This was such a great book, and something that I think would be so valuable for queer teens about to head to college. A lot of media surrounding college emphasizes how fun and exciting it is, but in reality many people struggle in college to find their place, get motivation to go to class, and many realize that their major isn’t what they want to do. The discussion of struggling to find your community is so well down and I think the train setting served this story so well. Trains really are like a unique outer worldly place that allows people to be someone else for a bit, and meet people without the pressure of them knowing your whole past.

Seeing Zoe’s journey of discovering her gender, particularly through her ex was so compelling, and something I have really seen done like this in shows or books. I also really loved the development of her relationship with Oakley, because we got to see so many of their conversations and they learned so much about each other in such a short time. Their connection really shined through in this book and I love how they help each other work through their problems. The side characters were also very charming and funny.

wait this was so cute i love friendship and plants and gay people

ALSO leavenworth moment?

this was a really fun short y/a book! it IS a romance but i felt like it was equally a book about finding yourself in college and discovering who you are, what you enjoy, and what you want to do in the future. i'm the same age as these characters and i also took a nontraditional education path (gap year) AND i am moving across the country for college. so i felt like this was a very relatable read.

i liked the train setting a lot and felt like the side characters were really fleshed out as real people, not just there to set up the leads.

definitely recommend :D

Zoe boards a train from Cornell University to her home in Seattle, WA. Feeling lost and confused about who she is as a person, Zoe is going home and not return.ing. Her plans for her future to be a doctor, a plan she spent her whole high school career striving for, is turned upside down. She thought she was a lesbian, but now she is questioning that and even who she is in terms of gender.

Oakley boards the same train to go home to her mormon Family. She knows she is a lesbian, which she has been taught her whole life is wrong. She craves the community and sense of belonging she used to have within her church and family.

Tough topics of gender, religion, and sexuality rise to the surface as Zoe and Oakley strike up a friendship. The development of the characters within this story is so beautifully done. I connected deeply with Oakley and Zoe in the struggle to know who you are and the need for community.

I loved the flashbacks to Zoe’s time at Cornell with the passing of time on the long train ride to Washington. I appreciated that the story was told only from Zoe’s perspective. This created a natural pace within the plot and connected the tough topics to these characters in a refreshing way.

I wasn’t expecting to read this book in one day, but I couldn’t put it down!

This is a book I will be rereading because it is always good to get that reminder to live your life being the best version of yourself rather than what others may expect of you.

Overall, I did enjoy this book.
The book included a widely diverse cast of characters, which we love to see representation. Being on a train, you truly can meet anybody.
Deals with some religious background, which was in a way relatable to me. Slipping back for the familiarity and community is understandable.
I was confused with the flashbacks in the beginning. I wasn’t anticipating them and had to flip back and forth until I realized we had gone back in time.

For a story about a long train ride, I thought it would be slower-paced but the constant flashbacks make the main plot feel quite fast-paced, maybe to its detriment. It does make for a fast read that flows well and you still feel engross in this train coming of age journey.

I really appreciated the storyline deconstructing religion and gender, there's a lot to chew on and the secular [religion] perspective aligns with me. I was also interested in the perspective of a nonbinary lesbian who lives their gender differently from me. I never got the whole let's date a boy because I want to be him and I still don't I think there was maybe a missing link to make it flow better in the story.

I did appreciate the book, truly, there was a connection between the characters although calling it a romance is a stretch given how little time they're given to get to know each other. maybe a spark or a connection that will maybe go somewhere.

However the characters do feel a bit like mouthpieces at times in a way where they don't feel real? it's weird because I know people who would say this but the way it was incorporated in dialogues was maybe a bit off?

I just loved this book. I was jealous of that long train ride and enjoyed the cast of characters - those who seemed annoying but had their own strengths, those who seemed strong and revealed their weaknesses. I think the lessons learned were useful and not too heavy-handed.

Can I say that this was fucking adorable and sweet?

The fact that there was so much depth in the different stories, different lives in such a short book was amazing!

Zoe and Oakley were asking questions about themselves, their past and their relationships within the world and the religion aspect wasn’t what I expected but I like that they both spoken the meaning and the message translated to them.

Zoe, is a person who is trying to understand how to feel within themselves, their bodies as their heart.

Oakley is a free spirit but also very grounded. She wanted to feel safe and she learned that sometimes, finding a community is within yourself.

I loved that this took place on a train. It shows that you can learn so much as your grow and also, just learning everyday.

I will say that I wasn’t a fan with how Oakley pushed the issue in one are but overall, I really liked the conclusion.

I thought ending it with the fact they are young and they want to be together and to figure it out as they go.



Thank you so much NetGalley and Harpercollins for the chance to read this arc.

Really disliked this book at first. Too much angst. But I stuck with it and ended up being glad I did.
The basic plot is that a first semester college student has a terrible time adjusting to college and wants an escape. By taking a train ride home to Seattle for thanksgiving rather than a flight, the student has space and time to figure out their next steps. Along the way, they figure out stuff about friendships, romantic relationships, and gender. I liked the greenhouse aspect and that this was a queer romance without a lot of sex. I did think the relationships with the school friends and boyfriend wrapped up way too neatly.

I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars
This read was certainly very out of my comfort zone and I'm not sure if I'm the intended audience. Despite that, I found myself very interested in certain aspects of the story like the conversations and banter, especially that surrounding religion. I do believe belonging to a religion shapes you in so many ways particularly when it is a minority group.

I had a phase when I loved plants more than anything else and I love how Zoe finds comfort in this beautiful hobby. It is unusual and the depiction made me feel seen in many ways.

Like I said, a lot of these topics are slightly foreign to me or these are themes that I'm aware of but haven't explored much/felt too drawn to. When I say this I'm mainly refering to the discussion about gender and understanding sexuality. I've read many LGBTQ+ books and was aware this book would fall into that category but not the extent it delves into it.

I recommend this book for anyone who's going into it with an open mind and interested in learning more perspectives. I'll be sure to consume books with such topics occasionally after this read.

I loved this. I think I’m very much the target audience. Recently graduated from college, queer, non-binary, and a LOVER of long train travel.

This was super well written and very cute. It’s definitely more of a coming of age story with a side plot of love as opposed to a straight romance. But the love story was well plotted and didn’t feel rushed at all even though the train ride only covered about 4 days.

My only gripe is that this didn’t need to be YA! I wish this was classified and sold as new adult and given a little more breathing room to get more honest about certain aspects of queerness and mental health.

This was an enjoyable and quick read that tackled some heavy topics in a nuanced and thoughtful way. Leaving the Station follows Zoe as they travel from NYC to Seattle on a cross country train home from the first semester of college. On the train Zoe meets quite the collection of characters, including Oakley, who she quickly strikes up a banter with.

I really liked how the relationship between the two grew over the course of the book. Although it really only took place over 4 days, the development of their romance did not feel rushed. I also liked how the majority of the book took place on the train, Arlow really captured the magic of what it feels like to escape from reality just a little bit, when you are travelling in unconventional ways. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Zoe’s time in college, they felt more like memories than actual jumps back in time, which continued the feeling of still being on the train.

I overall really enjoyed this book, and its messages (loved the epilogue!), and my only complaint is that some of the other characters on the train felt a bit one dimensional. It seemed like a big takeaway was supposed to be how Zoe got to know the other people on the train, but some of them felt more like characters playing a role than actual people. However it did not take from the overall messages of the book or the story.

I highly recommend this read and I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC. I look forward to reading more Jake Maia Arlow books in the future!

Leaving the Station by Jake Maia Arlow is a tender and deeply resonant story about self-discovery, identity, and finding one's way—both literally and figuratively. Arlow’s poignant prose captures the raw emotions of navigating love, loss, and new beginnings, all while set against the backdrop of a transformative journey. With complex characters and a beautifully crafted narrative, this book is an evocative exploration of what it means to move forward while holding onto pieces of the past.

I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but this book is convincing me to go on a long train trip. I’ve only been on a train a couple times in my life, but usually I keep to myself. There are so many good lessons about humaning that gives the reader more perspective. I love queer stories and this one was no exception. This was a much needed read. Thank you.

A cute queer coming of age story with a bit of a love story woven in.

Zoe is trying to find the slowest way home from college for thanksgiving break and decides on a 4 day train ride from New York to Seattle. She’s running from the mistakes she made during her first semester in college, running from herself and the questions she has about her sexuality and gender and future, and she’s not trying to run towards the disaster of a conversation she’ll have to have with her parents when she arrives home over break.

So she takes the train. Hoping the slow ride and distance will help sort things out. But instead she meets people, makes friends, and her whole life and perspective begins to change from these random strangers on a train.

Zoe meets Oakley, a girl who grew up in the Mormon church and left for New York City hoping to find an accepting queer community, only things didn’t quite work out that way. So she’s running from herself mistakes in New York too. As she heads home to Washington on the train Zoe catches her eye, someone who is very outwardly queer appearing. And she’s intrigued. They form a reluctant friendship at first that morphs into something more as they open up about what they’re running from and what they might be slowly riding the train towards.

I did like this a lot but I do think Zoe was just kind of a terrible person for most of the book, realistic but still not great. Her relationship with Alden was also very strange. It felt very manic pixie dream girl meets manic pixie dream boy and very self serving on both sides. But she does seem to redeem herself when she gets her head out of her ass so it works out in the end.

I feel . . . conflicted on this book.

As someone who's contently cis, I don't have a deep understanding of struggling/deconstructing gender like Zoe does throughout this whole book. I was able to sympathize because the writing and their actions screamed they were struggling a lot. They also had identity issues outside of gender revolving around the perception they should be the mature, doctorate-pursuing daughter they were raised to be. While I was able to understand the whys of Zoe, the people who aren't inside Zoe's head shouldn't, but they do because the story calls for it.

Despite the constant neglect and usage of their friends and boyfriend in the three-ish months they spent at college, Zoe is forgiven by these people at the end of the book far too quickly. When they explained they were going through a gender identity crisis, their friends were instantly understanding and asked if they could hang out again?? And when Zoe admitted to using Alden, the boyfriend, to project their ideal gender self onto, he's too nonchalant about it?? The narrative insists there was still a genuine connection even if it wasn't romantic, that Zoe and Alden could still be friends, but I cannot imagine that. That kind of devastation of being used for as an experiment is something that I don't think is easy to get past. For my own sake, I'm hoping Zoe never speaks to her friends and her ex again so everyone can move on with their lives.

The romance with Oakley also didn't really sit right with me? I really like how both characters were both struggling with deconstruction, gender with Zoe and religion with Oakley. Oakley being an (semi) ex-Mormon was interesting, too, which was an interesting perspective I haven't really seen in YA before, especially from a queer character, too. I found the conversations about that with Zoe and comparisons to Judaism to be the most enjoyable parts of the book. Other than that, their banter, for a lot of it, felt kinda mean. Because of the way she was raised, Oakley was determined to learn a lot and, as proclaimed by Zoe many-a-times, is pretty smart, but in a "I know and will brag about it" kind of way. This trait of her makes the sarcastic banter between them not fun. I feel like she's trying to outsmart Zoe when it really isn't necessary. It really doesn't help that she interferes on family matters she had no right to and not even apologizing for doing so afterward. I was just really soured by Oakley and couldn't get into the romance because of it.

The side characters are nothing much, either. One-note personalities with no intrigue beyond what's shown. There's also so many weird instances that I can't really overlook without a side-eye, like the scene with the mom, baby, and the guy peeping on them?? No one outside Zoe and Oakley felt like a real person, just stereotypes for them to bounce off of to fill in the story.

All in al, while there are good pieces here, I find the narrative as a whole to not stand up with it. I still wanna read Arlow's other works, though, but probably not any time soon.

This is the story of Zoe finding herself in a place she never would have imagined. Arlow spins a tale most teens can relate to in his YA book Leaving the Station. Their story of Zoe and the struggles she faced as she tried desperately to fit all the molds. Heartache, fear, hope, acceptance and love tug at the heart strings as you walk with Zoe in her all to realistic world.

This was a quick read about Zoe, who finds herself on a cross-country train ride after (most of) her first semester of college and the people she encounters on the train, including Oakley, a queer ex-Mormon who is also heading home after trying to live independently in New York City. Flashbacks throughout the book tell the reader why Zoe is running away, but we rely on Oakley to tell Zoe her story. There isn't much plot here, but Zoe's journey is more introspective than active. Although there were parts of the book that I questioned, including aspects of Oakley's character that I found quite grating, I think Zoe's inner journey of understanding who she is—and why she is drawn to a boy despite identifying as a lesbian—is the most powerful here. I hope this one will get into the hands of teenaged readers who will find Zoe's journey valuable and relatable. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved Zoe’s relatable journey of “do I like him or do I want to be him?” I felt more invested reading the college parts of the book vs. the train parts, but I still had a good time during both. This is a great story of finding yourself, learning to live for the present, and finding community.

This book is so important and needed. Wow, I am so blown away. The way it handled identity and coming-of-age sexuality impressed me and made me wish I had books like this when I was younger. It was refreshing to see a NB lesbian as a lead.

-Dual timeline (we follow them through college semester as well as on a train ride)
-The train ride gave me the same feeling as that Jerry Seinfeld show "Riding in Cars With Celebrities" or whatever the title- you are really IN the moment with them as they talk and it feels anything but ordinary, even though they are sitting on a train (or in cars, you get the idea).
-Descriptions!! I felt like I was there
-This book reads like NA and could definitely cross over into that market space. I would've been more ready for it in college, it's so clever and wise.

Amazing work, all of the stars!!!!!

Thank you for the advanced reader copy of this book.
Leaving the station is the first time I have ever read a story with a non-binary lead, so it was both informative and interesting to me. I thought that it was much more complex than I had initially thought, but it was still very interesting and easy to read. Overall I liked it!