"The Last Raven" by Helen Glynn Jones is a fast-paced young adult romance with a touch of fantasy and paranormal elements, reminding me a lot of the 2010s YA paranormal romance wave. It's a quick and easy read, perfect for when you need something light and entertaining.

I think the pacing could have benefited from slowing down a bit, especially before Emelia meets the male lead. Given her sheltered upbringing, a more gradual unfolding of their romance would have added a touch more depth. I also think the book's marketing as an adult paranormal romance might have contributed to some of the harsher reviews. I believe it would have been more accurately positioned as a young adult novel.

Despite these minor observations, I enjoyed it. It felt more like a prequel, leaving me eager to see where the story goes next.

Thank you to the Helen Glynn Jones, Harper360, and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

It had a lot of potential, and I enjoyed the banter, but it was a DNF for me about 40% into the book. I wasn't a fan of the FMC, and her internal monologue wasn't my thing. I did enjoy Kyle, though! I would have loved to hear more of his thoughts, and the book often felt like it was telling more than showing.

I’m just love the human-in-a-vampire-world trope!

Emelia, heir to the powerful House of Raven, seems to have it all except her freedom. She’s stuck in a life she doesn’t want, but everything changes when a new guard shows up.

The twists in this story totally caught me off guard, I couldn’t predict it!

It gave me major Twilight vibes.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 for the ARC!

emelia raven is a human born to vampires. if not for her important family name, her human status would have subjected her to a very different fate. still, hidden away from others, she can’t help but want more. when a new bodyguard is assigned to her, she believes she’s finally found her way out. she has to decide, though, if leaving everyone she loves behind is worth being able to live her own life.

i was interested in this book because i always love reading about vampires. i also thought it was interesting that this book made the vampires/humans dynamic different than normal. in this world, vampires are the dominant group. when emelia’s vampire parents realized she was a human upon her birth, her own father almost killed her. this is just the first of many reasons emelia wants to get out of the vampire sphere. she begins to wonder, where would she be had she not been born a raven? i liked how this was explored throughout the book.

the romance aspect was interesting, but don’t go in expecting it to be a typical romance. i don’t want to spoil anything, so i’ll leave it at that for now!

overall, this was a quick and interesting vampire book. i’d be interested in reading book two!

No attractive MMC is named KYLE


In all seriousness, great and fun concept that just needed to go back to the editing and plotting board.

The plot absolutely sold me on this, and I couldn't wait to dive in. But it didn't work for me. I didn't mind that the FMC was only 17 years old, but it just didn't work for a book marketed as an adult book. And seeing what's transpiring between Emelia and Kyle, it just wasn't feeling right to me. It did read like a young adult fantasy.

I wished this one worked out for me, thank you for the opportunity to read!

The whole premise of this book was really interesting. A human child born to vampires and will one day be the one to rule them all.

This was a unique take on a vampire fantasy world, with prose definitely written for a YA audience. The pace was steady through, but I felt there was a bit more potential in a novel about a vampire born human set to inherit the vampire crown. I am interested to see where the second book in this duology goes, however, the ending to the first in this series is a little bit anticlimactic.
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Thank you Harper360 & NetGalley for this complimentary ARC - all thoughts are my own! 📚
Publishers release date 1/14/2025

3.5 stars! This was overall a good and I enjoyed the story, I espically enjoyed the twists. I wish there was more world building, and a little less instalove. What world building in the story felt rushed and not in depth enough and there relationship seemed to turn to love a little too early on. Overall I enjoyed reading this, and would recommend it.

I loved this book. I couldn’t believe the twist towards the end. I loved Emelia and Kyle, until I didn’t. This story takes a different turn with vampires. Emelia is the sole heir of the Raven vampire clan, but she’s human. Her parents are pure blooded vampires and she has vampire blood but she is human, and her parents keep her hidden until it’s close to time for her to take over. There is betrayal and a surprising ending. I can’t wait for the next in the series.

The Last Raven was a fun vampire story. Emelia Raven is the human daughter of the most powerful vampire clan. Never really fitting in with humans or vampires, she doesn’t want to be coronated when she turns 18. She wants to live in the human safe-zones. But in order to do that, she needs to convince her new personal guard to take her there. He’s handsome and charming, and a vampire who seems to have some sympathy for humans. But can Emelia trust him?

This book was ok - the writing was really simple and very conversational, so it was a quick read. The premise was interesting, a human heir to a vampire clan. But the story and writing skewed very young for me, even though some of the themes seemed more mature. This made it challenging for me to get into the story fully. There is lots of action though, and lots of character growth as Emelia figures out her place in this world.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper 360 for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

2.5 stars ✨

The premise of this book was fun! I love when a FMC is the unlikely lead. The one you’re not really expecting because she doesn’t “fit” the world around her. And in this case, Emilia was a human living in a world where vampires rule. It is an interesting concept! I think this book reminded me a lot of how it felt to read dystopian books for the first time, and it was fun getting to experience that again. (Aka the “perfect” world may not be as perfect as it seems) Then throw in a Twilight twist. (Honestly I saw a few reviews make this comparison & between the spider monkey moments and how similar Emelia acted to Bella - I can confidently say it was a true)

However, the pacing of this book was off. From the moment you start reading, you are both told too much and not enough about this world. There are little nuggets that help you piece the plot, but then it felt almost random at times? There’s a lot of “telling” instead of showing, so it was hard to get invested into the conflict. And by that, I mean she literally is told so much by those around her that it doesn’t let the reader be surprised. I also didn’t ever believe the romance aspect of the story. There’s no real time for you to get to know Kyle before he instantly is weirdly close to her? which on one hand, she’s sheltered so it makes sense? But it just was tough to believe. And I also felt like everything wrapped up way too nicely? There doesn’t feel like a big conflict for the rest of this series. I don’t think this is a series I will continue, but I do think that there is such potential for it!

If you’re looking for a fantasy that feels reminiscent of the Twilight/dystopian era, this could be the book for you!

Thank you Harper 360 for this ARC, all opinions are my own :)

This one was just not for me.

I had a good feeling going into this book, but it was very short lived. Sadly, this book just isn't for me. I just couldn't get into it. The FMC was not doing it for me, and I had no interest in her as a main character. I'm not sure what it really was about this book, but I just couldn't see myself investing my time to finish it. So sadly this book is a DNF at 15% for me. Not sure if I'll come back to it or not. This book was just missing that spark to really captivate me and make me want to read it.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: DNF

This was...something. I found this story to be really predictable, so I wasn't super enticed by that while reading. This was also a story that wasn't....novel. It wasn't a twisty story, and it didn't subvert what every human-hangs-out-with-vampires story that came before it did. The characters weren't great, the plot was weak, and honestly the world-building/etc. was just either not there or boring. I wanted to like this, but I just felt really let down by it. I feel like this story had promise--there were a handful of interesting ideas that were brought up but then they just didn't develop into anything or weren't explained at all. For me, everything about this was just painfully on the lower end of average. I don't think this is a bad book, but I do think that the promise and the payoff for this book do not align.

This is like a dark, twisting Twilight with a more naïve Bella and an evil Edward.

This kept my attention; although the female main character seemed juvenile and gullible, it was hard to watch. The MMC was full of red flags and just seemed so bipolar.
This book evoked many emotions for me in the last 10 chapters. I'm still trying to understand the ending and the plot twists. I also think her parents should have been more open and honest about things.

I saw major growth in the FMC. Overall, the book was a good read, and it was quick. It was hard with a main character so young which is why the rating, as well as the MMC. I understand we have all made mistakes at 17-18, but it was hard to get past that.

This was super predictable and didn’t really hold my attention. After about the first 50% I just skimmed the rest. It was a quick read but nothing really new. Shes a human around vampires, the hot guard she met and hated and then fell in love with turns out to be the bad guy, the guy you think is the bad IS the bad guy. It was pretty cookie cutter. Then ending wasn’t even really appealing and didn’t leave me begging for the rest of the series.

I read reviews off goodreads and they weren't great but I tried to keep an open mind... Unfortunately, this was not good. Emilia was weak and so gullible and Kyle had a smarmy vibe to him. That being said I did anticipate the twist toward the end. There really were no likeable characters in this book. I also feel like the line on the cover is super misleading and hated the ending. The only promising thing I can say is that I was never bored and it was a quick read.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

So.... I won't lie. The first half of this book absolutely sucked. There was not enough world building or character development to have been thrown into the story the way the readers were. And it took SO LONG to understand what was even happening. I will say, I requested this book not knowing it was for YA. But let me tell you, two chapters in and I KNEW it was a YA book. Think of how "Twilight" read and you'll understand this book. All this to say the second half wasn't AS bad, but it still was pretty cringe. I liked the story once we learned more about the world and the FMC finally got a personality past 'boo hoo me'. That being said the MMC didn't make the story any better. They love each other why? Again... I will reference 'Twilight' energy here. Overall, not awful- I did finish it. BUT- I wish I spent my time reading something with more substance. I wanted more details, world building, and character development. This book has so much potential, but fell a little flat. Two stars for the mere fact I was able to finish it. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. #NetGalley #NetGalleyARC

After reading the synopsis, I truly thought this book would be up my alley. I love a goods enemies to lovers, but not when there’s insta love. I could not connect with the characters at all.
As someone who is an avid fantasy reader, this just was not for me. Thank you for the e-arc, but unfortunately I did not enjoy this read.

Unfortunately, The Last Raven didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I’m not sure if I’m just not the target audience or maybe I'm just too old (30s). I had found the story’s premise to be promising, yet ultimately underwhelming. There were so many interesting ideas, but they weren’t explained or developed in a way that made them engaging. Instead of feeling drawn into the world, I was left confused and disconnected.

And then there’s Kyle. Ah, Kyle... It might sound trivial, but it’s hard to get behind a character when the name just doesn’t feel right. “Kyle” doesn’t exactly scream “hero” or inspire any swooning moments. It may sound silly, but it pulled me out of the story every time.

The writing style didn’t help either. The flow felt off, and the dialogue came across as forced and awkward. Instead of feeling natural or immersive, it just felt clunky, which made it hard for me to stay engaged. I wanted to like it, but ultimately, it didn’t come together in a way that resonated with me.

With all that said, I think there’s definitely an audience for it. But unfortunately, for me, it fell a bit flat.