I waffled between three and four stars for this one and settled on four because McQuiston never fails to provide a memorable, heartwarming gay romance. But McQuiston had an astounding, wonderful, life-changing, best-book-of-the-year debut, and her latest, One Last Stop, to be released May 2021, is just not the next Red, White & Royal Blue.

One Last Stop centers around two twentysomething female characters this time (its first, best, most redeeming quality), one bisexual and one lesbian: August is a New York City transplant who’s never found anywhere she quite felt like she belonged (until now, of course). She’s riding the subway one day on her way to class when she runs into Jane, a mysterious, beautiful, smirking character for whom August immediately falls.

August begins running into Jane every. single. morning. on her way to class and every. single. night. on her way home — it’s not suspicious at all. It’s not a spoiler because it’s spoiled in the publisher description: Jane was born in the ’70s and is trapped on the subway, 50 years in the future.

My issues with One Last Stop began there. I won’t fault McQuiston for wanting to throw some fantasy/magical realism into her writing, but she took what could have been an inspirational love story for commuters everywhere and turned it into a bit of a mess.

One Last Stop feels like McQuiston had an idea that then evolved into something completely different and she should have let the original idea go but didn’t. I wanted to love it deeply, but the black hole (?)/time slip (?)/ time traveling (?)/psychic (?)/ghost (?)/wait-I-need-an-overview-of-the-physics-of-electricity aspects just didn’t work for me. I wanted a realistic, this-could-happen-to-me! love story, and instead I just got confused.

I might revisit this review after this read has simmered a bit, and I’ll for sure reread it down the line, but overall I was a bit disappointed. I’d still recommend this one to gay fantasy lovers (who are looking for fantasy) and fans of Something to Talk About.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So I definitely ugly cried at the end. Without question: 5 stars.

Being in August’s head was a pleasure. Her inner monologue easily steals the show. I related to her on so many levels. She is witty and fun to follow along with. This story is just as much about falling in love with someone impossible as it is about found family. The entire cast of characters is perfect. I was particularly fond of Wes and Isaiah. The other specifically outstanding mention for this book was the little vignettes at the beginning of the chapters that chronicle small moments of Jane’s history on the Q train. I could have read a whole collection of these to be perfectly honest.

This books, more than anything else however, is a love song to NYC and the absolutely wondrous and endless possibilities it has to offer. With romance novel you sometimes fall in love with a love a couple in the book (which I did, and with more than one couple) but I also fell in love with August and the experiences she has with NYC. With as few spoilers as possible, it’s the details from her first meeting Jane, to her first choice of tactic to figure out Jane, to the absolutely epic scene I will refer to as Jane’s Birthday Party. Netflix or someone needs to get on the rights for this quick because this is just begging to be a TV show. The Jane’s Birthday scene is the kind of scene in a book you wish you could see on screen as much as you wish you never will so it’s not given the opportunity to be portrayed as less than what it was in your head. It is the absolute queen of scenes for a shy extrovert to read. The whole story had a montage like quality to it at times, moving from moment to moment seamlessly, which I really enjoyed. Which lead head on into a nail bitting end steamy as heck finish.

I can’t recommend this book enough.

Like so many other readers, I have been patiently waiting for Casey McQuiston's second novel ever since reading Red, White, & Royal Blue last summer. This did not disappoint! I loved that it was a completely different story than her first book, but the characters still had a lot of wit and humor. I loved Jane and August's chemistry, as well as the element of magical realism. I will definitely be recommending it to my friends and library patrons!

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. Red, White & Royal Blue was my favourite book of last year, so I had high expectations for this one, and I was not disappointed! Though it wasn’t quite as good as their other book (how could it be, it was perfection!), I am still so excited for others to read this one. With mystery, love, NYC, and a healthy dose of drag queens, this book felt tailor made for me. Highly recommended!

I picked up this book because I have read Red, White, and Royal Blue more times than i can count. While this book has a very different plot and setting, it still gave me the same joy that I got from reading RWARB. Beyond my love for McQuiston's always charming characters, and fell in love with her portrayal of Brooklyn and New York as a whole. I thought the author did a wonderful job of explaining how hard (but exciting! and terrifying!) it is to be young/creative and find a way to afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I also am always a sucker for diner settings, and the wonderful diner in One Last Stop made me want to explore all of Brooklyn until I found one that lived up to the charm of McQuiston's diner. This book is exactly what we all need right now- a reminder that love (and friendship) can be found among strangers on a subway.

Oh wow. Another amazing book by Casey McQuiston! I knew I wanted to read this book the second I knew there would be a book. Red, White and Royal Blue was my first ever 5 star romance read and One Last Stop is also amazing! In full disclosure, I didn't even read the synopsis before starting this book so I was a *bit* caught of guard about 20% in so I went back to read the synopsis so I could reset myself. This book had me smiling, tearing up, covered in chills and unable to put it down. I used every spare second in my day to read this and honestly, could reread it again right now. Cannot suggest this book enough! 4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

Casey McQuiston know how to write wildly beautiful books with characters you desperately want to root for and friends you fall in love with. As much as I wanted a sequel to Red, White, and Royal Blue, One Last Stop blew me away. It was absolutely magical. I had to stop reading at one point, because I knew I wouldn't stop reading and I also knew this book is supposed to be savored. What an absolute treat.

I absolutely loved McQuiston's first book, and was very excited to see a new book from her. This one features two women who form a relationship after meeting on the Q train in Brooklyn a couple times. It really is the prefect set-up, because doesn't everyone think about the strangers they see daily on the street or on the train or in that diner? And don't you wonder if what their story is, if you would be friends... or lovers? That's where this story begins, and while it soon took a turn I didn't quite expect, it followed through beautifully and with such heart that I will be recommending this to EVERYONE. Bonus - the secondary characters are a treat as well, and I love them just as much as the main characters.

I so wanted to love this book as much as I loved Red, White and Royal Blue. There were parts when I thought I was going to, but it didn't live up to is. I thought the story moved too slowly and the main character felt quite flat to me. Could be I just was not in the mood to read this, but I felt it was lacking some character development and needed some editing.

Casey McQuiston's latest, One Last Stop, is a fantasy romance. The story revolves around August, a young student who has moved to New York to finish her degree. August falls in love with someone she meets on the subway and soon discovers it is up to her to help this person move on with her life. The story is sweet and the characters are sympathetic. There is some queer history thrown in to show how far we've come and how far we have to go. The magical element of the story was a bit difficult to buy into, but it all came together rather tidily in the end. As with the author's previous book, Red, White and Royal Blue, the supporting characters are charming and funny and could easily be main characters in their own stories. Great for contemporary romance fans who don't mind a bit of fantasy.

ONE LAST STOP is a love letter to the LGBTQIA+ community, seamlessly weaving in historical moments into this romance with the most loving and quirky found family. McQuiston's writing is incredibly smart in this follow-up to her dazzling debut and builds this world that makes you curious and plausibly consider how heroine August is going to save Jane, the woman out of time.

I was so excited to learn that Casey McQuiston of red white and royally blue was releasing a new book! However, I feel like this one missed the mark. Part sci-fi, part romance, young adult love and lust. The premise was so unrealistic and convoluted it was really hard to get past and read further into the love story.

We already knew this after Red, White & Royal Blue but there's no doubt that Casey McQuiston is an extremely talented writer. This book was an absolute joy from start to finish, even when it was making me cry. It was a really unique story that was very well told with all the cute quirks and witty dialogue I have come to expect, delivered in this fresh and just all around lovely package. Loved it.

It's much too early for me to have read this book when I have a (virtual) pile of ARCs approaching their release dates that I should be reading. But I was so enamored by Red, White & Royal Blue—I've recommended it countless times since it's release—that I couldn't wait once my ARC for One Last Stop was approved. I should be sorry, but I'm really not at all.

Most authors fail when it comes to time travel. Especially time travel in the midst of a world that is wholeheartedly normal otherwise. It's a testiment to Casey McQuiston's talent that this book feels so grounded. Beyond that it's heart-wrenching, hilarious, and so delightfully queer.

After reading this book, I feel like I truly know all the characters. Not just August and Jane. but their found family that protected and supported their love despite the impossible odds. I was just as invested in Wes and Isaiah as I was with August and Jane and that's what makes this book so special. Sure, NYC isn't a fictional place, but it can be hard to make it feel real when it's so all encompassing and teeming with life, but McQuiston narrowed the focus to ensure you cared about every subway stop and seemingly random encounter, even when August wasn't so sure yet. This book is like a ride on the Q - moments of dark and light, but at the end of the trip, you emerge from the train to feel the joy, heartache, and impossibility of life all around you. Hopefully the trip ends with a drag show too.

Absolutely fucking incredible. I laughed. I cried. I saw myself in a way that no book has ever shown. Casey McQuiston does it again with One Last Stop and I can’t wait to press this book into so many customers hands and tell them how good this book is. Not everyone can follow up their debut novel with something incredible, but McQuiston truly hit it out of the park.

It's always hard to follow up a breakout hit, but Casey McQuiston definitely manages the feat with 'One Last Stop.' All the elements you loved in 'Red White & Royal Blue' are present and accounted for: a diverse and neatly drawn supporting cast, side plots you only notice on the second go-round, lots of longing, even more wit, and a healthy sense of balance between the angst and the humor. The biggest difference this time is that, rather than a (deeply comforting) alternate-but-realistic universe for the setting, there's an element of magical realism here: the premise centers on the logic-defying fact that protagonist August's new subway crush, Jane, is actually from the '70s and thrust out of time.

It would be easy for the "magic" element to overtake the rom-com, but McQuiston has the perfectly wry, light touch - it's just a fact of the story, an obstacle to be overcome or a mystery to solve, not a big, complicated mythology. She excels at creating characters who are messy and damaged and also incredibly charming and heartfelt; you feel deeply for August and Jane's past hurts while also rooting for their sparkling, sexy romance to take flight. It does take a few chapters for the book to really get off the ground, but once it does, it's impossible to put down.

This book has such beautiful wording that I fell in love with a city I have never been to. This is not just a love story between two characters that get to grow and experience a part of life together, but a love story about a city and the people that becoming your family.

I laughed out loud, cried a little bit, felt my heart plummet and then soar, and found a world filled with people that I would like to call my own.

This story, these girls, that city will forever hold a piece of my heart now, and I am more than happy to see it go.

As soon as this book is published, I hope every single person goes out and buys it to discover and live and imagine that wonderful world of New York from August’s point of view and craft it into their own.

McQuiston’s newest book tells the love story of August, recently arrived from New Orleans, and Jane, recently arrived from 1977 and stuck on the Q train. The story also features two subplots involving August’s missing uncle and the closing of a beloved Brooklyn pancake establishment, as well as a diverse set of characters. The time travel aspect was a fun twist in a romance novel and readers will appreciate McQuiston’s positive depiction of different genders and sexualities.
I came to this book after loving McQuiston’s first despite not generally liking romance novels. Unfortunately, my usual taste held true here. I got bored in the middle of the novel and I wasn’t really invested in the story. I also found the side characters a bit one-dimensional, and didn’t love the way everything was wrapped up so neatly together—but that is the whole point of romance novels, so that’s clearly a me problem. Fans of romance novels will love this book.

One Last Stop came to me at the perfect time. iIm so grateful to DJ DeSmyter with St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC!

I haven't stayed up late at night to finish a book since I read Harrow the Ninth, which says a lot about how much I adored this book. August and Jane are incredible, dynamic, and heartwarming characters that are easy to understand and connect to while remaining complex. One Last Stop made me smile, laugh, and tear up; it's a story that is full of love and life that cycles through layers of queer history and modernity. I can't really explain how happy this book made me or how perfect its arrival in my life was, but I can't wait to reread it 100 more times for years to come whenever I need a little boost of joy in my life. Everyone needs to read this book!!!!

I just absolutely loved everything about this book. I will even read her grocery list if she publishes it.
This is a time-slip romantic comedy, that brings me back to the first serious crush feelings, and out on your own vibes. There's friendship, love, pancakes and coffee. I can't wait to read this over and over.