Alone with you in the Ether isn't just about Aldo (The Male MC) and Regan (The Female MC); it's about letting a significant other into your private space and introducing them to the messy or unarticulated pieces of your brain. This book is about falling into the concept with no definitions, meaning, or explanations, widely known as love. This book doesn't discuss love as it is but also emanates how prosaic yet beautiful falling in love can be.
The story shows how love isn't something we've read in several books or have watched in some famous movies. It's not about just loving them because they appeal to you or look magnificent, or their eyes reflect the beauty of the Moon, but also how they think, live, and lie. This story is not about falling in love with how people present themselves but as they actually are, which can oppose the mass, but makes perfect sense to YOU.
Regan is impulsive, bipolar, a liar, and undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. According to her, everyone in this belligerent world is predictable.
Isn't that how we all feel? Imagine you meet a new person and have to endure the classic "Hi" and "We should connect on snap!", Isn't that all so predictable and grouchy?
She craves this constant feeling of making herself feel loved, either by having sexual [censored] with a stranger or getting high at some random party. In my opinion, her character is the most interesting as it relates to many people out there. It may also relate to you; there's something disturbing and sappy going on inside her, which she wants to shut down.
However, she's more than just a mess; she's an art major who works at an art institute. Her way of looking at art inspires one not to call every piece of art beautiful but to understand and feel the pain, resentment, and happiness the artist must be going through to portray their most intimate parts on that blank canvas. According to Regan,
"Art isn't about explaining s---. It's about sharing things- experiences, feelings. Art is something we do to feel Human, not because we are."
Aldo is calm, contrary to the constant explosions of theories and infinite thoughts popping inside his head. He likes a consistent routine; he has built a wall of formulas and theories around him to shut off the chaotic world.
The perfect contrast to Regan, Aldo's character represents the other half of the population. He represents the people who are always deep inside their minds, people who adore peace instead of chaos, people who prefer sitting on the bench rather than having [censored] with a stranger or getting high at a random party.
He's obsessed with ideas to prove time travel, bees, and hexagons. But don't let this fool you. Aldo isn't just an old boring professor, but rather a cool one. He drives a Ducati Scrambler and has a lavish apartment, but he likes his peace and the contestant routine he has built up to shut down the chaos.
Everything about them changes when they meet at Regan's art institute. Something clicks. They find something new out of the ordinary.
Aldo becomes more accepting of this strange world, and as for Regan, she becomes a little more stable. The whole scene just makes you want to have the same experience and find your epiphany.
The genre that best describes this book is Literary Romance. While penning down the review, I thought about it a lot, and it was difficult to classify it into a single genre. Sometimes you read something so complex that putting a tag on it becomes impossible.
As I've said before, it's unlike any other romance book you've ever read. Fingers crossed.
This book breaks the old-fashioned way of describing love in the most predictable and absurdly romantic ways. There's something that I can comprehend from this beautiful collection of letters, and that is:
"Love isn't about changing yourselves, it's about accepting them as they are."
Here’s an aesthetic of the book from Pinterest:
This book discusses art, time, bees, the multiverse, and, most importantly, love. Various quotes in this book are pretty deep and take time to understand. Their love for each other is unique, silent, and complicated yet understandable.
It's not the sexual or physical parts that excite you but their conversations. Those were some intimate moments that one can only dream of witnessing.
The character analysis of the mentioned characters can keep me writing like a maniac. I'll never be done with it. There's something strange about the writing style. You'll feel like DNF-ing this book every time you pick it up, but after reading a few lines, you'll be engrossed in this beautiful tale of Aldo and Regan, motivating you to keep immersing yourself in this book.
It's an underrated romance book, and I would like it to stay that way. I can't imagine seeing it blow up like It Ends With Us. So, selfishly, I will not recommend this book to you guys.
But if you want to read it, then yes, go for it. Undoubtedly, it's my favorite and somewhat unique romance book.
If you've read Olivie Blake's works, comment below what you think about her books, and let's discuss! Also, let me know if you've read this beautiful book. I'll be uploading more such reviews if this article gets the response I'm hoping for. Till then, keep adding books to your TBR and Happy Reading!
