Thank you NetGalley for giving me the Opportunity of reading an ARC of Quantum Girl Theory for my honest review.

“Quantum Girl Theory is a dark mystery about the fate of three missing girls in 1960s North Carolina studded with a series of elegant meditations on loss, violence and identity.

It's a tragic and haunting story filled with almost a southern gothic feel at times, while still feeling like a beautiful piece of literary fiction.

I gave this 4 stars.

This book is so much more than what it says on the box (or, in the blurb, if you will). This is no run-of-the-mill historical fiction or women’s detective mystery. This book is part lyrical prose, part ghost story, part historical fiction, part detective story, part suspense, part thriller, and a whole lot of brilliant commentary on how missing girls are treated in America.

Our narrator is a sad sack. I’m sorry, but she really is. But that’s why I like her. She is, in a way, a miserable human being. Is it her fault she’s miserable? Both yes and no. Her misery, circumstances, and the story of how she ended up where she is in the beginning of this book show her both her culpability as an unreliable narrator and give us good reason not to like her. She’s a hustler, first and foremost. Coming in second is her curse of clairvoyance, which calls into question every memory or vision she sees.

Let’s take a step away from this narrator, who was once a missing girl herself but seems to have lived several different lives since then. Are they all her? Is she all them? In the end, shouldn’t every missing girl be equal to every other missing girl? That’s the question this book is asking. Is every missing girl the same as every other missing girl, or do some missing girls count for more? And there’s a question asked more than once in the novel hitting at the heart of this question: When does a girl stop being a girl? When do people just give up on missing girls, and when does a missing girl stop being just a missing girl and becomes more of a distant memory?

This book starts off strong and doesn’t let up. The stories within, both from the POV of our narrator and from the web of related and connected, are filled with suspense, ghosts both literal and figurative, a thin veil of terror, and heaps of longing and regret. For these characters there is really no future, but there is so much in each of their pasts that lead them to their end.

It’s a tragic and haunting story filled with almost a southern gothic feel at times, while still feeling like a beautiful piece of literary fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Quantum Girl Theory
by Eric Kate Ryan
Pub Date: March 8, 2022
Random
Inspired by a true story, this exciting debut explores a mystery about missing girls: When a girl goes missing, does she become the people others imagine her to be?
Thanks to the author, Random House, and NetGalley for the ARC. As a librarian, I like to see books before they get released. I was attracted to this book because the premise is based on a true crime: a young woman disappears while hiking and is never seen again. While the writing style, concept, and intrigue are good, this storyline was difficult to follow.
I cannot recommend this book.
3 stars

The format for this was interesting. It had a strong start and for all that… didn’t hold my interest enough for me to continue. I won’t completely give up on this but for now it’s a did not finish

DNF. I got through 27% of the book, but it's just not for me. The story starts with an amazing prologue about what happens when people go missing and considering all the possibilities and optimistic thoughts. However, when the story started, I could not get into Mary's story. The writing style didn't work for me and I didn't find myself invested in Mary's story. I may try this as an audiobook, but will not be finishing the ebook.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Quantum Girl Theory: Once she is gone, a missing girl becomes everything that everyone thinks she might be; our theories create her fate.”

Mary is a psychic in 1961. She is trying to help find a missing girl in North Carolina even though she is eyed with suspicion by the entire town. They believe she is a fraud out only for the $7000 reward money.

Mary is also a missing girl herself. Originally named Paula, she disappeared fifteen years earlier. The details of the many different ways she could have disappeared flood her dreams and her psychic visions.

The prose is more elegant that most conventional fiction. However, the structure of the book is confusing. There were too many different Mary backstories for me to keep straight. Even the conclusion was not straight forward. I think Quantum Girl Theory would be a better choice for literary fiction fans rather than regular mystery/thriller readers like me. 3 stars.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What happened to Paula Welden, a Bennington student who went missing in 1946? Ryan has imagined a variety of lives for her, most vividly as Mary, a clairvoyant who works on the case of....missing girls. This has an interesting conceit but it didn't entirely work for me, although I'm not sure why. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. Interesting read with some very good imagery.

I found this book to be very unique in both style and content. The prologue sets it up quite well - a girl goes missing, and there are endless possibilities in what might have happened to her. This book explores those possibilities in many ways. There is one main storyline throughout the book, interspersed with chapters about other lives the missing girl could have lived - all of them quite different, but sharing certain characters or events. It took me some time to understand the structure, but once I did, I found it quite intriguing. I liked how the missing girl was searching for other missing girls, and I liked how the stories were increasingly redemptive. An unusual read for me, but I’m thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

Erin Kate Ryan’s complicated novel, Quantum Girl Theory, begins with a preface that explains the eponymous theory in a stuttering series of images that offer possible endings to a story that begins with a girl putting on a red parka. In some of the endings, she lives. In most, however, she meets a frightening death because the world is full of people looking to take advantage of those they consider weaker. Our protagonist, once a missing girl herself, unfortunately gets flashes of these endings as she drifts across America in the early 1960s trying to save at least some of them.

We don’t know much about the woman who introduces herself as Mary Garrett when she arrives in rural North Carolina town other than that she has visions of missing girls, has very little money to her name, and that that name is not her real one. She’s come to this town because there’s a reward on offer for a girl who went missing while riding her horse. That money will go a long way in 1960 if she can claim it. Mary has a lot of tricks up her clairvoyant sleeves to try and get her visions going. All she needs to do is talk the parents into letting her spend some time in the missing girls’ room, with her things. The strange thing (after a whole bunch of other strange things) is that no one seems to be trying very hard to find the missing girl. Her father is willing to let Mary try, but everyone hints or outright tells Mary to go away.

Between chapters that show Mary scrounging for room and board along with searching for the missing girl, other chapters take us into Mary’s past. At least, it seems like they do. The stuttering iterations from the preface play out in different times and places. We’re whisked to various years from the late 1940s up to the mid-1990s, and from New England to Baltimore to Utah and Arizona. These stories share some common elements. The girl Mary used to be loved another girl named Wise, until they were caught and Mary lied about even knowing Wise. Wise disappeared. Then Mary did. After that, anything and everything happens and it’s hard to tell how many missing girls are real and how many are just possibilities.

Quantum Girl Theory is an unsettling book, but I relished the questions it raised about what we choose to pay attention to and what we choose to ignore. One of the people who (reluctantly) helps Mary is Martha, a Black maid at a motel where Mary scams a place to stay, pointedly asks Mary if she ever gets visions of missing Black girls. Mary says no, in a moment that should remind every reader about how much attention is paid to missing white girls compared to every other person who disappears only to be ignored or dismissed as “probably a runaway.” Also, the way that all the missing girls’ stories blend into Mary’s got me thinking about the glut of true crime books, shows, and podcasts. Consuming all of that content can make it feel like we’re surrounded by crimes and injustice. Maybe we are. And if we can’t find the missing, maybe we—like Mary—can witness and tell their stories. If we tell their stories, even if we never really know what the ending is, they won’t be forgotten.

Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan is a historical mystery mixed with a quantum physics theory resulting in the idea that missing girls have an unlimited possibility of realities that creates various worlds within which they may live. I think the premise is very intriguing, and it carried me through reading this atmospheric novel written from 3rd person perspective. I’ve always found quantum theory fascinating. Unfortunately, the story was very dry and confusing at various points, making it hard to maintain interest and focus. The story jumps around in all these different versions of our reality, and I struggled to follow where, why, or who I was with at any given point. I prefer a more fast-paced, focused mystery and would gladly give up a bit of atmosphere to achieve that end. I also enjoyed that it is based on the actual case of Paula Jean Weldon, and it is a nice touch to aid in suspended disbelief. And the psychic abilities of the main character, Mary, were both compelling and confusing, but I didn’t need to be confused any more than I already was. If you are looking for a historical mystery mixed with the more sci-fi quantum theory and you are not easily confused, then Quantum Girl is just the kind of story you will want to sink your teeth into.

Interesting but not really my cup of tea. Well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Predictable and honestly it was a struggle to keep my interest. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was an interesting concept for a story. Based on a true event of a woman disappearing, the idea is that she can become a variety of things because she's gone. I was intrigued in the beginning, but the story quickly became sluggish with concepts that sidetracked the story. It made it difficult to stay invested.

I have been trying to read this book for 5 days and have only gotten a 1/4 of it read. This is based on a true crime, that happened on December 1, 1946. Paula goes missing and the story is about what could have happened to her. Killed, ran away, captured and held captive by someone, or, as the book, a seer (clairvoyant).

I love True Crime. They always intrigue me, so I figured I would love this. Not so. While the premise is good, even great, to me it just got bogged down. I kept wanting something to happen, and nothing was.

As always, remember just because someone doesn't like a book, doesn't mean you won't. My thoughts are not along with others that have read this book. Some have loved, some have said it's just okay, and others, like me, didn't like it or DNF'D it. It's all up to the person reading the book, and how it hits them at that time.

Thanks to Random House, Netgalley, and Ryan for the opportunity to read this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Publishes March 8, 2022

#randomhouse
#netgalley

I was attracted to this book because the premise is based on a true crime: a young woman disappears while hiking and is never seen again.
The proposition is that this girl went on to become a seeker of other lost girls, a clairvoyant of sorts. This is a captivating concept, but the focus is continually bogged down and blurred by meandering thoughts.
While the writing style, concept, and intrigue are good, this storyline was difficult to follow.
Sincere thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is March 8, 2022.

Mary, a white woman from New England, arrives in Bladen County, North Carolina in 1961 in the hopes of obtaining the award for finding a missing white young woman. Mary has the "sight" which provides her with visions of missing girls. She meets Martha, a black woman who is willing to help Mary navigate the day to day world of the south if Mary will find two young black women who are also missing. Based on the real life disappearance of a young woman in 1946, this mystery delves into the vast difference of attention the disappearance of a white woman receives versus a woman of color. While the story feels slow, it also feels highly discusable and book groups should enjoy this one.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley and Random House for the arc.

I'm not quite sure how to describe this book and that is not a bad thing. It was different than most books I have read and dealt a lot with Mary who is psychic, well intuitive. She has "visions" of missing girls that are from the same town. Paula Welden is the primary character who is missing and who the story is based off of.

What really set this book apart for me, is the fact that it dealt more with the missing girls then the effect that their disappearence had on people. It messed with my mind a little as in I still can't stop thinking about it.

This was an ambitious attempt but didn't quite make it. It tells the imagined stories of what might have happened to a missing girl. Most of the book was the story of Mary, who is an intuitive and has visions of missing girls and her attempts to find out what happened to the girls missing in that town and the hostility she faces. It veers into other possible stories, sometimes in a confusing, boundariless way. There were overlapping themes in the stories and also themes of racism and homophobia and ways the main character has betrayed others and herself. The ending, was very sudden and not satisfying unfortunately

Not a bad novel. Complex characters and a solid story. A bit dry in some parts, but a fascinating story nonetheless.

Quantum Girl Theory
By: Erin Kate Ryan
Publication date: March 8, 2022
Date Reviewed: December 23, 2021

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Random House, Erin Kate Ryan & NetGalley, for allowing me access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Quantum Girl Theory is quite a great read! I’m sad it’s over, I will Definitely be purchasing this one for my own library at home… I absolutely Loved the book & am really looking forward to more work by Erin Kate Ryan. This was the first book I’ve read by her but it’s most definitely Not the last. I highly recommend Quantum Girl Theory, it’s a solid 5 stars from me!
#QuantumGirlTheory #NetGalley