Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Alone With You in the Ether

I think what makes or breaks this book for *many* is the writing style. For me it absolutely BROKE it lol.
It's very experimental but it just does not work for me.
The prose is sooo overbearing it's a constant barrage of fancy words, which at worst distances me from the character, at best makes me cringe😭
And I usually like flowery writing, but only if it means something.
It just feels like 200 pages of stream of consciousness.
I know that this could be attributed to Regan being manic later on, but that doesn't make it better.
At least reading it was easy and I could have finished it in one day if I had had the nerve.
I didn't care for the characters and their romance and I *felt* the moments that could have been pivotal (the curch hand touch scene) but they made me feel nothing unfortunately.
It's just pretentious, not in a good way.
And it's not that deep.

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alysereadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Oof. I wanted to love this book, but I didn’t. I found the writing nearly impossible to keep my interest because it was so flowery. So slow and the ending overall was unsatisfying. Felt unfinished.

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_charliesbooks_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

writerres27's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.25 stars for Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake. I found the story very satisfying, real, and raw. I enjoyed the vulnerability of the story, the ability to see yourself within the characters (especially in their flaws), and the honesty of the plot progression. Love as a compulsion is a hard thing to capture without seeming flamboyant, but this book certainly does it. It hit me where it hurts in all the right ways, and I have highlights all over my copy.

Because the story is heavily character-driven, I will not be writing separate review sections for the plot and the characters, but instead will write one comprehensive entry.

This story explores the journey of two individuals, floating through life in their own troubled and often conflicting ways. Yet, when their paths cross, everything suddenly seems to make sense, and the things that don't make sense are now something to admire rather than something to...fix. Or avoid. Or destroy. No, these two unlock hidden portions of each other, Aldo finding an element of humanity he otherwise programmed out of himself and Regan discovering the safety necessary to be herself without pretense. Both find something to live for, to die for, something they did not previously realize was possible for themselves. They need it, and yet they are afraid of it. They want it, and yet neither truly has faith in it. Their journey takes twists and turns (pun intended), ultimately circling one central truth: through prosperity or destruction, they will always return Here. It may look different, the route may change, but Here, alone together in the Ether, they will always gravitate back.

Love can be ugly. It can be terrifying. It can be obsessive, compulsive, hyperfixating, addicting, earth-shattering, uplifting, revealing. Blake conveys all of this in its purest form, no sugarcoating or romanticizing (well...maybe a little. it is a romance, after all), just demonstrating. Feeling and understanding and allowing you to feel and understand it, too. This book shows the good, the bad, the ups, the downs, the challenges and rewards of seeking out a companion in the tumultuous, turbulent course of life, especially for those of us who are mentally ill. But in the end, regardless of what it took to get there, the characters are still better for it, and you close the book with a soft smile.

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