I don’t think I can coherently articulate my full thoughts quite yet, but this book simultaneously broke me and pieced me back together. I went into this book excited for the sapphic romance of my lesbian dreams-- and, don't get me wrong, it delivered that-- but One Last Stop also gave me so much more than that.

In so many ways, it feels like a love letter to queer communities both past and present, and to the found families we choose. It's a celebration of queer love and queer joy. It's a love letter to New York City, one that recognizes the particular magic of the city while also not shying away from the ugly side of it. It's a gentle hug for people who are or have ever been just trying to figure out life and love in their mid-twenties. AND it's a beautiful romance.

I'll attempt to better articulate my thoughts closer to release, but for now, preorder this book! I felt very seen by August's story, and I know lots of other people will, too. I cannot wait for One Last Stop to be out in the world.

*Spoiler free, 4.75 stars*

My love for Red, White, And Royal Blue is no secret. I've been excited for McQuiston's next book since I finished it. And finding out that it would be f/f only made me all the more excited. I was a bit nervous about the time travel aspect of the plot, only because I haven't read a lot of books set in the real world with a slight magical aspect that I've liked. But a f/f book by Casey McQuiston was something I was willing to go out on a limb for.

This book is very different than RWRB, but I loved it all the same. It's a different kind of love, but love all the same.

I've talked a bit before how I've been surprised about books making me actually like New York City, since I'm not a huge fan (it's weird I know, and complicated). But with this book, it did not make me fall in love with the city. And I mean that as a compliment! This book shows New York in all it's gritty, grimy glory from muggy nights and rats on the subway. It felt like the real New York, flaws and all. But, it didn't turn me away from the book or give me the anxiety I usually associate with anything to do with the city. It was subtle, but I could see what people like about New York. I could see why people revel in the busyness and fast past, of trying to take something from a city that has so much to offer, of trying to find a place somewhere that has so many. It's a great backdrop to this story and it fits August and her journey.

I don't think it's ever explicitly talked about in the book, so this might just be how I read, but I really liked how mental illness is portrayed. Maybe it was just the character's emotional journey, but I felt like there were hints of depression and anxiety in August. It wasn't something that was front in center, more something that was slipped into her actions, how she talks, and the way she interacts with the world. I dunno, it just liked how it felt like something in the background, but it was there, and it was just the way the characters were and how they took on the world. It made this book seem a bit heavier than RWRB, but it made it wholly it's own. It also made August such a fantastic main character. She feels like a clementine to me. Sweet, but slightly tart and with an orange tinge.

Oh gosh, is this book a found family book. It's a fantastic found family book. The way that these characters come together and go from reluctant roommates, to friends, to family. They're all really weird, but they work together, and I loved how they all came to love each other.

And they're all really freaking queer. I knew this was going to be a queer book, but this book was SO casually queer while also being super freaking queer at the same time. It was wonderful.

Let's talk about Jane. She is, wow, I think I got my break knocked out of me multiple times reading about her. She has a LEATHER JACKET and one dimple and a smirk.

Jane is Asian, and I think that's all that's specified. I can't comment on that other than it was there.

The time travel aspect of this book was actually really cool. I don't want to say too much so I don't spoil anything, but I will say that it was such a cool mystery and plot point. It wasn't just something happening to one character. It tied into August's emotional development, which tied into a side plot, which tied into the overall story, which tied into all the characters. Plus, it was just really cool.

One Last Spot was a book about family, about love, about New York, about the subway, about finding how and where you fit, about queerness, and it's just very, very good.

This was, I don't even know how to say it. Not only magical, it was calm. Yes, that's it. It was a calm in the New York chaos. Two girls living the most peculiar love story, surrounded by a very diverse and caring group of friends. There's no unnecessary drama. Things just happen, and they do for a reason.

You could almost smell the story. Full of pancakes, poptarts, improbable special sandwiches, but also of sweat, and subway pee. Because that's New York, and it's portrayed perfectly in this story. You could close your eyes and be there, joking with Myla, Niko, Wes, August, Jane, and all the side characters who gave actual life to it all.

It's a journey. Somewhat wild, often quiet. Like life. It felt just like life. From feeling like you don't belong to having the most amazing found family you've never ever dreamed of.

And all of it mixed with a pinch of magic, of unusual, with a girl out of her time, with a story to uncover and a way home to find. But what is home if not the experiences and the people that fill your life?

I loved it a lot, the story, every single character, the atmosphere, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the magic, the tears, the laughs, the emotions. Cried and laughed, invested from beginning to end, this story will definitely be loved by many!

While very different from Red, White & Royal Blue, which I--like most of the rest of the universe--loved, this book is even better and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it HEALED MY SOUL. Thank you so much to St. Martin's for approving me for this when I needed it most, and I can't wait to rave about it to basically everyone I know. All the stars!

I don’t even know where to begin! I got an email letting me know that since I loved Red, White and Royal Blue so much and left a review on Netgalley, they wanted me to get an advanced copy. I read this all day long and loved every second of it. Casey has this incredible ability to create characters that are so real, you can immediately picture them and love them. August is such a great protagonist, just like Alex in RW&RB. She’s anxious and unsure and lost and it’s so incredible watching her find herself and creating a new family in New York. Her roommates, Niko, Myla and Wes are so great. They are so unique and real and amazing that I love them more than I can say. And Jane! Jane is incredible. Reading about her made me proud to be gay! I don’t want to spoil too much, but her past is so extraordinary.

And then there’s the representation in this book! Gay, lesbian, bi and trans! And drags queens galore! Casey McQuiston has become an auto-buy author for me!

This was glorious. It's definitely a different style of book from RWRB, but it's nonetheless wonderful. I just want to bask in this book, and I can't wait to add it to my shelf.

I have been going back and forth on whether to give this 2 or 3 stars since I finished it last night.

I REALLY enjoyed the world-building in this book. I loved the people in August's new world--the roommates, the drag queens, the co-workers--so much. I really liked August's back-story. It was interesting and different and really worked for me. I liked the way August and Jane fell in love...until I didn't.

The time slip thing just didn't work for me. I didn't need it. This book was SO FULL of other things--(view spoiler)--that I didn't NEED Jane's mystery science-fiction shit. There HAD to be another way to work the MAIN love story into this book. Temporal shenanigans couldn't have been the ONLY way.

To be fair, I think this will REALLY work for some readers. Some people will love the slight paranormal, investigative aspect of the story. But I'm just not that reader.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.

5/5🌟: listen to me when i tell you that this is the sapphic romance novel we've all been waiting for. i've absorbed this enchanting story, featuring lots of 70's nostalgia and a little bit of time travel magic, in just a few hours. during those, august and her friends found their way into my heart and while reading i couldn't stop imagining all the ways i'll draw fanart of them. august moves in with the most adorable people, most importantly, people, who are unapologetically queer. i know we all love the found family trope and i promise you, you won't be disappointed by their friendship dynamics.

august's and niko's friendship was the most beautiful one to me. they were both so important to each other, so accepting from the very first time they met. i would love to have a niko in my shared flat as well, i think his love for tattoos, his psychic powers and his undeniable kindness would make a great flatmate for everyone.

i do not only love casey's writing style for writing in third person, but also because they connect words, associations and emotions so well with each other, that they make me feel represented, whether it's in pop culture references, in august, who's not thin and is written as a beautiful and hot character or in the representation of queerness and bipoc: there's a bisexual female main character, a trans brown side character, who's in a relationship with a female black character, a lesbian chinese love interest, a pansexual character and others, whose queer sexualities are not defined.

i fell in love with all of them. there's not one person, that i didn't enjoy reading about and i think that's something very special casey did there. if anyone follows my reviews, i'm always super honest and can get quite harsh at times when it comes to the lack of representation of any minorities and unlikeable characters that feature sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or ableist characteristics. i'm so grateful that i didn't find any of those in casey's writing. don't get me wrong, there are some characters that show up for a sentence or two, who portray this kind of hateful language, but only so that in return our beloved main and side characters can critize this kind of behaviour. it's what i except every author to do, but i have been disappointed so many times by books that have been praised to be phenomenonal. it's very easy make people feel represented and i think casey is one of those people, who knows this and just makes it work. as a non-binary queer reader i'm forever thankful for that.

all of the amazing characters are over the age of twenty, which is something so rare, that it was actually one of the main reasons i was so excited to read this one. there's lots awesome ya queer representation these days, but take a look into the new adult folder and you'll see a very different picture. i'm so happy that young queer people get to grow up with more diversity in books today, but i think us, 20-something-year-olds, who didn't have that during our teenage years, deserve the same kind of representation now as well. i'll forever remember this book that demonstrates that good romance works without unnecessary hateful drama, without cheating love triangles and only white characters. i hope you'll feel the same way once it comes out in june 2021.


i'm forever grateful to SMPRomance for granting me the opportunity to read a digital arc on netgalley!

I loved everything about this book. I have nothing but praise for it, I could not put it down. It's funny, endearing, poetic, and what we all want from a romance novel, a little steamy! There's so much more to this story than just two people falling in love - it's a must read for any fans of LGBTQ+ fiction, and rom-coms in general.

Casey McQuiston has written another fun and fearless LGBTQ+ romance. If you liked Red, White, and Royal Blue (which I did), then you will feel right at home with One Last Stop.

August has moved to New York for the same reason so many others have before-- searching for something more in her life. So far, she has drifting along from college to college, not finding a home or anyone to mesh with. Then she moves in with her new roommates in Brooklyn and starts working at a diner nearby. The cast of friends and coworkers that August meets are all compelling and nuanced. There's a psychic, a couple drag queens, and a whole motley crew that take her in as their own. But the most notable new person in August's life is the striking stranger she meets on the Q. There is a wonderful twist I did not see coming, but suffice it to say that August has met her match in the alluring woman with the leather jacket who happens to be on the same train everyday.

Recommend for romance lovers, fans of Rainbow Rowell, and those looking for books about LGBTQ+ where coming out is not the main plot line.

4.5 stars

CASEY MCQUISTON HAS DONE IT AGAIN! OLS was not at all what I expected it to be, but I adored it nonetheless. So fun. So dreamy. So adorable. It might take me from now until this book actually goes on sale next June to get over it. Just kidding. I'm never going to get over it.

August is a recent NYC transplant by way of New Orleans. By nature, she's a loner, and her mom's obsessiveness with her missing brother (August's uncle) has made it really difficult for August to find friends. That changes, though, with the ragtag found-family of queers she makes in her new roommates and at her waitressing job. Even better than her new friends, though, is the woman she shares her commute with: Jane. However, things don't seem to be adding up: Jane always wears the same outfit and it /always/ on the subway at the same time August is. What's up with that?! Can August help Jane solve the conundrum and get a happy ending?

This is NOT Red, White, and Royal Blue. It is speculative fiction and I didn't sign up for that! :( I like the ragtag family of queers, but I'm not a fan of speculative. And August is not a very like-able protagonist. I don't care enough about her crush to find out why Jane is still on the subway after 45 years.

Diverse reads:
- August is bi/lesbian.
- Her friends are a variety of ethnicities and LGBTQIA+ identities.

If you like your romance with a dose of mystery and your mystery with some sci-fi and your sci-fi with a little paranormal energy, and you like it all in a package that explores and celebrates LGBTQ+ history, rights, expression, and identity ... then One Last Stop is your stop for your next read!

Cynical, emotionally unavailable August moved from New Orleans to NYC (via Memphis) to get some healthy distance from her mom and finish her degree. A degree. Whatever degree she finally settles on. She did not move to NYC to deal with an excellent-psychic-slash-horrible-bartender roommate, to waitress at a 24-hour diner, and to become slightly obsessed with radiant, impossibly cool Jane. Yet here she is. And here's Jane — always on August's train. But still kind of lost … like in the wrong decade? It's too fantastical to consider, but too important to ignore. Just like the spark that continues to grow between them.

This was a delight to read! The build-up is a little slow, with the first half being very character-driven, but the deliberately paced reveals were perfectly timed for me. I liked hanging out with these characters — all the fun and none of the hangovers. Honestly, I was torn between getting lost in the story and being jolted out of it every so often to squee-think "I'm so glad this book exists for LGBTQ+ READERS!" [Note that I'm not an LGBTQ+ reader/reviewer, so please give my excitement/endorsement it's proper weight.] Publishers, more of this, please! More of this kind of magical, realistic, #OwnVoices, contemporary, queer romance! More diverse, inclusive rom-coms with mystery and magic and history and awareness and relevance. Stories that honor past struggles and current expressions of community and culture.

Plus — and you might want to skip this paragraph of catnip and glorious tropes if you're extremely spoiler averse — found family! NYC in all its grit and glory! Missing persons case! Vintage cool! Smart, anxious nerds! Subway romance! Smart, anxious artists! "Kissing for Research"! The perfect leather jacket! A bisexual NON-erasure moment! An unrecognizable Judy Garland sculpture! Tattoos! Steamy w/w sexy times! Popeyes chicken! A trans psychic! Nighttime brunch! A merry band of misfits who are kind and caring and supportive while telling each other to eff off! Pancakes! Drag shows! Drag shows WITH pancakes!

Every time I try to review this one, I lapse into enthused listing, so you should probably just go read it instead of wasting your time on my lists.

Content notes: missing person cold case and gaslighting bureaucracy, harmful biases and anti-LGBTQ sentiment, parental rejection and disinheritance, fire, violence against protestors, death of family members, displacement, semipublic sex acts, strong language, mental health issues, excessive consumption of alcohol and resultant hangovers, smoking, lies, heist scheme, minor injuries, probably some wonky science

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for making my day/week/month by providing a digital ARC.

Red, White, and Royal Blue is one of my top five favorite novels. One Last Stop is cute, but not comparable to RW&RB. The main character and her friends are all really developed and unique, but I never felt like I really got to know the love interest, and therefore never really got invested in the romance. It's cute and worth reading, but don't go in expecting it to be as swoony.

This book was amazing! It took me through every emotion, made me cackle, made me sob, kept me on my toes, made my heart soar. Beautiful, well written story full of fully formed and endearing characters. I loved every single person I met along the way, and I miss them already.

I know everyone is very excited by this title. It lives up to the wait. This book portrays a very idealized Brooklyn; I live in Brooklyn, and I want to live in THIS Brooklyn. I LOVE the side characters (almost more than the main characters); they all have goals and great back stories. I feel this book could lead to more risque acts on the subway? Sometimes the narration is a bit too poetic for my taste, but it allows for an easy to read pace that still feels like a substantial book. I was nervous about the time travel being hokey, but it makes sense enough.