Books I've Read: One Last Stop

 

This was a fun, frothy read which was much needed between two pretty heavy, thriller-type novels.  

It's about perpetual loner, August, who moves to New York after failing to find her place in several other places.  She expects New York will be no different and is determined to go it alone here too.  But as soon as she moves into her new apartment and meets two of her new roommates, things begin to change.

Her roommates just won't let her hibernate in her room.  They drag her out and before she knows it, she has a job at a quirky all-night pancake diner and people she might even call friends.

And then there's her commute to college on the subway and the gorgeous girl who seems to always be on the train when August is. Soon, the subway ride is the highlight of August's day, especially once she meets the girl - Jane - and discovers how terminally cool she is.  But a few things just don't add up and August begins to suspect there is something very, very odd about Jane.

As they talk more, August discovers Jane doesn't just look like a cool punk rocker from the '70s; she is a cool punk rocker from the '70s.  Somehow, she has become trapped in time and place and has spent decades on this very train, interacting with generations of people as they come and go.

August makes it her mission to find out just why Jane is stuck here, where she came from and if she can escape whatever is keeping her locked in this particular place.  As she uses the detective skills her obsessive mother instilled in her, August makes discoveries about her own past as she digs up Jane's.

I actually really enjoyed this book.  The characters were all interesting and quirky in their own unique ways and this was a very different kind of time travel story than others I've read.  The mystery of who jane was and why she got stuck there unfolded organically amongst the other plot threads which all tied neatly together by the end.  Which is always very satisfying.

It's an easy read and I breezed through most of it in a single afternoon.

So if you're looking for something a little fun, maybe as a vacation from some heavier reads, this is definitely a contender.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.