Royals and Romance, #1
by Sara Raasch
narrated by Ellis Evans
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The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch is a fun queer holiday romance with a lot of heart and the author’s adult debut.
I initially picked this up because it was comped to Red, White, and Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas and I was completely sold. I really enjoyed reading the former and the latter is one of my top ten favorite movies. Also the cover is AMAZING and the paperback has red sprayed edges! I listened to the audiobook and I really enjoyed listening to Ellis Evans narrate.
I always have fun when books have mixed media elements, and in these books there are text chains between various characters. It was a little easy for me to tell that this was an adult debut; it felt like it leaned a little YA, especially at the beginning. But it’s definitely an adult book, even if it leans on the New Adult side for me.
Overall this was very cute and there was great chemistry between both our MCs but also throughout their friend group. I loved the emphasis on the importance of communication in both romantic and platonic relationships, too. It’s always great to see clear, explicit consent being sought for steamy reasons. I liked the worldbuilding and want to learn more about the different holiday kingdoms.
You might be asking yourself if this is a spoopy season book or if it is a winter holiday season book. It is absolutely the latter, but I think you could have a fun time reading this at any time of year. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!
Tropes in this book include: forced proximity, forbidden, disaster bisexual
CW: toxic parent, absent parent, death of sibling (prior to book), processing grief
I received a complimentary review copy from Bramble, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley. All opinions contained herein are my own.
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