One of my favorite things about Chen’s books is that he always writes about things I don’t care to read, but I end up loving his books anyways. I also wouldn’t dare pretend to understand how the science works, but I really don’t care by the time the story wraps up because it’s just so human and has so much heart. Chen’s books are much more than the science they’re based on; they’re about the people and the bonds they form. I don’t care much for time travel and time loops because the science behind them just boggle my mind, but I adored A Quantum Love Story, and never really felt the need to understand how it worked. This book was all about Carter and Mariana, two people who end up stuck in a four day time loop and must find a way to stop it.

Carter Cho has a complicated history with his parents who wanted him to be more than just a technician at the Hawke Accelerator, but Carter loves food experiments more than science experiments. Mariana Pineda is a scientist with ReLive, whose work helps people retain memories, and she and her group have been invited to Hawke since the two groups have been working together, but she hasn’t been the same since her best friend Shay went missing 3 months ago. Thanks to an explosion, Carter ends up in a time loop, and manages to bring Mariana into it with him, leaving them as the only two people who know they’re stuck in a time loop. They’ll need to put their heads together, what with Carter’s photographic memory and Mariana’s ability to focus and plan, to get out of the loop. But then something happens one loop, leaving only one of them left to get everyone unstuck.

I haven’t read Chen’s second novel, but that one was often called his pandemic novel as I understand it has people coming out of a pandemic. However, considering the second half of A Quantum Love Story, this is more appropriately his pandemic novel. This whole novel speaks heavily to the isolation people spent years facing and enduring. The first half has Carter and then Carter and Mariana essentially alone in the world as the only two people who know they’re stuck in a time loop. While they are free to move around, go places, do things, it’s impossible to create any other meaningful relationships as they reset every four days. The second half isolates one from the other for decades, forcing them into what sounded like an insane version of isolation. It was heartbreaking, and might definitely touch more than one nerve, but it’s also beautifully done, commenting gently on the effects of isolation without making it more painful than it had to be.

I adored Carter and Mariana. They were so different, but ended up working so well together. This is the first time Chen has worked a romance into the story and, while it definitely had a presence, it was just so gently woven into the story that it felt natural and never stole the spotlight from the story of being stuck in a time loop. Chen brought these two together with such a deft hand that it felt more like a bond forming between two people rather than a simple romance. And they worked brilliantly together, their weaknesses and strengths balancing each other. Carter was just a lot of fun, taking delight in all the delicious food that could never impact his health and enjoying life whenever he could. Mariana is a lot more serious, but Carter brings some light back into her life even as she still misses Shay, and she becomes something of a grounding force to Carter. It was fun watching them get to know and figure out how to mesh their lives together, making it heartbreaking when they were forced apart.

Despite the things that made me ache for the characters, I really had a lot of fun with this book. I never quite knew where it was going and I could never figure out how they were going to manage to get out of the time loop. I did love that it made sense, and absolutely did not take the easy way out. I’ll still never understand the science, but I appreciated there was no easy science-related fix. It led to an excruciating second half, but it all paid off in the best way. It also made the first half feel that much more fun. There was just so much possibility, so many things Carter and Mariana could explore together. The way they came together and came to understand each other was so heartwarming. I loved that they could do and try anything, always hoping that this plan would be the one that would break the loop.

There was one thread I didn’t feel quite too sure about as the story went along. Mariana is clearly very affected by the loss of her best friend Shay. They were closer than sisters, and Mariana could never shake the loss as she visited Hawke over and over since it was where Shay wanted to work. It was so sweet the way Mariana tried her best to bring Shay along, but I also couldn’t quite fathom why Shay was such a huge part of the story. She was everywhere. Mariana was always carrying her around in some way. But then it made sense, and I absolutely loved it. Usually, I hate rereading books because I love the feeling of discovering things for the first time and can never get that back, but now I want to reread this to hunt for clues. This thread was so sweet and I loved the impact it made on me when information was revealed.

A Quantum Love Story is everything I love Chen’s books for. There’s the science that I never felt pressured to understand, the heart, the bonds that form between the characters, and an all around softness that made this so easy to read and so easy to feel something about. I loved that it focused on the people and the things they went through, not bothering to make it easy and sugar coated, but doing it in a way that made sense while not coming off as too harsh. I loved the romance in it, and, even though I’m dying to know what happens after the last page, I really liked all the possibilities that came with the ending. This was a delightful and fun read.

Thank you to Justine Sha at MIRA for a review copy and the opportunity to take part in the book blog tour for A Quantum Love Story. All opinions expressed are my own.

𝐀 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
𝐁𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐀
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟏.𝟑𝟎.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑁𝑜𝑤!


Thank you @htpbooks and @_mira_books_ and @harpercollins for a spot on tour and a gifted book.

Thank you @librofm for the gifted audiobook.



Science ⚛️ , breakfasts 🍳, romance 💕, and time loops➿

This was a whole lot of fun. Mariana is a neuroscientist touring the facility where Carter Cho, a tech, is working on a secret Hawke Particle Accelerator. While Mariana is in the building, the Hawke reactor explodes, and Mariana and Carter are sent into a time loop.

The two end up on a cycle together, reliving the previous four days before the accident occurs repeatedly. Every four days - things reset. While the time loop concept is not new, Mike Chen adds humor, emotional moments, and tons of food and pulls out some pretty cool sci-fi twists. (Don’t worry; you won’t have to dust off your old physics books to enjoy this read.)

As the two try to figure out a way to break the loop, they discover they just might be falling in love. I’ll “loop back” around to the beginning - this is a whole lot of fun.

Who doesn’t love a good time loop? Well, MCs Mariana and Carter, for sure.

Mariana: neuroscientist getting through each day without her best friend. Carter: Living the same day over and over and over. Together, they must figure out how to get out of this loop and save the world from destruction.

And somehow we get prehistoric creatures? This story reminded me of something David Arnold would write (which is a good thing for me!).

The irony that Mariana is part of a project around memory recall while Carter slowly loses his to the ongoing loop. Mike really knows how to break reader hearts. And to make us hungry (I need all of the food featured). There’s just enough science to keep me curious.

Supernatural fans who love Mystery Spot are sure to love this story!

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.

I'm always intrigued to see how certain sci-fi elements are handled and time loops is one of those things. Sometimes you do run the risk of the stories being very cerebral and harder to understand, but I found this one very accessible and about far ore than the time loop itself.

I did not expect this book to dive into things such as loss and grief but it did. I enjoyed seeing Carter and Mariana's relationship build over the repeating days and found myself unable to put this one down thanks to the fast paced writing and intriguing concept.

4.5 Stars ⭐️

If you are a fan of Blake Crouch and the tv show Russian Doll, you will probably enjoy this book.

Carter is a technician at a particle accelerator facility in San Francisco who becomes stuck in a four day time loop after an explosion at the facility. After a few loops he meets Mariana, a neuroscientist at a memory restoration company and they work together to try to prevent the accident that caused the loop to start.

During each loop, the main characters learn more about the accident and each other. I loved how after a while they used portions of the loops to fulfill their bucket lists rather than just working on getting unstuck.

In spite of the title, this book is not a romance novel. And if it were, it would be a sloooooow burn. Don’t go into this story expecting love declarations and spice because you will not get any of that.

There were a couple of times the story had me in tears, and that to me is a sign of characters that connected emotionally with me. Some of the theoretical physics stuff can be challenging, but it’s not necessary to grasp in order to understand what’s going on. Overall, this book was enjoyable and a very easy read. It had me hooked from the first page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin publishing group for providing a digital copy for me to review.

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.

I had a wonderful time listening to Mike Chen talk about this book yesterday along with his other works. Knowing the inspirations behind the story and characters made me appreciate it that much more.

Going into this book, I didn't know what to expect from it. I thought a romance by its title. However, despite its titling, I wouldn't say it's an actual romance genre. It's sci-fi with a hint of romance. However, there IS a love story, multiple in fact, and they all snuck up on me. I realized after finishing and mulling it over that there's love throughout the entire book. There's an obvious love of food (so much food!), as well as friends (Shay & Carter!), family (gross parents!), animals (Maggie & Buddy Ed!), technology (David & Bowie!) and nature.

Books and movies about time loops/time travel always seem to feel kind of sad or bittersweet to me. There's so much possibility that time itself presents, but also such inevitability. I truly enjoyed the journey this book took me on.

Also, chapter 48 just gave me so much feels.

I love that Mike is a local author and features SF and UC Davis in his stories

I enjoy a good time loop story and there were definitely plenty of parts of this story that were enjoyable. The playing with time aspect was believable and entertaining even if the romance story line was hard to get behind.

A Quantum Love Story came out yesterday, just a few days before what is probably the most iconic of all time loop stories settings, Groundhog’s Day. In A Quantum Love Story, Mariana Pineda is grieving the loss of her step sister/best friend, which has nudged her into making changes in her life like finding a new job to replace her current role helping to develop memory targeting drugs. She can’t resist though holding on one last week so she can be involved with a project with a top secret particle accelerator, a project that would have been her bff’s dream job. What was supposed to be a new start, becomes a constant loop though as Mariana is one of only two people who realize they are in a time loop when something with the generator goes horribly wrong. 

As Carter, with his eidetic memory, and Mariana, whose memory has been pharmaceutically enhanced, try to break the cycle, they discover love under the most unusual circumstances. The characters of Carter and Mariana are well developed and their romance is sweet. The second half of the novel took it in a direction I wasn’t expecting and although romance is is in the title, this novel has much more to say about life and relationships.

First you see what the characters do when there are no consequences and then what must be done if even the smallest thing could end the world. The novel is set in the near future and has very positive view of AI as having potential for not only research assistance, but also companionship. If you love Groundhog’s Day, this is definitely one to checkout.

I’m not sure if I read a Mike Chen’s book I didn’t like and this one is in a very good one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I always appreciate how the author can write about different side of the sci-fi/fantasy universe and deliver a story that is poignant and entertaining at the same time and always present you some new that will keep you reading.
The time loop trope is not unheard of but I was fascinated by how the author used it and how the story mixes emotions, high tech, and physics.
Entertaining and gripping, this is a story I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to MIRA for this digital copy, all opinions are mine

This was an interesting time loop story, the idea of it really enjoyed. I struggled with the romance though, not feeling as if the characters had enough depth to produce a really good romance in the midst of what they were trying to accomplish… the characters just fell flat to me and it seemed they were very “tunneled” there was only a couple aspects of them we were told about and that was it.

While it had entertaining aspects, I was disappointed with the overall delivery. I do love a good time loop/travel story though and that was really fun!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I am honestly very surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book. The title turned me off a bit but I found myself intrigued by the description so I decided to give it a go and I can say that I was a huge fan and if anyone is thinking the title makes it able to shove off maybe give it a go anyway.

We meet Carter first, as he leads us through the first iteration of our time loop. But soon after, we also meet Mariana. And within a few loops, Carter has arranged things so that Mariana now remembers previous loops, too. It’s better to tackle this mystery with an ally, right?

Over many loops, their partnership turns into friendship… but just as it’s about to turn into more, there’s an important shift. While Carter was the only one to originally remember that they were in a loop, now he starts forgetting. Around the same time, Mariana thinks she’s finally found the cause of the loop… but how will she figure out what to do about it if she doesn’t have Carter to bounce ideas off of?

Needless to say, the whole trajectory of this story starts to shift, around halfway through the book. Now we’re only following Mariana, as she has to take some drastic steps to set things right. Even though we don’t meet them until the second half of the book, she does have an AI assistant and eventually a dog to keep her company. (Content warning: I cried when she inevitably had to say goodbye to both of these characters! At least it wasn’t both at the same time?)

I don’t want to give away too much about this second half, but I will say this: she is no longer stuck in the loop in this portion of the story.

Also, her AI is modeled after David Bowie. So, obviously that’s rad.

If you are at all into sci-fi – but specifically, stories involving time loops or time travel – rush to pick this one up!

I was drawn to this title by its gorgeous cover and intrigued as soon as I started reading, even though I am not a big reader of time slip/SF-ish books.

Readers will care about Mariana and Carter, and their story. Here is an immersive and enjoyable novel. It is worth making time for. This one may change how a reader thinks about time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

A Quantum Love Story-a standalone

By: Mike Chen-1st time read author

Publication: 1-30-24, Read 1-30-24

Page count: 384 PDF

Rating: 4/5 ✨

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC💙 ! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Quick Summary: Carter is a technician at a particle accelerator when an accident sends him back four days in time. Mariana Pineda is a neuroscientist who Carter has to convince they know each other and take her with him. They must figure out how to break the loop, but get to know each other, talking about grief, jobs, and family.


🤔My Thoughts: This felt like Groundhog Day's time loop with a light sci-fi romance developed between Carter, a self proclaimed foodie with an eidetic memory, and Mariana, a focused and calculated neuroscientist. I wished Carter had his own POV with more background about his family and his complicated relationship with them. This ended a little ambiguous but with time being so fluid, I'll forgive it.

Carter Cho is a technician at a particle accelerator when it explodes, striking him with a green energy and sending him back four days in time. Stuck in an endless loop with no consequences, he eventually manages to bring Mariana Pineda in with him. Together they must figure out how to break the loop. As they spend time together, they eat the best food that San Francisco has to offer and work through grief, unfulfilling jobs, family, and confronting difficult pasts. They grow close, but breaking the loop might mean giving up the connection between them.

Mike Chen has written other novels that take a sci-fi concept to the world of romance novels and interpersonal dynamics. This time, it's the Groundhog Day time loop that gets played with. Carter isn't the brains behind the accelerator, but several loops have him learning different skills that were never part of his original job description. Mariana works in neuroscience, not quantum physics, but is willing to help him however she can. She's dealing with grief from a missing best friend who turned into her stepsister, overwork, and burnout. The connection with Carter might start with a donut, but he really points out the everyday joys that we all take for granted. Even meals are something that he can encourage her to take her time with.

The plot didn't go the way I thought. Once Carter and Mariana had their kiss, Carter's eidetic memory began to fail with each cycle. Mariana began to work on solving the mystery behind the explosion to reverse it. As much as she cared about Carter, it became working in isolation so that she didn't cause him undue distress. It was incredibly emotional, a bittersweet kind of ending with hope as everything pulled together at the very end. Time travel stories and time loop stories sometimes involve paradoxes, but this one worked incredibly hard to avoid them. I appreciated all of the effort put into making it pull together so that even nitpicking the time element made sense. I devoured the book and enjoyed every page.

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.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Mira, and Mike Chen for allowing me to review this fun book. I really enjoy time travel and time loop books with a touch of romance and this book hit all of those targets for me and more. It was a fun read and very enjoyable. It is a lighter book that anyone can enjoy. You do not need to be a scientist to understand the book which I also appreciated. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a fun sci-fi mixed with a bit of romance.

"A Quantum Love Story" was a thoroughly enjoyable time travel/time loop sci fi story with light romance elements. If you're someone who enjoys this brand of story then I think you'll really enjoy this book. While a lot of the book does focus on getting out of the time loop and the moments of both levity and desperation that come with it, I don't think "Quantum Love Story" got as dark as some books in this genre sometimes do, which I appreciated.

I do think that the title of the novel may lend to some people thinking this is a romance with sci fi elements, which would be incorrect. This is a sci fi, with very minor romance elements. The story arc does not follow that of a romance of those going in expecting it to may be disappointed.

My one criticism of the book (if you can even call it that) would be that I didn't feel like it brought anything new to the genre. The plot was slightly predictable, the exploration of the characters was somewhat cursory, and the romance wasn't the central focus. However, I'm not sure if every book needs to be revolutionary. This was an enjoyable and easy read. I'd definitely recommend it to people.

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for the eARC. All opinions are my own.