Thanks so much for this Arc! I’ve heard great things about Casey McQuiston and her writing did not disappoint.

August seems to be sort of lost in her life. She ends up in NYC, trying to make her way. She’s shy and figuring out who she is. She ends up having a “love at first sight” moment on the subway. That’s when she meets Jane. They have an easy automatic friendship- both trying to figure out if it is something more. The issue is Jane is from the 1970’s and stuck in a time loop on the subway. She can’t get off. August helps her figure out who she is while kindling the electricity between them. This becomes August’s project hoping to help Jane. But the more she learns the more she likes Jane. How can she have a relationship with someone who is stuck in time? Who is Jane and how did this happen? What will happen to her if they can break the loop?

This was very well written. McQuiston has a way with words that just flow effortlessly. The characters were charming and enjoyable. I loved getting to know August & Jane and their friends. I think this would be a great YA story & also beautiful for the queer community. So much of this was about the characters discovering who they are. It was natural and accepted and I loved that piece. Personally I am just not a fan of time travel stories. I can’t quite get past the logic of it. Because of that I struggled with this story. I did love some of the twists and ways the story overlapped. The concept just seemed far fetched for me.

I had a feeling I would absolutely adore this book with my entire heart and I was RIGHT. First things first though, I have to call out the absolutely fantastic audio narration. Natalie Naudus did an incredible job brining these characters to life and if you have the opportunity to consume this as an audio book, I highly recommend it. Thanks SO MUCH to libro for this ALC!! It’s out June 1st, and I have so many things I want to say about it, that I don’t even know where to start.

In my review of RWARB I said, “McQuiston captures the essence of a moment better than anyone I’ve ever read and their descriptions are a completely tactile experience” It was true of that book and if possible, they did an even better job in OLS. The way they perfectly describes all the quirks of an NYC apartment from the tilt of the floor to the temperamental shower and her ability to make you feel like you’re standing in Billy’s diner breathing in the sickly sweet scent of pancake batter and bitter coffee while your feet stick to the floor. McQuiston’s entire cast of characters is larger than life and place this genre blending mystery, timeslip, saphic, romance a tier above the rest. It’s incredibly diverse and queer and full of heartwarming found family, hilarious roommate antics, expert level banter, queer history, a heist!, clothes incinerating steam, and so much yearning.

August is a curvy, bi, 23 year old who has just arrived in NYC intent on finishing her degree. Her life up to this point has been mostly dedicated to helping her mom solve a missing person’s case from the 70s and she’s ready to distance herself from that and find a place she truly belongs. After responding to a roommates advertisement, she ends up moving in with Wes, an intensely private, queer, Jewish tattoo artist, Niko, a trans, Puerto Rican-American, physic who moonlights as a bartender, and his girlfriend Myla, a queer, Black, electrical engineer turned artist who immediately befriends a bewildered August. Typically a loaner, August reluctantly allows her new roomates to drag her to celebratory dinner at Billy’s diner, where some creative lying lands August a job right before she starts a new semester at school.

On her very first day of school, she’s running late and covered in spilled coffee when she sees Jane Su—outgoing, cool, Chinese-American, lesbian—for the first time while riding the Q train. Jane is tall and gorgeous and confident and wearing a leather jacket and looking sexy AF when she offers August her scarf. August cannot get Jane out of her mind and is delighted—and then suspicious—when she keeps running into her on the same train, in the same car, over and over again. No matter when August takes the Q, Jane is there with her backpack and a friendly, “Hey coffee girl” greeting. August begins to use the skills she’s honed for years looking for her missing uncle to try and figure out who Jane is. She eventually learns that Jane has been displaced from the 70s and is stuck on the q train in some sort of timeslip and has no memory of how she got there or who she is. August makes it her mission to help Jane remember and find a way to free her from the Q and get her back to her time before it’s too late.

This book is so fucking fantastic. I’m calling it now as my favorite of the year. I’m barely scratching the surface with this review. I really wanted to highlight the diversity and abundance of queer representation along with some of my favorite aspects of the story. I hope you will all read it and if you already have, please come gush about it with me!!

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is a great book about finding love in unusual place. I loved this LGBTQ+ book.

When I started Read & Wright, it took me a while to have the confidence to start requesting books from publishers. But when I learned about Red White & Royal Blue in People Magazine, I knew I had to take a chance. It was the first ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) I received and became an instant favorite. So, needless to say, I’m very attached to Casey McQuiston’s books.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my early copy of One Last Stop, which I might have loved even more. ONe Last Stop is available wherever books are sold June 1, 2021 and if you haven’t preordered your copy yet, what are you waiting for?

Synopsis: “For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.” —From the publisher

What I Liked:

The Cast of Characters—The thing that McQuiston does better than any other contemporary author is create a believable sense of found family. I think for most Xillenials and Gen Z, we’ve discovered that our friends can become our family. I loved Jane and August, but I also loved Isaiah, Wes, Nico, Myla, everyone who works at Billy’s…it was just a warm and vibrant group of people.

The Time Travel Aspect—I am not normally a fan of books that use time travel, but I was so charmed but the entire book I didn’t mind. It also totally and equivokly WORKED. I loved how it allowed so much queer history to be weaved in so that this coming of age story also offered a history lesson.

The Setting—This book made me so homesick for the city. It’s rare that books can perfectly capture the feeling of * my New York * : sweaty subway ribes, late nights with loud friends, drag shows, hairspray, too much make up, and cramped apartments. That is the the feeling of this book and it made my heart happy and sad at the same time.

What Didn’t Work:

Gonna go out on a limb here and say…nothing. I know, typical of a gushing book review. But I really loved how McQuiston’s writing has grown since RWRB. The pacing was perfect, the steam was * chef’s kiss *, the characters were a delight. Cook me up a Su Special and call it a day.

TW/CW: Strained parent/child relationship, significant mentions of the AIDS crisis, grief, homophobia, ableism, alcoholism, death

Character Authenticity: 5/5 Steam Rating: 2/5 Overall Rating: 5/5

I don't even know where to start with this book. It has taken the coveted spot of my favorite book. If I could, I'd give it 10 stars. It's everything this world needs right now. I liked Red, White, and Royal Blue, but this.... this was just a whole new level. The F/F romance was a breath of fresh air in the YA world. And I loved the magical elements. It wasn't a "magical" book but it had just enough in it to make the book something super special.

The one thing that got me the most was the characters, they are absolutely amazing. I want to be friends with each and every one of them. Each and every character was diverse in their own way and brought together made the storyline that much more awesome. I think the characters tied the perfect bow on top of the theme of staying true to yourself and surrounding yourself with people who make you feel special.

I can't wait to buy this book for all of my friends!

“It was never just research.”

From the author of Red, White & Royal Blue, this story is full of mystery, fantastic characters, F/F romance and a very intriguing touch of magical realism. Each aspect ended up containing a lot of depth that completely surprised me already making this a great book to discuss with a few other early readers.

I was incredibly captivated by this storyline. There’s the mystery of Jane, a girl who appears to be stuck on the subway and from a different decade. I loved watching August figure out this dilemma and slowly help Jane remember tiny facts about herself so they could vaguely pieces together her past. This part successfully balanced a lot of emotions, while also providing some humor as the two educated one another of their own pop culture references. They have an opposites attract, slow burn romance that was sweet to watch unfold. Their relationship was full of longing and some really great sigh worthy lines. Don’t worry, they definitely provide some steam as well!! There’s an extra side story about a missing uncle that contains some shocking twists and also connects both girls. The author provides several discussions and historical LGBTQ events including the UpStairs Lounge arson that showcases the differences between the two decades as well as show how far our society has changed yet continues to still need to grow.

What made this book for me, was the incredibly diverse supporting cast. Each character was fantastic and helped move the storyline along. They provided humor and plenty of emotional support. They tied together this wonderful underlining theme of centering yourself around people that make you feel comfortable to just be your true self. Many have to seek this approval from a patchwork of friends vs family, but it shows how your mental health is positively affected once you find that place where you truly belong.

Overall, this was a hopeful story that highlighted queer identity and found joy. It will make a fantastic selection for many book clubs. You’ll smile and remember these characters when you smell pancakes, see the Manhattan Bridge, spot candy hearts and hear certain songs.

Casey McQuiston has done it again. I was fully prepared to not like this book because of how much I enjoyed RW&RB but this book was better. Please go and preorder this book right now.

After reading Casey McQuiston’s debut novel two years ago, I knew I would read anything this author writes. One Last Stop had such a unique concept and the most lovable and wonderful group of friends/found family.

August and Jane meet on the subway. Cute ‘meet cute’, right? Well, it’s a little more complicated that that. August is 23 and a student in Brooklyn. After meeting Jane a few times, she realizes Jane is from the 1970’s. Yes. You read that right. I’ll be honest and say it did take me a bit to get into this one. The first 30% or so I wasn’t sure if I loved it or not, but I’m so glad I kept going because I ended up truly loving this one.

Once August and Jane’s romance picked up this book became everything for me. The romance was lovely, and I couldn’t adore August’s roommates and some of the other secondary characters in this book more than I did. Seriously, they made the story. There was so much love in this book. Not just the romantic kind, though there was that in spades. Though this book wasn’t relatable for me in a lot of ways, I think it will be to so many people and it’s so important to have stories like this told.

If you’re looking for an original romance with a diverse cast of characters you need this book in your life! Found family is one of my favorite things in books and this truly had one of the best! The romance took me a bit to be invested in, but once I was I was hooked. The last half of the story especially was my favorite. I loved all the revelations and learning more about the characters, specifically Jane and her past. This one made me smile so big and was such a heartwarming and beautiful story. Highly recommend!

“she can’t believe jane had the nerve, the audacity, to become the one thing august can’t resist: a mystery.”

magical. weird? lovable. gentle. warm. fierce. one last stop was everything.

casey mcquiston is able to craft such a realistic cast of characters, and they master the found family trope wonderfully. this book follows august, a 23 year old trying to survive life in new york, unsure of her place in the world. it also follows jane, a chinese-american woman in a leather jacket that august keeps seeing on the subway, and who also happens to be displaced in time from the 1970s. the relationship between these two characters is beautifully formed. i loved the care that august had for jane, and the love that jane reflected right back.

like i said, mcquiston writes found family like no other. in one last stop, we meet august’s hilarious and wonderful roommates right away. niko, a trans latino bartender/psychic, his girlfriend myla, a black electrical engineer with a passion for unique art projects, and wes, a jewish tattoo artist who also shares similarities with a vampire. we also meet a variety of drag queens (!!!!) and some friendly pancake house employees. the interactions between everybody were so heartwarming and friendly, and somehow felt so so special. the assurance and support that these characters gave each other was so valuable, and especially seeing august grow amongst their presence was amazing.

i went into this book comparing it to red, white, and royal blue, and stopped immediately. please don’t compare the two. i want people to read this book because it itself is wonderful, and deserves to live on it’s own.

one last stop isn’t your typical contemporary. it’s a love story between two young women lost in the world, and also between friends learning how to best support each other. it’s a testament to queer history, to the pain that so many people, just like jane, had to endure. it’s a love letter to love and history and time and space and new friends and pancake houses. this book releases on june 1, and i truly hope that everybody gets a chance to read it!! it’s well worth every second of your time.

content warnings: death (mentioned), anxiety, alcohol consumption, homophobia, racism, hate crimes (past), blood

While I didn't completely fall in love with this story, I think so so many people will. I laughed and even shed a few tears while reading this, but part of me felt like I was being held at arms distance away from these characters. August is a great character, but she's difficult to follow as a romance protagonist. She's spent her entire life building walls around herself to protect herself from getting hurt, and while I do value that in a character, it made it difficult to connect to the romance of this story for the first 50-60% of the book. There were a few moments where I felt like I got to glimpse what August was really feeling, and in those moments, I really was able to see what McQuiston was going for with these characters.

What makes me really fall in love with a romance book are those moments with the main protagonist where they bare their soul out for the reader, and because of who August is a character (and because McQuiston lets her main character be a little messy and a Disaster Bi™ without forcing August to change into a completely different character by the end of the book), I felt like those moments were missing. I think that it's a trope that I would enjoy more in a movie than reading in a book that is solely from August's perspective.

There were a few moments while reading this book that I could see influences from books that I've read and loved and it forced me out of the story a little bit. But this book is compulsively readable (I read most of it in a single day) with characters that are interesting and complex and relatable with real emotions and issues. I think if you liked Red, White & Royal Blue, you'll enjoy this book; I think if you like Taylor Jenkins Reid, specifically Maybe in Another Life & The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this one will be really up your alley.

I hope we get more sapphic books from Casey McQuiston because I desperately need more sapphic romances in my life. And regardless of what they release in the future, I really want to read it and see where they go and what characters they create.

3.5 stars.

Casey McQuiston's upcoming novel, One Last Stop, proves that love can flourish in even the most mundane of places, like the Q train on the NYC subway.

For the longest time it was just August and her mother against the world. But helping her mother with her obsessive need to find her brother, who went missing in 1973, became too much to bear, so she left New Orleans to go to college.

She bounced from place to place, school to school, and finally lands in Brooklyn. She figures it’s a big enough place to be on your own and not connect with anyone. But she soon finds an apartment and a job, and becomes part of a circle of friends for the first time.

After a disastrous start to her morning on her first day of school, she sees her on the Q train. Jane is everything August is not—sexy, brash, outgoing, helpful, and utterly confident, the type of person who could start a dance party on a crowded subway train. August starts planning her morning commute in the hopes of seeing Jane—and she invariably always does.

But little by little, she realizes Jane isn’t your typical subway encounter. And it’s up to August, with a lot of help from her friends, to see if they can fix Jane’s “situation.” But what would that do to the potential of a relationship with August?

You can get more information if you read the plot synopsis, but I didn’t know anything about One Last Stop when I started it. It’s a very unique twist on a love story which will require suspension of your disbelief. (Or maybe this happens all the time on the subway, lol?)

I liked the chemistry between August and Jane, and I loved the diverse supporting characters. I just felt the whole concept of the story took so long to unfold and solve, and at times it dragged the pace of the story down for me a bit. But that’s not to say I didn’t get teary-eyed at times, because, well, I’m me.

McQuiston's first book, Red, White and Royal Blue was my favorite book of 2019, so certainly my expectations were high for this one. But I wasn't expecting her to write the same book, and that wasn't my challenge with this. I just felt that the whole wasn't as great as the sum of its parts.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

One Last Stop publishes 6/1.

If you are a fan of Red, White and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston will steal your heart again in One Last Stop!

The story follows August, who just moves to NYC and during her first morning commute, she meets a kind and attractive passenger, Jane, who August soon finds to be crushing on. However, August soon finds that the punk hipster she thought her crush was, turns out to be stuck in a time warp from the 70’s!

Can August help Jane? Find out! I loved this book because it was queer, quirky and a quick but great read! Be on the lookout for this book June 1!

Happily- I loved this! It’s a good thing too- I don’t know if I could have showed my face on Bookstgram if I didn’t like it. That said, the synopsis didn’t appeal to me and I’m glad I read it without reading that first, because otherwise I might not have gotten to it. August is the worlds biggest skeptic who has no luck in love. She’s been in college for ages and isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life, and she’s dealing with her mom who never got over her brother going missing when they were younger. She moves to Brooklyn for a fresh start and gets a great collection of new roommates and falls head over heels with a beautiful girl she meets on the subway. The dialogue was funny and it’s a very unique story- you also get a great collection of roommates/friends- including a drag queen across the hall, a psychic, and an electrical engineer meets hippie. If you liked Red, White, and Royal Blue- you’ll like this.

One Last Stop was so good! 🙌🏻 I adored Red White and Royal Blue and was so excited for this one and it didn’t disappoint at all.⁣
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This story was filled with so many quirky, witty, nerdy, rowdy, wonderfully likable characters of all ethnicities and sexualities and it was brilliant. I’m honestly not sure who I loved most because I adored everyone.⁣
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I loved Nikos psychic vibes and love for crystals and sage. I loved Mylas quirkiness, genius mind, love for art, and hilarious ideas. I loved the drag queens. I loved how this group loved each other fiercely and accepted each other fully. ⁣
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Jane was mysterious, edgy and charming, while August was brainy and like a modern day Nancy Drew, inexperienced but so open. The chemistry between these two was hot and sexy and filled with electricity. The time travel story line was also so interesting and fit in the story in the best way to build this love story. BRILLIANT! 😍⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC for my honest review. #onelaststop #bookstagram #books #romance #lgbtqromance #lgbtq

In One Last Stop, we follow August, a bi, 23 year old student and recent New York transplant trying to find her place in the city. As she gets acclimated to her new job as a waitress, her eccentric new roommates, and school she grapples with her own personal feelings of displacement. On one of those days where nothing seems to be going right, August spills coffee all over herself before her first class of the semester. On her Q train commute she meets a hot mysterious girl named Jane who gifts her a red scarf in her time of need. Soon, Jane becomes the best part of August’s daily commute until eventually August considers that maybe it’s not just luck and something more supernatural is at play after months of the two always sharing the same train, and the same train car without fail!

The story moves from here as we navigate August and Jane’s growing relationship as well as trying to solve the mystery that keeps Jane, a riot girl from the 70s, trapped on this particular train line forever.

THE PROS

JANE FUCKING SU
Jane Su, aka the new love of life! She was such an icon, so nuanced and beautiful and endearing. She was suave and cheesy, and adorable and vulnerable. She was so strong and brave, angry, hurting and she was fucking wonderful. What a magnificent character.

THE ROOMMATES
The found family dynamic between August and her new roommates —Niko, a latinx trans man and psychic, Myla, a black engineer/artist, and Wes, a quiet tattoo artist and man of few words —was sooo great. Their dynamic was just so fun and comforting and these characters were so interesting I was dying to know about them particularly Wes because he has such a cute romantic subplot 😩🙌🏽

THE WRITING + Queer History
Casey Mcquiston is very gifted at writing character interactions and I feel like all tge interactions between August and her roommates, August and Jane etc, were all so fun, and occasionally emotional depending on the moment. Mcquiston just writes great dialogue in my opinion and I loved how the writing flowed, a nice mix of poetic introspection and easy, balanced dialogue. I also want to say I love how queer history was woven into this story particularly the inclusion of the Upstairs Lounge fire in ‘73. It made the whole time travel gimmick feel very grounded and necessary

THE ROMANCE
Okay this is story was really good at investing me in the chemistry between Jane and August. If there’s one things sapphics have, it’s the ability to yearn™️ and the emotional yearning between these two was top tier but this story also delivered when it came to the sex scenes and I appreciated that so much. Sapphics deserve! And Jane Su my god 😩 what a legend! The butch queen we needed in sapphic lit. The sex scenes were fun and the story was so sex positive I lived!
THE CONS
August
okay i feel bad saying this is a con because I don’t dislike august in fact she really grew on me eventually HOWEVER I felt that alll the other characters felt infinitely more interesting than her so at times I was a bit disinterested because I didn’t connect with her like I hoped to. Since it took me a while to warm up to August I was left feeling a bit detached from the story at the beginning
The concept of the whole oh no jane’s stuck on the subway mystery was very cool but at times i did feel slighted that we don’t truly know what her and August’s relationship would be like off the train (tho there is a very nice epilogue style chapter that shows some of it) i was dying for more moments of Jane acclimating to modern society

Overall this was a really nice, incredibly queer story that I’d be glad to revisit because some of these characters have my heart 💗

This book was not at all what I was expecting. It is a romance, but also weaves the most beautiful story about found family, finding yourself, and doing what is right. It gave me more than I asked for when picking up a romance novel.
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I loved it. August grows into her own with the help of so many wonderful people. It really made me pine for finding my own true found family.
I only wish this story had brought some more closure, but that’s just me being selfish. The ending really was perfect I just wanted more of these characters and their stories. I needed more of the magic Casey McQuiston wrote.

I loved every single second of this book. Not only is it easy to root for August, a girl who is figuring out who she is and what she wants in real time, but every single other character is easy to root for too, from the mysterious Jane (who may or may not be bending the rules of time and space) to the magnificent drag queen neighbor across the hall, Annie Depressant and the kooky cast of roommate and co workers who fill up August’s life almost instantly upon her arrival in NYC. Every single character in this novel is fully fleshed out. They each have their own backstory and motivations, all of which click together to create such a beautifully ground sense of reality even in a story which has a fair bit of magic built in (see the aforementioned bending of time and space). I just adored this book—it made me laugh and cry many times over, hot as hell (never have I thought I would find the idea of sex on the subway sexy, but here we are), and really celebrated the complicated, wonderful way that queer people continue to build and create community and family for themselves. Utterly delightful.

This book completely knocked me off my feet! It was a slow start for me, but once it got going I couldn’t stop reading it. The plot is completely unexpected and wonderful, certainly one of the most interesting romances I’ve ever read. I highly recommend this one, it’s a do not miss book for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is the story I didn’t know I needed. August doesn’t know where she fits in. She’s 23 and has been transferring between colleges as often as possible, each one in a new city, trying to find her niche. She’s lost in life, which is how she ends up in Brooklyn with no place to live, answering a sketchy Craiglist ad for an apartment and finding what becomes her new family.

Everyone in this book is queer and its amazing and very normalized, and I loved that. All of August’s belongings fit in 6 cardboard boxes (although she could get it down to 5 if she tried) and she doesn’t even have a real bed, a sign that she never feels like she belongs anywhere. Her new roommates instantly love her but she is wary of getting attached to anyone.

On August’s first morning of school, she’s running late to catch the Q train and spills coffee all over her front. When she gets on a train, a nice stranger, a girl about her age, hands her a scarf to cover the coffee spill on her shirt – enter Jane. August is bisexual and instantly admires Jane, a punk rocker who looks like she belongs in the 70s. And when August sees her on the subway again the next day, she makes it a point to always catch the same time train so she always runs into Jane on her daily commute.

While this is a contemporary, and also a romance, theres also a mystery aspect to this story in more ways than one. August’s uncle went missing years ago, and her mom has made it her lifes work to find out what happened to her brother – and August has helped throughout her life growing up trying to solve this missing persons case. She finally told her mom she wanted out of this dead end mystery when she went off to college, but its hard to stop putting the puzzle pieces together when that’s all you’ve known your entire life.

And Jane is a mystery too, and August wants to solve how they always run into each other, and how Jane is….Jane.

A lot of this story takes place on the Q subway train, and its such a love letter to New York. As a New Yorker myself (ok, I live on Long Island….) I could relate so much. I could feel things. I hope anyone who hasn’t visited or lived in New York can still feel those vibes.

There are so many references to popular songs, usually from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but a few more modern ones too. If you love music like I do, you’ll love the music aspect of this book – it plays an important and pretty big role.

I love how August grew and developed as a character throughout this story, and how she learned to let other people into her life, and that could be ok. I loved all of her roommates and neighbor – who is a drag queen, and yes, they are featued a few times throughout the book. Because did I mention drag queens play a vital role in this book too? They do.

There are a few different plot lines going on throughout this book and they all worked together – because thats life, you have a lot of things going on at once so it felt realistic! This book had so many funny laugh out loud moments, and it felt so New York.

I will also note, there are a total of THREE LOST references in this book! THREE! LOST!!!!! I love Lost, the tv show, it is my all time favorite, and not something that is often referenced anymore. But it is, three times, in One Last Stop – and oddly enough, its relevant each and every time to the overall story line. I loved that.

This is a book of a queer found family, of drag queens, of pancakes, of mysteries and lost family and found family in those you choose to be with. This is about questioning and being unsure but pushing ahead anyway, because sometimes, thats all you can do.

First of all - loved it! But definitely not at all what I was expecting.

With that being said, it was surprising in such a refreshing way. Jane and August have officially reached the heights of Alex and Henry - my heart was rooting for them and I so wanted it to work out in the end.

Beyond a romance, this book had elements of magic/fantasy, a heist, was a love letter to community, belonging and how family can mean so many different things, and just had such a beautiful, diverse and real cast of characters. The writing is so so well done - from being able to picture the settings in my mind's eye, to feeling like the characters were whole and complete.

There is no sophomore slump for Casey McQuiston here!