GO LUCK YOURSELF by Sara Raasch – Review

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.

Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch
Series: Royals & Romance #2
Published by Bramble on March 11 2025
Genres: Adult, Romantasy
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Sara Raasch brings the enemies-to-lovers trope to life in this laugh-out-loud, sexy and heartfelt entry in her binge-worthy Royals & Romance series.

I’m loving this holiday-centric romance series, and the second book, Go Luck Yourself, is another fun entry. In The Nightmare Before Kissmass, we met Coal and Kris, heirs to the Christmas holiday. Coal found his happily ever after with Hex, the Prince of Halloween, and this book centers around Kris and the Prince of Saint Patrick’s Day. 

The story picks up a couple of months after the end of The Nightmare Before Kissmass. Coal, who went up against his father in the last book, is surprised when his dad decides to hand over the reins to Coal and resign as the head of Christmas (AKA Santa). Meanwhile, Kris is questioning his place in Christmas and struggling with self doubt, since he doesn’t think he has much to contribute to the family business. Coal has always been a better leader, and now that Christmas is changing for the better under his guidance, Kris wonders if he’s needed at all.

But one day he meets an annoyingly attractive man at the Cambridge library, after a mix-up with a study room reservation. Loch, a tall, red-headed Irishman with a cute accent, is extremely rude to Kris, and Kris loses his temper and uses his magic to “tinsel-bomb” the study room, creating a social media scandal when everyone in the library takes videos of Loch emerging from the room, covered in tinsel. It turns out Loch is the Prince of Saint Patrick’s Day, and the tinsel-bombing does nothing to help Loch’s holiday, which is already suffering because no one takes Saint Patrick’s Day seriously.

Kris feels terrible, and he and Coal decide the best thing to do is make a public apology to Loch, hoping it will smooth things over. At the same time, Coal and Kris discover a strange device attached to their Merry Measure (the device that contains all the Christmas joy), and next to it is a four leaf clover. Clearly someone from Saint Patrick’s Day is stealing Christmas’s joy. Kris volunteers to visit Loch’s castle and apologize for his stunt, hoping to uncover the thief at the same time. But things get complicated when Kris realizes he’s falling for the enemy.

Sara Raasch writes A+ banter, and some of my favorite scenes were between Kris and Loch as they go from fighting to mutual attraction. Personally, I prefer to read about the lead-up to the romance rather than the main event itself (fair warning, the sex is open door and rather explicit, just in case that’s not your thing), so the fighting/flirting was a lot of fun for me. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say one of my favorite scenes involves paint (it turns out Loch is an artist!) There are a few silly misunderstandings, and I didn’t care much for the slight power imbalance between the two men, but the author includes some nice heart-to-heart talks between them that made their relationship feel more real.

In addition to the return of some favorite characters from the last book, Raasch introduces us to some new ones too. We meet Loch’s sisters, Finn and Siobhán, who are very protective of their brother and are wary of Kris at first. There’s also a villain in the story, although I won’t say more than that. I especially loved seeing Hex and Coal together, even though their scenes are brief.

Besides the mystery surrounding the person responsible for stealing Christmas’s joy, there’s an equally interesting storyline about what’s happening to Saint Patrick’s Day. Kris wonders why Loch never uses magic and why there isn’t a bigger support staff at the castle (Christmas is a huge machine with many people working behind the scenes to make it successful). Eventually Kris finds out the truth and wants to help his new friends, and I love that one of Raasch’s themes is working together for the good of all, even if you’re rivals with the other group.

And because we spend a lot of time in Ireland at Loch’s castle, there are plenty of fun Irish elements in the story. Kris has Irish whiskey for the first time (and it doesn’t end well, lol), and Loch shows Kris some Irish dance moves. There’s also a sweet scene in a pub with the whole gang that melted my heart. Oh, and I can’t forget Loch’s Irish brogue, which comes across as sexy even on the page!

The humor is spot on, too. I loved Kris’s Christmas sex-pun t-shirts (like the one on the cover that says “Kiss My Snowballs”), for example. And as funny as the story is, the author includes some serious themes like the complicated relationship between Kris and Coal and their mother. Kris is trying to find his true passion and balance that with his duties as a Christmas royal, so there’s some thoughtful scenes with Kris and Coal as Kris tries to work out his feelings.

I did spot a hint of who the next couple might be, although I don’t think a third book has been announced yet (the author is starting a new series called Magic & Romance that sounds really good, and the first book comes out this Fall!). I’m having so much fun with the Royals & Romance series, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next book.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.