Thank you Entangled for the e-arc! I bought a physical copy for my shelf. The cover is amazing and I cant wait for book 2 and see how this all turns out. I enjoyed the author event with the Facebook Party Room

The Last One offers an engaging combination of romance and fantasy, featuring well-developed characters, with a particular focus on the central figure, Kia. While the pacing in the first half of the narrative may pose a challenge for some readers, the extensive character development renders this story a compelling literary experience. By the conclusion, readers are likely to find themselves fully engaged by Kia and the intricacies of her character.

The exceptional world-building is an additional aspect that enhances this narrative centered on self-discovery and love amidst adversity. For those who appreciate a captivating fusion of romance and fantasy, "The Last One" undoubtedly merits inclusion on your reading list.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Better than I expected! I was unsure about the amnesia trope but thought it was done well. It was both surprising and heartbreaking learning about Kai’s past as she did.

Kai wakes with no memory of who or where she is. She’s immediately found herself in trouble and is saved by the handsome blacksmith Jadon. As Kai is thrown into more dangerous situations, they set out to restore her memories and find her purpose.

I loved that the world was unique and full of magical creatures. The plot moves quickly and is full of action. The only part that didn’t really work well for me was the romance. There’s some cute banter between them but the chemistry wasn’t really there and it read more YA than adult.

Those reveals at the end! Wow! It definitely has me looking forward to the next book!

Thank you to Entangled for the advanced copy of this book.

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This fantasy starts with Kai being awoken being robbed of all her belongings. She has no memory and ends up in a diseased town. Soon she is away she is being hunted but has. O idea what for. The memories are brief and don’t give her a sense of who she really is.

Her amulet seems to be her power but what secrets does it hide? As she tries to uncover her truth she has a band of stragglers that join her on her adventures.

AMAZING BOOK!! I could not put this book down. To the point that I was reading while vacuuming and doing laundry. I absolutely loved the writing style, and the storyline.

3.5 rounded up.

The Last One was an absolute rollercoaster of a ride that kept me guessing until the very last page. When Kai wakes up in a monster filled hellscape with no memories, she finds her only ally in the form of the infuriatingly skilled (and infuriatingly attractive) blacksmith Jadon, who is definitely hiding some deadly secrets of his own. Kai doesn't let the disadvantage of her amnesia drag her down and remains strong and witty despite the circumstances. Full of action and adventure in a unique world that's suffering from a mysterious illness with well rounded side characters that stood out against the backdrop, I am intrigued where the story will go. The cliffhanger and my need to know what happens definitely has me preordering book two already.

I have mixed feelings about this book, on one hand it has potential and so does the series. The characters are well-fleshed out, and their backstories are compelling along with the mystery of Kai throughout this book. The romance being a slow burn was still very insta-love and the focus of the book almost equally with the fantasy plot line, which I don’t mind, but in the case of a slow burn, I almost wish it was more longing and pining rather than admitting their feelings from the get go.

The other thing I wasn’t a huge fan of what the writing style, it flipped from a fantastical type language to modern language back and forth. The names are all old sounding, along with the setting and time period, but the communication between the characters felt like it was written in our current time period. So I was always pulled out of the story when the modern language came up cause it wasn’t consistent the whole time.

The one thing I loved is the complex dynamic between the group of characters, all having their own secrets, backstories, reasons for this journey, but also helping and betraying each other when they can make the story move so fast when they were just hanging in one spot. This also allowed for some great comedic relief moments as well!

I will definitely be reading the second book after that cliffhanger, but I’m curious to see how my feelings change as I read the rest of the series!

Rachel Howzell Hall’s debut into the romantasy was definitely a success. This book is heavy in fantasy with plenty of magic and creatures and an appropriate amount of romance. However, the characters lacked the depth I generally require in order for a book to be truly enjoyable. I just needed more character development and growth. And while the romance is not horrible, it definitely felt instantaneous and really just physical… the dialogue and monologue was tough to read at times.

This has been the most refreshing fantasy book I've read this year, even though I started it last year and wrapped it up at the beginning of the new year. This work truly distinguishes itself from others in the genre, which I genuinely appreciate. The writing is remarkable, skillfully intertwining contemporary and fantastical language in a way that draws the reader in. However, I find myself somewhat uncertain about the intricacies of the setting, as it oscillates between familiar elements and more abstract concepts.

The first installment immerses the reader deeply in a richly constructed fantasy world, where magic and adventure abound, while also introducing a subtle yet compelling romantic thread between the main character, Kai, and her love interest, Jadon. Their evolving relationship adds an engaging layer to the narrative, highlighting themes of love, trust, and personal growth amidst the backdrop of a captivating fantastical journey. Overall, the blend of adventure and romance creates a dynamic reading experience that keeps you invested in both the characters and their world.

I loved Kai; her sharp wit and playful banter stood out, especially when she wakes up with no memories. The world around her, filled with intriguing cities, mysterious moths, and that captivating amulet, kept me hooked, even if some parts felt a bit confusing due to her foggy recollection. The characters were wonderfully complex, and I truly appreciated their diversity. Since this is the author’s debut in fantasy romance, I can't wait for the next installment! Thanks to Red Tower for the ARC!

**Why should you read this book:**
- Immerse yourself in a captivating and unique world that bursts with imagination.
- Experience a spellbinding fantasy romance that will tug at your heartstrings.
- Enjoy the tantalizing thrill of a slow burn that keeps you hooked.
- Navigate the complexities of memory loss and amnesia, adding layers of intrigue.
- Brace yourself for a cliffhanger that will leave you eagerly yearning for more!

The Last One is Rachel Howzell Hall’s first foray in romantasy, and it’s pretty obvious: the book very much felt like a contemporary novel slapped inside a fantasy world, but I still had a little fun reading it. Very Fourth Wing vibes.

It’s certainly quick and easy to read, which is the same vibe I had with Yarros’s novel. The storyline moves relatively quickly: we’re thrown right into the story from the very first page when Kai wakes up in the woods with no memory of who she is or why she’s in the woods completely naked. And there’s a thief stealing her clothes and Very Important Amulet™, which leads her to this small village of Maford that begins her journey searching for the answers to her identity.

There’s a lot going on in The Last One, but sometimes I felt like there was too much going on. We’re bouncing from place to place and meeting various characters here and there as Kai discovers she needs to reach the Sea of Devour to fully find the answers she’s looking for. She starts making her way there, but like any journey, it’s not without setbacks and trials. I enjoyed the world-building and following Kai’s journey, but I felt like we get info-dumped, especially as we get toward the end. It made the reading experience feel a little disjointed.

The characters just overall seemed… meh aside from one or two characters. There’s not much I can say about them development wise aside from the bare minimum: one of them is a blacksmith, one of them is his adopted sister, another seems to hold a key to Kai’s past — almost all of them holding their own secret.

I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the instalove that immediately takes place and felt like it detracted from what’s going on in the story multiple times — Kai would talk about their next steps and then her thoughts would run into a tangent about Jadon’s hotness or making innuendoes that were pretty irrelevant to the conversation going on before bouncing back. (But take that with a grain of salt because I generally dislike instalove and your mileage may vary.)

At first I didn’t mind it too much, but eventually it got to where it felt exhausting because it felt like a constant back and forth and repetitiveness. I enjoyed their back and forth though, and Kai’s quips and thoughts as she goes about figuring things out and unlocks her powers are probably what made the book much enjoyable since they were so comical. The Last One overall felt like it was dragging its shoes in the sand otherwise.

This honestly might be my least favorite book from Red Tower. I didn’t hate this one, but I’m also not super jumpy about picking up later books. Maybe if I were in a very particular mood, I’d probably enjoy it more. If you enjoyed Fourth Wing a lot, you might enjoy The Last One a lot more than I did because I definitely think this is targeted toward a specific audience. I’m not exactly that audience, so this falls more of a miss for me.

I haven't read a ton of romantasy, but was anticipating this one and excited to read it. I thought the premise had amazing potential and sounded unique, but the overall execution didn't really hit the highs I wanted it to. I thought the worldbuilding was really well done and though I'm not a huge fan of slow burn all the time, I did feel like this story did it well. There were times where it almost felt like the tone changed a little, almost like it was kind of shifting to more simplistic, so that wavering of tone did break me out of the story and was a distraction. That being said, I would be interested in seeing how the story and world continued to build in following books as the characters were compelling and had depth. There were a lot of good points to this story and I feel it was a solid first venture into romantasy.

I gave this book a 4.5/5. First of all, huge thank you to Entangled for this book! This book was phenomenal. The story telling was done very well, and I tend to think I am good at guessing book patterns and how things will turn out, but there were many twists that shocked me in this book. Kai is such a strong female character, and I rooted for her the whole way through and was definitely distressed when she was. She has such great character development and the kind of personality that really pulls you in. This book is not spicy; it does have a love interest with plenty of super funny lines about such spicy thoughts but that is the extent. The only thing I wish was that the end was spread out a little bit more throughout the book because the my brain exploded with all the information dumping all of the sudden. It was still done okay with it all at the end but I think it would've been nice to have just a little bit of it spread out. The ending is such a cliff hanger, so I will be very curious to see what Kai does next!

So happy to receive this arc thank you entangled insiders! I love fantasy but this book took it up a notch. The author I felt did a great job in pulling you into her story. When the mfc wakes up with no memories and confusion you feel for her and the struggle to find herself. I like how the world was modern because it was easier to follow along. At the end everything does come together and more pieces of the puzzle click together. Overall a great read

While the idea of this book really intrigued me, it fell a tad short. However, this is most likely due to the fact that I don’t enjoy memory loss or miscommunication!

I did enjoy the banter between the two main characters and loved getting to see the various monsters throughout the book.

I want to first say, I’ve been sick since reading this. I want to say my lack of enthusiasm for this book is because I haven’t been well. That being said I didn’t vibe very well with this one. I wanted to love it so much because I did find the premise so interesting.

Starting out the MFC had me all kinds of confused, which I took as the point of the book because she has no memory of who, when, where and why. But as we got further into the story I was still lost. There were several parts I did enjoy like the kindness she was displaying to both the people and creatures. But her rage and mood in general were not consistent and a little triggering if I’m going to be honest. I’m giving this a 3.5 round it to 4 because I did enjoy some of the book but not all of it. Which is a bummer because it had such high potential for me. But like I said, I’ve been sick. I’d definitely consider continuing the series.

I did enjoy the angst, the twist and turns within this story. The magic system was nicely executed, greatly enjoyed the way the author was able unfold that aspect. It didn’t read like a typical fantasy book, the author definitely took a different approach with this. It was interesting to see.

I struggled with the character interaction. I didn’t feel like they flowed organically together. There was a lot of information thrown at us towards the end, it took time for me to try to understand it all. Lots of back and forth.

Love love loved! Red tower Never misses with their fantasy romances! I think everyone will absolutely adore this one as much as I did!!!!

A big shout out and thank you to Kaye Publicity and the publisher for giving me the chance to read The Last One by gifting me a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!

My journey reading The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall might just be one of the more harder experiences to describe/review in comparison to any of my other reads.

Oftentimes, how you feel about a book comes through with a clear understanding at a certain point of the book—this awareness moment is unique to each book. Sometimes from the very beginning you’re aware where this book stands in your rating and enjoyment meter; sometimes it’s closer to the end. But I do think for the first time I wavered multiple times over how I connected to this book.

I don’t know if this is a singular experience or every book reader goes through this, but essentially while I read, I form a sort of bond with the story, which strengthens with each chapter. Through this bond is how the book connects to me, communicates with me. (I swear I have a purpose to this metaphor.)

Imagine it as a telephone line. The clearer the line the better the experience, the smoother the communication and faster the understanding.

My personal experience with The Last One was like a phone call with disrupted connection. Moments of clarity and connection, that are often disrupted by static and breaks that (for me) took away from the experience of reading this book.

There was a lot for me that worked greatly! The first, about twenty-thirty percent, the tension, the set-up was exciting and kept me with the book. However soon, there was a fairly repetitive pattern of events—such as sudden attacks—that seemed more props to create tension and a high stakes set-up than actually anything that took the story forward as such. The actual plot itself had a very strong theme/meaning to it, but I personally felt all the continuous, rather disconnected action sequences took away from them. Additionally, I wasn’t sure if the overall spiritual learning that was revealed was purposely ignored in the end or if it was intentional.

Given the nature of the set-up is that the story begins and is based on the heroine’s missing memory, the world building had fantastic potential to develop with the heroine’s memory/understanding of her world. But with the many breaks, the things the heroine keeps to herself sometimes and the back and forth between the protagonists’ feelings for one another, I do feel the world building loses its grip on the readers.

I think with the protagonists’ relationship, there were many elements that were lovely and some that pulled apart its merits. The banter and flirting was rather sweet; but sometimes the timing of those scenes, or … just the back of forth to their relationship that shows growth at times but backtracks on it many times, strung a discordant tune to me. The first few times were charming, after that I personally struggled to place it to the situations that were unravelling around them and between them.

The characters were both aplenty and at the same time focused on the protagonist and her immediate circle. I think I went through a range of emotions for all the characters, from warmth to frustration. But, there was one character that I immediately liked who, it’s possible, all readers will take to immediately.

In a book that has so many unknowns there’s often something that’s very rooted that keeps the readers’ feet on the ground while everything else unravels around them. Depending on the nature of the story it could be the characters, the plot or a swift pace. But personally for me, I couldn’t find a firm footing to hold on to while I read, which I is something I struggle with personally.

The pace of the book for me was closely linked to how connected I felt to it at the moment. In good connection moments it felt smooth and comfortable, in disconnected moments I would find myself feeling a bit lost or exhausted. Perhaps this was a very personal experience to me and not a common one, so definitely do check out the blurb once for yourself and consider reading the book based on what you feel about it.

Check trigger warnings as always, as there is content in this book that can be difficult for some. Happy reading!

Overall the writing and storyline is wonderful . The beginning was a bit slow as there was a lot of background and world building and it was midway before I really felt committed to the story and its characters. The latter half really picked up the pace and the ending was unpredictable. Overall a great read and can’t wait for the story to continue.

When I started this one I thought it was going to be another DNF for me. But luckily I stuck with it and it ended up being really good. I will say that if you pick this one up. Give it a few chapters for you to really get the feel of the writing because I thought it was kind of on the choppy side to start with. But once I got the hand of it it was great!!

So this one has romance elements but they are not really at the forefront of the story. This one is all fantasy. I loved the memory loss troupe it was something fresh. The world building is about the same as most fantasy books but that wasn't a bad thing. This book was overrun with morally grey characters that I was all here for. I would have liked a little more character development but I think this one is going to be a series with that ending so there is still time for that.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and hope to see what else this author can do.