Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake is a fervent love story of Aldo and Regan, who both struggle to cope with self-sabotage and the influx of negative thoughts and imagery of life. Their relationship, much like their lives, is obsessive, compulsive, idiosyncratic, and emotional.

This is a beautiful, intimate story that makes you feel as if you are living inside the minds of Aldo and Regan; listening to them dissect every interaction, emotion, and thought. It is not your typical relationship and I love that it explores the very raw reality of mood disorders and mental illness.

This was narrated primarily by Robb Moreira and Sura Siu, both of whom were well suited for their roles. Their tonality and timbre were perfection and kept you hanging on Blake's every word until the very end.

5 ⭐️
1 🌶️

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan audio and Netgalley for a copy of the audiobook!

Okay this audiobook in the beginning was confusing with trying to figure out the narration and the random scene narrators and narrator character. Once I had that down it stopped and I binged this book so fast it wasn’t even funny.

The love story in this book is not traditional romance book, it comes with characters that are raw, real and it was refreshing to see the mental health mood disorder rep. I think this book is going to stay with me for a long time.

CW:
Bipolar Disorder
Substance addiction
Drug use & abuse
Overdose recounted

maybe it was the fact that i forced myself to reread this solely for the brief serotonin boost getting arcs gives me, but this was unberable to get through. i loveee pretentious books, i love convoluted books, and most of the times i can appreciate when authors take themselves so seriously, but god what a drag this was. i would definitely recommend reading this 'normally' instead of listening to the audio---which isn't a jab at the narrators, they were fine, but with a book with such melodic prose i think it's better to read with your own voice and tone, instead of other people's. all the beautiful writing was lost on me the second time around, because, yeah, the writing is beautiful, we know this, but the substance just isn't there, this isn't a rereadable book. once you get it, which you do from the beginning, there's really nothing else to grab onto, which is a shame because even when i begin to drift away from fantasy and so called 'tiktok books' i am still such a big fan of olivie and the success she's getting is well deserved, i just don't think this is her best work and i'm really looking forward to her new books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: November 29, 2022

It is difficult for me to find the words to explain how I feel about this book. It is somehow exactly what I thought it would be, and nothing like I thought it would be at the same time. It is a romance book and has a lot of the same characteristics as a typical romance book and yet feels nothing like them at all. I felt parts of myself in every character and yet felt nothing like any of the characters at all. Olivie Blake has such a way with words and making you FEEL and be part of the story. She can make you get really frustrated with a character from one perspective and totally understand of the same character from another. But that's really what life is like right? Everything depends on perspective. I will just read/listen to all of Blake's books and then, if I get them as ARCs, buy them because I need to own them.

I have many feelings about this one and I’m torn… I love the title; it’s perfectly imperfect just like our two main characters. They’re both fractured and find each other in a world that seems damaged beyond repair. However, I wouldn’t call it my favorite book ever. There's something missing for me... Maybe it's too much deep thinking and the character growth didn't seem fluid to me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s weird and chaotic and makes sense all at once. The writing is raw and unfiltered while the dialogues were so beautiful. I hope Olivie continues writing for a long, long time.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for an arc. All opinions are my own.

Have you ever picked a book based solely on it's title? Because I love this title SO much. I would have picked this book up regardless of if it was by Olivie Blake or not. That it's by an author I really like is just a bonus. The only thing that would have made it better is if ether was spelled æther (although apparently grammerist is telling me that æther is an obsolete spelling, but it's still my spelling of choice).

This book was very good. It's also very weird and very nerdy and I loved that. I don't know if I would call it a romance? It is romantic and there is a main couple whose relationship develops over the course of the book. I would actually say that it had the same sort of feel as You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, in terms of it's relationship to romance. Not as litficcy as Fool, but the same sort of is-this-a-romance-isn't-this-a-romance feel.

As I said, this is a deeply weird and nerdy book, as one of the MCs, Aldo, is a theoretical mathematician who is obsessed with hexagons, bees, time travel, and the multiverse. There is a lot of discussions on different mathematical theories, and as an armchair physicist, I had not problem following along with what was being said. Obviously, YMMV, depending on how familiar/comfortable you are with theories from quantum physics. There is a great reference to the theory of Schrödinger's Cat and I nearly died a nerdy death.

The other MC, Regan, is an artist who can't art anymore, so instead she is a art museum docent, which is where she meets Aldo. At the time Regan is living with another guy, Marc, who seems like a douche, and so she and Aldo become friends over the course of six conversations. It is clear right from the start that they both really get each other. Regan understands Aldo's mathematical obsessions and Aldo understands Regan's need to hide herself and lie. Regan also has bipolar disorder, though it is never actually named in the book (I think it is in the synopsis). The author also has bipolar disorder (there is an excellent note at the end of the book from the author about this), so I feel like it is probably written authentically.

Other than what I have already said, I don't really know what else to say about book. I really loved it, but I also feel like it's probably not a book that everyone will click with. Also, it is quite different from the Atlas books, so don't go in with those sorts of expectations. .

I feel like the Author did a great job of showing bipolar in this books. I felt like it was going very fast with the thoughts. I love this Author.

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I began this book. Regan and Aldo are both such human characters that, if you're expecting a typical romance, makes them seem unlikable. But the further we travel into Regan's life with bipolar disorder and the more we understand about both Aldo and Regan, the more this book began to feel like something real.

It has taken me a couple days to find the right words to write this review. This book (and its author's note/acknowledgements, please read that at the end) touched me so personally that I was crying in my car after I finished it. Regan is unhappy in her current relationship when she meets Aldo, and they agree to six conversations. It becomes apparent that Regan's string of unfulfilling relationships is a product of her believing herself to be hard to love, so she either sabotages relationships so she won't be the one to get hurt, or she stays in relationships that aren't loving. Regan is a messy character. She's a real character. I won't go so far as to assume that this is everyone's experience with bipolar disorder, but it is so strikingly similar to mine that it hurt sometimes.

I still don't think I have given this book the review it deserves, but this is a top 5 book for me in 2022. It is raw, heartbreaking, and sometimes even wholesome. People with any level of mental ill-health deserve to be loved and understood. I hope everyone finds a partner(s) who are willing to work together to feel loved.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio, netgalley and Olivie Blake for an early copy of the audiobook!
If you saw me non stop talking about this when I first read this, you know I love this book and I’m so happy it’s getting an audiobook! I loved the narrators, I loved the little olivie cameo.


This has become one of my new favorite books of all time.
I have never related to character so much and I’m not sure if thats a good or bad thing, but it’s nice to see.
This book was absolutely beautiful.

This book is nothing like anything I've ever read (listened to) before.
If you like a rom-sad, this is for you. It reminds me of Call Me By Your Name and Normal People, in that the characters are so raw and broken, but they really do love one another.

I highly recommend to anyone who wants their feelings hurt.

I LOVE Olivie Blake and was SO excited to be able to get an advanced listener copy of 'Alone With You in the Ether,' from Netgalley.

This book is full of emotion. The narration is stunning, so I cannot wait to read the work in print. Blake's writing style is intriguing and stunning.

The characters are not always likable, which I appreciate in its reality.

I will read everything this human writes.

"If this is what it is to burn, he thought, then I will be worth more as scattered ash than any of my unscathed pieces" Olivie Blake

It has been a long time since a book completely took me by surprise. This book is beautiful, intelligent and complex. The author put a lot of herself in this book and this story is truly amazing. This is not a light romance. It delves into relationships and mental health and the stigmas of those two coming together. The ultimate message being it's ok to be in love when you are also falling apart. The misconception of feeling the need to have it all together before you can love another. When really, do we ever have it all together in the first place?

I absolutely loved this book. I listened to the audio and can't wait for my physical copy to arrive so I can read it all over again, tagging all my favorite parts.

This is for mature audiences! Open door romance and profanity. It is a very unique read and I can see this not being for everyone. But I definitely know there is an audience out there that will absolutely love this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
Spice 🌶🌶 2/5

Audio review: I’ll admit that I’ve already read and LOVED this book. Thank you so much Macmillan audio for giving me the opportunity to hear this book be brought to life. The narrators did an amazing job and this was a very well done audiobook. Looking forward to listening to this book often as a comfort read once it releases.

Book review: Most people read to escape, but I don’t. I read to feel. And this book gave me ALL the feels. If you love books about damaged people falling in love whilst exploring many philosophical ideas, look no further. I don’t think I’ve ever utilized the highlight feature on kindle as much as I did with this one. Absolutely stunning read. Kind of gave me Sally Rooney vibes but better. And if you loved the book, please read the acknowledgments.

One of my favorite books ever and I’m so excited for more people to read/listen!

This was definitely interesting, but I feel one thing about Olivie Blake's novels is that she tries to be pick me but force it down your throat. Like, shove the pretentiousness and overuse of complex metaphor and analogy to set herself aside from "other girls".

Wow...Olivie Blake has written one of the most stunning romance books of the year. She has given us a beautifully fragmented love story of Regan, a woman struggling with mental illness, and Aldo, a man lives strictly by tedious routine. Their first meeting is a spark that builds up in a satisfying slow burn and becomes an all consuming fire.

I really enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. When it first started out, I was worried the play-like writing style would be too chaotic for me, but once I found it's rhythm I was able to fall into the story. I even began to see that without this chosen style, the story would lose so much of what makes it brilliant. It helps pull you into the chaotic mind of Regan and the formulaic rules of Aldo. You ARE the mind of Regan and Aldo.

Besides the writing, the actual love story was a wild ride. The budding of an odd friendship flowering into a very intense romance was amazing to experience. It was wrought with curiosity, peculiarity, and so much sexual tension. I never thought a hand hold could be so intimate - Olivie sure did deliver on that one. I also loved that it was so different than a "conventional" and "traditional" love story. I loved that it's about not being perfect, normal, or okay and that you can still be loved even if you are labeled unhealthy, dysfunctional, or sick. It held a beautiful message about love, relationships, mental illness, and life itself. It's hard to even describe - you can tell the author really opened herself up into these characters and I commend her for her bravery.

Lastly, the narrators did a wonderful job. They really encapsulated Regan's and Aldo's contradictory energies. With that being said, I think I might have enjoyed this book a bit more if I had read it versus listening to it. I think I needed to be able to soak up the words and the pages myself to really let it become a part of me. Regardless, definitely recommend this book to others if you are looking for something different and dynamic!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a first look!

I love Olivie Blake's Altas series....and this book has the capability to show you the essence of life, holding it up to you for close examination, saying Look at it, look at the ragged edges, look at the rounded curves, look how it splinters and fixes itself but is slightly different each time. It depicts the human soul, the balance of fragility and strength. This book makes you want to laugh and cry and scream. The story within its pages illustrates the contradictory nature of love: how we can be too loud and yet feeling unheard, too broken and yet beautiful beyond words. This book makes you feel alive, and that's why it's ineffable.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital audio book

This writing style was very interesting I have mixed feeling and I might've had a different experience if I was reading and not listening to it via audiobook. I did like the complex romance . Regan and Aldo share a unique interesting romance and it was complicated but still enjoyable. I do not have a lot to say since I am still processing.

Thank you NerGalley.

I can see a lot of people liking this book. It just was not for me.
I did not particularly enjoy being inside the minds of the two main characters. (Regan and Aldo)
This by all means is a smart people romance. And I am not that smart. And don’t want to be..
The first half was better than the second half. The ending was a real let down for me.
Being inside the heads of these two very smart people was like.. everything is everything, but also everything is nothing at all and how can you question that but not have any questions?
If that makes sense.
I’m sure this book will be very popular.

For the audiobook part of the review.
I listened to this audiobook arc. The narrators were great. But it did get confusing on knowing if there was actually dialogue taking place or just thoughts. There was a lot of inner dialogue. It was hard to decipher if something was actually happening in real life or just a scenario being played out in the MC’s mind.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for an audiobook arc.

All thoughts are my own.

Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake is an incredibly thought-provoking love story. Regan and Aldo are two people that were destined to meet each other. No two people were ever so perfectly made to understand, question, and simply exist within the same timeline. The audiobook was done beautifully and the different voice actors and narrators did a stunning job bringing Regan, Aldo, and all other characters to life. Every time Mark’s voice actor spoke, I could feel myself grow angry. He was portrayed and spoke exactly as I would have imagined or if had I personally met him myself. The same goes for Regan’s mother. She was a terrible, cruel mother and the voice for her made me sad for Regan. I hated that Regan was so affected by her mother’s words that she heard them in her own head sometimes. Regan and Aldo both lived lives that were anything but easy. No one understood them the way that they learned to understand each other. Within six conversations, they knew that would not be enough. They knew there would never be a time that one could exist without the other past that. Their attachment style, while not necessarily the most healthy, was understandable. Love to the extreme because neither Regan nor Aldo were simple. Olivie did a beautiful job with this story and even the acknowledgments were touching. My mind has been reeling since the first time she mentioned bees, perfect circles, the multiverse, differential equations, the Babylonians and everything in between. I don’t think I’ve felt this much from a book, well, ever really. This must be how Regan feels. Everything all at once.

Alone with You in the Ether were narrated well. It is written beautifully also. At first it is so hard for me to grasp the book but when you go to the middle until the end and understand it.