The Nightmare Before Kissmas

A Royals and Romance Novel

By: Sara Raasch

Narrated by: Ellis Evans

Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas in a sexy, quirky rom-com where the golden-hearted Prince of Christmas falls for the totally off-limits Prince of Halloween.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Bramble Books.

Brilliant, a firm favorite already

I got this on Audible and read it as an Audiobook. I think that was the correct chice because the narrator is incredible and the story really comes to life much more entirely than I believe it would have as text only.
I have to say, Prince Hez mentions near the end of this book that he experienced the whole spectrum of human emotion in 40 minutes. I did so in the 15 or so hours of this book. It's a feat not every author or narrator can pull out of me.
So this is a fictional fantasy young adult rom-com where each holiday is like a monarchy with a full Royal Court and ruling family. Our main boy is Coal, the Prince of Christmas, who is bissexual and obviously emotionally scarred by his tumultuous family life. One day, while traying to spread joy to the world, Coal commits what seems to be a colossal mistake, which leads him to a drunken yet life changing ecounter with a mysterious dark stranger.
Months later, as Santa Claus plots to pretty much conquer the whole world, this dark figure comes back to his life as none other than Prince Hex of Halloween, a suitor for Princess Iris of Easter in a twist not-quite love triangle, and the attraction is undeniable, setting Coal on a whole new path in life.
A lot of people have been saying how impossible and non-sensical this book is but... it is romantasy as its core, I think, so I think it makes sense in its own way. I actually think this worldbuilding is pretty thorough and crearive, I quite like the humor in it. I think there is a certain degree of self-awareness.
I loved how nuanced the characters are, I became really invested in all four protagonisrs, but especially Coal and Hex, who are pretty much thorougly explored in all of their facets here. I really liked them, I think they were really welt built and fleshed our. I love how the love story progressed. It was fun, and wmotional, and very true I felt like. Oh, and very sexy, to the pooint that it got me bothered in puublic transportation. Also often laughing out loud and treay eyed at times. Sreiously rare.
Finally, as for the woke metaphors and messages... I don't think it's that deep,or that political, to be honest. It's just a social commentary, and in my opionion quite clever at times.
I really wanna see Kris and Iris get their respective happy endings now. NOW

Exciting plot of seasons and romance!!!

Great use of holiday season with characters from them to create a unique story. Hope there is a sequel!!!

Not too Spicy

This book is very intimate and refreshing when you’re looking for a book in between reads.

The chemistry between the characters is *chefs kiss*

The plot is okay but I did enjoy how everything wrapped up. Cute Christmas/Halloween read 😉

The voice acting

The story was told with feeling and emotion. That’s what I love in audio books. When it dosent feel like a book but a movie.

The Nightmare Before Kissmass

Obviously a nightmare before Christmas retelling with a little twist and spice! In the beginning of the fist half of the book I found Nick”coal” insufferable. I could not stand him! I did warm up towards the end he’s just an excited person with a big heart when it comes to people and things that matter to him. I really enjoyed the concept and storyline. I like how Hex stayed true to his “Halloween” character but it wasn’t just about scares or being scary, so I really enjoyed that aspect. I’m glad they were able to stop Christmas’s father and fix everything so that every holiday can be happy and enjoyed the way they should. I really enjoyed it overall can’t wait for the second book.