Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Alone With You in the Ether: Waterstones Exclusive Edition

𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠: 𝙰𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛⁣
𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 : ☆☆☆⁣☆
⁣
“𝙷𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛.⁣“
⁣
𝙼𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚋𝚢 𝙾𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚔𝚎. 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚝, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚋𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎. 𝙸𝚝 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚕 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍, 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍. 𝙸 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝙰𝚕𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚍. ⁣
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𝙸 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚋𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝. 𝙰𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎 𝙸’𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚋𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚕𝚍𝚘.

Content Warnings

noveltay's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad 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

5.0

One of the best romances I have read. Had me hooked from first chapter to the end. The way she shed light on mental illness and episodes, and also showed how those people can still be loved was a great message to readers. I also will never look at bees the same again.

Content Warnings

azrah786's review against another edition

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3.5

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

CW: mental illness, suicidal ideation, drug use/abuse, alcohol, addiction, toxic relationship, panic attacks, emotional abuse, infidelity, sexual content, abandonment
--

Olive Blake is an expert at writing messy, chaotic characters that you can’t help but be engrossed by and highly introspective narratives that really get you thinking.

Alone With You in the Ether is not your conventional love story. It’s about two people whose lives colliding sets them both on a journey of finding love and acceptance of themselves, of each other and of their place in the world. As made evident in the author’s note/acknowledgements it is a deeply personal book and after reading that part and seeing the idea at the core of the story it really enhanced the meaning behind everything.

However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have issues with it and this for the most part comes down to the writing. Sporadic and inconsistent is probably the best way to describe it which I guess sort of reflected the protagonists themselves but it did also get confusing at times. At first you’d have random cut off where external narrators would jump in and say their piece in between the main story. Eventually I thought this was pretty cool, I mean characters breaking the fourth wall to add a detail every now and again gave the story a film like feel. Bu then this then stopped happening midway and diverged into chunky monologues from the leading characters. Now I’ve personally come to realise that I don’t exactly vibe with the rambling monologue narrative style which is probably why I didn’t wholly enjoy it.

Though I will say that I really enjoyed the “conversations” section of the book, it was the part that hooked me onto the characters the most. Blake has shaped two beautifully realistic and flawed characters through her words and I found that I couldn’t help but fall in love with the deep bond that formed between them despite elements of their relationship coming across as a little toxic.

If you pick this one up it is without a doubt going to stick in your mind for a long while.
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars

Content Warnings

amiably's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

it saw right through me. heartbroken it's over.

Content Warnings

booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

A profound and moving stream of consciousness that delves into what it means to be in love, live and deal with mental illness.

Alone with you in the ether is so real and raw and very much captures the thoughts that go through our minds, the dark ones, the ones of the future, the ones of failure, the ones of love and fear. So much of this book is a love letter saying it is ok to love and be broken.

This is so different than any romance novel I have read in a while. It is everything all at once. The writing is so beautiful and makes you really think. You can see how much Olivie put her self and life experience into this book. I think so many people will be able to relate to this book.

Cow
Alcohol
Over dose mentioned
Emotional abuse
Mental illness
Drug use
Addiction
Toxic relationships
Sexual content

Content Warnings

villainsandpoets's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

if the word "love" was a book, this would be it. taylor swift songs i relate with this book: willow, the lakes, mad woman.

Content Warnings

deadbookishsociety's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

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