In What World Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A sapphic multiverse rom-com with a genuinely fresh premise and an affectionate love letter to grown-up theatre kids, undercut by a present-day romance that leans too hard on the past to fully convince.

Best for: Readers who want a high-concept, low-angst rivals romance between two women in their thirties, who love magical realism with loose rules, and who are happy to trade simmering tension for big what-if feelings.

Heat level: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 — romance.io’s “Open door” band)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.7/5 — a 3.94 Goodreads average from 546 ratings, with half the most-visible reviews from advance copies)

Tropes: Rivals-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, second chance, multiverse and alternate selves, forced proximity, reluctant partnership, missing mentor, dual POV, theatre kids, famous heroine.

In What World by Bridget Morrissey is a standalone contemporary lesbian romance from Berkley with a speculative engine bolted underneath — set largely in the hometown high school where Marlowe Jenkins now teaches, it sends her and Priscilla Covington-French, the rival who left and became a television star, through a series of alternate realities in pursuit of the drama teacher who made them both, and makes them watch other versions of themselves get the thing right.

It has a 3.94 average across 546 Goodreads ratings, a 4.0 on StoryGraph from 383 reviews, pull-quote praise from Kirkus and Library Journal, and the highest Goodreads average of any Morrissey novel I could find. It also has a review section where the real dissent lives at three stars rather than one, and where roughly half the loudest voices read it early. Both of those facts are worth understanding before you start.

What Is In What World About?

In What World sits where rom-com meets magical realism. Readers shelve it as Romance, Lesbian and Contemporary first and Magical Realism further down, and Amazon files it under Romantic Comedy and LGBTQ+ Romance with no science fiction shelf at all. The multiverse is a device for what-if questions about two women’s choices, not a system to interrogate. StoryGraph readers tag it funny and lighthearted about half the time, but “emotional” scores almost as high as “adventurous”.

Marlowe stayed. She teaches at the school she graduated from, scrapes by, and quietly resents the classmate whose career took off. Priscilla left, got famous, and assumes Marlowe has always thought less of her. Both still orbit the same mentor, and their versions of the past do not match. The dual POV suits a rivalry built on misreading: you see each misunderstanding from both sides first.

What Makes This Sapphic Multiverse Romance Work

The concept: The premise is praised almost unanimously — including by the two-star reviews and the one reviewer who did not finish. Rivals forced to watch versions of themselves who chose differently is the hook, and it lands.
The theatre-kid texture: Readers who did theatre say the cast parties, rehearsal panic and insecurity dressed up as confidence feel authentic. Kirkus calls it a love letter to theater kids, and readers agree.
The theme underneath: Several reviewers single out the idea of being stuck in one version of yourself and choosing a braver one — for many, the book’s real subject.
Grounded adult leads: StoryGraph readers vote 89% yes on strong character development and 82% yes on flaws being a main focus. These are messy women in their thirties, not polished heroines.
Easy multiverse: Despite the premise, most readers say the reality-hopping is easy to follow and never overblown, which keeps this a rivals-to-lovers romance rather than a puzzle box.

Book Synopsis

Marlowe Jenkins and Priscilla Covington-French were the two most talented kids in their high school drama department, and they could not stand each other. They also kissed — more than once — and neither has ever said what that meant. Sixteen years later Marlowe teaches at the same school and is helping stage the spring musical, and Priscilla is a recognisable face on television. The only thing they still share is Dallas Winthrop, the drama teacher who shaped them both and is about to retire.

Then Dallas vanishes on the day of dress rehearsal, and the last person he spoke to was Priscilla. Neither will let the other look for him alone. What they find is stranger than a missing-person case. Tucked away in the school theatre is a contraption Dallas built in secret, a machine that opens onto other versions of reality. It looks like he went through it and did not come back.

So they follow him. Each world they step into holds another Marlowe and another Priscilla, shaped by choices the originals never made. In one, Marlowe is the famous one and Priscilla is the teacher. Some of those alternates like each other a great deal more than the originals ever admitted to. The search pulls them further from their own lives and responsibilities, and it gets harder to pretend the old rivalry is about talent. The question is whether they keep hiding behind it once they have seen what lies on the other side.

My Review

The premise is the best thing here, and nobody disputes it. Two former rivals forced to stand in a room with versions of themselves who made the braver choice is a beautifully efficient way to do what second-chance romances usually spend a hundred pages on. You don’t have to be told what they regret — you get to meet it. The alternate selves work best when one turns out happier or more honest than the original, and the original has to sit with that.

The second strength is how specific it is about the world it loves. The drama department isn’t set dressing. Readers who grew up in theatre say the cast parties, rehearsal panic and gifted-kid rivalry ring true. Adult leads help too. Marlowe and Priscilla are in their thirties, carrying real disappointments, and the dual POV earns its place by showing each of them building a story about the other that turns out to be wrong.

Where it struggles is the romance in the present tense. This is the most repeated criticism in the reviews, not my own quibble. Four separate readers say the love story leans so hard on the high-school history and on the alternate couples that it is hard to believe in the two women falling for each other now. Around that sit smaller structural complaints. Dallas, whose disappearance drives the whole plot, reads to several reviewers as a device rather than a character, and his storyline closes a little too neatly. Two readers found the POV voices hard to tell apart in the first half. Five describe a stretch where their attention slipped, from a middle that drags to one outright DNF at 30%. None of it is a craft disaster, but it adds up to a book easier to admire than to fall for.

One expectation to reset: this is sold as a multiverse rom-com, and both halves of that label are softer than they sound. The multiverse runs on loose, almost metaphorical rules, and readers who want hard science fiction or real jeopardy from the reality-hopping are the ones who come away frustrated. If “multiverse” is what drew you, calibrate. If you worried it would be too much sci-fi for a romance reader, relax.

My honest note: A five-star concept written with obvious affection, carried at three-and-a-half-star romance because the love story lives more in the past than the present. If you need to watch two women fall for each other on the page, this may leave you wanting. If you read romance for the what-ifs, it is a treat.

Element	In In What World
Central relationship	Marlowe Jenkins & Priscilla Covington-French — hometown drama teacher and TV actress, former high-school theatre rivals
Core tropes	Rivals-to-lovers, second chance, multiverse and alternate selves, forced proximity, missing mentor, dual POV
Setting	Their old high school and its theatre, plus a run of alternate realities reached from inside it
Heat level	3/5 — open door, but readers point to a single on-page scene
Series	Standalone — complete arc, HEA and epilogue
Content notes	Missing person, grief and loss, past child neglect, past high-school bullying and rivalry, emotional distress, one open-door sex scene

How Spicy Is In What World?

A 3/5, with an asterisk. romance.io places it in its “Open door” band, but that rests on only nine ratings. TV Insider’s Swooon guide rates it lower, 2 of 5, and calls it the tamer side of open door. The reader evidence leans the same way. The one reviewer who discusses it calls it “the one spicy scene” — singular. Treat this as a book with a door that opens once, not a spicy romance.

The one thing worth flagging is that the scene itself divides. At least one reader felt it sat awkwardly in context, and another wanted more sexual tension overall. No reviewer flags consent concerns or kink content. If you want the same open-door band with more of it, One Last Stop and Payback’s a Witch both sit at 3/5 in our reviews.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you love high-concept romance with a light speculative touch, you were a theatre kid or still wish you were, you like adult heroines working out what they actually want, and you prefer warmth and what-ifs over angst and heat.

You may want to skip it if: you need a sci-fi premise with rules and stakes, you want rivals whose hostility crackles on the page, you need the romance to build in the present rather than lean on backstory, or you want more than one open-door scene.

In short: a clever, tender idea that asks you to believe in a love story more through its history than its present.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

This is a traditionally published book being found the traditional way, not through a viral moment. Of the 30 most-visible Goodreads reviews, 15 mention an advance copy through NetGalley or Berkley, so a big share of the early verdict comes from readers who got it free before release. I found no organic BookTok coverage in search, and no Publishers Weekly or Booklist review. [Reddit could not be checked — the browser session failed on two attempts.] What it does have is a steady base: Kirkus and Library Journal pull-quotes on the publisher page, a loyal readership (three reviewers say they read everything Morrissey writes), and a Goodreads average above every other Morrissey novel I found. Its Amazon rank, around #2,800 in LGBTQ+ Romance, fits a quiet word-of-mouth book rather than a breakout.

The audiobook is the other way in. It is dual-narrated by Lindsey Dorcus and Ellie Gossage and runs 9 hours 35 minutes, out the same day as print. Two narrators for a dual-POV book directly addresses the most practical complaint on the page — that the two voices are hard to tell apart early on. No listener review I found assesses the narration, so that is a reasonable bet, not a proven fix.

Prefer audio? Listen to In What World on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The concept, first and almost without exception — even the critical reviews open by calling it fresh. Then the theatre world, which reads as genuine to people who lived it. Then the theme: several readers name the idea of being stuck in one version of yourself as what stayed with them. Readers compare it to Ashley Poston’s magical realism and Doctor Who, and one means “reads like fanfic” as a compliment. Notably, two readers say the multiverse was easy to follow, which is the opposite of one of the complaints below.

What readers argue about and complain about: The present-day romance, above everything. Four reviewers independently say the relationship relies on the high-school history and the alternate couples, so the falling-in-love in the present feels underbuilt. Second, engagement. Five readers describe losing interest at some point, from a middle that drags to a DNF at 30%, and the low-star reviews are short and flat rather than angry. Third, Dallas. Two reviewers and one blog call the mentor a plot device whose storyline is tied up too neatly given everything it sets in motion. Beyond that, two readers struggled to tell the POVs apart, and two found the leads childish or unlikable during the rivalry phase. The multiverse divides: one reader and one blog wanted clearer rules, and two readers praised exactly that looseness. Single voices raise the misplaced spicy scene, an unnecessary second epilogue, and a wish for more tension. Telling, too: the trade pull-quotes praise tenderness and theatre kids and never touch the present-day-romance complaint that dominates the three-star reviews.

The standalone question worth asking first: it stands alone. There is no series designation on Goodreads or the publisher page, the arc closes, and readers report an HEA with an epilogue (one notes there are two). Going further into Morrissey is a judgement call. This is her highest-rated novel on Goodreads, and her most-read, That Summer Feeling, sits a quarter-star lower at 3.69 across 10,800 ratings. The next book on her calendar is I Put a Spell on You, the second in her witchy YA series, due 12 January 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does In What World have a happy ending?

Yes. Readers report a happily-ever-after for Marlowe and Priscilla, closed out with an epilogue. Parts of the ending are bittersweet, but the romance resolves.

How spicy is In What World?

A 3/5. romance.io lists it as open door, but readers describe a single on-page sex scene, and TV Insider’s Swooon guide rates it 2 of 5. It is warm and romantic rather than steamy.

Is In What World part of a series?

No. It is a standalone with no series designation on Goodreads or the publisher page. The story resolves completely and requires no other book.

Is In What World science fiction or a rom-com?

Mostly a rom-com. The multiverse works as magical realism with loose rules, and Amazon files the book under Romantic Comedy and LGBTQ+ Romance. Readers wanting hard sci-fi are the ones most likely to be disappointed.

Is there an In What World audiobook?

Yes. It is narrated by Lindsey Dorcus and Ellie Gossage, runs 9 hours 35 minutes, and was released on 11 August 2026 alongside the print edition.

If You Loved In What World, Read These Next

The nearest match in spirit is One Last Stop. It applies the same light speculative device to a sapphic romance at the same open-door heat, with a love story that builds more in the present. If the multiverse is what hooked you and you want it with real rules and stakes, The Space Between Worlds takes alternate selves seriously as science fiction, with a quieter romance. And for a homecoming story with magic in the background and history between the women, Payback’s a Witch sits in the same cosy, 3/5 register.

For more in this vein, browse our enemies-to-lovers lesbian romance guide, the second chance romance archive, or the full Book Reviews collection.

The Bottom Line

In What World is a book whose idea is bigger than its love story. The premise is fresh, the theatre world is drawn with affection, and the theme of choosing a braver self lands. The present-day romance also leans on history and alternate couples, the mentor plot is thinner than the weight it carries, and the middle loses some readers. If you read romance for the what-ifs and want a warm, complete, low-angst sapphic standalone, it is worth your time. If you need to feel two women fall for each other scene by scene, temper your expectations. Check In What World on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, In What World ranks as a high-concept traditionally published sapphic rom-com — inventive and tender, held back by a present-day romance that leans on its own backstory, and best approached for the what-ifs and the theatre kids rather than the slow burn.