2021. Adequately written book about some queer housemates in Brooklyn. The protagonist, August Landry, falls in love with a girl on the subway, and gradually realizes said girl, Biyu ‘Jane’ Su, is trapped out of time on the Q train. She can’t get off the train. Seems she’s been stuck on the train since some time in the 70s. They fall in love and eventually they figure out how to get her off the train. They also save Billy’s Pancake House from going out of business. Happy feel good book. Subway sex. A little too sappy and happy for my taste, but fun. ( )

Last year I bought Casey McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue, and even though it's a doorstop of a book, I've read it three times, loving it more and more with each re-read. So when I discovered a second of the author's books, I ordered it and started reading it the next day. It's marvellous, One Last Stop, bloody marvellous.

August has moved to New York City to finish her degree. She is bisexual, a virgin, unloved, unhappy, and determined not to have feelings or friends or love. She finds an apartment to share with four weird, caring, fascinating oddballs, a job at a diner that has walls, food, and a wonderful vibe, and she finds Jane on the subway. Jane is always on the subway when August rides it, and it is a short hop from crush on a pretty girl to passion to love that won't stop even when she tries her hardest.

In a science-fiction time-travel gay romance, not a genre I'd ever considered, Jane and August learn about friendship, love, life, music, drag queens, and sacrifice. It is honestly one of the best romances I've ever read about. It makes the impossible - time-travelling girlfriend stuck on a subway? - seem possible. The characters - roommates, bosses, drag queens, families - are so believable that by the end of the book I felt like I'd been travelling for hours with close friends who know my secrets and who love me anyway. This book made me both less lonely while I read it, and lonelier now that the book has ended. It gave me hope for my current quasi-relationship with a man I've never met but fallen for anyway. One Last Stop is an amazing book.

I will love Casey McQuiston's books even if the next one she writes is about levels of shale in a mud-filled East Anglian pit. ( )

3 Stars

Full disclosure - I read this for a challenge and in all honesty, sapphic stories aren’t typically on my radar.

In general, I felt a disconnect with August. As much as we get why she is who she is, I still don’t have a clear picture. On the other hand, there is so much waxing poetic about Jane that the reader has no choice but to love her hard.

I adored [b:Red, White & Royal Blue|41150487|Red, White & Royal Blue|Casey McQuiston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566742512l/41150487._SY75_.jpg|61657690] from this author. It had so much swoon and humor and a great supporting cast. For me, this didn’t have much of the former, and the latter is what saved this book from a lower rating. Also, blatant grounded contemporary with a supernatural twist is very hard to pull off in my opinion. Once the conflict was fully revealed, the premise just didn’t jive for me. So… when one’s not meshing with a story, it doesn’t help either that this felt 200 pages too long.

Again, all the points toward the entertaining fully representative cast. Overall, in the grand scheme of things, how I feel about this book is unimportant. There’s plenty of 5 star reviews and ratings out there that can tell you why this could be the next awesome read for you - it all depends on personal preferences and what you’re jonesing for in the here and now! ( )

Good for what it is, I just never really got into magic realism. ( )

Omg this book. It’s so cute and funny and just overwhelmingly beautiful. I laughed, I cried, I got mad, and I was so so happy. How dare this book be so good. ( )