There’s a reason the “Missed Connections” message boards and newspaper ads attract so much attention. The idea that your soul mate could be the random person from the coffee shop or on the bus home is thrilling, like something out of a movie. Casey McQuiston’s latest hit novel One Last Stop takes this romantic comedy meet-cute to the next level. What if your missed connection wasn’t just a fellow commuter? What if they were from another time entirely?
Our bisexual heroine August is the type of cynic who would love the analytical challenge of finding a missed connection for someone else while internally scoffing at the idea of true love at first sight. New to New York City after leaving a series of colleges trying to find a place that fits her, she is closed off and lonely due to her childhood experiences with her Lorelai Gilmore-like mother (if Lorelai Gilmore was obsessed with solving a cold case). Hoping to escape her mother’s influence and make her own life, August gets a job serving pancakes at a classic Brooklyn institution while resisting the attempts by her quirky roommates (one of whom is a psychic) to become friends. But then everything changes when August is having a terrible day and a mysterious (and hot) stranger on the Q train gives her help just when she needs it.
Jane Su is breathtaking and instantly compelling for both August and the reader. Confident and representing everything August is missing from life, Jane quickly becomes August’s lifeline as they share the same commute each day. But the more time August spends with Jane on the train, the more it becomes clear that something isn’t right. Why does Jane flirt with her, then fail to make plans to meet outside of the Q train? Why does Jane only appear when August is on the train? And why are all her references from the 1970s? August realizes Jane is stuck out of her own time and trapped on the Q train, meaning she’ll have to use all her true crime skills to help Jane go home … if that’s what Jane really wants at all.
One Last Stop isn’t just a sexy (and I mean sexy) romance with heart sure to leave readers swooning. It’s a story about growing up and finding your community and being bold enough to take the things you want from life. August starts out closed off and unwilling to accept love from anyone, believing she’s not worthy of it. Jane has plenty of love to give, but is afraid of commitment. While August’s relationship with Jane pushes her to be bold and give love a chance, it’s the found family she forms and the roots she slowly puts down in Brooklyn that form the heart of the story. McQuiston is excellent at creating a vivid setting and populating it with unique, fleshed out characters, and the reader will find themselves wanting to live in August’s world as much as they will fall in love with August and Jane’s relationship. Fans of Red, White & Royal Blue will find a lot to love in One Last Stop, continuing McQuiston’s domination of the queer new adult romance genre.
One Last Stop is available now wherever books are sold.
