McQuinston's One Last Stop is ridiculously delightful, powerful, and swoon-worthy. I've been craving this book since I first heard about it, and after Red, White & Royal Blue, I had high expectations. They were exceeded. OLS is absolute perfection, and McQuinston expertly navigates what makes romantic comedies so engaging: not just two central characters but an entire cast of lovable oddballs, each complete with their own character arc.

OLS is a story about family — mainly found family. Our main character August is new to New York City, and she is desperate to avoid any long-lasting bonds. Soon, she finds herself welcomed warmly by her roommates, and she meets Subway Girl. What comes next is a fantastical, magical story: a girl lost in time and the object of August's fascination and desire. Jane, a punk from the '70s, is hilarious and magical... and she needs August's help. This book will pull at your heartstrings, and the chemistry between August and Jane will get your heart pumping.

Sexy, emotional, and even educational, OLS doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the difficult history of the queer community. While you won't find spoilers here, the ending is very fulfilling, and my eyes weren't dry.

Though I thought it was a little long, this was a sweet, unusual story with a unique time-slip element. All the characters were lovable and I enjoyed every minute of their bantering.

One Last Stop gave me exactly what I was looking for and more. I don’t read a ton of rom com books, but when summer rolls around I crave this kind of book. Something funny and quirky that leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. One Last Stop is all that and more.

Unlike many books in this genre, One Last Stop is inclusive and diverse with a cast of interesting and fully developed characters. Nothing about this book felt tired or over done and while the overall story was sweet and fun, the characters were real people with real problems and backstories. I fell in love with August’s little found family and couldn’t help but wish to stumble into their little corner of NYC.

I absolutely loved One Last Stop from start to finish and will be recommending it to basically every human I come across this summer.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s delightfully queer and set in New York, which combined was just one of the best experiences to listen to, although since I can’t travel right now did leave me feeling a little melancholy. August has just moved to New York, and the atmosphere felt incredibly accurate to me. While I don’t live there, I have visited there yearly for a number of years, and the descriptions of the subways, the diners, the streets…all of it just made me wish I could hop on a plane tomorrow.

She’s always been a loner and if you’re looking for found family, this book delivers it all over the place. Her roommates don’t let her hole up in her room, they adopt her into their family and she looks up one day and realizes that she has people that love her. August works in this amazing diner that felt exactly like a diner that exists in New York and populated with real characters that exist in New York, who slowly just become her family too.

August meets Subway Girl, aka Jane, on yes, the subway, one day and she realizes that Jane cannot actually leave the subway. At all. And that begins the mystery plot of One Last Stop as August and Jane set about discovering who exactly, and where exactly, Jane belongs. I wasn’t sure if this setup would work but McQuiston did the worldbuilding well and made me believe this was a thing that could happen. Before moving to NYC, August had spent her life with her mother searching for what happened to her missing Uncle, which is a very low subplot. When multiple subplots collide there are a few plot twists and turns that were a bit too pat for me. But in the spirit of getting to the HEA, I was all in at that point and the issues were minor enough that it didn’t bother me. During that final scene I was completely rooting for them with my heart in my throat.

August is a fleshed out person and we get to see her as a full character, but Jane less so. This is due to not getting her POV, but we still definitely get a significant amount of information about her via August teasing out pieces of her past as they try to figure out who she actually is. Jane is Chinese American and we do get to see that acknowledged and discussed but it feels removed a bit, which I feel was probably a good move since the author is not Chinese.

The narration was fantastic and I was completely immersed in the world. Natalie Naudus did the narration and I’d definitely rec listening to it.

CW: talk of death, anxiety, homophobia in the past, racism in the past, talk of hate crimes in the past

Can you imagine falling in love with someone who hasn't aged for 45 years or so and is not a vampire!! Yes, that totally interesting and weird scenario is what got me hooked into it. It also has an amazing, diverse cast of characters whose lives are even more eclectic and fun. It talks about this concept of time not being linear and time/space continuum that forms the crux of the plot. Now, August will need to find out how to get Jane who is stuck on a train in Newyork subway or simply let her continue to live on the train forever but without aging.

The time/space thing is completely refreshing but I did feel less interested in quite a lot of the portions of the book. So the pace didn't work great for me but I did see a lot of people enjoyed it more than me.There is also a mystery about a missing uncle that August finally finds the answers at the end so this extra element was interesting and how it neatly tied in with the main plot.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

3.5 stars rounded to a 4. On whole, I think if you enjoyed Red White & Royal Blue you will enjoy One Last Stop.

To be honest, for me, this novel was good but not great. I loved that even though the story speaks about tough subjects from LGBT+ history, it doesn’t center on someone coming out. Everyone is out and just living their lives. The representation is great and the writing is truly enjoyable. With that being said, there was a disconnect; ironically, One Last Stop was missing some of the magic from Red White & Royal Blue for me. I can’t pinpoint what it is, but regardless, I’d recommend reading this novel if you are interested.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing an advance e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a joy to read! This is the story of August, a restless college student that hasn't found a place that she can call home. She has attended several different universities and still hasn't figured out what she wants to do. She has bounced from city to city and decides to give NYC a try. August meets Jane on the subway and is immediately smitten. Jane is confident, friendly and charismatic. August wants to blend into the crowd and Jane wants to be in the center of everything. I thought this was just a simple love story but I was very mistaken and so pleasantly surprised. Not only does this story have a ton of heart, but it has incredible depth. The love story between Jane and August is heart wrenching with an unconventional twist. The supporting characters take this story to another level. Not only do they represent the LGBTQ community well but they add so much to the story. The relationships between this group of roommates is written in such a smart way that I want to move into this apartment and hang out with them!! August has a tenuous relationship with her mother that adds another facet to this incredible story. Lastly I have to mention Annie, the bigger than life Drag Queen that is in love with Wes, one of the roommates. Overall this was such a breath of fresh air. The narrator for the audio version did a really good job with this story.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Some romance, mystery, and family drama. The Subway is the perfect setting for this book! I never would have imagined a romance with these twists, but I am in love with the heightened buildup and the found family August fit into. I fell in love with Casey's writing when I read Red, White & Royal Blue and officially know after One Last Stop that I will be reading all the books ever.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Griffin and MacMillan Audio for an egalley and advanced listening copy.

AHHH I loved this sooo much!

A sweet, beautiful, heartwarming, sapphic love story with a sci-fi twist AND amazing character development AND a little mystery? Yes please, I'll take it! This book was so addicting and I couldn't put it down! I totally fell in love with August and Jane and just want to start back over from page one.

The audio was fantastic and so well paced, I felt completely immersed in the story and I would gladly (and probably will) listen to this again soon.

Ok so here is the thing: I picked up this book knowing next to nothing about it. I didn’t even read the synopsis. And before you judge me for going into this book THIS blind, in my defense, after I read and fell in love with Red, White & Royal Blue back in 2019, I knew I was going to just pick up anything else Casey McQuinston wrote in the future, no questions asked. And in a way, I’m glad I didn’t know much about it before going in, because it gave it that little element of surprises and excitement that maybe I wouldn’t have had if I had, say, read the synopsis.

Any expectations I had for this book were met, and even exceeded. I genuinely loved everything about it; the plot, the romance, the awesome characters we got to meet.

Jane and August were just so damn cute. They had great chemistry from the beginning and I was rooting for them since their first meeting. There were some moments in the book where I wasn’t sure if their happily ever after was possible because of the circumstances surrounding their relationship, but I thought it was all wrapped up so beautifully!

I also loved all the characters. Not just August and Jane but also the friends that August makes when she moves to New York. They made the story extra fun and I found myself rooting for all of them and their side stories just as much as I rooted for the main characters.


The plot was so fun too! It was exciting to try to figure out what was going on with Jane along with August and the rest of the gang. It was such a fun plot with a little bit of a supernatural hint to it! I loved it.

Overall this just solidified the fact that I will be reading anything this author writes in the future! I loved it so much and super recommend

This book was just MAGICAL! This was such a beautiful story. It was everything I thought it would be, I loved everything about it. Ok so we meet August, who has been trying to find where she belongs, she decided om NYC, she is starting school soon and she needs to find a place and a job, and she finds it all in one day! She answers a funny and quirky ad, met the roommates and I AM TELLIN YOU the roommates are the funniest characters ever, I loved the humor in everything on her.

Anyway, Austin meets this amazing butch of a woman, named Jane, and this is where Austin's life in NYC becomes this great adventure. You see Austin is a great researcher, and she's going to use her talents to help Jane in her journey. This book is sooo worth the read that spoiling it is a no no. Just know that this book is magic, the LGTBQIA community is such a huge part of this book, I love the community and how in real life, not so much fictional, everyone looks out for each other, this book makes you feel like you are part of something awesome.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

5 Electric Stars
OMG ! Did this book surprise the living heck out of me. Once I picked it up, stopping was agonizing. What I thought was a simple love - story morphed into so much more. The characters are plentiful, but don't worry, Ms. McQuiston flushed out each one, with their amazing, eclectic personalities, and they were unforgettable.
August first struck me as a plain, boring young woman that resents her childhood. The further into the book I got, I realized how much this shy and unassuming individual has evolved. Transferring schools to Brooklyn, is the latest quest for August. Her goal is to be a permanent college student, which is easier than adulting. She needs to share an apartment, because, well, it's New York, and expensive. She comes across an advertisement for a renter, and is thrown into the bizarre, and amazing world of a very unique group of friends. I can't write about the whole crew in detail as my review would be too long, But suffice it to say Myla, Nico and Wes just captured my heart, and with patience and love, they snag August's heart too! I loved how inclusive the story was. Everyone had a place and no one cared who you were or what your journey was to get there.
Drag queens, lesbians, gays, trans, straight, and even psychic individuals meld together and no one is judged!.
Now we come to the more bizarre aspect of the story. August meets a stunning and strong woman on the Q train on her daily commute. They always end up in the same train, no matter what time of day or which car she chooses. Jane is a mystery that August must solve, which is a roll back from her childhood. However, something is wrong. I really, really don't want to get all spoilery, but Jane can't leave the Q, literally and physically.
The story was absolutely brilliant with amazing characters that gives a person hope for our future. A perfect blend of past, present, along with an encouraging outlook for tomorrow. I can't stress how much I recommend this divine story that pulls you in, and makes the impossible seem so real. Please treat yourself to this enchanting story and happy reading!

I'm sad to say this, but I didn't love One Last Stop. I am heartbroken over this, but it just didn't work for me. So much of the book felt like nothing was happening which just made it a struggle to read. The one thing that saved the book for me though was the side characters. August's friends were such a bright spot, a highlight for me. They made the book more enjoyable than August and Jane which I didn't expect but loved. Sadly this just wasn't the book for me. I'm happy so many others loved it though and I do look forward to seeing what else Casey will bring in the future.

August is running. From her past, and her future, never staying still long enough to put down roots.

Jane cant stop moving. Here one minute and gone the next.

One day a spilled coffee makes them both stay still.

One Last Stop is a beautiful coming of age story set on the Q line in New York City. Its about loss, love and finding yourself. The characters are original, and memorable. Ausgust's hurt was my own, her best friends were my best friends and i didnt want to let them go. I laughed, I cried, I devoured it.

Admitadly at first I was worried that the plot wouldnt work but I quickly realized that wasnt the case. McQuiston did a fantastic job of making a fantastical story incredibly down to earth and real. I wanted to read it again the moment I finished it.

I loved a lot of this book. Mainly the characters (both main and secondary). I loved their chosen family they created, I loved how supportive everyone was of each other and I loved it when they all worked together. Jane and August were cute together and complemented each other well.

I will say this book is very of its time and I think it might run the risk of being dated like a decade from now.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3602666527?book_show_action=false

I loved every minute of reading this book. The dialogue, the tone, the characters...it was all perfection!

August never feels like she has belonged and feels lost. She tends to move city to city, college to college while collecting a lot of student loan debt. After trying the last place, she moves to New York thinking it might fit her. She moves into an apartment with three eccentric people. She even becomes a waitress. However, the biggest thing to happen to her is riding the Q line on the subway. She sees this girl who is gorgeous and mysterious. August spills coffee on herself and Subway Girl gives her a red scarf. Ever since then, August cannot forget about her. Subway Girl is always on the Q line whenever she is on and she finds out her name is Jane. Yet, things start to not make sense about Jane and August finds out that Jane has been stuck on the Q line since the ‘70s and wants to help Jane remember herself and get off the Q line. Will they remain friends or will sparks fly even though Jane could be going back to her time?
Okay, I didn’t like Red, White & Royal Blue and I even DNFed it. So, when it came to this book I felt meh about it and thought I may not like it, but I saw a ton of buzz on it, so I requested it from Netgalley. This definitely blew my expectations out of the water. I loved the friendship, unity, and finding yourself themes in this book. Plus, August and Jane are just cute. I laughed a lot and loved every minute of reading this. If you want a good romance, pick this up.

Where do I even start on a book that was so magical in so many ways? When I first started reading this I was in a bit of a reading funk and hadn't been really into sticking with any book for more than a few chapters. There was a lot to take in at the beginning of this book with the vague description of what August was running from and being introduced to the roommates all at once, but once I got over that initial chunk I was hooked. I love how diverse this book is and how many different sides of New York it shows. This book has a fully flushed out cast of characters that you are rooting for all along the way. Sometimes when I've read a book I just really care about a main couple and get mad when we break away from them, but here I often found myself eager to hear about what everyone else was up to and how they would end up.
The pace of this book was perfect and it had up up late at night telling myself just one more chapter. I was so excited by it that I would swap between audiobook and ebook to read faster between driving to work and back and before bed. The audio book narrator was amazing too, she only had a couple of times that where she tried to do a thicker New York accent that it didn't quite work but that was maybe 2 times.
Just everything in this was perfect and made me happy, and now I want to reread this and Red, White, and Royal Blue so I can just always be happy with all these amazing characters!

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for a review copy if One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston available everywhere June 1/21.

I have saved this picture and review for so long waiting to be closer to the publication date but I can not hold off any longer! You guys need this book. Everybody, even if romance isn’t your jam, needs this book. It’s so sweet, so heartwarming, so fun, so much wonderful all packed into a light sci-fi found family coming of age something for everyone type story.

Like Red, White & Royal Blue, One Last Stop features two main characters who for one reason or another should or can’t be together but they are destined to. Jane is stuck on a time loop attached to a subway car, for her it is forever the 1970s and she can never leave. August falls hard for her and embarks to find a way.
CW include trouble relationship with mother/family ,runaway family member, grief, and a party scene with plenty of alcohol (I may be missing some, please DM if you have anything in particular you’d like to discuss)

Also, they live over a Popeye’s so if you have one nearby grab some lunch because they mention it a few times 😉😉😉

I enjoyed Red, White & Royal Blue so much that I requested One Last Stop on NetGalley without much thought or reading the synopsis. Which means I had so much fun reading it!

Seriously, I was totally and delightfully unprepared for what I was about to encounter. I was thrown off from the rom-com vibes I expected (don't worry, they're still there!) by the appearance of so many sci-fi vibes. I'm not sharing anything more than that because I really want everyone to be as unprepared as I was. I savored my experience with One Last Stop, because it surprised me and I miss being surprised by books.

One thing that I will say about McQuiston's books, now that I've read both of them, is that there are always parts where I feel like I've missed something. The writing and character development sometimes happen so quickly that something really major will happen, I'll be confused about how we got there, and then I have to go back and double-check the plot to make sure I've kept up. It's not necessarily a negative thing, just something I've noticed. Just makes me feel like I need to read closer!

This is barely a review but I would hate to spoil something joyful for other readers and there are so many gems to discover in this one.