The Nightmare Before Kissmas
By: Sara Raasch
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Bramble
Pages: 357
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make- out session with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar one night.
But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: he will marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess and his brother’s not-so-secret crush. A situation that has disaster written all over it.
Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand…and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the Prince of Halloween.
It’s a fake competition between two holiday princes who can’t keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience that no one wants. And it all leads to one of the sweetest, sexiest, messiest, most delightfully unforgettable love stories of the year.
First Impressions
When I first heard about this book it sounded like so much fun. Royals? Halloween? Christmas? Then I saw the cover drop and felt a little less enthused. Something about it just looked so cheesy. But then my friend bought it and I knew I needed to read it.
What I thought
This book was so much more than I expected!
Nicolas, “Coal”, is the heir to the Christmas throne. Hex is the heir to the Halloween throne. In this world, each holiday is its own kingdom with its own royals. King Christmas/Santa comes to an agreement with the King of Easter that Coal should marry Iris by Christmas Eve. Neither Iris nor Coal are into each other in that way. In fact, Coal’s brother Kris is the one who has a crush on Iris. When Halloween comes to object to the union of Christmas and Easter, Santa offers them to opportunity to bring Hex to the castle to try to win Iris over. Little does he know, that Coal is more of Hex’s type.
So I definitely expected there to be a fun romance between Christmas and Halloween. What I didn’t expect was the political intrigue and palace deception! I enjoyed the depth to the story and am fascinated by all of the holidays and how their politics play into their existence.
Coal is, of course, the slightly uninterested/reckless heir to the throne. A few years ago he made a big mistake with the best of intentions, and ever since then he has stepped back from his role as heir. However, now that he is being forced to marry his friend, he finds himself learning more about what is really going on behind closed doors.
The romance with Hex was so good. Their chemistry was immediate and leapt off the page. I do wish we got more of Hex’s backstory and maybe even an opportunity to see him in his element, but I loved him with the whole gang. In fact, I enjoyed every character in this book and can’t wait to read each of their stories. I know the next book focuses on Kris and I’m a little sad it wasn’t Iris first, but I’m looking forward to jumping back into this world.
While the cover may be cheesy, this book is anything but. If you’re looking for a Christmas story with a little bit of meat on its bones, I highly recommend picking this one up.
This book felt like a meatier version of Red, White, & Royal Blue. I feel like RW&RB focused more on the romance and not as much as the politics whereas this one had the political story more fleshed out with just as much romance. I cannot wait to see how the holiday royal worlds develop and see how Coal manages with taking over Christmas.