A wonderful queer romcom that tackles some deep content while also being descriptive, sweet and relatable. Sure to be one of the top sapphic romances of 2025.
Zoe is escaping from their first semester in New York, they are figuring out if pre-med is right for them. In fact, they’re figuring out a lot of stuff. Zoe has a great group of friends from freshman orientation, but soon becomes interested in Alden, another college student that they love hanging out with.
The narrative is dual-linear, meaning we are following both Zoe’s experiences on a cross country train ride from New York to Seattle, as well as Zoe’s experiences in their first college semester up until fall break. The experiences on the train are well crafted, character-driven, and nuanced. There is a strong theme of train travel and how the characters of Zoe and Oakley evolve and grow as they are on the journey. There is something so romantic about train travel- and everyone on the train has a story as to why they have chosen that transportation method and how they are experiencing the trip.
The narratives following Zoe in college, while starting only 3 months apart, show us that Zoe has learned more about themselves in the experience. The train gives us a side character of Aya, a 9 year old traveling with her mom, she is precocious, sweet, and very realistic.
Jake Maia Arlow writes young people very well, they are bright, clever, and insecure while being confident. It is the ultimate contradiction of teenagers, they simultaneously view themselves as both inferior to and superior to others. Some YA romantic fiction really misses the mark on an 18 year old, their inner dialogue sounds like a much younger child. That is certainly not the case here, and it is a breath of fresh air. I absolutely loved this book. It’s so smart.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Book to be published August 19, 2025.
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