Thank you NetGalley and Bramble for the ARC! Nicholas “Coal” Claus is having a rough night. He and his girlfriend have recently parted ways and he just messed up the whole economic stability of a small country in order to grant all of their Christmas wishes. Coal is the heir to Santa Claus and used to love Christmas. All he wanted was to get a bit of that love and magic back, but now he's seen as a screw up. Escaping to a bar, he ends up unloading his feeling on a handsome stranger and the two share a passionate kiss before the man vanishes from his life. Now a year later, Coal is still trying to rebuild his reputation and his father has come up with the perfect plan, Coal will marry his best friend Iris, the daughter of Easter (who Coal's brother has always had a crush on) united the joy of the two holidays. Coal relutantly goes along with it, but a wrench has been thrown into the plan when the Autumn holidays, lead by Halloween oppose the union. To quell the mob, Santa proposes that representatives vie for Iris's hand and she will choose who to marry. But when the representative from Halloween, Hex, arrives, Coal is shocked to discover that it is the handsome man from the bar that he hasn't been able to stop thinking about. Can Coal find a way to get the real joy back to Christmas, prove himself to be a worthy heir, and somehow win the heart of the man he loves? A delightful holiday romance!

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:
🌈 Queer Romance
🎄 Holiday Princes
🫶🏻 Forbidden Romance
🔥 Slow Burn

Red White and Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas is the perfect description for this quirky holiday romance!

If you love Halloween or Christmas, I think you will for sure enjoy this one. Those happen to be my two absolute favorite holidays which meant I looooved all the holiday lure. The main characters are named Coal and Hex. How could you not love that?

It was super interesting reading about a world where all the courts were basically all of the holidays.

Coal and Hex were adorable together. It was more of a slow burn but the chemistry was off the charts and the situations they ended up in were cute and funny.

The only thing I wanted more of was to see Hex’s Halloween court/home because I could always use more things spooky! 🦇🦇🦇

I wanted to love this book so much but I have to settle for just liking it. The main character is funny and sassy with a large failure complex which is relatable. I screamed when he finger gunned at his love interest and called him daddy. It felt like a personal attack because like Same!!!! My main issue is with the ending, it feels like there really isn’t one. It ends feeling unfinished. The main couple is together but the issues with daddy Santa and the winter holidays feels hollow and unresolved. Like not much actually resolved as it ends with the meeting about to happen. It feels like there should be more. I heard there is a sequel so maybe that is intentional but it felt cut off.

I’ve had this ARC for quite some time, more than 6 months to be exact, I don’t think I was ready in February to read a Christmas ARC. But holy cow, let me tell you. This was EPIC. Coal & Hex, Princes of Christmas and Halloween meet 1.5 years prior where they share a heated moment that Coal is convinced he might have imagined.

Fast forward when they reconnect, freaking MAGIC. Literally. I loved the politics of the holidays, the BANTER, oh the banter. This spice was mild-ish but it was fabulous. The curse words and the flying pumpkins and ghosts. It was amazing. I need an Iris and Kris story, please!

This book deserves the big screen!

This is the perfect and most hilarious holiday read you need to add to your tbr right now! I got an eARC from NetGalley and once I started reading I had the toughest time putting this one down. Raasch put a brand new spin on the holidays by turning them basically into royal courts where they are all competing to bring the most joy so they can have more magic. This leads to arranged marriages, scandals, and political intrigue as they fight it out. Of course Raasch tells the tale through Coal, one of the Christmas Princes, who prefers to laugh his way through life. I will straight up tell you I laughed out loud several times while reading this book. Oh and the best part is Coal is smitten with the Prince of Halloween, which is a big no no, because Christmas isn’t aligned to Halloween. Oh the intrigue and scandal! This was a 5 star read for me and I highly recommend you add it to your holiday tbr pile! 🎃🎄

DNF at 15%
I think the tone of this book is what is throwing me off. At first, it was like I expected- goofy and fun, but it quickly took itself VERY seriously. The Holiday Court machinations felt almost dystopian or high fantasy but the characters are using cell phones and followed by paparazzi. I think if it weren’t for the magical elements and it was fictional countries being discussed it wouldn’t bother me, but continuously hearing about how demanding of a father Santa is and how the rulers are forcing their kids to get married was unpleasant. I was looking for more levity and humor that just wasn’t there.

Coal is the Christmas Prince who can't seem to get anything right. And heavy is the crown.

But this romcom is anything but!

I loved it so much! I smiled throughout all of Coal's efforts and mishaps - and Hex is absolutely beautiful.

This world Raasch has fashioned is beautiful. These characters, the whole found family cast of holidays come to life, are amazing. Fanfiction, written well, and new adult enough to be fun without being too "cute". It's rough and dark, but sweetness and joy.

"I'm counting on joy to be stronger than whatever waiting for me."

This book is so well-rounded. There is an exploration of friendship, brotherhood, grief, family duty, finding one's place, and reframing what brings you JOY!

This book opens with so much juicy, hot mess drama that leads Coal, the Prince of Christmas, to drunkenly kiss a stranger in a bar ally after he accidentally granted an entire country's Christmas wishes leading to chaos. Fast forward to a year or so later when Coal begrudgingly goes home for the holiday seasonal duties and his father springs an arranged engagement to the Princess of Easter (one of his BFFs). To prevent this alignment between a spring and winter holiday, in comes the Prince of Halloween, Hex, to also try and win the Princess' hand in marriage. Unbeknownst to all the scheming adults fighting over power and monopoly over joy, Coal and Hex were the ones who shared that kiss that neither can seem to forget, and are both 100% down bad for one another. Thus unfolds a few weeks of sleigh rides, ice skating, holiday movie marathons, secret hook ups, and all the cozy holiday magical feels. But there are real threats here, as both Coal and Hex are torn between family honor/duty while trying to navigate court politics and posturing. Both men are also grieving and wanting to redefine how their holidays can create joy for everyone beyond the commercialism. Coal's relationship with his brother Kris was so solid and full of love, and I adored them standing up for each other and cannot wait for Kris' book which is next in the series!
This book will have you cackling over hilarious group chats, witty banter, and fun holiday competitions, but will also warm your heart. Such a fun concept, unique magical world, and full of heart!

I loved this book so much. Like listened to it all in one sitting, couldn't stop smiling and giggling. I'll be forcing all my friends to read this ASAP.

The Nightmare Before Kissmas is an okay good read. I did enjoy Cole and Hex as characters especially Cole. Sometimes we need a messy character and he fit the bill perfectly. The rivalry between them didn’t feel like one honestly as these two had no problems locking lips. I do wish there was more time focused on them and their relationship instead of conversation around Holidays. As far as world building, it could have been better. I felt a lot of it was all over the place making at times for some unnecessary moments.

All and all if you are fan of Christmas and Halloween getting together for a romance, then I say give it a go.

*thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

I want to thank MacMillan publishers in giving me the opportunity to read this e-arc for a fair and honest review.

I heard about this book during a Booklist Webinar and immediately knew that I needed to read it. Hearing the barest bit of summary: Christmas Prince and Halloween Prince??? Tell me more. And more. I finished this book in less than a day, the writing style of Sara Raasch compelled me to keep reading until I was finished. I had to know what was going to happen!! And I have to say, this book did something that I did not think possible. It made me like Halloween more than Christmas.

The personification and commodification of holidays in this book is super interesting and I wish there was more world-building involved with that. One of the reasons I'm giving this book a 4 star instead of a 5 is I wished we got more information on the different holidays and their families. We got a close-up of Easter, Christmas, and somewhat Halloween. But the other holidays, that we know exist as they're mentioned in the book, were kinda left by the wayside. I understand that this a romance novel and they can only fit so much in, but this is something that I think would've made the book richer. I like how Christmas was viewed as trying to get as much joy as possible through any means necessary, instead of just trying to make people happy. Writing a story on how Christmas has lost a lot of it's original meaning really hit home and I think the author did a good job of that, though it kinda showed her hand as Halloween being her favorite lol. But I wanted more interaction with the Fall holidays. We got to see the Halloween family for maybe 15 pages? And then they dipped. What about Dia de los Muertos?? I was dying to hear more about that (hopefully we get a book in the future about them).

The pacing of this book was pretty good. I never felt bored or like I wanted a point to move on.

In terms of spiciness? I would've preferred more spice (one of the reasons for my 4 star as well). I think for an adult debut, this author did fantastic. In future books, I think I would like to see more romantic scenes between the 2 main characters. We got 1 explicit scene, I think the book could've probably done better with 1-2 more.

All in all, I really enjoyed myself with this book. If you want a silly goofy time with an imaginative world, but gives off Red, White, and Royal Blue fanfic vibes? Then I would pick this book up!! And I mean fanfiction in the best way.

And the fact that the next book is about the brother and one of the princes from St. Patrick's Day???? Gagged. I'm so curious as to what happened with Iris though, maybe a Sapphic romance is in our future?? Fingers crossed.

I absolutely adored this book. The premise of holidays crossed with court intrigue was so new and I enjoyed this thoroughly. The dynamics between characters had me kicking my feet in the air and laughing out loud. I can't wait for the next books in this series.

I have to give this book some credit: it managed to make me laugh a few times and the sex scenes weren’t that bad. I do wish the author had made literally any gesture toward the religious origins of the holidays—it’s kind of bizarre that it’s never mentioned (except once, very briefly, in passing) especially when they’re talking about getting “back to the roots” of holidays like Christmas and Easter. And you just KNOW there’s no Prince of Purim or Kwanzaa or whatever—strictly Americanized Christian holidays here. We also get the vaguest possible references to Hex being Mexican but there’s no weight placed on that identity at all except for, you guessed it, him whipping out one (1) Spanish phrase in bed.

It’s a semi-fun romance with a lot of unnecessary extra plot that, in its pursuit of lightness and secular culturally-bereft holiday fun, leaves a lot of potentially beneficial depth out.

Thank you Tor Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. What a unique holiday story! Coal is the son of Santa, the Prince of Christmas. Who also happens to be jaded by the holiday. Everything is so commercial that he doesn’t see how any real joy comes from it. That’s why he did what he did and it completely backfired, just another screwup for the Christmas Prince. Reluctantly he returns for the holiday to the Palace and North Pole City. At least his brother Kris and his best friend Iris, Easter Princess, are there. Maybe it’ll be ok, that is until a bomb is dropped surrounding the nuptials of Coal and Iris. Complete news to the both of them. And news that doesn’t make Halloween happy at all. Now they’re sending their Prince to via for Iris’s hand as well. Coal’s anger is at an all time high, until he meets Prince Hex, who he once made out with. Can the two resist the strong desire they have, after all they’re supposed to be rivals? And just what is Coal’s dad up to? As each day passes they are running out of time to escape their predicament. I love the idea of each holiday having their own royalty and “kingdoms”! Coal’s sarcasm and wit and some lite around the fake dating/arranged marriage aspects that they find themselves in! All the little moments between Coal and Hex, as well as their moments with Kris and Iris make for a fast paced sweet romance that I consumed! Although be prepared to have some deep dislike for some classic holiday figures! I’m really excited for the next book in the series as well! Funny, cute, plus you get all the holiday feels!

This is the book you need to read during the Halloween and Christmas holiday season.

Before I start in on my adoration of our main couple, let me talk about the other relationships I loved in this book. Coal and Kris’s bond as brothers was so heartwarming. You could really feel the love they had for one another and that they’d do anything for each other. On top of that they had that sibling relationship of messing with/annoying each other that is so relatable. Besides the romance, their bond was my favorite aspect of the story. I also enjoyed the friendship our two Christmas Princes had with the Princess of Easter, Iris. She fit in seamlessly with the brothers and I loved how she teased them. (Side note the group chat names were amazing and I loved their convos)

Now onto Coal and Hex! Individually, I loved both Princes. Our disaster, golden retriever Christmas Prince whose heart was in the right place and our reserved yet sassy Halloween Prince who was trying his best to do what was right for his holiday. Separately these two were great but together they were amazing. Their chemistry was insane, the banter between them was top tier and there was also a sweetness to their relationship that gave me the warm fuzzies. My only complaint is I needed more of them happy together.

Briefly I just wanted to mention the setting/world. I loved getting to be at the Christmas palace and learning a little of the ins and outs of how things are done in this world. I just wish we’d got more of Halloween as well. The glimpses we got were great but I just wanted more. I mean a field trip to Halloween would’ve been so fun. Coal would’ve ended up causing complete chaos with Hex’s younger brothers for sure. But who knows, maybe we’ll get something like that as a bonus scene someday. (Hopefully)

I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something to read during the Halloween/Christmas season. (Or anytime really)

4.5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor/Bramble for an advanced reader's copy of the book. I had a very hard time getting into this book. I dnfed it at the 20% mark as it was not holding my attention. While I love the concept of the book, I had difficulty wrapping my head and taking the plot seriously. Kingdoms representing holidays? There's mentions of the North Pole and magic but also contemporary college life. It just didn't gel with me. I also thought there were way too many trauma and problems of the main character to make this a light read, which is what I am hoping for. The book tries really hard to fit in the box of "Red, White, and Royal Blue" but it doesn't work as there is no rivals to lovers here. The book just didn't leave a lasting impression and didn't hold my attention.

Did I love The Nightmare Before Kissmas? Absolutely, I did.
Could it have been executed a bit better? Also yes.
Would I have enjoyed it more if there was a bit more world building? Probably, but who cares.
Honestly, this was just plain fun.

This was fine. I was hoping this was going to be ridiculous and whimsical, but the political hostage plot point kind of put a damper on the whole book for me. This is very clearly inspired by Red White and Royal Blue, but I don't think the story is as strong. It's not bad, but it wouldn't be the first book I picked up if I had other options available.

Overall -- a resounding meh.

RATING: 3/5

The premise of this book is very cute but the execution left a bit to be desired as I wasn't pulled into the story.

“The Nightmare Before Kissmas” is exactly what it says on the tin – it’s a joyful, queer rom-com in the vein of “Red, White, and Royal Blue” that focuses on the troubled romance of the son of Christmas and the son of Halloween. At the end of the day once one removes the holiday trappings, this is grumpy/sunshine, right? And as far as that goes, it succeeds very nicely. It’s written in a zippy, breathless sort of voice, with Coal being in pure self-pitying mode for the first third of the novel. Unfortunately, a lot of the worldbuilding just fell apart for me – yeah, fine, I was willing to handwave some basic stuff but this is a LOT of handwaving and complicated explanations for how exactly this society functions. There’s a focus solely on Western holidays, which is… a strange choice? Some of the anti-capitalist overtones might have played well with a more global perspective on holidays. Sure, “Nightmare Before Christmas” didn’t have to worry about that, but “Nightmare” was an hour and a half long kids movie made in the early 90s. You’d think something intended for adults in 2024 would be a little less myopic.

Still, the romance is cute, if a little fraught. I wish I could have turned off my brain for this one, but while I enjoyed it, if I thought too much about it the whole thing melted like cotton candy.