A coming-of-age story that focuses on Isabelle’s last semester of her college career as she transitions from her sanctuary of college and into the real world. As the title suggests, Isabelle’s innocence is shed during this time and she’s forced into adulthood.

Daisy Alpert Florin debut of her novel “My Last Innocent Year” beautifully depicts a coming-of-age story for a young woman as she endured her last semester of college. Between story lines focusing on friendship, relationships, beginning a career, sexual assault, a forbidden affair, grief and healing from trauma, this book has it all. At times all of these plot lots flowed well, but once or twice there seemed to be a bit much going on at once. I wonder if this was actually on purpose- as life often is like that, or if too many ideas were stuffed into one novel. My favorite aspect of the novel was the reflective point of view. We most often learn most from our experiences when looking back.

I listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed the narration. Only down fall was the narrator doesn’t do the best accents. However, I would recommend this format.

I look forwarding to reading anything Daisy Alpert Florin published in the future.

This book was pretty interesting. I don't normally read books like this one so I'm not actually sure how to review it.

First and foremost, the narration was great, very easy to listen to.

However, the story itself overall was just lacking. While it was extremely relatable to anyone that survived their 20s, especially if you had made stupid young mistakes, it just really lacked that "ah-ha" moment where the story picked up.

I didn't hate it, and I did keep listening to see, it just never picked up enough to really grab my attention.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this!

Very well-written, and interesting themes though a much slower pace and a little more meandering than I had initially hoped/anticipated when I picked it up. Definitely worth checking out though! I'll be excited to follow the authors future work, her writing was great.

3.5 stars

I got a My Dark Vanessa vibe from this book, I don’t feel the protagonist was as vested as Vanessa was, but the vibe was definitely there. I liked the writing styles of the author and the narrator was good. I was vested throughout the book to know exactly how these situations the protagonist got herself into played out. I felt for her, there was obviously something very deep missing in her life and I do not blame her for the situations that took place in her life. She was vulnerable and made some really bad decisions. But I was also happy to know that she was smart and brave enough to move past them and on with her life.

This book is not a “happy” book, it’s a book about female vulnerability and I feel it’s easy for any of us to make these decisions that can end up being very bad.

***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy in return for an honest review ***

Isabel is starting her senior year when she has a non-consensual sexual encounter with someone she thought was a friend. Soon after she enters into a relationship with one of her professors. I thought there would be more impact or depth here but it felt almost anti-climactic at the end. There was also little tie between Monica Lewinsky (mentioned in the blurb and a few times in the book) and the protagonist. Like I thought someone would point this out to her. The encounter at the beginning too also didn’t seem to matter much in the grand scheme of the plot and felt strange. I liked the writing but the plot wasn’t my fave.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this early audiobook

Firstly I loved the narration. It was like a friend telling a story.
Our protagonist's relationship with her father was refreshing and honest.
I think every woman I know would relate to this story. The initial "encounter" was something I feel a lot of us has been through, You can question yourself for life trying to figure that out. Ultimately there is no answer. The guy sucks.
The relationship with the professor was relatable as well. That is a lot to sort through. Life is complicated.
It was an amazing story.

Oh and there was a line about how women bond through being vulnerable and at our worst and men bond when they are at their best and I swear that I had an epiphany. I actually just stood in my living room thinking about it for a while like a confused sim.
Read this one for sure.

I really liked the writing style of this one. The plot felt like it meandered, and despite the sensitive topic, I didn’t feel emotionally invested.

My Last Innocent Year follows Isabel Rosen through her last year of school at Wilder University, during which she meets an enigmatic teacher, R.H. Connelly. Connelly sees Isabel in a way she feels she has never been seen before, and the two begin a quiet relationship during his office hours.

I agree with many of the readers who said this was similar to My Dark Vanessa, which I was a big fan of. I felt there was more nuance between the relationship between Isabel and Connelly, and while this was heavy at times, I would definitely consider this book a lighter read than My Dark Vanessa- for contrast.

That said, I had a hard time getting into this one. The first section of the book felt like we were meandering around, collecting little anecdotes, but I wanted PLOT. About midway, through the book, things start to become more clear and the book does gain traction. It took me two weeks to read the first half of the book, and then two days to finish it from there.

Set in the 1990's at the height of the public scandal involving the president as well in the time after Princess Diana's death, the backdrop of this story is apropos for the content and brings light to not only the power imbalance faced by the main character Isabel, but the imbalances of power faced by women in media and in her life at the time. I found the background relationships interesting as well as the big picture that was built by the end, and I thought the writing was beautiful and created a really believable atmosphere.

I was given the opportunity to read this book via eGalley as well as an audiobook, and I would recommend the audiobook more highly! I felt the narrator was a great fit and really helped to propel the story further.

I want to thank Henry Holt and Co, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and listen to an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts

3.5 stars, rounded down. CW: sexual assault, power & control, etc.

"Set against the backdrop of the Clinton and Lewinsky scandal, My Last Innocent Year is a coming-of-age story about a young woman on the brink of sexual and artistic awakening, navigating her way toward independence while recognizing the power, beauty and grit of where she came from. Timely and wise, it reckons with the complexities of consent, what it means to be an adult, and whether or not we can ever outrun our bad decisions."

So about the copied & pasted book description above - we do see Isabel becoming a woman in her last semester at Wilder College, making childish choices yet wanting to be seen as a fully independent adult... ah, college. I don't know if she "recognizes the power, beauty, and grit of where she came from". What I saw was a girl who was embarrassed of her father and home life, but left it on the back burner in case she couldn't find a career after graduation. The novel delves into the ever-changing dynamics of sexual consent, which is hard to find in a fictional book and I think was done masterfully. And that last bit - " whether or not we can ever outrun our bad decisions" - I'll get into that...

I'm glad I listened to the audiobook version of this, because I think if I had read the physical book itself it would've left me bored. It moves quite slow, especially in the first half of the book, but I have to say I was kept interested throughout. The writing of the age-gap relationship between Isabel and R. H. Connolly is pretty damn spot-on, so much so that I had nightmares while reading it about my own experiences. No, that's not a typo. I had nightmares. These are traumatizing stories, not something I look back on like:

Which is not to say my experience is the only that is allowed to be had. But I can't quite believe that she didn't have an inkling that maybe what happened between them was not okay. The strangest part of all is that even though I found Isabel to be a real tough character to not roll my eyes at, I couldn't help but empathize with her.

Which leads me to my next point - it bothers me how Isabel's story ends! Not to say that these types of relationships never leave unrequited love or adoration, but to drag it on without her even being a little self-aware of the trauma it's caused... it was hard to buy into that. I loathed that Connolly had his little speech at the end, victim-blaming her about having the power & control in the relationship and she didn't get to rip him a new one!

Funnily enough, when it ended I wished it had left me wanting more. Cut the last chapter, I would've been so blinded by rage (in a good way) at not knowing what really happens to R.H. Connolly, his widow, and the girls that were collateral damage along the way.

I enjoyed this one - similar to My Dark Vanessa, though I did like Vanessa better. The story was very engaging and kept me interested throughout. Well written.

I'll start with the ending of My Last Innocent Year because it was powerful and really spoke to me as a woman who graduated college and still thinks about her college years with mixed feelings. Isabel narrates her life post-college and how she married her boyfriend, found success with her writing, divorced, hit middle age, etc. All of this time, she thinks about RH Connelly, the professor that she had an affair with. She writes numerous letters to him which go unanswered. Near the very end, we find out why. I thought this whole sequence was written really well. It provided a sort of resolution to a novel that didn't quite have a strong plot.

I liked that this novel was about adolescence and how experiences from our youth can shape our lives. It brought me back to my college days and it was easy to picture Isabel, her friends, her family, and her professors as people I'd know in college. I liked the Monica Lewinsky references sprinkled throughout the novel. I just wish that it had connected a lot more to the story.

Which leads to the fact that while this novel was easy to read (writing-wise, minus the rape scene in the beginning), I'm not entirely sure what the plot was supposed to be. We go through Isabel's entire senior year in college, but there didn't seem to be any kind of storytelling structure to it. Things just happen without any actual reasons.

At the end, I don't know if Isabel understood that her professor was to blame for starting the affair and offering Isabel the choice to continue on with it. I thought this slice of life novel would have an ending where the protagonist learns the lesson of the story, but she still seemed to be in love with her professor. I know it's sort of a complicated situation, but I wish that it hadn't been so wishy washy.

There's one poignant scene where she remembers saying goodbye and talking to him for the last time as she moves on from college. He tells her that their affair wasn't all his fault, and that she had consented to it too. Although they were both consenting adults, there was still a power differential at play. I'm not sure if Isabel recognizes this. I wish there had been a more definite answer.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this audio arc.

This was a beautifully subtle novel, and I was quite enthralled throughout. The prose was lyrical and metaphorically resonant. I liked that the author did not shy away from the darkness in the character. This one is going to be sticking with me a while. I think the confusion and aftermath of these types of encounters and relationships was treated with realism, sensitivity and nuance. I loved this book.

This story would be relatable to anyone that has ever looked back at their younger self and thought,"I was such an idiot." Very much hindsight is 20/20.

The narrator was great, very easy to listen to.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

There’s a lot going on in this novel and at the same time not very much.

Scenes between Isobel and her father are heartwarming. Her friends appear to keep Isobel grounded as it’s clear she has a difficult time understanding the consequences of her actions.

Isobel’s lacks perspective, which at times can be frustrating as she’s a senior in college and doesn’t seem to understand the people around her.

This book covers a lot of difficult topics without delving in deep enough to make it rewarding.

ARC provided via NetGalley

Sometimes, you find yourself picking up a book at the perfect moment. Maybe a different day of the year would have yielded a different result, but every now and then, you get served exactly what you need. Such was the case when I read My Last Innocent Year.

Though my circumstances obviously vary from narrator Isabel Rosen's, I was able to connect with her and feel an emotional punch as she navigated her final year at the esteemed Wilder College in 1998. She endured an nonconsensual sexual encounter, had an affair with her professor, and dealt with the type of choices every student must face as they tiptoe into the "real world."

There's so much to dive into, but I really enjoyed the thoughtfulness of this book. The story isn't thrown into the readers' faces; instead, we meander through events and have the space to reflect on our own. This is the type of book I'll be thinking about for a while.

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin.

I sometimes wish that rather than give a star rating, I could simply rate it, "Not For Me." It's honestly not that I thought it was good or bad, I'm just truly not the right audience for this book.

This was a DNF for me. I blame my age, I'm too old and grumpy to get interested in the messy sexual lives of young people. Don't get me wrong though, I used to love that sh*t!

This was just dull. I wasn't able to feel engaged with it, so I set it aside and didn't finish it.

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I enjoyed this end-of-innocence type of story but I felt like it was a very recycled theme - a student has affair with a professor and finds out she wasn't the first. I liked it but it was a bit drawn out.

Thank you so much Netgalley and MacMillan Audio!

First, the narrator for this was wonderful. Her performance was sweet and beautiful.

Second, the story itself was also precious. It was a coming of age out of college story, a look back at what it means to consent, love, & loss.

There was a time that I was starting to think it was dragging a bit, but overall, really enjoyed. In fact, I listened to it all in less than a 24 hour period.