Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

58 reviews

writerres27's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-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

4.25 stars for Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake. I found the story very satisfying, real, and raw. I enjoyed the vulnerability of the story, the ability to see yourself within the characters (especially in their flaws), and the honesty of the plot progression. Love as a compulsion is a hard thing to capture without seeming flamboyant, but this book certainly does it. It hit me where it hurts in all the right ways, and I have highlights all over my copy.

Because the story is heavily character-driven, I will not be writing separate review sections for the plot and the characters, but instead will write one comprehensive entry.

This story explores the journey of two individuals, floating through life in their own troubled and often conflicting ways. Yet, when their paths cross, everything suddenly seems to make sense, and the things that don't make sense are now something to admire rather than something to...fix. Or avoid. Or destroy. No, these two unlock hidden portions of each other, Aldo finding an element of humanity he otherwise programmed out of himself and Regan discovering the safety necessary to be herself without pretense. Both find something to live for, to die for, something they did not previously realize was possible for themselves. They need it, and yet they are afraid of it. They want it, and yet neither truly has faith in it. Their journey takes twists and turns (pun intended), ultimately circling one central truth: through prosperity or destruction, they will always return Here. It may look different, the route may change, but Here, alone together in the Ether, they will always gravitate back.

Love can be ugly. It can be terrifying. It can be obsessive, compulsive, hyperfixating, addicting, earth-shattering, uplifting, revealing. Blake conveys all of this in its purest form, no sugarcoating or romanticizing (well...maybe a little. it is a romance, after all), just demonstrating. Feeling and understanding and allowing you to feel and understand it, too. This book shows the good, the bad, the ups, the downs, the challenges and rewards of seeking out a companion in the tumultuous, turbulent course of life, especially for those of us who are mentally ill. But in the end, regardless of what it took to get there, the characters are still better for it, and you close the book with a soft smile.

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mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm still too overwhelmed to write an adequate review...

This was hard to get into, and all around pretty intense...but it fully sucked me in. Almost every character was unlikable and fairly un-relatable (mostly where wealth is concerned), and yet each was fascinating. I read this so fast I made myself sick. Olivie's writing is interesting, and there are some things I'm still not sure I understand...I'm going to need to let this marinate and come back with an official rating and review.


'When you learn a new word, you suddenly see it everywhere. The mind comforts itself by believing this to be coincidence but it isn't -- it's ignorance falling away. You future self will always see what your present self is blind to. This is the problem with mortality, which is in fact a problem of time.'

"So, somewhere out there, there's a hive of lady bees killing people for vengeance instead of doing what they're supposed to do?" 
" yes, probably"
"That's--" Encouraging. Invigorating, even. Temporarily mesmerizing. "Interesting."

'Settle over me like the tide, cover me like a blanket, wrap around me like the sun.'

'See, I had a genius between my legs and held him inside me and swallowed him up, and then I made his brilliance mine.'

'I want you to say everything, anything. I want to have your thoughts, I want to bottle them, I want to put them in my drawer for safe keeping'

'It's you and me alone in the ether and you don't even know it, you don't even care, but still you are tied to this, and to me, and so be it, really. 
So be it. This is what it means to live.'

'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.'



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haerin's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

a love story that isn't romance, in my opinion. i don't think this book is for everyone, especially the way it's written. that being said, it ruined me in a way i cannot explain. i haven't read olivie blake since a couple of her dramione fanfics, and i'm glad this was my first step back into her world. 

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kj888's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-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

5.0


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paigehf's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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gtutu5's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I didn’t know what to expect from this book because Jack Edwards spoke highly of it but when reading the blurb I couldn’t envision myself liking it at all! Nonetheless, I was surprised. The writing was sublime and I found the first few chapters enthralling and poetic.
I loved how their relationship is developed at the start and how the reader gets a first seat to their relationship building, even before it becomes romantic. Sometimes two characters in a book fall in love and it’s not remotely believable, but I really enjoyed them together. I loved the buildup between their six conversations, and I found the church scene so wildly sensual, even though nothing happens.
Again, the writing had me in a chokehold. Once the character got together and generally in the second part the pace was less effective, and also I didn’t enjoy a big chunk of the text being in 3rd person, I wish I could have been inside their heads instead. At times I wasn’t a fan of how  codependency and going off your meds were portrayed and had i not read the acknowledgements i would be much more wary of it. All in all, the relationship or the characters may be quite flawed but I ended up rooting for them and enjoying it so much

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ladybergart's review against another edition

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4.5


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aliciawithoutkeys's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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kittkat's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fuck Marc🤬!

Regan arbeitet in einem Museum, sie wollte mal Künstlerin werden, aber stattdessen ist sie fast im Gefängnis gelandet. Regan hat einige Probleme, die sie aber nicht ganz offen mit allen teilt, nach außen wirkt sie für alle wie ein kompliziertes Problem, das man sowieso nicht lösen kann, also warum sollte man sich näher mir ihr beschäftigen?

Aldo ist wohl der furchtbarste Mathe Prof aller Universitäten der ganzen Welt. Meistens denkt er über theoretische Mathematikprobleme, Quantenphysik oder Bienen nach (die Reihenfolge hier ist arbiträr). Sein größtes Problem als Dozent ist jedoch nur, dass er nichts wirklich verständlich erklären kann und er will das auch gar nicht können. Ignorant king 💁‍♀️! Aber dahinter stecken auch ganz viele eigene Probleme und vielleicht braucht er einfach diese Distanz zu anderen.

6 Gespräche könnten alles ändern. Oder auch nicht, aber sie werden nicht mehr zu ihrem vorherigen Leben zurückkehren können. 🤭

Schreibstil: 12/10 - genau so wie ich mir perfektes Storytelling vorstellen. Wenn ichs beschreiben müsste, würde ich sagen, es ist sehr „stream of consciousness“ (= so wie wir denken-mäßig)

Charaktere: sind echt/10 - ich kann nicht mehr ohne sie leben

Marc: -∞/10

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murve's review

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emotional fast-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

5.0

Quite possibly my new favorite book. 

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