I had a fantastic time reading this book! I've loved Sara Raasch's YA books, and I was excited to read her step into adult books, and oh, this was a blast to read! I adored Coal and Hex, they were just a delight to read about, and this world of Holidays and joy magic!

The idea of all these various holidays having royal courts, and have their magic powered by the joy that their holiday brings, is such an interesting idea! We mainly had Christmas and Halloween magic in this book, with a tiny bit of Easter, so it'll be interesting to see what other holidays magic looks like in future books!

Coal has good intentions, but executing them, he's not the best at, including when he tried to give happiness to a small country, and ended it sending it into chaos. Add to the fact that his dad, the reigning Santa, seems determined to make Christmas into a cheap commercial kind of holiday, and he has a lot of mixed emotions going on.

His relationship with Hex, absolutely fantastic! That they're both supposed to be courting Iris, because of Holiday politics, added to the drama! I loved that story, and the underlying plot, and watching Coal finding his balance while everything is going on! I loved how it came together!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to see where the series goes from here!

The Nightmare Before Kissmas brings us Coal, the heir of Christmas, who has never really figured out how to be a part of the process. He tries to spread Christmas joy, and things go terribly wrong. His dad, the current Santa, is not impressed. As Coal tries to deal with the fallout of his choice, he meets a stranger at a bar whom he can't stop thinking about. Several years pass, and Santa says he's bringing Coal into the fold, but in a way Coal never expected and does not agree with. What will he do when the stranger reappears in the midst of his new family drama? I loved the sibling and friend dynamics in this story so much! Coal and Hex are also pretty adorable. We love a down bad man.

I loved the audiobook narration of this book! The narrator had a great voice for the main POV character and was able to change things up enough to suit the others. I was able to speed it up without difficulty, which is an essential audiobook feature for me.

I'll definitely continue on in this interconnected series! Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC of this book for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the review copy of this audiobook.

I really enjoyed the story here, but it was not the feel good holiday romance I thought I was getting. It was sweet and unique – with a fresh take on the holiday kingdoms and their complicated politics. I really hope we get a Kris and Iris book. #JusticeForIris

Spice: 1/5 - open door, vague language
Audiobook narration: 5/5

CW: <spoiler> parental death </spoiler>

Words cannot express how much I loved this book. I loved it x infinity. Every single thing about it. The narrator was one of the best narrators I've ever listened to. I loved it so much I ordered a physical copy. I may have ordered two. Just in case I needed a spare. I will henceforth not stop professing my love and screaming it from the mountain tops.

The Nightmare Before Kissmas was not exactly what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. It's described as Red, White, and Royal Blue(RWRB for the rest of the review) meets The Nightmare Before Christmas so I did go in with this knowledge and some level of expectations about how the story and romance will go because I'm a huge fan of both. I think it's a pretty accurate comparison but I do think it differs from both. I want to say before going in depth regardless if this review is positive or negative these are just my personal opinions, interpretations, and perspectives on this book, if you've been dying to read it you should still do so! I received a free copy on NetGalley, so big thank you for allowing me to listen and review this book!

The Romance:

For me, it plays out a bit differently than in RWRB. I feel like there was more witty banter between Alex and Henry than Coal and Hex, which was a big selling point of RWRB for me as I love banter in a romance so I was slightly disappointed about that. I think it took a bit too long for the romance and interactions between them to start, again because of the comparison I expected it to be more ongoing through the whole book like RWRB which was not the case. Yes, we get a little scene at the start but it's not until a good chunk in that we get more than just Coal pining and wishing for more from a stranger, but not necessarily in a slow burn way either which was also what I was hoping for. Although once it actually got going I enjoyed them together. I liked there being some focus on making sure the other is okay and not crossing boundaries with each other which was nice and realistic for a real relationship. I do love the opposites attract vibe. I do kind of wish they had either more history with each other or had a little more build up to their feelings. I feel like I don't say this often but this book could've benefitted from being a little longer exclusively for building up their relationship more because it felt a tad rushed into(but I am also usually a slow burn person so I could just be used to that!) I do wish it was more rivals-to-lovers because it's literally not at all, because there's basically no conflict between them specifically until the end (which I wasn't the biggest fan of). With all that said, I did enjoy their romance for the most part and the dialogue between them.

The Rest:

I actually really enjoyed the plot of the story. It was RWRB with all the politics and behind the scenes schemes, I know some weren't a fan of that but I like that sort of thing. I found the plotting and political aspects really interesting, although I expected this book to be a lot more lighthearted than it was. I wouldn't mind if we got more stories from this world and really delved into a lot of the other families and holiday dramas as it seems there's a lot of history amongst and within other families, I did see that the next book is already up on Goodreads so I'm excited to see more of the world. I also want to mention the text threads were really funny in my opinion. Some were slightly cringe but I don't mind some cringe in my books. This book did have me smiling and laughing which is what I was hoping for when I started this. There are some spoiler-y things I was pretty meh to so I'll try to be vague. It felt like it was pushed as a rivals to lovers situation but it really wasn't like that at all as I said before. I thought the stakes were weird and felt a little like..I don't know.. an after thought or maybe just not thought out enough? Overall the book was a pretty quick read for me. I read it in two long sittings with a crochet project.

The Narrator:

I listened to the audio and I listen to my audios at 2x+ speeds. Ellis Evans does a great job in my opinion! I liked how he voiced the different characters and has a really nice voice to listen to. As said previously I listened to this book in basically two long sittings and while I was enjoying the book, the narrator also contributed!

Thanks to Netgalley for an Audio ARC.
I had been waiting for this book since it was announced and it was as good as I hoped it would be! A forbidden romance between two holiday Prince's that's spicy and the takedown of an oppressive leader that is Santa, sign me up!
I listened to the Audio book that was narrated by Ellis Evans and they did an excellent bringing the voices of the characters to life.

A delightful book that is funny, thoughtful, and well written. I picked this book up for the Christmas and Halloween vibes,and it absolutely delivered, but it also gave me characters I cared about and an interesting plot. 10/10 may re-read next year in the last week of October for optimal holiday effect.

The Prince of Christmas falls for the Prince of Halloween in this holiday packed romcom. Unfortunately, the Halloween prince is supposed to be marrying someone else and it’s causing tension amongst all of the characters.

I wanted to LOVE this and I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t. I liked it and enjoyed the romance aspect, but I felt lost at times and just wasn’t invested in the characters like I’d hoped to be. It was a fun and cute read for the season.

This audiobook was narrated by Ellis Evans. He did great with the characters!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Sara Raasch, and Macmillan Audio for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review. This published on October 8th.

I have posted my review on Goodreads, my Facebook book club, and will make a TikTok to post before the pub date raving about this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the nightmare before Kissmas. The prince of Christmas, Coal’s night at the bar and drunken kiss turns out to be the prince of Halloween, Christmas rival. Now Coal is going head to head with the prince of Halloween to wed Iris, the princess of Easter, as a political tactic.

I loved the relationship between Coal, his brother, and Iris (his best friend). The characters had thorough development that you could really get into and overall was just a really good read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What to Expect:
🎃Red, White & Royal Blue meets Nightmare Before Christmas (YES)
🎅🏽punny Christmas group chats
🎃skull rings & goth corsets
🎅🏽ice skating & sleigh rides
🌶gradual spice throughout the story
🎧Audio 100% recommend
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This was such a fun read with each holiday having royalty, heirs & magic! The sense of humor & friends dynamics definitely reminded me of RWRB and it was a delight! I especially loved the ties of Dia de Los Muertos with Hallowee/fall holidays. This does revolve more around Christmas, but even Easter comes into play. It doesn’t necessarily end with a cliff hanger, but I MUST know what happened with Chris and Iris! Cannot wait to see more from this series!

2.5 Stars
This was a cute and cozy read and would be a fun and festive book to read for the holidays. I didn't entirely love the way this was executed and the romance between the MCs didn't really hit the way I needed/wanted it to and I wish we got more of the backstory (what ever happened between Kris and Iris?? Did we ever find out and I just wasn't paying attention lol or is this going to be a plot point in the next book?). I did enjoy the narrator and felt that he did a great job at portraying Nicholas/"Coal" authentically.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

I have heard such great things about this one, and for whatever reason, it just didn’t do it for me. Not sure if it was the narrator, or just in my head but I never connected with the characters. I liked the idea of the story, but I don’t always love the snarky banter. The plot was all over the place and there was a ton of spicy scenes. A lot of people are comparing this to Red White and Royal Blue. I didn’t really like that one either, so I’m not surprised at my reaction to this one.

For a book that seemed so light and fluffy in the synopsis, it sure turned into so much more. Family trauma, the consumerism of holidays, and so much more. But it was so worth reading. Coal and Hex were a great OTP and I was cheering for their love from chapter one. This book has such a unique premise and a great romance filled with oodles of narrative layers. So much more than a simple romance. Also, the narrator was top-notch and a new favorite. I give this book 4/5 stars.

This seems like it would be a really cute story, but I couldn’t get past how annoying the MMC is. The story was a little predictable, but it included a lot of holiday politics. This definitely is a holiday version of Red White and Royal Blue

Nicholas “Cole” Claus is the first son of Christmas and heir to the Santa namesake…. But a lifetime of messing up and causing scandal has put him on his father, Santa‘s naughty list!

He’s been sent home for the holidays and if he doesn’t find a solution, he’s going to find himself walking down the aisle on Christmas Eve with his best friend, the Easter Princess!

When things seem to not be able to get any worse… in comes the dark and handsome Halloween Prince to also vie for the Easter Princess’s hand!

Too bad for the Easter princess, but it looks like both the Christmas and Halloween princes only have eyes for each other!

This was such a fun and quirky YA romance! I love the ultimate world of the Holiday states, and they are political intrigue! as a fan of the movie, the nightmare before Christmas I definitely found myself singing. This is Halloween, every time Hex, the Halloween Prince entered a scene!

I love to seeing these characters grow and develop their own maturity and respect for their individual holiday states. It was nice seeing the aimless Cole, find his purpose and take charge of his life!

I listen to the audiobook narrated by Ellis Evans and really enjoyed their use of voice differentiation for the varied characters. With two male leads and other male side characters, I was impressed at the variety of voice work. It was a fun book to listen to and the narration really brought the story to life!

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my review copies.

4.5 stars

The Nightmare Before Kissmas follows Nicholas “Coal” Claus, the Prince of Christmas who is a little bit of a hot mess. Known for being a in the tabloids and reeling from an international disaster, he just wants to hide away and hang out with his brother Chris and their best friend Iris, the Princess of Easter. His father has other plans and to make up for the PR mess, declares that Coal and Iris will be married. Things take a turn for the worse when the royals from Halloween show up to also challenge for Iris’ hand, and it turns out Prince Hex of Halloween is a man from Coal’s past! But this love triangle and competition is all a sham to try to create good press, and the princes only have eyes for each other. What follows is a tale full of forbidden romance, royal shenanigans, and messy princes who can’t stay apart.

I absolutely adored this holiday romcom! Described as Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas, this was such a fun and quirky story! It is a holiday spin on a contemporary royalty romance and is the perfect mix of cute, funny, and spicy! Coal and Hex were such great foils of each other and I loved all of their interactions. The side story with Chris and Iris’ potential romance has me PRAYING that we get their story in book two!

I thought this book was such a perfect balance of humor, heart, and spice. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times, but also nearly tearing up at how emotional it could get and the journey’s these characters went through. We also got a nice dash of some spice with the princes and it made for the perfect spiced treat!

I listened to this on audio and really loved the narration as well! Ellis Evans did a really good job in making the MMCs distinct, and really conveying their emotions throughout the entire novel. I actually thought for a while there were two narrators, that is how good of a job Evans did in making the characters unique! I really enjoyed the pacing and tone as well, and overall just found it a well done audiobook!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the copy of this book!

Read if you like:
-Holiday Romance
-Forbidden Love
-Hot Mess MMC
-Marriage of Convenience (goes wrong)
-Found Family

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite Halloween/Christmas movies so I knew I needed to read this!! And I was NOT disappointed! It was so freaking cute. I love the parallel that was created between real feelings around the Holidays in real life and how they were portrayed in this book. And the Ellis Evans did an amazing job bringing this to life!

Love the audio narration.

I was obsessed upon seeing the concept for this one and then the execution? Fantastic

I absolutely adored this book. It was magical, sweet, and funny, with a little bit of spice (MM). While it first appears to be a Christmas story, it’s a story that crosses multiple holidays. This is so much different than your typical holiday romance, give it a chance.

I was provided with a review copy of the audiobook and this is my honest opinion. I gave this book 4.5 stars. (If I am unable to leave partial stars, I will always round up.) Narration was excellent as well!

I cannot wait to continue on with the series. I also plan to check out the author’s previous works.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Sarah Raasch!

Being a huge fan of Red, White, and Royal Blue and The Nightmare Before Christmas, I had to read this book! It did not disappoint. Having a crossover of Christmas and Halloween just works. I love how the main characters are princes, because of course they are! Who knew that Santa Claus could be so evil though; good thing these princes are better. Sometimes you got to leave it to the children to break the mishandling of their parents. I love stories where you just know that the characters are meant to be together and that is how I felt about Coal and Hex. I am so happy that there will be another book to this series because there are so many questions that need to be answered.