I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch Series: Royals & Romance #1
Published by Bramble on October 8 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer, Romance
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Funny, flirty and fabulous, The Nightmare Before Kissmas is the perfect holiday treat.
The Nightmare Before Kissmas was such a pleasant surprise! This is the perfect book for the Fall season, since it deals with both the Halloween and Christmas holidays, and it’s a super sweet romance as well. The overall tone is light with lots of very funny moments, although the author does hit on some serious themes at times. If you’re in the mood for an upbeat story with fantastic characters and lots of humor, this is the book to grab.
Prince Nicholas, or “Coal” as his friends call him, is heir to the Christmas holiday, which means someday he’ll take over his father’s duties as “Santa” and run the business. Coal has a strong sense of duty and believes that Christmas is responsible for spreading joy all over the world, and he feels good about his place in the family. But one day in December, as the family and the various other branches of Christmas gather to celebrate, Coal is given some shocking news. His father has arranged for him to marry the Easter princess Iris, one of his best friends. Neither of them want “that” kind of relationship, but at first they go along with it, believing that merging Christmas and Easter is good for everyone.
And then someone shows up to the celebration that changes everything. Several years ago, Coal had a drunken encounter in the back alley of a bar with a gorgeous mystery guy. And now he’s across the room, looking as hot as ever. When he’s introduced as Hex, the Halloween Prince, Coal is shocked. Even stranger, he’s been brought to the Christmas festivities as competition for Iris’s hand in marriage.
The King of Christmas is up to something, and Coal’s going to figure out the truth no matter what. Falling hard for Hex wasn’t in Coal’s plans, and it’s making his reluctant engagement to Iris even more complicated. The clock is ticking: Coal has until the Christmas Eve Ball to thwart his father’s diabolical plan and convince Hex of his feelings.
The idea of Holidays (yes, that’s with a capital “H”) as business entities is such a cool idea. In this world, a Holiday’s currency is joy, and the more joy a holiday can bring to the world, the more powerful that Holiday becomes. Christmas is aiming to literally take over the world in this story, so you have the head of the family—Santa—scheming to blackmail other Holidays into handing over their own joy to Christmas—or else. Some of the trappings of the holidays are a little on the cheesy side, for example Coal’s living quarters are decked out year round in Christmas colors, wreaths and decorated trees, but the concept worked. Plus, I loved that Coal and his friends truly believe that their Holidays should be used for good, and Coal is willing to stand up to his imposing father to make that happen.
The real draw for me, though, was Raasch’s punchy writing style, humor and her amazing characters. Coal, Kris and Iris are best friends, and I absolutely loved their group text messages. Seriously, I could read a whole book with nothing but their texts! There’s quite a bit of emotional drama within their group which kept things interesting. Kris has a secret crush on Iris, Coal used to date Iris’s sister Lily, and now Coal and Hex are pitted against each other for Iris’s affections. And did I mention that all three friends consider themselves bisexual?
The stars of the story, though, are Coal and Hex, who have a very sweet and sexy relationship. One of the things I loved best is that they actually communicate with each other. So often in romances you see all kinds of miscommunication, lying and other negative relationship elements, and it was so refreshing to see two young men who adore each other and aren’t afraid to have tough, honest conversations. Raasch really knows how to write sexual tension but still make it sweet, and yes, there are a couple of spicy scenes that will please the “spice” crowd. It was a great idea to have the Prince of Christmas (light) and the Prince of Halloween (dark) fall in love, although the road to happiness has plenty of bumps to keep things interesting.
The author does a great job of balancing the lighter moments with a few heavier scenes—like the fact that Kris and Coal are still scarred from their mother leaving them years ago—but these elements simply add depth to the story and don’t drag it down. Overall, The Nightmare Before Kissmas was such a well rounded romance, and I’m thrilled that the next book in the series has already been announced. Go Luck Yourself (lol) features Kris and the Crown Prince of St. Patrick’s Day, and based on that title I suspect they’ll be up to some interesting shenanigans!
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I’m not sure if I’ve seen a book before that sounds as if it’ll work so well for both Halloween & Christmas. I’m glad you had fun with this one and that it managed to feel upbeat overall whilst dealing with some heavier themes. Hopefully the next will be just as much of a hit with you, and I love the title.
The idea was just so fun, even though on paper it sounds like it wouldn’t work. I was pleasantly surprised:-)
Oh man I really want to read this one now. The story sounds like a lot of fun and such a unique idea for a book. My favorite sentence of you review is: a couple of spicy scenes that will please the “spice” crowd. I felt spoken too. 😛
You would love the spicy scenes:-)
This sounds super silly and loads of fun! Great review.
So much fun! Thanks Lisa:-)
Wow this really sounds fun!
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Demon’s Bluff by Kim Harrison @BurningBunnies @AceBooksPub @BerkleyPub
It was, a nice change of pace for me:-)
It was a good balance of light and heavy, and I loved the relationship. I’m glad you liked this one too!
Kit @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Recs: 10 Books Inspired by Frankenstein
It’s really hard not to like it:-) And I can’t wait for the sequel!
I am so so glad you enjoyed it! I put it on my TBR as soon as I read the title, but I am glad to see that there are a lot of good things in there, title aside! And I am even more excited because I love when the characters talk with each other!!! (I hate the miscommunication trope so much!!
It was so refreshing to see a couple who communicated:-)
This is a great book review, Tammy! You’re making me feel FOMO here. I saw this ages ago on NetGalley and was initially drawn by the awesome cover. But I ultimately passed because I know I’m not a big holiday season reader at all…I kind of just read whatever whenever haha. Now I really want to check this out.
Celeste | A Literary Escape recently posted…Books I Read In School
Thanks Celeste! I honestly didn’t care much about the holiday stuff, but the characters made it worth reading:-)
So I knew right off, just by looking at the title and cover, that this isn’t likely a book for me. And yet that didn’t stop me enjoying reading your thoughts and appreciating just how much you enjoyed it. 🙂
Thanks Todd! It was unexpectedly enjoyable, and not something I would normally pick up.
Sarah Raasch was at NY Comic Con 2024! It was very interesting to learn about her writing experience before she was (traditionally) published. I’m glad to hear that this book is a great one!
Oh cool! I loved her writing, she’s very talented.
WELP, this is getting added to my reading list! -k
I’ve had my eye on this one bc it sounded do fun – glad to hear it played out that way!
Paige S recently posted…The Spear Cuts Through Water
Sounds like you had fun with this one. I can’t say I’ve heard of this before so I’ll have to add it to my tbr.
Lynn 😀