The Midnight Carousel
(A Forest Falls Frolic)
By Hanna Park
Publisher: Baisong Press
Print Length: 197 Pages
Genre: Romance
Belle Stanhope had plans. Good plans. Practical plans.
None of them involved Hudson Carver.
The florist with the crooked smile had become a distraction she neither wanted nor could avoid. Which was inconvenient, considering the Pretty River Inn and the upcoming bachelor auction left little room for distractions.
For years, Hudson had been content with the life he'd built beneath Christmas Mountain. His flower shop, his workshop, and the friends who had become family were more than he'd ever expected. Then he met Belle Stanhope.
As Christmas approaches, the carousel's calliope sings off-key, and the old magic he'd left behind stirs once more. The life he'd built and the life he wants are no longer the same.
In Forest Falls, wishes have a way of finding the people who need them most.
Book Review - Five Stars
Well, that was not the Christmas story I thought I was reading when I started it! But then, that is Hanna Park for you. Everything starts out perfectly normal and then, before you know it, you're wondering how on earth you ended up here.
For the first part of The Midnight Carousel, I was happily caught up in Belle and Hudson and wondering how two people could so obviously fancy each other and still manage to make absolutely no progress. I thought I knew where the story was heading. I did not.
I really loved Belle. There were times when she was so determined to be sensible that she made everything ten times harder for herself, and I recognised a bit of myself in that. She also made me laugh because she can deal with pretty much anything until her feelings get involved. Then all bets are off.
Hudson had me curious from quite early on. I knew something wasn't adding up, but what I had imagined was nowhere near what Hanna Park eventually gave me. That was probably the biggest surprise of the book. It suddenly changed what I thought I was reading, and I remember actually stopping for a second and thinking, wait... WHAT?
And things only get stranger from there.
I don't want to say much more because this is one of those books where half the enjoyment is reaching those moments for yourself. I will say that I loved how completely Hanna Park commits to the magical side once the story gets there. There are some brilliant ideas in this book, and I don't think I will be able to look at an old-fashioned carousel quite the same way again.
I finished The Midnight Carousel feeling as though I had been somewhere for a while rather than simply read about it. And yes, I would go to Forest Falls for Christmas tomorrow.
Would I ride this particular carousel? Absolutely.
Although maybe not at night...
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bOBpkA
Hanna Park
I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.
I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!
In the beginning, there was an empty page.
I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.hannapark.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannaparkwrites/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hanna.park.1485537
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hannaparkauthor.bsky.social
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/hanna-park
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Hanna-Park/author/B0999S2RKX
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21418698.Hanna_Park
A huge thank you for this lovely five-star review of The Midnight Carousel. Reviews take time and care, and we really appreciate everything you've done to support Hanna and the tour. ❤️
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