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!

The Carousel of Forgotten Places is the kind of romantasy that feels like stepping into a pocket of soft, humming magic — a place where time bends, ghosts gossip, and love has been quietly waiting for centuries. S. Hati gives us a world that’s whimsical without losing its emotional weight, anchored by Ryka, an immortal timekeeper who has spent 500 years tending a magical fair perched on the edge of time.

The fair itself is a delight: spectral cats, mischievous ghosts, and a found family stitched together from the odd corners of eternity. And then there’s Everest — Ryka’s infuriating, magnetic, impossible boss, a time‑god with five centuries of unresolved tension trailing behind him. Their dynamic sparkles with that delicious mix of banter, longing, and “absolutely not talking about our feelings”.

When a human quite literally falls through time and lands in their laps, the story shifts into a charming, chaotic adventure. The carousel at the heart of the fair is rotting, the timeline is fraying, and Ryka and Everest must work together to fix what’s breaking — all while trying (and failing) to ignore the feelings that have been simmering for half a millennium.

What makes this book shine is its blend of humour, heart, and gentle wonder. It’s cosy without being slight, romantic without losing its playfulness, and full of that found‑family warmth that makes you want to linger in its world just a little longer.

A whimsical, time‑tangled delight perfect for readers who love soft magic, slow‑burn immortals, and fantasy that feels like a warm hand pulling you onto the carousel for one more ride.

With thanks to S Hati, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

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.