One Last Stop
by Casey McQuiston
5 Stars
This was just the story I needed to read in 2020. Granted it doesn't come out for a few months more I am in love with how amazing it was.
August has decided to move to a new city to continue going to school. Upon arriving in NYC she goes to see about a room in an apartment and meets Nikko a psychic who loves her instantly. She meets the other roommates Myla (Nikkos GF) and Wes. She goes about her day going to school and going to her new job as a waitress settling into the new life she has. But then she meets Jane on the subway and instantly has a crush on this impossible girl. As she gets to know Jane better she starts to realize things about her are a little weird. Her outfit never changes, she uses a tape player, she doesn't have a cellphone and doesn't get certain pop culture references. After finding a photo of her from the 70's she realizes that she hasn't aged a day and might actually be stuck from the 1970's.This is a gorgeous found family story with speculative fiction thrown in the mix. I loved the seamless integration of time travel. It is a great read and is everything I expected from McQuinston. I may even say I liked it more than Red, White and Royal Blue
August is implied to be plus sized and is bisexual. August isn't perfect which is something I like in a main character. But she does have some trauma that isn't fully explored, it is mentioned but it isn't really shown how she worked through it. Just a few chapters later she is talking to her mom and has seemingly forgiven her for her odd upbringing.
Jane is Chinese American and gay. She is displaced from the 1970's, and was an advocate for gay rights in her time. Stuck on the subway she stands up for others on the subway and sprinkled throughout history is her being a good person and helping whoever she can. (Even though she stole a scarf)
The rest of the cast of characters are a range of diversity. These include a jewish gay character, a drag queen, a trans latino character and an asian queer character (based on dating history). I love the amount of diversity and the fact that the love interest was diverse as well. But having all these characters in the background to a white cis character although appreciated opens up the conversation about why August wasn't as diverse as everyone else.