I have read more time travel related books in the past year than I have in all the previous years combined. Since my reading numbers have increased, I should probably not be too surprised about this situation. I state this at the beginning, in order to show how I would know by now what works for me in this scenario and how much of it has to make an appropriate amount of sense. This book fit all those criteria and hits all the right notes for me. The time travel and the consequences and the paradoxes seem pretty probable and this makes it a more thrilling read.

We meet time travel agent Kin when he has been hurt by his target, and is too wounded and something has gone wrong. He makes the best of a bad situation which is not that great in retrospect when the 'time' comes. Kin is a family man, with a lot of emotional investment in his life in the 90s. When his real life beckons, he may have to make changes. There is a lot of mental arguments that he has with himself on all his decisions and although set in a whole different futuristic world, it is very relatable. The writing is simple and gets the point across while at the same time tugging at the heart-strings. Each person introduced to us is fleshed out enough for us to have our own opinion on their role in the tale. Kin is also the sort of protagonist that most people would love to encourage and hope the best possible outcomes for.

I really enjoyed the beginning and the ending, the middle felt a little slower than the rest of the pace but it was an enjoyable read that I would actually recommend to others!

Here and Now and Then begins with Kin Crenshaw moments after being shot by a time-traveling criminal whose attempt to alter the future he had traveled back in time to prevent. Unfortunately, he was shot so that his transmitter and connection to the future was irreparably damaged.

Next thing we know, Kin has adapted to 21st-century life, married, and has a fourteen-year-old daughter, but the future has come calling and wants him back in 2142. He may have been here eighteen years, but he’s only been gone for two weeks. Trying to fit back into the future, to rediscover his love for his fiancee while mourning his wife and daughter is a challenge, but the real challenge comes when he finds out his time-traveling ways may have put his daughter in danger.


Here and Now and Then was a heart-wrenching book that I read in one bite. Kin was such a realistic character, a parent who would turn back time if he could to save his daughter, a man who bent the rules, who made mistakes, who sometimes was slow to talk and often avoided the issues that mattered. I cared about him. I cared about his daughter Melinda. I wanted them to find happiness and safety, but perhaps only one is possible.

I am not ashamed to admit I became quite weepy over this story. I cared so much and thought the choices and challenges Kin and those he loved faced were harrowing. Chen explores the old ethics question called the Trolley Dilemma. If you’re a rail switchman and you see a runaway trolley, do you do nothing and let it kill five people or flip the switch so it goes on another track and kills one. Do you sacrifice the few for the many? An early version of the dilemma asks what if the one is the switchman’s daughter. Does that change the calculus? Ethicists and philosophers have been arguing over this for over a hundred years in one form or another. Is it better than 99 guilty men go free than one innocent be imprisoned? How utilitarian are we?

I cannot wait to see what Mike Chen has in store for us in his future. Thankfully we won’t need to wait until 2142.

Here and Now and Then will be released January 29th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Here and Now and Then at Mira | Harlequin Books
Mike Chen author site


★★★★

Here and Now and Then is a literary science fiction novel which focuses on family - how we can never have too much of it and how we will do anything to protect those we love.

His mind is going, his memories fading along with it. In the year 2142 Kin Stewart is a special agent for the Temporal Correction Bureau (TCB). He’s sent to 1990s San Francisco to do a simple timeline rectification  when the mission becomes complicated and violent and his extraction window is destroyed. He awaits rescue but it never comes. Spending weeks and months in a time not his own causes headaches, memory loss, and disorientation. Initially, he tries to hold on to the bits of his old life he has left, creating a journal he can read through to remind him of that existence. But as time continues to pass he realizes help isn’t coming and builds a life in his new reality. He marries and has a beautiful daughter, Miranda. He works in IT and lives in the suburbs. He labels the symptoms he suffers from the time-slip PTSD, which works for the first decade or so. But as his episodes increase in intensity, they also increasingly worry his wife and daughter. He believes the physical links to his past are causing the escalating problems to his health; it is simply too much for the mind to hold memories from a time and place that doesn’t yet exist. Just as he determines to destroy the notes and items he’s hidden regarding 2142, a freak accident enables the TCB retrieval agency to locate him. They take him back to the future despite his protests and return him to a family he had completely forgotten.

Kin struggles to adjust, unable to let go of those he left behind but lacking any means of being with them or even communicating with them. His improved health and the support of the people who love him make 2142 a comfortable, delightful present but Kin finds himself unable to let go of the past. When he finds a way around TCB rules to stay in touch with Miranda, he thinks he’s figured out a way to have the best of both worlds. But he left something behind, something that should never have existed and the TCB is desperate to eliminate it - even if it means killing Miranda in the process. Kin, against all odds, must find a way back to the past in order to give his daughter a chance at a future.

The author does make some attempts to discuss the science and impact of time travel, but the concentration here is on the family dynamic. That means that in many ways, the story reads very much like Kin is a widower or divorcé trying to figure out the best possible way to be a great dad to the children of his previous union while being very present for his current family. Initially, that balancing act is very difficult. There’s a lot of rule bending (breaking) to make that possible but all of it is helped along by the support and love of his 2142 family. Penny, the fiancée of that time frame, goes out of her way to be supportive of whatever Kin needs. So does Marcus, Penny’s brother and Kin’s best friend. Everyone realizes there are no ideal solutions here - you can’t go back and fix every problem of the past even with time travel - but by working together to create the best possible outcome for all, they can mitigate some of the pain of Kin moving from one phase of life to the next.  That makes for a very sweet and uplifting tale that proves the old adage that the more love you give, the more you get.

Kin is the perfect character to serve as the central focus of such a story. He’s a very average man - middle income, not brilliant but just exceptional enough to find himself in some extraordinary circumstances, a good husband, friend and father. His ordinariness makes him very relatable and helps craft a tale with fantastical elements into a book about issues most people can empathize with. The supporting cast is equally well drawn, especially Miranda. Each of her reactions to actions by Kin is typical in the best way; they are written with acknowledgement of standard human emotional responses but they capture the depth, agony and beauty that is everyday life and love. I especially appreciated that there were no villains here: just people trying to do their best in difficult circumstances.

Here and Now and Then is a novel that celebrates community and shows that no matter when and where you are, the people who love you are what matter most. It’s a good read for people who like some heart with their paranormal tales or for people who like heartfelt tales and don’t mind if they are mixed with a bit of the paranormal.

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What a lovely, lyrical, surprisingly original time travel tale this was! Chen has a marvelous ability to transform words on a page into fully three-dimensional characters, characters that virtually leap out of his book and into your life such that you cannot help but be fully drawn into their dramas and heartbreaks. Time travel as a genre is, by now, getting somewhat formulaic. Or at least I had thought so. But Chen's take on the subject felt fresh and engaging and captured my imagination in a way that nothing has since Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. This isn't your average, roam-through-time-righting-wrongs time travel story; it has heart and depth and a complexity that I found wholly entertaining page after page. The writing is lovely, as is the plot and the underlying message about the lengths to which a father will go to protect his daughter. But it is really the characters that make this one so phenomenal... They are fully formed early on, yet continue to grow and develop and surprise you throughout the course of the book.

This was a marvelous story and I'm definitely eager for more from Mike Chen!

I really really like the idea of time travel fiction, and was drawn to this book mainly for that reason. For the most part, the book was interesting and adventurous. However, the technical stuff going on in the beginning/middle was way over my head. I must admit I skimmed through some of it because I just wasn't that interested. I also don't think we get enough time in the 90s where we're supposed to have believed Kin's connection to the life he had there. Back in 2142, I can't say I really felt how he felt being apart from his past life. I mean, I understood it from a logical perspective - 18 years is a long time - but I can't say that I really felt it. I also never really believed the relationship with Penny either. I still wanted to know what happens and my interest we engaged enough to pull me through, but I did want more.

The pros: The time travel concept does feel well developed, and The Temporal Corruption Bureau - this agency that works to prevent time travelling mercenaries from making changes to history that cause really negative consequences to the future - pretty cool idea. I really love the premise of this book.

The cons: the beginning feels rushed, the hook didn't quite hook me, and the supposed deep relationship with the main character's daughter doesn't feel real enough for me to be invested in what is happening. A lot of the character's reactions to what is happening in the beginning seem pretty much hysterical, and that doesn't seem right given what I know about him.

Maybe I'll give this book another try some other time - sometimes it's a mood thing that causes me to have trouble with a book - but for right now it's going in the DNF pile and I'm moving on. .

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen
Here and Now and Then
by Mike Chen (Goodreads Author)
M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review Jan 16, 2019 · edit
it was amazing

Oops, it's 1996. Kim Stewart, secret agent is trapped. ... due to a slight miscalculation of his opponent. Kim is actually a time traveller agent working for the TCB .... Temporal Corruption Bureau.
His charge is to chase criminals across time... either to apprehend and bring back to 2142 or eliminate - assassinate. Unfortunately on this mission he sustains a gunshot to the abdomen, destroying the retrieval mechanism embedded under his skin. It suddenly dawns on Kin that he will be unable to return to his friends, family and girlfriend, Penny.
Forced to realize the obvious, he plunges into adapting to 1996 ... finding and courting Heather and eventually marrying and forming a wholesome family with dog and daughter on the way. He realizes his memories of 2142 are quickly vaporizing to counteract the timeline corruption. His presence goes against the main goal of TCB ... to avoid at all costs any type of time paradoxes. Trapped for eighteen years, his memory progressively dissipates and is replaced by frequent headaches and intermittently strange behavior that his wife and daughter ascribe to PTSD. However, before his memory of 2142 is lost he writes a journal , detailing not only his previous life but also the history and intricacies of time travel. His daughter, Miranda at age 14, stumbles upon this journal and is astounded in her father's ability to write Science Fiction.
In the eighteenth year of his new life, he notices a somewhat strange but familiar man lurking in his backyard ... who actually is his close friend Markus, who has come to retrieve him back to 2142, in which only two weeks has passed. This astounding adventure suddenly shifts gear into an exploration of love and family, and revealing the lengths a father will go to save his daughter from extinction.
This compelling narrative flows into a both a heartbreaking and warming dilemma , whose denouement is both shocking and satisfying. How this dilemma is realized in an attempt to avoid timeline corruption is astonishingly realized by the writer's craft.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin - Mira publishers for providing this FIVE STAR Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this is a DNF for me at 25%. I really thought I'd love this book, I love time travel and the idea of a security agent (think FBI) getting stuck in the 1990s when he comes from 2142. Kin had a family in the 1990s and suddenly finds that he has to leave and go back to 2142. What caused me to want to put this down was the amount of technical scientific detail and the lack of building a connection to the people and setting in 1990s. I found myself feeling bogged down in the scientific details, my mind started to wander, and I started to skim so I'm calling it a day on this one

Well, this was a real tearjerker in the end - I wasn't expecting that! I absolutely loved how the story and characters all came full circle. I loved all of the characters and loved Penny for her character growth and accepting the fact that, she too, can be a total badass and follow her dreams. I thought the little easter eggs Kin picks up in the 21st century to unknowingly tie into his life in 2142 were super sweet and a reminder that deep down we'll always carry the things we love most with us, even if we don't know it.

I'm a sucker for time travel books, tv shows, and movies and I appreciated all of the Doctor Who/Star Trek references as well as the references to rescuing/fostering animals. I mean honestly - could this book have spoken to me more?! This was just the type of story I needed to read right now and I didn't realize it until I had finished it. What a wonderful debut novel!

***eArc provided by Netgalley***

This was amazing!

First, the characters: the characters in both timelines were well-developed and charming, and their relationships with Kin and with each other were believable, sweet, and enjoyable to read.

The plot was a bit slow at first, but overall, it was well-paced and driven by the characters' relationships, which allowed Chen to reveal important information through Kin in manageable pieces.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a good family story and/or time travel.

I have been looking forward to pick up Here And Now And Then for months, but somehow I don't think my expectations were actually met. I can't put my finger exactly on the why, but I think it has to do that for a time travel story, I found the sci-fi elements rather weak. Here And Now And Then read more like a romance/family drama with a time travel touch rather than the other way around, and this definitely wasn't what I was expecting. The story is mostly character driven and while some details are mentioned about the time travel and future, the focus was mostly on Kin and his lives in the 1990s and 2142. The chapters in the future didn't feel all that authentic or detailed and I didn't get a proper 1990s vibe from those chapters set in that era either... As I said, the focus was mostly on the characters themselves. There was a whole lot of drama going on and combined with my lack of connection with the characters I had a hard time getting a proper feel for the story. Add a slower pace (not unusual with character driven stories), and I ended up having a completely different experience than I thought I would have... But that is probably just me, since most people do seem to love this story. Sci-fi fans might be disappointed by Here And Now And Then, but fans of family dramas with a sci-fi adventurous touch will probably have a great time.

I had high expectations for Here And Now And Then and this might just have been part of the problem. That and the fact that I was expecting a proper sci-fi story, and encountered myself with mostly a family drama with a lot of romance and only a hint of sci-fi instead... Definitely not what I had in mind when I started this time travel story. I wish the time travel aspect would have been more developed as well as more present in the story... It's not a bad read and the writing is good, but the story read quite slow and as always with more character driven stories, not being able to connect to the characters puts a damper on things. I'm sure the right audience will love this debut though!

This book is as much sci-fi as it is a story of love and family. Kin Stewart is a time traveler, working for an agency that clears up incidents that could cause timeline corruption. Instead of the normal quick in and out, one assignment leaves him stranded in 1990's San Francisco bay area for 18 years. Going against protocol, he marries and has a child. When he’s finally pulled back to his present day, 2142, he struggles to reconnect here and separate from his past. When he discovers his abrupt departure has devastating effects on the daughter he left behind, he must decide what he’s willing to risk to set things right. The narrative moves at a good pace and has a few interesting twists. The characters are engaging and Kin’s struggles are relatable. The plot's blending of sci-fi and family issues works well, and will no doubt satisfy range of readers.

This is a Sci-Fi novel talked about time traveling. The main character – Kin Stewart bounced between now and 2142. Stranded in San Francisco since 1990 after a botched mission, Kin tried very hard to keep his present life normal until one day his rescue team arrived – eighteen years too late. Their mission: return Kin to 2142.
Kin had married with a teenage daughter, Miranda. After he returned to 2142, he was torn between two lives. Kin was desperate to protect those people he loved and cherished. The rest of the book described Kin’s struggle to rescue his beloved daughter Miranda from been eliminated from her existence.

I recommend this book to readers.

This was a terrific book. I liked the twist on time travel. I would have liked to spend more time learning about the future world but I get that it wasn’t really the point of the story. I though Kin was a great main character and I really understood his thoughts and motivations. Such a good book especially for a debut novel.

I read the beginning of this book approximately three times. And let me tell you, the unedited draft has a completely different beginning to the finished draft. (I personally liked the former better, but what do I know?)

I feel the same as a lot of the reviewers here on goodreads. This is a fine book, the story is okay, and it's an entertaining read. This is a family drama at its core, yet I didn't feel the connection to the characters. Lately I'm less drawn to books that read like they were first a detailed synopsis, latter developed into a full length novel. This is what this book reads like to me. I feel like the writer didn't write with "the flow". I'm no writer, so I probably shouldn't be the judge of that, but that's just how I feel.

Overall, not as good as I thought it was gonna be. I still really really like the cover, though.

An interesting take on time travel, a nice little romance story, decent characters that you mostly care about. 3.5 stars.

This book was so much fun! I love the time traveling device as a plot engine. Add to that an engineer-geek dad who wants to connect with his daughter, and a UC Davis connection, and you have a complete winner for me. You don’t need to be a Doctor Who fan, or even a big fan of sci fi to enjoy this book. It stands alone on its adventure value.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Kin is a time travelling secret agent who got left behind in 1996 and forgotten about for 18 years, before his agency comes to retrieve him. What happens to him, his family he's forced to leave behind, and his forgotten past in 2142 AD comprises of the plot of this book.
I was actually looking forward to reading this book. I am a sci-fi geek and love time travel books, my favorite being H2G2. The first half of this book actually hooked me, i was intrigued about if and when he leaves 2014 and how his life is in 2142. But midway, once we reach 2142, his life in the future, bored me! no killing tech, or major twists there.
The climax scenes also were a bit anticlimatic, in the sense that while it has a tearful reunion and heartbreaking situations, it is a sci-fi book and there are supposed to action scenes and stuff. But here the protagonist is running away from the agency and no one really chases him, it all goes down smooth as hell. What i really liked was the ending, how it all neatly ties up. These are the parts I love in a good time travel book. Overall 3 stars for world building, and a great 1st half and ending, taking away 2 stars for midway slack that continues till the second to last chapter.

Kin is a likeable character to follow throughout a great/intriguing dilemma: how can he protect the family he loves without messing with time. I liked the tension with his daughter, well written and a good read!

Mike Chen's "Here and Now and Then" checked nearly all of my reading boxes; fantasy, science fiction, drama, good writing, family dynamics. It approach the well worn path of time travel then adeptly skipped to a side, less traveled path. I very much enjoyed the smaller details, such as how the protagonist, father, and former agent Kin has aged while those around him continue with chemically enhanced youth. I liked the way in which the relationships and emotional ties are described. But the one criticism I had was that I felt that the initial family dynamic so necessary to the motivations of the main characters needed to be stronger. Personally, as a reader, I understood the actions, but just did not share in them to the degree that would have made this a five star read.