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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish we'd gotten just a few more details of the loop and the choice of where this went in the second half was interesting, but I very very much enjoyed this. Can't wait to see what Chen writes next!
slow-paced
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
While I was reading this I was trying to figure out what drew me to it on NetGalley. After reading the blurb again, I realized it sounds like an adorable story, which is right up my alley. Unfortunately, it’s more boring than adorable.
Taking place decades in the future, Carter Cho is a technician at a scientific lab. The book opens with Carter realizing he’s stuck in a 4 day time loop and needing to find a way to break it. He manages to get Mariana, a scientist visiting the lab with her company, to enter it too and he hopes between the two of them they can figure out how to break the cycle.
I felt like I was in a time loop while reading this. While I appreciate Mr. Chen’s idea, it just didn’t work for me. I was expecting a fun and flirty romcom and ended up with a sluggish science fiction. I think someone who has a true love of SciFi would enjoy this better than I did. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced copy of this. A Quantum Love Story hit the shelves on January 30th.
Taking place decades in the future, Carter Cho is a technician at a scientific lab. The book opens with Carter realizing he’s stuck in a 4 day time loop and needing to find a way to break it. He manages to get Mariana, a scientist visiting the lab with her company, to enter it too and he hopes between the two of them they can figure out how to break the cycle.
I felt like I was in a time loop while reading this. While I appreciate Mr. Chen’s idea, it just didn’t work for me. I was expecting a fun and flirty romcom and ended up with a sluggish science fiction. I think someone who has a true love of SciFi would enjoy this better than I did. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced copy of this. A Quantum Love Story hit the shelves on January 30th.
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
A Quantum Love Story has all my favorite elements: time loops, science timey wimey goodness, and opposites attract. I was always going to love this because I love the world building and story ideas from Chen, but this one is so fun! It's delightful and heartwarming. I love how A Quantum Love Story explores both Mariana and Carter. These two opposites attract dynamics. Throughout A Quantum Love Story we're absorbed into their character dynamics. How, even though there's very much this broad story of time loops and the end of the world it's centered in characters.
A Quantum Love Story has all my favorite elements: time loops, science timey wimey goodness, and opposites attract. I was always going to love this because I love the world building and story ideas from Chen, but this one is so fun! It's delightful and heartwarming. I love how A Quantum Love Story explores both Mariana and Carter. These two opposites attract dynamics. Throughout A Quantum Love Story we're absorbed into their character dynamics. How, even though there's very much this broad story of time loops and the end of the world it's centered in characters.
Carter is stuck in a time loop. He soon meets Mariana, a grieving neuroscience, who joins the loop and together they work on breaking out of it.
Buddy read this and I’m honestly a sucker for time loops! Though on the longer side, I loved seeing the complexities of time loops at work, the character depth, and the exploration of grief, healing, and food. The slow-burn romance worked for me but I did get a bit lost in the science. The latter half drags but I love how full circle and open ended things were! Overall, I enjoyed this :)
Thanks Libro.fm for my ALC!
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
A Quantum Love Story is very much a rollercoaster of a book; complete with a slow build, an anxiety inducing drop, and plenty of loop-the-loops. If you're looking for a romantic love story this isn't it. If you're looking for a science fiction novel this isn't it either. Rather this book sits in a liminal space full of possibilities, second chances, grief, sacrifice, friendship, and something akin to love, both platonic and romantic. The ending left me wanting and maybe thats for the best after all.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Grief