A review by offbrandclubsoda
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Favourite quote [I’ve already returned the book to the library, so I’m pulling this quote from my memory. I apologize if it’s not exactly correct]: “that sucks, I’m your mom now. The rules are, no Tarantino movies and bed time is never”

I loved this! It was cute, heartwarming, romantic, spicy, and relatable. I’m so glad to see a book with good bi representation and diverse characters in general. 
I really think this should be tagged as Science Fiction because I definitely would have picked the book up sooner if I had known there was more than the rom-com plot!

Things I liked:
  • Queer history woven into the story [Note: I recently saw a review that said this was inaccurately represented, so I’ll have to look into this further]
  • Found family
  • All the side characters
  • All the rep
  • Sci-fi 
  • Sapphic spice
  • Finally a Queer book that’s not about coming out

Some critiques:
I was frustrated that the issue of child abuse and mental illness was never properly addressed. It seems like August’s childhood was played off as shitty but ultimately forgivable based on the way she reconnected with her mom at the end. In my opinion, August’s mother was severely neglectful. On the other hand, her mother’s behaviour seemed to obviously stem from mental illness, but it was never treated as such in the book.

I know that a lot of people have taken issue with the “most people aren’t like that anymore” line and I agree that it’s shitty. However, my problem isn’t with the line itself, as I think it is something that August would say. My issue is the fact that the line is never brought up or addressed again. I think it could have been a good opportunity for August to learn and grow. 

Similarly, I’ve seen a lot of people express frustration with the fact that the narration did not start using Biyu instead of Jane at the end. While I think this would have been nice, I don’t think the author set it up well. The character said she was “thinking about” going by Biyu at the very end of the book. I would have preferred if this had been introduced a bit earlier so that there was time to explore it further and allow the character to more explicitly state her desire to be called Biyu. 

As much as I love a happy ending, I think the author wrapped this one up a bit too perfectly, to the point where it wasn’t believable. Too “happily ever after” for me

Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶.5/5
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