This was an interesting story with a young woman who moved to New York for college and found an apartment with an interesting group of people who quickly become her new "family." She has an attitude of snark and does not believe in much and that could be because of her background but she does have a detective streak and uses that after she meets Jane on the Q train as she rides back and forth to school. Janes is always on the train and always in the same outfit. There is something about her and she is intrigued. Soon she discovers she is a woman who is out of her time and should have been in the 1970s. This story was good and paths crossed and paranormal intertwined throughout. I do have to say I really enjoyed the various holidays and they had me laughing my way through them. I would recommend this one.

**Received this ARC for review in audio form from the publisher via NetGalley**

If you loved RED, WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE, you've probably been waiting for Casey McQuiston's next book. Well, here it is, and it is a beauty.

McQuiston takes on a time travel trope with August and Jane, two young women who meet on the Q train. August feels a spark, but when she works up the nerve to ask Jane out, she gets rejected. It turns out that Jane is stuck--literally--on the Q. She should be in the 1970s, but she's here, with August, in some sort of time slip. So in addition to being Chinese and gay, Jane also has to battle being unable to leave the Q.

This book is beautifully full of characters you don't find in many romances. August's roommates are Niko, a Latinx trans psychic and bartender, his girlfriend Myla, a Black queer engineer, and Wes, a gay tattoo artist in love with an accountant/drag queen. Their stories are poignant, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hopeful, always real.

If all authors treated their characters with the respect McQuiston does, teenagers who don't understand how they're feeling or what their feelings mean could have a touchstone. They could find bravery.

I didn't love everything about this book the way I loved everything about RED, WHITE and ROYAL BLUE. Sometimes the pacing felt a little off, and some characters could have been more fully developed. But even at its weakest, this book is still beautiful and a must-read. I listened to the audiobook, and Natalie Naudus's narration is soooooo good. She embodies each character, bringing them to life and differentiating their voices.

Let me know what you thought of ONE LAST STOP.

"You gotta make your own place to belong"

These words are the heart of the delightful queer romcom audiobook One Last Stop by Casey Mcquiston.

August is a 23 year old professional college student. She has transferred to Brooklyn College in NY hoping a change will get her focused on a career and a life. She has no idea how the people and places in New York are about to completely change her forever.

On a rainy day rushing for the Q train August spots sexy mysterious Jane in her perfectly fitting black vintage leather jacket. She is stunned by the instant connection she feels with her. The doors close before they meet but that is okay because Jane will be on the train the next day and the day after and so on. Jane has not left the train since 1977.

This touch of magical realism works perfectly with the quirky and often whimsical characters that become August's choice of family. I fell in love with her roommates Myla, Niko, Wes and the loving drag queen Annie. Each has teaching moments for August about love, acceptance and true friendship.

The narrator @natalienaudus, gives us perfect comedic timing, sexy teases and emotional honesty. One of the most heartfelt moments comes when Jane is shocked by the public display of affection among the gay couples she meets. In 1977 she could have been beaten and even killed for a loving display of emotion. Through the humor and love there are moments of thought provoking reality.

I really enjoyed listening to this story. I grew up near Brooklyn College and I remember the streets and train stations and just the feel of Flatbush. It is truly a melting pot of people. This is a love story about finding where you belong and Jane just had to travel a few decades on the express to find her place in this world.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have no words for how amazing this was, but I'm finally ready to try to express myself lololol. This is everything that my queer heart wanted and more!!!!! The found-family elements were everything to me and added to the story so so much! I literally fell head over heels for every single character. The writing was so beautiful and so hilarious; I was laughing and crying all at the same time! Truly a roller coaster of emotions!! This book will forever live in my mind RENT-FREE.

The audiobook was fantastic and really brought all the characters to life! I 100% recommend it- although now I NEED a physical copy just to annotate the hell out of it. The only thing that I didn't enjoy was the pause break in between the chapters. They seemed really really long and it kept making me think that the audiobook had accidentally stopped working or that the app shut down. I'm not sure if it was just the download that I had or if the final audiobook also has that problem, but it's definitely something to take into consideration because it was quite annoying TBH!

Overall though, I really did fall in love with this book. This was my first Casey McQuiston and I can't wait to finally pick up Red, White & Royal Blue and all future publications! Definitely found a new favorite author! I am already looking forward to rereading this!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press/Macmillan Audio an advanced ebook and audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

August moves to New York City, moves into an apartment with a psychic, which she likes is a fake. Her new roommates invite her out with them and she is taken aback. She is not used to that. She and her mother have always been loners. She doesn’t believe in love, magic or basic connection. All that changes as the story progresses.

She finds a girl on the subway that seems to be there every time August gets on. She really likes this girl and asks her on a date but Jane turns her down. August knew it was to good to be. She decides she is going to never ride that train again but end the end that doesn’t happen.

The connection and mystery of this story was so good. It was a cute story. I loved the time element in this story which I am a sucker for that every time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this Audio ARC.

August is a young bisexual woman moving to Brooklyn with more emotional baggage than material possessions. Trained from young age in the arts of detection and not trusting anyone, August wants nothing more than put her past behind her, and stop assisting her mother is her obsessive search for August’s uncle who disappeared when his sister was a child. One day, August meets Jane on the Q train, and is immediately smitten. The only problem is that Jane is actually from the 1970s, and has somehow been stuck on the train for forty years. August must dust off her detecting skills and, with the help of her found family, help Jane get unstuck.

This is a f/f romance novel with a bit of a supernatural twist due to the time-travel element. A word of warning: the novel treats in a pretty light manner issues like homophobia in the 1970s, police brutality against LGBTQ-rights activists, and racism against Asian people. August even cheerfully tells Jane (a Chinese-American woman) that racism doesn’t exist anymore immediately after Jane recounts a racist attack she just experienced. This certainly shows a lack of awareness and sensitivity in the writer that has to be pointed out.

My favourite parts of the novel have to do with the way August, who has been solitary her entire life, learns to let her roommates in and they become her family. I am a sucker for the found family tropes and this one is delightful. The secondary characters were quirky and fun, from August’s roommates to the employees of the restaurant she works at. I am also a sucker for a heist, especially in a book where that kind of thing doesn’t seem to belong, and this one has a heist! The romance is lovely and features several pretty hot sex scenes which made me glad I wasn’t listening to the audiobook in public. There is a fantasy/science-fiction element in the time-travelling/ghost love interest that may be off-putting to a reader who doesn’t expect it, but I really liked it even though it required a pretty strong willingness to suspend disbelief.

The narrator was excellent, her speech was quick, lively, and full of emotion, especially convincing during the sex scenes. Towards the end I felt like the voices for the two male roommates became a bit confused, but aside from this little detail she was perfect.

What else can we say about Casey McQuiston. Everything she writes leaps off the page. She is such a thoughtful, beautiful writer of modern times. The way she wrote about the Q train is the epitome of New York. And that’s just writing about a train.! Her characters break your heart and tie you in pieces every time. I listen to this on audiobook as well as reading it. I definitely recommend both. The audiobook hit different but just as good. For her second book she hit it out of the park once again.
Thanks #netgalley

Here is a link to my review/promotion of One Last Stop on Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdjHpBLs/

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I was highly anticipating this book after reading Red, White, and Royal Blue last winter and Casey McQuiston did NOT disappoint!

August is a young woman who has recently moved in New York City after struggling to find her place in the world. One day while travelling by subway she meets a beautiful woman named Jane. She almost instantly catches feelings for Jane and can’t to see her again. The rub is that Jane isn’t exactly alive. The rest of the story details August and Janes relationship and how they try to make it permanent.

My apologies for the vague synopsis but I didn’t want to spoil the story. This is another book outside my typical genre but I really enjoy trying new books as you never know what you will end up liking. In this case I really enjoyed this audiobook, the overall message of love, friendship and happiness really resonated and was a nice break from all the thrillers I usually read. I also really liked the narrator of the audiobook who had a lovely tone and was really easy to listen to while keeping me engaged. The book is a bit lengthy at 14 hours and sometimes I struggle with this as it takes me a long time to listen and I forget parts of the story. Overall this one is getting great reviews everyone and I concur.

Love in a time-warped subway, living it up underground! A lonely past, a mystery, an opening in the timeline, love, found family, big city, and big chances, this story by the author of Red, White, and Royal Blue is a love letter to making it work, defying the odds, and finding yourself. ⁣
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Full to the brim with lovable, eccentric characters you wish were real and a lively setting, I highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a cotton candy rom com with some fantasy twists and mystery galore. It’ll keep you reading, keep you guessing, and keep you believing that in the face of all odds, love wins. ⁣Plus, it is STEAMY 🔥
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A joyous escape for these long summer days. One last stop will keep you wishing for one more page. ⁣
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Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the advanced audiobook version. I will say, for me personally, I found myself reading my copy more than listening, as the narrator’s choices for voices didn’t work for me.

In One Last Stop August, a twenty something finishing her college degree, as she moves to New York City hoping to find what she wants to do with her life. On her commute one day she meets Jane, a punk girl who always seems to be on the Q at the same time as August. The story weaves together the impossible, found family, complicated relationships with biological family, saving your favorite local diner, drag performances, and falling in love with someone who helps you to find yourself again.
Over all this was a very sweet book. I love the relationship between all the couples, and the platonic love all our core cast of roommates have for each other. Also Jane is hot and I refuse to hear otherwise.

This book was honestly so amazing and I cried SO MANY TIMES! The audiobook narration was great, well paced, and I could listen at 2.5 speed with no issues. This is probably one of my favorite books to date right now.

I wasn't sure how I would like this book it started off really slow for me, the concept was very original and I ended up liking it alot more then I imagined. I read this and listened to it and it was interesting with both takes.

August hopes that her move to Brooklyn, and away from her missing-persons obsessed mother, will be the beginning of a new chapter of her life, until she meets impossibly hot Jane on the Q, and stumbles into an even bigger mystery that her mother prepared her for— how to stop time for the love of her life.

This book itself really embraces the manic pixie dream girl trope in itself, it sounds so good and magical and everyone loves it, but it’s painfully average in reality. And I’m not saying that because hot Jane spends about half of the book embodying this trope. The synopsis made this sound like an ideal romance to me in its combination of sci-fi mystery and hot train lesbians, but usually when things seem too good to be true, they really are. It’s exactly one half poetic and beautifully written and one half painfully awkward and embarrassingly one-dimensional.

While some moments stand out as gorgeous and sweet, they feel as though they were written by a different author and thrown into the mix to bring me back from dying from secondhand embarrassment over the rest of the book. So much of this book is relatable, but in the I’m-in-this-picture-and-don’t-like-it way. In the same way that my high school English teacher made us reflect on why we hated Daisy in The Great Gatsby because of our internalized misogyny and subliminal self-hate, a lot of the characters in this book sent me into a soft rage that I totally recognized [yes I, a bitchy Libra who likes to talk science but has an art degree, seethed every time Myla appeared (yes, that often)].

There were so many occasions where I would stop with the thought that if I wanted to hear so many meme references and millennial discourse, I would prefer to spend 8 hours of my life on Twitter than the time I spent listening to this audiobook. The tone of the writing is something that I can only describe as “White Women Woke,” and I was just so uncomfortable the majority of the time. This book isn’t poorly written, there were paragraphs that were romantic, poetic, and very grown-up sounding that would surprise me, right before diving back into almost childish-edgy drivel (sorry, but using swearing as filler text is Not It for me, it gives off the vibe of someone who was given copy edits and said “you’re wrong” to the editor and added more).

All of this being said, I completely can understand why people love this book. There are so many folks that can see themselves in this story; however, I just wish that there was a better women loving women romance with a bi protagonist that people would get obsessed with. It made me question whether this book is actually good and it’s going over my head or if the book is, in fact, bad and there isn’t enough other stories with diverse casts and queer romances.

I very genuinely was afraid to give this book a negative review because everyone is so obsessed with it (it having a 4.51/5 on Goodreads is just absurd to me), but at a point in the book, I felt like I was hate-reading it and just too far to give up on it (although I did joke about DNF’ing mid-chapter two, so not finishing was always on my mind). It was exhaustingly embarrassing, occasionally slow as hell, and weirdly childish at times.

I just can’t get over this book that was supposed to be a sweet good-times-read ended up being something that agitated me so much.

4.5 rounded up because I physically cannot stop thinking about Jane and how much I want to both be her and be her best friend

There is no lack of hype surrounding this book, but I’m here to add to it because holy wow is it deserved. If I were one to outwardly express my emotions, I would for sure be squealing because this book was an absolute delight.

Even though I did not read Red, White & Royal Blue and frankly have no plans to, I was drawn to picking up this book after seeing so many people include it on their anticipated releases lists. In case you live under a rock and don't yet know what One Last Stop is about, here's a brief rundown:
- college student, August, moves to New York
- oh look there's a cute girl on the subway every day
- wait, wtf, she's from the 1970s?! and she is stuck on this train?!
and the story ensues from there.

One Last Stop truly has everything: cute contemporary romance, whimsical sci-fi elements, history, mystery, self-discovery, and even a dash of a heist story?! I think this really makes this book perfect for people like me who don't typically reach for romance books. The mystery side plot in particular, which involves August's uncle who has been missing for several decades, kept me very interested and invested and I loved seeing how everything ended up coming together.

On top of that, this book was 432 pages of pure sapphic delightfulness, bursting with queer joy, resilience, and history. The main characters in this book were so easy to fall in love with and root for. I felt so much for August and Jane both as a couple and as their own individual characters. I mean, c'mon, Jane is a badass Chinese-American butch who named a subway rat Bao, of course I love her. I also adored the found family aspect and the ~feeling uncertain about the future~ vibes that were present in this book.

In addition, the atmosphere of this book was *chef's kiss.* I completely see what other reviewers mean when they call this book a love letter to New York. Even though I have never been there, I found myself transported to and immersed in the energy of the city. Plus, a good chunk of this book is set on the subway and my little public-transportation-lover heart is here for it.

Some other things to appreciate:
- food service employees representtttt
- sex scenes that I did not dislike!
- single mom and daughter relationships
- audiobook narration by Natalie Naudus, which was so lovely and immersive

In conclusion, read this book.

Audiobook provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was a damn delight! This is as much a story of August falling in love with New York City as it is about her falling in love with Jane. It's a novel that celebrates found families, and finding your place in the world. There's awkward pining and some amazing banter. There's diverse representation (ethnicity, gender, and sexuality). We've got a protagonist that is not model skinny - but where her size isn't made a focus of the plot, but rather is just subtly there. There is casual magic/sci-fi time travel elements that are believable within the plot. And this is one hell of a sapphic romance full of tension and yearning... and subway shenanigans.

But what McQuiston does with this novel so brilliantly is that this is also a novel about queer history. Stonewall, the start of the AIDS epidemic, the UpStairs Lounge fire are part of the plot and dialogue. Having a queer character from the 1970s who manages to get pulled out of their time loop and into modern day allows for August and Jane to talk about how things have changed (and how they haven't) for the LGBTQIA+ community.

In my opinion, the element that makes a novel great is when readers get emotionally attached to side characters because the author gave them as much depth and dimension as their main characters. I adore all of August's roommates (they're amazing and with their Rollie Bang game gave me New Girl vibes and I loved it), but Wes' storyline... it really hit me in the Feels. And I'm super sad that I can't join this crew at one of their drag brunches.

Natalie Naudus does an amazing job with the audiobook too!

ONE LAST STOP is a whimsical sapphic ride through time, space, and the mystical Q Train. Jane and August's romance crackles with the kind of wit and reverence that can only be had between a girl who slipped through time and a girl who feels like time is marching on without her. The found family aspect of this book delighted me (Wes and Isaiah's book next? PLEASE?) and the queer rep is so, so welcome. Casey McQuiston is a national treasure. Truly.

I listened to this one on audio and the narrator was exceptional. The humor and heart that was evoked with each character performance made the story come to life.

CW: The word "clean" is used to described someone who is STI negative. This feels a bit out of place in a rather queer-uplifting book, and wished it had not been included in this context as it's stigmatizing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I NEED MORE STARS! I loved this more than McQuiston's first novel Red, White & Royal Blue, and I thought that book was perfection. August is an incredible character, raised by a mother who seems lost in her own story, so August sets off to find her own. Then she finds a girl on the subway who is somehow lost in time. Billy's is the perfect backdrop. I can smell the pancake diner. All the characters are deliciously original, and I laughed out loud so many times. There is an awful (read hilarious) diatribe about savory vape pens that almost caused me to wreck my car.

I received an ALC from NetGalley.

This was a great audio version of a great book. I loved the narrator a whole lot, especially the voice for Jane.

Absolutely ADORED the characters but unfortunately I wasn't a fan of the plot. Sci-fi can often be a hit or miss for me but I was really excited to give One Last Stop a try after how much I loved Red, White & Royal Blue. Even though this ended up being a miss for me I will still be looking forward to reading anything the author writes in the future.