Reviews

Alone by E.J. Noyes

kberlow's review against another edition

5.0

Noyes never disappoints. This was such an emotional ride and I think it is absolutely the best written of all her books (aside from Ask, Tell obviously!)

lezreadalot's review against another edition

4.0

I swallow, like I could be nourished by her name.

I went into this book thinking that it would be more of a mystery/thriller than it actually was. And if I have a 'disappointment', that would be it. Around 20% in I made a note like 'I bet this is going to happen' and then around 50% in I was convinced that said thing was the case, and I was totally right. The setup of the book being what it was, I figured there had to be a twist, and that was the most obvious one. And usually I'm pretty bummed out about figuring out major plot points early on in books I read. But here, I didn't really care because I loved this romance so much!!

Spoiler

Noyes has lovely writing that was easy to get into, and I'm already halfway married to Abby Craden's voice so that was a good match off the bat. She cemented that feeling of isolation and loneliness, and when Olivia was introduced, the desperation that Celeste felt, to keep hold of her, to keep her secret from the controllers, to not let her leave, was so good and so real and so visceral. (The only thing I DIDN'T get was why she was so determined to see the experiment through even after she became attached to Liv, but, eh.) Celeste and Olivia are practically the only two characters that we get to see on page, in action but Natalie, Riley, Joanne, Heather... their presence was DEEPLY felt.

My favourite thing about this book is... what Olivia did was deeply fucked up, and we got to see how sorry she was, see her explain herself and atone, but what made it good was that it was so believable and so real. After having two girlfriends cheat on her, and one commit suicide, and for all of them to fully or partially blame Liv for being emotionally distant, too much in her own head, not connected to them... I fully understand that after falling in love with Celeste from afar, watching her on those screens and reading her logs (which btw is painfully romantic to me, lol, even if I can admit to it being slightly weird) that she would insert herself into the experiment, do everything in her power to hold on to Celeste, and fall for her even harder. The description of that helpless kind of love, how weak she was to resist it: gah, I loved it so much. Seeing her logs at the end of the book made me so emotional!!

The resolution didn't come quickly either, which I enjoyed. Celeste needed time and distance to work through the ways she was hurt. I didn't really enjoy the fact that she blamed herself for being "naive and stupid enough" to not realise who Olivia was, and I kinda wish Olivia had done more to assure her that it wasn't her fault? But other than that, I loved how it was all wrapped up, and the ending lines filled me with so much... idk peace and happiness?? Man, I really liked this book.

I'm too lazy to become the type of person who makes up playlists for books, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this Hozier song was playing in my head all through the epilogue.

Honey, when you kill the lights and kiss my eyes
I feel like a person for a moment of my life

laconni4's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

whytrytohide's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Two stars for the sex scenes, which are hot. Everything else about this book is a complete mess. I hate to be rude but so many things about this book bother me, and I regret seeing it to the end.

• Olivia repeatedly, knowingly, unabashedly hurts Celeste in an extremely creepy way, showing up in her life forcefully 3 separate times. The author gives her absolutely no out. There’s no good reason why she repeatedly hurts Celeste; she’s just selfish. That’s it.
• The characters act so illogically that it shatters my suspension of disbelief. Olivia is not shocked or traumatized after being shot and nearly killed. Celeste does not immediately inform the study people that someone is injured and needs medical care. This continues throughout the book. There is absolutely NO WAY Olivia’s parents would be okay with her meeting a partner in a study and I literally laughed out loud during that section. Most egregiously of all, after Olivia shows up yet again at the end of the book, Celeste tells her how much she was hurt and angry and can never trust her BUT THEN TAKES HER BACK ANYWAY FOR ZERO EXPLICABLE REASON other than so the characters can have sex again. 
• The rules of the study make zero sense. Studying purely homosexuals means their study population is skewed. Sending a person into the compound to seduce the subject is so insanely unethical and doesn’t even make sense??? Studies are all about seeing how different people do the same thing. Olivia would have had to barge in on every participant. It’s already so far fetched of a fantasy that these details really take me out of the moment.
• The characters barely have personalities and they basically just act normal to each other. Their dialogue is soulless. I heard Olivia ask “are you okay?” so many freaking times. They don’t want anything aside from each other. Celeste is in it for money but it doesn’t even seem to drive her. The author never draws attention to it, never has Celeste fantasize about it or gives her a goal for it. Olivia doesn’t seem to care about the study or anything. Even her parents just accept anything she does which is completely laughable.
• The characters are never doing anything interesting. Every scene is, like, sitting on a couch, sitting by a fire, standing outside, sitting in an office, cooking, doing laundry, typing on an instant messaging app. The author has the characters play board games or drink wine or make coffee so many times like it’s the only thing she can think of to break up the scene. This is related to their motivations. They don’t want anything, so they don’t pursue anything. 
• We are supposed to believe that this deep, passionate love forms in like 2 weeks. These characters know each other for two weeks, fall in love, one of them experiences extreme betrayal, but then that love carries the rest of the plot for more than a year? Absolutely no one would be okay with a person lying to them and manipulating them like Olivia did, but even worse is that they barely even know each other and after all this hurt decide to move in together?

That basically covers all the fundamentals of writing a novel. Save yourself the brain space because this damn thing is so mind bogglingly bad I had to write this just to get it all out. Trust me: there’s way better lesbian erotica/romance out there. I feel bad that Abby Craden had to read this.

soy_ahoy's review against another edition

4.0

I love the way Noyes writes adult romance, it's always so tangible and erotic. It's refreshing to see lesbian stories that don't shy away from the physical aspects of attraction and love. Taking a star off because Olivia's role honestly unsettled me a little bit and I could see the twist coming early in the book, which made me anxious about how it would all play out. I would still recommend the book and I'll be looking out for more novels by Noyes in the future.

naanie's review against another edition

5.0

Really, really liked this one. Really liked the premise, the story arc, the writing, the main character, her backstory, the whole thing. I thought the main character's inner monologue during the time she'd been isolated (hearing voices and reacting to them) was really accurate and well done. Being alone with your traumatic memories would be really difficult and I think the author captured that really well. I also liked the MC's reaction to learning about Olivia's role in the experiment; I would have felt the exact same way (betrayed) and it would have taken me a long time to get over, like it did with Celeste. That part (the reconciliation) didn't feel rushed to me at all. Five stars!

goddessofwhatnot's review against another edition

3.0

Five star premise ruined by deeply problematic relationship:(

aliu6's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars

Celeste was supposed to spend 4 years in total isolation as part of a research experiment, but things don't go as planned when Olivia shows up on the edge of her property, gets injured (I won't spoil how this happens), and needs a place to heal.

This was a very interesting concept and allowed for some twists that you usually don't see in lesfic (I saw them coming, but they were still clever). Despite Celeste's initial coldness towards Olivia, she warms up quickly and their interactions are quite sweet. Then come some angsty bits and the experiment's end, and we get to see Celeste and Olivia interact in the real world.

The story kept me interested, and it was well written. I wish I had gotten to know the characters better though, especially Olivia. I feel like I liked the characters fine, but I didn't get the chance to love them, and that's what makes this a 4-star book for me.

banrions's review against another edition

4.0

This, was a tour du force of a book. And I fucking loved it.

I love that I’m finally starting to click with EJ Noyes books, because the ones I’ve read before the last two I’ve only just liked, whereas most other people seem to adore, and I wondered if I was missing something or it we just personal taste stuff. But this was almost perfection and I’m thrilled about it.

I am a person who can (usually) absolutely be here for a slow paced book. I never felt like this dragged really (a tiny bit towards the end but dragged isn’t even the right word, there). This was a perfect example of when first person narration works in a “romance” (I only put the quotes because there is also so much more going on here). Usually, that’s not my preference, and I like getting povs for all the characters involved in the romance, but this is the absolute perfect example of when that’s not what I want. I clocked a lot about Olivia right when she first showed up, but I wasn’t 100% sure WHY and how until the blow up reveal and it was… so good. So painful. So perfect. I really liked both MCs, I would love like, a version of this book from Olivia’s pov though. I REALLY want to get into her head and see things from her side of things.

Abby Craden is perfection as always, I almost bumped it into a five just for her. Her voice for Olivia was so dreamy. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

abs91jc's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious medium-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

4.25