Cosmic love at the multiverse hair salon

Recovering from heartbreak, hair stylist Tressa Fay hasn't dated in months, but the engineer on the other end of a wrong-number text, Meryl, catches her attention--Tressa Fay can't resist a smart girl. A few days later, Meryl's sister and best friend show up at Tressa Fay's salon demanding to know why she sent a message to Meryl a month after she mysteriously vanished; they realize that Meryl's texts somehow reached Tressa Fay several months into Meryl's future. As their friends and families come together, experiments with tweaking the past to prevent Meryl's disappearance lead to changes in the present and glimpses of other realities. While the Tressa Fay of the past meets Meryl in spring, and present-day Tressa Fay continues to fall for her over texts in autumn, both versions of her wonder whether she can hold on to Meryl tightly enough to prevent her from slipping through the cracks between universes. This gently mind-bending read featuring a touching sapphic romance across time and universes is perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston's One Last Stop (2021).

Mare's fun solo debut (after Big Name Fan, with Ruthie Knox) skillfully blends a fascinating science fictional concept--individual decisions creating shifts between parallel universes--with cozy, down-to-earth queer romance. Tressa Fay has all but given up on love, but when a wrong-number text from a woman named Meryl leads to flirting, she is eager to meet Meryl in person, only to have Meryl stand her up. Tressa Fay believes she's been catfished--until Meryl's sister shows up with the alarming news that Meryl can't have texted Tressa Fay, because she's been missing and incommunicado for a month. Upon closer investigation, Tressa Fray notices that Meryl's texts are all time-stamped as being sent in May, when it's already early October. It becomes clear that somehow Meryl and Tressa Fay are able to text over the five-month gap. Tressa Fay warns Meryl about her disappearance, and the women desperately work together to prevent the inevitable from their different locations in space-time. What follows is a heartwarming multiverse tale of fated love, family, and memory. Fans of Mare's past collaborations will not be disappointed. Agent: Tara Gelsomino, One Track Literary. (June)