Meet Me in the Ether

Meet Me in the Ether #1

by Iris Lake

What happens when a beautiful liar, a cruel prince, a ruthless manipulator, a seductive enchantress, and a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to find the woman he loves, get tangled in the same web of lies and secrets?

Neira Aroya is an exceptional liar and a skillful thief. Ignorant of her true identity she uses only her mortal gifts to survive in a world ruled by vicious faeries and cunning gods. But as she gets swept up by the peculiar power she holds over the ether, the treacherous Realm of dreams, she finds herself torn between an unnamed, obscured ether-man and the merciless prince of Fae. Entrapped within a tempting but deceptive world, she will soon realize that every hero is a villain in disguise and every villain bears a great tragedy. And love is the most dangerous and unreliable path to follow.

Meet Me in the Ether is an intricate story of complex characters and lethal secrets, set in a voluptuous world where love and hate converge, truth is poison, and virtue becomes nothing more than a sacrifice to the altar of survival.

This is the first book in a fantasy romance series with multiple POVs. It ends on a cliffhanger.

Genres: Fantasy, Romantasy, Romance, Fantasy Romance, Fae, New Adult, Paranormal

496 pages, Paperback

Published July 27, 2024

About the author

Iris Lake is the pen name of a girl lost in daydreams. She loves art, poetry, and writing stories full of stardust, magic, and unapologetically romantic characters.

Reviews

[mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

please give this book the chance it deserves !

i found this book and shared the synopsis with my friend. we imMEDIATELY decided to read this together anD WHEN I TELL YOU IT HAD US YELLING, GIGGLING, AND KICKING OUR FEET IN THE AIR THE WHOLE TIME at the same time, it also had such an insight into the duality of people and the depth of what they are made of at their core. this book has absolutely been one of my favorite reads of the year so far !!! i can’t wait to get a physical copy and reread it and annotate the absolute heck out of it !

[Briana Rosas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible. The author is a woman who published the book herself and English is not even her first language. I was blown away by how beautiful and articulate the writing was. There are a few grammatical mistakes, about 3 that I can remember. Might be more, but I didn’t really notice, the story is so great. The characters are flawed, but I love them anyway.

Neira is an etherwalker, which is basically someone who can walk into other people’s dreams and between the realms. Every night for 2 years, she meets a mysterious man in her dreams, who she calls her etherman. Welp, as it turns out, everyone wants her dead and she can’t meet her etherman anymore and another man comes into the picture. Not just any man, though. A man who is the son of a king who wants to use Neira for his own gain.

The story is great, with inspiration drawn from Sara J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo. It’s a bit of a spicy book, but not in a cheap way. It’s an enemy to lovers trope, love triangle, and fae/god fantasy. I highly recommend this book, it needs more recognition.

[Cojocariu Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suuuch a spectacular book, beautiful beautiful writing, great story-telling, fresh execution. Easily became one of my favourite books in a while. I didn't know what to expect from it. The synopsis seemed intriguing and I decided to give it a try. Maybe this is my personal preference, but this book deserves more recognition that it received. Captivating plot, starting with a main character that was obliged to fend for herself to a girl whose existence meant an impeding peril for the safety of everyone in such a short period. Torn between surviving and the decision to trust those around her, she gets trapped in a web of lies and toxic entanglement that was overshadowed by the sweet actions of the main lead. His affection is genuine, but the constant lack of trust from the both sides, made their relationship uncertain, which began to crumble more and more as the book came to an end and also when the other main lead showed up.
Immediately caught by the stunning descriptions and dialogue:

"I've always known the contours of your existence, the form you take between the stars. You are the inception and destruction of my sky. I will always be able to recognize you, even in the abysmal darkness."

The tropes were executed better than I was expecting. The love-triangle trope that i try to avoid, really surprised me in a good way. It was not a shallow sub-plot that was added just for the sake of it. It was executed really good, leaving me torn between the leads, both complex characters.
Side characters don't usually intrigue me this much, but I found myself interested by their POVs. Complex dynamics between them with a raw insert of their mind.

"Riona Dilara was undeniably and perhaps irreversibly a mess of a girl. Her mind was quite resilient, but her heart was a wounded, bleeding little thing. She was a paroxysm of outer cold fragility and internalized savage rage"

The relationship between the characters feels authentic. The ability to instill awareness of Zephyr's father and main antagonist was really surprising as I realize we didn't even meet him. The dynamic between the two of them is so much more than surface-level:

" My own face tortured me there. I looked so much like my father. I didn't have his sunlit hair and golden eyes, and neither did I have that shrewd gleam in my gaze that could penetrate someone's most intimate thoughts, yet our faces were the same. The arch of my jaw, the straightness of my nose, everything was a part of him. My body had always been his. And right now, my soul felt awfully his too.
"How do you do it?" I rasped. "How do you look yourself in the mirror and don't see your father staring back at you?"
Ascian slowly turned to me with his fathomless eyes. "I do see my father in the mirror sometimes. And other times, I see my father in my words, and in my actions, and even in my thoughts. But that doesn't mean I am him, and it doesn't mean you are either.""

I could go on forever on why I really liked this book, it was such an enjoyable read and I'm really glad I stumbled over this. I NEED to read the second book and can't wait for it's release. <3

[Kaylyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet Me in the Ether was incredible, and it's easily now considered one of my favorite books.

It's been over a month since I finished this book, and I had to come back and leave a review in hopes of encouraging more people to give it a chance. I feel like every book I read from now on will be compared to this. I am SO excited for the next book in the series to come out and to dive more into the characters and the concept of etherwalking.

I did notice a few grammatical errors throughout the book; however, I will happily ignore them, given that the story is THAT GOOD and because English isn't the author's first language. ☺️

[Debria · Rating 5 out of 5]

~“When you’re out there, exploring the Cosmos, living an extraordinary life and all kinds of marvelous adventures, at nights, whenever you might feel like it… Meet me in the ether.”~

I am truly grateful my best friend found this book for us. This has been some of the most exciting book reading 3 days I have had in my entire life. This book is everything I could've hoped for and more. I went in blind, but I came out seeing everything, never wanting to leave this world and anxious for the next book. (To be honest I was actually screaming at the top of my lungs at that cliffhanger.) Read this book. It is a beautifully written, poetic masterpiece that everyone needs to read. The world is a dream, it's so beautifully written and the characters are everything you want a character to be. All different but equally amazing. I wish I had more words but I loved it so much, all i can tell you is to read this book. I promise you won't be disappointed.
I'm just going to include some of my other favorite out of context quotes because this MASTERPIECE IS JUST THAT BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN:

"Gods, she was most beautiful in the mornings, a day flower in bloom. But then again at nightfall I always thought she was more beautiful, tempting like forbidden sin, so perhaps the time of the day had nothing to do with the fact that I was slowly, but much successfully, turning into a simpering fool."

“I’ve been talking to the moon about it,”

"She was the sun and I perched all night with the moon longing to get burned by her flame."

"I’ve always known the contours of your existence, the form you take between the stars. You are the inception and destruction of my sky. I will always be able to recognize you, even in the abysmal darkness."

"But healing was meant for the forgiven, and I never wanted to be pardoned for my sins."

“I wanted something about me to be beautiful.”I smiled wider. “My girl, if I spent a lifetime with your hands around my throat it would be a life well spent."


“Everyone knows you’re a little slut, Zephyr. There’s no shame in it. Own it.”

And then there were the nights that I simply had to gather my idiot best friend.

For a second I had a very compelling urge to smash my own head repetitively against the wall.

“That’s because you slept on me,” he growled. “I’m the one who slept on the floor like an idiot.”

[Samia | Bookaroundandfindout · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is spectacular and devastating- as the author likes to put it. Our story drops right into the middle of action, about a girl who is more goddess than mortal. But this isn’t a cute romance, this isn’t an epic quest, this book is dark. Dark and toxic and wicked in the best sense possible. There’s more questions than answers that arise by the end of it and Iris Lake has done an excellent job of pulling in a reader, not with a love story, but with cruelness and wrath and revenge. I feel like the characters fell into my heartstrings and twisted them up. I don’t even like the main character and yet I’m obsessed with her. I’m excited for the second book coming out at the end of the year! I highly recommend this book for SJM fans and those that love a little darkness in their life.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Meet Me in the Ether' was a fusion of Sarah J. Maas' books and Jennifer Armentrout's and as they are some of my favourite authors, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The cover is gorgeous and I absolutely loved the title - it's so dreamlike and romantic. The concept of etherwalking was original and I really enjoyed the mixing of magic and dreams and I can't wait to explore this more in the next book. I didn't like Zephyr's character very much but that was okay because I lovedddd the scenes with Orion. Neira and Orion had the tension that her and Zephyr were missing and I can't wait to keep reading their story.

[Jemima · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I found this

Such a good book! The romance and the world building was amazing. It also felt like a love triangle done right (Aka brief lol). I can't wait for the next one although i think it's gonna take quite a while as this one was only just published

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know why I loved it, but I did. My girl Iris pulled a Tamlin on me and I was NOT happy 😫 But Orion seems hotter so I’m not mad either. I hope that she will expand the magic system in the second book. I would also love to indulge in the new Realm that we’re in!!

[Erika Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on this book but thankfully I gave it a chance! The characters are beautifully broken and each are part villain and part hero. It is not for the faint of heart and I cant wait until the next book in the series.

[Sigil Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhh the way this book bewitched me *sighs* I dont think i will ever escape the bounds of the spell ot cast on me.

[Ci · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 23%.

I tried guys, I really did.

The main problem I had with this book was the writing.
I saw someone call it poetic, but for me it was just trying way too hard. Flowery writing or even purple prose is no problem for me per se, but it has to go with the complexity of the story.

The plot wasn’t anything to write home about, really very simple, with instalust, quite shallow, inconsistent MCs that react unnaturally to their surroundings and seemingly almost no stakes to the story.

Example: The quirky street-smart master thief FMC wakes up kidnapped in a room, and doesn’t even try to escape the first chance she is alone, unbound and regained some strength, doesn’t even think of being scared but takes (and enjoys!) a bath and a nap (??!). I mean, what?

I can live with plot inconsistencies or cardboard characters, but when I then get millions of metaphors and adjectives thrown at me in every sentence, sometimes to the point where it’s hard to follow what’s going on, I just couldn’t get into the story at all. Adding as many adjectives into a sentence as possible is not a way to flesh out glaringly obvious plot holes.

Again, sorry to say all that. I actually really loved the premise, and ever since reading the Locke Lamora books I’ve just been waiting for the appearance of a well written female master thief in romantasy but alas, so far no luck.

Maybe I’ll pick this up again at some point in the future and eat my words. Who knows. For now life is too short to struggle through books I read for fun.

Edit: One thing I did like was Riona. And the small glimpse I got of Aramis so far.

[Laceyangele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so impressed this is the author’s first works and English is not their first language because the words in this were so elegantly and poetically done.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay. wow. i am SO upset that the second book isn’t out yet because i am HOOKED. give this book the chance it deserves and you will not regret it.

[Minni Mouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

We're either leaving reviews for our own book or we're getting our friends to boost the ratings. Or none of the above and I'm being unnecessarily critical. Regardless, a lot of the 5-star reviews for this book are A) written very similarly and B) written by private accounts and/or C) written from accounts low numbers of friends. Just sayin'.



Anyway. DNF around 26%.

THE GOOD
This isn't a bad book, even for being on Kindle Unlimited. The writing is well done and quite poetic -- if that's your thing -- and the characters have intriguing voices/stories. The dialogue was great, the banter was fantastic. That prologue in particular drew me in with its lyricism. All in all, it was probably going to be a technically well-written, New Adult dark fantasy.

THE BAD
And yet...a DNF. I can't quite put my finger on why this felt off to me or why I'm choosing to move on. Maybe the world building isn't clear or engaging for me yet? Maybe because by 20% the exposition still felt like it was going without clueing the reader in on enough information/answers?

FINAL THOUGHTS
Maybe I'll give this another go someday.

[Graham Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis sounded unique and right up my alley! The reviews also had me super interested, but I made it to 17% before calling it quits. Some of the writing reminds me of someone who used a thesaurus to replace random words in the sentence. I appreciate the effort but more often than not it just made the sentence harder to follow. Also, the love interests were so cliche.. it wasn’t even believable. He threatens to put a bullet in her head and then three pages later is hugging her and whispering sweet nothings. Like I said, I wanted to love it but it’s just not for me.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

More people should read this book. Even though there were a few small mistakes here and there, this book was perfect in a lot of ways. The world building was immaculate,the banter was 10/10. I think this book deserves more credit than it currently has.

[Rosalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well butter my biscuit and call me Smuckers because this book is MY JAM.

That high rating is well deserved and I'm SHOCKED this book doesn't have more reviews. Perhaps because it's self published? Give this one some love y'all!

Meet Me in the Ether is an astonishingly addictive story told from multiple alternating perspectives - a style I find usually results in some characters feeling far removed or little more than a change of set dressing from the principal players.

However, I was ENRAPTURED by every single character in this book and the narrative voice of each chapter was deliciously unique. Each character has enough backstory and emotional complexity to carry their own book - so in the end the only problem with this story was that there wasn't MORE of it!
Luckily it seems a second is in the works!

“So, you have been in love,” I murmured.
“Once. A very long time ago.”
I lifted my head to look at him, curious and interested to know. “How does it feel?”
He closed his eyes as if the question tormented him, and he offered me the same words I’d uttered earlier. “Like the most exquisite anguish.”

This book is exquisite anguish, and I'm in love.

Of note is that English is not the author's first language, and it's a self published work, so grammar mistakes are present and noticeable particularly in the last third of the book. I was able to look past these. However, you may find them distracting particularly in emotional moments.
All in all not nearly enough to mar the lovely experience of this read.

If you love emotionally complex, angsty, powerful, and vindictive characters yearning for love, hoo boy this is it.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really strong opener to a series, there's a lot going on but it's clearly so well thought out and I can't wait to see where it's going! The writing is so pretty - it gives such a dreamy, magical feel to quite a dark and hopeless plot. The characters are all flawed, particularly all of the men, which makes it so hard to decide who I want to root for but they're all written in a great way so I don't dislike any of them. This makes it especially confusing when it comes to the romances, I'm finding certain pairings more compelling but they're all slightly problematic at the moment.

Overall this is just such a strong and original concept executed brilliantly, definitely worth a go!

[Jess Dirda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, can only hope a second beautiful novel is in the works! Enjoyed very much!

[Victoria Rabon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book in a day, I just couldn’t put it down. I’m so excited for the next book to come out!

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy Cosmos!!!! ❤️‍🔥😻🧚‍♀️🧚🏼‍♂️🌝🌞💫 Iris has taken us into a realm of Faeries, Gods, Pixies and more and has brought us a masterpiece. The work I can see she put into this book was breathtakingly beautiful!! I have not read many books with fae and this was sooo good! The characters, emotions, magic and more are very captivating and will keep you reading for more! Honestly it was very slow at first as this book had the perfect buildup to then send you on down the steep drop of a rollercoaster ride!! Love this and I am excited to read the next book of this series 🤍

[Xochitl M · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
This book is addictive and gorgeously, lyrically written! I viscerally enjoyed it. The characters were incredibly complex (if frustrating at times) + the detail overall was SO meticulous and riveting! I was invested, lost in the story from start to finish, and I cannot fathom how it is not more popular.

[Sabél Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was *perfection*

I wish it was edited a bit more thoroughly though because it is very obvious that English is not the authors first language

however that did not take away from the beautiful writing.

the perfect mix of ACOTAR and Six of Crows

[Sarah Km · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this. I LOVE THIS. The writing is beautiful and so is the concept. I think this is the most highlighted quotes I’ve ever had from a book. The author has so much depth to her writing. I love her depiction of tragic human flaws and trauma. Even though some characters do thing that I normally wouldn’t like in books , I understand it was kind of needed in this story to get to the next step in the story line. I also want to report that the “Insta-love” in this story is explained and justified in the second book. The author did it for a reason that does makes sense later on. So I wouldn’t want anyone to judge this book on that. We have to see mistakes made to understand what breaks some of these characters. But I hope more people will learn of this series. It was such a rare gem. I had no idea what it was going to be about but it had a phenomenal title so that’s the reason I read it. I kept waiting for the mystery ether-man to be introduced and as soon as he was, I couldn’t put this down. I just keep wanting to know more. The atmosphere this book has in wonderful. I was fully pulled into this story.

[Hold-my-beer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody has their least favorite tropes. But then you read that one book and think, huh, I guess my problem was the execution, not the actual tropes. This book made me think that. Love triangle and angst galore - I never thought much of these tropes. And when I say angst I mean ANGST, the whole book of it, every page. And I loved it.

It somehow reminded me of the Book of Azrael except the angst there was tiring and pointless and made me abandon the series. Here, the author somehow made it work. I believed that the characters said and did what they did for a reason, not to fill the pages with tantrums and emotional rollercoasters just to pad out the story. There was substance behind their actions and I could understand the characters' motivation for those actions even if they seemed disagreeable.

P.S. Loved the writing and when the author humbly mentioned that English isn't their first language I wanted to call bs. I wish everyone studied their own language the way this author did English.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

will be reading the sequel for riona and aramis solely. mind you they are side characters who ate up the mcs in a heartbeat the scene in Lethe ?! revolutionary

i got this book when it had zero reviews, going off on the cover and synopsis alone. im a sucker for lying thieving girls, what can i say. after reading this, i can safely say its in direct competition with the big gunners in the romantasy genre taking over booktok and adjacent. it may even topple over them... all the juicy drama and cliche tropes but written in a gripping manner. what i didn't love, i enjoyed mocking. perfect book for a person like me tbh

i don't want anyone to go in with something else in mind! (like i did with fourth wing sigh). there's a huge audience for it and i hope it reaches them. impressive coming from a self published whose first language isn't english, as stated in the author's note.

[A No · Rating 4 out of 5]

4✨ (I rate most books a 3)
1 🌶️ (tension, kissing and snacking for FMC and a not very detailed sex scene with side characters)

This book took me by surprise, it is one of my favourite reads this year and I look forward to the next novel.

I enjoyed that the FMCs are clever and did not lose all sense of rationality and fall at the feet of handsome men. The balance of smart and powerful but also still making some mistakes or overplaying their hand was well struck.
Side characters are well thought out and interesting, I found their chapters to be engaging.

Artfully written yet not too verbose, I love this style of writing

One criticism is I’d like to have more physical world building, it’s there but I’m greedy and want more 😅

[Alyssa Giebink · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book! It was much different from all the other fantasy books I've read and I liked the concepts and plot. I liked how everything naturally came together and the overall theme developed well through each POV as the story progressed. I'm excited to see where the second book takes me, especially because there are so many different avenues the storyline can go.

10/10!

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐

It's giving Crescent City series and The Book Of Azrael vibes and I love it! I can't wait to start reading the second book.
I can't give it 5⭐, because there are some grammatical errors and the story is sometimes messy.