Time travel! Because what could possibly go wrong?

I mean, apparently, a lot? But who knew?

Sci-fi is a little hit or miss with me, especially when it comes to time travel, because my brain is thiiiis big –> . Therefore, paradoxes make it go boom. And there are aaaalways paradoxes. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that.

I picked up Here and Now and Then because it felt like an accessible sci-fi book that would not only give me some action (helloooo secret time travel agent) as well as take me for a bit of an emotional spin.

And it … sort of did? I guess? More than anything, I walked away with a sense that this book just wasn’t for me. I had that thought going in, and I should have trusted my instincts. But hey, my instincts also said it’d be a great idea to get married and have a kid, so what do they know?

Thank you to NetGalley and Mira for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

❧ I’m not usually a huge fan of time travel (re: tiny mammal brain), but I enjoyed how Chen approached that aspect.

It felt accessible. Almost real, or as real as time travel can feel. There were a lot of really nice details about both the time travel, how it’s done, and the future. Spoiler alert: all the delicious food is gone in the future. We knew it was going to happen eventually, but 2142?! Man. It’s too soon.

The Temporal Correction Bureau (TCB) oversees the conduction of time travel and keeps it a secret from the general population … mostly because even in 2142, people can’t handle time travel.

I mean, do you blame them? Ever since 1993, Jurassic Park has been proving that people can’t handle the reintroduction of dinosaurs. I mean, I know it was before then, but obviously, these people don’t read books. If they did, they would know that messing with dinosaurs is a bad idea. Messing with the timeline is worse, so I don’t blame the secrecy.

Perhaps what was the most exciting about this is that time travel has *consequences*. You can’t just go floating through time all willy-nilly and only have to worry about not disrupting the timeline, because that mess takes a toll on your body, as it should.

You know, because you’re getting hurled through time. And hurling is not the sort of word that’s generally associated with positive things.

I just liked the world-building here. I thought it was interesting and wasn’t too far-fetched to believe.

❧ Markus is delightful and clearly is the most logical, and so I feel terribly sorry for him.

I mean, let’s face it, he’s in a no-win situation, caught between his sister and his friend and his job. There’s no way he’s coming out on top, guys. No matter what he does, someone’s going to be upset. It’s just a matter of how dead he’s going to end up. Because I get the sense that if he pisses off Penny too much, she’ll totally take him out. Even if she loves him. That girl seems like she can hold her own well enough if she needs to. I mean, yeah, sure, the TCB is threatening too, but come on. It hurts more when it’s coming from your sister.

I actually ended up really sympathizing with his plight, because who should he prioritize? His best friend, sister, job, the timeline?

Personally, I vote the timeline, because I’m part of it, but … you know, personal connections are hard. They’re all “pick me, pick me,” and get offended when you leave them hanging. So needy.

❧ This was a really light, easy-breezy read, so nice for a beach read or summer read. But I didn’t feel like it held any heft, and it wasn’t particularly sticky.

It was engaging enough where I read through it pretty quickly and enjoyed it while I was reading … but I didn’t love it. And once I’d finished and put it down, that was it. No book hangover. No wanting more. No lingering withdrawal from being forsaken by these characters and forced back into the real world.

❧ The ending was extremely touching, and I’m pretty sure there’s no possible better ending for a book like this.

I can’t tell you about it, so I guess you’ll have to read the book to find out. But the ending definitely tied things up nicely, and I thought it was a great way to end a book that is so chock full of character emotions.

❧ The summary pretty much says it all. Roll credits.

I mean, summaries are hard. You have to give enough to hook a reader, but leave enough out for them to discover. I felt like this fell down on the latter. The summary is pretty much exactly what the book is. The surprises are minimal and minor. There’s no major plot twists or deviations. It’s pretty much just what it says. Which is great if you want exactly what’s in the summary. I, personally, was expecting something a bit … more.

❧ I didn’t really connect to the characters, and since this was a very character-driven novel, that was a problem.

I can’t even specifically tell you why I didn’t connect to them. I just … didn’t. I have a few theories, though. The book is split between two timelines, which means we spend a bit of time in each. Not enough, though, for me to solidly feel a part of either, which meant that both families felt inaccessible for me. Once he leaves the past, what little connection was there (which I didn’t feel particularly strongly to start with) felt just … gone. Kin was still obsessed with it, as he should be, but for me, I was perfectly fine with leaving the characters in the past and moving on.

As a parent myself, I could relate to Kin’s plight and his desperate need to help his daughter. As a non-time traveler, though, it was hard to relate to his situation, and as a logical person, it was straight-up impossible to relate to the actions of half the people in this book.

For some super smart science techy people, they’re really bad at finding obvious solutions. Or successfully problem-solving. Which brings us to …

❧ I’m not sure how the TCB came up with their ultimate solution and why it was deemed as the best solution.

Because it wasn’t. I can think of, like, five other solutions that would be minimally invasive, require a fraction of the work, and not upset their current loyal, determined employees. I’d even offer my advice for free, if they’d just ask. I’ll waive the consultation charge for the sake of the timeline.

I can’t say much about it, because it’s spoilers, but needless to say, I was disappointed by this, because no reason is really given other than “because we said so.”

That didn’t work for my mother, and that ain’t working here, bub. Given that this was the major conflict of the book and everything hinged off this decision, I found it a bit disappointing and underwhelming.

❧ Given that Kin is a secret agent, I expected there to be … well, more adventure.

The secret part he’s got down. Kin’s super good at that. Maybe a little too good. But the agenting part? Eh. I’m not convinced. I suppose this arises due to two simple facts:

1. While Kin’s in the past, he’s not an agent. He’s a boring humanoid like the rest of us who just happens to have slightly better reflexes than me. Which really isn’t all that difficult.

2. By the time he is an agent again, he’s on desk duty. Which is harsh, man. It also completely squashes all the hope for some agenty goodness.

I’m not saying that there was no adventure in this book, but it was significantly less than what I expected going in.

I’m pretty simple. I see time travel, secret agent, and secrets and expect that, at some point, stuff is going to go down. Maybe there’ll even be explosions. Maybe someone will get shot. Oh, maybe there’ll be a talking sword! Okay, probably not that last one, but a girl can dream.

In the end, I felt like it was a very slow-paced book, which relied more heavily on character interaction and emotion and less things actually happening. So … it was a sci-fi Hallmark movie I guess is what I’m saying.

Which is great if you’re into that thing. But I’m not big on emotions, because evil overlords can’t be and I’m in training. I kept reading thinking something big would happen, but it just never really did.

Have you read Here and Now and Then yet? What did you think? Would you be a time traveler if you had the chance?