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

Put Christmas, romance and a mysterious carousel together and, really, I never stood a chance.

Add a handsome florist who thinks hiding behind a poinsettia is a legitimate romantic strategy, a judgemental cat and some distinctly suspicious goings-on, and I was sold.

So, did The Midnight Carousel live up to expectations?
Oh yes.

Scroll down to read my five-star review...

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.

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Oh look, a nice cosy Christmas romance (in which the local florist is hiding something, carousel music is behaving suspiciously, an old house appears to have opinions, and one woman is about to discover that denying you fancy someone becomes considerably harder when the entire town has already noticed).

The Midnight Carousel is funny, romantic, wonderfully Christmassy and just strange enough to make you wonder what on earth is actually going on in Forest Falls.

Belle Stanhope manages the Pretty River Inn, which means she is extremely good at organising other people.

Guests? Fine.

Staff? Fine.

Christmas events involving half the town? Absolutely fine.

Her own love life?

Less fine.

Particularly when Hudson Carver is involved.

Hudson is the local florist. He is handsome, kind, quiet and annoyingly good at making himself useful. He also seems to have perfected the art of looking at Belle as though he would very much like to say something and then deciding, at the last possible moment, that perhaps he won't.

This happens a lot.

Belle isn't much better.

She spends an impressive amount of time insisting that there is absolutely nothing going on while simultaneously noticing Hudson's eyes, hands, sweaters, forearms and general proximity.

She also becomes significantly less coordinated whenever he is nearby.

Fortunately, Hudson is very good at catching her.

Which is convenient.

Their romance is one of those deliciously frustrating ones where everybody knows what is happening except the two people actually involved.

Although, to be fair, I think they know too.

They are simply committed to making things difficult.

Hudson's approach is particularly impressive. At one point, Belle reminds him that he hid behind a poinsettia for two weeks.

He insists this was strategic.

Reader, it was not strategic.

Meanwhile, Forest Falls is busy being the sort of Christmas town that makes you want to pack a suitcase immediately.

There are snowy streets, twinkling lights, skating, Christmas trees, an old-fashioned inn, a carousel and enough festive charm to make even the most determined Christmas cynic reconsider their position.

Except something isn't quite right.

There are odd sounds.

Strange moments.

People who clearly know more than they are saying.

And a carousel that perhaps deserves slightly closer supervision.

Belle notices.

Hudson definitely notices.

Hudson would rather not discuss it.

This becomes increasingly inconvenient.

Thankfully, there are plenty of people around to make sure neither Belle nor Hudson is allowed to brood in peace.

Nana Iris was an absolute joy. She has reached that glorious stage of life where subtlety is entirely optional, particularly when it comes to Belle's romantic prospects.

JoJo isn't much better.

Aredhel, meanwhile, has the wonderful ability to make even the most peculiar situation sound as though everyone else is being unreasonable for finding it peculiar.

Then there is Mistletoe the cat, who quite rightly judges everybody.

But it was Belle and Hudson who kept me turning the pages.

Their relationship is funny, tender and painfully slow in exactly the right way. There are lingering looks, accidental touches, deliberate touches pretending to be accidental, walks through the snow and enough almost-moments to make you want to climb into the book and give them both a firm talking-to.

And then there is the bachelor auction.

I shall say very little about this because it deserves to be experienced without warning.

I will merely say that Belle discovers some interesting things about herself.

Common sense is not among them.

Beneath all the comedy and Christmas sparkle, though, there is a lovely story about loneliness, belonging and what it really means to find somewhere that feels like home.

That was the part I wasn't expecting to affect me quite as much as it did.

The Midnight Carousel made me laugh, made me impatient with two fictional people who desperately needed to sort themselves out, and made me wish Forest Falls existed.

Warm, magical, romantic and gloriously festive.

Five stars.

And I am still not accepting that hiding behind a poinsettia counts as a strategy.

***

If you are looking for an xmas fix, or know someone who would love to find a copy of Hanna's book under the tree you can pursches your copy over on  The 'Zon!

***

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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Book Club Read for August: Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory

August's book club read was Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory. I have read a lot of Gregory's book, although after her awful portrayal of Henry VII in The White Princess I have avoided her, but alas our bookclub is a democracy and so Boleyn Traitor was the choice of the month and actually I was throughly impressed with it. Read my review below.

She ​rose as a favourite. Will she fall as a traitor?

In the dazzling, dangerous world of the Tudor Court, nothing is more powerful than a secret – or more deadly.

Jane Boleyn has mastered many masks: loving wife, devoted sister, and obedient spy.

But as the king's rule advances into tyranny, Jane must decide: keep playing her part, or use the only power she really has – her voice.

Philippa Gregory brings the Boleyn traitor into the light in an explosive story of one woman’s survival in the treacherous heart of the Tudor court.

 

At this point, I have read so many books about the Tudors that I really ought to be entitled to some sort of loyalty card. Read ten books about Henry VIII, get a free trip to the Tower. Collect all six wives and receive a complimentary execution.

So when I picked up Philippa Gregory’s Boleyn Traitor, I thought I knew exactly what I was getting. Henry would marry someone. Henry would become disappointed with someone. Thomas Cromwell would know absolutely everything despite apparently never leaving his desk. Someone would say something they really shouldn't, and before long the Tower would be preparing another room.

And yet, Gregory still managed to have me completely hooked.

This time, the woman standing in the middle of all the Tudor madness is Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, and quite frankly, this woman deserved danger money.

Jane has not exactly enjoyed the best press over the last five hundred years. Wife of George Boleyn, sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and eventually executed alongside Catherine Howard, she has frequently been portrayed as the spiteful wife whose evidence helped send George and Anne to their deaths.

Gregory takes that version of Jane, picks it up, gives it a good shake and asks whether we might have got her completely wrong.

Her Jane loves George. She is close to Anne. She is also intelligent, educated, ambitious and fascinated by the workings of the court. Unfortunately, she discovers fairly early on that being clever does not necessarily prevent you from doing something spectacularly stupid, and an attempt to help Anne rid herself of one of Henry’s mistresses ends with Jane being banished from court.

Not ideal when your entire life revolves around being at court.

Fortunately — although with hindsight perhaps “fortunately” is doing quite a lot of work here — Thomas Cromwell helps her return.

And this is where the book became particularly interesting for me.

Cromwell recognises that Jane is extremely useful. She is inside the queen’s rooms, people talk in front of her and she notices things. Jane therefore becomes one of his informants, passing information to him and gradually becoming very good at playing a game in which getting something wrong can have considerably worse consequences than being unfollowed on Instagram.

Their relationship was one of my favourite parts of the novel. There is a real meeting of minds between them. Jane admires Cromwell, learns from him and becomes increasingly confident in her own political abilities.

Which is useful, because Henry VIII is becoming steadily more terrifying.

We all know what happens to Anne and George Boleyn, so there should be absolutely no tension whatsoever.

There is loads.

I knew Anne wasn't suddenly going to climb over the palace wall, grab George and disappear to France.

I still wanted her to.

Gregory’s portrayal of the downfall of the Boleyns is particularly effective because Jane is trapped right beside it. She knows how the court works, but even she cannot stop the machinery once it begins moving. Accusations become facts because Henry needs them to be facts, and people who were bowing to Anne yesterday are suddenly behaving as though they have never heard of her.

Tudor court politics really was the ultimate unfriending.

Somehow Jane survives.

Then comes Jane Seymour.

Jane survives her too.

Then Anne of Cleves arrives, and this was one of my favourite sections of the book because by now Jane is no longer merely watching history happen. She has become extremely good at navigating it.

Henry doesn't want Anne.

This is a problem.

Mostly for Anne.

Jane helps her understand that when Henry VIII offers you an annulment, several houses and the opportunity to remain in possession of your head, this is probably not the moment to insist upon your marital rights.

Anne takes the deal.

Excellent decision, Anne.

Frankly, she may be the only person in the entire Tudor court who looks at the situation sensibly and thinks, Do you know what? I'll take the property.

Cromwell isn't so lucky, and his downfall changes everything for Jane. She has lost the man who understood how useful she was and, more importantly, the man who understood the rules of the increasingly dangerous game they were playing.

And then along comes Catherine Howard.

Or Kitty.

Young, pretty, hopelessly inexperienced Kitty.

Oh, Kitty.

No.

Just no.

By this stage Henry is older, increasingly unpredictable and still apparently operating under the assumption that being King of England means reality itself should rearrange itself according to his wishes.

Kitty, meanwhile, falls for Thomas Culpeper.

Jane helps them.

JANE.

YOU HAVE SURVIVED ANNE BOLEYN.

YOU HAVE SURVIVED GEORGE.

YOU HAVE SURVIVED CROMWELL.

YOU HAVE WATCHED HENRY DISPOSE OF WIFE AFTER WIFE.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

I think this is where Gregory’s version of Jane becomes particularly interesting, because she doesn't suddenly turn stupid. Jane knows the danger. She has spent years understanding the court and surviving it. But she has also become confident in her ability to manage situations, keep secrets and make things happen behind the scenes.

Perhaps a little too confident.

And watching someone who has been so extraordinarily good at surviving make the decision that will eventually destroy her is painful.

I still wanted to confiscate Kitty.

Possibly put her in Anne of Cleves's house.

Anne would sort her out.

One of the things I enjoyed most about Boleyn Traitor is that Gregory doesn't simply make Jane a misunderstood saint. She is ambitious. She likes being close to power. She enjoys being useful. She spies, lies and manoeuvres when she needs to, and sometimes she makes decisions that had me staring at the page wondering how a woman this clever could possibly think this was going to end well.

But that makes her far more believable.

The Tudor court itself feels almost like another character. It is magnificent, glamorous and completely ridiculous. There are clothes, ceremonies, flirting, dancing, elaborate rules of courtly love and endless performances, while underneath it all everyone is watching everyone else and desperately trying not to become tomorrow’s treason charge.

Imagine spending your working day wondering whether the king's expression at breakfast means you're getting a promotion or being executed.

Suddenly my inbox doesn't seem so bad.

What Gregory does particularly well is show how Jane changes as the years pass. The woman who initially gets herself banished from court is not quite the same woman who later helps negotiate the extraordinarily delicate situation surrounding Anne of Cleves. She has learned how power works.

The tragedy is that she eventually starts to believe she can control it.

Of course, Boleyn Traitor is historical fiction rather than biography, and Gregory is very deliberately offering her own interpretation of a woman whose reputation has been argued over for centuries. I don't have to believe that this is exactly who Jane Boleyn was to find the possibility fascinating.

And I did.

I absolutely raced through this book. I knew who was going to die. I knew when they were going to die. I knew Henry wasn't suddenly going to discover emotional maturity and suggest everyone sit down and talk through their differences.

None of that mattered.

Gregory made me care anyway.

By the end, I wasn't convinced Jane Boleyn was innocent of every questionable decision she ever made.

I was convinced she deserved to be remembered as considerably more than the woman who supposedly betrayed her husband.

And I am also more convinced than ever that if I ever acquire a time machine, Tudor England is staying firmly off the itinerary.

I bought my copy from Tesco, but you can find your over on Amazon.

Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned historian and novelist. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature at the University of Edinburgh and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff, an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck University of London and she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to literature and to charity. Her novels have been adapted for stage and screen and in 2023 she published her groundbreaking history book, Normal Women - 900 Years of Making History, which was also released as a podcast, a teen edition and a series for young children.

Marie Conner – A Leading Lady by Elle Mott

 

Marie was born a girl. That was only her first mistake, according to her father.

    In an era when daughters and wives are not supposed to be concerned with matters outside the home, Marie is determined to prove him wrong. To do this, she must break down barriers placed on women in society, overcome difficulties that befall her, surpass hardships from the Great Depression, and then face an inevitable relocation.

         Marie steps into her community and into the hearts of many people to give her time and help with their needs. She wants nothing in return other than her father's acceptance as a worthy woman and yet, she gains much in return, even if it is not her father's praise. This is Marie’s story—of a rise from her girlhood angsts to become a leading lady—and much more.

This definitive biography is the empowering true story of one trailblazing woman who, in the mid-1900s in small-town America, changed her community and beyond for the better and forevermore.

Praise for Marie Conner – A Leading Lady:

"I enjoyed the fact that this was a personal story, since Marie was the author's great-grandmother. It was also wonderful to read about a time when women were honored for their charitable work and valued for being caring neighbors. In our age of materialism, we often lose sight of just how meaningful it can be to be part of a caring community. I especially appreciated the inclusion of several excerpts from Marie's articles describing the needs of others. Her willingness to serve was astonishing and inspiring. Those who enjoy reading the histories and personal stories of women, who are far too often overlooked, will enjoy Marie's story."
~ Samantha Wilcoxson, award-winning author of Luminous: The Story of a Radium Girl. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

"A deeply powerful memoir detailing the life of Marie Conner and the struggles she encountered as a woman growing up in a male-dominated society. The level of detail in this story is astonishing; I felt as though I could step right into Marie’s shoes, experiencing her triumphs and setbacks alongside her."
~ Kayla Frederick, bestselling author. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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Elle Mott

Elle Mott is a creative nonfiction author who weaves advocacy and strength into her writing, empowering readers to find their purpose.

“Marie Conner, A Leading Lady" is her third book. She is also the author of “Out of Chaos: A Memoir” and “People Helping People”. 

Her next book, releasing this fall, will be as a contributing co-author to “When Women Talk, Notes From the Future: What I Would Tell My Younger Self”. Her other publications have been featured in literary journals, news magazines, and anthologies.

She has a background working in libraries, both at the college level and, for more than ten years, at the public library in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. While library work is her livelihood, writing is her passion. 

Elle grew up in Oregon and now makes her home in the suburbs of northern Kentucky with two cats and several pet birds.

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Queen Anna ( Stuart Queens Trilogy) by Tony Riches

 Please join me in welcoming back to the blog historical fiction author, Tony Riches. Taking a break from the Tudors, Tony's new book is set during the Stuart era!  

 

A crown won in the eye of a storm. A queen who refuses to be broken...

Princess Anna of Denmark sails for Scotland to marry King James VI, but storms ravage her fleet, igniting a deadly obsession with witchcraft in her new home. Arriving in a strange and paranoid court, Anna finds her new husband’s bed is a treacherous place.

Surrounded by whispering courtiers and shifting alliances, Anna refuses to remain a passive pawn. When the court takes her children to raise them away from her, the young queen draws her line in the sand. 

From the windswept castles of Scotland to the glittering, dangerous English court, Anna is restored to her rightful place in history.

If you are like me and would like to buy a copy of this book you can find it over on Amazon, and the best news ever, you can read it on #KindleUnlimited!

Tony Riches

Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of historical fiction. He lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the early Tudors. As well as his Elizabethan series, Tony’s historical fiction novels include the best-selling Tudor trilogy and his Elizabethan series. 

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