This one was such an addicting listen! Narrated by Ellis Evans, I was completely hooked with these characters! I enjoyed Ellis tones and inflections used throughout the story. They were spot on.

I found myself very intrigued with this bad boy who gets in trouble by his dad all the time. I was also intrigued with Coal's backstory with their mom, and I adored his friendship with his friend and brother. Their group chats and headings always made me giggle. Hex is Halloween's hottie, and someone that Coal has been looking for. It's an adorable Halloween/Christmas story that will want you to curl up on the couch and read/listen all day.

Book Review 📖🍂✨

The Nightmare Before Kissmas
by Sara Raasch

Thank you so much partner @brambleromance @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy and audiobook!

About the book 👇🏽

Coal might be the Prince of Christmas but he’d honestly rather skip it this year. Wouldn’t you when your father, the reigning Santa, has turned it into nothing more than the family’s latest PR stunt?

But Coal has gotten into one scrape too many and there’s a surprise in store: a marriage to his best friend to unite their families in the perfect holiday photo moment.

Then a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’ hand and he’s suddenly face to face with a past mistake: Hex, the deliciously handsome Prince of Halloween.

Scuppering Santa's plans and falling for Christmas's biggest rival would be a complete disaster... wouldn't it?

🎄🎃 My thoughts:

Ugh I loved this holiday mash up!! There was no pause for this book, I was either reading it or listening to it, never coming up for air. Both versions were so good and held my attention until it was over. I have never read a romcom quite like this but man was it good! The magical aspects of each holiday made this book even more enticing and engaging for me. And I won’t even lie… when Coal and Kris (The Claus boys) had a deep conversation… I totally teared up. This story has so much heart and it a story about family, friends, joy, and the true magic of the holidays. What a gift to have been able to read this one early! I should mention that it’s also a little sexy, a lot quirky, and completely hexing. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop! The Nightmare Before Kissmas is out 10/8/24!!

Happy reading 📖 🎃✨🎄

#Macaudio2024

This was a really cute, but also surprisingly emotional read. Nick aka Coal (the Prince of Christmas) meets Hex (the Prince of Halloween) one drunken night at the bar, and then that’s all he can think about for the next year and a half. Coal and Hex reunite unexpectedly when their “courts” meet to arrange a marriage (not between he and Hex) and work some other things out. I loved getting to see Coal and Hex fight their attraction and really get to know each-other through talks about their lives and spending time together sleigh riding and other things. Although this is a romance read, there is quite a bit of conversation between Coal and his brother Kris about the damage their mother leaving caused and it really got me all in my feels. Kris is such a sweetheart and it’s heartbreaking at times to hear how desperate he still is for his mom to want to come back to them and actually be a caring mom. The further the book progressed the more meaningful and eye opening Coal and Hex’s interactions were and the narrator (I did audio and e-ARC) did a wonderful job of portraying both men’s emotions and hesitations to give in to their feelings.

I LOVED this listen it was super fun and I loved the union story line as well as the romance plot. I'm super excited for this series and can't wait for book 2!!

🎧Audio Review🎧

I am a such huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I was immediately sold after reading the blurb and knew I needed to request an ALC. Ellis Evans does a great job with the narration. I do wish there would have been multiple POVS, as I would have liked to know what Hex was thinking and feeling at times, but I still thought this story was quirky and adorable, and I liked the fact that the spice wasn’t overdone.

Look, this plot is absolutely banana-bonkers, like I don't even know how Sara Raasch came up with this craziness. But these characters are so delightfully EARNEST and charming that I could not put this book down- read it in one go. Coal is such a romantic sap and Hex!!!! He deserves that big romantic sap being absolutely obsessed with him.

I NEED the second book. Kris was silently put through it and I need to see him get his HEA with an Irish hottie, okay?

Ellis Evans CRUSHED this performance. 10/10 audiobook narration.

I guess I had a vague picture in my mind of what this book was going to be and I was way off. But I'm not entirely sure that this book knows what it is supposed to be either. At the very least I wanted some holiday vibes, but I didn't even really get that. Yes there is hot chocolate and sleigh rides but all of the cozy vibes were zapped by the holiday imperialist machine plot - so it almost felt like the holidays were corporate and menacing. The 'holiday families' were very high court, marry off my daughter to strengthen my alliance, I will expand my empire, dramatic. Not at all what I was expecting. Also, the main characters aren't enemies so the enemies-to-lovers trope doesn't apply. The book oscillated from 'fey court drama' to 'campy holiday romance' and it really never fell into step with either. This was a good idea but it just didn't quite land. Ellis Evans was a good narrator and filled the dialogue with humor and emotion. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

No tricks here, this was a delightful little Halloweeny Christmasy treat! I very much enjoyed the idea that holidays are like their own nations. I would love another book that goes more into Halloweens town/domain! I did see a second book is coming out for Kris that deals with St. Patrick’s Day and I can’t wait to read that and maybe something that focuses on Iris and Easter in the future too!?! Obviously it’s easy to get invested in these characters! And I 100% agree with its Red, White, and Royal Blue + Nightmare Before Christmas mash up claims! Will be recommending this to everyone when it comes out!

Thank you to the author, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Bramble for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

This book was a delight. As you might guess from the cover, it gave me all the holiday feels. It especially focuses on Coal, the Prince of Christmas. He is always getting in trouble and thwarting his father's efforts to train him to be Santa. But his heart's in the right place. And the love interest is Hex, the Prince of Halloween.

I enjoyed both characters and their great conversations. I would like a bit more relationship development in lieu of a few steamy scenes, but overall I appreciated the pacing and character growth.

My favorite aspects of the book were how relevant it felt outside of either a royal household or a holiday land. So much focused on parental expectations and the family business. Coal hoped to shift the meaning of Christmas to focus more on joy and less on consumer commodification.

Coal's friend circle was amazing, and makes me eager for more books in this Royals and Romance series.

I appreciated Ellis Evans' phenomenal narration. It added the holiday spirit so well.

4.25 stars

I was ready to eat this book up! It sounded so adorable and I really love a good holiday romcom. Unfortunately the execution fell a little flat.

The narrator was excellent and if I was rating on audiobook performance alone it would be a much higher rating.

I think some of my issue with this book is a me problem and not the book’s problem but I was uninterested in the uber rich holiday royals and them living lavish lives.

The book as a while read a lot more YA than I would have liked for an adult book (aside from the spice, although even that was rather tame for an adult book).

For a romcom book the amount of politics felt overdone. The whiplash between all holiday politics and then all romance was a bit jarring. I wish there was more of a happy median.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

To be honest, Ellis Evans could read me a grocery list and I would love it 🤣

I will say that I much preferred the audio to the book itself, but regardless The Nightmare Before Kissmas was a silly good time, and I loved every slow burn minute of Coal and Hex’s story!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC! Yall made me a happy, happy girl!

The Nightmare Before Kissmas is a book I knew I needed when I saw it pitched as Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas. I was thankful that I had an eARC and ALC of this one. Once I sat down to read this one, I just couldn't put it down. The amazing story and narration by Ellis Evans had me hooked. I read it in one sitting. The audiobook made reading this book an even better experience. Ellis Evans was able to really bring this story to life and I need more books with this narrator.

My favorite holiday is Christmas, so our main character Prince Nicholas had my attention from the start. He seems to be a bit of a bad boy, but he really just wants to do right by his people. He stole my heart from the start and we see so much from him. Add in a fake relationship and a connection to Prince of Halloween that's not allowed and this was just everything. The Nightmare Before Kissmas had me laughing out loud and even wiping away a few tears. This book has family, friendship, holiday spirits, grief, and so much more.

The romance has a bit of a slow burn, but it works. The spicy scenes are classy and don't take over the story. We have characters who are fighting for their own holidays and just want their people to be happy. My favorite part was when Prince Nicholas and Kris decided to change a boring political dinner and make it a Christmas movie marathon. It's all about the spirit that makes Christmas amazing.

All of these characters were so much fun! It's hard for me to put everything into words, because I loved it so much. I'll be anxiously awaiting the next book in this series to release. I'm so excited about Kris' story.

My review will also be posted on https://thebookdutchesses.com on November 21st.

Thank you NetGalley for an ALC of The Nightmare before Kissmas in exchange of my honest opinion.

Coal is the prince of Christmas, but has lost his love for the holiday when the main focus of it became materialistic things. This was a powermove from his dad to make Christmas the most important holiday of the year. To make things worse, it has been announced that Coal will be "competing" to marry the Easter Princess, Iris with the the Prince of Halloween. However, that was not the first time he has met Halloween's Prince, Hex.

I really enjoyed the grumpy x sunshine from the main couple Hex and Coal in this book. Coal is immature, rash and a bit self centered, although he has good intentions. Hex is quiet, introspective but is eager to act on his feelings to Coal.
The sibling bond between Coal and Kris could have been better explored and I would love to see more interactions between Kris and Iris.

The story of the book flows well and we have a lot of deeper conversations about class difference, the meaning of traditions and greed in a way that was lighthearted but earnest.

Lastly the narrator of this book did a great job in bringing the dialogue to life! it portrayed this opposite personalities of the main characters in a very interesting way and kept my attention throughout the whole book even in moments that I would feel the pacing was slightly slower have I read it in physical format.

Overall a cute and fun read for the holiday season!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. 5 stars and 4 chili peppers for spice. Holy wow! This story was amazing! And the audio book narrator was Chef’s Kiss! This was my first book by Sara Raasch and I was so impressed. Her writing is beautiful. At points almost lyrical. Surprisingly this book went deep with characters reflecting internally. I honestly think there was a point I almost cried. Normally I don’t like world building but she did it beautifully. You really got a sense of this alternate holiday world existing with ours. The politics between the royal families was so good! Two words - male corsets. I also loved all the supporting characters. Everything about this book was just so good. I think this might be my top book for the entire year. This book was a slow burn but spicy. Can’t wait for book two!

Ok so this review is coming from someone who actually hates Christmas themed media, BUT I fell in love with this book! From the characters to the world building I loved everything! The mmc critiques over consumerism and the lack of meaningful Christmas interactions from the pursuit of being the number 1 holiday. In other words, Christmas is the monopoly corporation taking over the world, and if we know anything about those types of companies is that they don’t care who they hurt as long as they have profits, and that was exactly what the mmc’s father was doing with their profits, joy. The book does not shy away from the abusive actions his father acts on in the pursuit of the perfect family image, which is why I believe this is a very unique book. Although it is still a Christmas book, the fact that it brings in real life problems, it makes it more relatable. Then the romance is incredibly sweet, they were a very well matched and I’m glad the book ended the way it did! Even if you don’t like Christmas or Christmas themed books, you should definitely give this a try as it’ll leave you pleasantly surprised!

This book was such a fun read! I was expecting something very cheesy with the plot centered around the concept of Holiday royalty, but this was so amazing. The universe was very well constructed, and I really love how it really is the first of its kind. There was just the right amount of humor but not so much that it became annoying. The characters were believable, although a bit predictable.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Ellis Evans, does a great job acting though the parts, just not always doing different voices for each character.

Overall, a great book and I cannot wait to read more of this universe!!

This was a fun book to get you ready for all the autumn and winter holidays!
The Prince of Christmas Coal has kind of lost his love for the holiday when it dad commercialized it. It has now been announced that he will be "competing" to marry the Easter Princess, Iris who his brother Kris is in love with. When the Prince of Halloween, Hex arrives to compete for Iris's hand, Coal realizes it is the mysterious boy he kissed outside a bar one night who he can't stop thinking about. Coal then unearths some internal secrets that change his view on how things are run.
The characters in this book are fun, I loved the sibling bond between Coal and Kris and I loved the friendship between the 2 of them and Iris (who has been friends with them forever). They were very supportive of one another amidst the things they uncover. Coal and Hex had ok chemistry, it wasn't the best I've read, but there was something there.
The pacing of this book isn't super fast, but I was never really bored. It kept my interest throughout the book and was keen to find out how it would end.
As this is the first book in the series, I would love another book with Kris or Iris as the main character. I think doing the series that way would be super fun (though of course I am not the author!).
The narrator of the audiobook was fantastic. He was really good at bringing the dialogue (specifically) to life and I think is one of the reasons my interest was piqued the entire time.

Thank you to MacMillan audio for this ARC! I was so surprised that a concept that sounded like a cute rom-com could be executed so beautifully with a serious undertone. The characters are so humanly flawed and felt authentic. The humor was laugh out loud funny. The romance and tension were sublime! The themes of power corrupting, class division forcing folks to take what is given, the reality of joy actually means… were so well done. I loved how the holidays were represented as businesses. Also, the narrator was perfect for this story and they did a fantastic job! Really surprised with how much I loved this story!

I really wasn't sure this book would be for me. I'm not usually a fantasy girl, but I found this audiobook to be totally enjoyable. It was fun. There are moments that are kind of junior highish, but it was all the more endearing because of those. This book has family members of the different holidays competing against each other and collaborating at the same time. I don't know how else to describe it.

Bisexual Coal Claus (you guessed it--Christmas) has fallen for Hex, the Prince of Halloween. Unfortunately, his father has pitted them against each other to see which will marry Iris, the Easter Princess. Neither of them want to marry her and have trouble keeping away from each other. There is subterfuge, secret letters, unacknowledged crushes, steamy scenes and chaos galore.

The narration by Ellis Evans was superb. It was a delight to listen to!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

I think this was suppose to be cute and funny but it came across very serious and not at all lighthearted. I wanted to love it but sadly this missed the mark for me. It was okay and the relationships between the characters was decent. Also the smut was out of place with the serious tone of the rest of the story.