Notes from the Shelf

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The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sarah Raasch is a 368-page romance novel with the main focus being Christmas Price Nicholas “Coal” Claus and Halloween Price Hex. It’s the first in the Royals and Romance series. Here is the book blurb: 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.

This book was marketed as a mix between Red, White and Royal Blue and Nightmare Before Christmas, but it gave me more the vibes of Boyfriend Material, which is basically just a knock-off Red, White and Royal Blue. I didn’t get any Nightmare Before Christmas vibes; I think that is only included in the marketing since it’s focused on holiday princes in a secret magical world separate from the regular world. Because of that element, it gave a little bit of a Harry Potter vibe.

This book was also marketed as enemies-to-lovers, which is one of my favorite tropes, but Coal and Hex are never enemies. They are pitted against each other by Coal’s father, but they’re madly in love with each other from the get-go and just have to pretend that’s not the case. Because they already love each other from the beginning, there’s really not much romantic tension throughout the story, and the fight they have in the third act didn’t seem that big of a deal either.

I found the holiday representation to be interesting with the idea that each holiday has royal families and some holidays don’t trust others. But I found myself not caring too much about the drama between the families and found it a little frustrating that it seemed saving Christmas and the other winter holidays from the current Santa overtook a lot of the romantic plot.

While this book really wasn’t as advertised, it was still a very fun read and was surprisingly spicy. There were many cute moments throughout the book between Coal and Hex that made me giddy, and sometimes that’s all I’m really looking for in a romance book. However, it’s definitely a book that is more enjoyable if you don’t have any expectations before reading, which I know isn’t the type of book for everyone.

I’m a little more interested in the second book that comes out in Winter 2025, focusing on Coal’s brother Kris and the St. Patrick’s Day prince, because that seems like true enemies-to-lovers.

I give The Nightmare Before Kissmas 4 stars.

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