Have you ever thought to yourself ‘what if Red, White & Royal Blue met a holiday-themed fantasy world?’ Because if you have, look no further! The Nightmare Before Kissmas was a heart-filled, emotionally devastating, hilarious, politically intriguing romantasy-comedy that is sure to become a forever star of the genre.
The Nightmare Before Kissmas follows Christmas Prince Nicholas ‘Coal’ Clause, as he returns home for Christmas, only to discover his father (perpetually furious, and very concerned with appearances) has been scheming. Stuck in a fake-dating-to-arranged-marriage pipeline with best friend, and Easter Princess, Iris, Coal doesn’t think things can get much worse. Cue Halloween. Unhappy with the Christmas King’s machinations, Halloween agrees to send their own Prince, Hex Hallow, to compete with Coal for Iris’s hand. Things take a turn when Coal recognises Halloween’s darkly beautiful Prince, and it all gets romantic from there!
You can tell that Raasch used to write huge, sprawling, ‘serious’ fantasy novels, because the world here, as much as it is a bit silly (and meant to be!), is so well constructed. The family dynamics are another stand-out here, Raasch really makes you care for these people and their subplots. In so many ways this reminded my of McQuiston’s wildly popular RW&RB, largely because of the fully-fleshed, and exceptionally noble, men at the centre of the story. The novel sucked me in, I laughed, I cried (genuinely, there’s a few emotional sucker-punches in this), I wanted it to go on forever. This book is an exceptional display of writing skill, and an utterly un-put-down-able story; a reminder to all of us that excellent writers, writing with passion, will always produce something brilliant.
5 very deserved stars.
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