This is possibly one of the most popular releases of the year, and I understand why. After reading McQuiston’s first release, I knew they would go on to write even more great books. This novel definitely did not disappoint. I loved so many parts of this. The friendships that August made seemed very genuine. The mystery of why Jane was stuck on the line continuously kept me interested. And the romance was swoon worthy. My main criticism, and why I only gave it four stars, is that it felt too long. I can’t explain exactly what dragged on, but looking back after I finished the book, it was hard to comprehend what happened in the novel that needed all those pages. But this is coming for someone who has always preferred shorter books, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. I also felt as though the relationship was a little to insta-lovey at the beginning. I never really understood what drew they together, but after awhile I fell for their relationship. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel, and I can see a lot of people loving it.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the adorable read!

3.5 stars.

This book is sweet story about love, identity, and time. August is a 23-year-old who moves to New York with a chip on her shoulder. She has spent her life constantly looking to start fresh but is never able to plant the roots she needs. One day, she hops on the Q and sees her: Jane. Jane is beautiful, enticing, but mysterious beyond comprehension. In time, August realizes there is a reason Jane seems so magical, because her very essence is something of magic.
While this book is adorable and August and Jane’s story is tender, I felt like it dragged on more than it needed to. I actually took a break about halfway through because I was just ready for it to wrap up. But I’m so glad I came back, as it’s a sweet read with amazing representation, acceptance, and love.

BOOK REPORT for One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Cover Story: Missed Connection
BFF Charm: Heck Yes
Swoonworthy Scale: 9
Talky Talk: Ain't No Sophomore Slump
Bonus Factors: LGBTQ+, Found Family
Relationship Status: MFEO

Cover Story: Missed Connection
There's something singularly magical about spotting someone intriguing on the subway just before the doors close, whisking them away to their own life and out of yours. This cover captures that feeling to great effect, and I love how the two characters aren't your still-way-too-typical skinny white folk.

The Deal:
August Landry has just moved to Brooklyn to find a new life. She's not there to make friends; instead, the thing she loves most about the city is the idea of getting lost in the crowd. But fate has other plans, and the moment she gets on the subway, covered in coffee and smelling like her new job at Pancake Billy's House of Pancakes—a job she got thanks to her new roommates, a couple who are very much not interested in leaving August alone—and locks eyes with the stunning Jane Su, all those plans go out the window.

And then she figures out that Jane's stuck on the Q … and from the 1970s.

BFF Charm: Heck Yes
August is a fascinating woman. She grew up with a single mother who was obsessed with the cold case of her missing brother and while teaching August all of her skills also used her to get more information. (Lots for August to unpack with a therapist there.) She's got a very clinical mind and—thanks? to her mother—is very good at investigations. She's a little closed off at first, but if you can earn her trust and make yourself a fixture in her life, she'll reciprocate. I'd love to have the chance to break through her walls.

And when she starts teaching Jane about the present—

"August grins as the train stops at Union Square and commuters start piling off, freeing up a few spaces on the bench. 'All right. Sit down. I'll tell you about the Fast and Furious franchise. That'll take a good hour.'"

—I knew she was definitely BFF material.

Swoonworthy Scale: 9
McQuiston knows how to bring the swoon—and the sexytimes. One Last Stop is as hot as Red, White, & Royal Blue, with one caveat: A lot of said sexytimes happen on the subway. I've been on the subway. It's not a place I'd want to shuck my clothes and get down to business, even if the object of my carnal desires is as hot as Jane is. And I'm not talking about the very public nature of a subway car.

The grime, y'all. THE GRIME.

Talky Talk: Ain't No Sophomore Slump
From the very start of McQuiston's debut, I had a good feeling that they were an author to watch. But there's no telling what might happen between book 1 and book 2 (or any subsequent books); what seems like a sure thing could turn out to be … not. I didn't need to worry, though—One Last Stop is just as delightful and perfect as Red, White, & Royal Blue, and even with the magical/science fiction elements, it feels even more real. The characters are brilliant, the settings convincing, the story full of little details that make it easy to get lost in the flow. I could smell Pancake Billy's, feel the bass of the drag shows at Delilah's, and hear the rumble of the subway cars as they left the station. The book is a love letter to so many things, and it made me love them all, too, without noticing it was happening but grateful for it in the end.

Bonus Factor: LGBTQ+
There are a variety of queer characters in One Last Stop. August is bisexual, Jane is a lesbian, other characters are gay and trans.

And it's not only the characters that make the book delightfully queer; there is a lot of history in the book, thanks in part to Jane being an activist in her time.

Bonus Factor: Found Family
When August answers an ad to become a fourth roommate, she's more interested in the somewhat inexpensive rent than she is in making friends. Thankfully, her new roommates are all about drawing August out of her shell. Myla is a brilliant artist. Her boyfriend Niko is a psychic. And Wes is a nocturnal tattoo artist. Together they make a misfit family of the very best kind, and August immediately fits, even if she doesn't want to admit it.

Relationship Status: MFEO
No one asked you to come into my life and make me love you, Book, but that's exactly what you did. There's no going back now. I hope you realize that you're stuck with me forever!

I adored this book so much! The characters, the romance, the family made of friends, the time travel element. It was all so much fun, yet had so much depth and heart. I really loved the pop culture and NYC setting- it really came alive and seemed almost like its own character in the book. This was my first read from McQuiston and I can't wait to read more.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I definitely enjoyed this book but I didn't love it and seem to be in the minority, although it wasn't horrible it wasn't everything I had hoped for. I loved the writing style and the way the story flowed. I was just unable to connect to the storyline.

This book is what it's like to be moving through life on your own, figuring it out, with heaps of queer history from the 70s, oldie music, mysteries in New York, and a story where everything is somehow connected. I adored this book, it's going to hold a special place in my heart.
August, a 23-year-old college student in New York, moves into a run-down apartment with 3 other queer roommates and gets her life changed when she meets Jane on the subway. It's so hard to see well-developed queer women, especially women of color, in books, and Casey does it wonderfully. The side characters were wonderful, I loved that there were drag queens and pancake jobs, and the ending felt so good but so nostalgic. The mystery was fun to read, and the connections between August and Jane were well thought out. I loved all the bit of history and little newspaper and article clippings at the start of each chapter, it felt so real. It's more than a love story, it's a story about family, not just blood, and about learning to let yourself love.
There was one specific part that irked me when Jane brings up a homophobic-racist attack and August's gives a naive response which isn't brought up again. I also think the pacing in this book could be a little better, but other than that, I would definitely read this again.

I absolutely loved this book. I'd been looking forward to it for so long and was thrilled to receive an e-ARC from Netgalley and the publisher. Reading it just made me feel really good. It's a love story that transcends time and space, as well as a mystery. There was so much I enjoyed. The two primary characters, August and Jane, were actually not my favorite characters in the book, though. I absolutely fell in love with the friend group as a whole. The subway was almost a character in itself, and the time travel slant was done really creatively. This was a quick, easy read that left me feeling happy and warm. I wish there had been LQBTQ romances similar to this this when I was growing up, entering adulthood, and finding myself, but I am so happy it exists now.

This story assembles an incredible cast of characters in a love story that transcends time and subway stops. I’ve never highlighted so many quotes before, but the pop culture references were so spot on and hilarious, “Bella Swan, eat your horny little Mormon heart out.” and “Comatose in California is my favorite Lana Dey Rey album. Absolute perfection and had me rolling. This love story combines with some mystery and time travel, for good measure. This on was a a five star read, perfection in a book.

Casey McQuiston does it again! This book has everything. Casual queerness! The most perfect love interest of all time! True love! Light sci-fi elements that are sort of hand-waved away because who cares, there's kissing! Discussions of the hairy horror Wolverine frog!

All in all, another slam dunk. 4 strawberry milkshake pop-tarts out of 5.

This was so fun!! I absolutely loved this cast of characters, the descriptions of New York, Subway Girl, and the magical/sci-fi twist to the book. The romance is adorable and the pieces on family and how lgbtq+ rights have changed were really well-written, interesting, and emotional. This was a delightful read and I can't wait for more from this author!

One last stop is humorous, worry, and full of all the charm that we have come to love from McQuiston. The characters are vibrant and will have you rooting for them and begging to find out what happens. A must read novel!

1.75 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

The original premise of One Last Stop excited me. However, it never really stood out as something out of the ordinary. A time travel love story is something I see a lot within the science fiction genre. I was actually quite interested to see how the plot would be executed. On top of that, I was very eager to read the book due to all the hype surrounding it. Unfortunately though, One Last Stop fell extremely flat.

Saniya, how could you?! Yes, yes, I know, it’s a popular book and I am very happy for the author. No one wanted a 2> star review for One Last Stop. BUT, this was dare I say, really bad. Before you scream at me in the comments, allow me to explain myself…

Let’s start with the characters. Our two MCs August and Jane felt very two dimensional, and had an even more superficial relationship. Aside from Jane liking punk rock music, the two seemed to have no personality. Because of this, I was unable to root for them. One major problem I had was with August and Jane doing the nasty on a subway..in public. People can do whatever they want, and I love how unapologetically sapphic this book is. But it made me feel incredibly uncomfy when they started doing it in public.

Luckily, I enjoyed reading about Myla! She was eccentric and book smart, which is one of the best combinations possible if you ask me. The other side characters didn’t keen my interest at all though. Thus when almost 80% of the book was August interacting with the side characters, I couldn’t bring myself to care about their conversations. Furthermore, I also felt as though there were too many people being introduced into the story. Henceforth why I quickly became overwhelmed as more characters were introduced.

In addition, the dialogue was one aspect I had a tough time with. August and her roommates seemed to talk about rather pointless things that added nothing to the plot. I would have been completely fine with this if the dialogue was actually amusing or intriguing. However, the snarky remarks came off as odd and unfunny instead.

The writing is where I had another huge issue with. There was an abundance of rambling that added nothing but ~length~ to the story. The chapters were also incredibly long, and it felt like a chore to push through the book. The time travel aspect also made absolutely no sense at all. This led to me being confused and uninterested.

Overall, One Last Stop was an unenjoyable read for me. The story dragged on way too much, and the jokes just weren’t funny. Despite disliking the book, I recommend this to all the Casey McQuiston fans out there.

--Overall--
Age Rating: 16 and up

TW: Drinking, depression, anxiety, familial death, familial estrangement, missing persons

Final Rating: 3.5/10 or 1.75 stars

This book was a bit of a roller coaster for me. I started off really invested and eager to read but, towards the middle, I found myself somewhat bored and felt as if the plot was going very slowly. Towards the end, it picked up for me again.

One Last Stop is the story of a young, twenty-something, August, who has recently moved to the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. She moves in with Niko and Myla, a couple, and Wes, a sullen tattoo artist. August is coming to terms with her bisexual identity and her lack of physical experience with either a man or woman. She's left behind her mother in New Orleans. Her childhood was spent helping her mother try and crack the case of her uncle who disappear before August was born.

On her regular commute on the Q, August meets and begins to become enthralled with Jane, another twenty-something who always seems to be on the same train as August. We later find out that Jane is not able to leave the Q and she is not in fact 20-something but a transplant from the 70s who has somehow become stuck. This is where adds a science fiction element I was not expecting.

The plot continues as August and Jane try and figure out Jane's history all the while August begins to fall for Jane. What really tied me to the story were all of the supporting characters: August's roommates, coworkers at Billy's Pancakes, and the drag queens she is introduced to. McQuiston did an amazing job of creating so many characters I found my invested in and who could have whole books written just about them and their lives. Throughout the book, I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky August was to have such a great "family" of people in her life.

Overall, I really liked One Last Stop. I did think that there were times when the story seemed to stall but the plot was something so entirely unique, I kept reading because I needed to know how it would end.

Red White and Royal Blue is one of my absolute favorite books EVER. Needless to say, I was SUPER excited for One Last Stop!

It was unique, light, and inclusive (there are drag queens, a transgender person, and a lesbian relationship, PERFECT!)

I know this book is a romance and Jane and August are the focus of the story. But to me, what I loved the most in this book was the friendship. Friends who are willing to do anything to help, and are always there for you, to make you feel loved and be yourself. This is gold.

The one thing I didn’t like very much were the chapters that felt a little bit dragging, and I just wanted to get to the plot. But I’m sure for some people, this book will be a gigantic 5-star-read!

3.5 stars

McQuiston’s knack for writing humor and charm is on full display here. (I would totally be up for a game of Rolly Bangs. But maybe only once.) The unfolding mystery of it all was really well done. It’s a pretty brilliantly written book. Clever, smart, and paced well. But it was really the characters that got me invested. I wanted to see what happened to Niko & Myla, and Wes & Isaiah, and Billy’s. They were a very enjoyable part of the book.

I looked forward to this book so much, so I am so happy that it delivered better than I expected, while I would've liked not knowing before starting it that Jane was from a different time, it still was really enjoyable to read the whole journey, I also really like how there's a variety of complex and varied characters, not just some extras filling space around the main character, really recommend this book!

This was totally different from Red, White, and Royal Blue. This was suspended in two timelines and sees August trying to navigate both. Jane was a damned delight.

The found family aspect was AMAZING. Also this book was sapphic af. More of that please.

One Last Stop is about a cynical loner August, meeting the charismatic and loveable Jane, who's displaced in time from the 70s.

August and Jane had great chemistry from the get go. They were adorable together, funny and, if you can ignore the ickiness of an NYC subway, quite steamy as well!

The romance was not the only great relationship in this book. I loved all the side characters. They were interesting and unique, they had depth, they were well developed. I loved reading about them, their friendship with August, their relationships with each other so much. This for me just as stronger (if not stronger) than the love story. Such a great execution of found family. Also, reading August come out of her shell, and slowly learn to rely on her new friends was beautiful to see.

The most interesting part of this book for me was the LGBTQIA+ experience, comparing 70s to today. It also helped that some of the actual events that happened back then like the UpStairs Lounge arson attack were interleaved into the story. Seeing the juxtaposition of how Jane and her friends had to live, compared to how August and her friends live today, was quite powerful.

The representation does not end there either, the characters were all from different backgrounds, cultures, religions, beliefs... This also helped build a very strong crew of characters.

One of the best parts of Casey McQuiston's writing is her lyricism. She paints such a beautiful picture with words, it's impossible not to admire. She doesn't just tell you it was a great kiss, she tells you that it was "an open-mouthed exhale, shotgunning summer sunshine."

There were a few weak parts for me, which is why it wasn't a full 5 stars.

First of all, there was a lot of parts of this book that was focused on the mystery aspects of the story. These mystery aspects, however, were not as strong as the interpersonal relationships. Every detail of the mystery happens to work out perfectly, everything fitting into place just so, with minimal difficulty but with timing that manages to extend the story for plot reasons.

Similarly, August's life seems to work out perfectly as well. She's a great example of someone who continuously fails upwards. Somehow, there are no repercussions for all the different ways she messes up, on the contrary, everything works out so well, she ends up somewhere even better than before.

I also found this book slightly too long. It dragged in places for me, making it a tad boring/harder to get through those parts.

Despite these small issues, this book was still a powerful, beautiful story of finding yourself, finding your family of friends, and the LGBTQIA+ experience and history, with a great romance story to boot.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

Have you ever read a book and immediately known that it will be one you’re going to be obsessed with? Just like with Red, White and Royal Blue, I knew within a couple chapters of One Last Stop that I was reading a new favorite book. To be honest, I heard the phrases "time traveling lesbians" and "stuck on the subway" and knew that I was going to love this story.

And this book was perfection! Absolute perfection! It was everything my little queer bisexual heart wanted and needed it to be plus so much more! This review could be pages and pages of me raving about how much I loved this book but I will limit myself to five reasons why I loved it so much and why you should go out and immediately buy it.

Reason one is the characters! This book would make an excellent case study on how to write fully formed queer characters that feel so real you want to go get dinner with them. They are diverse in race, gender, and sexuality. I fell in love quickly with prickly, reformed girl detective, August. She was a character that I immediately saw pieces of myself in. And her queer found family is serious friendship goals and I found myself wanting to move into Apartment 6F so I could be part of it. And let’s not forget about Jane. Glorious, soft, riot girl Jane stole my heart as quickly as August did.

Reason two is that this book is compulsively readable. You hit a point in the story where putting the book down is actually painful because you need to know what happens next. I stayed up reading until 1:30am and finished the book with a huge grin and tears on my face and my heart feeling like it grew three sizes too big. And despite it being after midnight, I immediately wanted to reread it after finishing and that is the highest praise I can give a book.

Reason three is because it is a story of finding your people and your place in the world. For me, reading it felt like coming home and getting wrapped in a hug. It was also highly nostalgic for me because it made me miss my own found family I gathered while I was living away from home. And rolly bangs would have totally been something we would have played in our apartments.

Reason four is the romance! Casey McQuiston is a master of writing longing between love interests and this book had all of the longing in not just one romance but two! I'll be honest. If you told me that I would be getting hot and bothered by a subway sex scene before this book, I would have laughed. There were some hot and steamy scenes and they were glorious!

Reason five was the setting in New York City. In this book, the city was almost a character of its own and it made me miss that huge, smelly, and glorious place! McQuiston's description of the magicalness of the subway totally captured me and took me there without me leaving my living room. And the food descriptions in this book made me hungry! I miss being close to diners that have been there decades before you were ever born and where they remember your order when you become a regular. It also made me want a real New York bagel and smear so badly and is something I can't even get close to here in Idaho.

Overall, this book will make you keep turning the pages while you feel all the emotions. I'll be raving about it for months to come and seriously can't recommend it enough already. I absolutely can't wait to read what Casey McQuiston puts out next! I need all of the queer rom-coms in my life!

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

4.5 stars

Like many of my friends, I was super excited for this one since I absolutely adore McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue — and while it is a distinct type of novel from RWRB, One Last Stop did not disappoint. Both include a fantastically diverse cast of mostly twenty-somethings (including, but far from limited to, a QPOC in the main pairing), nuanced and dynamic relationships of all sorts, a strong sense of setting in terms of both location and time period, nods to queer history, humorous banter / witticisms, and a comfortably-paced narrative flow.

Given that the novel centers on a Lowkey Disaster Bisexual, August Landry, and a Chinese-American gay icon, Jane Su, I (a twenty-something demibisexual Taiwanese-American) was admittedly predisposed to love this if the representation was good. And man oh man, was it ever. August and the members of her queer found family each have delightful quirks, and they’re super supportive of each other, and they love a good party. I also really appreciated that the Asian-American love interest (Jane) was portrayed as sexy but not stereotypically hypersexualized or submissive, and all her memories/experiences are a reminder that American history and queer history also belong to queer Asian-Americans, even though they are often overlooked in queer American stories.

I have to confess that I don’t always love a sci-fi twist, but the incorporation of time travel actually worked quite well for me. Of course it was a great way to sneak in some queer American history, but it was also a fascinating complication to the main romance as they try to figure out who Jane is, how she got into this situation, how to free her, what will happen after they free her. There isn’t really room for contrived drama, which works out just fine since there are already ups and downs, joys and frustrations, victories and setbacks.

Finally, food may not be a central focus of the novel but I contend that it is a love language as well as a carrier of culture. So I was delighted to discover a few mouthwatering mentions I want to try for myself: the Su Special sandwich, the fah sung thong (Chinese peanut candy) mentioned by August’s roommate Myla, Jane’s favorite chocolate chip NY-style bagels with peanut butter, Wes’s orange cardamom scones with maple chai drizzle. Also NY-style pizza, of course. (And if any of these culinary experiments turn out well, they just might be the subject of future posts!)

One Last Stop has less of a cotton-candy (what some call fanfiction-y) feel than Red, White & Royal Blue but is still a relatively light read, with plenty of heartwarming and hilarious moments. It’s very New Adult and very NYC and very queer, and very, very enjoyable.