful picture of the setting of Wilder College.
I love coming of age books where young women feminists are exploring sex and consent and asking themselves these kind of questions. I also appreciate a young Jewish woman POV.

I look forward to more from Daisy Alpert Florin.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Truly, the most true-to-life depiction of small liberal arts college in a small town life I’ve ever read. This book was ENTHRALLING. I couldn’t put it down. Daisy Alpert Florin’s debut My Last Innocent Year is compelling and fast-paced. My only complaint is the lack of character development on behalf of many of the characters; I was excited to read every moment, but I can’t say that many characters changed as people by the end. That said, a very fun read and an absolute 4.5 stars recommend to any lover of academia and thrill.

This type of book goes in the same category for me as My Dark Vanessa, which is an excellent and poignant tale of sexual assault and it’s impacts. This one lacked the emotional drive to push through the style of narrative we are given. The writing is beautiful, sure, and the topics are complex and painful — but it just didn’t take it home in the way I expected. However, I always love a honest discussion of coming of age, where the main character has to tackle traumatic circumstances, so I appreciate what My Last Innocent Year brought to the table.

"I would soon come to understand that adulthood was exactly this, the constant upending of everything you believed when you were young."

absolutely brilliant. a book about girlhood vs. womanhood, learning what kind of person you are, and recognizing your own worth. the writing was phenomenal, so many lines and passages were just perfectly crafted.

there were definitely shades of my dark vanessa, one of my favorite books, but less isolated (and also less gut-wrenching). in my last innocent year, there was also more going on outside of the teacher/student relationship. and i love both vanessa and isabel as protagonists, but it was a lot easier reading from isabel's point of view rather than vanessa's.

personally, this book ticked a lot of boxes for me: female protagonist, academic setting, dead mother, toxic relationship, on & on. BUT i would recommend this book to anybody, even if none of those aspects sound interesting, because the honesty & coming of age narrative are just so great.

i received an ARC from netgalley, but when this comes out i'm definitely buying a copy and highlighting the shit out of it.

My Last Innocent Year follows Isabel, a 21/22-year-old senior at a small liberal arts college in New Hampshire through her final semester as an English major with a talent and desire for writing. Isabel is from New York City, where she grew up in the Lower East Side. Her father owns a Jewish Appetizing store (they sell fish, bread, cream cheese, etc., but no meat!), and her mother was a painter who passed away from cancer when Isabel was a teenager. The book begins with Isabel having a nonconsensual, though not overly jarring or violent, sexual encounter with a college friend that gets mishandled, and the story continues from there. During her second and final semester, she gets involved in a sexual relationship with one of her professors. This leads her down a path of discovery not only about herself, but about the private lives of her teachers.

I thought this book was beautifully written and I enjoyed my experience with it. It was extremely slow-paced because the writing is heavy with detail and character-driven, but I thought it had a lot to say. It was set in 1997-1998, at the peak of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and the story draws some great parallels between how men and women are viewed in those situations. I thought it captured the essence of my college experience, particularly during that last year--there is an uncertainty of what happens next, a seeking of approval and recognition, a fear of being thrown out into the world without knowing how to navigate it, and a general uneasiness at being expected to make adult decisions when you yourself still feel like a kid. All of that being said, the characters? They're not great people, but I still found myself drawn to them. I was disappointed with our main character once she enters into adulthood and the choices she makes, but real people are not constantly good and not constantly bad. These characters feel whole and real because of their choices.

I wouldn't say this book has a complete dark academia vibe, but it definitely has some sort of academia aesthetic if you're drawn to books like that. It's a quiet sort of book where things are understated and simple, but again, really well written. Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This title publishes February 14, 2023.

I thought that the author did a good job depicting mental health and sexual assault. I didn’t completely love this book; I disliked most of the characters. It was still an interesting book, and I’m glad I read it.

My Last Innocent Year is a striking portrait of womanhood that I connected with in more ways than I can count. I appreciate the way that the author wove a complex and provocative story without relying on sensationalism or shock value. In this way, the story felt more approachable than similar books I've read (for example, My Dark Vanessa).

This book was very thought provoking. It reminded me about how as a teenager I did a lot of the same things the MC did such as letting others guide her decisions and not really knowing her next steps (I think we can all relate to her at some point). It was a very well written account of the struggles of a young woman at that weird phase where we are technically women with a juvenile mind. I really liked it although I wish she would have stuck up for herself more.

This was thought-provoking and Florin has a way with prose, to be sure. I felt somewhat detached fromthe characters, particularly Isabel - even though I do feel they were written in a beautiful way. It handled heavy topics with honesty and grace. I do think the story itself is one that has been visited before in ways I enjoyed more (My Dark Vanessa, also kind of reminded me of The Yonahlasee Riding Camp for Girls). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

"My Last Innocent Year" was a solid read. It reminded me of "My Dark Vanessa" and "Writers & Lovers," but I didn't like it as much as either of those books. It did remind me a lot of the overall feeling of senior year of college, nostalgia for youth, fear of the next step, and all that. It definitely brought up those feels for me, and I loved the New England vibes. Worth a read!

This book was off to a very slow start, and I found myself feeling unattached from Isabel, the main character, for a vast majority of the book. I should have felt sympathetic to her, or at least connected to her in some way, because she was a senior in college figuring out what comes next, and I was that exact same girl not too long ago. And usually I love books with female main characters who are unhinged and make bad decisions, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it all that much.

The last third of My Last Innocent Year flew by a lot faster than the first third, and that was when I finally started to actually enjoy the reading experience. Still, it wasn't enough to totally make up for the way I couldn't get into it for most of the book. I liked Isabel enough by the end, but I didn't care much for her friends or even for her family. The writing style of this book was good, but again, not good enough to make me completely ignore how much I had to drag myself through the book (although I would be interested in seeing what Daisy Alpert Florin does next, because there were a lot of moments where the writing style really shone).

One thing that I think this book did really well was the writing within the book. Usually I strongly dislike when books get all meta and include writing within writing (I almost always find that poetry written by characters in books is insufferably bad), but this one did it right in my opinion, including enough writing to make us know that Isabel is talented but not too much that we were distracted from the rest of the story. Another thing that I think this book got right was its exploration of complex characters, especially towards the end when Isabel had a lot of tough decisions to make and a lot of things crashing down around her. That was when I really started to feel like I cared for her and understood her, and I enjoyed those moments where her complexity shone through.

Overall, I didn't love this book, but I also didn't hate it. There were parts that really stuck out to me, but the beginning was just so slow that it was hard to get into it. It didn't grip me the way I want a story to until the end, when everything started to come together, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Throughly enjoyed My Last Innocent Year, can’t wait until pub date to recommend it!
Thoughtful and enjoyable to read, really makes you think and examine relationships and coming of age. As a mom of a teen this almost off to college it really resonates with me. Hope you all pick it up and enjoy!

3.5 rounded up.

This was an easy read in the sense that the writing flowed easily and was well put together. This story tackled touch subjects like mental health, rape and inappropriate relationships with a professor. The setting was well laid out, and Daisy Alpert Florin's prose was beautiful.

Typically when I read a book that tackles tough issues like these, I am fully ruined emotionally at the end. Unfortunately I did not feel connected to Isabel enough to be all in.

This was a good book, and I recommend it, it's just not one I would read over and over again.