Review: "One Last Stop" by Casey McQuiston

Quick Summary

Type: Novel

Genre: Fiction, romance, humor, LGBTQIA+

Summary: "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 pat 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."

Rating: 4.25 stars

Review

This was a very cute, easy-to-read romance. Although this is not the type of narrative style I usually enjoy (I tend to prefer third-person past, this was first-person present) I still enjoyed reading this. Frankly, I think the writing style - and my general distaste with it - is the reason I didn't give the book a 4.5 or higher.

But otherwise the story was more-or-less well-paced, mixing an interesting conundrum with a cute love story and lovable characters. The diversity in this book was also introduced and portrayed very naturally. Sometimes when I read LGBTQIA+ fiction (like when I read The Winter Knight) the characters' sexualities become their primary personality, and the things that should actually be the primary facets of their personalities become secondary characteristics. Not in this book. The characters had interesting, nuanced personalities.

August is a girl who runs away and hides from meaningful connections and who can't quite shake the trauma of her childhood. And she happens to be bisexual.

Myla is an artist with an electrical engineering degree who makes people feel at home in her company. Her sexuality is (to my memory) never actually explicitly stated.

Niko is a psychic medium (part-time but real) and crappy bartender with a loving and accepting although possibly overbearing Catholic family. Oh and by the way, he was born a girl.

Wes is a tattooist and amateur baker with refined taste and an almost crippling belief that he doesn't deserve a loving relationship. And yes, he's gay.

Jane is the only character in the book whose identity could really be influenced by her sexuality - she was gay during the 70s - but when I think of Jane in this book, I think of a girl who runs away from things, who makes friends easily, who loves music.

The point of this being that these characters felt like real people and not like caricatures some other books resort to when writing LGBTQIA+ characters.

And of course, there's the romance. There's a little bit of insta-love, but at the same time, the relationship is built up over time to the point of becoming a believable start for a long-term, devoted relationship. Jane and August - while both flawed - work through problems together. Not to mention, many of their interactions are very cute.

I enjoyed this story so much that I was willing to suspend disbelief for quite a few things. I have trouble believing that after calling out for a month, and skipping classes for a month, there weren't be any lasting ramifications, but since it's necessary to believe that for the sake of the plot, I will believe it. (However, maybe August could have been a recent graduate moving to New York, although I guess that means meeting Jane on the Q would have to be introduced in a different way.)

Overall, a very fun read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a feel-good, quick and easy story to get lost in.