I must have went into Barnes and Noble for something specific, but as per usual and regardless of whether I actually found what I was looking for, I added this book to my massive pile.

I came across this book in the LGBTQ+ Section. I’ve picked up a handful of books from this section lately, and have found the voices to be interesting, the content to be fresh, and the genre to run the entire gamut of my interests, from Fantasy and Science Fiction, to Romance, to Memoir and Biographical.

I believe on this trip was the first time I noticed the #booktok signs, and had to look up what this was. After this, I have a tendency to pay closer attention to the #booktok signs, since I feel that the wider social media audience has a better pulse than the reviewers, a la Rotten Tomatoes critic scores vs audience scores.

But I digress.

I picked up this book based on the cover, and the synopsis on the back sounded like something I would enjoy. I tucked it into my fun reads section of my “I’m not read yet!” shelf when I got back home. Since I pick up so many books at a time, and have a tendency to jump around, I completely forgot the synopsis summary, but recalled that I wanted to put it near the top of my reading list, so when I was looking for something to clear my brain from work training materials, I grabbed this and sat down.

The voice hooked me right away. Sometimes I will pick up a book and it will take me awhile to decide if it is something I’m going to binge or have to work at to finish. This is one of the books that from the first sentences, I was engaged and knew that this was going to be a binge. As a contrast, once I finished, I re-read the critic quotes on the back cover and noticed that it said “McQuiston’s writing reads like poetry. One Last Stop is meant to be savored slowly” (Helen Hoang, Author of The Kiss Quotient). I agree with most of Ms. Hoang’s assessment of the book, but savoring slowly was not in the cards.

Once I picked this book up, it was one of those that I found hard to put back down. Anytime I took a break from reading to do something as trivial as working, the book was calling to me to pick it back up and continue tearing through the pages and lose myself in this world.

McQuiston’s writing is highly accessible, striking a balance between descriptive prose and understandable dialogue. There are pop culture references that fit well into the story, without feeling like it is written for a certain generation that has to be familiar with the references. Descriptions just feel right, enough to bring the reader into the scene, the feeling, the moment, without overwhelming the reader with non-essential detail. The characters are relatable and feel real. They have rich full lives and explored backstories enough to bring them out of two dimensional territory, without overshadowing the main storyline.

As a (mostly) straight cis-gendered female raised in a generation before fluidity in gender and sexual orientation was mainstream, it was possible for me to connect with the characters easily. That is not to say that some may still be challenged to connect with characters in the book, but that would fall on the readers shoulders to be open to the fluidity of gender and sexual orientation. I would hope that we as a society would already be at the point where this would be a book that would be a best seller based on the story alone, regardless of the fact that the main character is a lesbian and other characters are every color of the LGBTQ+ rainbow. Alas, we may not be there yet, but this story certainly is a step in the right direction.

All in all, a well written and well rounded story that hit all the right beats. There’s a great primary storyline, real emotion and feeling, fantastically built tension (both story wise and sexually), tasteful and critical to story sexual encounters that feel authentic rather than dirty, and pacing that keeps the reader engaged through the entire book.

I have a lot more books to get through that haven’t been read yet, but I have a feeling this will be re-read before that pile is even dented.

Link to One Last Stop at Barnes and Noble