Another very fun romcom from Casey McQuiston! I loved the ensemble of characters and relationships, loved to see how her writing has gotten stronger even since Red White and Royal Blue (which I also really liked). I still experienced some of the frustrations I get when I read any romance novel (resolutions come pretty easy, prose is sometimes sacrificed for plot) but that’s just me. Overall, I would definitely recommend this to any romance reader and anyone at all looking for a new adult coming-of-age

If you thought Casey McQuiston was done after Red, White, & Royal Blue. I'm here to tell you nothing could be further from the truth. I have been eagerly awaiting this release and fell right into the story. I felt like an active participant, McQuiston's writing is so engaging. I was not expecting the turns this book took.

I anticipated a LGBTQ cast of characters and to see diversity represented. I expected some romance. I expected relatable feelings and human experiences. I got all of this. BUT THEN I also got a sort of magical realism/sci-fi twist that I was not expecting and I was fully on board for it.

Our main character is August, a bisexual young woman who has just moved to NYC to basically have another redo. She's tried some other spots, some other colleges but she just hasn't found a place that felt comforting or welcoming. She's trying to distance herself both physically and emotionally from her mother. August has a loving mother, but she hasn't escaped childhood without a few confusing bumps and scrapes along the way. She was raised alongside her mother's relentless investigation for a missing person. Her childhood was formed in libraries and public records and her mannerisms were molded around research and getting information. But she didn't get to choose any of that. And now, as an adult, she can.

Which finds her in NYC answering a "roommate wanted" ad. August somehow find an apartment and a community that, against her natural predisposition to push people away, fully embraced and included her. So that feels pretty good. Even better is this woman she keeps bumping into on the subway. She's funny and helpful, caring, clever, and August may or may not be halfway in love with her before she even learns her name.

Eventually she does, it's Jane. And Jane is FULL of surprises, like how she's actually a woman displaced in time from the 1970s whose somehow tethered to the subway. And here we see August return to her sleuthing roots to help figure out the mystery that is Jane and how she can save her.

And along the way, maybe August will get saved herself.

This book was enchanting. It had such relatable emotions and real situations - running away from home, trying to leave your family and past behind, finding a family you choose instead of the one you were born into, learning to love yourself. All such important topics in a book. Plus, the romance, ahh, the romance. I'm always ready to fall in love again in a book. To feel those heartbeat-picking-up feelings of crushes and new relationships and new love? How lucky that we readers get to feel that again and again and again just be getting wrapped up into a really great, well-written book!

So as I start this review I should clarify that I don't know what kind of review this is. But I requested an ARC this book at the beginning of April, then was more or less left on read for two months with no reply either way. Then the day of publication came and I was like "ok then" and bought the audiobook that morning so I could listen to it when work was slower as I was excited for the book. Then later that afternoon when I'm 25% of the way through the book or so, I got an email saying my request for an ARC was approved- on the day of publication. Which seemed odd to me. I don't want to hurt my Netgalley ratio so I'm publishing this review there, but I also did buy the audiobook myself before I technically got the ARC. Is this an ARC review? Is this a regular review? I dunno. It's kinda in the middle, a weird situation where I got both on the same day. I just wanted to clarify all that upfront.

With ALL that said, this was incredible!! I love it so much. The characters are all so wonderful and the story is genuinely interesting and sucks you right in.

This book follows August, who is very much a loner. She has just moved to New York City for school after bouncing around a couple different cities and ending up there. She finds a Brooklyn apartment with another bunch of queer misfits where she fits in, which is a new feeling for her. One day on the subway, she meets Jane Su, your totally crushable butch, who comforts her after a shitty morning. Then when she keeps running into Jane on the same Subway every day they grow close, but there is a mystery to Jane that August wants to uncover.

Ugh this book is wonderful there's so much to cover. I'll start with the romance. I love both August and Jane so much. Jane is this enigma and I was right with August wanting to learn more and more about her past, and as we learn more she is soooo cool. Everyone needs a Jane in their friend group. And August is just so loveable and adorable. For someone who is so guarded I loved seeing her barriers drop down for both Jane and the new people in her life. They were so wonderful together. And ugh that buildup to them declaring their feelings for each other is painful in the best of ways.

And the side characters! I'm a total sucker for found family. Nico, Myla, Wes, and Isaiah are all so wonderful and it warms my heart how they just instantly accept August in. I also love the Billy's group for August's life. It just makes me so happy. And every one of these characters despite not being the main parts of the book are so well rounded and fleshed out. There really weren't any one dimensional characters in this whole book.

I loved the settings of this book. Everything seemed just so real. From the shithole apartment, the the subway, to Billy's. I could just see each and every one so vividly and it really created the world of this book into something magical but totally real and believable simultaneously.

And the plot! Honestly, I'm more of a character reader, so if a plot is a little thinner it's not a dealbreaker for me. But when the plot of the book is compelling and leaves me reading faster to know what happens, that's just a chefs kiss. And this book is exactly that. I needed to know what was going to happen with so much of this book! What happened to Jane? Is Billy's going to make it? What's the deal with August's uncle? It all left me so gripped. The story alone in this book is so fun it could stand on its own.

I don't have criticisms of this book. The only things about my reading experience I can complain about are getting the ARC after buying the book already was a little annoying, and the lack of sleep I have today after finishing this book at 1am- but that one's on me I guess.

This was wonderful. Everyone is raving about this book and justifiably. Into the favorites it goes. 5/5

Happy Publication Day to One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

What is this book about?:
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston follows August, a cynical twenty-three-year-old who has just moved to New York City, moved in with a group of eclectic roommates and started waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner. August believes that that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and that the only smart way to go through life is alone. But then there’s Jane, a gorgeous, charming and mysterious girl on the train who is displaced in time from the 1970s. Now, August and Jane have to figure out how to get Jane back to the seventies without catching feelings for one another.

Overall Thoughts:
While this novel had #ownvoices bisexual representation, memorable characters, a found family, was educational as it discussed and weaved queer history into the narrative and was also well written as it was full of humor and the descriptions were so vivid that readers could picture scenes as a movie. However, the pacing of the book was very slow and hard to get into at first, August was unlikeable at certain times, there were a few instances in the book where there was more telling than showing and the romance between Jane & August wasn’t well developed until the end of the book. 3.8/5

Who would like this?:
Anyone who enjoys f/f scifi/fantasy romance novels.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: homophobia, mention of the UpStairs Lounge arson attack that occurred in 1973, neglectful parents

✨Book Review✨
One Last Stop
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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I really don't know how I felt about this book. It was SO different than I expected, which I think caught me off guard more than anything.
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First off, I LOVED this cast of characters. McQuiston is truly a master in character development. Every character had their quirks and lovable traits, and the way they all came together as chosen family was incredibly heartwarming.
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I just wasn't really here for the main plot point. It was so farfetched and something about it put a damper on the book for me. I don't think everyone will feel that way though, so I definitely still recommend reading this book. Especially if the whole person-displaced- from-time thing works for you. Overall, it was a very charming read.

One Last Stop was an interesting and engaging read. August is in her early-20s and has just moved to New York to go to college. She quickly finds an apartment with some wonderful peers and finds employment at a diner down the street that has been around since the 70s.
One day on the Q train to school, August has an encounter with a woman (whom she later learns is Jane) and she develops a significant crush. After seeing Jane on the train daily, they start to chat and August eventually deduces that Jane has been stuck on the train since sometime in the 70s and has been displaced in time. August decides to help unstick Jane from the train to send her back to her time, even if it means breaking August's heart.
The relationships portrayed in this book are so warm and loving and the found family vibe is strong. August and Jane's relationship is sweet and sexy and so fun to read about. This was a fast read that had me hooked from the first page.

5 stars for One Last Stop! We can officially say to file it under “it’s sapphic and it slaps!!” 🤩🥳 We still can’t believe we were lucky to receive an ARC of One Last Stop! It’s no surprise that Red, White and Royal Blue is one of our all time FAVORITE books so we were bursting with excitement over this one 😍.
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In typical CMQ fashion, this book is hilarious, sweet, lovable, and completely sucks you in. Her writing style is so unique, millennial and fun and this latest novel from her is no different. She also always has great representation which we adore. If all of that isn’t enough to convince you... her food descriptions are amazing as well! We’ll take one Su Special please, IYKYK 🥪🥓.
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One Last Stop has an interesting premise. August moves to NYC and meets a charming girl named Jane on the Q train. The only problem? Jane is literally displaced in time from the 1970s and can’t seem to leave the subway. Despite all odds, August is convinced that she can help this beautiful stranger she is slowly falling for. How will this love story work out? You’ll have to pick this one up this Tuesday 6/1 to find out! 😱
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Thank you to St Martin's Press, Casey McQuiston & Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is incredibly fun and cinematic and romantic! It's got some Back to the Future kind of vibes, and really big Empire Records vibes, some light true crime vibes, and all that with a big queer found family and a very touching romance.

I was very impressed with the sheer amount of plotting in this book! There's rescuing a person from a time slip plot, a save the restaurant from closing plot, a find a missing person plot, and an actual romance. And it all comes together really well! If anything, all the plot gets a little in the way of the romance and the character development. Lots of what we see comes through in big info dump kinds of sections, when a rush of memories comes through, or during a furious notetaking session, but I didn't hate that. All in all I think a lot of people are going to love this book, and I think it's a bigger achievement with a lot more heart than RWRB.

I can't believe I am going to say this but- I think I loved this even more then Red, White, & Royal Blue?! I don't even know where to begin describing this. "All the feels" is accurate but does not even touch the surface of how beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful and funny this was. Absolutely Amazing.

One Last Stop has some amazing ratings, but as the saying goes not everyone likes the same thing. Overall I found the book to be well written, but for me it was just too far fetched to be believable and for that reason I never could really connect to the book or the characters. Having said that I always suggest that others read the book for themselves because what I may not enjoy others will.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martins Press and all opinions expressed here are my own.

I definitely enjoyed ONE LAST STOP! I loved the New York setting so much and how Casey McQuiston has written such an atmospheric book. Their writing truly made me feel like I was a local, making the read all the cozier. With such descriptive writing, they've also written distinct and unique characters so thoroughly. Each character introduced had such a personality that felt familiar yet still stood out by a lot. I was so pleased to be reading a sapphic adult novel that felt like it was for ME as a sapphic and not for men and for people who fetishized sapphic relationships. Overall I highly recommend ONE LAST STOP.

I didn’t intentionally read this book the day it was released/the first day of Pride month, but it was a perfect time to read it. I absolutely loved it and it was a sweet celebration of LGBTQIA+ pride. Almost all of the characters belonged to that community in some way, and even beyond the wonderful romance between the two main characters there were great friendships throughout the book. I didn’t realize that it had a bit of a science fiction plot to it, and I was pleasantly surprised. It had both a strong plot and strong characters, which always makes for a good book. I enjoyed it very much.

I really love time slip romances, but this one has to be one of the most unique takes on a time slip I've ever seen. I'm not even 100% it fits the definition of a time slip, but somebody in the book calls it that so I'm rolling with it. I don't really know where to start in reviewing this book, but let's start with what many people are likely asking: Did this book live up to Red, White, & Royal Blue?

My answer to that question is that in a lot of ways One Last Stop is incredibly different from McQuiston's brilliant debut, but in some of the core things, the books are similar. If you loved the community and the inclusion that McQuiston seemed to effortlessly weave into RWRB, that is absolutely still at play here. In fact, in my opinion, the community present in One Last Stop is even better than in RWRB. There's a core group of roommates, of which our main character, August, is one, who become such good friends but in very unique to one another ways. And with August starting off so isolated, it was just really, really lovely to see. Then there's the extended community, which includes Isaiah/Annie (the accountant by day and occasional star drag queen by night) who lives across the hall and the people August works with at Billy's.

There is also still a through line in both of McQuiston's works of Gen Z/millennial humor, although, in general I do think RWRB is funnier.

I think in some ways Alex and August aren't so different from one another too, but at the same time, August is very unique and entirely herself. And, in fact, the stories are so widely disparate, but if the question boils down to if I liked one will I like the other, I think the answer is yes.

What makes August different and special to me is that she is deeply lonely and isolated, but she isn't hard. She likes to think that she is harder than she actually is, I think. I loved her bisexual panic and the way she really wound up leaning on her friends as she tried to work out her relationship with Jane. I liked seeing her MAKE friends because when she starts out in NYC, she really doesn't have anyone besides her mother who is not so good at being a mom. I loved watching her convince herself over and over again that Jane wasn't interested even though it was so obvious that OF COURSE Jane was interested. I loved seeing August make the choices she does throughout the book because you can really see her growth as a character. I loved that she obsessively wrote things into notebooks.

But probably the real star of the show is Jane, for all that she doesn't come with her own POV. Jane is trapped on the Q Line from the 1970s and her life, as she tells it to August, is so fascinating. I loved learning more about her, but honestly, would have LOVED to just have a whole book of Jane. Just Jane. She's so cool.

All this, though, to say that I would definitely recommend this book to virtually anyone, but especially if you already know you liked McQuiston's writing style.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title!

I'd like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved it!! This cover is gorgeous and it's why I requested it. Lovable main characters! The secondary characters made the story even better. The story begins when August meets Jane on a subway in NYC. August was having a bad morning of falling over, skinning her knee, spilling her coffee on her shirt and Jane coming to her rescue on the train. They have a pretty much insta connection and August decides to ask Jane out on a date. After being turned down August tries avoiding the train that Jane rides but keeps seeing her no matter what train she is on. I forever thought that Jane was a ghost but as in plot twists I was shocked to see that she was not.

I really enjoyed this book and especially how Jane was stuck in a time period where it was taboo to be gay and finding that it is pretty acceptable in this day and age.

Perfect book for PRIDE month.

The first few chapters had me a little bit confused.
I didn't read what the book was about. Which is why I was wondering where the story was going and what was happening.

I just saw that Casey McQuiston had a new book coming up, and since Red, White & Royal Blue is one of my favorite books, I basically wanted their book ASAP.

When we got to the part where (spoiler?) we figure out Jane is stuck in some weird time loophole, I dreaded the book and started praying to the Gay Gods it wouldn't end up too Sci-Fi-ish. I am not someone who likes things about time traveling and such.
The concept usually freaks me out, and I find that authors often make it very complicated and it makes me loose all intrest.
Luckily, it wasn't the case. It was kept simply, and I enjoyed that.
I ended simply loving how August and Jane fell for each other. The more steamy parts were really well written and not too much. It was realistic, which I can say as a lesbian women, was very nice to read.
The ending made me cry. Oh, boy it did. Which is usually a very good thing. You just really end up rooting for the characters. They all are so loveable in their own ways.
Did I love it as much as RW&RB? No. But it comes to a very close second place.

I want to thank St. Martin’s Press for sending me an eARC last month which I already read and absolutely loved with my entire heart and soul 😭 this book is so special - I’ve just never read a story like this where the entire cast of characters had so much personality and heart. every single one of them was so personal and relatable and I formed such an attachment to each of them (ESPECIALLY WES, MY ANGEL!!). AND y’all this book made me tear up!! I rarely cry during books. It was literally just the impeccable found-family-ness of it all that caused an absolute breakdown on my end 😭

I loved this book for a lot of reasons: it’s about a group of queer friends who are truly a family, and it’s also about love and the magic of finding your person, and it’s also about lgbtq+ history and how queer people have fought and persisted, and it’s simply everything you could want in a romance and then some. it’s tender, it’s charming, it’s funny, it’s swoon worthy, and it’s the kind of story that every reader will resonate with. thank you @casey.mcquiston for blessing us w this book!!!! 🥰🥰🥲

Thank you, NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

McQuiston has done it again. I'm pretty sure they've sold their soul to write the perfect romcoms.
The thing about "One Last Stop" and what makes it so perfect is that it's easy to forget none of it's real. Every part of it - from the Q, to August and Jane, Billy's, to Niko and Myla - is so vivid and it's impossible not to fall in love with it all.

Also, there's no better way to read this book than by listening to it on audio during your morning commute. Note: this may leave you distracted for the rest of the day.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4008298519

This is a great book to read for Pride Month, with lots of representation of the LGBTQIA community. In that aspect, the roommates and other side characters were great (and were among the bright spots of the book) and I loved seeing that representation. The book talks a bit about the UpStairs Lounge fire and the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Lounge fire not being something I'd heard of before which I appreciated. But....

For me, there was just something missing about this book. For the first half, I struggled to pick it up - there wasn't anything compelling about it. The premise is totally crazy, with the magical realism and time travel. While I've enjoyed magical realism in other books (Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson for instance), I don't think it worked here. The second half got a bit better, but the roommates became stronger characters in this part of the book which made a difference in my enjoyment. The author tried to write the connection between main characters Jane and August into the second half as this stronger thing, beyond just an attraction but it didn't quite work for me. I am still going to encourage you to pick it up and give it a try, since I know lots of others do love it.

I loved this book so much! It's about a beautiful queer relationship between August, a reformed investigator trying to find her place in the world, and Jane, a woman caught in time on the subway, but it's also much more than that. It's a love story to queer history, with all the pain and joy and anger it contains, as well as a love story to New York City and the people living there. There is so much queer joy in August and Jane's relationship, and even in August's friendships with the people in her life, and the strife is mainly a result of the fear that the two of them can't hold onto each other forever. This book made me cry because of how invested I became in this story and I don't regret it for a second.

Oh, this book was fun! I loved Red, White & Royal Blue and knew that I just had to read Casey McQuiston’s new book. I went into this book rather blindly and am so glad that I did because it was a wonderful surprise. I had such a good time listening to this audiobook that I found excuses to keep my headphones on just a little bit longer until I had reached the end.

August has just moved to New York. She has a new job at a diner and a new place to live with a fantastic group of roommates. When she meets a gorgeous stranger on the subway, she knows that she has met someone special. Jane and August seem to click from the very start but they cannot figure out how to make things work since Jane is kind of stuck on the train.

The characters in this book were phenomenal. I fell in love with August and her roommates, along with the other people in their social circle. This group of people were so supportive of each other that I was a joy to just to spend a little bit of time with them. I loved the way that they all rallied around each other and worked together to solve the problems that they faced. I liked Jane but she didn’t get quite as much page time as I would have expected but that made sense since she was stuck on the train. I feel like the romance really started progressing in the second half of the book and then Jane plays a bigger role. I did think that August and Jane made a great pair and I loved the chemistry between them.

Natalie Naudus did a fantastic job with the narrations of this story. I thought that she did a great job with all of the character voices and she added a lot of emotion and excitement to the story. She was able to bring this story to life through her narration and I believe that her narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a wonderful story filled with characters that I couldn’t help but love and a romance that pulled at my heartstrings. I will definitely plan to read more of Casey McQuiston’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio and a digital review copy from St. Martin’s Press.