4 STARS ✨
The Last Rose is great for fans of:
• Omegaverse
• Found family
• Why choose?
• Possessive male characters
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of The Last Rose from Booksprout in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Corie is an omega who remains haunted by the traumatic events of her past and is deemed as 'broken' as she spends a large majority of her life at Havenfield, a rehabilitation centre for omegas to heal before, hopefully, finding a pack that they fit in where their life can begin anew. After two months of contact with them, Corie is able to move in with the Renard Pack — consisting of alphas Finn, Hartley, Van and their beta, Noah — who hold their own skeletons.
I actually really enjoyed this one, although some parts are hard to read. I do believe that The Last Rose shines an important life that everyone reacts to trauma in different ways; Corie did not want to be treated delicately, she wished to be treated as the adult she was and to have the life of a regular omega, which was a struggle at the beginning. There was miscommunication there of what Havenfield felt Corie needed and what she knew she needed, which was a nightmare, but I loved Corie for fighting to fate and the steps that she wanted to make, rather than anyone else.
I do understand the issues that a lot of people have with Finn, as he is a tough character to try and get a hold of, but I didn't mind him too much. I think I just have an awful habit of liking the characters that you're not supposed to be fond of? But I did like all of the boys in the pack, and Noah had my whole heart.
The main issue I had with the book was the rehabilitation centres. The idea that all of the omegas placed there are damaged, and were only usually chosen by packs with problems because 'normal' packs would go anywhere, was a hard pill to swallow. Just because you've went through trauma, it does not make you any less worthy and, yeah — it's a shame, but I am glad that Corie managed to find happiness and love despite of the awful societal structures that are set in place.
I also don't want to be that person, but with some of the content, there really should have been some aftercare.
I'm not going to spoil it, but the ending was amazing, and I thought that it reiterated the message of the whole book, so, complete props to you, Kitt Lynn. I would recommend this one, but please make sure that you do adhere to the trigger warnings, as it is one on the darker side.