Why do I keep picking up books with so little research? I mean, it’s not the worst thing, but I would’ve read this sooner had I known that it was an unstuck-in-time scenario and not a traditional romance. 70’s lesbian gets trapped on the Q decades after her time and our merry band of queers has to figure out how to fix her conundrum, all while the girl who first discovers what’s going on falls for her? That’s a far better hook than standard cutesy romance. I happened to catch the bit on the back detailing it before I reached that point of the book and couldn’t help but start reading a bit faster.
One Last Stop is an unapologetically gay romance, where more members of that spectrum come out of the woodwork every page it feels like, and I’m totally here for it. I could argue it felt a teensy bit too utopic, as it felt like this version of New York was almost run by them, and with very little in the way of opposition, but I guess the author wanted to present this as the “better” in the “it gets better” for unstuck-in-time Jane. If little had changed, she’d probably not even give a thought to the possibility of remaining in the present. There’s the occasional rude commuter to hint that not everything is hunky dory, but mostly the homophobia is left for the glimpses of Jane’s past.
This keeps the book light, which is both a positive and a negative for me. On one hand, I loved these characters shooting the shit, as they were all suitably amusing. On the other hand, I felt like when things tipped over into drama, they were resolved a little too simply. And neatly. In other words, there weren’t many surprises to be had here. Everything progresses rather smoothly, and any potential concerns seem to mostly be in people’s heads, or get conveniently resolved before too long.
So, if you’re looking for a quick, light, unabashedly gay read, One Last Stop is a good choice. Just don’t expect any hugely shocking twists or turns. Some of the developments regarding Jane’s past provide a bit of extra excitement, but that’s about it. It’s just a cute, quirky romance with an interesting concept, except I think that’s all I wanted right now.
