This collection of stories was definitely not what I expected it to be. Some of these stories were incredible and drew me right into the depths of them. Others were really long and took far too much time to get to the point of what they were trying to say. You can check out my star rating for each story below this review as well. My two favorites from the collection were hands down The House and Sensual Tales for Carnal Pleasures. A close third place would be given to The Wishing Bridge. If each of these had been their own book I would have DEVOURED them.

I will say though, don’t go into this book with the standard understanding of short stories. Some of these stories were (according to my kindle) 5-10 minutes to read, whereas other stories were anywhere from 40-65 minutes to read. Which led to some of the stories dragging a bit, but that’s just my opinion.

Overall, this anthology of works by Olivie Blake was very much a work of love for her and for that alone I respect her a ton. I will have to check out the printed version once it’s out because the acknowledgments mention all of the artwork within the book and unfortunately my early copy does not have those pieces available.

The Wish Bridge ⭐️4
The Audit ⭐️2
Sucker For Pain ⭐️2
The Animation Games ⭐️2
The House ⭐️5
To Make A Man ⭐️3
Preexisting Condition ⭐️2
Monsterlove ⭐️3
How To Dispel Friends and Curse People ⭐️3
Fates and Consequences ⭐️3
Sous Vide ⭐️2
Sensual Tales for Carnal Pleasures ⭐️5
Chaos Theory ⭐️2
A Year In January ⭐️4

Overall Average Rating: ⭐️3

Thank you so much to Tor Publishing for this advanced copy on NetGalley! 🤍

This is my first book by Olivie Blake and let me just say, I love! No wonder why people give her books so much hype! It’s because she is actually really good! I will tell you that this book explores so intense topics and gets your brain WORKING!!! But I couldn’t get enough. Thank you so much to Blake’s team and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC!

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this but I was pleasantly surprised! Each story was different, unique and captivating! If I had to describe the book in one word it would be “unexpected” (in a good way) and I would recommend for fans of Blake as well as new readers, give it a go and see which story speaks to you the most! If I had to choose, I would say that I probably loved The Wish Bridge the most. Charming, enchanting, and magical.

This was surprisingly delightful. I’m generally not a big fan of anthologies, but I did enjoy this. Every story stands on its own nicely, and of course there were some and loved and some I didn’t.

There were even a few that I wish were complete novels (Sucker for Pain, I’m looking at you!!!) But overall, this blends together myths, existentialism, and magic in a variety of ways that feel relatable.

If I were to describe this book in one word, it`d just be "enchanting." I loved it!

Olivie Blake - Januaries Review

Januaries is an anthology of short stories, categorized into the four different seasons, which is a thoughtful touch that I loved. I was a little hesitant going into this as I usually prefer my books on the chunkier side, but after reading I`m converted!

Blake`s imaginative storytelling shines in this collection and every story is captivating, yet completely different. Common things that run through them all are dry wit, a certain sensuality and interesting characters. I was surprised at how much I came to be invested in the characters, despite the short story format.

I could never predict what was going to happen, which is unusual for me, and also why it took me back to that feeling of being joyfully surprised to find out what happens when reading in childhood. Although, the themes in this book are definitely adult!

I enjoyed the whole anthology but my favorite stories that I`d like to highlight are:
- The Wish Bridge (mythical and melancholy)
- Sucker for Pain (mysterious and satisfying)
- The Animation Games (funny and surprising)
- The House (beautiful and insightful)

I absolutely recommend this book for anyone who likes imaginative, thought-provoking stories.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group, Olivie Blake, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Januaries will be published on October 15th, 2024!

If Olivie Blake writes it, I'll read it. That's it.

I was a little bit preoccupied with this anthology mostly because I tend not to be fond of them. I don't usually like all the stories, and it's hard to get into them. But I shouldn't have doubted the power of Olivie's writing.

I liked that every story was so different from the others, but at the same time, some had a similar vibe. They cover themes such as love, magic, betrayal (as the title announces), life and death, motherhood, desire, mental health, morality, etc., offering a wide selection of different genres. They were all beautiful and unique, exploring the human experience in a brutally honest, but poetic way, being deeply personal at times (and pretty relatable in a lot of things).

My favorite stories were:
• Sucker for Pain
• Chaos Theory
• How to Dispel Friends and Curse People
• The Animation Games
• To Make a Man
• The Wish Bridge
• The Audit

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the ARC!

A fascinating collection of stories from a talented writer! Januaries was varied, interesting, emotional, and thrilling. A thoroughly enjoyable experience!!

A short story collection that offers a bit of everything. You will definitely have some favorites from the bunch!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc! I absolutely love Olivie Blake's writing, and I loved seeing her different styles across multiple short stories. I think the first story was my favorite, but it was always a joy to pick this book up and finish a short story in between reading other books. I would definitely recommend this book as a great short story collection.

I love Olivie Blake books so was very excited to read this and it did not disappoint. The short stories were all so unique and intriguing - full of magic and love and made you think. The only criticism is some of the stories I wanted to be even longer which isn’t even a criticism! Will be adding to my personal collection and library collection 100%.

This was a good collection of short stories with different types of stories for different interests. I thought each story was interesting in various ways, but I particularly liked the 'The Audit" story. I wanted some of the stories to be a bit longer so I could fully enjoy them but overall they all had very good writing and were full of emotions.

As someone who finds Olivie Blake a little hit or miss, I was intruiged to see what my opinion of Januaries would be. Overall I adored it, i think the short story format really lends itself to her strengths as a writer - namely her characters and concepts - whilst keeping it concise enough not to feel overly verbose.

Dare I say, this may be my favourite Olivie Blake book to date!

As with any short story collection, i did like some more than others and you can see my individual ratings below:

The wish bridge ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The audit ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Sucker for pain ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The animation games ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The house ⭐️⭐️⭐️
To make a man ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Preexisting condition ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Monsterlove ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
How to dispell friends and curse people ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fates and consequences ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sous vide ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️
Sensual tales for carnel pleasures ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chaos theory ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A year in January ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

Januaries was such a good read for me. I rated it 4 stars and it really deserved it. I loved every single second of this book. So well written, the characters were immaculate. So so good.

I love this book so much. The first two stories in the collection had be thinking about them for weeks. The emotions of all of them were beautiful and powerful! Thank you for letting me read it early!

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC!

“Januaries” is a short story collection written by the best-selling author, Olivie Blake. This collection features stories that will make you smile, make you cry, and make you reflect on all your life choices. You’ll love the characters (you’ll definitely hate some of them), and the lessons those characters learn.

My favorite stories are The Animation Games, The Wish Bridge, and Chaos Theory. The House was just absolutely beautiful. I resonated with that one immensely, being in a long term relationship myself. I really loved the separation of short stories by categorizing them into the different seasons of a year.

However, some of the stories just didn’t make sense to me. Maybe I read them while I was tired and couldn’t comprehend what I was visually digesting; maybe I haven’t had the life experience yet to appreciate them. For example, the self-titled story, “January”. I didn’t really understand what was going on. I knew January wasn’t apart of the main character’s world. I didn’t quite understand their relationship and that makes me very sad. That story was one of the ones I was looking forward to just based on title alone.

Overall, I really enjoyed “The Januaries”! I’ve been a fan of Olivie Blake’s since “Alone With You in the Ether”. This was another great read. Thank you again for letting me voice my review with an ARC of this book.

Januaries by Olivie Blake is a short story collection and I believe that Blake did a fantastic job of bringing these stories to life. Like so many other short story collections, some stories are more memorable than others and this one is no different. Overall, I enjoyed my time reading them and I thought that Blake's writing was entertaining and well done.

Thank you to NetGally and Tor Books for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This is the first Olivie Blake book that I've read. I've had a copy of "The Atlas Six" (pre-major publication too) for ages and haven't gotten around to it and I am so upset I have waited so long to read her writing. This is a short story collection and while some stories were a bit of work to get through, the vast majority of the collection was delightful to read. Blake is clearly a gifted writer and this shows in her deft handling of multiple different themes, narratives, characters, and writing technique. And just. Blake is SO creative. The ways that each story, even the ones I didn't really like, surprised me with her creativity and spin made for a fun reading experience. And while romance is usually something that I am not a fan of, Blake's presentation of romance had me kicking my feet and twirling my hair! Honestly, the stories that I felt were weaker are still miles ahead of most "experienced" published writers.

I would absolutely recommend this. New readers and fans of Blake will find this a super enjoyable and fun read.

Olivie Blake is always an auto-buy author for me as her prose is enchanting to say the least. She is a masterful wordsmith, weaving words in a way that is memorable and beautiful. Moreover, her stories and ideas are just as unique as her writing. In this short story collection, Blake revamps classic tales and provides new ones for readers to be swept away by. Like many fairytales, her stories reflect love and heartbreak but also mental health struggles and more. Personally I was on the fence about a short story collection as I never fully am invested in what I am reading but Blake convinced me to give the genre another go. All in all, Januaries is classic Blake; fans of her work will be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me this arc💗
4⭐️

I think with any short story collections there will be some better than the others. Blake does such an amazing job taking you into each of the worlds she created and her lyrical writing is completely mesmerizing. There were two stories that felt to drag on a bit but the other stories more than made up for it.

My favorites were :
the first one
The wish bridge
And I so wish that there was more to the ending 😭
And also Fates and Consequences because ofc we need a story involving a Greek god or two.

Monsterlove

This one was so cute and short and I giggled at the end… this one prob had my fav quotes::

“I would dig up bodies for you if you
needed it
I think maybe that's a bad sign I think maybe that might be love?
You might remember I mentioned that
briefly
My affections et cetera et cetera
And you sighed
And turned me into a beetle”

“You said I'll have to write more absurdist
poetry
If I intend to live in your house either that or plant more tomatoes.

Absurd? I said
No, this is clearly the height of romance”

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read Januaries by Olivie Blake.
Please let me start by saying that I loved the author's Atlas series and was looking forward to reading this collection of short stories.
Some of the stories were very good. Others were the reason the title only gets 3 out of 5 stars.