Thank you to Penguin Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

I have been waiting for this book for what feels like a lifetime! I binge read the first three books in the series last year (accidentally, but they're so addicting) and when I discovered there was going to be a fourth and final book, I couldn't wait for it to come out. I'm so glad to have gotten the opportunity to get my copy early and I just absolutely flew through it in a few hours. I quite literally read it under my blanket with a flashlight because I couldn't go to sleep without finishing it completely! 

Plot:

"The fourth book of the scream-worthy cult series The Merciless combines Stephen King level terror with true crime stories like the Amanda Knox case." If that doesn't hook you, I don't know what will. Last Rites follows Berkley Hubbard, a girl who spent six months at a place called the Institute with a dangerous and alluring roommate named Sofia Flores. Flash forward to the present and Berkley is vacationing in Italy with her two best friends and trying to forget what happened. But Berkley is hiding a secret that may end her life. When she's forced to face the past and accept what she's done, she learns that the devil is always watching and that no one will be there to save her in the end.

Blood. Gore. Plot twists. Blasts from the past. These are only a few words and phrases that describe the contents of this book. Going into this, I was hoping for an explosive finale that would leave me as a huge fan of this series satisfied with how everything wrapped up. Let me tell you now, I was not disappointed! I said it above but I literally stayed up late and read this under my blanket with a flashlight because I could not go to sleep without knowing how it ended. There were multiple flashbacks to Berkley in the institute interspersed with the main story of Berkley in Italy and it was done so very well. It was spaced out between several chapters and really felt like every little bit of information that was given in the flashbacks to the Institute would eventually become relevant to the story. The pacing was great and I enjoyed getting the backstory on Berkley's time in the Institute and the buildup to the explosive ending! When all was revealed, I found myself having to stop myself from screaming and flailing around because I just loved the ending so much. The Merciless IV: Last Rites is a creepy and screamingly wonderful ending to a bloody great series!

Characters:
I loved Berkley! She really reminded me of Sofia from the first and second books and, surprise surprise, she's actually roommates with Sofia at the Institute. I had an absolutely fantastic time following Berkley's story and watching it unfold. I became so invested in her story in such a short amount of time and I really admire authors who have the ability to make me care about their characters within the first few pages of a book. I felt so terrible for all of the things that Berkley had gone through and was experiencing while in Italy. Her friends were incredibly two-faced to her and I just wanted to give her a hug the entire time! It really did remind me of how I felt about Sofia while reading the first two books and I wanted to give Danielle Vega all of the snaps for that. Despite Berkley's secret being pretty terrible, I still sympathized with her character and thought she was so well-written. Berkley was the perfect character to bring the series full circle and Danielle Vega did a wonderful job at bringing her to life.

I wasn't a fan of Mara and Harper, Berkley's friends. They were well-written but they were just genuinely awful people. I do feel like they might have been written that way on purpose which, if that was the case, then well done Danielle Vega because I could not stand them. They were two-faced and mean and just all around terrible characters to read about. There were also three local girls that come into the story later on and not only were they awful as well, but they were certifiably crazy! But I have to say, Danielle Vega does such a fantastic job at writing characters that you may not like but that add a lot to the story.

Also, just want to give a quick shout out to Sofia. She's come quite a long way since the first book and her appearance in Last Rites was fantastic. Just...so much yes.

Writing:
Danielle Vega does YA horror like no one else. She does such a fantastic job at drawing me into the story and making me feel like I'm right in the middle of the action. The bloody, gory, spooky action! I love how descriptive she gets, especially with the blood and gore. For me personally, the more descriptive and bloody, the better! I enjoyed the location change and really felt like it brought more to the atmosphere and made everything feel just a bit eerier. There's just something about her writing that I can't pull myself away from and I love it when authors can do that to their readers.

I did find a quote at the beginning of the book that I freaked out over when I read it. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but it was the perfect line to include for the scene!