This is an absolutely enjoyable and quirky time loop reading experience! What sets it apart is its ability to avoid predictable and stereotypical time loop stories that overload your brain with scientific jargon, forcing you to re-read pages in hopes of understanding it all. Instead, this book offers a refreshing twist. While there is a hint of romance between the characters, their motivation to escape the time loop is not solely driven by an impossible love story, as often seen in similar plots.

The focus of this story lies primarily on friendship and grief, with an infusion of quirky and hilarious vibes, complemented by science fiction elements.

We are introduced to Mariana Pineda, a brilliant neuroscientist who is grieving the loss of her best friend and seeking a fresh start. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she encounters Carter Cho, who insists they already know each other and warns her not to forget this moment before the time loop resets. Although Mariana finds Carter's claims unbelievable, the next day, when she wakes up to another Monday and realizes the time has indeed reset, she understands they are trapped in this loop together. Now, they must urgently find a way to break free!

Both characters are engaging with their unique, nerdy, and peculiar attributes. There are numerous moments that brought a smile to my face as I witnessed their gradual discovery of each other's personalities and their deepening connection. Together, they race against time, searching for an escape from the time loop before Carter's memories are permanently erased.

Overall, this book offers a fast-paced and intriguing reading experience that kept my interest fully engaged. In my opinion, it may be the author's best work to date and the one I enjoyed the most!

I would to express my gratitude to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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4.5 rounded up. I’m a fan of Mike Chen’s and this is the 5th book I’ve read of his. I prefer his sci-fi books and usually end up loving those. This book… IS definitely one of those!

In a near future, Carter and Mariana find themselves stuck in a four day time-loop where they are living the same four days over and over again. Think Groundhog’s Day but with science. But there are major surprises along the way that make this story so unique and completely different from the classic GHD storyline.

Carter and Mariana are the only ones who can remember what happened during each of the previous time loops so they work to try to figure out how to stop the loops, and fall in love with each other a little more each loop.

Chen has done it once again by bringing in such amazing loving characters, you have to stay just to see how their story ends.

And the food! If you’re a foodie, read this book! If you love science, read this book. If you love futuristic science fiction, read this book. If you love time travel, read this book. If you love romance, read this book!

I love futuristic Sci-Fi, science, and time travel. When the science goes over my head, yes, I glaze over, but I still love it!!

This book was such a satisfying read for me and I’ll be raving about it for some time!

*Thanks so much to Mira Books and NetGalley for the gifted eGalley!*21 s Denise Ruttan211 11

I have a very high bar for time travel and time loop stories because it is extremely difficult to make the stories compelling without relying on repetition and magic. This one kind of fell flat for me even though I normally Mike Chen’s writing style. I spent the first half of the book trying to decide if I wanted to DNF, it dragged that much.

I am glad I finished ultimately, because the payoff was only in the end and it is a very slow buildup to an abrupt, heartbreaking blowup of the characters. Save the world but with the only variable you can’t plan for; the romance can’t be saved, which was disappointing for the romance fan in me. In fact these characters just seemed to keep living their normal lives even though they knew they needed to change. Only the time loop and their romance would change them and change the world, the heartbreaking but interesting paradox of it all that made the ending pay off for its interesting philosophical dilemma.

I would describe this as a modern day Lessons in Chemistry meets Groundhog Day. Reading the author’s afterword made it make much more sense, as it was his way of processing pandemic isolation, which indeed often felt a repetitive time loop with fleeting moments of human connection.

Mariana is a neuroscientist working with the ReLive project, a firm developing perfect memory recall. She loves tennis and is in mourning for her stepsister and best friend Shay. She visits the Hawke accelerator project one day, where she becomes trapped in a time loop with Carter Cho, a technician who’s obsessed with food and cooking, who has a photographic memory.

I think what fell flat for me was their romance felt forced. It felt Carter selfishly pulled Mariana into the loop to not be lonely, and then Mariana was willing to risk it all based on one kiss on a cruise ship. I d how they were opposing personalities - Carter’s spontaneous chaos to Mariana’s calm, orderly control - who brought each other out of their shells, but I didn’t find their chemistry compelling. Their characterizations were also extremely repetitive. Carter’s always writing in his yellow notebook and thinking about pastries; Mariana’s always obsessing over Shay and tennis. I wish their personalities had been given more depth and complexity and we dug deeper into their traumas and pasts beyond every detail with Mariana and Shay. I also found the memory aspects intriguing but they never made much of a difference in the plot. I thought grief was handled very well here though. Mariana was the most interesting and fleshed out character.

I never really felt I got to know Carter, though, beyond how he was always thinking of how to feed Mariana or he didn’t get along with his parents. Too much food! Please give him some other interests, and I’m a foodie. Then he just abruptly drops off the plot when one loop he forgets that she exists, starting with forgetting their kiss. The romance was starting to make sense then and then it just died. I knew this wasn’t a romance going into it though so I didn’t need the HEA to find enjoyment out of the story, but I was still disappointed with the incredibly practical ending. Even though the intriguing part was that it also needed to be that way to save the world. Frustrating, repetitive and also somehow still intriguing in a very slow burn way.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review15 s1 comment Andrea | andrea.c.lowry.reads646 28

I am always such a sucker for a time loop themed story, and A Quantum Love Story was a fun adventure! What made this so unique and even more interesting was instead of a one-day loop it was a 4 day loop. I also enjoyed really getting into the lives of the characters, and absolutely loved how the male MC totally took advantage of all things food related during the loop, just I would.
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