Only 2-3 stories I actually enjoyed in this. This is a collection of stories written for each season of the year. Unfortunately I only liked about 3 stories from this. Most of them were too abstract for me to even grasp what was going on. My least favorite olivie Blake book to date. There was some beautiful thought provoking quotes in the midst of the terrible outlandish stories, and that was the only good it had going for it to be honest. Would not recommend especially not for a first olive Blake. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

Januaries is an absurdist and fantastical collection of short stories and novellas from the outstanding Olivie Blake. The collection is divided thematically by season and captures the human experience in the form of tales of love, magic and betrayal. Love, loss, motherhood, and mental health are just a few of the things touched upon, and are explored through a variety of genres, ranging from fantastical to mythological to paranormal, featuring witches, goddesses, and the multiverse. I am not usually a fan of short stories but was blown away by this collection. Each story emits a sense of wonder and are unique in their content and form, providing something for everyone. It is difficult to choose a favourite, but Chaos Theory is a standout gem. Olivie Blake has yet again delivered a showstopping 5 star read.

Januaries is a short story collection by one brilliantly creative author, divided into four sections named by four seasons, full of magical and fantasy elements.

Personally, my favourite stories are Sucker for Pain, The Animation Games, Sous Vide and Chaos Theory where Olivie Blake describes and plays with the idea of twisted love through fantasy and clever metaphors for what goes in our everyday lives.

Some stories are not so good, either because of lack of meaning or because they are quite confusing. Also, some of the stories would be excellent if they were written as full-length novels.

Nevertheless, I think there is a story for everyone here because Olivie writes in interesting and unique way, and you could easily see if her ideas intrigue you by not committing yourself to a 500 pages novel and ultimately decide if you should try some of her other books.

My thanks to NetGalley for ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was a little apprehensive committing to this book as my ADHD brain so often struggles with short stories, but I’m so glad I did because I loved reading it so much!
Januaries opens with my favourite story of them all, ‘The Wish Bridge’ and after being so taken with it I had high hopes for the rest… Blake did not disappoint.
There are reinvented fairytales, fantasy elements, vampires, witches, and peculiar roommates discovered on Craigslist… there’s even a future where you’re paid your lifetime’s earnings in youth and spend the rest of your days repaying it to the State.
It really is a varied trove of magical tales and reflections on life and love. Whether gothic fantasy, sci-fi or poetry, Blake has written each story beautifully, her storytelling seemingly coming with ease and certainly with elegance.
Whilst not all of the stories were necessarily my cup of tea, each had a message to take away, and I would absolutely pick up a full-length book based around several of them!

Thank you so much @panmacmillan and @netgalley for the digital ARC, it was a true pleasure to read

[Thank you NetGalley and PanMacmillian for the e-arc!]

- 2.5 stars

After finishing this book, I've learnt that short stories are not for me. I hate not getting a proper ending to a story, I feel like most of the stories in this book are missing something and have no purpose. I enjoyed a few of them, but the majority were messy and didn't have a proper structure and made me feel so stupid because they were too metaphorical and I couldn't understand what the author was trying to say. I'm just sharing my opinion, I don't think the book is bad, despite what my rating might say, and I'm a big fan of Olivie Blake's books. In this case, my disappointment boils down to the content of the stories not being very interesting to me, and also not loving the structure of these stories [I have to point out that the arc I reveiced is badly formatted, and I think that's another factor that made me enjoy it even less. Some stories were very difficult to read].

Although some of the stories lacked feeling and were too cynical for my taste, I enjoyed the writing. I think Blake has a truly unique writing style and it shows in each of these stories. In my opinion, these are tales of love and betrayal, life and death, and although I couldn't appreciate them all, I think they brilliantly showcase Olivie's artistry and versatility as a writer. Each story is different. Some are very weird and strange, and there's one in particular that I hated, but others have an almost fairytale quality to them, I marvelled at how magical some of the stories were. Especially the ones at the beginning, the very first story, The Wish Bridge, had me enthralled, it was very enchanting and I wish each of the stories kept that magical quality. I found that the more contemporary stories were my least favourite.

The book is divided into 4 parts - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (I have no idea why). Spring and Summer were the parts I enjoyed the most, the others were mostly disappointing and I admit that I skimmed through some stories and even skipped two because I was so bored. My favourite short story was "to make a man", I can't explain why, it was the only one that evoked feelings and I almost shed a tear. It made me wish it was a full-length novel. Some stories, like I said, I enjoyed, others were really weird and confusing, some I enjoyed certain aspects of but they left me with conflicting thoughts, and others were bad and metaphysical in a way I didn't appreciate. It's as if the author was trying so hard to convey something, but it came across as pretentious writing.

Overall, most of the stories were fine, they didn't stand out to me and I'm sure I'll forget them quickly. And although I liked the writing, it's not as good as the writing in Alone with you in the ether, one for my enemy or masters of death. I think about this book and feel nothing, which isn't what I expected.

If you don't like Blake's writing, or have never read one of her books, I wouldn't recommend this. But if you're a fan of metaphysical stories with very strange elements, it may be something to consider if you want to read a collection of short stories.

Some of these short stories were so interesting that I wanted to read a whole book about them, others were quite strange and there was one that was, I'm sorry to say, boring - however overall it was a good and interesting read and the story that I didn't like may be your cup of tea

This reminded me again of why I love Olivie Blake! The writing is just perfect and somehow goes with every story. The first one chosen, about the guardian of the bridge, is my absolute favorite and such a good fit to hook us in and continue reading. I must admit, I skimmed one or two stories that weren’t exactly my tastes but I loved the rest so much it still counts as a 5 star!

A beautifully written collection of fantasy based short stories.

My favourite story was 'Sucker for Pain', a Bridgerton inspired high society story featuring vampires and revenge.

This book has been on my wishlist for ages and so I'm really grateful to be able to read an early copy of it.

I have somehow got to this stage without having read any of Olivie's books, but I am not immune to the hype around her. I'm also generally not a short story fan but here we are. I have high hopes.

These stories are fantastic and whimsical and magical. I could have read them all day. They're all linked, in theme if not in story.

As in any collection of short stories, there are some I enjoyed more than others and some I enjoyed less, some that spoke to me more or were easier to read. But even so, I don't think there's a story amongst them that I wouldn't' wish was turned into a longer story. For enjoyment purposes, or because I think a longer story would have made it a bit better. Some felt a bit too short or a bit too abstract, and I think they'd work better in a longer form. And some were just so lovely to read that I wanted to red more of it.

I must admit thought, that some of the longer stories lost me a little bit, they went off into weird directions and so I got a bit confused as to what they were on about, but I suppose a positive spin on that is it adds to the whimsical nature of the stories.

A good and bad point is that she uses a lot of floaty language, a lot of metaphors and whatnot, whish is great as it adds to the magical feel, but then it can be difficult to actually stay with what she's trying to say. Some are more prose heavy than others, some more conversations etc. so you get a mixture.

There are a number of illustrations in the book - I'm not sure if they're by Olivie's hand or someone else's - that are beautiful and really help the stories. It's split into sections dedicated to the seasons, but I wasn't too sure why they were split as, for me, I couldn't say the stories in the winter section for instance were overly wintery etc.

I know that a lot of people read short story collections by reading one or two and then going back to it. I read it like a novel, cover to cover. And so I was fully invested and drawn into this magical world of love and lust, betrayal and distrust, magic and wonder.

I think I'll definitely jump on the hype train and be sourcing her other books, now I see what all the fuss was about.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of this collection of short stories, I typically enjoy Blake’s writing, I thoroughly enjoy her style. However I find that it can sometimes go over my head. There is no doubt this is yet another great work from Blake however I often found myself confused and think that perhaps this is not the work for me.

This book is a collection of short stories involving love and magic. This book is beautifully written and would expect no less from olivie, it is the perfect story collection to snuggle up and read on a cosy evening.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, as I always do with Olivie Blake. Some stories went over my head, but that's usually the case for me with anthologies. Quite a few of the stories didn't click with me until the very end, at which point I felt pleasantly surprised.

I absolutely love the way Olivie Blake writes, the pictures she paints with words is astonishing.

Januaries is a the collection of stories split into seasons. Well I was drawn in by the first few pages and I just ripped through.


Thank you to netgalley and publishers for the arc. .

I have absolutely adored all of the Olivie Blake books I have read in the past. Unfortunately, this however was not one of them.

I’m unsure if my dislike came from formatting errors or if it was how the book was supposed to be, but I found a few of these short stories incredibly difficult to read.

When I started this book, the short stories were so cute, showing different complexities of love, and I really did enjoy reading them. One of my favourites being the animation games, this was so easy to read and also such an interesting concept of love.

My least favourite was To Make A Man. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be formatted the way it was, but all the days were out of sync and it was so difficult to read, then when the days started again from the other POV, you could hardly tell because of how disjointed the numbering was

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this Arc copy.

Januaries is a collection of short stories exploring ideas and themes of love, life and death, magic and revenge. Various stories range from modern fantasy to folkloric retellings. Overall, I did enjoy these stories, the picture built with each tale was detailed and complex despite being a short section of a collection of stories. At some points, I found Blake's very prose heavy and metaphorical language to hinder how well the story was received and understood and at other points it stopped her from further exploring certain topics. One short story I wished had been given more attention was The Audit; I felt that the topics of money, class and wealth were brushed on but could have been explored more, especially since the premise was so interesting.

My favorites from this collection are The Wish Bridge, Chaos Theory, Sucker for Pain and The Animation Games. Some of these I do wish could be developed into fully fledged novels!

📚 review 📚

januaries - olivie blake

at this point i think olivie blake could write down the worldms most mundane list and i would still immediately pre order it. i don’t even like anthologies but i knew that the one person who could change my mind would be olivie blake and i was right. this collection of short stories is endlessly entertaining.

the collection is split into seasons and every section features a group of whimsical and magical tales. i was hooked from the first story and flew through the whole collection in a few days.


thank you @netgalley for the early copy. januaries is out in october.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC. This will be posted on goodreads september 13th.

I didn't know what to expect when picking this book, I only know that I really like the way Olivie Blake is writing stories.
Her writing style was very interesting for those stories, even if the stories were really different the style really link them together.
Still I do recommand you take your time with this book to fully appreciate each story for what they are.

My favorite were The wish bridge, the Audit , Sucker for pain (yes, I really did like spring) and To make a man ( The animation games was pretty awsome too). Every story really takes you, even if they are short they really transport you. For me that was really the highlight of the book.

Even if I've been really enjoying reading shorts stories, and specially shorts stories into one book, there is always one or two stories that you like less. It happenned to me on this one and I wouldn't put less stars on it because it would be a me problem and not the book but this story kinda put me in a slump for the rest of the book and had some tropes that I really don't like and that's why. I will not say the title of the story itself so no spoiler and won't go into details but I was very surprised to see this in this book.

There is a story featuring Hades and Persephone (not as main characters), okay their relationship wasn't romanticize but not shown as abusive either, so it icked me but then Demeter was told to be a bad, controling and nosy mom and that Persephone choose to come to the underworld, that's the biggest NO ever. I hate those tropes so bad. Persephone was a CHILD abucted and detained by her uncle and her mom Demeter did everything in her power to save her period.

This book wasn't that big on that trope but still in so little pages it had everything I didn't want it to be and as I said it put me on a slump for the rest of the book and couldn't appreciate the end of the book as much as I should specially January which I probably would have loved more if I read it before the one in the underworld.

So in whole I don't know, I like, could have loved it but sadly no...
Olivie Blake has an incredible way to writd so if you liked her other books you will probably really like this one.

The book is set out into the 4 seasons and is accompanied by beautiful artwork that I wish I could keep forever. Each short story is about 30 pages and is a great way of consuming whimsical fantasy. There's even a greek retelling for those who like a modern take on a classic greek story. There are so many short stories that I wish were longer but alas that's how it goes with short story collections.

Actual Rating: 2.5

‘...and while I never have more than a bit of money in my pockets, I have treasures of knowledge, and riches of stories, and for me they are more than enough.’

Short story collections generally intrigue me and last year I adored Olivie Blake’s ‘One For My Enemy’ so I had pretty high hopes for ‘Januaries’. As you can probably tell by my rating this unfortunately wasn’t my kind of collection, although I wouldn’t necessarily say that means it wouldn’t work for other readers as with some of the stories my disappointment mostly boiled down to taste and/or style. If you’re into metaphysical stories and tales best described as ‘weird’ then this collection may well be a hit with you. If you’re more into fantasy and fairytale vibes then perhaps not.

One thing that I have to mention before anything else is how varied Olive Blake’s writing style is. When I picked up ‘One For My Enemy’ I was immediately struck by how unique her style seemed to be and this collection certainly reinforced that feeling. No two tales within ‘Januaries’ feel alike; each has its own style, flare and voice. If you picked this book up without noticing the single author on the cover then I truly do feel that you could believe this was penned by multiple authors. Something that I feel truly shows the author’s talent; this particular book may not have been for me but I’m still in awe over the versatility of Blake’s writing.

Another positive that I want to highlight before diving into my struggles is the variety of stories included and the fact that I did enjoy several of them. My favourite within this collection was ‘The Wish Bridge’ which instantly reeled me in, leaving me enchanted. If all the tales had followed on in this fairytale feeling, folklore vein I’d have been a fan without doubt. There were a couple of others that I admittedly found slightly odd but generally enjoyed regardless, although not quite to the same degree as little elements, generally towards the ending, left me conflicted. Then there’s another, which I won’t name as I don’t want to cloud anyone’s judgment of it, which I fell in love with throughout the first half, then out of over the second. That particular one I personally feel could have become a new favourite of mine, if given a full length novel. Yet within this context the latter segments felt rushed.

There were a couple of other stories that left me with similar changing enjoyment levels for a variety of reasons although I didn’t feel as strong a sense of fondness for them on the whole. A couple of the other stories I didn’t mind reading but they didn’t particularly engage me either; ultimately a lot of the collection felt ‘okay’ which wasn’t really what I was anticipating.

Then, unfortunately, there were four stories that I really did not enjoy. If I’d picked this book up on a whim I’d probably have skipped over them but as I received a review copy I wanted to give them a chance. A couple felt as if they were going over my head whilst another simply wasn’t at all to my personal tastes. All four I was relieved to finish.

With one story that I loved, two I enjoyed, four that I hated (sorry) and the others generally feeling simply ‘okay’ I felt that I had to round ‘Januaries’ rating down star wise. But it’s not a decision that I took lightly as I appreciate the level of effort that goes into writing and truly hate giving a book less than three stars.

Based on my personal experience with ‘Januaries’ I can’t particularly say that I’d recommend it but if you’re into strange tales and metaphysical fiction then this could still be a hit with you. (And if that’s the case it could also be worth checking this book out in print, given its handful of beautiful illustrations). Regardless of my disappointment with this collection I’m still keen to pick up more by the author, given her talented writing range and strong sense of voice. I’ll just make sure to warier of certain genres in the future.

*Average rating: 3.1 stars

Anthologies are so hard because some stories were great, whilst others were pretty average. I also always wish the stories were longer. I think I'm realising that I'm just not a short story girlie. But I do like Olivie Blake's writing style and I'm excited to read more novels by her.

The Wish Bridge - 4 stars
The Audit - 2 stars
Sucker for Pain - 3 stars
The animation Games - 4 stars
The house - 4 stars
To make a man - 3 stars
Pre-existing condition - 2 stars
Monster love - 1 star
How to dispel friends and curse people - 3.5 stars
Fates and consequences - 4 stars
Sous vide - 3.5 stars
Sensual tales for carnal pleasures - 3 stars
Chaos theory - 3.5 stars
A year in January - 3 stars