Januaries is an wonderful short story collection. by the masterful Olivie Blake examining love, life, and death. The stories cover genres including Olivie's signature fantasy and sci-fi, and the audiobook is beautifully narrated by a whole host of actors. I definitely recommend the collection to anyone looking to escape in bite-sized story bits.

The collection kicks off with The Wish Bridge, which ended up being one of my favorites of the whole collection - I don't want to spoil too much, but this one made my heart absolutely sing as Lila, the bridge-keeper becomes more and more aware of the world. This is followed up by The Audit where the government is piloting a program to provide people with their future earnings in their 20's so that they can better enjoy their life while their young. The House was another favorite of mine that reads like a treatise on marriage and I can absolutely see this becoming a reading in many literary-minded wedding ceremonies in the future. Chaos Theory was another gem for me - following five women across different worlds and what happens when their lives intertwine. There were certainly a few stories that didn't quite hit for me, but the excellent far outweigh the ones that didn't quite work.

I would also definitely. recommend listening to Januaries as an audiobook, the different narrators each bring their own flair to the different stories and I loved each and every one. Januaries accompanied me on a long road trip up and I couldn't have asked for better company.

Overall, I highly recommend - thank you so much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copy.

Januaries is a truly unique volume of short stories. Most of them lean towards fantasy but a few have a more sci-fi vibe. There are over a dozen stories in all, broken up by season. The length of each story varies widely. With the audiobook, the shortest is about five minutes and the longest story is over three hours. I listened to them in order but I think you could read them in any order if you really wanted to. They don’t necessarily build on each other.

All of the stories are a bit open-ended. Each one left me wondering what would happen next. They almost feel like story starters or plot bunnies. This may be frustrating for some readers but I think it works well with this type of anthology. It gives you a sense of the author’s style without the commitment of a longer work. Januaries can be read or listened to in bite sized pieces. It definitely has me eager to read more books by this author.

The audiobook is well done. There are seven narrators who read the different stories. While the title is read for each section, the narrators never say their names. Unless you’re already familiar with each voice, it may be difficult to tell who is who. Each of them does a wonderful job though.

Januaries is the first book that I have read from author Olivie Blake but I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I voluntarily listened to and reviewed an advanced copy of this audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is phenomenal. It is a fabulous example of Olivie Blake's masterful prose and wordplay. From the first short story to the last, "Januaries" evoked every emotion in me: grief, joy, devotion, resignation, purpose, excitement. "The Wish Bridge," "The Animation Games," and "To Make a Man" were my favorites and I recommend all readers at least explore those three stories.

I listened to the audiobook and I feel that the narrators added to the stories immensely. The narrator for "Monsterlove" was particularly talented and the narrator of "Fates and Consequences" is one of my favorite narrators. I recognize their voice from listening to "Masters of Death."

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Olivie Blake, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863 and it will be posted to my bookstagram account https://www.instagram.com/tinynightingales/
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Rating each short story as I go ☆
Spring
1. The Wish Bridge | ★★★★★
2. The Audit | ★★★★★
3. Sucker for Pain | ★★★

Summer
4. The Animation Games | ★★★★★
5. The House | ★★★★★
6. To Make a Man | ★★★★★
7. Preexisting Condition | ★★★★

Autumn
8. Monsterlove | ★★★★★ (fantastic narrator)
9. How to Dispel Friends and Curse People | ★★★
10. Fates and Consequences | ★★★☆ (my fav narrator)
11. Sous Vide | ★★★☆

Winter
12. Sensual Tales for Carnal Pleasures | ★★★★
13. Chaos Theory | ★★★
14. A Year in January | ★★★★★

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Date: October 15, 2024

5 stars (listen to the audiobook!)
I normally struggle with books of short stories as there just isn't enough time for me to get invested and understand the characters but Blake is magic. I can somehow understand and feel more connection to characters in her short stories than I can to other authors characters in entire novels.

And the narrators...they were all different for each story (a few narrators had a few stories they read) but totally amazing and just right for their respective stories. I think having different narrators also really helped with the breaks between the different stories; this is the way a book of short stories needs to be done. And Alex Palting ("Monsterlove" and "Chaos Theory") needs to win awards. I don't think I would have liked/appreciated/understood "Monsterlove" (or at least not as much) if I read it.

I will always be enraptured by this authors work. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted audio.

4 ⭐️
This was my first Olivie Blake and I enjoyed this so much!!☺️ it was definitely very different than what I’m used to reading (I have never read short stories before) but I really enjoyed that each story had a touch of magic, fairy tales, and super captivating detail!!😍
I will say though, that I did find myself losing interest on some of the stories! My favorite one out of all was the very first story (The Wish Bridge) and I really really wished it was longer!!!😭🩷
I appreciated the narrators as well, I think for me they are the ones who made really brought the stories to life! 😍

Thank you so much MacMillian Audio and NetGalley for the ARC!

As someone who is not typically drawn to short stories, I completely fell in love with this book. These stories will have you falling in love with the characters on the page and questioning the truths of life itself. A book of absolutely magical stories full of yearning and wishes, bloodlust and seduction, strangeness and otherworldly connections. Explore magical bridges and witches, vampires and alternate realities, unfulfilled wishes and happy endings, young love and old rivalries. Olivie Blake simply does no wrong, and her short stories are as incredible as you would expect.

Januaries is a compilation of short stories divided into four parts, each representing a different season. Like many collections of short stories, I found that I liked some of these more than others.

Januaries captivated me from the beginning. Starting with stories about wish granting and transitioning into supernatural beings, bargains, and fairy tales, it's enchanting. There's a distinct sense to each story. You can feel each of them brought to life in front of our eyes. And there's something for everyone here. I could write mini love letters to each stories. Like a collection, this feels eclectic and prismatic.

The fact that the audiobook has a whole cast of narrators, Alexandra Palting, Daniel Henning, David Monteith, Ferdelle Capistrano, Olivie Blake, Stephanie Németh-Parker & Steve West feels like such a gift. Not only is that incredibly fun, but it means that each story quickly establishes itself. And I love when short story collections have multicast narration! It's the icing on the cake of what is already a phenomenal story.

I always find it so interesting to find an anthology or collection of additional works by an author I admire. I feel as though it allows me to glimpse beyond the curtain into their writing process and see a bit more into how their mind works on a smaller scale, rather than in just the larger novels which hit the shelves.

When we, as readers, get our hands on a novel, the author is focused on one particular idea and is able to more fully explore that idea. They are able to allow the characters within to develop and are able to create various plot points and twists and turns. In these short stories and novellas, the author is given a much more limited window and is often brain dumping an idea. Sometimes it could turn into more and sometimes it will remain the nugget of what it is.

I think each is unique and shows she has a lot of great thoughts. Not all of them are perfect but I don't think all of them are meant to be. Writers explore a lot of voices, styles, situations, etc, in order to find what works for them and what they are trying to convey. This was a great example of showing a collection of works which make up part of a writer's body of works and how their style can change as they explore the boundaries of how they want to convey a story to their reader.

It was incredibly well done and I am so thankful I got the chance to feel like I was sitting at Olivie Blake's desk, rifling through pages, reading bits and pieces of works she has not yet shared before.

I will always be here for anything written by Blake. Her creativity, choice of theme, dialogue, turn of phrases, and characters are always interesting and engrossing.

This collection is a prime example. The very first story roped me in and kept me interested til the very end. We get stories spanning time and universes, exploring love, desires, and existence. There is definitely a story here for everyone. Unexpected yet enjoyed were the stories that gave multi-perspectives across time and with shocking interactions.

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ 5 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

I will read everything and anything Olivie Blake writes, which even means reading a collection of short stories because it's not typically a go to for me but I really enjoyed these.

In this collection you’ll find witches, fairytales, multiverses, and life lessons. I found many of the them captivating, super weird, moving, or charming. Even a set of wedding vows. It's divided by season and the stories range from sci-fi to fantasy to speculative or metaphorical. Sometimes drawing on mythology or folklore, sometimes poetic, often tragic. Covering topics such as relationships, motherhood, mental health, power and more.

ೃ⁀➷ ★ ₊ ˚ If you love lyrical, witty prose with whimsy and all the magic- highly recommend.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ I received the audio arc and the cast of narrators are absolutely fantastic - Olivie Blake aka Alexene Farol Follmuth even offers her own narration which was amazing.

ೃ⁀➷ ★ ₊ ˚ Perfect for spooky season and available right around the corner on 10/15/24 - highly recommend for when you need something extraordinary - but with minimal pages.

✨ Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio (BFF's 😘) for the advanced audio copy - all thoughts are my own. ✨

Januaries is a collection of short stories, split into four sections, one for each season. As with many short story collections, I enjoyed some of these more than others. Overall, taking my rating of each story and averaging it out, my rating for the collection as a whole is , which is sadly lower than I expected. I think I don't understand why each story fit into each season, and why it was split into seasons in the first place. I would still recommend this book for those who already like Blake's writing style, or those who want to get a glimpse of what she is capable of.

There is a conversation about human nature in all of these stories, but I think for my favorites those meditations were focused on betrayal, which made them more interesting than others. For the ones I didn't enjoy as much, I found I either didn't get the meaning or the story itself was too boring to finish to get the meaning. There were some stories as well that were just fine. The kind of story where you listen, enjoy it, but know you won't think about it again once it's finished.

The audiobook has different narrators for each story. Like the stories themselves, some were better than others, but all were easy to listen to and understand, even at a higher speed.

4.25⭐
This is a collection of short stories and novelas grouped by season: stories of love, magic, and betrayal. As with any collection, some will probably resonate more with you than others, but I think the themes are fairly week grouped and quality across the board is pretty high. Some get pretty dark; being familiar with Olivie's Atlas trilogy, I wasn't surprised. The cast of narrators do an excellent job and I really enjoyed them all. Stories I particularly enjoyed: The Wish Bridge, Sucker for Pain, The Animation Games, Monsterlove, How to Disturb Friends and Curse People, Sous Vide, and Chaos Theory. The narrator for Monsterlove and Chaos Theory (Alex Palting) was a level above in terms of emoting.

Thank you to Macmillian Audio for an ALC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book is due to be published 10/15/24. I'll be posting to Instagram shortly before the publish date.

Picture Neil Gaimen and Stephen King sitting around chatting about story ideas and you might wind up with a book like this. I put Gaimen first as the prose is a bit lyrical.

This author is new to me, but I will definitely be looking for more of her work. Every single narrator in this book is top-notch, and I will be on the lookout for more of them as well.

I will say this is a book I would want to have on my bookshelf in hard copy form for years to enjoy. I did find it a bit difficult to follow in audiobook form, as is usually the case with collections of short stories. A bit more focus is required as the stories change pretty frequently, so just know going in to keep to more mindless tasks while listening to this one. It is absolutely worth it to own the audio as well.

Thanks to Netgalley for the audio ARC

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.

Januaries, stories of love magic in betrayal by Olivie Blake. This is a great book for anyone who loves short stories fairytales fantasy and fiction stories with just a bit of the whimsical.
These stories Although short or multifaceted and have plot and subplots that were well written which totally blew my mind. Usually in an anthology you really don’t get stories with such well developed characters but you certainly do with this book. I listen to the audiobook that has a multicast narration Who in my opinion all did a fabulous job. I don’t know his name but I especially liked the narrator who did the story about the guy who gets his potential life earnings while he’s still young and doesn’t know what to do with it and at the same time falls in love with the agoraphobic Who lives downstairs he also did other stories in the book and there’s a lot of stories. I love books like this and wish I could do a better job at giving brief summaries for the stories but their just so versatile and multifaceted it’s hard to do The stories justice, just know if you love different type magical stories and love to see where one authors imagination can take them you would definitely enjoy this book I absolutely did. #NetGalley,#McMillan audio, #OlivieBlake, #Januaries

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.

It’s hard to rate when it’s a compilation, but in general I enjoyed this. It’s weird, it’s at times poetic, and captivating. Won’t be for everyone though. I think audio is definitely the way to go- the short form really shines with multiple narrators’ performances.

Olivie Blake returns with a fantastic short story collection that ranges from fantasy to fairytales, and even a set of wedding vows. The audio is exceptionally done and I was thrilled to hear Olivie also record a story. If you're looking for Blake's classical witty writing and humor, then you'll find them in here for sure. Well done and incredible story-craft, Olivie really shines in the short-form.

Thank you for the audio to net galley and publishers!