"Rinaldo, where are we today? his father had asked him, and Aldo had said, We are somewhere in the depths of time, somewhere people only dare imagine in their dreams. We are floating in dark matter. We are trapped inside a star, which is locked inside a system, which is itself a galaxy we can’t escape and we are lost to each other, to ourselves, and to the inconsequence of space."

This book was so hard for me to read but so great. The internal struggles with Regan of the voices in her head that are so judgemental and harsh to her. I had loving parents and people around me and I had these voices in my tweens to teens I struggled hard. The ones telling me I would never be good enough cause I didn’t have “his” attention or anyones. I wasn't pretty enough or good enough etc. And Regan is actually hearing those words from her mother and her boyfriend which are then playing on loop in her head. The help they think they are giving her is so toxic and awful it's so hard to listen to. It's like they have given up and think that's the unit way to get through to her. She's not delicate or fragile, her mind is just different than theirs.

And her random relationship with Aldo, a math genius, doctoral student, professor soothes her soul. He isn’t what anyone wants for her but why does that not mean it's what she needs.

Def a beautiful dynamic story from the perspective of someone living their life with a mood disorder. That authors note though! I cried! I loved your whole story and your inspiration for this book.

✨On the way home from the women's retreat with my mom I thanked her for always just being kind and supportive and not pressuring me. The more I read of relationships like this where the daughter is clearly struggling and the mother is making it 50 times worse. These are real relationships people have. Mental health is looked down on and there is a huge stigma to even discussing help or medication or anything. You are perceived differently. And I just my mom after reading so many toxic relationships it makes me so thankful for ours. I def don't say it enough.

Thank you bloombooks for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

This was my first Olivie Blake’s book and I am absolutely in love with their writing style! The quirkiness, the story, the plot, the reps! Incredible and gripping! I could now put this book down!

We travel through the character’s minds and we read their thoughts and we live through them so throughout that we start to wonder where they end and we begin! (Most likely Aldo’s words — you kinda have to read it to understand it I guess)

The mental health rep in this book is inspiring! After reading the acknowledgments in this book it was so nice to have a deeper understanding of the author’s insight on it! The approach to the topics and the way she just created these characters to be relatable and emotional and raw… magnificent!

This book was definitely quite the surprise and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to read it! A true love story with all its colors and emotions and flaws!

"Alone with You in the Ether" is very different from the books that I usually read, but I've heard such great things about it that I wanted to give it a try. I was not disappointed. The writing in this book is so beautiful. Sometimes, with books that have really flowery, prosaic writing I can only read a little bit at a time before my brain feels overloaded. However, I could not put "Alone with You in the Ether" down. I was really invested in the stories and thoughts of Regan and Arlo, and I thought the writing style kept the book fresh and compelling. While this is not a plot heavy book, there was enough plot to keep it going.

I have always said that I enjoy romances about deeply messy people, and "Alone with You in the Ether" absolutely falls into this category. While I loved and was rooting for Regan and Arlo, I also had a lot of concern for some of their irresponsible and self-destructive behavior patterns. This is not a criticism, I think this was the intention. Both characters are wonderfully complex and well written. However, if you're someone who normally enjoys books where everything is tied up with a neat bow at the end, you may not feel satisfied by the ending (without spoiling too much). Yes, there's an HEA, but many variables are still left up in the air at the conclusion.

My one criticism of the book is that I don't think the pacing at the conclusion worked as well as the rest of the book. The big, climactic moment that had been hinted at and built up throughout the book was not ultimately that dramatic for either character (which was perhaps intentional), and it resolved itself rather quickly. But, again, I don't think this is necessarily a flaw of the book. It could just be a difference in the types of books I normally read.

4 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Alone with You in the Ether is one of those "weird" books. It pulls you deeply into the story, but the whole time you're reading it you're wondering what the hell you're even reading. Nevertheless, this was really good and I'd absolutely recommend reading it.

4.5 stars!

A raw and poignant look at love, purpose and time, Alone With You in the Ether’s triumph lies in the absolute mastery of Olivie Blake’s prose. It’s pretentious yet grounded, it’s ugly and beautiful and it’s just so wholly human that you can feel it like a physical ache.

Within moments I felt that I knew both the protagonists so intimately, as they were both written with such candour. Their struggles with mental health were handled with care, and seeing these two characters who had been told so often that they are broken, find someone who makes them feel whole as they are, was such an emotive journey.

This has to be one of the most quotable books I have ever read, the reflections on life were whimsical in their prose, leaving me constantly rereading lines to enjoy them once more. On top of the wonderful prose, the novel contained unconventional narrative choices, with authorial intrusion in it’s opening stages, which I delighted in as I adore features that break the regular narrative structures. Despite all my praise, this book doesn’t quite hit the full five stars for me, as while the first half certainly was so, the second half seemed to transition more from a love story to a romance, which just isn’t my personal preference.

A soaring reflection on humanity and acceptance, Alone With You in the Ether is a tender love story, filled to the brim with quotable lines.

〝she is in all of his spaces and all of his thoughts. he contemplates formulas and degrees of rationality and they all turn into her. he thinks about time, which has only recently begun, or at least now feels different. he thinks: the babylonians were wrong; time is made of her.〞

★★★★.25

two people meet in the armory of the art institute by chance. prior to their encounter, 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. after their meeting, those things do not change. everything else, however, is slightly different. both obsessive, eccentric personalities, they struggle to be without each other from the moment they meet. the truth—that he is a clinically depressed, anti-social theoretician and she is a manipulative liar with a history of self-sabotage—means the deeper they fall in love, the more troubling their reliance on each other becomes. an intimate study of time and space, the nature of love, what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken.

this is one of my favorite romances to date. it's beautifully written – especially aldo's parts about how he views the world and explains it mathematically and I loved the experimental writing with the different narrators. I've never read anything like it before and I haven't found anything like it since. what really made this top tier for me personally was that it managed to be a romance book without it being to focused on the romance itself. I really enjoyed that it more so explored the characters individually and then how they would or wouldn't work together instead of them just being thrown together and made to figure everything out as they go which is the case with many other books in the romance genre. it made me more attached to the characters individually which in turn made me care about the relationship more instead of only caring for the relationship. I also appreciated that it through all this brought up more personal struggles and serious issues like mental health, mental illness and insecurities and I appreciated that all those topics were firstly mentioned at all but secondly handled very well and respectfully.

this is a perfect read if you find literary fiction a bit too boring but romance a bit too unrealistic. I'd also recommend this if you liked books such as the view was exhausting, book lovers, just by looking at him or seven days in june.

ig: @winterrainreads

Whatever Aldo and Regan are made of, I am made of it, too.

This book. Wreck me, please.

🐝🐝🐝🐝

"𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.
“𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩?"
𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨. "𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣."

I hate being “that person” but this is one of those books that you have to read, and then really focus on while reading, to *get*. Does that make me sound pretentious? Will it make me sound less pretentious if I tell you that I am currently rereading Twilight?

•Alone With You in the Ether is a story about two perfectly imperfect people who meet and become perfectly imperfect together. •

I will be honest, the first couple pages I was confused. The writing style was unique, the characters were…also unique, and I was not sure if I was going to be able to connect to this book. That changed quickly. I became engrossed in Aldo and Regan’s story and found myself caring so much for these fictional characters and wanting to protect them from the world that simply wasn’t built for them.

Thank goodness they were built for eachother. ✨

I will be thinking about this book for the foreseeable future.

Brilliant. Olivie Blake is an auto buy author forever. Character driven genius!

Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

One of the best reads of 2023 so far.

It may be hard to get into at first as the writing style took a bit for me to get used to, but once I did I didn’t want to put it down. The writing isn’t too flowery or trying too hard. It’s lyrical and intimate and honest where it reveals everything the characters are thinking or feeling, the good and the ugly. The writing was so beautiful, like I couldn’t believe somebody thought of those lines. I would highlight the entire book if I could, because there were some paragraphs that just had me staring at the page, rereading and contemplating.

This isn’t a plot-driven book, it’s all about the characters, so if that isn’t your cup of tea then it might not be for you. But for me, I loved reading about Regan and Aldo’s relationship. Especially when they first met, the non-verbal communication between them, the meaningful physical touches, their synchronized thoughts, their instant chemistry, it was all so magical. At the same time their love story isn’t a perfect fantasy. They depend on each other in a way where they acknowledge it is sometimes unhealthy, there’s passion but there’s also pain. I’ve never read about a love that was described like this and I highly recommend this!

“𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫” 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

A contemporary, unique love story with a supremely character driven plot.

𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳, 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. 𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.

The biggest thing I took away from this story is that Olivie Blake is immensely intelligent. She created two characters of (very) above average intelligence and did it in a very believable way, which is no easy feat. The story is very pretentious but it’s supposed to be and I liked that about it. I really enjoyed the first 60% or so, but as it went on it felt sort of tedious and repetitive with pages and pages worth of saying the same things over and over in new and chaotic ways that all ultimately leads to the same points, especially Regan’s POV chapters. I understand that’s the point and she was dealing with some manic episodes but it just stretched on a little too much for my liking. Overall I did enjoy this story though and it’s one I am going to think about for a long time, and I definitely want to read more from Blake.

Thank you so much to @torbooks and @netgalley for my review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was torn on this one, as I really appreciated the portrayal of themes such as how mental illness can affect every aspect of your life and relationships, but overall I couldn’t fully enjoy the book. I usually like unusual writing styles, so I appreciate what Olivie Blake was trying to do here, but...I just didn't love how it came out. I love all of Blake's other books though- this is just a different style that some people might enjoy while others don't. Something about the length also felt off- like should have been either much longer or much shorter, but at this length it's trying to be something it's not.

Another beautifully written, poetic book checked off my TBR! I cannot even begin to describe how much this book touched me. As someone who has struggled with mental health and mood disorders, it was such a comforting and relatable read.

I adored the characters and they pulled me in straight away. Ugh I wish I could know them in real life.

I cried and sobbed, and I do not cry often when I’m reading. I seriously connected to this book, I wish I had read it sooner. If anyone needs me I’ll be wrapped in a blanket, staring at the ceiling, contemplating this book and my life.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book more than The Atlas Six which I read a while ago. Olivie Blake certainly knows how to write messy, real characters! This is a heavily character-driven story so if that is something you enjoy in books, I would definitely recommend it. This book feels more like a romance than I was expecting and an exploration of mental health.

I liked it well enough, but it wasn't a new favorite of mine. I think a lot of readers will really enjoy this!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book at around 70%. I simply cannot keep reading about the glorification of manic depression/bipolar disorder and the fact that the MMC is actively encouraging the FMC to stay off her meds.

I truly believe that this book could have been something beautiful, and I kept waiting for it to turn around. But I didn't feel a real connection with Aldo or Regan, and the fact that her mental illness is simply brushed off for the sake of her painting is... ??? I don't even know. As someone who struggles with a plethora of mental illnesses, it was extremely upsetting to me to see it portrayed in this way. Regan was very clearly unwell, and it was glorified for the sake of sex and her art.

I will not be posting this review on my social media pages, as I did not finish the book.

This book is the epitome of opposites attract.
Chaos meets order. Instability meets certainty. Insanity meets rationality.

Olivie Blake could write a shopping list and hide life revelations and lyrical truths in it.

When you learn a new word, you suddenly see it everywhere. The mind comforts itself by believing this to be coincidence but isn’t—it’s ignorance falling away. Your future self will always see what your present self is blind to.

The thing about pills, Regan wanted to say to the doctor who had clearly never taken any, was that the ups and downs still happened; they were just different now, contained within brackets of limitation. Some inner lawlessness was still there, screeching for a higher high and clawing for a lower low, but ultimately the pills were loose restraints, a method of numbly shrinking.

And the author’s note? My love for Olivie Blake grows.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

You can never go wrong with a book by Olivie Blake. This book explores how to love yourself even when you feel broken and follows the story of Regan and Aldo who meet in the Art Institute and begin a wonderous adventure together around time, space and the nature of love.

Thoroughly enjoyed this read, especially as someone who is a neurodivergent, it was nice to feel connected to the characters.

"Alone with the Ether" by Olivie Blake is a exploration of love, mental health, and the complex interplay of emotions in the lives of two deeply troubled individuals. Set in the vibrant backdrop of Chicago, the story follows the chance encounter and subsequent journey of Regan and Aldo, grappling with their respective mental health challenges.

In a writing style that can only be described as artistry, Olivie Blake weaves a narrative that seizes your attention from the very start. The prose is a beautiful tapestry of introspection, laden with powerful quotes that explode like truth bombs, leaving an indelible mark on the reader's mind. The writing is cerebral and all-consuming, effortlessly navigating the realms of complex emotions and the intricacies of mental health.

Regan and Aldo's relationship, while intense and achingly dependent, is portrayed with a raw authenticity that captivates. The banter between them is both witty and charming, juxtaposed against the nuanced subtext that lends a profound sense of reality to their characters. Chicago comes alive as a vivid and fitting setting, adding depth to the story and enhancing the narrative's authenticity.

However, as much as the book enamors with its prose and character dynamics, it falls short in handling the representation of mental health. While the characters' struggles and self-destructive tendencies are well-portrayed, the romanticized portrayal of avoiding medication may trigger readers who understand the vital role of proper treatment in managing mood disorders. It's a crucial consideration in an otherwise engaging narrative.

"Alone with the Ether" is a compact yet thought-provoking read, offering glimpses into the depths of human emotions and the complexities of mental health. It's a one-sitting read that leaves you yearning for more, envisioning it as a compelling A24 film adaptation. Despite reservations about its handling of mental health representation, the book stands as a testament to Olivie Blake's exceptional talent, leaving a lasting impact long after the last page is turned.

it's either raining or i'm crying? This is both a 5 star and a 1 star all at the same time with how much my heart is hurting.

read it, read it again, and then a third time because the audiobook is also outstanding... being able to show someone even the fractured parts of yourself and accepting that you are still worth loving is hard to completely depict in such a short book. Every. Single. Page was worth it. I annotated this book and quickly ran out of tabs.

This is BY FAR my favorite Olivie Blake novel.

Sooooooooo, yeah. I’m confused, and this book made me feel dumb. Consider this an extremely sophisticated version of All the Bright Places for grown-ups. I mean, EXTREMELY sophisticated. Our main characters are two truly troubled individuals: Aldo, a recovered addict obsessed with defining the mechanics of time travel, and Regan, a counterfeit artist undergoing court-ordered treatment for bipolar disorder. They meet in an art museum and agree to meet up again; only with a limit—six times, six conversations. The story is part Aldo and Regan falling in love and part Regan trying to navigate through life without the pills which were prescribed to her. But………..

Aldo is a mathematics PhD candidate. Unfortunately, his studies and obsessions bleed into the book, even though they are not the focus of the story. His ramblings of quantum groups and multiverses were so distracting, at times I felt like I was reading a science textbook. Again, there are SO MANY five star reviews for this book, so maybe I am just dumb! 😂 Idk, man. I wouldn’t recommend it. I am very much not sure what I even spent 262 pages reading. I did not feel any love, heartbreak, anguish, or connection at all.

“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.”

Reagan and Aldo are two people struggling with very different mental health challenges. They have resigned themselves to living life within their own confines, until meeting each other allows them to experience life in a way they never thought possible.

“Can you love my brain even when it is small? When it is malevolent? When it is violent? Can you love it even when it does not love me?”

The angst in this book had me in a chokehold. Two people falling achingly and dependently in love with each other. I don’t know if it was healthy, or even the right thing for either of them, but damn it was intense.

“She is in all of his spaces and all of his thoughts. He contemplates formulas and degrees of rationality and they all turn into her. He thinks about time, which has only recently begun, or at least now feels different. He thinks: the Babylonians were wrong; time is made of her.”

There’s something about Olivie Blake’s writing style that scratches an itch on my brain I didn’t know I had. It’s tangential, meandering, and slightly-pretentious. It is cerebral and all-consuming. It goes exactly where my brain wants it to go, and I feel like I slip into a groove when I read.

“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.”

This is my fourth Olivie Blake read, and it is by far the most Blakey of them all. I know her style isn’t for everyone, but if you read in an effort to *feel* something, you need to pick this book up.