Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
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 eery 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?
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This book follows Regan and Aldo through their lives before meeting, their first chance encounter, six conversations to get to know one another, and their lives afterwards. Regan is rich, bored, and self-destructive because people and daily life just aren’t measuring up for her. She’s lost, her dreams are out of reach, and she doesn’t really have something to live for. Aldo is what appears to be the opposite. He’s careful, planned out, but also lonely. They’re both empty and, unknowingly, waiting for someone to come along and fulfill them. That’s what made this story so beautiful. Two lost souls found each other. It almost felt like a soulmate trope but without the cheesy mysticism that goes along with that.
Alone With You in the Ether was definitely one of the better contemporary/romances that I’ve read in terms of deep, true, lasting love. However, I don’t think I’m the target audience for this author at this point. I really enjoyed the plot of this story. Two lost souls with empty lives meeting by chance and turning each other worlds upside down, forming a connection like no other. It sounds perfect. I also really enjoyed the characters. Aldo was sweet and Regan was bitter and they made the perfect pair (like dark chocolate!). So why didn’t this book hit for me the way it seems to have hit for so many others? I think Blake’s view on romance is too clinical for my whimsical romantic heart. There was nothing wrong with this book and it was an enjoyable read, just not the perfect read for ME. I think if you enjoy Blake’s writing/other books, this is definitely the perfect read for you, but if you haven’t LOVED her other works, this book could be a hit or miss. It is very short though so I’d highly encourage you to give it a try as it’s beautifully written with a unique story to tell.
I loved the plot and the characters. The premise of having two strangers learn each other through six short conversations took on a whole new meaning when reading. As we read the book, we cannot see the body language between the two, yet their interactions were so descriptive while still seeming surface level that I felt I knew them just as well as each other after each conversation. I also highly enjoyed the more linear way of telling the story. Given that time travel is mentioned, I expected time jumps and confusion but I loved how this was just a simple story from start to end while having so many layers within that made it unique. The characters were some of the most multi-dimensional characters I’ve ever read. Blake really brought these flawed humans to life in small ways that I think anyone reading could relate to.
The thing that kept me from loving this was the feelings I had while reading. It was a great book, but it’s a love story, and it left me feeling bereft. Regan’s colder views on love and intimacy weren’t things I could easily relate to, I feel like she was my polar opposite, and as much as I loved seeing her side of things, her viewpoints on life and people made me sad. Aldo also had a lot of despair about him that had me dreading at times to pick up this book. I also think part of it is that Blake views her characters through a more scientific lense and I don’t view people that way so relating to the characters, though very possible, is also a little harder for me. I also felt that, though it’s a short book, it went a little too long. The last 50-70 pages dragged a bit as I felt what needed to be told was done, and we had angst just for angst’s sake near the end.
I rated this book 3 stars as it was an enjoyable read and I’m glad I picked it up, it just wasn’t the right fit for me at this point in time. The writing is beautiful, the characters will dig into your heart, and the experience will make you feel changed. If you like Olivie Blake, you’ll love this book.