5 stars! -- Obviously I have read and loved this book for years now (the self published version) and I’m so excited that Olivie’s back catalog of books are getting audiobooks along with their traditional re-publishing. I loved every minute of this. The story I connected with so much is now one I can listen to, AND it has such an array of narrators, all of whom were really good at bringing this to life for me again. I just can’t recommend Olivie’s work enough, so give this one a listen if you’re into: art, Chicago, art museums, flawed people, and thought provoking conversations about bees and, well, everything else.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publishers for the early access to this audiobook. This did not affect my review in any way. (I got the chance to get an audiobook advanced copy but forgot to post my review… the end of last year was rough for me y’all!)

Full review to come, I need to properly gather my thoughts but I really enjoyed this. I’ve heard a few people mention that this book isn’t for everyone but it is for them and I wholeheartedly agree, because there were moments I almost wanted to DNF but there were almost moments that were so raw and relatable. Check trigger warnings but if you deal with a low mood mental illness then you may find an almost comfort in this book

I very much enjoyed this book as it is clear Blake intends to create a world that is both realistic and somewhat fantastical. I loved how the first half of the book really creates a strong sense of the characters' identities and then in the second half there is so much tension surrounding what is going to happen. I can see how for some people Blake's choices around language might seem a little forced or even pretentious, but I also think there is a large swath of readers that seek this out. Blake trusts that readers are going to lean into the the deep thinking and banter of the characters and feel swept up in their relationship the same way they are. I will definitely be recommending this to other readers!

I am absolutely enamored with Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six and I couldn’t wait to get another fix of Blake’s writing. Tragically, as it turns out, everything I loved about The Atlas Six was what I hated in Alone With You in the Ether.

I’ll start with the characters. I love the unofficial genre of terrible people doing terrible things while we the reader get to sit back and watch that trashfire burn and burn from the comforts of a living room and TA6 executes that with panache and sex appeal. But it seems I’ll need to add another caveat to that. I love the unofficial genre of terrible people doing terrible things because they were raised in a fucked up fantasy world by emotionally unavailable people and their own fucked-up-ness is a coping mechanism, justified by the fact that they are, unequivocally, among the most powerful people alive. When you’re just Brad from California or Karen from New York, what the fuck is your excuse?

I typically try to avoid book comparisons when reviewing, even if by the same authors, because I believe each book should be judged by its own merits. I break that rule and do so here because the cast of TA6 and Regan and Aldo from Ether could have easily come from the same book. In fact, if you took Parisa, kept her insecurities, her daddy issues, and everything except for her mind reading, you’d effectively have Regan. Likewise, if you took everything about Nico except physicists powers, a rival, and whatever gay shit he has going on with his roommate, you’d effectively have Aldo. I found it genuinely difficult, as I read, to think of these two as their own characters and not as prototypes of their TA6 counterparts.

Which is made dreadful to read by the mundanity of their lives because the narration is that same beautifully purple, over-the-top lush prose that Blake uses in TA6. While the writing in TA6 romanticizes the explorative nature of academia, of losing yourself in the depth of a chosen research field, Regan and Aldo use that language to complain about their basic ass lives. Aldo doesn’t like that part of his PhD requires him to lecture dumbass undergrads who don’t appreciate the intricacies of theoretical math? As as current PhD student being forced to undergo her three semester of forced unpaid TAship, get the fuck in line buddy. Regan’s entire character is the epitome of romanticizing manic disorders. I’m genuinely baffled by the amount of people on Goodreads saying Regan’s character of “so relatable” and that their relationship was “so beautiful” because red flag were going off throughout my entire reading of this.

As a side note, this book is where Blake has revealed her understanding of math does not go much further than algebra and maybe calculus. Seriously, Aldo does mathematics for a living not a single usage of the word ‘topology’ or ‘tautology’ or ‘homology’’? There’s so many words from theoretical math that would fit right into Blake’s writing that were never used. I did appreciate the ‘that’s a cycle, not a circle’ joke, so kudos to that.

Overall, I rate this book a 2/5. While Blake’s writing was stunning as usual, the story it told and the characters it detailed were just insufferable. I’m happy to read Blake’s future works, but I think I need to stick to stories with a setting beyond two people in an ordinary contemporary world.

Review will go live on my blog on 20 Jan 2023

Olivie Blake is known for her "The Atlas Six" series. I was intrigued, when I saw the book that was outside the urban fantasy I knew her from. The history of two unique people, who learn how to live and how to love each other and themselves got my attention at first. But there was something about it, that made me uneasy. I am not sure if that was the case of all mental health issues presented, or the fact that the therapy and medication was villainized. Or that the help towards those issues was secondary to the presentation of how managing health can be actually helpful. I am not sure. One thing is certain, I will remember this story for a long time, even if the writing was not for me and seem overcomplicated at times.

I really wanted to love this book- tried very hard to, actually. Unfortunately, I felt that this book strove to be profound and brilliant more than it actually was. I applaud the performance and some of the writing, but ultimately this was convoluted and far too "purple," for my taste.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am an Olivie Blake stan. This book got me through some rough points during the early days of the pandemic so it will always hold a special place in my heart, and I obviously had to read the rerelease when it was picked up by the publisher. I have 5 different copies of this book with more ordered. It is truly one of my favorites

Thankfully, Tor sent me an advanced audiobook edition.

To hear the characters I love come to life was surreal. Each time I return to this book is like visiting an old friend. Now, I can put a voice to those friends.

However, this book will not be for everyone. There are hard topics, there are flawed characters that do not handle these topics in a healthy manner. Olivie has a way with words where her writing is like poetry, both gorgeous and hard hitting.

this book made me feel a way i have never felt reading any other book so...

i know it says a love story on the front, but this book is very much about mental health + choosing to not be medicated for mental health conditions. it was a hard read for me, but a very impactful one. and olivie blake just is just such a talented author and the sentences she is able to string together, about really dark and hard to talk about things, really resonated with me in a way other words just never have before.

trigger + content warnings: loss of a loved one in past, addiction depiction (drugs + sex), depression, anxiety, inability to sleep, extreme codependency talk of arrest in past, overdose in past mention, unexpected pregnancy in past mention, a lot of talk of medication, blood imagery, abandonment, suicidal thoughts, disordered eating, some body image things, grey area cheating/emotional cheating, very intrusive thoughts, very manic thoughts, and just… a lot of discussion about mental health medications and choosing not to be medicated.

Ahh this book was so interesting. I love it that their mental health issues didn’t have to be “named”. It made it so relatable that they struggled with their mental health, which we all should talk about more. I loved how complex their relationship was as well. Loved this book. Thank you publisher and NetGalley for the copy.

This is a story about two people, flawed in their own ways, who are navigating life parallel to one another. Regan is a reformed counterfeit artist working in a museum when one day her path crosses with Aldo, a doctoral student with fixations on time travel, hexagons, and bees to tame his destructive thoughts. Once their lives diverge, things could never be the same for either of them again.

This book was such a beautiful examination on what it's like to love someone as they live with mental illness. It begs the question, how much accountability does one need to take? The main characters, Regan and Aldo, are some of the most realistic characters I've ever read and I found them both so raw and relatable. Alone With You In The Ether truly felt like such a moving journey as I read, and once I was done I had to take some time to process all of the emotions I was feeling about it. It was gorgeous. Olivie Blake is definitely showing her writing chops here.

I listened to an audiobook of this and the narrators were wonderful. Sometimes audiobook narrators achieve something rare and they add a layer of tonal context to a story that would otherwise be missing- that was absolutely accomplished here.

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Tor Books as well as NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🐝This book was so different from what I was expecting and I loved it for that reason! The cover of the book says “a love story” so I went into it expecting a fluffy, cheesy, romcom but that wasn’t what this book was at all. This book was a raw, real look at what love is like for someone who thinks they aren’t worthy of happiness because of their mental illness. Also the author’s note made me cryyyyyy. Please don’t skip the author’s note at the end!!

🐝Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Regan is a counterfeit artist struggling to deal with her mental illness. Aldo is a doctoral student obsessed with cracking the code to time travel. When they have a chance encounter at the art institute, they decide they want to pick each other’s brains to help them understand the universe and their place in it. As they spend time together over the course of 6 conversations, they begin to think there could be a bigger reason the universe brought them together…

🐝I’ll admit that this book was a bit hard to get into at first. The first 40-50 pages were a bit strange. But once I realized why the story was written that way, it all clicked into place and I was fully invested. Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one! If you go into this expecting a cutesy fairytale romcom, I think you’ll be disappointed. But if you go in expecting a real (sometimes maddening) story of what it’s like to fall in love with someone despite all their flaws, I think you’ll enjoy it!

I have become and Olivie Blake superfan this year and what a beautiful story narrated to perfection, Thank you to Macmillan. Audi for the ALC.

I understand that this book is considered a love story, but it’s definitely not your typical love story or romance. When I went into this book the only thing I knew was that it was a love story, so I was expecting the typical romance book that I’m used to. This book had a lot more science, psychology, and mental health representation than I would have ever guessed. That is definitely a good thing and I would recommend this book to everyone, but I would recommend going into it blind.

This audio was extremely hard to follow at the beginning, i think reading it would have been more enjoyable and pushed my 4 stars to 5. About 25% in i started to really enjoy it! I felt a lot of the things that were being said were very relatable. While items were relatable the relationship was HELLA TOXIC.

With that, i can’t really decide if i liked it or not! While i felt parts of it weren’t enjoyable, I also truly loved Aldo and how he looked at the world and his inner monologue was *chefs kiss!*

It’s definitely not for everyone, but definitely enjoyable and would recommend!

Thank you Netgalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Don’t go, just stay, settle over me like the tide, cover me like a blanket, wrap around me like the sun”

This book was really interesting and a deep dive into the brains of two unique individuals as they fall in love and deal with their mental illnesses. The first half of this book had me captivated, but I felt that the second half was repetitive and began to drag.

I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the multiple actors, one for Aldo and Reagan, but also one each for the voices(narrators) in their head. These subtleties would have been a lot harder to pick up in the print version.

If you’re a fan of Frederick Bachman you would like this contemporary romance. 4/5 stars

I’m not going to lie hearing multiple voices in my ear kind of had me a little lost in the beginning… I feel like if I had the physical copy I would’ve grasped the concept better. Besides that I enjoyed it overall ,The authors note at the end of the book gave me a deeper appreciation for this story.

i was really looking forward to this book, but i don't think olivie blake's writing style was for me. this book just seemed to drag and was actually quite boring after a while..

One of the best romance books. It is a love story between two people who are strange by themselve but together they make sense or do they ?

Hummmm. Not at all what I was expecting after The Atlas Six. This romance that teases, but does deliver, sci Fi, features two main characters that I just didn’t like or root for.

me, an atheist, in response to the melodramatic review section: "I mean, I have to agree. This book is the closest thing to religion I have ever felt and probably the closest thing to proof that God exists that I will ever find."

5 stars.

What do I even talk about? The melancholy prose. The nuanced glimpse into the experience of mania, depression, and loneliness. The search for meaning, and for a tether to life. This was 300 pages of poetry.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.