Wow! What a book! This is my third short stories collection I’ve read this year, and I can absolutely say that I’ve gotten over my dislike for novellas. I’ve always wanted more, felt like it was too short or too rushed, but I’ve really grown to appreciate them. Olivie Blake is one of my all time favourite authors, her way with words and spinning a story out of the simplest of things, is nothing short of extraordinary. I’ve cried, smiled, felt butterflies, gotten angry on behalf of the characters, and I’ve LAUGHED. God how much I’ve laughed during this read. Such humorous writing, incredible banter and just some lines the character say, that it feels like they aren’t supposed to be ”funny”, but they are. If you catch my drift, that dry sense of humour, god I love it. So sad it’s finished, I just wanted to read more and more. You will get to experience fantasy, romance, unalivings, science fiction, dystopian, literary fiction and magical realism. Truly a wide mix of genres and themes, but it all fits together so nicely. Love that it’s divided by the seasons, four parts, spring, summer, autumn and winter 🍃🌸☀️🌧️🍂❄️☃️

It is a little unfortunate if you did not like this book, because the eclectic choice of genres, topics and themes.
When I was reflecting on this anthology, I realised my favourites were the first stories in each season.
Blake’s writing is modern and potent. 3.5-4 stars

Okay I loved this collection of short stories so much. As always with short stories some were better than others but I enjoyed each one. I absolutely love everything Olivie Blake has written and I am please that this one was no exception.

So good! I will forever read anything this author writes.

Wow. Olivie smashes it out of the park again. Her writing never ceases to amaze me. It is so beautiful. The artwork is also stunning as always
I liked that a lot of the short stories in this collection seem to have our characters find each other again and again like in ‘The Wishing Bridge’ and ‘The Animation Games’.
My favourites were definitely ‘The Wishing Bridge’ and ‘Fates and Consequences’ I am a SUCKER for a Greek God retelling. And who doesn’t love Hades and Persephone?!
A few stories were not for me, whether long winded, lack of quotation marks a la Sally Rooney or that characters didn’t stand out to me.
All in all I would definitely recommend this to people who are wowed by beautiful writing, fantastical stories and those that like a bit of everything!
3.5 ⭐️

Anthologies are always a little bit more difficult to rate and review since you tend to feel differently about each story. There are a couple things about this collection that I can generalise. First off, Olivie Blake covers topics of love and magic of all kinds in this collection. There’s love for the self, friendships, monogamous life partners, some polyamory, temporary love and more. Throughout the different stories, we explore some dystopian Handmaid‘s tale like settings, there’s multiverses, aliens, resurrection, vampires and so on. I think possibly the best thing about this collection is that while reading it, it’s very obvious that Olivie Blake was trying to have fun. She explores not just different settings, but drastically different writing and narration styles. I appreciated that if the last story wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I could rely on the fact that the next one would be entirely different. They also vary quite a bit in length. I think if you enjoy exploratory writing and shorter stories, you’ll truly enjoy this collection.


Now coming to a couple of stories in more detail, there’s two which I really didn’t enjoy (which is why I can’t quite give the collection 5 stars): Preexisting Condition and Monster Love. I can’t quite tell you what, but something about them didn’t work for me. Moving on to the brighter side, I really appreciated some of the shorter parts, specifically How to Dispel Friends and Curse People as well as The House. I really very much loved The Wish Bridge, the very first story in this collection. It made me super emotional. I thought it was quite impressive how Olivie Blake managed to forge such a close connection so quickly. Sucker for Pain was quite a tragic story for the most part, but it worked for me, though I can see how it might not for other people. The Animation Games is a fun concept of lovers who keep killing each other. Sous Vide was hilarious, I actually genuinely thought it was really funny. A great read. Chaos Theory was quite unique compared to the rest of the stories, and I loved the experimentation here. Part of it is literally written from the perspective of a cat. Last but definitely not least, A Year in January was by far my favourite story. It’s quite a beautiful story about friendship, mental health and in some ways it’s about what it’s like to be human. I cried a bit. If there’s only one story you want to pick out and read from this collection, it should be this one.

As I said earlier, if you like shorter stories and some experimentation with love and magic, I think this is for you. Even though there are different writing styles in these stories, Olivie Blake‘s talent as a lyrical writer still comes through and makes the whole experience poetic and emotional.

Oh, this was a terrific read. Some of the stories were stronger than others in terms of characterisation and plotting, but they all kept my interest and a few were absolutely great. Many address compelling and relevant themes such as mental health, free will, classism and misogyny (but in a fun, interesting way!) and/or raise philosophical questions that can spark interesting discussions afterwards (e.g., The Audit, Chaos Theory), and some are just plain funny (e.g., How To Dispel Friends and Curse People). A few are genuinely haunting and inventive (e.g., Monsterlove, a powerful rumination on motherhood that really resonated with me).

Beyond my enjoyment of the stories themselves, what struck me about this collection was the variety of different writing styles and structures employed across the fourteen individual pieces. The versatility on display here is impressive and this also made for an engaging reading experience, with something new and different around every corner. I’ll be buying copies of this for friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance reader copy.

I was so over the moon to get a chance to read this collection of stories and I’m super grateful.

Olivie Blake never disappoints, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories. Each one had depth and kept me engaged. I really liked the mix of tales, but the 1st one is absolutely my favourite, it was a great opener with banter and optimism that turned into something more.

This is delightful, fun and needs to be read!

Loved this book so much! I love everything from Olivie Blake so this was a no brainer. I loved the idea of short stories and each one was so well written.

Let me be honest from the start: I love Olivie Blake’s writing. That said, I’m typically not a fan of short story collections — they can be hard to pull off, no matter how strong the ideas. But I do love reading weird concepts and I am a sucker for a story told with cinematic flare.

Olivie Blake had my back here.

I won’t spoil any plots, but the book opens with a soft, whimsical, and magical bang with *The Wish Bridge*. I fell in love with the characters, the angst, and the hope in this story. *Sous Vide*, which had me laughing out loud with its dark humor and campy style — if it were turned into a horror-comedy film, I’d be first in line! *Sucker for Pain* was a morally gray dream with character dynamics that reminded me of the Angel-Drusilla-Spike triangle from *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*, in the best way possible.

Each story in this collection feels like a love letter — to love itself, to yourself, to the what-ifs and why-nots., to magic, to dreaming, to persevering. While not all stories hit as deeply for me, this anthology IS unapologetically Olivie's voice, showcasing her signature themes and style, but with fun new concepts and twists (hint: a cat POV?!)!

We are taken back to familiar themes sometimes. I found a bit of One for My Enemy in *The Animation Games*, and a lot of Alone with You in the Ether in *A Year in January* (which I absolutely loved! This one is all about love, belonging, and the struggle to be enough, and it hit the mark just right).

And of course, the illustrations are gorgeous, as always!

If you are a fan of any of Olivie’s stories, you’ll find something to love in this collection—even if not every story resonates with you. With so many characters and plotlines, it’s natural that some will connect more deeply than others. But several of these stories left me wanting more, and I’d love to see them expanded into full-length novels.


– Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own and reflect my honest reactions. –

As always, Olivie Blake delivers with a divinely weaved tapestry of prose and delivers on her promise of love, magic and betrayal. The anthology collection engages with every shade of love imaginable and explores the complex philosophical questions of the human condition all against an enchanting backdrop of folktales, Hellenic classics and magic.

I can’t wait for my physical copy to arrive!

Olivie Blake’s writing hooks me so quickly, so I found this such an easy read. I’m not usually someone who likes short stories but because it’s Miss Blake, I had to give it a go, didn’t I? And thank goodness I did because this was brilliant!

It was fun, varied and emotional emotional. Although it’s a book full of short stories I felt every story has its own heart and power. Some I like more than others but every story had its own standing, I found something to love throughout the whole collection.

I really feel like so many of these stories gave me cute folklore/fairytale vibes and I think I’d like to reread around Christmas time! Something great about short stories is that you can pick and choose which ones you’d like to visit, which is something I hadn’t thought about until reading Januaries; it may have given me a little nudge in the direction of future short story collections.

Don’t ask me which story was my favourite because I honestly can’t pick however this quote from The Wish Bridge really struck me -

“I was born with a vastness inside me, and sometimes I feel it will swallow me up.”

These stories really are a creative, imaginative journeys and are truly a place for escaping - highly recommend and can’t wait to have a physical copy.

4/5⭐️

Release Date: 17th October 2024

Thankyou @netgalley / @torbooks / @panmacmillan / @olivieblake for allowing me to read this arc!

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ARC REVIEW⊹ ࣪ ˖

Oh god where do I start?? It has taken me a LONG time to read this but I still ended up DNF’ing at about 65%. My view initially was to read the stories as if they were separate books almost in between other things I’m reading and in the first quarter of the book I was enjoying this way of reading and the stories. Spring was definitely my favourite section of the book and The Audit and Sucker for Pain favourite stories - I wish Sucker for Pain had its own book in itself!

After a while I began to feel kind of confused by the stories, some of them were wonderfully weird which I didn’t mind but it got to a point where I was just reading it for the sake of reading it.

Don’t get me wrong I love Olivie Blake’s writing but as much as I hate to say it, I just felt like this one wasn’t for me. However - some of the stories I did read (as mentioned above) were very good and I wish they were longer!

[thank you NetGalley & Pan Macmillan for this e-ARC copy of the book in exchange for an honest review ahead of its publication date]

I loved every story in this collection. They were all weird and wacky in their own way, Olivie just has the most amazing imagination that you couldn't find anywhere else. The writing is beautiful while including the most unusual stories, bringing to life the unimaginable. I have always been curious of the weird and wonderful and this book definitely scratched that itch.

This is a collection of short stories spanning over different seasons. My favorite of them all are 'The Wish Bridge' and 'The Audit'. This collection does not stick to a single genre but has fantasy, sci-fi, mythology, Gothic, fairytale, etc., that contemplates human life, love, motherhood, desire, afterlife, death, etc. Immersing into the story takes a little time and then it's over moving on to another story, another genre. This made it difficult to read continuously. Considering this is my first book from the author, I think I'll enjoy her full length novels.
Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t usually find myself reaching for collections of short stories and yet this collection was perfect. Each story elicited emotions and led my mind to wander to a multitude of places.
Blake’s writing is poetic and deep, each world she creates full of mystery, intrigue and depth. I adored how each season developed and the true love intertwined throughout.
I’m so grateful to have been afforded the opportunity to read this collection, all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and PanMacmillian for providing me with the opportunity to review Januaries by Olivie Blake.

This was a decent read, but I feel like I should dive into a full-length novel by this author. The collection offered a variety of short stories catering to different tastes, each intriguing in its own way. "The Wish Bridge" stood out to me as a favorite. While I wished some of the stories had been longer to allow for deeper immersion, the writing was consistently strong, packed with emotion throughout.

A massive thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my copy of this e-arc!

This anthology was so well thought out and every single short story was really well written. Olivie Blake’s writing never fails to amaze me. I’d love to get inside her brain and see how it works for her to come up with all of these ideas.

Of course there were some stories I liked better than others but I always looked forward to picking the book up!

Highly recommend

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC!

3.5 rounded up.
Overall I really enjoyed this. As ever, I loved Olivie Blake’s writing and characterisation. I’m always drawn to books that deep dive into the character and I found that here.
Most of the stories i really enjoyed, but a few (especially in the middle section) I found myself losing interest while reading. There’s also a few that I feel needed to be a bit longer (or in some cases, could easily spread to a stand alone). Overall I read this in a matter of days and really enjoyed the individual stories. Januaries has proven yet again to me that I absolutely love Olivie Blake’s writing style and characterisation.

Particular highlights:
The wish bridge - I found the main plot between Lila and Nile really sweet. I also found humour in the background characters who would rather try and out-wish each other than actually communicate.

The audit - I loved this. The idea is really intriguing and days later I’m still thinking about it.

An interesting read with some really enjoyable short stories however the more contemporary ones fell flat for me, especially in comparison to the more fairytale esk ones. I found interest in every other story in this anthology and couldn't quite work out why they were all being lumped together in one book, it felt unnecessary and lost some of the beauty in (what I thought) were the more engaging reads.

I've come to the conclusion that short story collections just aren't for me.
While I loved the first story in this collection and wished it was longer. I didn't care for any of the others. Some felt like it dragged on even though it was a short story.