Olivie Blake

CHICAGO, SOMETIME-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, Aldo Damiani and Charlotte Regan 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, ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER is a fantasy writer's magicless glimpse into 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.

Alone With You in the Ether

jean

She had hands that itched to be busy, to be occupied by something or another, but it seemed every time she sat down lately, her mind simply went blank.

The world loved to take a beautiful woman and exclaim at the charm of her single imperfection.

“there was power in devaluing her worth to others.”

“You are brilliant. Tell your mind to be kind to you today.”

There was a single moment responsible for every sequence thereafter.

cee 

She was alight with a desperate need to feel close to him, to feel connected, beatifically vulgar and harmoniously obscene. Alone with you, she would gasp when she came, do you understand why I called it that, what it means? Because you and I, we are so different, aren’t we, and yet we are more like each other than the rest of the world is like us, and for that I bless you, I condemn you, I sanctify you, I sustain you. This painting, Aldo, it’s about God. They cannot hang it in the Louvre, they will have to put it in the Vatican, because what we are is holy, and this, you and me as one together, is transubstantiation of the highest degree. This is you and me becoming the consecration of us; amen, above everything, I believe.

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

Without the volatility of her extremes, what was she?

“I think that, for someone to get close to you, you must have to give them one key at a time. And even then, only one level can be opened at once.”

From the no.1 international bestselling author of The Atlas Six 'Olivie Blake is a mind-blowing talent' - Chloe Gong Chicago, sometime. 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, Aldo Damiani and Charlotte Regan 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. Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake is a glimpse into 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. Reader reviews for The Atlas Six: ‘The most brilliant, immersive, magic-made-real book I've ever read!’ ‘Deftly woven plot and amazing ensemble cast’ ‘Believe the hype! Absolutely fantastic!’

ayoni

Art, a voice buzzed in her ear, was creation. It was dissecting a piece of herself and leaving it out for consumption, for speculation. For the possibility of misinterpretation and the inevitability of judgment. For the abandonment of fear the reward would have to be the possibility of ruin, and that was the inherent sacrifice.

This entire book is just ripping my insides apart and shoving sugar into the crevices

Taiha Morton

Yes, she thought, pained. Yes, it is perilously wonderful to suffer so sweetly with you. 

She had an innocent look; those wide eyes were tricky. She had a deceptive way if making attentiveness look like interest. 

He didn't see the problem in loving her that way, with a savagery that felt as ancient as his sorrows, until he realized that he could no longer recall a life without her. It was as if the older versions if him had been erased and could no longer exist. 

Olivie Blake's writing style is shockingly parallel to a certain very tall woodsy Irish musician and I love it!

"I worry that if you try to keep up with her, you'll burn out, Rinaldo." 

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. 

There was wonder here, even if Regan no longer saw it. Even if she no longer felt it, he would feel it for the both of them. He would translate it for her later. He would learn to draw it for her, he thought, or to write it, or graph it... Yes, he would draw it for her, and then she would see it. 

"Do you have, you know. A shaver?" she said. "Clippers? I don't know what they're called."

He arched a brow. "Should I be worried about what you're going to do to my head if you don't even know what the tool is called?"

Ashlyn Barrett

That she will keep turning corners until she finds him

She is my hope and for that she is dangerous, unequivocally, but she is also alive, unreservedly.

What kind of sad, unremarkable nothingness have you so callously lived that you can witness the splendor of her Exstence and not fall to your knees for having missed it, for having misunderstood it all this time?

Because we have agreed, collectively, that to proceed without knowledge or understanding is a stupid kind of bravery, an impulsive kind of blindness, but that to be alone without wonder of curiosity is to chip away any possible value we might discover in existing.

Art isn't about explaining shit. It's about sharing things-experiences, feelings. Art is something we do to feel human, not because we are.

It's part of our fundamental code to wonder, don't you think?

She wanted to bear his entire sadness for him; to hurt herself doubly, just to keep it from him, and was that illness or love?

There was a difference between craving and compulsion. People thought addiction was a craving, but the difference was this: Cravings were wishes that could be satisfied, but compulsions were needs that must be met.

i don't even know how to put into words how this book altered my brain chemistry. it's one of those books that doesn't feel like just a 'story' — it was an experience. it's messy, gut wrenching, but so fucking beautiful. oddly comforting how i see myself in these two characters. literally everything everywhere all at once. and hexagons. 

The book was written beautifully, as was the story behind it. I wouldn't recommend it to those who get bored easily or don't like to overthink. While reading, I experienced a mix of emotions—at times I felt joy, butterflies in my stomach, sadness, concern, and moments where I just wanted to scream and cry.

ghaitsa

read this at the peak of covid in 2020. bawled at the end, mental illness shrouds one’s executive functioning but the love, will always be felt. very meaningful story, will not forget the rollercoaster of emotions i felt reading this

From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, comes an intimate and contemporary study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone with You in the Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken. CHICAGO, SOMETIME— 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. For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision. To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse. For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?

A Love Story

Alone with You in the Ether

I am so remarkably changed by this book i had to read it twice 

Stella 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes an intimate and contemporary study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone with You in the Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken. CHICAGO, SOMETIME-- 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. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings. For Regan, life is a finish line of mutually assured disappointment. Her method of coping with the dreariness of existence is to project herself into imagined multipotency, spinning new threads of destiny with every impulsive decision she makes. For Aldo, life is a plague of constancy--a structure of rules and formulas that keep him going, without which the entire frame of his existence would collapse. For both of them, life is a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability, until six conversations with a stranger form the variable that glitches the entire simulation.

Kirsten Kim

I cannot explain the ways in which this altered my brain chemistry as I was reading it. Tortured artist & tortured mathematician fall in love and the world, time and parallel universes are all nothing, everything and also hexagons.

For plot driven people, this is not for you,  unfortunately. If you are looking for a book to help you feel a little deranged this is it. Do with that information what you will. 

Kate B-L

I cannot explain the ways in which this altered my brain chemistry as I was reading it. Tortured artist & tortured mathematician fall in love and the world, time and parallel universes are all nothing, everything and also hexagons.

For plot driven people, this is not for you,  unfortunately. If you are looking for a book to help you feel a little deranged this is it. Do with that information what you will. 

Yes, this is one of my favorite books that I reread every year. Yes, this is a 3-star read. I've found that whoever I find the most annoying during my read is who I relate to at the moment, and this time it was Regan and all of her impulses. Regan and her insatiable needs. Regan and her mania, and her desire to create, her struggling and trying to find equilibrium. 

When I recommend this book, I always say that this is not a love story, but it is about romance. It's about finding love in the mundanity, about what ties us together. Regan's human fears of people leaving her when the shine wears off, and Aldo's passiveness of letting life pass him is what causes their conflict. It's what makes their love story—their mutual obsession—explosive, and when it does fizzle out... it pieces itself back together. Time cycles. People are creatures of habit. Love is not easy and clear cut and we keep moving. And things are the same, but shifted slightly to the left. 

Yes, this is one of my favorite books that I reread every year. Yes, this is a 3-star read. I've found that whoever I find the most annoying during my read is who I relate to at the moment, and this time it was Regan and all of her impulses. Regan and her insatiable needs. Regan and her mania, and her desire to create, her struggling and trying to find equilibrium. 

When I recommend this book, I always say that this is not a love story, but it is about romance. It's about finding love in the mundanity, about what ties us together. Regan's human fears of people leaving her when the shine wears off, and Aldo's passiveness of letting life pass him is what causes their conflict. It's what makes their love story—their mutual obsession—explosive, and when it does fizzle out... it pieces itself back together. Time cycles. People are creatures of habit. Love is not easy and clear cut and we keep moving. And things are the same, but shifted slightly to the left. 

Heather Margaret

My new favorite book. I am so in love with this story and the writing and everything.

Anjorin Molayo 

I can’t believe i stalled this book. I can’t believe i didn’t finish it when i picked it up at first, only to find out that’s it’s actually really good. I went through an emotional roller coaster while reading this book. I cried a bit because it’s was sad. Mental illness is real, and it could end something so beautiful, but they scaled through. 
I loved the fact that Charlotte and Rinaldo understood each other, they cared for each other and they were there for each other. Their love and the way they treated each other made me feel soft. sigh. 
My favorite part was when she decided to paint him; the way the author writes makes the imagination easier because you could almost feel every single thing she’s writing about. Here, she writes about Charlotte painting Rinaldo; it was as if one was actually there, it was so real. 
The other part I loved so much was “firsts”; the first time they had sex, the first time they argued, their first time for everything. 
I love this book so much. The writing style is different, different from any book i’ve ever read and I’m so invested in it. the author writes like she’s writing poetry omg. I really wish i could read this book for the first time again. 
A solid 5/5.

A glimpse into a joining of hearts and minds as Aldo and Charlotte meet and fall ever deeper into love. They'll need to face their fears and the fractures within themselves - and still love as if they've not broken.

Elisavet Rozaki 

I need someone to wipe my memory so I can read this book again for the first time!!! Olivie Blake's writing is so unique and introspective for the characters!!! Most beautifully written story I've read this year <3

This book took me on a journey through the minds of the characters, but also through my own. Painfully beautiful prose.

sani

what if i say this is actually one of the best books i have ever read? it shattered my heart, changed the trajectory of my brain, made me feel sick and what not. 

“i love him, and for a moment it doesn’t matter whether he loves her back. it is enough to have known that the inside of her chest is more than a place for storage.”

i relate to regan so much that it scares me. her moodiness, her obsession with change, her repulsion for emptiness. so on point. “without the volatility of her extremes, what was she?” exactly. what am i without my extremes? Regan's monologues tore me apart because how can i unhealthily relate to a character that much? Aldo is so precious. now, i cannot help but see bees and time in a wholly different light because of them. 

AldoRegan were so realistic, complex and layered, just like us normal people. wish i could read it again for the first time!

arwen

found myself getting so distracted throughout the entire book. Although there is a lot of beautiful quotes throughout and made me think a lot. 

Lex Forbes

abby

I have no idea about this. was this good? yes, a little perplexing? yes. but I know that this one is beautifully written. the characters, moments, personas, they were all exciting and well-made. but one thing that I know that this book is dedicated for pretty girls, boys and they who are hopeless romantic.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Krys C.

Beautiful writing, realistic depiction of mental health, lots of meaningful quotes and passages, and highly character-driven. It takes us deep into the characters' brains and thought process and motivations. Unfortunately, it did not personally appeal to me and I found myself bored half the time I was reading.

Not for me but I can really understand why people love this book so much. First 35 pages and I was feeling uncomfortable and bored; so close to DNFing which says alot since I rarely do that. Once Aldo and Regan met, I really started to love it, the beginning of the middle if you really understand what I mean was what I loved, it felt so fresh and new and real and authentic: the 6 conversations was my favourite part. Now, as we went further and futher into the "middle" of the book and even closer to the end, everything became really blended and just muddled up, where alot of the time the author was just assuming we'd understand what was going on, and I'm guessing people did, but I really didn't. Didn't really understand what was going on last 15 pages because something very big and theatrical and melodramatic happened but I didn't have a clue about what was going on. I love the characters though; Regan's mental issues which she used to fix with pills which she tries to ditch, and neurodivergant Aldo, who's confusing in terms of his obsessions with maths and theories with time. 

Didn't understand anything, but in theory this book is great. Wouldn't really recommend. 

surtified™

Not for me but I can really understand why people love this book so much. First 35 pages and I was feeling uncomfortable and bored; so close to DNFing which says alot since I rarely do that. Once Aldo and Regan met, I really started to love it, the beginning of the middle if you really understand what I mean was what I loved, it felt so fresh and new and real and authentic: the 6 conversations was my favourite part. Now, as we went further and futher into the "middle" of the book and even closer to the end, everything became really blended and just muddled up, where alot of the time the author was just assuming we'd understand what was going on, and I'm guessing people did, but I really didn't. Didn't really understand what was going on last 15 pages because something very big and theatrical and melodramatic happened but I didn't have a clue about what was going on. I love the characters though; Regan's mental issues which she used to fix with pills which she tries to ditch, and neurodivergant Aldo, who's confusing in terms of his obsessions with maths and theories with time. 

Didn't understand anything, but in theory this book is great. Wouldn't really recommend. 

this is a pleasant surprise for me. i went in blind and now i came out speechless. wow

Laura Rodrigues de Pina

Íntimo, sensível e reflexivo. Tenho pra mim que esse é um livro pra ser lido com a maior atenção possível e digerido aos poucos, mas eu não consegui, a leitura me prendeu do início ao fim ao passo em que Aldo e Regan entravam na vida um do outro como um furacão, eu me afundava na leitura cada vez mais. 

As emoções ou falta delas, transmitidas de forma que eu sentia junto deles. Nos momentos de intimidade física ou não era como se eu estivesse interrompendo algo, presenciando momentos que não deveriam pertencer a ninguém além dos dois. E quando ouvia os pensamentos de Charlotte me vi um pouco naquelas páginas de maneira que não esperava me ver. 

Bem, o dia que comecei a ler disse que esse seria um livro que eu sentia que iria mudar minha vida e assim como o casal protagonista, que sabem que nunca mais seriam os mesmo após tudo, acho difícil eu ser a mesma também.

Infinite stars. There just aren't enough words. Read it

Isabella 

This book is so beautiful. I don't think I'll ever get to read a book like this. The writing is so beautiful and the discussions about various themes. Everything felt so raw. The narrative style made it feel like I was in my own stream of consciousness. It was such an experience reading this book. I felt so connected to the world, to the characters. I don't think words can even express how much I love and recommend this book??? You have to read it yourself to understand. Olivie Blake never fails; definitely one of my favorite all time books! I love it so much.

i have super mixed feelings about this book. at first, i found the writing style a bit jarring. but then i fell in love with the characters and their banter. and then it all got to be quite a lot. so i don’t know lol.

Keira

✨"I heard you talked to Madeline," she said, something of a challenge.

"Not bees," he said, and handed her the blunt. "Bees are for you."

✨"Yes," he said—he would have said it to anything, she could have suggested a mutiny and he'd have searched tirelessly for an axe, a pitchfork, Excalibur itself-and she smiled up at him, lifting her chin to permit him full view of her approval. The prospect of it, of anything, buzzed in his veins.

✨You and me, you and me, you and me, Aldo, Aldo, Rinaldo, I am more addicted to the thought of your name on my tongue than I am to any other form of vice. The thought of having you is more dangerous than any cocktail of drugs, the idea of belonging to you endlessly destructive.

✨Empires have fallen like this, he thinks, but it only makes him want her more, makes him look at his hands and think, My god, what a waste of time doing anything else but holding her.

✨He'd like her to be honest if she wants to be but if she's going to lie then he d like to be in on it.

Yes it does, he doesn't want to be the person she hides from, he wants to be the person she hides with. These are distinct, doesn't she realize? Does she have any idea how difficult he finds it to exist with other people? And then here she is, this mystery, this puzzle, does she even know how much he loves her unpredictability, her twists and turns? She thinks her brain is some sort of problem? Fine, good, he loves problems.

✨It's like you woke up something inside me and it won't be quiet. It refuses to calm down, and why should it? It's not like 'Oh, you make me happy, it's nor something as clichéd as that. You make me feel like I'm alive for a fucking reason. Like for once I'm not just a goddamn waste of time."

✨"No, I'm ... I'm fine, Aldo, it's okay."

Aldo, I cry when it rains, I pick fights sometimes, I don't know why. I look at the sky and feel this inexplicable sense of dread. I'm afraid that everything will end; are you ever afraid like that? No, you're never afraid, you have numbers and thoughts and your genius to keep you warm. You don't need me, I need you, and it will always be like that, unequal like that. I will always cling to you in gratitude and you will always be kind, you're just made that way. You'll let me do it but eventually I will make you unhappy, and then it will be on me to leave, because you are much too good to give me the ending we both know I deserve.

✨"Aldo believed I was an artist, so I made it true," Regan said. "He believed I was an honest person who lied from time to time instead of a liar who sometimes told the truth, so I was. He believed I could love him and so I did, I do."

✨He woke me up, she wanted to scream; he woke me, and for that I will always rely on him, I will be to him what he is to math, and can't you see how fragile that is?

Regan considered it for several long moments.

She would remember that she said it because it was the only lie she told that day. She used them, her lies, sparingly these days. She found they were like old coping mechanisms, like the old pair of crutches she'd had when she was eight; something she d kept around,

Mariaaa

✨"I heard you talked to Madeline," she said, something of a challenge.

He shrugged. "A bit. Mostly about math."

"Not bees?"

"Not bees," he said, and handed her the blunt. "Bees are for you."

✨"Yes," he said—he would have said it to anything, she could have suggested a mutiny and he'd have searched tirelessly for an axe, a pitchfork, Excalibur itself-and she smiled up at him, lifting her chin to permit him full view of her approval. The prospect of it, of anything, buzzed in his veins.

✨You and me, you and me, you and me, Aldo, Aldo, Rinaldo, I am more addicted to the thought of your name on my tongue than I am to any other form of vice. The thought of having you is more dangerous than any cocktail of drugs, the idea of belonging to you endlessly destructive.

✨Empires have fallen like this, he thinks, but it only makes him want her more, makes him look at his hands and think, My god, what a waste of time doing anything else but holding her.

✨He'd like her to be honest if she wants to be but if she's going to lie then he d like to be in on it.

That doesn't make any sense.

Yes it does, he doesn't want to be the person she hides from, he wants to be the person she hides with. These are distinct, doesn't she realize? Does she have any idea how difficult he finds it to exist with other people? And then here she is, this mystery, this puzzle, does she even know how much he loves her unpredictability, her twists and turns? She thinks her brain is some sort of problem? Fine, good, he loves problems.

✨It's like you woke up something inside me and it won't be quiet. It refuses to calm down, and why should it? It's not like 'Oh, you make me happy, it's nor something as clichéd as that. You make me feel like I'm alive for a fucking reason. Like for once I'm not just a goddamn waste of time."

✨"No, I'm ... I'm fine, Aldo, it's okay."

Aldo, I cry when it rains, I pick fights sometimes, I don't know why. I look at the sky and feel this inexplicable sense of dread. I'm afraid that everything will end; are you ever afraid like that? No, you're never afraid, you have numbers and thoughts and your genius to keep you warm. You don't need me, I need you, and it will always be like that, unequal like that. I will always cling to you in gratitude and you will always be kind, you're just made that way. You'll let me do it but eventually I will make you unhappy, and then it will be on me to leave, because you are much too good to give me the ending we both know I deserve.

✨"Aldo believed I was an artist, so I made it true," Regan said. "He believed I was an honest person who lied from time to time instead of a liar who sometimes told the truth, so I was. He believed I could love him and so I did, I do."

✨He woke me up, she wanted to scream; he woke me, and for that I will always rely on him, I will be to him what he is to math, and can't you see how fragile that is?

✨"Do you think Aldo knows that?"

Regan considered it for several long moments.

"Maybe," she said.

She would remember that she said it because it was the only lie she told that day. She used them, her lies, sparingly these days. She found they were like old coping mechanisms, like the old pair of crutches she'd had when she was eight; something she d kept around,

my nth time reading this and it still gets me like a dog hearing their favorite words

Alone With You in the Ether

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