The door slid open, revealing someone who looked close to the Carter she’d known for few days. Considering everything had reset, appearing hungover, disheveled, or with a sudden five-o’clock shadow seemed way out of character, at least until Mariana reminded herself that she’d only know him as a semi-coworker. Here, everything from his expression to his posture withdrew, like the events of the last loop had broken something inside of him and the rest struggled to stay upright.
Good thing she’d brought coffee.
A Quantum Love Story will entrap you in its time loop race to right the world.
Grieving her best friend’s recent death, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda’s ready to give up everything to start anew. Even her career—after one last week consulting at a top secret particle accelerator.
Except the strangest thing happens: a man stops her…and claims they’ve met before. Carter Cho knows who she is, why she’s mourning, why she’s there. And he needs Mariana to remember everything he’s saying.
Because time is about to loop.
In a flash of energy, it’s Monday morning. Again. Together, Mariana and Carter enter an inevitable life, four days at a time, over and over, without permanence except for what they share.
But just as they figure out this new life, everything changes. Because Carter’s memories of the time loop are slowly disappearing. And their only chance at happiness is breaking out of the loop—forever.
I love groundhog/ time loop stories, and when they are done well, I’m always in awe of the plotting that must occur to write them. A Quantum Love Story is a shining example of this genre. It mixes questions about science, humanity and what we’ll sacrifice for life.
This is a beautiful book by a strong writer. I don’t want to share too much of the plot because it would be way too easy to spoil this book. Instead, I want to talk about Carter and Mariana. They are two strong characters whom we get to know over the book. Because of the time loop aspect of the book, we really learn from the showing of the character’s actions over and over again. It became a fun game for me to watch what changes, and how it alters the loops during each regeneration. Do the small details matter? Carter and Mariana ask themselves that and you’ll be asking yourself that as well.
Carter and Mariana both start off as pretty closed books and strangers. Through the story we learn about their desires and goals and why they are at the particle accelerator, and what is happening there. The research there is really about looking at life at a microscopic level. Carter and Mariana both also begin to look at life in detail. When you live the same few days over and over again, it helps. They learn ways to be able to have themselves remember the situation and each other through the loops, and through that, learn to care for each other. This is a really slow burn story. Although the title has the words love story in it, I would say the romance is more of a complement to the main plot rather than being the plot. The ending is quiet and suits the story.
The book deals with some fun science and tech but is really about life, friendship and grief. This is a beautiful and poignant story that stuck with me long after I finished it.
Thank you Harlequin, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
