To start with, I should mention that romance is not my favourite genre, but I thought I’d give this one a try because my curiosity got piqued when I read that one of the characters is from the 1970s and is stuck on the subway train. I also like reading books by LGBTQ+ authors.

I did enjoy this book but found the main character, August, and the romance the least interesting aspects. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the supporting characters were way more interesting and loved their shenanigans. McQuiston creates a fun and vibrant world and has a wonderful imagination. If you like steamy LGBTQ+ romances and quirky characters and a wild premise, then this book is for you.

I tried more than once but this is a DNF for me. I make it about 50% and I just don't find myself connected to any of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher Edelweiss for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

I was so excited to read this. I thought it was going to be amazing. It's set in NYC which is one of my favorite places, and it has time travel, one of my favorite tropes. I even read it in Central Park when I was on a trip to NYC.

Unfortunately it didn't work for me. It was painfully slow and I was bored and started skimming. I'm not sure how the author made a time travel book boring but she did.

*ARC provided through Netgalley.

A mysterious woman on a train, a chance meeting, a missing relative, and unexplained events bring two strangers together as they discover details of what really happened all those years ago.

A time travel of sorts in this story of a woman seeking answers and another with a desire to find her place.

A F/F story of hope, joy, love, and family as events unfold that bring the past full throttle into the present.

I love a good Sapphic romance, and this did not disappoint. My main critiques are the length of the book, and the way they tried to apply logic to an inherently illogical situation. I don't need a pseudo scientific explanation for what's happening, I just want cute girls to kiss.

It was also WAY too long. While I loved a lot of the book, after a while I really just wanted to get it over with. There needs to be so much more editing.

4.5 stars. I had stopped and started this book back in 2021 and then picked it back up on audio, ultimately listening for the first 85% and then finishing the rest on Kindle. At first I thought this book was a time travel plot, which hadn't appealed to me, but I'm glad I gave it another shot.

This book works perfectly on audio but I found some of the characterizations, observations, and story a bit tedious in print. Natalie Naudus narrates the story with the right balance and tied the whole book together.

I enjoyed the strong found family foundation in this book, along with the family mystery August grows up trying to solve - plus the main storyline of Jane and August and what happens from there.

One thing I have to say about this book is that it felt truly original. You think in a romance, you know exactly how it's going to end, but even with a HEA on the horizon, I wasn't quite sure how it was going to wrap up or in what way. I also was surprised by some of the other pieces of info we get along the way about other parts of the plot, such as the family mystery.

I really enjoyed McQuiston's debut and was very much looking forward to this one. There were parts of this that worked for me and others that didn't - the time travel piece lost me a bit, however, I did enjoy the relationship between the two characters.

Loved this book, it was such great fun and played with so many tropes. Recommended it to all my friends, and made sure our adult services department purchased it.

I appreciate the ability to send a rating and review for this title. I love Casey McQuiston, just the ghost thing wasn't it for me.

Couldn't connect to this book. It didn't hold my interest and as a result, I didn't finish it. As it is a DNF, I won't be reviewing it on our blog. Thank you for the advanced copy.

This unfortunately was a DNF for me. I couldn't get into it. I will give it 3 stars because I don't want to give it less since I only got through one third of it.

I was so excited for this after reading Red, White, and Royal Blue, and it did not disappoint. The time travel setting was perfect and not overdone - the magical realism was charming and one of my favourite aspects of the book was the way songs were incorporated. There was a rich and extensive cast of main characters but somehow it never felt like too much. I will recommend this to anyone looking for historical fiction/historical romance - especially because it differs from traditional historical fiction by its non WWII setting, and it digresses from standard romance because it is a sapphic love story. So excited to read everything Casey McQuiston writes!

It's the biggest question of them all, isn't it : is ONE LAST STOP better than RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE? Personally, for me, no. But that isn't a bad thing; and nor can one be compared to the other, anyway. One was magic for me and one has magic. But both are fabulous in their own way.

"<i>You are projecting so many feelings right now, I can't believe your skin's still on.</i>"
"<b>I'm repressing it!</b>"
"<i>I can see how you would think that is what you're doing</i>."

Right out the gate I have to say : I absolutely loved the ensemble of friends/found family in this book. McQuiston does this so well and this one in particular was so colourful and lovely. If that's what you want in your books, or that's what you need, you will love it here. Truly. And, in general, this book was so vibrant. The people, the places, the parties, everything was bright. I could picture it all. It's a great feeling to have something you're reading, particularly something so inclusive and welcoming and warm, spinning out so vividly in your brain.

"<i>Maybe you're meant to be. Love at first sight. It happened to me.</i>"
"<b>I don't accept that as a hypothesis.</b>"
"<i>That's because you're a Virgo.</i>"
"<b>I thought you said virginity was a construct</b>."
"<i>A <b>Virgo</b>, you fucking Virgo nightmare. All this, and you still don't believe in things. Typical Virgo bullshit.</i>"

While I also definitely felt love for our main lovebirds, I don't know if I ever fell in love with them. Maybe Jane more than August but still. I was invested in their adventures, their struggle, delighted by their mix of soft tentative chaotic flirtations to their outright horny happiness, but.. this book isn't short and sometimes, often in scenes just between the two of them, it felt long. I would get distracted by the ensemble but then it would kind hit home that it felt like I was reading about this forever.

<i>When you spend your whole life alone, it's incredibly appealing to move somewhere big enough to get lost in, where being alone looks like a choice.</i>

There is an inherent magic to this whole story (I'll direct you to the Kate & Leopold pitch for an idea of how that looks) and an additional element is there is layer upon layer of coincidences. Some are sweet, some are strange, others are outrageous. There is much disbelief to suspend (obviously, being as someone is out of time and all..) but just bear that in mind. It often worked but.. not always.

<i>Living with a psychic is a pain in the ass.</i>

Beyond the magic, beyond the romance, the heart of ONE LAST STOP felt like a tribute to queer communities, past and present. It felt like McQuiston used Jane as a way to shine light on where things were in the seventies to how they are now. The Q train might have been what anchored this story together but an equally important anchor were queer lives -- their liberties, their sacrifices, their pain, their losses, and their triumps. Their right to be.

"<i>Remeber the rules. Number one --</i>"
"<b>Us versus everyone.</b>"
"<i>And number two --</i>"
"<b>If they're gonna kill you, get their DNA under your fingernails</b>."

Overall this was pretty great. I think so many of you are going to love it. Will I hold it in my heart the way I do RWRB? No -- and, in fact, months later as I repost this for release day, I realize I don't think I've even thought of it since; the good parts are good, the long parts? Long! It's shiny and lovely in the moment but the longterm impact? Little to none, especially vs the author's debut. But I still recommend you pick it up.

I love Casey McQuiston and her writing style, but the magical realism was not for me unfortunately! Loved the found family elements.

Very cool queer romance with magical realism thrown in. I loved the musical references. Someone out there has to have made a playlist to go along with this book!

I am in the minority with this one but I could not get into it. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I really didn’t love the writing style.

After 'Red, White, & Royal Blue' I officially became a fan of Casey McQuiston and she doesn't disappoint. Really enjoyed "One Last Stop' and will continue to try to grab Casey's future books as they are published!

I love Casey McQuiston's witty writing style and I was so excited when she opted to set her newest book in NYC. What I loved most about this one, is the characters. Casey crafted such a believable friend group and I was completed invested in everything that happened with any of the side characters. I also loved the diner setting where August worked and often would crave pancakes after reading! While the romantic plotline required the reader to suspend disbelief, I found the story engaging and I was able to just go with the time travel aspect. The one thing I did not enjoy is any type of physical romance happening on the New York City subway because as someone who is forced to ride it often, I couldn't get past how gross that would be in real life.

Casey McQuiston knows how to write a book, folks. It feels almost impossible to express precisely just how ONE LAST STOP hit me, but suffice to say, their latest novel is a love story, a finding yourself story, a building a family story and a New York story. And it's brilliantly done.

I absolutely loved this book; initially, I had thought it would be difficult to follow up Red, White & Royal Blue, but Casey McQuiston absolutely delivered.

A lot of this book reminded me of my own time as a young adult, living in a major city and trying to make sense of the world and what I was doing; though by the time I read this book, I was already well on my way to having a stable Adult Job™ with Adult Responsibilities™, a lot of August's experiences resonated with me. Of course, I never met a cute girl bound to the subway, and more's the pity.

I could go on about the characters and the plot, but I assume everyone knows about that by now. This book is not RWRB, it's not a sequel, it's probably not even in the same universe, but it has the charm and heart as I'd expect from Casey McQuiston.

Also, props for the Wawa mention. Best convenience store.

I was offered an eARC of this novel by St. Martins Press through NetGalley.