Thank you so much to much to Harper360 for the earc, all opinions are my own.

Spoilers ahead.

I was very excited tor a new “twilight” with a forced proximity, body guard twist. Emelia is Raven, heir to one of the strongest vampire families, except she’s human. This is a sort of post apocalyptic world where humans are kept like cattle for vampire food. She is assigned a guard, Kyle, and they slowly fall in love. Throughout the book I was comparing it to Tender is the Flesh and I was really enjoying it until… Kyle betrayed her. This was no longer a romance. The story is ended. There is a revelation and a cliff hanger. But our girl Emelia is single.

Although parts of this book were enjoyable I found the writing to be a bit too immature. The pacing to give me whiplash with how quick things were moving but at the same time nothing of substance ever really happened. It just felt like a lot of the same points being rehashed in slightly different ways. The characters all very very underdeveloped and plot points were too obvious. I feel this book might be better enjoyed by a younger teen reader.

I am rating it 3 stars but I feel 2.75 would be more accurate.

As someone who is new to fanatasy, I had really high hopes with the book but it failed for me on various marks.

The way the book was blurbed I thought that the world building would be great as it had potential and there were so many loop hopes in the same. The plot also felt weird as there was no connection between what was happening and why. I cannot recommend to people who have read romantasy before as they wont like and readers who havent read before, it will leave a sour taste in general for future romantasy books. or just plain fantasy in general.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
18 year old me would have ate this book up. It was still a quick and fun read. The ending did pull me in and I was shocked by some of the twists. Shocked enough to be curious about book 2. I am intrigued where the story will go.

The Last Raven by Helen Glynn Jones is a dystopian vampire romance novel teeming with secrets, betrayals, family obligations and a healthy dose of vampire romance.

Unfortunately though, this one just wasn't for me. The premise was interesting and what initially drew me in but I just couldn't get past how whiny and immature Emelia, the FMC, was made out to be. I feel as though her character development was underwritten and really lacking.

Kyle, the MMC, was okay at best and 'stab your eyes out' at worst. The insta-love after a few miscommunications was a huge red flag for me and he became a very predictable character.

It does end on a low key cliffhanger but was very anticlimactic and felt like an after thought. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be continuing this series it just didn't hit the mark for me.

I really want to give this book a four. I love the plot and the world building. But the fmc is so indecisive and the last 20% of the book the pacing is off.

It’s a phenomenal story of young love and self discovery. I look forward to the rest of the series to see if the pacing settles.

I was so excited for The Last Raven but unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations. By no means was this a bad book. It had entertaining elements and I was somewhat interested in the love story. However, my experience reading this was mostly lackluster. I am interested to see where the story goes and would definitely consider picking up the next book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper 360 for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is perfect for late teens/early adults. Even though I’m nearing 30, I still love this and I need book two NOW.

The plot twists were so twisty and I truly didn’t see it coming. I like to think I’m smart and I guess the twists normally but this one TRULY got me.

The world building was very limited but when I took time to reflect after I finished the book, I understood that it was intentional because of Emelias lack of knowledge of the outside world. It was very clever of the author to do this.

The romance was instant it seemed, but it tied together nicely with the plot twist.

But don’t get in your mind that this is a romantasy, it most definitely is NOT!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Last Raven by Helen Glynn Jones is a first person-POV romantic fantasy set in an alternative modern day where vampires are real. Emilia Raven is the heir to the Raven vampire house, one of the four great houses. Just one problem: she's human. When her new guard Kyle starts to take her out of her family's home and shows her more of the world, she has more doubts than ever about her future.

I went back and forth on whether or not to call this a romantic fantasy because the term is used in such a broad variety of ways. Is it a fantasy book with a romance subplot that's prominent? Does it have to end in a happily ever after or a happy for now? Does it need to appeal to the crossover reader space? What exactly defines a romantic fantasy that separates it from a fantasy romance or a fantasy with a romantic subplot? I ended on romantic fantasy because, ultimately, the story does not go if the romance between Kyle and Emilia does not exist but I don't think it can be called a fantasy romance by any stretch of the definition. If Kyle is not there, the likelihood of anyone showing Emilia the things that change her perspective are fairly slim but the story doesn’t follow the rules of romance genre.

The setting is more of an alternative modern day UK, particularly England. There are safe zones for humans so they have some protections but many are depicted as ‘free-range blood dancers’ meaning that they are fed from directly instead of giving their blood in a facility and having it bottled. There's also night clubs, cars, and the internet so it's a modern day-ish vampire court rather than something that feels more historical.

Spoilers ahead: the use of instalove here and the romantic relationship as a whole are a lot more for a subversion of tropes commonly found in Romantasy rather than playing them straight. Emilia is extremely sheltered with seemingly little experience with people her own age or romantic relationships. When Kyle is brought in and he shows her how the world actually works, it does draw her closer to him but that's him taking advantage of her naivete. If someone is looking for trope subversion, I think this could appeal to them but if they're looking for a Romantasy that plays everything straight, this probably is not what they're looking for.

Content warning for brief depictions of sexual assault

I would recommend this to fans of romantic fantasies that are about critiquing tropes or subverting expectations

I loved this book! A new take on vampires that I truest couldn’t put down. Can’t wait to read more from this author!

The Last Raven is set in a world were vampires rule, and humans are seen as slaves. It follows Emelia Raven, the human child of two of the most politically powerful vampires, who is set to soon take over as the leader. Not only was this a really cool concept, but its was executed fantastically.
My problem with giving it five stars is that I found the story line a bit predictable and I was a little disappointed by the conflict and resolution.
I think this book would be perfect for fans of dystopian and vampires books.

I think there’s a lot of confusion about whether this book is YA or not. Emelia is 17, but even though the writing seemed to be for younger audiences, the content seemed adult at some parts. It’s not super spicy. There’s a good amount of swearing and violence though, so maybe it’s upper YA or NA?

Either way, I really enjoyed this. I don’t get the hate in some of the reviews I’ve seen for this book. Yeah it was instalovey. And trust me, I’m not a big fan of insta love at all. BUT that was done on purpose.
Also, the world building was very easy to understand - and this is a GOOD thing. It’s an urban fantasy set on earth in the very distant future where vampires now rule, (from context I got that they mutated somehow) which I thought was really interesting.

And vampires cry blood tears, which was a really minor but cool detail that I really enjoyed.


SPOILERS BELOW:

Regarding what I was saying about the insta love- it had to be this way because Kyle was always planning to betray her. HE HAD TO SEDUCE HER.

I KNEW there was something up with Kyle. Something about him I didn’t trust at the beginning. I had some guesses about what was up but after a while I kind of forgot about it and then BAM.

Emelia killing him?? Yeah that one got me.

Regarding Michael- I like him. I didn’t know what to expect with him but I wondered if the author was gonna make HIM the actual love interest instead of Kyle, and lo and behold, that’s exactly what she did. At least, it’s what’s implied for the next book.

I enjoyed this book! I appreciated that the plot was different from most fantasy books now. I liked how Emelia matures throughout the story and the knowledge that she gains.

The FMC is very naive, which helps the story but at times is a little irritating. There was also too much indecisiveness for my taste, she waffles between her decisions a lot. Overall though, I liked the story!

Really not a fan of this one at all. The writing felt very juvenile, and I really didn’t enjoy it at all. Plus I’m not a fan of the insta love trope. I’m really disappointed I didn’t like this one, especially with how gorgeous the cover is.

The only interesting thing about this book was that a human girl was born to vampires which you find out in the first five minutes. The rest of book is about as predictable as can be human girl falls for vampire boy. I also couldn't get behind the main character or any plotline with an heir who doesn't want their job.

First off, thank you so much to NetGalley for the eARC!

FIRST HALF OF REVIEW IS SPOILER FREE!

So, we meet our FMC, Emelia Raven. She is completely against becoming the next Raven heir because she is human, despite all Ravens being Vampires.

She is forced to go to a club to see her cousin, and her new personal guard is a handsome Vampire named Kyle.

Of course, she hates him. Hates the party. And so on.

As the story progresses, Kyle and Emelia become very close very quickly.

Kyle subtly shows and tells Emelia how terrible the humans live under Vampire ruling—despite her parents making her believe as she grew up that the humans who were used for feeding were comfortable, or doing it under their own free will.

Emelia learns there is a rebellion run by the humans, and she wants to learn more. She wants to hear both sides, and eventually she wants to become the Heir to change everything for the better.

——

note: this book is a bit spicy!! I would say 🌶️🌶️.75/5. There is on page descriptions that I wouldn’t have expected for a YA book!

——

I won’t lie, at some points in the story, I had no idea where it was going. A lot of things were going on at the same time, but it was a lot of tell not show unfortunately.

A lot of this was Emelia falling in love, and exploring the world outside her gilded cage and finding out how truly corrupt Vampires were.

Note my 4 star rating—I enjoyed it. It kept me entertained. There were some twists that were expected, and some not!

Emelia—she was… well, a young girl. I can’t say she was annoying, really, because she was simply naïve due to her upbringing and lack of education her parents gave her/how they shielded her from the world outside their castle.

She did frustrate me with her back and forth—not wanting to be a Raven, wanting to be a Raven. Wanting to leave home, wanting to go back home. Hating her parents, loving her parents.

It was a lot of back and forth, but again, she kept learning new things about her life and about the true relationship between Vampires and Humans. She wanted to make change, but didn’t know how, nor did she have the people to help her (sans Kyle)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Kyle—I hate to say, but I knew from the very beginning something was off about him. The way he fell first and hard was setting off alarms in my head! I knew he would betray her, but the way he did it was surprising to me!

Jessie—I know for a fact we are going to see more of her in book two! I am very excited, and I am hoping her and Emelia will work together, despite their clashing in this book. I hope Emelia will be able to assist Jessie’s brother as well!

Michael—holy twist!! I assumed he was like Emelia—human but Vampire blood bourne—but I didn’t expect him to be Mistral! That was an exciting twist, and at least with that I can safely assume they will bond heavily over their childhoods growing up as a human in a Vampire family… as well as their hate of Mistral.

All in all, this book was entertaining, and I liked the idea. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series!

Again, thank you NetGalley for the E-ARC!

An enjoyable vampire romance. This book just didn’t go the way I expected so the ending was a bit of a let down for me. I’m sort of getting over the insta love in Romantasy books so this wasn’t something I enjoyed in this book.

Rating / Recommend
⭐⭐⭐🌶️🌶️
Maybe/NotReally

If you like romantacy, vampires, young characters, rebels take over the world books you may like this one.

My Thoughts:
I felt like this book gave me whiplash. I didn’t love it. I loved the idea of the plot? But hated the characters. The FMC is so poor pitiful me and whiny/helpless. I could see right through the MMC the whole time. The FMC is just your typical inexperienced 18 year old falling for the first person who gives her attention. It irked my nerves. That being said it’s a relatively short read and it kept my attention because I absolutely had to know if my theories were correct. (They were) so if you want a short stereotypical romantacy you might like this.

Content warning: mature content, open door scenes, murder

I had much higher hopes from this book, but the ending ruined it for me. The writing wasn’t great, and the book left a lot to be desired.

While a human borne from vampires is a unique take on vampire lore, I can’t say this book was an enjoyable read. All of the characters (not just our sheltered FMC) are very immature and don’t really have strong identities other own. Insta love works for some people and that’s fine, it does however not work for me.