Member Reviews
ONE LAST STOP follow August the skeptic as she starts to build a life in New York City. Her life takes an interesting turn when she meets a beautiful and impossible Jane. When she figures out that there’s something about Jane that isn’t quite as it seems, she throws herself headlong into figuring it all out.
What a joy this book is. Everything about it. I love how McQuiston doesn’t shy away from writing characters with flaws. And the found family aspect of this is a warm hug. I loved every one of the side characters and it really does make a book that just more wonderful when an author provides such rich and varied side characters.
And the love story between August and Jane was so fun to watch unfold. A unique twist of getting to know each other and a wonderful slow burn that smolders.
It’s definitely steamy, but if you’ve read McQuiston’s first book you won’t be surprised by the steam.
Overall, 100/10… would absolutely recommend!
Girl moves to Brooklyn. Girl meets girl on the subaway. Girl becomes obsessed with Subway Girl. Turns out Subway Girl is displaced from the 1970s. What follows is a race against time to solve the conundrum of how Jane got stuck and what August can do to help her.
Review: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is fucking perfect. It is iconic. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s a mystery with a drizzle of SciFi. It’s a heist. It’s a found family. It’s a guidebook for millennials. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions that will leave you laughing, gasping, and crying. It. Is. Perfect. Casey McQuiston spares no expense in creating a believable and incredibly queer environment in the heart of Brooklyn. I don’t think I have ever read a book with this much LGBTQ+ representation. And it’s not just the representation that stands out, but the small instances of overlap of queer life in the United States in the 1970s vs today, showing us how far we have come, what it took to get here, and how far we still need to go. By weaving in real life events, Casey cements the reality of this story with the SciFi aspects as a light dusting on top.
August is definitely in my top ten favorite fictional characters. With encyclopedic knowledge, August is that quiet kind of introvert who also knows how to break a few rules when required, a silent but deadly kind of introvert if you will. I can relate to that. Jane on the other hand, speaks her mind and when that fails, makes use of her fists. She is fiery, determined, and kind. What August and Jane both have in common is that they were searching for a place to belong, a place to leave their mark.
Looking at the other characters, Niko, Myla, Wes, Isaiah, Lucie, Winfield, and the others, we see a found queer family, that August didn’t realize she needed. Like so many other recent queer stories with found families, it gives readers that warm hug feeling that everyone needs at some point.
Much like Red, White and Royal Blue, One Last Stop left me happy and hopeful at the end.
Charming, romantic, and utterly absorbing! Casey McQuiston's debut Red White & Royal Blue was a delight, and in One Last Stop they have clearly developed their voice even further. I felt truly at home in the pages — Casey, you could rename it "One Last Chapter" because I am absolutely begging for more.
This. Book. One Last Stop is an incredible read that will absolutely blow you away.
// Content Warning: Death (Mention), Anxiety, Homophobia, Racism //
One Last Stop follows August, who’s moving to New York City for a new start. And then, she meets Jane. Jane is a mystery. Quite literally. Displaced in time, Jane is stuck on the subway with no way off, and August has to help her find a way back to the 1970’s. But, the more time they spend together, the closer they become, and August’s small subway crush grows even deeper.
If you’ve read Red, White and Royal Blue, then you have a good idea of what to expect with the writing of One Last Stop. If you haven’t- then what are you doing here, go read it! Or maybe read One Last Stop first.
This book is funny and heartwarming, the writing adding humor and relatability to each moment. Like Casey McQuiston’s first book, there’s plenty of quotable moments, and I feel that their writing has definitely developed even more since Red, White and Royal Blue.
One Last Stop will have you hooked. It did take me around 50-80 pages to get fully invested, but once I was in, I couldn’t put it down. From the mystery to the romance, this book is absolutely addictive.
August is an incredible protagonist with a great journey, and Jane is the perfect love interest for her. Together, their chemistry is amazing and they bring out the best qualities in each other. Both of them are realistically flawed, but often in painfully relatable ways. And their relationship? Adorable.
But they aren’t the only two characters in this book, and I have to say: I would read a book about every single side-character in One Last Stop. They were all so well-developed, complex, and unique. And there is so much diversity in the main friend group, it made me so happy!
One Last Stop kept me up until 2am laughing and crying over these characters. You do not want to miss out on this beautiful story.
Casey McQuiston can do not wrong in my eyes. This was such a fun romance! Jane can't remember how she ended up riding the train as much as she is. When she meets August, a sleuth in disguise, game-set-match!
I had high expectations for this book after reading Red, White & Royal Blue. One way these books are both similar is how McQuiston creates an alternate reality that is believable and comfortable. This story takes place in NYC in 2020 with frequent subway travel, parties, and college attendance, and there's not a single mention of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a lovely escape both for that reason and also because the book's LGBTQ+ representation is thorough and matter-of-fact. The only thing I did not absolutely love about this book was the magical realism/science fiction aspect. Everything else was so rooted in reality that it was difficult for me to suspend my disbelief. Overall, however, this book was a delight and an excellent addition to the genre.
It's hard for me to overstate how much I freaking loved Red, White & Royal Blue. (That being said, I read it once and haven't re-read it for fear that it won't live up to what my memory told me it was.) I enjoyed this book too, but I have to say it didn't live up to the hype or my inflated expectations from RWRB. But it's entirely possible that I just loved the tropes in that book more than I love the tropes in this one - I'm more of an enemies-to-lovers, royalty, pining across the pond gal than a love-at-first-sight, ragtag group of misfits, time travel gal.
Casey McQuiston's sophomore book has a lot of the same charm, queer millennial/zillennial pop culture, humor, and lovable characters that RWRB had - just with two women, and a fun, unexpected stuck-in-time twist that adds a bit of low-stakes plotting to the mix as well. It's basically romcom heaven, with all the ingredients to a fun, friendship-centric novel: a beloved New York pancake diner institution that's basically a character in and of itself, drag queens, wacky friends, and a subway-fueled romance. On paper, it's everything good in a romance.
But frankly, I didn't find myself as enamored with August and Jane's relationship as I was with Alex and Henry's. The chemistry, banter, love, and lust between them didn't capture my attention and give me that full-heart feeling that many of my other favorite romance couples do. (And look, maybe it's unfair to compare McQuiston's two books, but I always judge a romcom on if the main couple make my heart do that thing. Their other book just made my heart do that thing more than any other queer romcom in recent memory.)
So, a really fun, well-written book that will probably make any queer twenty-something-year-old who's lived in a big city feel seen - but not my new all-time favorite. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for the ARCs via Netgalley!
This book was fantastic! I was nervous because I love Red, White, and Royal Blue so much. This book was queer with found family and humor. So good!
August, a 23 year old college student, moves to New York as a last ditch effort at completing college and to get away from her life with her mother. She prides herself on being cynical and believing that the true-love that is common in movies never actually happens. Settling in to living with some odd, but loving, people and waiting tables at a 24-hour breakfast place seems to be the highlight of her mundane life. Until she hops on the Q and meets Jane. Jane, a 24 year old woman, whose style is stuck in the 70's stuns August instantly. When August gets to know her, she realizes that Jane is in fact stuck on the train since the 1970's. She makes it her, and her roommates, mission to get Jane back where she belongs. All while possibly not trying to fall for the girl herself.
Casey McQuiston does it AGAIN! I was a hug fan of Red, White, and Royal Blue and when I got the request approval for this I almost cried (no joke).
This story warmed my heart, made me cry, made my laugh out loud, and instantly made me want to re-read it. I was invested in every single character in the story and their part in August and Jane's story, but also their own story. Found family is such a huge part of this story and it is so beautiful! The diversity of all the characters was great; multiple people from different parts of the LGBTQ+, varying races, varying genders, I could go on!
August and Jane's relationship is one for the ages. Classic opposites attract in the best way possible. Watching their relationship blossom, from friends to more, was beautiful. And it was even more amazing because it was never that perfect relationship. They had bumpy spots, they disagreed, it was more real.
I never knew that what I needed to round out a queer romance was a little bit of sci-fi. The small dives into timelines and science fiction aspects made the book that much better! I didn't find it overly hard to understand and it didn't detract from the story when I didn't fully grasp it because some of the characters didn't even get it! I do have a biological science background, I don't know if that helped my understanding or not.
All in all, this book didn't disappoint. It was everything I expected and more. A great read going into the summer of 2021! I already have my hard copy purchased!
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
While I enjoyed One Last Stop, I did also find it hard to get into. Lots of characters to keep track of, in my opinion. It was a nice story but not my favorite.
One Last Stop is absolute magic, with its excellent prose, wit, and dreamy next level romance. When I discovered I had been approved for an advanced copy, I quite literally fell on the floor with glee. I had been anticipating it for months already and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. This book wrecked my heart and put it back together, leaving me wanting so much more.
For August Landry, magic doesn’t exist. A cynical twenty-three year old trying to put her past behind her, August is a minimalist by necessity and a loner by choice. That is, until she moves in with a group of weird roommates that might just be exactly what she needs. There’s Niko, a trans psychic and terrible bartender. He is the boyfriend of Myla, a queer black sculpter with an electrical engineering degree. Wes is a broody and gay tattoo artist with an adorable dog. And last but most certainly not least, their neighbor Isaiah, an accountant who also happens to be an amazing drag queen. The group of broke, twenty somethings are perfect together, and become the found family they never had before. But it isn’t until a run in with a beautiful and mysterious girl on the subway, that August starts to believe maybe there is a bit of magic in the world. Because Jane, with her cassette tapes and leather jacket, is lost in time from the 1970’s and August has to stop being afraid of her past and maybe even follow her heart if they are going to save Jane.
The romance in this book is absolutely wonderful. Jane and August are both detailed and developed characters but together they create an incredibly wholesome and perfect relationship. The mystery of the subway and the break in time is woven around the development of their romance perfectly. With expert flirting and the classic “do they like me back?” question in the air, Jane and August become a perfect fit with an amount of gritty realness to their relationship that I respect and crave from books. Of course this is so much more than a romantic comedy, but let me tell you, I still laughed out loud to myself many times while reading. McQuiston’s witty and authentic descriptions are what I love in a book.
It was hard to think critically about this one because I just loved it. I flew through the pages and all I wanted at the end was more Jane and August, and especially more of August’s misfit roommates. Would I read an entire book about Wes and Isaiah? Yes, please give it to me now.
Great diverse books are sometimes hard to come by, but One Last Stop manages to represent characters of so many different cultures, sexualities, religions, and genders in an effortless way. McQuiston highlights the uniqueness of their characters without making it the whole story. With a look into the New York drag scene, and Jane’s knowledge of 1970’s queer culture, they flawlessly pay respect to the LGBTQ+ community who have paved the way for those of today. They touch on activists who made the growing queer representation and easier existences possible. There are so many amazingly crafted people in this book and I highly suggest opening it up to meet them.
One Last Stop is a magically crafted story, full of family, romance, and queer community. As of May it is the only 5 star rating I've given this year and I enthusiastically look forward to all of Casey McQuiston’s future books!
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
One Last Stop
Casey McQuiston
June 1, 2021
August Landry arrived at the apartment of Parkside and Flatbush Avenues hoping the ad for the apartment on top of the Louisiana Kitchen was still available. She starts at Brooklyn College the next week before classes begin and housing is filled to the brim. The ad requested the prospective room-mate be single, OK with living in a 3 bedroom on the 6th floor. They must be fine with dogs and fire - no Libras - $700 per month. Call Niko
When she arrives, she meets Niko, a man full of tattoos. The house was full of antique furniture, antique being yard sale period pieces. After meeting 2 of the 3 room-mates, she concedes that it will do, piles her 5 boxes into the empty room available and settles in.
She begins work at a pancake house despite never having waited tables before. Her roomies convinced the manager that she was best for the job. Who knew?
While riding the metro to school on the first day she eyes the most beautiful woman dressed in holey jeans and a black leather jacket. Each morning she finds ‘Subway Girl’ riding in a different car. She in turn is called ‘Coffee Girl’ after spilling her morning latte down her shirt the day before. This vlog is filled with August’s confusing life with her strange roommates, Landry gives us a diary run of her work at Pancake Billy’s as well as conversations with Myla, Niko and Wes.
It took awhile but I did discover interesting facts about Jane Su, aka ‘Subway Girl’. It is funny at times as well as somewhat confusing listening to the dialogues of the principal characters.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is published by St. Martin’s Publishing Group and will be released on June 1, 2021. I appreciate St. Martin’s allowing me to read and review One Last Stop via Netgalley. Most will find this a joy to read, howling at the collegiate humor. Could be my age, but I found this a tough one to follow. That’s on me readers, you could really find it a gem, laughing out loud. Do enjoy.
This book was so much fun. I really loved Red, White, and Royal Blue and this one was the same mix of heartwarming and lovable characters, but with a very different setting. I loved seeing New York through the eyes of this book and the subway. Being trapped on a Subway line for decades is such an intriguing concept and I really liked how it all played out.
One of the small things that I really loved about this book were the small snippets at the beginning of each chapter from people who also fell in love with Jane on the subway throughout the years. August and Jane's relationship was so sweet and I love how they worked to be together.
What a bizarre story.
Not in a bad way.
Just in a "Alex, we are not in Red, White, and Royal Blue anymore.
I have a bad habit of not reading about books before I read them. I go through so many stories that I just let them take me somewhere (hopefully) new. Which means, I had no idea what I was in for. Which makes it fun. Especially when you don't realize the romance is between a modern-day girl and a 1970's punk girl who has been stuck on the New York subway for 50 years.
📚 You probably knew it was coming with this review, but basically my review is QUEER SCREAMINGGGGGG!
📚 Jane and August are a couple for the ages - opposites attract, and the chemistry leaps off the page. They feel completely distinct and real and whole, and also meant for each other.
📚 ONE LAST STOP is also very much about love and family, especially queer found family. August's roommates and the others in their orbit are the kind of people who make being queer so great.
📚 It's also about the wonderful incidents of serendipity that can happen when one lives in a big city, which I loved. The corner of New York occupied by Billy's and its family was the kind of city institution that feels like a decades-long hug.
📚 Even knowing that this was a romance novel and thing were going to turn out okay, I still held my breath through much of the book, and cried more than once at the idea that things MIGHT go sideways for August and Jane. Oh no, I'm crying thinking about it now and I've read the dang book!
There's a lot of hype around One Last Stop, and I get it. Unfortunately, this one was just not for me. I loved the bi-rep in the story and the characters were quirky in the best way, but I couldn't get onboard with the whole physics element. I don't even know if that's the correct term. The scientific, but also supernatural elements to August's and Jane's relationship really just threw me off. I wanted them to be together and the ending was cute, but I was lost in the science. The book isn't set up as a supernatural story, but it's definitely an important element to the novel.
Thank you Netgalley for my eARC!
Casey McQuiston has done it again. Red, White, and Royal Blue was my favourite book of 2019 and now One Last Stop is my favourite book of 2021 thus far.
I love a found family trope, and this one was one of my favourites. I always love McQuiston's characters, and this book just gave me a whole new cast of characters to love. They were all so unique and had such clear and distinct personalities. I truly loved every single one of the characters in this story.
It was also genuinely laugh out loud funny at parts, but also had some heartbreaking moments, too. I don't know how McQuiston can have me laughing to myself in one moment, and almost in tears in the next, but it happened.
I adored the love story and how we see August move from being cynical and so independent that she refuses to trust anyone, to gaining this family that she truly loves and trusts beyond anyone else.
Also, the time loop was done so well. I find that sometimes time travel/time loops can really tricky to pull off in a satisfying way but I found that anytime I started to question how it all worked, an answer would be given within a few pages or the next chapter.
Overall, this was such a fun read and I can't wait to get all of my friends to read it, too, so that we can laugh and cry about it together.
If you only read one romance book this year, make it this one!!
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This book took me by surprise. It is filled with so so much, I DID NOT want to put it down! As someone who loves mystery and suspense, romance books tend to be my light read, palette cleanser with a predictable happy ending. So when I picked up One Last Stop, did I expect a page turner, with the coolest characters, and a WTF mystery weaved in? Absolutely not, so omg, THANK YOU Casey McQuiston for giving me exactly what I didn't know I needed. This seriously gave me a new appreciation for romcom books!
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The best thing about One Last Stop is it has something to offer and something relatable for EVERYONE. Each character is so unique with a huge personality, representing so many different groups of people. I wanted to be friends with all of them & am dying to go to NYC to see this vibrant culture that was painted within the story. I could write so much about this book but honestly, my words can't do justice to its beauty. Take my word for it & go read it yourself. You won't regret it! Personally, I'll be going back and reading Casey McQuiston's first novel Red, White, and Royal Blue this summer to experience more from this amazing author.
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ONE LAST STOP // Casey McQuiston
Releasing June 1, 2021!! (I can't wait to go buy a physical copy - thanks NetGalley & St Martin's Press for this advance egalley to enjoy & review)
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is one of my favorite reads of 2021 so far. The protagonist of the story is 23-year old August, who has moved to New York City because she has become cynical about everything to do with her life and feels like New York is the perfect place for her to embrace her cynicism and go through life alone. August’s new roommates, however, have other ideas. They help her find a job, show her everything that is wonderful about New York, and basically adopt her into their little found family and it’s the cutest thing ever. Think “Friends” but with a much more diverse cast, including a drag queen who lives across the hall and a lovable extended family at the 24-hour pancake diner where August ends up working.
August is also taking college courses and encounters a young woman named Jane on the subway one morning when she spills coffee all over herself and Jane comes to her rescue. August is attracted to Jane right away and it seems like Jane feels the same way. They meet on the train every morning and evening and grow closer with each encounter. August even starts thinking that maybe she doesn’t want to be alone after all and decides to ask Jane out. Every time August asks Jane to go out, Jane tells her she can’t come. August is confused by the mixed signals Jane is sending until she finally figures out that something very strange is going on. Jane has somehow been displaced in time from the 1970s and is trapped on the subway line. She can’t go out with August because she’s literally stuck on the train. August loves Jane and is determined to figure out how to set her free, even if it means sending her back to her own timeline and never seeing her again and she calls on her roommates to help.
I don’t want to give anything away about how this all plays out, but wow, I just fell so hard for this entire lovable, quirky cast of characters and I also loved how unique the overall premise of the story is. Sometimes magical realism doesn’t work for me, but I thought McQuiston used it perfectly here. It was like Quantum Leap with a side of romance set in the subway. One Last Stop is such a refreshing and original read and I just loved every page of it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5 stars) -- I had to wait a while before writing this review just to make sure I wasn’t still on a reader’s high. Since then I’ve even managed to re-read most of this one because the characters are just 😘👌 *chef’s kiss*.
Dang, I love Kate and Leopold as much as the next early 2000s gal, but that description does not even come close to how fun this book was. Even with the hype, I was somehow still not quite prepared for what was coming.
One of my favorite things about the romance genre is just how inclusive it can be. It’s important to me that everyone can see themselves reflected in positive and affirming stories. Especially in the past few years, I feel like we’re getting many more opportunities to see such a broad array of people get their happily ever after.
From the moment I read the want ad on the first page, I was hooked. Casey has such a way of painting an image with words. You really feel like you’re there awkwardly sitting on that beat-up old brown couch in a cramped, Brookly plant jungle claiming to be an apartment. It’s a sticky, humid day and you’re smelling Popeye's chicken wafting up from downstairs as a stranger claiming to be a psychic “reads” you while you stare at a confounding sculpture of Judy Garland made up of marshmallow Peeps and bicycle parts.
I absolutely adore Casey’s writing. They do a phenomenal job of creating characters with whom you would absolutely want to hang out and shoot the shit. At the same time, they are all so precious (yes, even Wes) that you just want to wrap them in a hug and protect them like a stray baby kitten that’s already seen too much. They’ve been through some shit but this family they’ve created is just so heartwarming and beautiful.
It’s difficult to do justice talking about this book without revealing any of the spoilers and surprises that Casey left for readers. There are so many fun tidbits to talk about but I don’t want to say too much. You already get a fair bit just by reading the book’s summary blurb.
Besides their phenomenal characters and the way they always seem to punch me in the feels, I really appreciate the way they manage to drop in little gems to educate readers on important and fascinating aspects of queer history. As a history lover, this was one of my favorite things about Red, White & Royal Blue and I’m glad to see that it’s back.
Another thing I really treasured was the way Casey conveyed certain important and empowering messages to the reader that they may have grown up needing to hear. In that sense, certain aspects felt reminiscent of Rosie Danan’s The Intimacy Experiment (in the best way possible).
I heard a rumor that Casey is already at work on a third book. I can’t wait to see what comes next. So far they’ve been hitting them all out of the park.