Januaries is a collection of fantastical stories all revolving love and relationships from beloved author Olivie Blake.
As with almost all short story collections, due to the nature of the work, it can seem difficult to rate these collections as a collaborative effort. This is definitely the case with this one as well. As a body of work, there are more triumphs than failures.
My favorite stories from this bind are:
Sucker for Pain - 5 stars
The Animation Games - 5 stars
The Wishing Bridge - 4 stars
And I openly detested Monsterlove - 1 star
Most stories were around 3/3.5 stars range.
I did notice that my enjoyment of the stories were decreasing the longer we went on in the bind up, so that definitely altered my enjoyment for the experience.
If I had to rate the collection as a whole, I’d average it out to a 3. I definitely recommend reading the stories they are interested in since Blake’s writing is beautiful regardless of their content. Regardless of my mixed feeling about this collection, I still put her up there in favorite author category.

4.75 - Januaries is banger after banger from beginning to end. I would highly recommend checking it out even if you haven’t loved Blake’s full length works.

Overall, the stories are dark and magical and a bit absurd. I really appreciate how Blake plays with format throughout.

Monsterlove, in particular, is a mesmerizing piece of art that I can’t get out of my head. Definitely the standout of the bunch for me.

Thanks so much to Tor for providing an advanced digital copy for me to review!

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Januaries, a stunning collection of short fiction featuring fourteen magical ruminations on life, death, and the love - or desire for revenge - that outlasts both.

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, a wish-granting spirit rapidly approaches burnout. Meanwhile, a banished fairy answers a Craigslist ad, a Victorian orphan navigates an occult situationship, and a multiverse assassin contemplates the one who got away.

With both iconic fan-favorite stories and entirely original pieces, Januaries features modified fairy tales, contemporary heists, absurdist poetry, and at least one set of actual wedding vows. Escape the slow trudge of mortality by diving into these enchanting new worlds with a master of imagination."

I'm usually against short story collections. But this week has two that are the exception to the rule.

Genre: speculative fiction short stories
Narrated by Alexandra Palting; Daniel Henning; David Monteith; Ferdelle Capistrano; Olivie Blake; Stephanie Németh-Parker; Steve West

I'm a sucker for speculative fiction short stories, and in this collection from Olivie Blake, I'm happiest with the ones that veers more towards the speculative than the fantasy. For me the ideal short story is one that leaves you thinking, rather than presenting you with a beginning-middle-end. The stories that make you wonder and reflect on your own nature as a human and as a reader. There is a good mix for any reader, though, with some jaunts through faerie and a beautiful passage about marriage that would work well for a wedding reading, some dark and twisty murder plots, and a thought exercise about getting paid your life's worth in advance.

The audiobook is very well produced - there are different narrators for different stories, which keeps you engaged from one to the next. The stories themselves are also well organized, varying in length and grouped by tone: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

I've only read one of Blake's novels to date, and it was *fine* for me. Enjoyable, some clever moments, but not quite a fit for me as a reader. This collection on the other hand was excellent. Her writing is showcased in the tight structures with limited word counts. It's no that there isn't room for fluff or style, but these hold their shape in a way I find really appealing.

This short story collection was an absolute delight. There were such a variety of stories, but shared themes of magic and love, which happen to be my favorite things to read about!

I adored the writing, I was constantly stopping to read my husband sections that either made me laugh out loud or were so beautiful.

Some of my favorite stories include a banished fairy answering a Craigslist roommate ad, a Wishing bridge, and two soulmates who realize they don’t stay dead and keep taking turns hunting the other down in a strange sort of game.

I wish I’d given myself enough time to read a story a night before bed for a couple weeks, I think that would be a lovely way to read this!

I don’t read short stories often, but this collection restored my faith in them. Perfect for lovers of whimsy and love.

4.25/5

Dnf at 57%

There were so many great stories related to love, how love shows up, and maybe even toxic love.

I particularly enjoyed:

- the wish bridge
- the audit
- the house
- monsterlove

The narrator in monsterlove did so great! Alex Palting read it with such emotions that I could feel the tension that the mother was feeling.

I dnf this not because it wasn’t good, but because there were just too many short stories.

This felt too long and I started losing interest.
I wish it was two books instead.

The vibes: Fables, Black Mirror, life lessons, mental health, complicated love
TW: PPD, su!cide, emotional abuse and imprisonment

What a range! In this collection you’ll find witches, fairytales, multiverses, and life lessons. I found many of the them captivating, super weird, moving, or charming.

It opens with The Wish Bridge, which was a sweet fairy-tale like story- with commentary on what people’s disregard for others’ wishes. The Audit was a fun one as well, and gave me some light-hearted Black Mirror vibes. Some of the other stories go from weird to very dark. Monsterlove really stood out to me- it read like a spoken word performance on mental health, and the ugly side of parenthood that many people hide from the world (TW: implied PPD). But this story, and many of the others may appeal only to a specific audience. So I think this will be a hit for the right people.

Olivie Blake and short stories? Absolutely yes. Januaries is exactly what I want out of an Olivie Blake original. Her writing is so consistently enthralling and her storytelling really shines within this shorter format.

As expected with anthologies, some of these were hits and some misses for me. Overall I thought it was very creative, interesting, and enjoyable.

My favorite stories:

"The Wish Bridge" this one was so sweet and funny! I was hooked on the story of Lila and Nile! Loved it!!

"Sucker for Pain" wowow the toxic relationship with Edmund and the treatment by his mother was a bit hard to read but the payoff was SO worth it! Nora, I love you.

"The Animation Games" this was kind of silly but also so entertaining!

Honorable mention to "Chaos Theory" which I also enjoyed a lot!

Thank you so much Tor for the ARC!

⭐️: 4.5/5

Something about Olivie Blake’s writing is just made for short stories. Her ideas, characters, and plots are just so unique and so transcendent that sometimes it is beneficial when they’re not entire novels, and instead structured just so to leave the reader wanting more. Even before I received this eARC, I had the publication date of this collection marked on my calendar for purchase. I’ll definitely be purchasing a hard copy of this as well.

I love how each story is just a short little bite of an interesting story, and that all of them had magic of some form in them. Some were based off of already existing legends and myths, but with twists, and some were more original. The stories were also separated into groups of seasons, which helped differentiate the themes and prepare the reader, in my opinion. Some were certainly more impactful than others, and some were highly visual pieces of storytelling. Every time I read something by Blake, I re-remember how much I love her writing!

Thank you to @netgalley and @torbooks for this eARC for my review!!

I absolutely loved this collection! Olivie Blake's writing is so special. I love her lyrical writing style and use of metaphors. This collection specifically captures the human experience, both good and bad, through stories of love, magic, and betrayal. There are a wide variety of topics, from mental health to thermodynamics, each with Olivie's signature style. I am forever in awe of her creativity and story telling, if she writes it I will read it 💁🏻‍♀️

I enjoyed each short story, but a few stand outs were:
•The Wish Bridge
•The Animation Game
•Sensual Tales for Carnal Pleasures
•A Year in January

Thank you Tor for the ARC 📚✨

I really and truly loved this one! It was perfectly captivating and had me hooked from the very first page! I highly, highly recommend!

3.75/5⭐️

I really enjoy Olivie Blake’s writing style. What I think I enjoyed most about this book was that every single short story in it is how easily she seems to craft these worlds to have you hooked so easily. I loved how she pulled inspiration from Greek mythology throughout some of the short stories too. She definitely pulled inspiration from other things as well but I mostly caught on to the Greek mythology as I know it quite well. The short stories were such quick, easy reads too which was very much appreciated with the limited time I have for reading.

I love this collection of ahort stories. My attention was grabbed immediately with The Wish Bridge and I adore Olivie Blake’s prose.

I’ll always read anything by Olivie Blake. I’m never disappointed by how beautiful her writing is.

I enjoyed cozying up in bed before bedtime and diving into this collection of short stories. The stories vary in length and ratings and they feel like fairytales for adults.

Although this is not a life-changing book by any means, it was very atmospheric and a perfect bedside book.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. They are a perfect collection to snuggle up to on an evening with a cuppa. Very surprisingly I enjoyed each story in one way or another. I loved the aspect of splitting this book up into different seasons and exploring different genres throughout.
It is maybe actually a 4.5 star.

*Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for a review copy and access to the advanced listening copy of the book!

I really don't think I knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to dive into Januaries. This collection of short stories lives up to its title: There are moments of love, incorporation of magic, and wild acts of betrayal. With Olivie Blake's talent with words, I should have realized I'd be in for a treat.
While hard to summarize, it is important to realize that this is a short story collection broken up into four seasonally titled sections. The content of these stories vary wildly, but they are all incredibly entertaining in their own way. I think it would be fun to share my favorite short story from each section of this book, those that I feel are absolute stand-outs and make this collection so worth reading. They are as follows: The Wish Bridge, To Make a Man, Sous Vide, and Chaos Theory.
This was my first experience with listening to an audiobook for one of Blake's books and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to do so. The audiobook includes multi-cast narration, which adds so so much to the storytelling. Each narrator brings something new and exciting to the story they're reading, helping to transport the reader into the pages of this book. The narration for Monsterlove was particularly incredible and made the emotion behind Blake's words so evident. It completely elevated the text and made for a wonderful listening experience.
If you're in the mood for a collection of short stories, do yourself a favor and read this book!

SOLID 4.5 stars for this beautiful collection of short stories <3

I don’t even know where to begin with this anthology.. each story held so much depth and took up so much space in my mind. I love the humor, whimsy, and affection that was woven into each and every single narrative. Though they all varied greatly in terms of subject matter, it all did truly come back to love, magic and betrayal! I also loved the nods to Greek mythology (I am obsessed.)

I have been going back and forth about which stories I loved the most and truly, it is SO hard to decide. I am going to try my hardest to only pick one or two from each season that they take place.
-Spring: Sucker for Pain was very magical, though The Wish Bridge was beautifully imaginative and captivating.
-Summer: The Animation Games was absolutely hilarious and I did not expect it at all. To Make A Man literally brought me to tears.
-Autumn: Fates and Consequences had me laughing out loud in the car.
-Winter: Chaos Theory!!!!!!!! Wow. What an incredible story, it was hands down my favorite of the entire book.

I really enjoyed the sense of wonder that I felt while reading each tale. Olivie Blake’s writing was just, simply put, beautiful and romantic. Even in the sad bits, I could still feel like love and sometimes deep grief that was put on the page.

I would recommend to anyone who wants bite sized pieces of magic. I received both the audiobook and ebook ARC of this and I have to say that the narration of the audiobook was top tier!!! Especially in Chaos Theory.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for my arcs of this book!!! I loved it so much.

This was a lovely collection of short stories by Olivie Blake! Typically with anthologies there are equal amounts of hits and misses but the stories in this collection leaned heavily towards hits and they were very enjoyable!

The stories in this anthology collection explored themes of love and magic and were all unique in their own way. Each story was well written and wrapped up in a way that didn't leave the reader feeling as if the story was in any way incomplete or unfinished. The story concepts were well thought out and so uniquely executed and it was refreshing to read stories in a consecutive pattern also that were so nicely arranged.

This was my first stab at Olivie Blake and I'm already sold on exploring her other works.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

I am a huge fan of Olivie Blake and will read and anything and everything she writes, but I was very intrigued and exited to learn about this short story collection. If you like Magic, Life, Death, Love, & Revenge as much as I do then this book is for you. These 14 tales, are witty, whimsical, romantic, and will enchant you.

My personal favorite in the collection was The Wish Bridge. The fact that is was the first story was both good and bad for me. It worked to really draw me in and invest me into the book, because it was SO GOOD!! But then the rest of the stories in comparison to that one were just ok (some were definitely better than others). Some of the themes do repeat themselves, but the stories are unique and special enough to not be too much of an issue. It definitely kept my attention to the very end.

I love that Blake experimented with different styles throughout the collection. It made for a very interesting and delightful overall read! I will definitely be recommending this book for my book club. Fans of Olivie Blake and stories about magic will want to check this one out!