Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read this beautiful book. I couldn't put this book down. Complex, heartbreaking and addictive

Recommended for those who love a complex read about beautiful characters falling in love and talking about bees

I got this book as an ARC via NetGalley and I couldn't finish it which is unusual for me. It just didn't hook me and I am not sure why. I couldnt get along with the writing style with the "descriptions" of the scenarios. It felt like I was reading a script/play with suggestions.

I am not sure if this was just the ARC but I like to let my own imagination run wild and this felt a bit odd.

This read really blew me away. I knew, after reading That Atlas Six/Paradox that Blake has a way with words and portraying complex protagonists, but this was truly something.

I loved tucking myself away to focus on this one to soak up this literary goodness. On paper, you would think Aldo and Regan wouldn’t work, and yet… on paper they do…. Or do they?

Recommended for those who love a cerebral read about complex characters falling in love and talking about bees 🐝

I'm finding this a difficult story to rate and I'm not convinced by my rating stil.

This story was a sweeping example of messy love. These characters of Aldo and Regan are consuming their complexity and problems. Both characters had diagnoses of mental illness, those illnesses while sometimes overwhelming, were not the sum of them. Regan by far was the most complex of the two and her chaotic take on life, sex, relationships and ethics had me reading through my fingers at times and gritting my teeth for the impending implosion but...(here is where you read the book for yourself).

Aldo seemed a little more grounded while still off in his world of theoretical mathematics and time. I liked him more than Regan even though I feel like this story reveals more of Regan. I totally got why these two worked at times and why they didn't at others. It is hard to like or love these characters though.

There's a definite irreverance for conventionality in this book and I really appreciated that element. There's nothing linear about this plot or how it begins and ends; that's its beauty. However, sometimes the chaos was confusing in moments and I didn't always understand the why of these characters.

The author note at the end is utterly impactful and the more I think about the story and author note as I write this review, the more I think this might be nearer 4 stars than 3.5. Blake's exposition at the end brings focus to the context and characters in a very real way. I respect her hugely for that.

[2.5]

I couldn't wait to get to this book based on how much I loved Blake's The Atlas Six, but unfortunately it was a real disappointment!

WHY IT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME
• We were being told things about this relationship rather than being shown in. With some things, like plot and character details, basically if they're facts about the situation, I don't necessarily mind, but with relationships you can't tell me how they feel, it's got to be shown otherwise I'm disconnected and don't care.
• Characters were half-full, and so therefore not realised people
• Could Blake stop with the phrase "he fills her" I would have burst out laughing had it not been 12 am
• It was pretentious, and unlike The Atlas Six, which I expected to be pretentious, it felt unnecessary

I might not have liked this book, but that doesn't mean I'm going to write Olivie Blake off in the future -- I'm still looking forward to reading The Atlas Paradox, I just think this title was a miss for me.

I really struggled to get through this one. The writing style varies, and I found some parts really difficult to follow. The story is sad and long and rather dull for my taste. I read the first half quite quickly, but found it a struggle to persevere to the end. It's focused on two main characters, neither of which I warmed to. It's just not my cup of tea.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find another love story where the two leads are more messed up than our pair in Alone With You In The Ether. I can't say for sure I particularly liked Regan or Aldo, but I was certainly rooting for them. This is a beautifully written, heart felt and raw portrayal of mental health and love and I couldn't put it down

At the start of last year everybody seemed to be raving about this book. Unfortunately I missed the boat a bit and by the time I'd heard about it, Alone With You in the Ether had already been picked up by a publisher and temporarily taken of the shelves.

The wait for this story, however, was more than worth it. Judging by all of the previous reviews, I had expected this book to everything, but words can not described just how beautiful it was. Olivie Blake is truly a phenomenal writer. This book was so relatable and heart wrenching and just so ahhhh (again words cannot describe.)

This is the book that everyone should read at least once. Please (for everyone's sake) read this book.

After reading The Atlas Six and Atlas Paradox I had seen a lot of excitement about this book being edited and given a new cover!

*5 stars

I am so happy this was my first book of the year! It feels like this is a story to be devoured in small bites and marinated properly while you contemplate life.

When I read the blurb, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The characters are properly summarized: “he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy”. What the blurb doesn’t prepare you is for how layered these characters can be or for the astonishing beauty of the writing and the depth of the inner observation. These are very particular people that come with their turmoil of thoughts… they can be equally raw, confusing and inspiringly extraordinaire.

Certain parts of this book made me think this author is a sorcerer of words… there is magic in here and a few sections literally took my breath away. It was also subtle and sensual in unexpected ways. At the same time, you could find what I sort of consider this author’s signature (and personally one of my favorite parts): In between all of this, there is a flavor of science, math and philosophy. You can’t leave this book being the same as you started.

Hopefully I made justice to the book… now I will proceed to schedule another reading (per chapters) so I can properly catch the magic all over again.

Of note 1: The audiobook, which I also purchased to alternate between reading and listening, was incredibly well narrated. I loved the voices, the different point of views and the surprising appearances. The narration and its edition gets another 5 stars… and I even think a few details are better understood in audio version.

Of note 2: The eBook was a gift (thank you to the author, Netgalley and Pan Macmillann team), the audiobook was acquired and I will happily buy the special edition of the book because I am keeping it.

First of all I want to start by saying how different I found this book to be to others I have read before. The writing style, the topics, the characters and the honesty which I loved.

Regan and Aldo meet in the museum where she works and find themselves accepting the challenge of having 6 conversations to find things out about each other.

When they first meet Regan is not very happy and a bit of a loose cannon - late for work, in a relationship with Marc where they party and do drugs' together , whereas Aldo seems the complete opposite - a bit of a maths geek, introvert, not many friends and has had mental health issues in the past. This is a character building book where you really felt like you knew every thought and part about them.

.Topics covered were connecting with someone and if they are right or good for one another, love, loss, time, happiness and can they all coexist together. Made me also see how overthinking and past trauma can still causes issues in new relationships .

Favourite line - People thought addiction was a craving. The difference was this - cravings were wishes that could be satisfied, compulsions were needs that must be met.

📚 r e v i e w 📚

alone with you in the ether - olivie blake

this book is cerebral and bordering on pretentious but also akin to a religious experience - i’ve never read anything like it before and i’m frankly devastated that i’ll never get to read it for the first time again. as such this will be a very incoherent review. since finishing this book i have been all thoughts and no vibes but i will try

this is a love story but not quite as you might think. its a character study of broken people who meet by chance and it wont be for everyone - it is however very much for me.

a review i saw on goodreads described this as: olivie blake could do romeo and juliet but Shakespeare couldn’t do alone with you in the ether - and they couldn’t be more right

i don’t want to be dramatic but i love this book. i want to marry it and raise a family of little books with it. this is simply a work of art. it should be in the louvre, replacing the mona lisa. i want it tattoo’d to the inside of my eyelids. olivie blake has quite simply ruined all other books for me.

so yeah. i loved it.

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Alone with you in the Ether is a mind-bending examination of personal acceptance, love and mental health. Both Regan and Damiani have baggage, familial issues and obsessive personalities. Almost polar opposites, Damiani is more reclusive, introverted and with depressive tendencies where as Regan predominantly lives her life in the hyper stage of bipolar disorder. What could be a cliched tale of opposites attract is given a more nuanced examination by Blake. Both protagonists eek out the best in each other, until the point where no more compromises can be made, and ultimately an acceptance must be reached amongst their growing interdependence. Blake's unflinching look at the fractured nature of individuals experiencing mental health difficulties is refreshing and touching, resulting in a novel that although not an easy read, will linger long in your memory.

I’ve been wanting to read this author for a while now, sadly this just wasn’t what I was expecting.
I found it clunky and difficult to follow, it just couldn’t keep me interested sadly

This was a simple, fun, easy and quick read. The perfect type of book for your holiday, beach, pool kind of read.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A tricky book to review (especially knowing the author’s background)… I wanted to love it, but I don’t think that was the purpose? I wanted to root for the two protagonists, but again, I don’t think that was the purpose. Did I enjoy reading it? Not particularly… Do I think it’s utterly brilliant? Definitely. Will I recommend it? Absolutely.

I do need a rest now though as I’m exhausted!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A love story that I had no love for. I don't think this was for me. I ended up putting it aside and not picking it up again. I found the characters difficult to enjoy, the story slow and the writing style felt pretentious.

A deeply unconventional love story which I am sorry to say was just not for me. I could not cope with the writing style but that is essentially my problem as I just don't think I have the brain for it.

Alone With You in the Ether is one of the most bizarre, heart-breaking, mindblowing and unconventional books I've ever read. It is probably also the best book I've ever read.
Written from the point of view of two adults, who struggle with mental health, it provides an accurate account of daily living with bipolar disorder and depression. Regan and Aldo made me feel everything and nothing all at once. The beautiful way of their thinking has shone a brand new light on the way I see life, and I honestly couldn't thank the author enough for that. It took me a couple of weeks to gather my thoughts on this book after I finished reading it, and still, the only thing that comes to my mind is "wow". It took Olivie Blake 248 pages to make me fall in love with Regan and Aldo, to make me fall in love with life again, and to make me fall in love in her and her writing.
Somebody mentioned that reading this book felt like seeing God and I honestly couldn't agree more with that. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Thank you to Olivie Blake (the author), Pan Macmillan publishing house and NetGalley for providing me with a free electronic version of the book in exchange for an honest review.

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Olive Blake is an expert at writing messy, chaotic characters that you can’t help but be engrossed by and highly introspective narratives that really get you thinking.

Alone With You in the Ether is not your conventional love story. It’s about two people whose lives colliding sets them both on a journey of finding love and acceptance of themselves, of each other and of their place in the world. As made evident in the author’s note/acknowledgements it is a deeply personal book and after reading that part and seeing the idea at the core of the story it really enhanced the meaning behind everything.

However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have issues with it and this for the most part comes down to the writing. Sporadic and inconsistent is probably the best way to describe it which I guess sort of reflected the protagonists themselves but it did also get confusing at times. At first you’d have random cut off where external narrators would jump in and say their piece in between the main story. Eventually I thought this was pretty cool, I mean characters breaking the fourth wall to add a detail every now and again gave the story a film like feel. Bu then this then stopped happening midway and diverged into chunky monologues from the leading characters. Now I’ve personally come to realise that I don’t exactly vibe with the rambling monologue narrative style which is probably why I didn’t wholly enjoy it.

Though I will say that I really enjoyed the “conversations” section of the book, it was the part that hooked me onto the characters the most. Blake has shaped two beautifully realistic and flawed characters through her words and I found that I couldn’t help but fall in love with the deep bond that formed between them despite elements of their relationship coming across as a little toxic.

If you pick this one up it is without a doubt going to stick in your mind for a long while.
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars