Grow Your Own Optimist!: A Witch Way Anthology

Witch Way Anthology #2

by Olivie Blake

From the pages of Witch Way Magazine comes a new collection of stories by longtime fiction contributor Olivie Blake, including one never before seen short story. Often romantic, occasionally satirical, and always unexpected, these surprising tales of demons, devil's advocates, dystopia, and dating remind us that there is magic to be found in dark places.



OLIVIE BLAKE is the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six and several other books, including the Witch Way anthology The Answer You are Looking For is Yes and the novella La Petite Mort. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, goblin prince/toddler, and rescue pit bull

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Romance, Fiction, Social Commentary, Humor

380 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2023

About the author

Olivie Blake is the pseudonym of Alexene Farol Follmuth, a lover and writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting complexities of life and love.
​
Olivie has penned several indie SFF projects, including the webtoon Clara and the Devil with illustrator Little Chmura and the viral Atlas series. As Follmuth, her young adult rom-com My Mechanical Romance releases May 2022.

Olivie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and new baby, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull.

Reviews

[because_she_reads (Mira Jade) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was sadly less exciting than the first one!! Most of the stories fell flat for me.

The two I really enjoyed was the first one with the reality show and the once upon a time in suburbia!!!

Those two really captured my attention, the rest were hard to get into and I felt myself just flying past them without really getting into it!

[catie z · Rating 5 out of 5]

baller as per usual from my bff. much more philosophical than taylfiy but beautiful and witty nonetheless.

[marilynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

olivie when is the full murder documentary style book coming? it's a NEED that was so good

[⋆ sami ⋆]

olivie blake never misses. so excited for this.

[Jenna M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demonic possession, falling in love via chain email replies? The collection has it all and i ATE IT UP.

[Lauren Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this. In the way I like a lot of short story collections: that is to say I don’t necessarily understand them all, but there’s enough about them to keep me reading. Thought provoking and curious.

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5

I have to preface this to say I will devour anything Olivie Blake writes as it’s beautiful, riveting, and extremely humane and relatable.
Sadly, I borrowed this book from BorrowBox and returned it before realising I didn’t note down the story names. And now I can’t find them anywhere. So you’ll just have to bear with my bad descriptions.

Story one: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Imagine Ben Elton’s Dead Famous, but it’s a cooking show in the pandemic and there seem to be witchy gaslighting going on.

In the end, there's little difference between a cinematic apocalypse and a simple matter of preventative social isolation.

Story two: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was like Netflix’s The Good Place.

Elaine has a business card. It reads Elaine Estrada, Devil's Advocate. People find it exceedingly amusing when she puts it in for free lunch raflles at nearby delis and cafes, though the supplicants who come to her office clutching it in hand feel differently. Mr. Down was correct that they are typically very upset, and there is a fair amount of teeth gnashing. Ultimately, though, the job is very simple.

”Just natural curiosity.
It's what we do, you know, as humans? Occasionally we inconvenience ourselves by thinking about why we exist."

Story three:
This low-key reminded me of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I know it seems a bit problematic for me to say things like I'm only dating Will for access to the demon who lives in his body, but is it really all that different from the men who've only been with me for sex?

Story four: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was really sweet. Think of it as a more sweet, relatable, technology-possible Sally Rooney book.

Like, the only reason to exist is other people, right? Anything else is just capitalism or trying not to get eaten by bears. But it's a gamble, because for every person who brings something to your life there's probably someone else who takes something from it. And like, how do you make sure it's not a shitty gamble. That's the whole thing.

Story five: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

”There's a slim but unignorable possibility that you may be courted by a spirit representing Death.”

[Tessa Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!
Enjoyed the first Witch Way book *slightly* more, but the first two stories on my ranking were TOP TIER.

1. grow your own optimist
2. toxic
3. love in the time of dystopia
4. the devils advocate
5. once upon a time in suburbia
6. geoff and the maiden

[laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

sometimes all a girl needs is a witchy collection of short stories to #livelovelaugh

[sofiaisreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite author <3 no one can tell stories that resonate with me as much as all of olivie blake’s books do. there’s just something special found between the pages

[Thea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[kt · Rating 2 out of 5]

sadly, these were just missing the charm of her previous short stories. didn't really connect with any characters in particular.

[Darian · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it’s been awhile since I read the first Witch Way Anthology collection, I do think I prefer this collection of short stories to the last.

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olivie Blake's writing shines best when she has a smaller word count

[Katie Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally believe that the shorter a short story is, the better it is. The first story was kind of interminable for me - "Love in the Time of Dystopia" seemed to be focused on telling the reader that it would definitely be worth reading to the end but didn't pull me in with escalating tension as the situation deteriorated around the characters. Really glad I stuck with it because "Geoff and the Maiden" was fantastic!

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was sent to me by Witch Way Publishing, and so I went into this book pretty blind. I was so pleasantly surprised by this compilation of short stories eloquently written by Olivie Blake throughout the pandemic. Elements of love and witchcraft throughout the pages, with each story getting better in my opinion. Unique plots, interesting characters and told impeccably. “Love was a side effect of grief”
Very interested in reading more of Witch Way’s Anthology’s!!

[Alecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olivie Blake is always worth a read. I liked the first Witch Way anthology just a smidge better, but this was still pretty solid.

Love in the Time of Dystopia, 5/5: The Craft meets Big Brother during quarantine! Funny and original, my favorite of this collection.

The Devil’s Advocate, 3/5: Interesting concept about a lawyer reviewing contracts for those who have sold their souls. Slow going but the ending saves it.

Once Upon a Time in Suburbia, 4/5: True crime meets a modern day witch hunt. A little predictable but well written and intriguing.

Toxic, 3/5: A woman falls in love with a demon possessing her hookup. It was an interesting idea but it just didn't capture my imagination.

Grow Your Own Optimist!, 1/5: This story was written in epistolary format through emails and text messages. I didn't even finish the first section because it was so choppy and hard to read- maybe it was easier in magazine print format with different color fonts, etc.

Geoff and the Maiden, 4/5: A lovely meditation on life and death.

[jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

so much fun!! i clearly favored two stories over the rest, but each one is intriguing in its own right!

Love in the Time of Dystopia = 4
The Devil’s Advocate = 4
Once Upon a Time in Suburbia = 5
Toxic = 4
Grow Your Own Optimist! = 5
Geoff and the Maiden = 3

[Fernanda (ivyfer_isreading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olivie Blake accomplished what no one else could: a short stories collection where every single story is good and has the perfect length.
I loved it, the first of the genre I can genuinely say I like 100% of the book.

[kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

the range olivie has is incredible!!

love in the time of dystopia- 4.5 stars
the devils advocate- 4 stars
once upon a time in suburbia- 5 stars
toxic- 4.5 stars
grow your own optimist- 5 stars
geoff and the maiden- 3 stars

[amirasusu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8??? Thoughts to come bc it’s almost midnight and I have a stats tutorial tomorrow

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this!! Hated the way my library ebook system ended up breaking the formatting of some areas

[chloecanread · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will devour everything Olivie Blake writes. I enjoyed this, tried to savour it as much as possible. Lovely stories.

[Axelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witchy novellas bind up, my fav one was about a girl getting entangled with a demon that is hosted by a very below average man

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

extreme five stars.
this book made me feel so much

[AMI ☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

skipped two stories but the rest i rly enjoyed. might return later :)

[Fleur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good short story collection 😍 what a dream!

[Sophia✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me to all the stories: and you get a star, and you get a star, and you...

[Samantha Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!

[L · Rating 1 out of 5]

Other than the demon story, which had such a muddy ending, it was hard to keep interested in this. It was a long slog trying to read this.