Actual rating: 3,5 stars

I really don’t know how to feel about this book. I don’t even know if I liked it or not, so don’t expect this review to make any sense. I can definitely see why some people absolutely loved this book and why others hated it. I’m personally in the middle, and it's mainly thanks to the audiobook that I was able to appreciate it as much.

Blake’s writing is, as usual, magnificent. I don’t always connect with it and sometimes find it quite pretentious, but I can’t help but recognize how talented Olivie Blake is at crafting sentences and how this book is full of beautiful quotes. The chemistry between Regan and Aldo was absolutely beautiful to behold. Seeing them meet, get to know each other and then fall in love despite their personal mental health struggles was very realistic and profound.

However, the structure of the plot was… lacking? We have a lot of build-up hinting at the final conflict, only to end up with a very disappointing ending and an almost non-existent conflict. Leading to a second half of the book not as intriguing as the first. I also wasn’t a fan of the smut, especially the way it was written and the fact that the characters acted like horny teenagers (I understand this has a deeper meaning, but it was still cringy to read).

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

When I started reading this books I was like “okay, this might not be for me, it’s a bit confusing” and then it turned into “omg, I LOVE this book with my whole being!”

I can’t even put to words how much I loved this book. It’s pretty obvious that this review is going to be a mess. 😅 But I don’t even know where to start and what to say without spoiling the story.
I finished Alone With You in the Ether last night and I keep thinking about the story and Aldo and Regan and their deep thoughts and their relationship and bees! The bees! I could listen to Aldo talk about bees for days.

This is a character driven story, the characters are so deep and complex and they feel so real. And this isn’t a typical love story, it deals with topics as mental health, mood disorders. This is a book that will have you thinking about it for a long time after you finish it.

This book is a masterpiece. And I need the physical copy so I could reread it and annotate it asap!

Also, I need to add that after reading the acknowledgements I’m very happy that the author acknowledged the importance of taking your prescribed pills for your mental health and that you should consult with your therapist about any changes you plan on doing (because in the book we have a character that decides to stop taking pills because they think they feel better without them).

Thank you Netgalley, Tor Books and Olivie Blake for the chance to read this beautiful story.

I'm in awe of Olivie's talent as an author, but I did have a hard time slipping into the world she built here. There is much to love and I really wanted to be head-over-heels, but it didn't quite hit me like I wanted. However, I learned a lot about mental health, love, and how to create an exhilarating world and unique characters.

Definitely give it a try!

do you ever feel like a book just found you? this has been one of the easiest 5 stars of my year. it's definitely more vibes than plot but my god it made me feel alive. it's poetic and intimate and in someways felt like a Lana Del Rey song. I can't even figure out who the right audience is but I know I'll be talking about it for years to come.

This is my second Olivier Blake book and the writing is drastically different, if there had been an excerpt, I'd never requested this. The Kindle file is also very wonky, might be worth looking into. I found it hard to read and that's not on the author.

This is my first dive into this authors work, And I was blown away.
She has a way of drawing you in and hooking you subtly.
The feelings this book made me feel were sometimes overwhelming.
The story as a whole was beautiful and thoughtful.

After finishing i had literally no words to describe how i felt.

Thank you Netgalley and Bramble for this ARC

Have you ever read a book and feel how beautiful the book is and yet vulnerable? This book is it for me. Perhaps it's in the way Aldo and Regan long for each other, need each other, desperate for each other that makes me feel that way. Or perhaps it's in the way the book made me feel and poked something deep that has been habitating so long inside of me, and how I feel so connected with these characters and how I understand what they feel for each other.
Nevertheless, this is a beautiful yet vulnerable book. Sure, it was pretty hard to get into it the first time but after it did, it was worth it.
"You and me."

I had high hopes for "Alone With You in the Ether" by Olivie Blake, considering the enthusiastic praise it received from many readers. Unfortunately, my experience was far from the rave reviews, and I can't help but feel like a bit of an outlier in my disappointment.

Firstly, while I'm usually a fan of a poetic and pretentious writing style, I found myself struggling with the execution in this novel. The prose, which initially had potential, became increasingly grating as the book progressed. What began as an attempt at profound and unique insights turned into what felt like regular thoughts presented as groundbreaking revelations. It left me questioning whether the writing was genuinely attempting depth or merely pretending to be deep.

Adding to my disappointment was the character of Regan, who, in her portrayal, seemed akin to a manic pixie dream girl—a trope that felt outdated and added an unwelcome layer to the narrative. Despite my initial hopes to find depth in her character, Regan's arc only fueled my frustration. Aldo, a Ph.D. student in pure mathematics, was also a source of frustration. Instead of showcasing complex and realistic ideas within his field, the book presented inane and unrealistic concepts, detracting from the authenticity of his character.

My disappointment deepened as the story unfolded. The relationship dynamics, particularly the handling of cheating, were uncomfortable and left me unwilling to invest in the characters' journey. The problematic representation of mental health added another layer of concern, making it difficult to find any redeeming qualities in the narrative.

Ultimately, what frustrated me the most was the book's failure to evoke any emotional response. Despite its attempt to convey intellectual depth, the characters, relationships, setting, and plot felt profoundly uninteresting. The novel's lack of substance left me longing for just one spark of interest to make the experience more bearable.

While I had hoped to join the ranks of those who enjoyed "Alone With You in the Ether," my journey through its pages left me with a sense of profound disappointment and an understanding that, perhaps, this book was simply just not meant for me.

Olivie Blake has a very unique writing style, which I think can either be off-putting or can draw you in. I think for me, I keep finding that her writing style isn't really for me, but I can understand why her worldbuilding and character-work is so popular in general.

Having said that, this book is definitely my favourite that I've read of her works so far.

I sent my review for the wrong book. I do apologize and will be submitting my review for Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake very soon.

Olivie Blake’s writing style, in this, was as always, absolutely brilliant and beautiful. She has a very unique style and choice of words and all of her books are different in that regard. In Alone with you in the Ether (*lets out a sob when writing the title*) the writing is very inconsistent and more stream of consciousness, I would say, and I absolutely understand why it might not be for everyone, but it was for me. It feels like this book has been written with me, or at least someone like me, in mind and I will cherish it forever. Both Aldo and Regan are locked up in my heart now, and they’re never allowed to leave again.
This book was heartbreaking, and it played its up and downs with my emotions but it was so worth it.
Regan is so special to me, and I relate to her so much, in so many different aspects. Most of all, she is an artist, and her doubts and struggles as being one, were so real and heartbreaking.
As you can tell, I didn’t just adore this book, I consumed it and I will never shut up again.

(A finished copy of this book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. I did buy myself a physical copy after reading the first 100-ish pages, simply because I needed to own it and mark some mindblowing quotes. Still, I want to say that all my opinions on this book are 100% my own, and I could never lie about loving something as much as I did this.)

Time for a love story

So far I've loved every Olivie Blake book I've read, and this is no exception! I guess it's a contemporary romance, but with zero frills or will-they-won't-they or any second hand embarrassment. Instead, the whole story goes deep into two very unconventional minds and their relationship. I'm sure the DSM V would have a field day with the two main characters, and this is addressed in full. As an interesting side note, it made me realize the difference between what can be called an unhealthy mind, and a similar mind with added childhood trauma. I also have a theory about mental illness which is intrinsic, as opposed to trauma-induced, but I'm digressing.

If you love Olivie Blake and have an open mind about mental health and the very honest representation of unhealthy thoughts and patterns, you must read this. If either of those is a no, reading Alone With You In The Ether won't be the joy it was for me.

A bit broken, or a lot broken, two people fighting to survive in a neurotypical world where neither of them fits, in "Alone with You in the Ether" by Olivie Blake encounter one other. What follows is magic—honest, unvarnished, and human.

I wanted to cry because this book's prose is so freaking beautiful. There are some lines that are so ideal that I would tattoo them on my body. Like with most of Blake's books, the plot is driven by the characters, and you'll lose yourself in the intricate inner thoughts of our incredibly complex primary characters. These minds in particular are so sensitive, so intelligent, and sometimes even so broken that it's just genius.

It's quite real and realistic to suffer with mental illness while managing relationships and your environment. I really liked how the book doesn't sugarcoat the realities of people's health decisions or try to make them seem easier than they are. Instead, it shows how these decisions are handled, sometimes in positive ways and sometimes in negative ways. But whatever it does, its impact on the reader is long lasting. Just another hit from Olivie Blake. I really appreciate NetGalley and tor publishing group for sharing the arc of this book with me.

"Alone With You in the Ether" by Olivie Blake was a solid 4 stars. The prose was vivid but cerebral (maybe to its detriment at times), and the author clearly put her whole heart and soul into writing it.! This was a love story, but also not a love story. Regan and Aldo are both deeply flawed characters, and I found myself yelling at my Kindle at times (many, many times). There's a line between hurts so good and hurts (especially for subjects that can be so personal like mental health), and I think this straddled it quite often. An emotional read that I'll be thinking about for a long time to come.

This book starts out with a play writing style where the plot, setting, and time are explicitly told to you in the terms. I did not enjoy this aspect of the book. Once the author stopped doing this (it's only about 20% of the book?), I enjoyed it more.

The book is also set in multiple timelines, which adds depth and intrigue to the story.

"I want you to say everything, anything. I want to have your thoughts, I want to bottle them, I want to put them in my drawer for safekeeping."

Always following a set pattern in life, Aldo and Regan cannot seem to breakaway from what they always have done. With both characters existing and struggling with mental health issues, this book becomes far more than a love story and more about the inner workings of our thought processes.

This book is a very “heady” and emotional read for those who are unsure or struggling with purpose. Both main characters have their time in the spotlight to fall in love with each of them individually, see yourself in them, and then watch them come together. 🥰

the HEA does come, but not without a section of self doubt/self reflection with a lot of internal monologues.

Olivie Blake is one of my favorite authors. She writes like an artist taking a brush to a canvas. Every single word drips with thoughtfulness and I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to get enough!

4.5 stars
This was such a beautiful love story. From the start, I was intrigued and fascinated by Aldo and Regan as individuals but also as a couple. The writing was truly something else, It was incredibly beautiful. Sometimes so that I felt like I didn't fully understand everything. It's definitly one of those books that everytime I read it, I'll understand more.

I wanted to give Olivie Blake a second chance because I know how much people love her, but within literally 2 pages I knew this wasn't for me. Like I said I know it works for a lot of people, so if you like incredibly pretentious writing and characters, all with no plot...check it out

I just completed this book. I fell in love with the book shortly after starting it. I couldn’t get enough of the story, of the characters, of it.

This seems to be very different from everything I’ve read by Olivie Blake. I’m very okay with this fact. I enjoyed that this was not a fantasy story, but a fiction novel that spoke about the thoughts and things humans can become obsessed with, have compulsive thoughts about.

A story of what seems to be fated lovers, involving a female and male, both with their own unique thoughts and views of the world. A FMC who struggles with her mental health, and struggling to live the way she wants, the way she wants to feel. The MMC is living possibly a second chance at his life, and his world turned upside down when they finally meet. It’s a quirky romance novel with some spice. But it feels like a movie. It reads like a show. You want it to be there in person witnessing it unfold.

I simply loved this book. So different for me in comparison to the Atlas series. A solid 5 stars and highly recommended. Thank you NetGalley, Tor and Bramble for giving me the chance to read it.