This was an incredibly magical standalone fantasy novel. It took me a while to get into it and understand the setting, but once I wrapped my head around everything I thoroughly enjoyed this. I felt this was the perfect blend of mystery and fantasy, which made it perfect for what I like to read. The anguish Ryka goes through when deciding whether to stay at the Fair or go back to her family when the opportunity arose made for a very tense and thrilling finish, and I loved how Hati manages to highlight the value of a found family.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places is a whimsical romantic fantasy featuring Ryka, a former human who is now a 500-some year old immortal timekeeper. Ryka lives inside of a magical fair outside of time where she is charged with repairing corrupted timelines that appear inside of a carousel. I loved the imagery of the fair, the carousel, and the river where time was made. The way the author wrote really did a fantastic job painting a picture of the landscape in my mind. And the idea of "time rot" as a central danger was super intriguing.

This story features a found family of quirky characters, including a sentient book named Quill and a ghost cat named Cillian. I really enjoyed all the unique personalities and I felt each character had something to contribute to the story.

The romance between Ryka and Everest, a time god, was sweet. I could feel the history between them and believed in their love story. It definitely seemed to be a case of "he falls first" with lots of longing, and there were moments I was begging Ryka to just kiss him already.

I really appreciated the demisexuality representation with Ryka. I myself am on the asexual spectrum and it's not something that has enough visibility. However, I felt very sad for Ryka during a scene in the book where she was explaining her sexuality and seemed resigned to making herself fit in with others sexually. Ryka admits she "mostly engaged with men because it was what was expected from relationships" but that she was usually repulsed by sex "counting down the seconds until it would be over". I wish someone had told her that sex isn't owed in a relationship, and she didn't have to engage in sex when she didn't want to.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. I would have liked more about all the time god siblings and their family dynamics. The potential story there is definitely something I would read. But really, any chance to return to this world and all the wonderful characters would be welcome.

Spice Level: 2/5 🌶️ - one multiple page open door scene

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

💫✨ The Carousel of Forgotten Places ✨💫

📖 Bookish Thoughts

A full review will be shared closer to the publication date.

⌛What to Expect
• Cozy Fantasy
• Time Travel
• Found Family
• Magical Fair
• Whimsical Adventure
_ _ _ _

📅 Pub Date: August 25, 2026
Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places has a wonderfully cosy, almost dreamlike quality. A magical fair existing outside the space-time continuum, a quirky found family of ghosts - even a spectral cat! S. Hati builds it all with such warmth that you feel genuinely at home there pretty quickly. The writing is easy and fluid, never bogging you down, which made it the perfect curl-up-under-a-blanket read. There's a whimsy to it that reminded me of those books that just make the world feel a little more magical while you're in them.
The slow-burn romance between Ryka and Everest is perfect. Five hundred years of unresolved tension is a premise that could easily feel overdone, but Hati earns every bit of it, the push and pull feels real and genuinely yearning rather than forced. I loved watching it unfold gradually as the plot picked up around it. If you're looking for a cosy romantasy with a big heart, a light touch, and a romance that actually makes you feel things, this one's a pre-order you won't regret.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places is a cosy, low stakes, romantic fantasy. It’s a wholesome and relatable read that deals with grief and longing in a beautiful way. It’s humorous but also heartbreaking at times.

The story is set in a sentient extradimensional fun fair, a charming setting. We have a 500 year old timekeeper who yearns to go back to her mortal life, an eccentric but kind time god, a group of ghosts that are as similar as they are different. Our characters are imperfect and their flaws are what make them so loveable.

I really liked how the MMC, Everest, actually felt like an immortal time god with his lack of understanding of mortal feelings and attachments before he spent so much time with the FMC, Ryka. He’s eccentric and behaves as you’d expect an immortal to, experiencing time differently and it showing in his actions.

Ryka goes from wanting nothing more than to go back to her mortal like even after 500 years away from it, to being conflicted about it. She’s been so hyper-focused she doesn’t realise how she’s found family with Everest and the ghosts until later on.

The relationship between our MCs if filled with restrained longing and admiration. While we’re in Ryka’s POV, it’s easy to see how much Everest cares for her, the sacrifices he would make to see her happy. Ryka is constantly exasperated with him, but it’s clear to see that she feels the same way about him that he does for her.

We have POC representation with Ryka being of Indian ethnicity, and ghosts hailing from different places before death. Ryka is also demisexual, which is something we rarely see and is much appreciated.

However, for me, this book could’ve easily become a five star read had I not been dropped straight into the plot and the world without any learning curve. It felt jarring to not have the world and backstory set up before the conflict began, and so it took a short while to get comfortable.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the plot line and the growth of our characters, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a cosy but emotional read.

If you are looking for a cozy, low stakes fantasy, this was an absolute gem.

What I Loved:
The Main Characters: Ryka and Everest are fantastic main characters. Their slow burn romance was beautifully paced, and their banter was so good.

A Unique Found Family: I absolutely adored the side characters. The fact that the found family trope is made up of ghosts gave the story such a unique, whimsical twist.

The Cozy Vibes: It’s a wonderfully low stakes whimsical read.

What Missed the Mark:
A Slow Start: My only real critique is the pacing at the very beginning. It definitely has a slower start, and it took a few chapters before the story really found its stride and hooked me.

Overall, it’s a beautiful, whimsical fantasy that I highly recommend it if you love witty banter and supernatural found families!


Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC.

If I could live in any book, it would be this one. A quirky, cozy fair with found family (including a ghost cat, a talking book, and a dragon) and cotton candy in every flavor imaginable? Plus, a comfy library tent filled with floating bookshelves and ladders wrapped in ivy? I'd never want to leave. And our MC, Ryka, gets to share this fair not only with her loving, fiercely loyal, and delightfully odd found family, but also with an attractive immortal time god who she works with to maintain the timeline. As someone who mostly reads sapphic fiction, I generally don't love male love interests - but Everest is absolutely one of the exceptions. I think to sapphic readers, there will be something deeply relatable about a man who has been yearning for centuries but is more than happy to wait patiently for the woman he loves. And exchange flirty banter in the meantime.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places is a heartwarming, humorous adventure with the kind of gentle magic and warmth that comes with being able to always come home no matter where - or when - you go. It's also a book so wholesome and relatable it made me cry (multiple times), as I joined Ryka's journey discovering what and who her home really is. Beautifully written and nostalgic in the best ways, I'd recommend this book to any and all readers that love romantasy, found family, and/or slow-burn romances. (And to any sapphics who, like me, thought they would probably never really appreciate a male love interest).

Thank you to Angry Robot and Netgalley for this eARC.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a fun unique cozy quick read! I loved the premise so simple and easy and follow but also so unique and interesting.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an opportunity for the ARC I thoroughly enjoyed this!

I started "The Carousel of Forgotten Places" after finishing another Mafi book, "Morbid Curiosities," which has excellent pacing and doesn't quit with its plot. In contrast, "The Carousel of Forgotten Places" has the pacing of a cozy fantasy. There is a nice romance, slow burn of course, and also has a unique time travel method that is new to me. There is a found family of sorts and some humorous elements. I had some difficulty getting through the story as the pacing is a bit slower than I prefer. I would encourage anyone who likes the aforementioned elements to give this story a read. Mafi is an excellent writer regardless of the genre.

#TheCarouselofForgottenPlaces #NetGalley #AngryRobot
Thank you to Angry Robot for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

The Carousel of Forgotten Places introduces us to Ryka, a once normal human who is now a 500year old immortal time keeper after making a deal to save her best friend's life. Ryka runs a magical fair that exists outside the space-time continuum with a carousel as its heart. She lives within a community of ghosts, gods and other magical entities. One day unexpectedly, the carousel appears to be deteriorating due to "time rot" and an unknown woman falls out. Ryka and the other magical fair inhabitants have to try and figure out when and where this woman is from by jumping in and out of time, as well as work out how to cure the carousel before it's too late.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places is probably one of the most unique books I've ever read, in the best way. It's such a hard book to explain because I feel like I don't do it justice and have just ended up begging people to read it when it releases. It had such a unique and fascinating take on time travel, especially the magical fair and the carousel elements. I was curious but I will admit to being a little sceptical about how all these elements could work but they did SO well and the author did a wonderful job. There were a couple of elements of the story that were a bit predictable, but honestly I was enjoying the book enough and it was done well enough that this really didn't bother me at all.

The characters were all done really well I thought. They each had their own backstories, personalities and vulnerabilities. Despite the uniqueness of Ryka's situation, I actually found her to be quite relatable in her feelings and frustrations. The other characters too, both main and side, all had the personalities and quirks that often made them memorable. Most also had a level of depth I wouldn't have expected but very much enjoyed. They also had great relationships with each other and it was fun to read the banter. The setting/location also worked really well with the story and felt like in many instances it really tied everything together well.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places is such a wonderful book that really allowed me to escape into another world. I have already recommended this book to people to keep an eye out for upon release and will continue to recommend it!

This was really engaging from start to finish. I would absolutely check out more from this author. I would recommend this one to my followers.

3.75 stars

This was an interesting cozy story. At times, I was having a hard time paying attention to the story. I enjoyed the group of characters from different backgrounds. I found the conversations about Ryka's sexuality to be well-explained and relatable. Overall, this was good but not great. I would recommend it if it sounds interesting to you.

Thank you to NetGalley, S. Hati, and Angry Robot for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

An achingly romantic and tender story, “The Carousel of Forgotten Places” is truly the perfect coming together of beautifully lyrical prose and vulnerable, character-driven narrative in a manner that truly showcases the talents of S. Hati as an author.

From this book’s very first pages, the plot immediately hooks readers into Ryka’s story and the world of the time-hopping carousel. Each scene is incredibly saturated with lush, vivid descriptions of so many of the sights and sounds of the world, allowing for a gradual building of each facet within the fantasy world. It was so easy for me to picture every little detail, whether that be the gilding on the carousel horses or the interior of the archive tent or Calliope’s river dwelling, and I was truly constantly in awe of how these elements were integrated so seamlessly throughout the story. Romantasy can be a difficult balance of the character-driven nature of romance with the plot-driven nature of fantasy, but “The Carousel of Forgotten Places” has accomplished this with ease; Ryka’s emotional character journey is undoubtedly the true heart of the story, yet Hati also manages to weave in a fully-fledged magic system and a rich & multi-faceted alternate dimension. The magic system seems simplistic at first glance with a time jumping protocol that seems straight-forward but as the plot develops further, new layers of magic reveal the true cost of time magic, allowing the tangible stakes of the story to ascend to worrying new heights. In tandem, the mountainous locale of the Fair provides an inviting locale that contrasts sharply with the tension of the story, rooting the story in a cozy atmosphere that grounds the more charged action of the story. Together, these aspects culminate in an expansive magic system and encapsulated world that perfectly pairs with the emotional-driven narrative of Ryka’s story.

On top of this, the bright and memorable cast of characters have my whole heart. From Beam’s youthful vigor to Geneva’s bossy assertiveness to Cillian’s feline antics, I loved the ways in which this little found family was fully materialized from the start of the story. Oftentimes, I feel that I struggle with stories that integrate the building of found family within the plot, which often overwhelms the other plot lines, so I loved this fresh new take on discovering family was right alongside you all along. And at the center of this journey is our main character, Ryka. In Hati’s previous stories, she has consistently demonstrated a masterful skill over world-building and character, but this romantasy elevates her character writing to new heights. With Ryka, Hati exhibits a deftness in risky character-writing, formulating a character who is intensely flawed, yet endearingly relatable in her rational emotional detachment. Ryka’s emotional stakes & motivations are clear from the very first her character appears on page; she is a character that is brimming with regrets of the past, filled with a burning desire to return to the place she once called home and willing to do whatever it took to get there. Alongside these emotions are the early twinges of romantic feelings for the time god that runs the carousel, Everest, feelings that she is afraid to dwell on for fear of potential emotional hurt. With all these heavy emotions brewing inside her person, Ryka’s mistakes become leaden with far heavier emotional & physical risks, often resulting in choices & interpersonal conflict that paint her in potentially unlikeable lights. Yet, it is these flaws, these misguided intricacies, these moments of hesitancy and fear, that allow Ryka to remain wholly human despite her near immortal life span. Despite her circumstances being fantastical & highly specific to her situation, the full gamut of emotions she feels are still easily translatable into emotions that are the core nature of human psyche. In this manner, Ryka blossoms into a multi-faceted, heavily nuanced character, who’s character journey will bring tearful joy to all readers.

Finally, as a direct result of the skillful characterization of Ryka, the romantic payout of her relationship with Everest feels far more earned, on a variety of levels. Her character development is in direct synchrony with her romance with Everest, in a manner that allows both these plot lines to bolster the overall story. Each line of writing within this book is spectacularly lyrical, but the ones that direct the romantic moments between the story’s couple are by and far the most resplendent. The way that Hati writes about love is so tender and vulnerable, describing emotionally-driven scenes with such meticulously chosen words that perfectly encapsulates feelings ranging from the anxiety of admitting your feelings to the bravery it takes to confessing to the unadulterated joy that comes from reciprocated feelings. Furthermore, these moments are not merely relegated to the romantic love that happens between Everest and Ryka but also translates to the platonic love that Ryka feels for the ghosts she has grown to love at the Fair. Despite the stressful moments of conflict throughout the plot, the story grounds itself in this love that is present throughout nearly every page of this story.

As a whole, “The Carousel of Forgotten Places” was an absolutely enthralling & compulsive journey through time and space and love. The world & its characters are unforgettable, and Ryka’s personal story is one I can foresee myself returning to when I find myself at the mercy of dwelling on past regrets. This book is indisputably the strongest book we have seen from S.Hati, and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

S. Hati can do no wrong—is there a genre she can't tackle?! I loved following her into this cozy romantasy space, but this book is so much more than that might make it sound. The plot centers around immortality, lost time, diverging paths, and regret, and reading about Ryka's journey toward accepting her past and building her future—all while falling in love with a sexy, infuriating time god and managing the crew of the chaotic but delightful carousel of forgotten places—healed something in me. This book is sweet, sexy, funny, and poignant—the perfect read for lovers of Emily Wilde and the found family dynamics of books like The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. I can't wait for everyone to follow her into this new genre!

A cosy, romantic and whimsical read surrounding a magical carousel and time travelling through threads of magic. Our fmc Ryle has to work with our mmc Everest to find out why the carousel she is the timekeeper of is showing signs of time rot. I thought the idea was unique and interesting, especially the idea of a magical fair and the fact that whoever makes a deal is then the new timekeeper. I liked the banter between our main characters and seeing them navigate their feelings.
If you’re wanting a fun, quick, cosy read or are in a slump then I would recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The atmosphere in this one is genuinely wonderful. The fair itself is beautifully realized, whimsical, and unique. S. Hati clearly knows how to build a world you can picture, and that's easily the strongest part of the book.

Where it lost me was Ryka. She spends centuries grieving her past, but I never felt like she grew enough from those experiences. She often overlooks the people who are trying to support her, and when her perspective finally begins to change, it happens too late for me to feel fully invested in her journey.

The romance didn't quite land for me either. Ryka and Everest are supposed to share centuries of history, but I never fully felt the emotional weight of that relationship. I wanted a stronger sense of why their connection had endured for so long.

I also wish the mechanics of the carousel and the time magic had been explained more clearly. The rules remain fairly vague throughout, and I think a little more clarity would have made the stakes feel stronger.

That said, the setting and overall concept are genuinely creative, and I can absolutely see why readers who connect with Ryka will enjoy this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for the ARC of S. Hati’s book “The Carousel of Forgotten Places.”

This was such a fun story. It presents time travel in a fantasy theme rather than science fiction, which I think is a brilliant approach.

In a manner similar to Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus,” Hati’s characters live in an otherworldly carnival where time and history are controlled by the revolutions of the carousel. Timekeeper Ryka follows the threads of time spun by the carousel to keep time and the carnival’s inhabitants alive (sort of), but her desire to return to her own place in time causes her to break a cardinal rule of the Timekeeper, causing a rift that could destroy time itself.

Take a great adventure, add a little heartbreak and a dash of romance, and you have this thoroughly enjoyable story.

This is a very entertaining fantasy story with gods, ghosts, a magical fair and elements of timetravel. The characters are portrayed intriguing and the storyline was compelling. I have to say it took me a while to warm up to Ryka and the romance between her and Everest felt not completely convincing but I still enjoyed reading this book very much. I did like the description of the fair and all the magical things and characters a lot.
Really an enchanted book.

5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this one! I was drawn in by the premise of a unique take on time travel but stayed for the found family, the excellent writing and the ghosts that had me thoroughly charmed.

I liked the idea of Ryka as an immortal human, she is now immune to illness etc but she knows she’s different from the ghosts and gods that surround her. I thought S. Hati’s world building was really great here, I loved the idea of the carousel and thought the concept of the Quills keeping the gods informed of events in other realms really interesting.

I liked Ryka and Everest but I was truly in love with the side characters in this. We have a ghost cat and a dragon. Beam and Ender are ghosts but also Ryka’s friends.

S. Hati has a great writing style with a subtle humour that weaves throughout the story and makes you love with the characters. For example, when describing how Beam always leaves out details we hear about the time that they reported the arrival of a new ghost but forgets to mention that they had an axe and looked pretty angry. These small observations had me giggling and make me really excited to pick up another book by this author.

The story does start by dumping you in the middle of the action but if you keep reading for just a few more chapters then everything is explained and you’ll settle into the fair.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This is a beautiful tale of loss, regret and yearning for what we once had or could have.

The atmosphere is created wonderfully through Hati's stylistic choices, their writing and the choice in setting, which leaves a whimsical yet ominous feel.

Ryka is, of course, the main character yet she is often matched in importance by the likes of Everest and Beam, which helps when she becomes rather unbearable.

From the very beginning, this book is somehow simultaneously chaotic and cosy and it is the first book in many years to make me cry.

The inclusion of Everest's family felt especially powerful for me, and I found that that sub-plot was one of my favourites.

An easy 5 star.

I loved the time travel magic in this one!! The ghosts had me laughing, and I just thoroughly enjoyed this one!! A quick read for me, but this was a great world and a great magic system.
Absolutely recommend!

Quote: “I should’ve known you’d feel like this. Like home.”

“Everything is romantic under the sun of a day that has passed, especially if you don’t remember the long night that followed. It’s easy to forget that your present moments are the stars shining overhead.”

Thank you to the author and angryrobotbooks for this physical ARC 🫶🏻

Guys, cosy romantasy might become my new obsession if they’re all as good as this book. This was such a refreshing read - 5 stars always for any book that makes me cry 🥹

Ryka is human and kinda?? an immortal timekeeper at a magical sentient fair that is overseen by time-God Everest. Ryka has spent her 487 years as the timekeeper trying to find her way back to her timeline, never quite accepting her fate as the fair’s timekeeper and feeling unable to grieve her old life.

The fair is powered by a magical carousel which Ryka uses in order to enter timelines and repair them. She does so with help from the fair’s resident ghosts who are misplaced ghosts from the carousel after their death, that find a home at the fair. Stand out characters here are ghosts Beam and Ender, even the fair’s resident ghost cat Cillian, and a sentient tome/book called Quill left an impression - I loved the found family aspect of the story because of these characters.

Despite finding Everest infuriating, nearly impossible to work with, and a constant reminder of what she’s lost, Ryka has no choice but to accept his help when the carousel becomes infected with time-rot. As they race against time to uncover the cause, they must also unravel the mystery of an unknown woman with no memories who has been spat out by the carousel from an unknown timeline. Of course, Ryka must also battle her ever growing feelings for Everest that she’s been ignoring for the past 487 years! The yearning between both of them was sooo good and it wasn’t rushed (you get no physical anythiiiing until at least 80%). The spicy scene was unexpected but I loved it.

I enjoyed Hati’s writing, the book had a good pace of not being too slow but not too fast either - snappy and impactful which is what I like. I definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys a cosy and whimsical read!

The Carousel of Forgotten Places, at its best moments, swept me away. The plot is quick and snappy; it's clear that Hati has a good sense for the progression of the story and, as a reader, I never felt as though it were too rushed or too slow. The setting is lovely. I really enjoyed getting to know the carousel world and its quirks. However, the standouts really are the characters: they were all-too real, down to the frustrations that come with people making choices (or not) that you disagree with, with their actions holding a light to your own life. While it wasn't a perfect book--I could undoubtedly critique a few scenes and construction choices, particularly in the last 1/3 of the book--it was very enjoyable. I hope to find more from Hati going forward and perhaps return to the world of the carousel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read and review this DRC. All opinions are mine alone; this review was written without AI assistance.

Thank you so much to the angry robot for my arc copy of this book

I didn’t realize how much I would love the circus/time traveling theme of this book. I’m actually going to be checking more out after this because of this book!

This book was super addictive I read it in a day and a half. All the twist and turns definitely kept me turning the pages and even staying up at night to finish it.

This is a cozy fantasy with an immortal FMC that’s just trying to save her best friend’s life.

The premise for this book really grabs you and does not let you go. I initially requested this book due to the cover and premise but found I stuck around for the low stakes fantasy. You get sucked into a world with a mix of humor, fantasy, and even a dash of romance!

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall a pretty enjoyable romantic fantasy. I enjoyed Ryka the timekeeper as a character and felt the fantasy aspects were not too farfetched. Outside my usual genre but I enjoyed it overall. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

As I was writing this review, I found myself thinking that I give out a hell of a lot of five stars. But that doesn’t take anything away from this one. The Carousel of Forgotten Places <i>is</i> a five-star read.

I loved it from start to finish. I cried a little, laughed several times, and never found myself quarreling with the story or wishing the book had done something differently. I even found myself surprised at the directions, and I wasn’t waiting for it to become better. I was simply having a wonderful time.

I fell in love with several of the characters, including both the FMC and the MMC. Honestly, I loved them all. Some of the supporting characters were perhaps a biiiit on the shallow end—I would happily have read much more about Calliope, Geneva, and Beam—but that only made me want more of them. It didn’t take anything away from the reading experience.

I liked the storyline, I liked the character arcs, and I loved the way this book portrays yearning. Proper, painful, sustained yearning. Both ways. The kind that also left me yearning for more backstory, particularly about how Everest has changed, adapted, and become the person we meet in the book.

<spoiler>The author leaves both the characters and the reader yearning for roughly 90% of the story before it finally culminates in something</spoiler> I would rate as about one chilli pepper’s worth of spice. That small amount was very well written. It felt more natural, intimate, and down-to-earth than most of the spice I have read in a very long time, and I really appreciated the author’s way with words.

I will absolutely be recommending this as a cosy, imaginative read with both tears and laughter. It also feels destined for gorgeous fan art, sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers, and elaborate special editions, because it left my head filled with beautiful images.

And now I want licorice cotton candy.

This was whimsical fantasy at its finest and I loved the dreamlike wonder that this book evoked in me. I really enjoyed following Ryka and her fierceness in both human flaws and loyalty to those important to her. I was also charmed by Everest and felt like a puppy dog as I was perking up whenever I read that he was in a scene.

While I would have appreciated a little more backstory to the time gods and an understanding of why the fair exists as a fair (instead of a different structure) and so forth, I appreciated the mystery of it, and I still found myself flying through the pages to find out what happens to this wonderfully dysfunctional found family. I'll be sure to look out for more novels by Hati!

Such a unique and whimsical little world! I loved the idea behind this one and the magical, slightly strange atmosphere it created. There was something so cosy about the setting and characters, with plenty of humour, banter and an underlying sense of emotion and longing. It felt like such a lovely escape into a world completely unlike anything I've read before, with a really interesting mix of magic, romance and emotion.

Thanks so much for the e-arc.

An enjoyable book about choices, regrets and missing what's right in front of you.

For me, the first chapter of this book is a little overwhelming. You are thrown into the plot with no explanations or back story but after that, the book does settle into an rhythm.
Ryka is a timekeeper, 500 years old but frozen at the age she became a time keeper (26). She has created a life for herself through her job as the timekeeper and her relationships with the ghosts at the fair where the time carousel is. The only other 'mortal' at the fair is Everest, a time god who sort of oversees the whole place. Ryka and Everest have a push-pull relationship that has developed over all the years.

After the carousel spits out another human into the fair, who has forgotten who she is and where she comes from, and the timelines begin to rot and decay. Ryka, Everest and the ghosts have to find out who this mystery human is and how to get her back home, which also gives Ryka hope that she may finally get to leave the fair.

Ryka has spent all those years trying to find a way to return to her own timeline and the life that she thought she would live. This does make her come across as quite petulant and childish at times. Her regret overwhelms everything, leading her to miss what is right in front of her - a life she never expected

The Carousel of Forgotten Places by S. Hati

This was a nice cosy romantasy story. Ryka was a very engaging and likeable character and her journey was well written. The world building is really well done and the fair itself is written in vivid detail. It is a whimsical and magical world and while it took a little bit of time for me to get into the story once I did I really enjoyed it.

If you're a fan of found families with a dash of time travel and whimsy then this book would appeal to you too. Thanak you to the author, the publishers, and top Netgalley for this ARC,

This was such a cute story!
Last month I read a few too many romantasys and so I had taken a break. I was nervous to read this because I am feeling tired of the formulaic romantasy but this surprised me in the best way.

It’s very whimsical, thoughtful around found family and the feeling of regret and the yearning in it is so sweet.

It does have some spice near the end, I wasn’t expecting it to be spicy and was on the brink of letting my tween read it but it did bring the spice!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved to story and the characters. I like the whimsical feeling of the this book. I love the idea of the Carousel appearing to those who need it. The world building is great too. I couldn’t put this book down.

The Carousel of Forgotten Places was such a lovely and heartwarming read! I didn't quite know what to expect going into it, but I loved being drawn into these characters' lives and their time-travel shenanigans.

Set at a whimsical Fair, the book follows Ryka, the timekeeper, and a fun cast of characters including a time god, Everest, and a duo of funny little ghosts, Ender and Beam. Ryka is in charge of solving any glitches in the timelines, but nothing has prepared her for the sudden spread of Rot all over the Carousel, causing countless timelines to glitch all at once... and a human to mysteriously appear at the Fair with no memories of her own life. With the help of her friends, Ryka needs to put everything back into place before all dimensions collapse onto themselves... and figure out her own future in the meantime.

I have to admit I wasn't instantly hooked, but after about 25% of the story I was totally drawn in and attached to these delightful characters and the incredible found-family dynamics at the Fair. Ryka is a bit of an ice queen, keeping people at a distance because she still grieves her human life - and I loved following her journey and seeing how she changed throughout the book. Everest was PRECIOUS. He tries SO hard, and he made me smile every time he appeared on the page. As did the little ghosts, albeit for totally different reasons... they were just so cute, and I adored reading about their closeness with Ryka. Valentine was an interesting character, too. I couldn't quite "read" her for most of the story, because she suddenly felt so close to everyone without me having really seen those relationships develop, but I did enjoy the role she played in the plot.

The story itself was intriguing, with an original take on timekeeping, a fun atmosphere created by the coexistence of humans, gods, and ghosts, and some well-done twists in the last part of the book. It kept me guessing about the two main issues for quite a while! The ending was very satisfying, too, wrapping up all the loose ends in a way that felt very fitting.

I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a cozy time-travel fantasy with excellent found-family dynamics!

3.5 stars rounded up.

The story follows Ryka, our MC, who has been the caretaker of a mystical time bound carousel. She’s held this position for 500 years, yet she can’t help but wonder if she’d made the right choice when accepting this position.

We’re dropped right into the middle of this story, which could be jarring for some people, but I felt like I was sucked straight into it and I was invested from the start.

I loved the premise of the carousel, appearing for people who needed. I adored getting to know the cast of characters. The ghosts and all their individual quirks, Ryka, our MC, and her battle with the decisions she’s made, and Everest, our carefree time god. I do wish we’d seen more of Ryka and Everest together I feel like there was a lot of parts where they were apart, and all we got were Rykas conflicted feelings for him. Having to deal with a corruption in the carousel gave us something to route for, and I loved the twist with Val, who can through the carousel unexpectedly.

I do wish we’d had more around the issues with the carousel, I found the solution to be a little easy, and although there was still work to be done with it, I think I’d have enjoyed a more expanded explanation of it.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this. It was a fun read, with whimsical, cosy elements, and low stakes.