Casey McQuiston strikes again in one last stop, as usual McQuiston turns the mundane into the magical. This book starts with a steady rhythm, we are introduced to August Landry, a 23-year-old girl moving from degree to degree trying to find something (or someone *inserts knowing laugh*) where she can settle down in.
She moves in with her flatmates.
Niko is a physic who has an uncanny and accurate answer for what you are feeling at avoiding at any given moment. Myla is an engineer who doesn't stick to making 'normal' things. Wes, a disowned rich kid who dropped out of architecture school and worked as a tattoo artist and Isaiah (he doesn't share with them but lives down the hall and is part of the gang) who is so cool. He's a drag Queen (going by Annie when in drag) and an accountant at the same time!
At first, August tries to reject them.
She is doing what she does best, isolating herself and sticking to the upbringing that her mother brought her up with. But with a group of colourful and dynamic people around her, she can't hide.
What I love so much about this book is how the diversity of the characters is so well woven into the plot, it's natural, rare and beautiful.
One last stop is a new adult sci-fi rom-com and if I have to be honest with you I wasn't expecting the Sci-Fi. Two genres that I tend to avoid in one book had me feeling a bit spectacle but after Red white and royal blue I had faith in Casey.
The big Umph of the plot is who August meets on the train, on her way to school (she is now studying sociology in New York. Did I mention that anything set in New York immediately has my heart?) she meets a woman named Jane on the Q train. It ends up being love at first sight but not in a cliche way, in a way where both of the characters have to unfold the most painful parts of themselves and make a home out of their broken pieces.
Ew, I sound gross.
I love it :)
But Jane isn't just a normal commuter on the crowded subway train, she isn't normal at all. She is displaced in time from the 1970s, stuck and trapped on the train and unable to leave. If she tries to leave she ends up being right where she started, she is living her life on the subway stuck in a cycle.
However, it's not that simple, Jane is on the train whenever August is somehow the two are connected and August being a natural investigator makes it her mission to solve the mystery behind Jane's life.
My #2 favourite thing about this book was...
How the romance unfolded. With Jane and August, there is a natural progression, it's a slow burn but not a slow burn at the same time. So it's perfect, from their very first interaction the reader can sense the attraction the two girls have for each other. Jane and August are the complete opposite of each other, Jane is more relaxed, enigmatic, and loud whereas August is introverted.
Jane has limited memory of her past and August helps her remember all the big moments and small details about who she is. Although there is a Sci-Fi element the book remains realistic, despite August putting her heart and soul into making sure her subway love doesn't fade away. She still has to keep up with school work and her part-time job, furthermore, there is the reality of how family-run businesses struggle to keep up with the increase in big city prices.
In conclusion, there are many things I adore about this book, Casey always add's colour and vibrancy into this mundane and cruel world. Someone once asked me what book I was reading at the time I pointed to this book, and that person looked at me.
Wait I am getting to the good part and said.
"Looks cute but I want to be taken more seriously as a reader"
People who base their reading preferences on wanting to be taken 'seriously' can not be taken in any way at all. Lmao romance doesn't have to equal stupidity, bearing in mind this is coming from someone who doesn't do romance very often or at all. Anyways that's the only ranty part of this review I have.
Give this book a read, be open-minded you don't have to be a Lesbian to connect with these characters.
5/5
Update: I am reading my very last romance book for the summer and I am not enjoying it :/ I will be reading Vengeful next.
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Deeper articles are coming soon, just getting ready for UNIVERISTY 🥳🥳🥳