Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - One Last Stop

As always i bloody adore this book to pieces. This is my first re read and I was actually annotating my copy for a very special girl I hope to gift it too when I see them.

It made me have all the feels. The queer joy. The love. It’s like a hug and a breathe of fresh air at the same time. Even when it’s tense. I adore this book.

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I don’t know how to feel about a sci-fi romance like this, if I’m being honest. The premise felt unrealistic and a bit difficult to wrap my head around with all the space time continuum stuff going on but the characters are beautifully written, unique, and loveable as all hell. The love stories are sweet & strong. The found family in this book is so genuine and real. I just wish the main thread of the story wasn’t about traveling through time.

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scarletthequeen's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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grets_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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maevemil's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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its2early4this's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm not sure if I've read a book with such a diverse cast before. If so, this one is still pretty high up there. Gay men, lesbians, at least one bisexual and pansexual person each, at least one trans person, multiple drag queens, mentions of non-binary people and gender non-conformity in general, lots of POC. All-in-all, that aspect of the book is fantastic. While the romance is a major point of the book, it didn't feel like THE focal point, which I enjoyed. I would say that, really, this book was about finding yourself, finding a place to belong, and found family. Equal parts sad and inspiring. I don't have much of anything negative to say about this book. I suppose the pacing felt odd in some places, but that could be because I had to return it mid-read due to holds, and wait to finish it. All-in-all, very worth the read.

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leonormsousa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.5

REPRESENTATION

bisexual plus-sized MC, lesbian Chinese American LI, Puerto Rican American trans SC, gay SC, black gay drag queen SC, black sapphic SC, black pan SC

REVIEW

Ladies and gentlemen and everything in between, Casey McQuiston does it again! I wasn’t sure what to expect from One Last Stop since I’d seen such mixed reviews, and that’s maybe why I postponed picking it up: my good memories with RWRB (Red, White & Royal Blue, their previous novel) were still lingering, and I didn’t want to be disappointed. Well, shame on me because if there’s anything this book didn’t do was disappoint me!

One Last Stop was very very different from RWRB, and I can now totally see why some people like one but not the other. However, I absolutely loved the immaculate vibes of this one. It was a lot more science-fiction and mystery than I was expecting, especially compared to the complete romance that RWRB was, but that was something that I actually appreciated quite a lot.

My absolute favourite part about this though was absofreakinglutely the found family and the queerness! It was just so wholesome and made me feel so warm and happy inside… I swear to god, there’s something special about queer found families that makes them even better than the regular (and already pretty fantastic) found families. They hit that little spot in my heart every time, and One Last Stop did this wonderfully.

The romance was beautiful (although I was already expecting that from Casey) but maybe even more noteworthy is that everything felt real. It’s incredible how a time travel novel can feel more real than most romances I’ve read before, and it's definitely a testament to how well Casey was able to write a great plot with all its different aspects intertwining perfectly. Nothing felt out of place; not too much, not too little; the perfect recipe with the perfect execution.

All the little different “side” plots were pretty amazing, and so were the side characters. It’s so nice seeing side characters that are actually developed and have challenges of their own throughout the book. We’re all the main characters of our own stories, and that’s something that passes on to this book: August and Jane might take the central stage, but Niko, Myla, Wes, Isaiah, Lucie, etc., they all have a place to shine.

Did I mention the vibes already? Yes? Well, here it is again; THE VIBES! The Pancake house! The drag shows! The Queer history! The New York Subway! The 70’s references! The psychicness! Even the fantastic chapter introductions contribute to setting up this amazing environment that surrounds you while you’re reading!

This book was great, and I think it’s one of those books that only get better after you finish it and have time to think about it. I ended up settling at 4.5 stars mostly because there were a few moments where the pace was maybe a tad slow for me, but really, this might just be bickering 🤷

So, what are you waiting for?! This is your sign to start reading Casey McQuiston (if you haven’t yet)! “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” has definitely already crawled its way to the top of my wishlist (although I’m not sure if I’m ready for YA again), and so will other books by Casey. In the meanwhile, I’ll have to satisfy myself with far less beautifully written romances that don’t own my heart as this one does.

PS: after being disenchanted with the US, I now want to go to NY so badly after this book!

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