Book Review - The Midnight Carousel (A Forest Falls Frolic) by Hanna Park

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

The Midnight Carousel is the sort of Christmas romance that quickly makes you wish you could spend a few days in Forest Falls yourself. Preferably at the Pretty River Inn, with plenty of snow outside and no responsibilities whatsoever.

I really liked Belle. She is used to being the person who keeps everything running smoothly, which makes it rather amusing that Hudson can throw her completely off balance without really doing anything at all. Their attraction is there from the beginning, but Hanna Park lets the relationship take its time, and I enjoyed all the awkwardness and almost-moments that came with it.

Hudson was the character who interested me most. There is clearly something unusual about him, although I wasn't expecting his story to take the direction it did. The magic becomes a much bigger part of the book than I initially expected, and I loved some of the wonderfully odd things that begin happening around Forest Falls. The wandering carousel horse was a particular favourite.

There is a lot of humour in the book as well. Belle and Hudson can be very funny together, and the people around them are not exactly inclined to mind their own business when it comes to their romance.

What started out feeling like a cosy Christmas love story turned into something much more imaginative. It is still romantic and festive, but the magic gives it a personality of its own.

A really enjoyable read and one that was a little different from the Christmas romances I usually pick up.

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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.

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