Cover Image: Carousel Dreams

Carousel Dreams

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Member Reviews

#Carousel Dreams is:
*4 Historical stories & Carousel's
*4 Stories of Love
Short stories are wonderful when your out and about. Author's #Cynthia Hickey, # Patty Smith Hall, # Teresa Ives, and #Susanne Dietze will entertain you with romance. And the novels are short but sweet.🌟🐾🐾

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I have always adored carousels, so when I saw the name and cover of this book - I had to check it out!

Susanne Dietze, Patty Smith Hall, Cynthia Hickey, and Teresa Ives Lilly all four wrote beautiful and thrilling historical fiction stories, each centered around a different carousel.

Each tale was sweet, well-written, enjoyable, and quick read. I relished traveling back in time to experience each of these carousel inspired stories.

I would definitely recommend this novella collection and will be watching for other titles by these four talented authors.

***Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the digital ARC of this book. All views and opinions expressed in this review are my own.***

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4⭐️
*Sophie’s Hope by Cynthia Hickey
*The Art of Romance by Patty Smith Hall
*Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lilly
*The Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietz

These were all great, stress free reads that reminded me of summer and romance. I loved and still love a carousel. These stories spoke of God and his guidance and sweet, precious romances.
I highly recommend this book for a Christian audience that loves clean romance.

This was a NETGALLEY ARC from the publisher and I’ve given an honest review.

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Another great collection of stories from this publisher. Each of these talented authors have their own styles; yet the individual stories fit together very well. The stories are shorter, but they don’t feel rushed. A good book to have for those times you want something to read that’s shorter, inspiring, and entertaining.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

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Carousel Dreams is a collection of 4 Historical Stories. These stories include:
Sophia’s Hope by Cynthia Hickey
The Art of Romance by Patty Smith Hall
Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lilly
The Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietz
I enjoyed this collection. My favorite of the four is Cynthia Hickey's Sophia's Hope. I give this collection four stars.

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I'm very much interested about this story. The first one seems cute but for personal reasons, my review might be late because I don't have time to read this August. I will definitely read this when I'm free and post it to my Goodreads account. Thank you for giving me an ARC of this book. I'll give this a reasonable rating and will update it once I have time to read.

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I loved this book! Besides the fact that each story is a “feel good” story, the historical references are great as well. You will enjoy how the authors go straight to the characters and you see who’s who quickly. It’s an easy read and really quite fun!

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Since I love carousels so much, when I saw Carousel Dreams by Susanne Dietze, Patty Smith Hall, Cynthia Hickey, and Teresa Ives Lilly, I just knew I had to read it! Carousel Dreams is a collection of four different historical fiction stories, each by a different author with a different historical carousel as part of the plot. It was so fun to read about the different settings that these historical carousels were in. I also really enjoyed learning about the painting of carousels in one of the stories. Each story was sweet and a quick read. I really enjoyed traveling back in time to ride the carousels with the characters. I would recommend this book for people who like novellas, historical romances, and carousels.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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When I saw this book offered for review I couldn't hit the button fast enough. I love this style of book. I am also a lover and collector of all things related to carousels. I loved all of the stories, they are all well written. If you like good clean, Christian romances this book is for you. I loved most of the characters especially tye carousels which are characters themselves.

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Four stories revolving around historic Carousels are included in this collection put out by Barbour Books. From Martha's Vineyard to San Diego, California, these majestic beauties are the sites of romance, and, to some degree, adventure. There are workers at the Carousels, painters of the Carousels, and, most of all, those who just enjoy the Carousels. These are great stories for the reader to escape quarantine without leaving home during this pandemic. My favorites were Sophie's Hope by Cynthia Hickey and Carousel Weddings by Susanne Dietze. They both captured my imagination and kept me in a contented reading space all the way through the stories.

All four of these authors have offered quality writings for this collection and it is well worth the time and money to be able to read them all. I love these kinds of collections because they offer plots that are finished in short time spans with engaging characters and beautiful settings that leave the reader satisfied once the story is done.

Five stars, two thumbs up, and a brass ring from the Carousel of your dreams.

Barbour Books and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Carousel Dreams is a compilation of Four authors works. They are all clean, romantic, Christian stories with a life learning experience! They are all well written and I would recommend them to anyone who has young blossoming adults to include male & female because it pertains to both sexes. I am not in the blush of my youth and I enjoyed them. They are very short reads and that is why they would appeal to the young men and ladies.
Sophia’s Hope by Cynthia Hickey
Sophia Blackwell was a nanny for a wealthy family on Martha’s Vineyard for the summer. Previously, Sophia and her family were part of the wealthy who owned a cottage on the island, but the family experienced financial hardships. This young lady took her new situation with great grace and treated those around her regardless of their station in life as though they were equals. There was one young man , Drew, who was a local who worked on the carousel and in the restaurant and he gave boat tours was striving to improve his financial situation wanted to ask Sophia out, but worried that he would not be good enough. However, Sophia also liked him because of his bearing and the fact that he treated her with respect. There was another man, Theodore who Sophia’s parents were pushing her towards because he was from a affluent family, but he was rude and treated her with disdain and like she should be subservient to him in all matters. In the end, Sophia decided that she would not let her parents choose who her husband should be even though she knew that it was important to take into account their wishes, but marrying for security was wrong. She needed to marry for love and God was guiding her towards the right man.

: Art of Romance by Patty Smith Hall
JT Wells a well renowned artist/painter had a stroke that was being hid by his daughter, Jane and his caretaker Grace. The reason they were hiding the fact he had a stroke is he was commissioned by Charles Looff, to paint one of his famous Carousels!
So, his daughter who has been training under her father for years has been doing all the prepping and the beginning painting on the carousel! Wells has been secretly been saying that he has been doing all the things at night when actually it has been his daughter. However, the father is a very hard taskmaster and does not give praise or encouragement . Jane wants nothing but to strike out on her own and to be acknowledged for her own achievements.
Charles Looff was approached by a family friend to do a newspaper story on the great JT Wells and his work on the carousel. Looff thinks it’s a wonderful idea because it will help increase exposure for when the work is completed and the carousel is opened and they start selling tickets. When Charles takes the request to Wells it is immediately denied by both father and daughter because they cannot let Charles know that the daughter is the one doing all the work. They request again for an assistant to help with the heavy lifting and Charles agreed to hire someone. Well, his friend, the reporter decides to take the position undercover and find out what is going on. The father has a 2nd mini stroke and goes off to have rehab. He eventually writes and tells Charles everything and gives his daughter credit. Thomas, the reporter and Jane fall in love and she is upset he lies about who he is and then he writes an article, but she misunderstands and thinks it’s about her dad and she is super angry. This is why people should communicate. Thomas learns that if you are promised something get it in writing because he was doublecrossed by his editor!! But there is a Happy ending!!! Jane gets credit for her art and Thomas gets his reporting job!!

Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lily

Tamara Brand is pretending to be a rich spoiled debutante, Miss Thelma York. Tamara is Thelma maid and she is doing it because her mother is extremely sick.
Thelma’s dad wants her off for the summer at this hotel area to get her out of the city to keep her from getting into scrapes and out of her dads way.
Tamara is just to stay low and be there to accept wires from her family and so hotel staff can tell her father that his daughter is within the hotel area.
While traveling to the hotel via the train, Blake Conner, a rich bachelor who is pretending to be a carnie running the carousel accidentally hit Miss Brand in the ankle with his suitcase. He knows the real Miss York and so when Miss Brand introduced herself as Miss York, he knew something was up and was determined to find out what her “game/intentions were!
During the course of investigating the two fell in Love, but a third person stepped in to foul up things! A nemesis for Blake, Clarence Viscount who also knew the real Thelma York. He tried to get Tamara arrested for fraud, but Blake was not going to let that happen. Then the real Thelma showed up and was mad because she said Tamara stole Blake and that’s who she was trying to find and here he was where she was supposed to be at and Tamara was a thief. She stole her life and she was pressing charges! Of course she would never get Blake regardless he was already in love! A very clean romance!

Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietz
June Lowell is a typist for a History Museum and it’s not her ideal employment, but she does it in order to pay for her brother Kelly’s college courses and the both of them living expenses. Their parents had passed away and there was no other family that could step in and help.
Kelly had just gotten a job working on the Carousel where he met Evie Howard who he planned to ask out.
June was also enamored with Dr. Martin Howard who was an associate marine zoologist affiliated with the museum and he was Evie’s brother and their parents were also gone and they had one living Aunt.
Evie became involved with Bernard who was a fortune hunter that owned and operated a secret speakeasy!
Mary who was a hostess at the speakeasy was like a house mom to Vincent who was the gang leader who recruited young impressionable boys to clean and to help guide the illegal people to the location of the speakeasy.
Tim was a young boy that Dr. Howard was trying to lure from the gang but was having a hard time because they were threatening to harm his mom.
Bernard apparently got mary pregnant and on the day he was to marry Evie she came forward and it caused all sorts of issues!!
Promises and trying to lie and harm others wii come back to get you later.
This story also has so many other wonderful life experiences for a person to learn that it would ruin it for a person to read it!!

All four of these books have so many wonderful things within them that to list the morals of what you learn and how God can fulfill your heart and life in so many ways!!!

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Can you hear the music, reader? The melody spins in time with the horses, inviting you to step into four carousel dreams sure to entertain and delight with their lighthearted romance and historic ties to, perhaps, the most nostalgic of all carnival rides.

Carousel Dreams is a whirlwind book, bringing together four stories that are unconnected in all respects except one: each features a historic carousel and the couples that are brought together by their connections to it. Each story celebrates love stories that, while not without their difficulties, are pure and true. While reading, I was impressed by each author's ability to set the stage so deftly and craft meaningful story lines. That being said, the stories, with A Carousel Wedding being the exception, left me wanting deeper character development and a richer historical backdrop.

All things considered, Carousel Dreams is the perfect summertime read, lighthearted and inspiring. While the stories could have had more depth, the characters remain real: flawed, hopeful, torn, courageous, and all the more relatable because of it. In its own unique way, each story will encourage readers to take risks, remain faithful, and hold onto hope.

Can you hear the music, reader? Step aboard the carousel, quickly now, before the music fades.

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Carousel Dreams
4 Historical Stories
by Susanne Dietze, Patty Smith Hall, Cynthia Hickey, Teresa Ives Lilly


Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Barbour Books
Christian | Romance
Pub Date 01 Jun 2020



I am reviewing a copy of Carousel Dreams through Barbour Books and Netgalley:



The first story in this four story collection, Sophia’s Hope takes us back in time to 1889, Oak Bluff, Martha’s Vineyard where Sophia Blackwell is living the life of the wealthy, but she remains on the edge of acceptance . Drake Moreland is interested in Sophia but he believes that she’s above his station. Unfortunately a misunderstanding between them nearly destroys their chances at love. Cynthia Hickey draws you in with this story.





The Art of Romance by Cynthia Hickey is the second story in Carousel Dreams. In this story we are transported back to 1895, in Riverside Rhode Island. Just what Thomas West needs is an interview with the artist painting the Crescent Park Carousel. What he finds instead is that his daughter, Jane is hiding secrets. Thomas is desperate to uncover. Jane has to do everything she can to save her ill father’s reputation as well as her heart.






Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lilly takes us to Exposition Park, Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania 1910. For Tamara Brand spending the summer at Expedition Park impersonating her wealthy debutante employee is a dream control, that is until she meets Blake Conner, Blake is a Carnie who runs the Carousel. But Tamara can’t help nor feel that Blake is the type of man she should get to know better the only problem is she’s pretending to be someone she isn’t.






Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietze allows us to travel back in time to 1922, Balboa Park located in San Diego California. June Lowell is a secretary at the Natural History Museum, to her being with scientist Martin Howard is as thrilling as a ride on the carousel by the museum, the problem is Martin and June cannot have a relationship.




I give Carousel Dreams five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

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A sweet set of romances that occur around the turn of the 19th century with beautiful carousels that have starring roles in each love story. My favorite of the four novellas was Sophia's Hope by Cynthia Hickey. I enjoyed reading about Drake's persistence in pursuing Sophia despite the obstacles that stood in the way of their love. This book will appeal to anyone with an appreciation for light-hearted historical Christian fiction. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC for this my honest review.

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I received a ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest reivew.

Sophia’s Hope by Cynthia Hickey

3 stars

The highlight of this story is Hickey’s eye for detail, engrossing the reader in late nineteenth century Martha’s Vineyard, as well as the carousel bit that is the theme for this collection. The romance, while sweet and one of my favorite tropes (a high ranking woman and lower class man), I found the story a bit underwhelming and lacking a ton of substance.

The Art of Romance by Patty Smith Hall

4 stars

Stories where one partner or the other is hiding a secret can be hard to do, but this one is done well, with Jane having good reason for keeping the secret, and there being enough tension and conflict, as well as a believable resolution to said conflict once all was said and done.

Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lilly

5 stars

This one was adorable, with two people from opposite sides of the tracks each pretending to be what they aren’t. I love that, in spite of the barriers, Tamera and Blake were able to find each other and recognize that they were who meant for each other.

The Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietze

4 stars

A sweet story highlighting obligations keeping sweethearts apart, with a well drawn backdrop of Prohibition. It’s not the most memorable story, but I enjoyed seeing how June and Martin overcame the obstacles thrown at them.

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4 sweetly historical stories set in time periods we don't normally see. Really enjoyed these.

Many thanks to the author, the publishers, and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

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Sophia’s Hope by Cynthia Hickey
Unfortunately I could not make myself like this story. It didn’t have much depth, and the characters were a bit annoying and contradictory. 2.5/5 stars

The Art of Romance by Patty Smith Hall
A very sweetly romantic story with powerful themes of devotion and family! The premise of a daughter painting under her father’s name was so interesting, I kept wanting a full length story, not because it wasn’t a satisfying novella but because I didn’t want it to end! 4.5/5 stars

Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lilly
This story was cute but a bit repetitive. There are good lessons the reader will learn and hopefully remember. 3/5 stars

The Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietze
A very interesting story with details about problems during Prohibition, as well as a sweet romance. 4/5 stars

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Carousel Dreams is a collection of four delightful stories by four talented authors set in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The stories feature historical carousels located in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and California. Social class differences, deception, impersonation, and a forbidden work-place relationship paired with romance, humor, and spiritual truths make this an enjoyable, inspiring read. The engaging characters are well-developed and believable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book in e-book form from the publisher via netgalley but am under no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

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i really wanted to love this one but i found myself getting pretty bored by it. tragic i know. but it's all good. one day i'll get there.

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Carousel Dreams is a compilation of four historical stories of carousels that bring people together.
Sophia’s Hope by Cynthia Hickey- Sophia Blackwell is the nanny for the Wesley family and has joined them on vacation to Martha’s Vineyard. Will she find more than a fun ride at the carousel?
The Art of Romance by Patty Smith Hall- Jane Wells is the daughter of a famous carousel painter. Her father has recently suffered a stroke so she is doing the painting now but will their secret be found out by the assistant hired by the carousel owner?
Carousel of Love by Teresa Ives Lilly- Two people are pretending to be someone they are not. Will secrets be kept or will they be exposed at the carousel?
The Carousel Wedding by Susanne Dietz- Is everyone who they say they are or will their secrets destroy relationships?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Each story is unique though each incorporates a carousel as a main attraction. All of the characters are realistic and feel like you could know them. This is for beach or poolside; fun summer experiences. I highly recommend this book and I give it a well-deserved 5 of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

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