Alone with You in the Ether

I think one of the most beautiful romances I’ve ever read with a lot of poignant moments and depth.

slow start and ending was a bit muddled but overall some beautiful prose and a lot of it hits home

a great and at times difficult snapshot into humanity and mental health and how it strains and alters our perceptions of self, relationships, and desires

First of all, thank you panmacmillan india for sending me a review copy of the book.

This book is a love story but it's not a usual romance novel. Its something different focusing on serious issues of mental health.

The book is written in such a beautiful way, I have no words to describe it. It's a story about two people who meet in an art institute by chance. Regan, a complicated girl with bipolar disorder and Aldo, a math genius obsessed with hexagons; collide into each others world. The interactions between them is so intense. At first, I felt the story boring but as I kept reading, I loved Aldo and Regan's progress in their relationship. I loved the beauty in their story, it's a roller coaster of emotions.

I recommend this book to everyone. This book is different yet beautiful. It hits differently. Give it a try.

QOTD: Have you read this book? Did you like it?

I kept waiting for this story to go somewhere. I liked the characters and their quirks but I can't figure out if there was a point. I had heard such great things but ultimately this book felt like a waste of time to me.

I’m… confused. When I was thinking about this book earlier, I started wondering if this was simply a romance novel not meant for me. I’m a bit boring in the sense that I enjoy morally good characters. Maybe ones with mistakes here and there, but overall, ones that you don’t doubt are good people. Ones that care about others. So then when you take two characters who lack empathy and make them the main characters, maybe I’m just not going to enjoy it that much. But honestly, there still IS a good way to write morally gray characters, and I’m just unsure if Blake really did so or not. I was able to finish this book in just a few days, so it clearly wasn’t uninteresting. The writing certainly borders on being pretentious, or maybe that’s just because the characters were written to be that way with the type of personalities they have. I just don’t know. See, Reagan is confusing and she knows she is. That’s literally part of the premise of the book. But she really lacks a sense of morality, and deliberately and recklessly makes unwise decisions. She is bored with life and she seeks thrill to counter the predictability of it. She commits theft and is arrested, she contemplates having sex with random guys while in a relationship… I digress. She is not likable. Aldo is more likable. In fact, he’s almost charming, despite his lack of social cues. I just can’t help but wonder if Aldo only likes Reagan on the basis that she is unpredictable, like a constant puzzle for him to solve. It makes me think his affection borders curiosity over genuine love. But anyway, I suppose everything I’m saying was the point of this book. Two “broken” people who figure out how to live with themselves and love each other anyway. And really, the writing was engaging and unique. So then can I really say this was a bad book? No. In its own way, their relationship is more realistic than the perfect, swept off your feet, together forever kind of romance. For that, I respect it. Some of my criticism comes from the fact that I would personally want a different kind of relationship. One that is calm, patient, and above all, stable. But to Blake’s credit, there are likely a lot of people who struggle with the same kinds of battles these two do. Mental health plays a key part into how capable we are of meaningful, lasting relationships. This book doesn’t romanticize abuse or toxic dynamics, but rather gives a different perspective from two types of people who don’t often receive the spotlight. Ultimately, I didn't love it, but also didn’t hate it. Solid 3 stars.