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Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon
A multiverse novel about two women who fall in love despite living in worlds that are five months apart, as they try to find a timeline that doesn’t end in disaster, in this debut novel by Annie Mare.
Tressa Fay Robeson has never been shy, which is how she’s made a name for herself as an in-demand hairstylist and social media star. So she can admit that spending her days at her hair salon and her nights with her tight-knit group of friends (and one grumpy cat) is not the kind of exciting life she’d hoped for.
When a misdirected text from a stranger leads to a flirty exchange, she surprises herself by suggesting an impulsive meetup. But the woman, Meryl, never shows. Tressa Fay brushes it off—until Meryl’s sister and friend show up at the salon demanding to know what’s going on. Because, you see, there’s no way Meryl could have texted her. Meryl has been missing for a month.
Tressa Fay and her tight-knit group of friends soon discover they aren’t dealing with a catfish, but a temporal paradox. As they come to terms with the idea of parallel universes, they realize how many times their paths have crossed like this before. But even as they understand the multiverse more and more, nothing keeps Meryl from vanishing.
As it draws closer to the moment of Meryl’s disappearance, there’s only one question Have they done enough to change the outcome, or have they done so much that none of them will make it past that fateful day in September?
Tressa Fay Robeson has never been shy, which is how she’s made a name for herself as an in-demand hairstylist and social media star. So she can admit that spending her days at her hair salon and her nights with her tight-knit group of friends (and one grumpy cat) is not the kind of exciting life she’d hoped for.
When a misdirected text from a stranger leads to a flirty exchange, she surprises herself by suggesting an impulsive meetup. But the woman, Meryl, never shows. Tressa Fay brushes it off—until Meryl’s sister and friend show up at the salon demanding to know what’s going on. Because, you see, there’s no way Meryl could have texted her. Meryl has been missing for a month.
Tressa Fay and her tight-knit group of friends soon discover they aren’t dealing with a catfish, but a temporal paradox. As they come to terms with the idea of parallel universes, they realize how many times their paths have crossed like this before. But even as they understand the multiverse more and more, nothing keeps Meryl from vanishing.
As it draws closer to the moment of Meryl’s disappearance, there’s only one question Have they done enough to change the outcome, or have they done so much that none of them will make it past that fateful day in September?
378 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 3, 2025
244 people are currently reading
15574 people want to read
About the author
Annie Mare
8 books83 followersAnnie Mare (she/they) writes queer contemporary mystery and romance. If you enjoy their books, check out the novels they co-author with Ruthie Knox, including both queer romances (as Mae Marvel) and mysteries (as Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare). Annie's romances have been critically recognized and bestselling. Annie lives with her wife, two teenagers, two dogs, multiple fish, one cat, four hermit crabs, and a bazillion plants in a very old house with a garden.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 545 reviews
June 9, 2025
6/3/25 it’s this bad boys pub day and since it’s pride month that means you’re all actually required to go read this book, i don’t make the rules!!
the sapphic yearning is UNREAL. imagine being so cosmically intwined you find each other in every universe…i laughed, i cried, i BLUSHED (you guys they are so ridiculously 🔥🥵)
i won’t pretend i understood any of the science-y multiverse nonsense for a second, nor did any character have a distinct personality outside of meryl and tressa fay, *but* their love story more than made up for it and i truly need a book about them in every world even if they’re as mundane as ever!!
thank you heaps to netgalley and ace for the arc!!
the sapphic yearning is UNREAL. imagine being so cosmically intwined you find each other in every universe…i laughed, i cried, i BLUSHED (you guys they are so ridiculously 🔥🥵)
i won’t pretend i understood any of the science-y multiverse nonsense for a second, nor did any character have a distinct personality outside of meryl and tressa fay, *but* their love story more than made up for it and i truly need a book about them in every world even if they’re as mundane as ever!!
thank you heaps to netgalley and ace for the arc!!
March 18, 2025
WOW did I hate this book. Annie Mare please don't look at this, you seem like such a cool person. But my God. Horrible. I had to write a note to myself at like 6% that I would not DNF until at least 15%. By the time I got there, I was like eh maybe I am just being weird. Might as well finish.
Folks, if you are not enjoying a book, it is not a failure to stop reading. Life is too short. Read something good.
Let's get into it.
SUMMARY:
Y'all what happened in this book. I guess I will just be short. Hairstylist named Tressa Fay is sitting in Tressa Fay's house with Tressa Fay's cat eating Tressa Fay's soup when Tressa Fay gets a message on Tressa Fay's phone from someone. Turns out that someone is six months in the past. Timey Wimey hijinks ensue, true love prevails, The End.
MY THOUGHTS:
I hate it here.
Why do they say everyone's name constantly? Why does the main character's name have to be Tressa Fay??
I hate the way this is written with 2016 millennial humor. Everything is so snappy and quippy and ugh. It is giving improv I am sorry.
Also, all the character's dialogue sounds the same??? Which is weird because the author goes into a lot of detail about how these characters are unique and have different personalities, but then they all feel identical. I could not care less about any of them.
Tressa Fay's dad was chill.
You can tell the author read several articles on physics and water. She then proceeds to throw this information at you in easily skippable chunks of dialogue. Like goodness the Linds' infodump at the beginning. What in the world.
The cat's name is Epinephrine. The nonbinary person is named Guy. What are these tryhard quirky names.
Another shoutout to Tressa Fay's dad. He was just Phil.
The book definitely wants to give you the experience of oooooh I don't know when things are happening everything is dreamy and whimsical. But it fails. It is just a jumbled mess.
I thought from the description Tressa Fay and Meryl (yes, the love interest's name is Meryl) were going to have to work together to solve Meryl's disappearance before it happened so that they could be together. But no, Meryl just needed to believe that friendship is magic or whatever.
Your mom is not dead dude chill. She is just in an interdimensional box where she is both alive and dead.
FINAL OPINION:
Man just like. Watch Star Trek. That will tell you the tale of two gay people finding their way to each other waaaaay better than this will. "At his side like you always have been and always will be" or whatever. I think I am so upset because of how excited I was to read this. Then it was just a slog. I am glad people seem to be enjoying it. I am glad there are books out there telling queer stories. I just wish this book had worked better for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC! All opinions are my own.
Folks, if you are not enjoying a book, it is not a failure to stop reading. Life is too short. Read something good.
Let's get into it.
SUMMARY:
Y'all what happened in this book. I guess I will just be short. Hairstylist named Tressa Fay is sitting in Tressa Fay's house with Tressa Fay's cat eating Tressa Fay's soup when Tressa Fay gets a message on Tressa Fay's phone from someone. Turns out that someone is six months in the past. Timey Wimey hijinks ensue, true love prevails, The End.
MY THOUGHTS:
I hate it here.
Why do they say everyone's name constantly? Why does the main character's name have to be Tressa Fay??
I hate the way this is written with 2016 millennial humor. Everything is so snappy and quippy and ugh. It is giving improv I am sorry.
Also, all the character's dialogue sounds the same??? Which is weird because the author goes into a lot of detail about how these characters are unique and have different personalities, but then they all feel identical. I could not care less about any of them.
Tressa Fay's dad was chill.
You can tell the author read several articles on physics and water. She then proceeds to throw this information at you in easily skippable chunks of dialogue. Like goodness the Linds' infodump at the beginning. What in the world.
The cat's name is Epinephrine. The nonbinary person is named Guy. What are these tryhard quirky names.
Another shoutout to Tressa Fay's dad. He was just Phil.
The book definitely wants to give you the experience of oooooh I don't know when things are happening everything is dreamy and whimsical. But it fails. It is just a jumbled mess.
I thought from the description Tressa Fay and Meryl (yes, the love interest's name is Meryl) were going to have to work together to solve Meryl's disappearance before it happened so that they could be together. But no, Meryl just needed to believe that friendship is magic or whatever.
Your mom is not dead dude chill. She is just in an interdimensional box where she is both alive and dead.
FINAL OPINION:
Man just like. Watch Star Trek. That will tell you the tale of two gay people finding their way to each other waaaaay better than this will. "At his side like you always have been and always will be" or whatever. I think I am so upset because of how excited I was to read this. Then it was just a slog. I am glad people seem to be enjoying it. I am glad there are books out there telling queer stories. I just wish this book had worked better for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC! All opinions are my own.
June 5, 2025
2.5 honestly this was my own fault because i just don’t like book with time travel especially not romance ones and i should’ve never picked this up to begin with but i was just so intrigued and that’s also the only reason i continued. the writing was okay but the author does this weird thing where she’s constantly saying the characters names to the point where it makes me think she believes her audience is stupid.
August 10, 2025
**Many thanks to Berkley and Annie Mare for an ARC of this book provided via NetGalley!**
Tressa Fay Robeson has one never-say-die passion in life, and it's one that will never let her down: hair. Creating the perfect coif for each client requires a bit of a patience, creativity, and thoughtful care...but TF has worked hard to make a name for herself in the cosmetology world and now she's in HIGH demand. Her social media presence has skyrocketed her to even greater fame, but there's still something missing in (you guessed it) the LOVE department. All of that seems fated to change, however, when TF gets a text that is meant for someone else, which draws her quickly into flirty banter with a woman named Meryl. TF impulsively decides to ask her on a date, and tells her to meet her at the hair salon posthaste. 🏃♂️
So needless to say, TF feels a bit foolish when the designated meeting time arrives, and there's no sign of Meryl. At first, she brushes it off, thinking it was just another case of ghosting...but when Meryl's SISTER shows up at the hair salon, she has quite the bombshell to share: Meryl has been MISSING for a full month. And of course, this means that TF COULDN'T have been texting her just tonight and made these supposed plans...right? As TF and Meryl's sister begin to talk, they discover it isn't their first time meeting, and that TF is intimately acquainted with some of Meryl's OTHER friends too. There's NO other explanation: this must be a Case of the Multiverses...and Meryl and TF are down bad.
But when it comes to the time space continuum, there's no such thing as predictability...and TF learns that her time to lock down her true love might be running out. Can she figure out a way to keep her one true love before she once again meets up with the date of that fateful first text in September? Or will her chance at love go by way of a black hole...and disappear into deep space for good?
Let's just start off by stating the obvious: even the title of this one points at a bit of a kitschy, sci-fi rom com where logic might SEEM required...but at the same time not exactly NECESSARY.
Nevertheless, I was willing to take a chance on it for several reasons: time travel stories can be fun, tossing in space is always a bit of an interesting angle, and the sapphic love story seemed like it had the potential to be both sweet and intriguing. But what I discovered on my voyage through space was less a charming love story and a MORE a confusing vehicle for a needlessly complicated tale of two women whose only defining characteristics were tied to their jobs and who seemed to have little in common...aside from their time traveling interactions, naturally.
First off, the author must have been at least a BIT worried either about constantly using the characters pronouns and the readers finding this confusing, because she abandons the use of pronouns almost entirely and uses EACH character's name almost EVERY time they are mentioned. (And yes, that's part of the reason I wrote TF instead of Tressa Fay earlier in this review...if you read one character's name as many times as I did, you'd avoid it like the plague too.) Not only does this make the audience feel like the author doesn't think we are smart enough to follow along, it just gets wordy and clunky, not to mention it seems like a quick way to inflate word count...and trust me when I say this one could have lost a few pages with no one the wiser.
When it comes to time travel, it either works or it doesn't...and in this instance, I spent so much time trying to figure out what time we were in, not to mention WHY the multiverse needed to exist for the book to work or be interesting (spoiler: it did not) and keeping track of the bevy of friends of both of our MCs that I frankly got frustrated and mentally checked out. I didn't see any worthwhile character development or differences across the parallel universes, and it seemed like a conceit to keep them apart more than anything else. The 'portal' being text messages didn't help: I don't really WANT to read a long string of text messages that just aren't that interesting and I also don't feel reading those sort of interactions constitutes a real relationship. I also didn't see a true CONFLICT other than the one that the convoluted premise created, and the lack of emotional impact had me checked out long before we had our full-circle moment and returned to the super-sexy (sarcasm) text that drew TF to Meryl in the first place, which was some boring ramble about rocks or roads or something like that...frankly, the fact that it was intriguing to her at ALL was one of the least believable things about the entire book. 🙄
The interactions at times were so odd, and so 'out of this world' (if you will) that at one point I was actually questioning if the characters were aliens who were learning about love for the first time. Yep, it was just THAT weird. If you stick it through to the final pages of this one, you'll get exactly what you expect...but I think both of these ladies could just have easily met at a park, a bar, a grocery store, or just AT THE HAIR SALON without any alternate universes thrown in and it could have been a more palatable read. Sure, maybe this is a bit more run-of-the-mill in terms of meet cute, but I'd rather have two characters I can fully tell apart in every universe - WITHOUT the constant use of their respective names.
And while I always applaud an author who is willing to try something new and shoot for the stars, this one felt a bit less like a sparkling, shooting star on a journey across the stratosphere...and a bit more like a star going full supernova. ☄️💥
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
Tressa Fay Robeson has one never-say-die passion in life, and it's one that will never let her down: hair. Creating the perfect coif for each client requires a bit of a patience, creativity, and thoughtful care...but TF has worked hard to make a name for herself in the cosmetology world and now she's in HIGH demand. Her social media presence has skyrocketed her to even greater fame, but there's still something missing in (you guessed it) the LOVE department. All of that seems fated to change, however, when TF gets a text that is meant for someone else, which draws her quickly into flirty banter with a woman named Meryl. TF impulsively decides to ask her on a date, and tells her to meet her at the hair salon posthaste. 🏃♂️
So needless to say, TF feels a bit foolish when the designated meeting time arrives, and there's no sign of Meryl. At first, she brushes it off, thinking it was just another case of ghosting...but when Meryl's SISTER shows up at the hair salon, she has quite the bombshell to share: Meryl has been MISSING for a full month. And of course, this means that TF COULDN'T have been texting her just tonight and made these supposed plans...right? As TF and Meryl's sister begin to talk, they discover it isn't their first time meeting, and that TF is intimately acquainted with some of Meryl's OTHER friends too. There's NO other explanation: this must be a Case of the Multiverses...and Meryl and TF are down bad.
But when it comes to the time space continuum, there's no such thing as predictability...and TF learns that her time to lock down her true love might be running out. Can she figure out a way to keep her one true love before she once again meets up with the date of that fateful first text in September? Or will her chance at love go by way of a black hole...and disappear into deep space for good?
Let's just start off by stating the obvious: even the title of this one points at a bit of a kitschy, sci-fi rom com where logic might SEEM required...but at the same time not exactly NECESSARY.
Nevertheless, I was willing to take a chance on it for several reasons: time travel stories can be fun, tossing in space is always a bit of an interesting angle, and the sapphic love story seemed like it had the potential to be both sweet and intriguing. But what I discovered on my voyage through space was less a charming love story and a MORE a confusing vehicle for a needlessly complicated tale of two women whose only defining characteristics were tied to their jobs and who seemed to have little in common...aside from their time traveling interactions, naturally.
First off, the author must have been at least a BIT worried either about constantly using the characters pronouns and the readers finding this confusing, because she abandons the use of pronouns almost entirely and uses EACH character's name almost EVERY time they are mentioned. (And yes, that's part of the reason I wrote TF instead of Tressa Fay earlier in this review...if you read one character's name as many times as I did, you'd avoid it like the plague too.) Not only does this make the audience feel like the author doesn't think we are smart enough to follow along, it just gets wordy and clunky, not to mention it seems like a quick way to inflate word count...and trust me when I say this one could have lost a few pages with no one the wiser.
When it comes to time travel, it either works or it doesn't...and in this instance, I spent so much time trying to figure out what time we were in, not to mention WHY the multiverse needed to exist for the book to work or be interesting (spoiler: it did not) and keeping track of the bevy of friends of both of our MCs that I frankly got frustrated and mentally checked out. I didn't see any worthwhile character development or differences across the parallel universes, and it seemed like a conceit to keep them apart more than anything else. The 'portal' being text messages didn't help: I don't really WANT to read a long string of text messages that just aren't that interesting and I also don't feel reading those sort of interactions constitutes a real relationship. I also didn't see a true CONFLICT other than the one that the convoluted premise created, and the lack of emotional impact had me checked out long before we had our full-circle moment and returned to the super-sexy (sarcasm) text that drew TF to Meryl in the first place, which was some boring ramble about rocks or roads or something like that...frankly, the fact that it was intriguing to her at ALL was one of the least believable things about the entire book. 🙄
The interactions at times were so odd, and so 'out of this world' (if you will) that at one point I was actually questioning if the characters were aliens who were learning about love for the first time. Yep, it was just THAT weird. If you stick it through to the final pages of this one, you'll get exactly what you expect...but I think both of these ladies could just have easily met at a park, a bar, a grocery store, or just AT THE HAIR SALON without any alternate universes thrown in and it could have been a more palatable read. Sure, maybe this is a bit more run-of-the-mill in terms of meet cute, but I'd rather have two characters I can fully tell apart in every universe - WITHOUT the constant use of their respective names.
And while I always applaud an author who is willing to try something new and shoot for the stars, this one felt a bit less like a sparkling, shooting star on a journey across the stratosphere...and a bit more like a star going full supernova. ☄️💥
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
June 4, 2025
This was the sweet, queer romance I never knew I needed to kick of pride month. The characters were very likable and I was rooting for them the whole time. Time is a little wonky in this one but if you squint a little the whole book made sense. I liked how this one showed the differences they could make on reality which most cross time books don’t get to. Tressa Fay is surprised to get a text from a wrong number and after a little light flirting she decides to go against her norm and take a chance by going to try to meet Meryl, the sweet engineer who texted her. She doesn’t find her but it isn’t until the next day that she notices the two of them have very different date stamps for their messages. Gathering all of their friends together helps to figure out that there is clearly something wonky with space and time but not how to fix it or stop Meryl from disappearing as she did about a month before Tressa Fay first got the first text. This book was sweet and full of great side characters who also work on their connections and happily ever after. A wonderful debut and definitely one to pick up for pride month!
Read
June 4, 2025
Book Riot's Best New Romance Books Out in June:
When I read Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron, I thought the one thing that would improve it would be if it were queer, so I’m glad to pick up a book with a similar premise—especially written by the person who once wrote as Mary Ann Rivers! The Story Guy, amirite? (Sigh.)
Anyway, Tressa leads a pretty unremarkable life, until a wrong number text leads to an exchange with Meryl. They decide to meet up, but Meryl never shows. Then it turns out she couldn’t have: she’s been missing for a month. Turns out they’ve been texting five months apart from each other. So Tressa and her friends, with the knowledge they have, try to help Meryl not go missing. —Jessica Pryde
When I read Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron, I thought the one thing that would improve it would be if it were queer, so I’m glad to pick up a book with a similar premise—especially written by the person who once wrote as Mary Ann Rivers! The Story Guy, amirite? (Sigh.)
Anyway, Tressa leads a pretty unremarkable life, until a wrong number text leads to an exchange with Meryl. They decide to meet up, but Meryl never shows. Then it turns out she couldn’t have: she’s been missing for a month. Turns out they’ve been texting five months apart from each other. So Tressa and her friends, with the knowledge they have, try to help Meryl not go missing. —Jessica Pryde
May 29, 2025
This was a charming and cute sapphic sci-fi read that felt like a romance written in the stars, quite literally. The love story at the core was lovely, and I really enjoyed the dynamic between Tressa-Faye and Meryl. Their connection had a softness and sincerity that made the emotional beats land beautifully.
The multiverse/time-switch element was intriguing, but I’ll admit it eventually lost me. At some point, the explanations started to feel like word salad, and I just let go of trying to make sense of it all.
That said, the book could’ve benefited from a tighter edit. The lengthy, often dense passages on time travel mechanics and the detours into secondary characters’ love lives felt unnecessary. I would’ve much preferred more focus on Tressa-Faye and Meryl, who were easily the strongest part of the novel.
Still, this was a fun, refreshing, and unique take on love across time and space. If you’re into heartfelt romance with a sci-fi twist, and you don’t mind a bit of narrative chaos it’s worth the trip
✨Thanks to NetGalley, The Author, & Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review✨
The multiverse/time-switch element was intriguing, but I’ll admit it eventually lost me. At some point, the explanations started to feel like word salad, and I just let go of trying to make sense of it all.
That said, the book could’ve benefited from a tighter edit. The lengthy, often dense passages on time travel mechanics and the detours into secondary characters’ love lives felt unnecessary. I would’ve much preferred more focus on Tressa-Faye and Meryl, who were easily the strongest part of the novel.
Still, this was a fun, refreshing, and unique take on love across time and space. If you’re into heartfelt romance with a sci-fi twist, and you don’t mind a bit of narrative chaos it’s worth the trip
✨Thanks to NetGalley, The Author, & Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review✨
July 9, 2025
What an incredible fun romance 💞✨ I loved the characters in this book they were so much fun
Tessa Fae and Meryl are soulmates and their texts were cutteee
This is a time travel romance and at times I was confused but I went along with the vibes.
If you’re looking for a non typical romance definitely give this a try ✨
Tessa Fae and Meryl are soulmates and their texts were cutteee
This is a time travel romance and at times I was confused but I went along with the vibes.
If you’re looking for a non typical romance definitely give this a try ✨
June 14, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Read if you like:
👩🏼🎤 multi-POV
👩🏼🎤 3rd person POV
👩🏼🎤 single timeline (kind of 🤪🤪)
👩🏼🎤 female/female main character romance
👩🏼🎤 LGBTQ+ representation 🌈
👩🏼🎤 time travel
👩🏼🎤 found family
👩🏼🎤 large cast of characters
👩🏼🎤 slowwwwww burn
👩🏼🎤 spice 🌶️🌶️
👩🏼🎤 HEA
I very much enjoyed the writing style in this book. It was very relatable in today’s times of social media and influencers everywhere. I really enjoyed the author’s snarky and sarcastic style of writing
I know they always say don’t judge a book based on its over, but I do 🤪🤪 and I have been obsessed with this book since I first saw the cover!! (without even knowing what it was about 🤪🤪)
I loved the main character Tressa Fay immediately, and I loved the banter between Tressa and Meryl 🩷💜 Actually I just really loved both of the main characters 🤪🤪 and I couldn’t wait for the happy ending 🩷🩷 I really enjoyed the friendship between all the characters, and the way that they all supported each other 💜💜
As a redhead, I loved the redhead representation in this 🤪🤪🤪
I love the multiple story-telling formats in this one. This was part narrated story-telling and part text messages, and I really love that. You almost get multiple points-of-view in the story, seeing what all these side characters and thinking/experiencing.
I am not in the LGBTQ community but I am definitely an ally, so I always appreciate seeing this representation in books, as I’m sure the community does as well.
I have been in a bit of a reading slump for quite a while, and honestly this book cured it! I was so invested the whole entire time and I actually did not want the story to end!!
This story is a complete home-run for me. A little bit of mystery, little bit of time-travel, a LOT of banter 🤪🤪 and a little bit of found-family…. this was was so different from any book I’ve ever read before. I absolutely loved it!!!
Thank you so so much to Berkley Publishing 🩷🩷 and Annie Mare for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 🩷🩷
Read if you like:
👩🏼🎤 multi-POV
👩🏼🎤 3rd person POV
👩🏼🎤 single timeline (kind of 🤪🤪)
👩🏼🎤 female/female main character romance
👩🏼🎤 LGBTQ+ representation 🌈
👩🏼🎤 time travel
👩🏼🎤 found family
👩🏼🎤 large cast of characters
👩🏼🎤 slowwwwww burn
👩🏼🎤 spice 🌶️🌶️
👩🏼🎤 HEA
I very much enjoyed the writing style in this book. It was very relatable in today’s times of social media and influencers everywhere. I really enjoyed the author’s snarky and sarcastic style of writing
I know they always say don’t judge a book based on its over, but I do 🤪🤪 and I have been obsessed with this book since I first saw the cover!! (without even knowing what it was about 🤪🤪)
I loved the main character Tressa Fay immediately, and I loved the banter between Tressa and Meryl 🩷💜 Actually I just really loved both of the main characters 🤪🤪 and I couldn’t wait for the happy ending 🩷🩷 I really enjoyed the friendship between all the characters, and the way that they all supported each other 💜💜
As a redhead, I loved the redhead representation in this 🤪🤪🤪
I love the multiple story-telling formats in this one. This was part narrated story-telling and part text messages, and I really love that. You almost get multiple points-of-view in the story, seeing what all these side characters and thinking/experiencing.
I am not in the LGBTQ community but I am definitely an ally, so I always appreciate seeing this representation in books, as I’m sure the community does as well.
I have been in a bit of a reading slump for quite a while, and honestly this book cured it! I was so invested the whole entire time and I actually did not want the story to end!!
This story is a complete home-run for me. A little bit of mystery, little bit of time-travel, a LOT of banter 🤪🤪 and a little bit of found-family…. this was was so different from any book I’ve ever read before. I absolutely loved it!!!
Thank you so so much to Berkley Publishing 🩷🩷 and Annie Mare for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 🩷🩷
May 2, 2025
I absolutely ADORED this book. The concept was so unique and immediately had me engaged and never wanting to leave. Tressa & Meryl had such beautiful chemistry, their dialogue made me EMOTIONAL so many times. Overall, this was such a remarkable book, I truly believe everyone should read it!!
*I received an arc from Berkeley in exchange for my honest review
*I received an arc from Berkeley in exchange for my honest review
April 9, 2025
Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Salon by Annie Mare is a beautifully unique romance with a touch of sci-fi and a whole lot of heart. This queer love story between two women completely swept me away—it’s emotional, tender, and brimming with cosmic connection that transcends time and space.
At its core, this is a story about love, yes—but also about the ripple effects of our choices, the beauty of found family, and the deep bonds that form when souls truly recognize each other. The friendships are everything, the philosophical undercurrent is thought-provoking, and the romance? Utterly unforgettable.
I felt so many things while reading this book. If you’re looking for a romance that’s heartfelt, original, and makes you think, this one’s a must-read.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the gifted ARC!
At its core, this is a story about love, yes—but also about the ripple effects of our choices, the beauty of found family, and the deep bonds that form when souls truly recognize each other. The friendships are everything, the philosophical undercurrent is thought-provoking, and the romance? Utterly unforgettable.
I felt so many things while reading this book. If you’re looking for a romance that’s heartfelt, original, and makes you think, this one’s a must-read.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the gifted ARC!
June 21, 2025
Perhaps there is a universe where I liked this book
July 10, 2025
This is easily one of my biggest disappointments of the year.
I really expected to love this book. Even though I'm not often a contemporary romance fan, the premise of this book definitely piqued my interest. Seeing One Last Stop as a comp title for it further reeled me in, and I was fully expecting a beautiful, poignant sapphic romance across time and space. This book was not that.
I genuinely don't know if I can think of a single redeeming quality of this book. The main character being named Tressa Fay, written out in full every single time, almost sent me over the edge, but to then find out that she also had two middle names that were used in dialogue more than once? Her cat being named Epinephrine? The love interest, whose name was Meryl of all fucking things, adopting a cat she called Spring? I wish Annie Mare had just come to my house and shot me in the head instead of making me suffer through that.
Every character, whether they had a stupid name or not, was unbelievably flat. I couldn't keep track of who was who most of the time because they all seemed like carbon copies of one another. The dialogue was corny and cringey. It felt like the author had tried a little too hard to throw in a token character for every possible queer identity. (And, not to harp too much on the names again, but why was the nonbinary character named Guy? Can we please be serious?)
The actual plot consisted of an intriguing concept but entirely lackluster execution. It was incredibly hard to follow at times because everything even remotely science-y in this book was poorly explained, especially the "resolution" to the problem of Meryl's disappearance. Did literally anyone actually see logic in that? No? I didn't think so.
And, as if all of those factors weren't bad enough, Tressa Fay and Meryl's relationship was profoundly underwhelming. I'll admit that I'm an insta-love hater, but I understand how its use in this specific book was meant to convey the whole soulmates-who'll-find-each-other-in-every-universe-and-every-timeline thing. I get it. Unfortunately, it did not work because they had no chemistry whatsoever. At no point from page 1 to page 365 did I actually care if the two of them ended up together. I was kind of hoping they wouldn't because Meryl disappearing into another universe (again?) would have made for a more dynamic and interesting ending. Whatever.
Anyway. I did not like this book. I would not recommend this book. Just reread One Last Stop instead.
I really expected to love this book. Even though I'm not often a contemporary romance fan, the premise of this book definitely piqued my interest. Seeing One Last Stop as a comp title for it further reeled me in, and I was fully expecting a beautiful, poignant sapphic romance across time and space. This book was not that.
I genuinely don't know if I can think of a single redeeming quality of this book. The main character being named Tressa Fay, written out in full every single time, almost sent me over the edge, but to then find out that she also had two middle names that were used in dialogue more than once? Her cat being named Epinephrine? The love interest, whose name was Meryl of all fucking things, adopting a cat she called Spring? I wish Annie Mare had just come to my house and shot me in the head instead of making me suffer through that.
Every character, whether they had a stupid name or not, was unbelievably flat. I couldn't keep track of who was who most of the time because they all seemed like carbon copies of one another. The dialogue was corny and cringey. It felt like the author had tried a little too hard to throw in a token character for every possible queer identity. (And, not to harp too much on the names again, but why was the nonbinary character named Guy? Can we please be serious?)
The actual plot consisted of an intriguing concept but entirely lackluster execution. It was incredibly hard to follow at times because everything even remotely science-y in this book was poorly explained, especially the "resolution" to the problem of Meryl's disappearance. Did literally anyone actually see logic in that? No? I didn't think so.
And, as if all of those factors weren't bad enough, Tressa Fay and Meryl's relationship was profoundly underwhelming. I'll admit that I'm an insta-love hater, but I understand how its use in this specific book was meant to convey the whole soulmates-who'll-find-each-other-in-every-universe-and-every-timeline thing. I get it. Unfortunately, it did not work because they had no chemistry whatsoever. At no point from page 1 to page 365 did I actually care if the two of them ended up together. I was kind of hoping they wouldn't because Meryl disappearing into another universe (again?) would have made for a more dynamic and interesting ending. Whatever.
Anyway. I did not like this book. I would not recommend this book. Just reread One Last Stop instead.
July 20, 2025
This just wasn’t for me. There was plenty to like: the main romance was sweet and believable, the sex scenes were lovely, and Annie Mare has an incredible eye for detail that makes the physicality and sensory experience of even mundane scenes come alive.
But I just could not with the multiverse stuff. Mare seemed to take (for me) the absolute worst of approaches, combining long explanatory monologues about multiverse theory with an eventual explanation that was basically just “woo woo love” and … idk. Pick a lane?
Also- and to be clear, this is far from specific to this author- I have had it up to HERE with characters who speak and think like their therapist has already digested and written up their own feelings for them, leaving the reader with absolutely no emotional journey to go on, and a frustrating sense of being lectured at. Like, there was a great subplot involving the MC growing her relationship with her dad, but I would rather grow to understand that dynamic along with her than have to read sentences like “She thought maybe the hurt that had come from not getting the closeness she craved had resulted in her inhibiting more and more of herself around him as time went on.”
COME ON
Anyway, this book is probably great for someone - a lot of someones, even - but not for me.
But I just could not with the multiverse stuff. Mare seemed to take (for me) the absolute worst of approaches, combining long explanatory monologues about multiverse theory with an eventual explanation that was basically just “woo woo love” and … idk. Pick a lane?
Also- and to be clear, this is far from specific to this author- I have had it up to HERE with characters who speak and think like their therapist has already digested and written up their own feelings for them, leaving the reader with absolutely no emotional journey to go on, and a frustrating sense of being lectured at. Like, there was a great subplot involving the MC growing her relationship with her dad, but I would rather grow to understand that dynamic along with her than have to read sentences like “She thought maybe the hurt that had come from not getting the closeness she craved had resulted in her inhibiting more and more of herself around him as time went on.”
COME ON
Anyway, this book is probably great for someone - a lot of someones, even - but not for me.
May 21, 2025
i went into this book blind, & i genuinely don’t think there’s a better way to begin. however, a review is still necessary to praise the beautiful, beautiful work that this is.
what a way to look at life. what a new perspective to romance. to fate, to friendship, to family, to time. i felt so much love & acceptance radiating from the words on the page. i felt so seen & connected to each & every character.
this was a queer-celebrating, cat-loving, multiverse-accepting masterpiece. what a stunning moment in time that I’ll be thinking of for my forever.
this gem releases on june 3rd!!! mark your calendars now besties, it’s a story for the cosmos🪐
what a way to look at life. what a new perspective to romance. to fate, to friendship, to family, to time. i felt so much love & acceptance radiating from the words on the page. i felt so seen & connected to each & every character.
this was a queer-celebrating, cat-loving, multiverse-accepting masterpiece. what a stunning moment in time that I’ll be thinking of for my forever.
this gem releases on june 3rd!!! mark your calendars now besties, it’s a story for the cosmos🪐
June 7, 2025
This is a very romantic story, to the point where it can be a little cheesy, but ultimately, that’s the charm of it. It’s like a romcom movie—and I would love to see this on screen. I also liked that Tressa Fay is genuinely attracted to Meryl’s nerdiness: there’s nothing sexier than a Mathlete shirt or her waders she wears as a stormwater engineer. Meryl is also fat, and her body is described so lovingly.
There are also some details that make this more than just a star-crossed romance. I really enjoyed the queer community and friend group, especially because we get some subplots with other queer romances. In this take on multiple universes, changes made to the past cause characters in the present to remember multiple versions of events, which eventually get reconciled. This means that their attempts to change Meryl’s life ripple out to the secondary characters’ lives, too.
If you’re in the mood for a very romantic story about sapphic love written in the stars, I highly recommend this one. It’s such a heartwarming queer story—not just in the romance, but also in its treatment of queer community and queer-accepting family. I can’t wait to see what Annie Mare writes next.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
There are also some details that make this more than just a star-crossed romance. I really enjoyed the queer community and friend group, especially because we get some subplots with other queer romances. In this take on multiple universes, changes made to the past cause characters in the present to remember multiple versions of events, which eventually get reconciled. This means that their attempts to change Meryl’s life ripple out to the secondary characters’ lives, too.
If you’re in the mood for a very romantic story about sapphic love written in the stars, I highly recommend this one. It’s such a heartwarming queer story—not just in the romance, but also in its treatment of queer community and queer-accepting family. I can’t wait to see what Annie Mare writes next.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
June 12, 2025
I'll admit, the title and cover was the main reason I wanted to read this. A time travel sapphic romance about two women who fall in love even though they live 5 months apart. I love time travel books so that also intrigued me. The love story was very heartfelt and I loved seeing how they fell in love through texting. Their chemistry and dialogue was sincere and felt genuine. It was very cute. Now the time travel “explanation” or “science” lost me. It just kind of bogged things down. There were definitely some funny parts and I loved the found family theme and the importance of bonding with friends. It was a unique read for sure, and definitely makes you think, but the reason I'm giving it three stars is because it felt a little too sciency and longer than it should have been. But overall, entertaining enough.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
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October 26, 2025
For all those searching for the sapphic highs of One Last Stop, here you go.
I really enjoyed this one. It was slow and meandering and twisty and good, and even Tressa's Fay's obnoxious name and her weird sapo-sexualism (every time Meryl speaks Tressa Fay gets hot and says so) didn't kill the vibes.
It's a book about relationships and the grief of things ending and changing and how far you'd go to change the future if you knew something bad was coming.
I really enjoyed this one. It was slow and meandering and twisty and good, and even Tressa's Fay's obnoxious name and her weird sapo-sexualism (every time Meryl speaks Tressa Fay gets hot and says so) didn't kill the vibes.
It's a book about relationships and the grief of things ending and changing and how far you'd go to change the future if you knew something bad was coming.
April 13, 2025
I was so intrigued to read this book - multiple universes? Romance? Hair salons that may be the conduit? Please.
But this? Please, no. I love love books that stretch thinking about time and space but this was not it. I slogged through it, and it was just not even worth it for me. Let me break it down a bit:
1. Tressa Fay has a very long name to always be referred to as Tressa. We could have done a nickname real easy - T, T Fay, Tress, Tressa…I get it that shes a hairdresser. Tressa. I get it.
2. None of these characters are original. none. Not one. They all have the same exact dialogue, mannerisms, talking patterns, etc. Nothing sets them apart. You know those Taylor Swift challenges that are like is it the Bible or is it a song lyric? You couldn’t do this with the characters here. Tressa Fay sounds like Guy who sounds like Linda who sounds like Meryl blah blah blah
3. The cat. The cats name. Really? I nicknamed the thing EpiPen in my brain and it still works
4. I’m mad about this book because I waited forever, loved the premise, and LOVE the representation for the LGBTQ+ community. but this? This was so overdone I’m just sad I wasted my time.
But this? Please, no. I love love books that stretch thinking about time and space but this was not it. I slogged through it, and it was just not even worth it for me. Let me break it down a bit:
1. Tressa Fay has a very long name to always be referred to as Tressa. We could have done a nickname real easy - T, T Fay, Tress, Tressa…I get it that shes a hairdresser. Tressa. I get it.
2. None of these characters are original. none. Not one. They all have the same exact dialogue, mannerisms, talking patterns, etc. Nothing sets them apart. You know those Taylor Swift challenges that are like is it the Bible or is it a song lyric? You couldn’t do this with the characters here. Tressa Fay sounds like Guy who sounds like Linda who sounds like Meryl blah blah blah
3. The cat. The cats name. Really? I nicknamed the thing EpiPen in my brain and it still works
4. I’m mad about this book because I waited forever, loved the premise, and LOVE the representation for the LGBTQ+ community. but this? This was so overdone I’m just sad I wasted my time.
July 7, 2025
pace is all over the place with no discernable reason. why do we need pages of dialogue about a random clients haircut? what does it add? first couple of chapters were fun but plot was definitely lost. it’s not about love, it’s not about multiverses and it’s not even about hair salons!!! i was bamboozled!!!! punching the air rn for wasting my time not dnf’ing it. and as a lesbian, why is does everything gotta be gæ? representation for representation sake with zero substance. flat flat flat. and ofc ya gotta throw in a zir pronoun character on page 620 of 623. just to round it out ig.
D U M B
D U M B
DUUUUUUUMMMBBB
D U M B
D U M B
DUUUUUUUMMMBBB
Read
December 13, 2025DNF on p. 104, although I was really hooked by the multiverse mystery, which kept me reading for far longer than I would have otherwise. I didn’t expect to like it, either, because I DNFed One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston and this is theoretically similar… but Cosmic Love’s version of the concept felt sort of Douglas Adams-y, a little fun and a little wacky, in a way I appreciated.
The lifestyles and references and the characters’ ways of thinking/talking, though, didn’t work for me. I could tell the intention was “a cool group of friends you want to hang out with” and I just… wouldn’t want to hang out with these people. Personally speaking. In other words, a true Not For Me scenario.
The lifestyles and references and the characters’ ways of thinking/talking, though, didn’t work for me. I could tell the intention was “a cool group of friends you want to hang out with” and I just… wouldn’t want to hang out with these people. Personally speaking. In other words, a true Not For Me scenario.
August 2, 2025
____________________ ⬅️ this is how it feels to read this book because this book was so boring and NOTHING made sense.
I didn’t connect to the characters, I didn’t connect to the story and I didn’t like the ending. I really don’t understand how Meryl was still stuck in the past at the end while the future selves of her friends & family still missed her obviously? Why would you write that ? I rooted for the future selves of the characters and not of their past selves. Super weird book.
And there was too much talking. Like instead of actually trying to rescue Meryl in any kind of way they… just talked and didn’t do anything about it for months ???
I don’t think time travel worked in this world because an author needs to actually establish a system that makes SENSE, which wasn’t the case here.
I would’ve loved Meryl & Tressa ending up together as their "future“ selves but unfortunately I didn’t even get that. Why did the author focus so heavily on the past ?? I thought the present of the characters mattered ??? But okay that’s certainly a choice.
September 20, 2025
ohhhh there was so much to like, here. i am a sucker for parallel universe/the multiverse stories and i really loved how it was done, here. the themes of memory and time in here were so great and in particular i adoooored the "water is memory" thread. water is my fav element. meryl was so smart and so dreamy and i understood tressa fay's infatuation with her. their dynamic was really fun and i liked them a lot. equally, the secondary characters were really well fleshed out and i was intially not thrilled abt the snippets of their povs, but actually ended up loving the way they were used. i knew mae marvel was a pen name, but i didn't know (despite them being public abt it) that it's actually a pen name of two wives who write together, and this is one of the wives! they are def becoming up there as some of my fav sapphic romances, and i am already pre-ordering the new books that are upcoming, because this one only made it clear that they're fantastic writers and i very much vibe with them as a reader.
and, gooooosh mia hutchinson-shaw has absolutely become one of my top fav narrators. i am keeping an eye out for all her upcoming titles.
and, gooooosh mia hutchinson-shaw has absolutely become one of my top fav narrators. i am keeping an eye out for all her upcoming titles.
March 21, 2025
Queer romance with a dash of sci-fi. This book gives me all the emotions. It’s like if the invisible life of Addie larue, the seven year slip , and the movie “the lake house” had a baby. I loved the story and characters. It was such a thought provoking story. Loved loved loved!!!
May 22, 2025
A moment for this cover please. 🙏
This book IMMEDIATELY grabs you. It’s witty, a little kooky, and gay as hell. If you love a little weird time blips in your romance, this is definitely for you.
I did feel that the plot kinda got lost by the end but the characters are super lovely and I thought the emotional journey was very satisfying. A great summer romance read with that added fun sci-fi twist.
⭐⭐⭐.5
Available June 3, 2025
Thank you to Berkley for a free advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This book IMMEDIATELY grabs you. It’s witty, a little kooky, and gay as hell. If you love a little weird time blips in your romance, this is definitely for you.
I did feel that the plot kinda got lost by the end but the characters are super lovely and I thought the emotional journey was very satisfying. A great summer romance read with that added fun sci-fi twist.
⭐⭐⭐.5
Available June 3, 2025
Thank you to Berkley for a free advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
June 2, 2025
I loved this SO much! So gay, so much joy, so many laughs. The BEST characters. The found family vibes and how these characters all find each other, in every alternate universe, made me tear up. I actually cried a lot because the writing is beautiful, it tackles the feeling of never being enough, and just creates these amazing relationships. I loved the main couple so much, but I equally loved all the other couples just about equally because they brought so much joy and trust. I adored how the characters trusted this crazy thing that seemed to be happening because they trusted each other. Even when they had to experiment and push the boundaries. The spice levels were perfection because this couple was fully vulnerable with each other. Sassy, smart, I just had SO MUCH FUN reading this!
Thanks to the publisher for a free copy; my thoughts and review are my own.
Thanks to the publisher for a free copy; my thoughts and review are my own.
June 6, 2025
I wanted to like this one-it had the makings of something I would like-hair salon. LGBTQ romance, multiple universes-but omg do you have to stretch your brain to let this one slide. And the characters are so similar that it's hard to tell who is who. And the worst thing of all is how the FMCs name is repeated seventy hundred times a page! Tressa Fay this and Tressa Fay that! We get it! Her name is a play on words because shes a hairdresser! You dont have to beat us over the head with it! And while were talking about names-she named her cat Epinephrine?! Like who does that?. I know she got it after a scary allergic episode but it is still the dumbest name ever!
Im upset that this book wasn't better because it had the potential to be so good. Like I was kinda picturing a more modern version of "The Lake House" but sadly that is very much not what I got.
Thanks to Berkeley/Ace and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.
Im upset that this book wasn't better because it had the potential to be so good. Like I was kinda picturing a more modern version of "The Lake House" but sadly that is very much not what I got.
Thanks to Berkeley/Ace and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.
July 12, 2025
Cute Sapphic Romance
💇🏽♀️ Bookish Thoughts
This was not what I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. This is the kind of book you just have to roll with or your brain might short-circuit 🤣
It’s a cute sapphic romcom with a sci-fi twist, and I loved both FMCs! Tressa Fay and Meryl were perfect together. I also really loved their friend group. Big love for the queer rep too!
The first half had a stronger grip on me than the ending, and honestly it could have been about 100 pages shorter. But overall, still a solid 4 star read.
🧡 Read if You Love:
• Sapphic soulmates
• Time travel
• Found family
• Queer rep
• Parallel universes
✨ Favorite Quote:
“I don’t think any of us are supposed to love each other like we’ll be here forever,” Tressa Fay said quietly. “The point is to love each other like we don’t have enough time.”
💇🏽♀️ Bookish Thoughts
This was not what I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. This is the kind of book you just have to roll with or your brain might short-circuit 🤣
It’s a cute sapphic romcom with a sci-fi twist, and I loved both FMCs! Tressa Fay and Meryl were perfect together. I also really loved their friend group. Big love for the queer rep too!
The first half had a stronger grip on me than the ending, and honestly it could have been about 100 pages shorter. But overall, still a solid 4 star read.
🧡 Read if You Love:
• Sapphic soulmates
• Time travel
• Found family
• Queer rep
• Parallel universes
✨ Favorite Quote:
“I don’t think any of us are supposed to love each other like we’ll be here forever,” Tressa Fay said quietly. “The point is to love each other like we don’t have enough time.”
June 28, 2025
dnf'd at 50%
meryl is stuck in a time paradox where she'll go missing in 5 months and nobody is taking it as seriously as I feel is necessary. The only person I felt compelled by is Meryl's older sister, Gayle.
there were also random POVs from side characters that didnt tie in with the plot or add depth to their character??? idk.
cute concept and love story. a lot of "i love you in every universe" vibes. just didnt pull through for me
meryl is stuck in a time paradox where she'll go missing in 5 months and nobody is taking it as seriously as I feel is necessary. The only person I felt compelled by is Meryl's older sister, Gayle.
there were also random POVs from side characters that didnt tie in with the plot or add depth to their character??? idk.
cute concept and love story. a lot of "i love you in every universe" vibes. just didnt pull through for me
June 12, 2025
I just hope this means there is a universe where Angela got her winter candy apple candle from Jen at the Appleton Bath and Body Works.
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