Book 16 One Last Stop

 

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston fulfills the category “Book Set on an Airplane, Train, or Cruise Ship” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. I also read Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters. Though the novel had a ship and a train, it was more about the country music song. One Last Stop centers on a woman who cannot leave the Q train in Brooklyn.

This novel fits so many categories! It has a found family. It’s a sapphic tale. There’s a subway at the center. Booktok recommends it. You could argue it’s about the afterlife… but then maybe not. I’m keeping it in the ship/train/airplane category because those stories have not been easy to locate.

One Last Stop chronicles the life of a young woman named August. She moves to New York City, searching for her true self. She’s finishing college, trying to find true love, and a family to support her. In a random train encounter on the Q, August falls in love with an Asian woman who lends her a scarf. August knows about those quick flashes of love that occur on the subway. She thinks nothing more of it until the woman is on the same train again and again. She and Jane seem to have the same commute. August, who is juggling a new job, new roommates, and a mother obsessed with a cold case, takes a chance and asks Jane out. Jane turns her down.

This could be the end of our story, but August finds a picture of Jane at her place of work. The picture is forty-five years old. Something is very wrong with Jane, and August wants to help. The woman has been stuck on the Q train for half a century. Jane has no idea how she got there and why she can’t get off the train. August uses all of the detective skills she learned from her mother to find the truth about Jane.

Did I mention along the way Jane and August fall deeply in love?

This book had everything—a love story, an interesting mystery, spicey, fun side characters, and a little magic. It had fantastic questions and kept the reader guessing. How do you fall in love with a person who’s not really alive? How do you maintain the relationship? Throw in quirky LGBTQA+ characters that help August with Jane, with her life, and become her family. It’s a recipe for success.

The only problem I had with the book was an oops on my part. I like to listen to audiobooks. In fact, I find I have a harder time reading a paper or digital copy now that I’m addicted to audio. Anyway, I asked my fifteen-year-old if I could listen to the story while we ate dinner. Then boom! A sex scene popped up. Boy, was my face pink! I turned it off immediately and apologized profusely. The teen just rolled their eyes at me.

I give One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston Five Red Scarves to cover my coffee-stained shirt.