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One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
5.0

Thank to Macmillon Audio and Netgalley for sending me an audio-ARC in exchange for a review!

Watch my review on YouTube HERE!

Casey McQuiston's One Last Stop is a celebration of what it means to be queer.

One Last Stop follows a woman in her mid-twenties who has always been on the run, terrified of what would happen if she were to put down roots. She has spent her life friendless, with very little family, digging through archives with her mother in search of a ghost. After moving to New York City into a tiny apartment with a set of quirky but loveable roommates, August starts to find a routine to her new life, one that involves a daily trip on the Q train. This is where she meets Jane, a short-haired, punk rock, Chinese-American lesbian who looks like she came right out of the 70s. Which, as it turns out, she did. Jane is an impossibility, having been stuck in time and place on the subway for over 40 years, with no memory of who she is, how she got there, or why. Jane and August start trying to figure out the mystery of Jane's very existence, all the while trying desperately not to fall in love.

This is easily one of the gayest books I have ever read, and it was beautiful in every way. Every character plays such an important role in One Last Stop, all coming together to form this gorgeous mosaic of some of the different ways to be queer. August and Jane's experience of joining this family and becoming part of their world is something that I have longed for in my own life, and I'm sure is so relatable to every young queer out there. This book is a beautiful example of how we make our own families within this community, which is my favourite thing about us. This has such a richly diverse cast of characters, all so different but still the same in all the ways that matter. One Last Stop will feel like coming home to all the queer folk who have ever felt lost, alone, or had no one to turn to. It reminded me that, no matter where we go, all of us have a family who are always ready to welcome us home, even if you're a complete stranger. That was the family that August and Jane found in this book, and it was such a beautiful thing to read. As much as I loved the plot of this book, with it's fascinating concept of being stuck in a blip of time and somehow ending up tethered to to a single moment and all the complications that come with that, it was truly the characters that were the heart of this book. I loved reading about Jane's experience of being an LGBTQ+ activist in the 60s and 70s, the mentions of our history, and all the badass heroes that we have to thank for having the freedoms we do today. This is the perfect book to kick off Pride month! I'm so thankful that books like this exist, and even more thankful to all the people that made it happen!