A Quantum Love Story is a cute, light sci-fi romance that still tugs on your heartstrings. This is not a typical romance at all, but still very much a love story, and I loved Mike Chen’s approach to it. The relationship that develops between Carter, our foodie with the eidetic memory, and Mariana, a neuroscientist who could care less about food, felt very real and grounded, despite it happening in the middle of a four-day cycle time loop. As a foodie myself, I appreciate Carter’s love of food and how he used it to show how he cared about Mariana.

The mystery of the time loop is intriguing but not too complex. It’s not necessary to be a sci-fi reader to enjoy this book. Some parts of the plot seemed a bit too convenient, and the end felt both open-ended and tied up too neatly with a bow. I also really liked Carter, but felt like we didn’t get enough in his POV. It is a fun read, though, and I would recommend it to someone looking for a light sci-fi that is still very human.

A moving, cleverly written time loop love story between an tech guy and a neuroscientist who find themselves stuck in a four day time loop that ends with the world exploding. Full of humor and heart, this was my first book by Mike Chen and I really, really enjoyed it! Recommended for fans of romance stories with a sci-fi twist, books about living life to the fullest and fighting for what matters and authors like Roselle Lim. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @Librofm for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: kissing only

Let me tell you a little story about this book. I could have finished in December, right at the end. But I waited, until January first, so that I could start the year off with a winner. This, my friends, is a winner. It's no secret that I'd purchase Mike Chen's grocery list without hesitation, but this one was fabulous. In it, Mariana and Carter are facing endless time loops of the same four days, unless they figure out a way to get out of it. I think I shall just tell you why I loved it, then!

►Time loops! These are always fun, right? I cannot help but wonder what I would do in such a situation, and I loved how Carter and Mariana handle their loops in so many different ways. Obviously, they go through phases of hope, denial, acceptance, etc., and back around again. It makes it feel more realistic, because I imagine that most of us would do the same.

►The characters! Mariana and Carter were just such different people, which ended up working really well. She was calculated and focused, whereas he was more willing to take risks and think outside the box. Ultimately, they just worked so well together, and I enjoyed them both as characters in their own right, too.

►The emotions! I had many, reader. We learn quite a bit about the characters' lives before the loops, and of course, we carry on with them for quite some time during the loops. Without giving away too much, there are plenty of moments that made me laugh, smile, and yes, cry.

►I was able to moderately understand the science. I mean look, I am no scientist, but I at least had a basic grasp of what was happening. Sometimes, it gets too convoluted when I read a book like this, but I assure you, this is not the case here! The author does a great job of writing it in a way that the reader understands, and I think it helps that while Mariana is a scientist, this isn't exactly her purview, and Carter is a layperson like most of us reading the book.

►It is just very heartfelt. I felt like I truly knew the characters by the end, especially Mariana, and I could not help but root for her with a desperation as though she was a friend. That, for me, is just the mark of good storytelling.

All of this said, I did want a little more from the ending. Just a little, and I considered knocking a half a star off, but I really loved it too much to do that. But also, if Mike Chen ever wants to throw an epilogue my way, this would absolutely shoot onto my favorites list. Just saying.

Bottom Line: Wonderfully written with tons of heart and emotion and time loop shenanigans, I fell quite in love with A Quantum Love Story.

I really enjoyed this science fiction, time loop love story. I say love story as the title does because I would definitely not market this as romance. While there is a central relationship and the characters are slowly falling toward each other in love and in their shared mission to break out of a 4-day Groundhog Day-esque time loop, their romantic feelings are not the primary focus of the book.

This book was quirky and fun. I really enjoyed the setting of San Francisco circa the 2090s. I thought the technology portrayed throughout was just advanced enough while remaining believable for 70 years in the future. The time loops and time travel also were well done. While my head was spinning a little in a few moments with technical language and science, my brain did not hurt trying to figure out the logistics of the time travel; I’m no expert, but the logic seemed solid and lacked the problematic inconsistencies I’ve found with so many books of this type.

I also really liked the slow-burn development of feelings between Carter and Mariana, two people who weren’t really looking for each other at all.

I few items I struggled with:

I wanted more background and emotion felt about Carter’s family and his complicated relationship with them.

I also wanted to feel the emotions of our characters a bit more. They seemed distant at times. The one time I got a little misty-eyed was when Mariana said goodbye to her AI.

There was a moment about half way through the book when I felt like the pace was dragging a lot, only to turn to the next chapter and have the plot move rapidly to the finish line.

Finally, I have mixed feelings about the ending, but I won’t spoil it for anyone. I will say it was slightly ambiguous. I’m undecided on whether I appreciate that, the way I appreciate indie movies, or if I wish there were a longer epilogue.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, but wonder if I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been expecting it to deliver more romance. My interest in this author has been piqued though, and I may be looking into his other works in the future.

— NOTES —
Genres: science fiction, time loops & travel, love story
POV: third-person
Content: grief, animal death (natural)
Romance: kisses

— MY RATING CONSIDERATIONS —
(all out of 5)

Pace: 3.5
Enjoyment: 4.5
Craft: 4
My Gut Feeling: 4
Total Stars: 4

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book!

What a ride. Part sci-fi time travel adventure, part mystery, part psychological experiment, part romance - this book has a lot going on. And I ate it up.

There are a lot of things I would love to say about what happens in this book, but I don't want to spoil anything. What I will say is that this is one of those rare instances where I really dislike what actually happens in the book - where it makes me feel lots of negative emotions that I normally avoid when reading, because I tend to read for pure escapism - and yet I gave it a full 5 stars. If you know me well, maybe that gives you a clue as to some aspect of the plot. Maybe not.

At its core, this is a time loop story. Two people find themselves stuck in a time loop where they repeat the same three and a half days over and over again, and they're trying to figure out how to get out of the loop. As is probably obvious by the name of the book, the two people end up developing feelings for each other. I've read several time loop romances at this point, and this one was wholly unique - mostly because the time loop itself wasn't just a tropey gimmick that was abandoned 1/3-1/2 of the way through the book. It had a purpose, and it provided a really interesting context to the growing feelings between the main characters.

This certainly isn't a simple, feel-good romance, but if you're a fan of both science fiction and romance, I definitely recommend it. It has compelling characters, relationship and plot development, unpredictable twists, and an interesting ending. This was my first Mike Chen read, but I will be certain to add his other books to my list!

𝒜𝑅𝒞 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌

𝘼 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙢 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮
by Mike Chen
January 30, 2024
368 pages
@_mira_books_ Thank you for allowing me to read in exchange for my honest review.

Read this if:

- you enjoy sci fi with lots of brainy science facts (I kind of started enjoying this after The Martian & this had that vibe even though it is not a space novel).
- You like a sweet new romance of just kisses and longing.
-Time travel or looping is interesting reading. Quantum leaps indeed.

-You liked the movie Groundhog Day and want to know more about how that could happen.
- enjoy a story that has some lessons about savoring life's little moments even though major changes are happening.
- like relatable characters.
- wonder how science might handle memory and time

Carter Cho and Mariana Pineda end up in a time loop together, but then something happens, and one of them must make a life altering decision. I do not want to spoil a moment of this book. Think Groundhog Day in a top secret science facility with time travel and all of its possible paradoxical problems.

Will they end up together?
Can science and artificial intelligence save the day?

I really liked this read, and my only complaint is that I would have liked a few more chapters to see what happened to these characters next. Maybe the author might consider a bonus short story, please.

If you are looking for a sci fi with light romance, deep thoughts on living, and that makes you think about the physics of time loops and time travel, make this your next read. It's quirky, and good.
I really want to tell you about the AI character based on a famous rock star, but do not want to spoil the surprise.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars

#bookreview #sciencefiction #timetravelbooks #timeloops #quantumphysicsfiction #aquantumlovestory

This was a fun and somewhat quirky story. The characters are stuck in a four-day time loop that they are trying to break out of. It is also a story about love, friendship, and human connection.

This was a fascinating book! I did find the science/physics/time aspect to be quite challenging to understand at times. I would like to go back and review the last third of the book. The book had great pace and urgency. It was not a traditional romance; definitely more of a sci-fi novel than romance.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

This was my first Mike Chen book and I really enjoyed it! Honestly, it went beyond what I was expecting for a sci-fi, romance. I should mention there was only a glimmer of romance in the storyline (one kiss!) but the potential of a great love story was there for the taking. Our main characters, Mariana and Carter were endearing and quirky. I was so caught up in the storyline with the two of them becoming a team to figure out the time loop, but at the same time, I adored the two just living day to day together simply being. I would have been satisfied with them staying in an endless loop if it wasn't for the fact of Carter losing his memories. Bah humbug! There is plenty of sci-fi jargon, but it didn't detract from the story for a non-science person. While there are plenty of cute, sweet moments, there are also a lot of emotional situations dealing with grief, loss and sacrifice...

There were a few things that stopped this being a perfect 5 star read. I still had some questions at the end of the book. And while there is a hopeful ending, I just wanted a little more confirmation that YES, our couple would get a HEA. An additional epilogue besides the given one would have been a lovely bonus!

4.5 stars

The title is a little misleading, because I didn’t find this book to be a love story at all. While there was maybe a sprinkle of romance in it, A Quantum Love Story was primarily a time loop book. So if you’re looking for a romance sci-fi book, this is probably not it.

I really enjoyed the story. It was fast paced and engaging, quirky at times, and it was not as predictable as I thought it would be. As someone who has a very technical and fact based mind, I liked the characters, but I wish that they had more depth. Both Mariana and Carter felt very one dimensional. They each had two or three traits that kept repeating, and that was their entire personality. It also made the (tiny bit of) romance feel kind of awkward and forced.

Overall it was a lovely time loop book that I had fun reading, and I would recommend it to those that enjoy that kind of time travel story.

Title Vs Genre Will Cause A War In Booklandia. This is a book where the title will quell any riots over the story... and yet so many places (perhaps because of the publisher? unclear there) classifying this as a "romance" for genre purposes... is going to spark those very riots. To be clear, this book does NOT meet RWA qualifications for a "romance novel" - and is actually all the stronger for it. (As is generally the case, fwiw.) Which is why the title is correct and speaks to exactly what you can expect here: a scifi love story, both with the characters and from the writer to the audience. This is a quirky, funny, heart bursting, extremely cloudy room kind of scifi tale that is going to take you less on a rollercoaster of emotion and more through a multiverse of various combinations of emotions.

Yes, at its base this is a Groundhog Day/ Edge Of Tomorrow kind of time looping tale. Which then builds into almost Terminator level time looping. Even certain elements of a Michael Crichton TIMELINE or a Randall Ingermanson TRANSGRESSION or even a Jeremy Robinson THE DIDYMUS CONTINGENCY. All while based in and around a "super-LHC" - which reminds me, make sure to check hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com a few times while reading this book, just to be sure - and its experiments.

Overall this book really was quite good and quite a ride - one of the very few where I knew I had to immediately begin writing the review as soon as I finished the book itself. That, to me over the course of *so very many* books and Advance Review Copies over the last several years, is one of the marks of a particularly good book - you're just left in such emotional upheaval that you *have* to write to get the thoughts out of your own head. But don't go into this book expecting a romance - it does NOT meet those "official" guidelines - and, again, is stronger for it. It absolutely IS a love story (and yes, "clean"/ "sweet" crowd, you'll find this one perfectly acceptable), and honestly one of the better ones I've read in the last several years.

Very much recommended.

I enjoyed the idea of this, and the prose moved along, and the characters were engaging, but every time I put it down, I had no interest in picking it back up.

fun, light, cute love story! i would recommend it, especially with the initial time traveling love premise and how it changes. thanks for the arc.

I really enjoyed this unique story! A bit of Groundhog Day with a Blake Crouch time travel edge, mixed with a “love story” stuck in a time loop!

Part of wanted a bit more of the “love” in the love story but I also appreciated the constant pull and tug of the time constraints they faced and enjoyed the conclusion!

Carter Cho is a simple man. He's a technician at Hawke, has an eidetic memory, and loves good food and knows where to find it. Problem is, he's stuck in a time loop - that ends in Hawke's explosion and, presumably, everyone's demise. But on one loop he meets Mariana, manages to pull her into the chaos with him, and everything changes for them both.

This starts as Carter's story, then becomes all about teamwork and hope, and then ends (and is more powerful for it) with Mariana taking anchor, risking everything to end the time loop. There is a love story here, but not really of romance novel quality - this is definitely a story about a time loop, even if the two stuck in it eventually realize they've met for a reason. This is a story about time travel, a mystery, love, and learning to savour life, bit by bit. Definitely a worthwhile journey for those who like their sci-fi with a slight dose of nonsense technobabble and a bigger serving of emotional resonance.

Mike Chen mentions in the author's notes that this is his pandemic book (despite releasing a book in 2020, coincidentally, about an actual pandemic), and as a reader you can feel that influence throughout. A time loop is just another form of isolation, another pause in your everyday life. Carter and Mariana, like all of us, find new hobbies, new experiences, new connections, and muse on the things that matter, while battling a sense of impending doom. This book resonates more now, in the aftermath, than it ever could have if it had existed pre-2020.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mira (Harlequin Trade Publishing) for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

I didn't realize that this was more cute romance than (almost, but not really) contemporary sci-fi. I also didn't think that I'd like this that much. Guess I'm open to new experiences in the Year of Our Lord 2024.

I think I liked this arc because the romance wasn't too in-your-face and this is something I prefer. The author did mention in the acknowledgements that the romance in this novel was front and center. Surprisingly, it didn't feel that way to me.

I liked that this was more of a slowburn and coworkers(?)/friends to lovers. And if you like the forced proximity trope and the opposites attract trope, then this might be for you.

I requested this arc more for the sci-fi portion and that part didn't disappoint at all! I love anything to do with time travel, time loops, time travel paradoxes, etc. This delivered on that front. A lot of the reviews did mention that it got really repetitive with the Groundhog Day time loop stuff, but surprisingly, it didn't feel that way to me. Each iteration had a new revelation (whether with the characters figuring out how to resolve their situation, or how their relationship slowly moved forward), which kept things fresh and not too stale.

Overall, this was a quick read and a very cute book that dealt with loss, grief, and second chances.

Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you to Harlequin for the opportunity to review this and thank you to Mike Chen for his writing and creativity!

I really enjoyed this. I'm trying to read more sci fi type work this year. This scratched that itch for me.

Carter and Mariana are in a bit of a repetitive problem. They relive the same 4 days over and over and each time it all ends in a big boom. How can they both piece this together when everything just starts over? Can they?

Thanks to Carter's photographic memory, they make great progress...until Carter has trouble remembering and Mariana is on her own. Can Mariana figure this out? Can she find her way back to Carter?

This book kept me guessing. Right up until the last page, I had no idea if any of this could be fixed. I enjoyed Mariana's and Carter's story and how they taught each other to be better people. Mariana was so goal focused she forgot to see the world around her and Carter reminded her that there's a world to be explored. Mariana encouraged Carter to take control of things he had just accepted as uncontrollable events in his life.

The love story wasn't in your face. It was a nice addition to a mystery that needed to be solved.

There were a few times where I did get annoyed that certain characters just accepted what was going on and divulged all sorts of info but I wasn't too upset about it. I'll take a point off for some actions taken being more ex machina in nature. But I was so eager to see what was going to happen I was pretty forgiving of it.

I cried for Buddy Ed. If you know, you know. Dogs always get to me.

And Maggie was a goofy lil feline companion.

4 out of 5 stars, a great time!

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA, and author Mike Chen for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.
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"A Quantum Love Story" has been on my TBR for a while; the eARC was granted to me literal months ago, but since I'm a mood reader, it sat. And sat. And sat. I knew I'd need to be in the mood for sci-fi romance that would probably be a little bittersweet before I picked this up. I managed to time my readthrough almost perfectly: I was ready for a meet-cute, I was ready for sci-fi, I was ready for time travel, for donuts (just a simple glazed /sob), I was ready to get my heart ripped out and put back together.

Time travel stories are so often done badly, or done cheap. Consider "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" which breaks established lore and creates paradoxes willy-nilly, or "The Tomorrow War" which somehow tries to shoehorn both fixed-timeline theory and branching theory together, when it should be one or the other. In what I consider to be a stroke of genius, although may have been a stroke of cowardice, Chen chooses his flavor of time travel to be both and neither fixed-timeline theory or branching theory: the characters are exploring if time travel is even possible, and if so, trying to learn how it works, and so frankly, they don't know if they'll experience fixed-timeline or branching theory, so they take every precaution for either possibility. And now I have a horrible sense of deju vu that I've written this review before. Help?

I'll be real honest: I don't read a lot of male authors. I read a lot of romance, which tends to be written by women, for women. I admit I was concerned how Chen would write a POV character who was a woman, but I didn't need to be worried in the slightest. Mariana was a perfectly normal character, with perfectly normal physics and thoughts and behaviors. She was calm, cool, logical, and when the occasion called for it, emotional without being insufferable. I actually found myself identifying with Mariana a lot, which surprised me. The book does have some chapters from Carter's perspective, but most of the book is through Mariana's viewpoint. Carter is delightful and his zeal for good food is infectious. His attitude is much more blasé than Mariana's, he's very much a "what will be, will be" type of person, which makes them such a cute foil for each other. Other reviewers stated the romance fell flat in their opinion, and I can appreciate that, although I felt it didn't so much fall flat as it was just underdeveloped due to Carter slowly losing this memories with each time loop the pair goes through (not a spoiler, it's in the blurb!). For me, the romance aspect was more the allure of what could be, if given a chance.

If you're worried about this being too sciency, don't be. Both FMC and MMC repeatedly state they have no idea how any of this timey-wimey stuff works. Mariana is a neuroscientist, so yeah, she's a smart lady, but we're not working with brain stuff now are we? Carter reminds Mariana (and therefore the reader) he flunked out of school and only has two years of higher learning, so he's more or less at a loss, too. The pair work together, grasping at straws and finding variables they can tweak in an effort to escape their time loop. They are aided, of course, by the definitely-not-Amazon's-Alexa AI assistant. The AI assistant, David, is a character unto himself, full of sass and snark, and AI David does a lot of the heavy lifting with number crunching and simulation running.

This just barely missed the mark for being a five-star read for me. There were a few questions I had at the end of the book that weren't answered, and it really, really bothered me. Actually, still bothers me. Present tense bothers me. I'm actively bothered. If we had learned how the hell the prehistoric animals were showing up (we get a theory but... I want more), why Carter's memories were fading, and why only Mariana seemingly escaped the time loop, I would have been much more satisfied.

Nonetheless, once I was a few chapters in, I was met with the bizarre sensation that I was holding a bestseller in my hands. With "A Quantum Love Story" releasing in a few weeks, I'll guess we'll find out if I'm a time traveler or not. I almost hope I am, because this is a title I would absolutely love to go back and read again for the first time.

I do really love a knotty time travel story, and this delivers beautifully. Mariana and Carter are caught in a time loop and become close while they try to solve it. It's an interesting premise that is executed very well. I have a massive amount of respect for this being *hard* sci-fi. The science is there and it makes for a big part of the story. This is not timey-wimey time travel (which I also like) but the type of time travel that has extensive protocols for avoiding paradoxes. The romance is both at the front of the story and slow burn. You get to know both Mariana and Carter as people, as friends, and watch them slowly make each other better people. Definitely the type of couple you cheer along.

Mike Chen's "A Quantum Love Story" is a captivating blend of science fiction and romance. The integration of quantum physics adds a unique and intellectually stimulating dimension to the heartfelt narrative. Well-developed characters, a seamless plot, and Chen's skillful balance between scientific concepts and emotional depth make this a standout read. Beautifully crafted prose and a well-managed pace ensure an engaging experience. This novel offers a memorable journey through love and the mysteries of the universe, making it a must-read for both sci-fi enthusiasts and those who appreciate a well-told love story.