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luxxltyd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Homophobia and Death
Minor: Racism
amberinpieces's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Alcoholism, Grief, Classism, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Biphobia
violetends's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The paranormal elements were plotted so well and fun. (Even though I found many plot revelations to be very foreseeable because McQuinston placed foreshadowing hints regularly and it felt a little obvious how those were left hanging in the air, even though it would have absolutely made sense to answer the obvious questions following these hints or for the characters to ask these questions at least.)
This is a little all over the place. Altogether, One Last Stop made me feel a whole lot of things. How the different characters from the flat/ house form a community, how the love between August and Jane develops and the many, many lovely (queer) events and parties they go to. It created a certain ache in my heart for this kind of community that I crave so bad. And McQuinston wrote these people and their interactions so well that I'd just love to live in the same house with them, honestly.
Graphic: Sexual content and Homophobia
Moderate: Grief, Hate crime, Death, and Racism
Minor: Car accident
brookey8888's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Grief, Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Death, and Homophobia
siobhanward's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was a really cute read - I had a lot of fun with it and found myself looking forward to the plot coming together in the end. Sure, some things were solved a bit too perfectly, but time travel is a fantasy element anyway, so there was plenty of room for poetic license. Definitely looking forward to more from McQuiston!
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Death and Racism
indigoriverboat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Grief, and Death
panic_at_the_bookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This is a queer romance that shows us all aspects of falling in love with someone. From the denial to the fear of losing them. From pure joy to the insecurities that come along with letting someone close.
I am also super happy about how there are plenty of hints to the people from the LGBTQIA+ community who fought so hard for our rights and freedom. Not the mention the ode to drag queens. They are portrayed as openhearted, protective, loving and determinated people instead of bitches. Casey has shown us how the community can be such a warm and welcoming place.
I also love how even side-characters get a background story. They aren't just some decoration for the story. There is a depth to them that makes everything more realistic even when the author plays with timelines.
There are only a few minor things that bugged me just a little. The first part of the story has plenty of scenes (sometimes super random ones) where the focus is on August's virginity. I know society portrays virginity as a shame once you reach a certain age. Yet I felt weird when reading how the character shames herself on this and there isn't much else done with it. At least I didn't feel like a lot was done to this.
I also feel as if some things conveniently happened when the characters were facing a problem. Sometimes it felt too convenient to me.
However those two elements are literally the only thing that bugged me throughout this book. I would highly recommend this books if you want queer romance, a diverse cast of characters and a bit of a mindfuck. Heck, I wasn't able to put down the book for the last 100 pages because I was absolutely hooked and needed to know how the mystery would be taken care of...
Moderate: Sexual content and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Death, Racism, Grief, Drug use, and Homophobia
clhtdr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Racism and Homophobia
merle_bookdragon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This review will contain spoilers.
I went into this with a very vague idea of the blurb being "girl meets other girl on subway and falls in love" so let me tell you I was surprised when suddenly there was time travel involved? Or time ... jumps? Blips? I don't know what to call it. Anyway, I was NOT expecting this fantastical/magical/sc-ifi element? However, I really enjoyed it because it gave the narrative a nice frame to exist in and also guaranteed to a certain degree that the story would progress because they were on a time grind.
Found family is my absolute favorite trope maybe EVER so of course I loved August, Myla, Niko, and Wes' flat family, then adding Isaiah and (more or less technically) Jane, and of course all the people from Billy's and UGH it just made me very happy because what is a life goal if not a very happy (queer) family of people. The book also gave enough "screentime" to the other characters and their stories, giving the reader a break from the main narrative without taking away from it at all.
"I wish I was never born," August moans into the floor.
"Retweet," Wes says solemnly.
Otherwise:
- A+ jokes, like honestly I love when characters have good humor
- so much queerness and especially so much drag, i love it
- also kinda of a little love letter to New York? from a very genuine perspective I think, considering McQuiston also currently lives in the city
- two scenes that I would officially titled "pretty spicy" but could be skipped if the reader isn't comfortable with details, I am still questioning their sanity after they did it on the Q ngl
- Wes needs a hug and should be protected
- Niko and Myla = powercouple
- I wish I had HALF the swag that Jane has
Anyway I think that's it for now but honestly truly really loved it.
And she'd do figure drawing, where she'd draw the negative space around a person first, and then fill in the person. And that's how I'm trying to look at it. Maybe I don't know what fills it in yet, but I can look at the space around where I sit in the world, what creates that shape, and I can care about what it's made of, if it's good, if it hurts anyone, it makes people happy, if it makes me happy. And that can be enough for now.
Graphic: Sexual content and Homophobia
Moderate: Racism, Grief, and Death
Minor: Hate crime and Car accident
jkneebone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Things I adored about this book: The side characters - all of August's coworkers at Pancake Billy's, and especially her roommates-slash-found family-slash-band of misfits. The descriptions of NYC and especially Brooklyn. August's complicated relationship with her mother. Jane's backstory, and the window it gives into queer history. The simmering, sultry relationship between Jane and August, and how we get to see it develop. The side plot about fighting gentrification. How aggressively queer it is (the cast of characters are almost entirely LGBT, and August & co frequently attend drag shows etc).
Things I struggled with about this book: The fact that it is explicitly set in 2020 when it was published in summer 2021 (I know it was probably already written & edited pre-pandemic, but changing the dates would have been - to me - a good use of time). The pacing (it drags at the beginning). The genre combo/overlap of sci-fi(?) and romance (usually in romance, you know the characters will end up together, and I spent way too much time worrying because I didn't know *how* that could possibly work out).
Although I ultimately really enjoyed this when I finally finished, it took me a looooong time to get through it. I kept starting, getting distracted, reading ahead, then putting it down and not wanting to come back to it. I didn't realize going in that it was a time travel book, and I was really having trouble reconciling the romance conceits I would usually expect with the unfamiliar, how-to-get-Jane-unstuck plot that felt at times very uncertain. I don't think this is a fault or a failure of McQuiston's - if anything it's a failure of the way we market books - because it was a cool idea that was pulled off really well in the end. But I did dock a half-star from my overall rating since it was so hard for me to get into the book at first.
Graphic: Hate crime and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Cursing, Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia
Minor: Fatphobia