This book is unreadable. I get that “Raven” is significant, but the word did not need be used over 260 times. I only made it to chapter 3 and the word “Raven” was used 28 times. There is also nothing about the writing that makes the story feel unique. I felt like I was reading story I’ve already read.

God I wanted to love that book it was one of the book I was the most excited about, I was promised a book for fan of twilight I mean being a millennial I was so down for that bad boy. But it felt flat and I god I’m upset about that one. The world building is none excitant I thought it was a fantasy set in a vampire world but they wear skinny jeans for f*** sake. They have phones and laptop (which I won’t be surprise are all apple btw) and I know it could be fine if not the plot they have problem with security but have technology but no cameras in the castle …. Make no sense to me ! The romance jeez I don’t like instant love in contemporary romance but in fantasy I think it’s just a hell no !!!!! The plot made no sense again and the ending seriously I have to say I jump to the ending wanted to see if that was true what people were saying and yes what a way to kill a book in 5 chapters 😂😂

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360 for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book tells the story of Emilia Raven, a human heir to her vampire parents who chafes at the expectations put upon her and longs to experience human life. She gets a new vampire bodyguard, Kyle, and they fall in love and along the way Emilia figures out many things about herself and the world she lives in.

I really, really wanted to like this book. I am a sucker for a vampire romance (as has already been established many times), and I was hopeful that this book would scratch that itch for me. But our vampire love interest, Kyle, has zero personality, and the romance is not so much enemies-to-lovers as complete insta love that happened so fast it confused me. The author could have done a lot more with the world-building - the times in the book where Emilia learns about how humans lived and the politics were really interesting, but they were few and far between and did not feel fleshed-out enough. Emilia struck me as childish, her parents as weirdly one-dimensional (her father's shift from being incredibly cold and angry towards her and then very loving really was head-spinning), and Kyle an almost cartoonishly "perfect" hero with no backstory or depth. The last 25% of the book felt like it completely careened, and I got so lost. The story had a lot of promise, and maybe the second book will be better, but this one was a disappointment.

When someone says a book is giving Twilight, you know I'll be there for it. However, I expect it to be better than Twilight if it's published in 2024, because the expectations are way higher and there's plenty of quality content to draw inspiration from nowadays.

The characters have no personality or defining traits, the dialogue is clunky, the narration was tell instead of show. I didn't like the writing style either, nor the constant arguing between characters; there was no point to any of it and it did not serve its purpose for world building or character development.

There's insta-love which I could overlook if there was any kind of chemistry between the MCs, but there's nothing. On the cover it says "Her blood is all he craves" but there's nothing about that in the book (yes, I care about those details) and they say "I love you" without even knowing anything about each other.

The twists and turns are predictable as soon as each character is introduced, so nothing surprised me except when the FMC finally made a wise decision for herself and that's when I decided to rate this book 2 stars instead of 1.

Maybe with some editing this book could be slightly better, but not by much. I didn't like the writing style either, but from my understanding, this is an unedited ARC. (seeing what an unedited copy looks like actually gives me hope of becoming an author)

I hate giving low ratings, especially for a book that I wanted to love, but I was tempted to dnf this one multiple times because of how bad it is and that almost never happens to me.

The Last Raven is a fast-paced story that offers a so-so narrative. Set in a world where vampires are the dominant species and humans are subjugated, the story follows Emilia, a human born to vampiric parents who is the heir to the Raven throne, and her reluctant journey toward assuming the role of queen on her 18th birthday.

The book starts with a strong premise, filled with tension and a sense of unease as Emilia navigates her duties and her growing desire to escape her vampire heritage and live in the human world. Enter Kyle, her new bodyguard, who brings his own set of complications. The relationship feels like an insta-love trope that lack suspense or tension.

As for the protagonist, Emilia, I struggled to connect with her. She is impulsive, sheltered, and at times, comes across as naive, especially given her circumstances. While her internal conflict makes sense—torn between her duties as heir and her desire to escape the vampire world—I found her behavior and emotional reactions to be a bit grating.

That said, The Last Raven has its share of compelling moments. The last few chapters, in particular, are fast-paced and full of twists that kept me guessing, even if they felt a bit rushed in terms of plot resolution. A betrayal late in the book hits hard, though it is somewhat predictable in hindsight. While the middle of the book dragged a little for me, the ending somewhat made up for it.

Overall, The Last Raven is a fun and easy read. While I had some issues with the pacing, character development, and world-building, the book succeeded in holding my attention.

Thank you NetGalley allowing me the opportunity to read the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Right off the bat I had a feeling this might not be the book for me. It's not bad, it's just too YA for my taste. I felt disconnected to the story and wasn't feeling the romance aspect. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

The Last Raven is a mix of political intrigue and the discovery of oneself. At 17, Emelia Raven is faced with the expectation of leading her kingdom one day. The caveat is that she is a human born to vampire parents. The story follows her development as she learns more about the world around her and her relationship with her parents. The plot is fast-paced and the chapters are fairly short, however, that does not take away from the action. If anything, it almost helps set the speed at which events are happening for Emelia so that the reader is by her side the the whole time. There are a few interesting twists throughout her journey and though not quite a cliffhanger, the ending does point to the possibility of there being something more to come.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper360 for gifting me the opportunity to read this ARC! All opinions are my own.

No spoilers:

I was really excited for this book which is why I'm sad to say I did not enjoy it. There were a couple major things that led to me DNF-ing at 26%.

-FMC too young: The age of the two main characters was very surprising. I'm not a fan of when the FMC is underage and the MMC is over 18. I know he is immortal but we don't have to do that anymore. It's 2024. It wouldn't have changed the quality of the story or the conflict she is dealing with by aging her by a couple months.
-This book felt YA: When I found out the FMC is 17 and the MMC is 18 (immortal) I thought this was YA and went to multiple sites to check to make sure I knew whether it was YA or not. I couldn't find whether it was YA or new adult, and it was advertised as steamy romantasy. I didn't finish it but if it is steamy I would be uncomfortable with that given the age of the main character.
-Relationship wasn't organic: It was clear this was meant to be enemies to lovers but from the moment they meet it felt forced. They immediately started arguing over nothing almost like "you looked at me weird" or "you said that really mean" but then randomly "I care about you." They felt very juvenile for an adult book. Again the ages made the reading experience weird. By the time they kissed it felt weird for me because I didn't see any chemistry between the characters at all.
-Politics didn't hold my attention: I see the potential for the human uprising and oppressive vampires. However, we barely got a glimpse into what that could be. So much of the part that I read was her feeling uncomfortable going to parties which again...feels YA. I love political intrigue and was really hoping for more. I found myself very bored.

Because this was a DNF I didn't include it on my instagram. I'm posting a TikTok tomorrow morning and will update this feedback once I do.

I had a good time reading this book! Even though there are so many vampire stories out there, I felt like this one had a unique twist with Emelia’s relationship with her parents. I’m interested to see what happens next.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for this e-ARC.


I had a really hard time with this novel. I found it very "juvenile-y" written and felt like this is something I would have devoured back in middle school in the mid 2000s. Aside from the writing, the characters were poorly developed and I found that the romance had no chemistry and the banter from Emelia was very immature and felt silly. The dialogue itself was just bad, very bad. I forced myself to read this because I did not want to DNF this title to be able to write a review. The instant angst for no reason between Emelia and Kyle just made no sense and I found myself cringing a lot. Names can really make or break a story, and the name Kyle for a character who is supposed to come off as "sexy" just did not match the tone. The plot and pacing was maybe okay, but was not executed well at all. The world building was so brief I kept forgetting what it was.

I really loved this book! It was just what I wanted in a fantasy romance book! The atmosphere was great and I loved the romance!

I wouldn't necessarily market this as "forced proximity" or "forbidden romance," given the way the book plans out. The world-building is interesting and it is well written, but I think lovers of 'True Blood' and 'Twilight' will have different expectations based on the book's marketing.

2.5 ☆
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The premise of this book sounded intriguing to me. I’ll be forced to take the crown, simply because of who my parents are. Never mind that my skin, my eyes, the way I move—everything will give me away for what I am: human in a world ruled by vampires.
But unfortunately, it just didn't give me the vibe I wanted and didn't hold my attention! I wasn't the targeted audience for this book.
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Thank you, Netgellay, and Harper 360 for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I had to DNF this book about 40% in. The whole vibe just isn't for me and I feel like the book needs a lot of editing done before release. I just couldn't handle the writing style and the instalove. I think the fmc is very childish as well and I just couldn't read more about her character. The plot is very lacking and the romance feels very childish for a new adult book. The plot made no sense to me at all also It is not a romantasy at all! I'm very thankful that I received an eARC for this book from Harper 360 and netgalley but I just couldn't finish it.

Book Fort Rating: 2.5 Stars
Is it building the Book Fort? It's a nice neighbor, but... It's not coming in the house.

This review will be short and sweet, because this was a short read. This is very much one of those "junk food reads" - it's not the sort of book you read to shatter your worldview or really make you think, but it is a fun romp through an alternate vampire-ruled universe.

However, content warning: This book features an explicit underage sex scene, which is concerning.

Here's what I liked:
- Emilia is written as a very true to form 17-year-old. So often books with teenage protagonists do not have their characters thinking in stereotypically teenage ways. Emilia's greatest flaws in the book are in fact her naivete and her lack of a fully developed prefrontal cortex, so the book was fun to read because it was appropriate for her age.
- The character development of Emilia's parents throughout the book was heartwarming to read. There's one particular scene with her father that I found especially poignant.
- I overall liked the "vibe" of the book - it's lightly spooky/gothic, which is fun.

Now here are my concerns:
- Again, we have an underage sex scene in this book. This book is being marketed as "hottest forced proximity x forbidden romance vampire story to sink your fangs into," which is really just frankly inappropriate when you have a protagonist who's characterized throughout the book as being a child. Is she over the age of consent? Yes, but her partner is an arguably 50+ year old vampire, and she's infantilized throughout most of the book. If this was a fade-to-black or closed door scenario, it wouldn't be a big deal. Also, even if she were actually over 18 - why is there only one sex scene for a book being marketed as an adult smut novel?
- Instalove. Not my favorite trope. There's not a lot of "forced proximity" here - only about a chapter's worth.
- The major plot twist was predictable for me; I didn't hate it, but I do think people who don't see it coming/are expecting something else from the book would.
- Overall, not a lot of worldbuilding. There was enough to get by, but I would have liked more worldbuilding for a book set in such an alternate version of the world.

My general feedback is that I think the main ideas of the book are good, and it could be a really fun romp through the vampire woods, but the execution needs a little help. Or, if it were to have the one explicit scene removed, it would make a GREAT YA vampire book.

Thank you to Harper 360, Netgalley, and Helen Glynn Jones for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Harper 360 and Netgalley, for providing me an eARC, in return for me providing an honest review.

3/5 🌟

This book had so much potential, with the FMC being born to vampires, but it fell so short, especially with it being an insta-love. I would've loved more lore of the vampires and more information on how the FMC was born human.

Kind of a frustrating read! The pace was too slow; it felt like it was setting up a series, but the main problem took a long time to be clear. The lore of the vampires didn't make a lot of sense; I would have liked more info about how a human could have been born into it.

This book completely sucked me in! Emilia Raven is a human born into a family of vampires, and her life is a mess of pressure and discrimination. She’s supposed to take over as the head of her family, but being human in a world of vampires isn’t exactly easy. The dynamic between Emilia and her bodyguard, Kyle, is everything! they can’t stand each other at first, but the tension is off the charts, and their back-and-forth is so entertaining.
What I didn’t expect was how much the story would expand. It starts off feeling like a typical vampire romance, but then it explodes into something way deeper and more intense. The twists? I didn’t see them coming at all! I was hooked right until the jaw-dropping ending.
If I had to nitpick, the world-building could’ve used more depth. I was a bit confused about the setting, but honestly, the characters and plot kept me so engaged that I didn’t mind too much. If you’re looking for a vampire story that brings the heat and has a killer plot, this one’s a must-read!

3.5 stars
This is marketed as an adult fantasy novel, which I greatly disagree with. This is a YA fantasy novel. The tone of voice, the age and immaturity of the characters, everything about it is straight up YA.
So I’m having a little bit of a hard time deciding how to rate this book because I was told I was getting an adult level novel and I ended up with something my 13 year old cousins would love instead. It was very teenage angst, run away with absolutely no plan and no idea how the outside world works, but I love him, and I don’t want to be an adult. So as an adult reader, I am NOT the target market for the writing, but I was the target market for the marketing of this book. You see where it gets confusing there?

Emilia is a 17 year old naive and sheltered girl, who happens to be born human from powerful vampire parents and is going to be crowned to rule when she turns 18. There’s a lot of teenage angst and rebellion and she falls in love with her randomly assigned new guard that appears close to her age (even though he’s a vampire and actually much older), Kyle is hot headed and a complete asshole and has absolutely no reason to be in a high guard position with how unprofessional he acts. He’s mean and snarky and bullies Emilia, who he’s supposed to be personally guarding.
Somehow the two are in teenage lust together though, so we have a little Romeo and Juliet thing going on because humans and vampires are not allowed to love each other. Humans are just meat after all.
Emilia decides to run away from all her responsibilities and orders Kyle to run away with her so they can live happily ever after, but being a human in a vampire world means death and abuse, but she doesn’t know that. She discovers humans are kept like cattle and doesn’t want to run away anymore but ends up caught in a rebellion against her family.
Will she take on her responsibilities and make changes to appease the rebellion or will she continue to hide in the safety of the darkness under her parents rule?

*an advanced digital copy was received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

I think this was an interesting book overall. It starts off like many other romantasy novels involving vampires, but I was definitely hooked on the storyline as it progressed towards the end.

This book is the story about a human girl, Emilia Raven, who was born into a family of vampires. Although she's destined to take over their empire, Emilia has never felt like she truly belongs, given that she's the only human in a world of supernatural beings.

What I think was really interesting about this book was how it was set in an urban post-apocalyptic setting. Most vampire romantasy books I've read take place in a completely different fantasy world. This setting made the story feel refreshingly different.. That said, I found myself wanting to know more about how the vampires came into power and exactly when and where this story is set. The Safe Zones and the technology used to protect humans from vampires were fascinating elements that I want to know more about! I'm quite curious to see how Jones is going to continue to develop this world in any upcoming books. Especially surrounding what regular humans might be going through.

Moving on to the characters, Emilia and Kyle, their dynamic was engaging. Emilia's growth throughout the book, as she becomes more confident in herself, reminded me of a classic teenage coming-of-age story. This is a classic Bodyguard to Lovers story, and their banter at the beginning was very entertaining. Kyle is a mysterious character but shows that he really cares about Emilia. At times, their relationship did lean toward familiar romantasy clichés, but the ending made the buildup worthwhile.

Overall, I think this is a great read for lovers of vampires, romance, and fantasy! The cliffhanger at the end was one of my favorites this year—unexpected and leaving me eager to read more. I am very excited to see what comes out of this series.

Thank you again NetGalley for the ARC!