This Train Is Being Held Review

This Train is Being Held

Book Review by All Things Book Wise

Rating: ✨5/5✨

Review Updated: 8/03/2024

Sometimes I can't help but rate books based on how I feel when I finish them. The moment I finished This Train Is Being Held, I wanted to take this book and give it a big hug! It may not be perfect, but the heart breaking emotion, sweet romance, and captivating plot gave this book a five star rating for me!

Alex and Isa don't have time for relationships, not with busy practice schedules and difficult family relationships. And then, fate (or more specifically the NYC metro) throws them together, again and again. Over the span of multiple encounters, they get to know each other, and for the first time, start wishing for more. But while fate (and the metro) might be on their side, circumstances aren't so easily swayed...

I loved the way Alex and Isa's relationship unfolded. I shipped them from their very first interaction. It didn't feel forced or insta-love, in fact their love was slow-burn and perfectly developed over time. While it did take place over a long while (3 years i think), it didn't feel like too much time had passed between their interactions. However, I didn't have any real sense of time throughout the book.

This book did deal with some difficult topics (racism, family interactions, mental health, and police brutality, among others), more than I expected, which only made this book more emotional and tearful.

My only complaint is the lack of communication. More communication between the two would have gone a long way! While this didn't make this book less than five stars for me, I would have really appreciated seeing more openness and sharing between them.

Just something to note: there is quite a lot of Spanish in this book. Some translated, and a lot not translated. So for mainly English speakers like me (who know no Spanish at all), it can be a little difficult at times to understand everything - I had to rely on context a lot (and twice on Google translate :D).

Final thoughts - a captivating, sweet, and emotional novel, that despite its flaws, I adored!