This was the last book in my LGBTQ+ January reading, and it also segued well into February's theme - I decided to try to read all the books I was given for Christmas. It's past halfway through February now and I am not doing that great at this as I've just not been reading much/ February has been busy so far. But all the books I've read were gifts, so that's one thing!
This was one of the books I got in the Book Flood swap that Gwen and Janet organise. My partner was Sarah Beth, who is already a friend of mine, so that was nice as we know each other fairly well and could choose books accordingly. I was intrigued by this one and am glad I picked it up, but it was a bit too long for me.
I generally liked it and think there are flashes of brilliance in it, but overall it just didn't do it for me. My friend Chloe has it on her Goodreads wishlist so I'm going to pass it on to her and see what she thinks about it. I would try something else by the same author but this one just didn't quite do it for me.
So the story is this: August is twenty- three and she moves to New York. She's from New Orleans (I think) originally and her life has been tainted by her mother. Her mother's brother, Augie, went missing as a teenager, way before August was born, and her mother has spent her life trying to find him. August has spent her life trailing round after her mum in records offices and so on. She's fed up of it, so she's moved.
She gets a room in a flat with three roommates - Niko, who is psychic, Myla, an artist, and Wes, who is a trust fund kid who doesn't talk to his family. August is a lesbian and all her roommates are queer - I really liked how this came out bit by bit. She gets a job at Billy's Pancake House and she meets a drag queen who lives across the hall. I loved his side story too, I could have read more about that.
Anyway August is riding the subway a lot to get to her classes. She's on the Q line and keeps seeing a girl who catches her eyes. This girl is a butch lesbian type, with ripped jeans, red Converse, and a leather jacket. She is usually listening to a Walkman. August invites her to meet her for drinks, but Jane - because that's her name - doesn't turn up. But August keeps seeing her on the train. As it turns out, Jane is stuck there. She's actually from the mid 1970s and she's been stuck for years. Her memory is hazy and she's obviously confused when August tells her that it's actually the late 2010s, but August seems to have revived something in her.
August and Jane do start a relationship and August then forgets her entire life for like a month by getting on the train all the time as she and Jane try to figure out how to free Jane. I found this bit annoying because there's no way August would have been able to call in sick so much and keep her job, or not be earning anything, and be able to keep her room in the apartment. I didn't entirely buy the relationship between the two, either. I guess I'm just not used to romance novels that much, and the instant love that abounds in them. I found Jane a bit passive in general - she does freak out at one point about her situation but it felt to me like it came way too late in the book. August is cute and I liked her mostly, but she makes some stupid decisions at times.
I liked the queer community around August - this felt very natural and real. I loved how they came together at the end - no spoilers - and thought this worked well. But the book was just a bit too long for me, too. Cutting even fifty pages out could have made it way better for me.
In all I'm giving it three out of five. I felt it dragged in parts and I didn't love the main relationship, so I can't score it higher.
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