I read books and I know things: September 2026

A new Hanna Park novel is always something I look forward to, so of course I couldn't resist The Midnight Carousel.

This time, we're heading to Forest Falls for Christmas, where romance comes with a generous helping of magic and even the carousel horses don't necessarily stay where they're put!

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.

A Five Star Read

As someone who loves Hanna Park's novels, I was very excited to read The Midnight Carousel. This is a little different from the books I have previously read by her, being a clean Christmas romance, but the magic and imagination I love about her writing are still very much there.

Belle and Hudson's romance is sweet and slow to develop. The chemistry between them comes from all those glances, awkward moments and things left unsaid, and I enjoyed watching their feelings gradually become impossible to ignore.

Of course, this being Hanna Park, nothing is quite as straightforward as it first seems. There is some wonderfully unexpected magic, a mystery surrounding Hudson and even a carousel horse that seems to take itself off for the occasional nightly jaunt. The story keeps delivering little surprises, and I loved seeing where Hanna Park's imagination would take me next.

I think this would be a lovely choice for readers who enjoy a little magic with their Christmas romance. It certainly felt different from the Hanna Park novels I have read before, but I enjoyed seeing this lighter, more playful side to her writing.

Another five-star read from Hanna Park. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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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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