I picked up One Last Stop expecting a cute sapphic romance to get me through a particularly brutal week of Sophie's sleep regression. What I got was twelve hours of pure joy that made me ugly-cry in the school pickup line. Worth it though.
Casey McQuiston already had me with Red, White & Royal Blue, so I knew the writing would be sharp. But this? This hit different. A cynical twenty-three-year-old meets a gorgeous punk rocker on the subway who happens to be stuck in time from the 1970s. I know, I know—it sounds bonkers. But somehow it just works.
The Voice That Carried Me Through Nap Time
Natalie Naudus won an AudioFile Earphones Award for this narration, and honestly? Deserved. She brings this quiet intensity that perfectly matches August's guarded heart slowly cracking open. The way she handles the snark, the tender moments, the unabashed love scenes—all of it lands.
Here's the thing though. Some of her character voices are... a choice. The deep male-ish voice she uses for Jane and August's mom threw me at first. And apparently she butchered the cook's Brooklyn accent pretty badly (I wouldn't know, I'm from Ohio, but the New Yorkers in the reviews were Not Happy). Once I settled in, I stopped noticing. The emotional delivery is so good that the occasional weird voice becomes background noise.
She's genuinely excellent at switching between narration, dialogue, and August's internal thoughts without it feeling choppy. Which matters when you're pausing every three minutes because someone needs a juice box or can't find their left shoe.
When the Magic Clicked
The time travel thing could have gone really wrong. But McQuiston treats it less like a sci-fi puzzle and more like... a metaphor? For being stuck. For feeling displaced. For not knowing where you belong. The found family August builds with her weird roommates, the 24-hour pancake diner crew, the whole messy beautiful community—it all feels earned.
The romance is slow burn in the best way. Not frustratingly slow, just the kind where you're rooting for them so hard your heart hurts. Jane Eyre has that same ache-in-your-chest longing, though obviously with fewer subway trains and more Gothic estates. And when it pays off? I may have sat in my car in the garage for an extra twenty minutes just to finish a chapter. The kids were fine. Probably.
At twelve hours, it's longer than my usual picks. But the pacing kept me hooked. A few sections in the middle dragged slightly—some of the mystery investigation stuff felt drawn out—but never enough to make me want to skip ahead.
The Stuff That Matters
This is a queer joy book. Let me say that again for the moms in the back: QUEER JOY. Yes, there's some heavy stuff mentioned (homophobia, racism, transphobia—all off-page), but the heart of this story is about love and belonging and believing in magic again. August starts the book convinced that love stories are fake and ends it... well, you can guess.
The found family element really got me. These chaotic roommates who adopt August, the diner regulars, Jane's whole situation—it's messy and loud and exactly the kind of community I didn't know I needed to read about while folding laundry at midnight.
Content warning for parents: there are some spicy scenes. Not graphic enough to make you swerve into oncoming traffic, but definitely present. I'd say 1.25x speed is perfect—fast enough to get through it during nap time, slow enough to catch all the witty banter.
Who's This For (And Who Should Skip)
If you need a queer love story that leaves you believing in things again—not in a cheesy way, in a "maybe the world isn't completely terrible and love is real" way—this is your book. Skip it if you need tight, logical time-travel rules or if you're not in the mood for something earnest.
The Mom Verdict
My book club would absolutely love this. If I ever have time for book club again. (I don't. But hypothetically.)
It's not groundbreaking literature. It's not going to change your life philosophy. But sometimes you don't need groundbreaking. Sometimes you need a gorgeous girl on a subway, some pancakes, and the promise that things can work out.
Survived 47 pauses and still made sense. Car time approved. Made me cry at school pickup. High praise from this exhausted mom.
