So I’ll keep going. And going. And I’ll learn and do better and sometimes I’ll hate myself for not giving up and I’ll rage at the shit around me but I remember what it’s like to look at the world with uncomplicated hope and I can’t stop until I get that back. What’s the alternative?
Chapter Nineteen, The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
Table of Contents
Vibes and Timing
I discovered this book through one of my favourite booktubers lexi aka newlynova at just the right time. The weekend before Christmas is when I saw lexi’s video talking about getting out of a reading slump and one of the books mentioned was this one. The Nightmare Before Kissmass by Sara Raasch, a lighthearted romance novel about the Prince of Christmas and the Prince of Halloween with all the trappings of a Christmas romcom.
The vibes are immaculate in this book, every bit of Christmas you can think of is in this book and I don’t think this book would have worked for me if I didn’t read during Christmas week. So the timing for both discovery and my reading of it was also immaculate.
Worldbuilding Woes
While this book maintains a reasonably lighthearted tone through most of the book, it does also focus a lot on building out its world of holiday royal families and their adjacent politics and diplomatic affairs to a degree I think is unnecessary. I feel like the author cares way more about the fantasy world of this book than I think anybody else coming to this book will.
I suppose the worldbuilding is all set up for the upcoming sequel in this Royals and Romance series but I still felt like the absurdity of the world in this novel was made slightly worse by the author’s attempt at explaining why the world is the way it is. This is definitely a romance novel rather than a romantasy novel but it felt like the author tried to make it into a bit of a romantasy.
I also don’t think this should have been made a series because while the premise is fun I don’t think it is interesting enough for a series to be built upon but hey, the sequel is not out yet and I haven’t read it so I cannot make any definite judgments along that front.
Smattering of Spicy Smut
As is typical of romance novels, this novel comes with its fair share of smut. What this book made me realize is that I definitely do not enjoy reading smut. I found myself skimming through most of the smut scenes in this book. They just don’t do anything for me – they are not titillating, exciting or any other relevant adjective. I mostly find them a bit annoying if anything.
I do think that the book could have done with a little less smut and with a main character that is not so damn horny for the love interest because the second half of the book is a lot of smut combined with prose about how much the main character is horny for the love interest. There is pining and yearning, yes but it is of the wrong kind for me: sexual rather than romantic. This isn’t a slow burn romance either so if you like me enjoy a slow burn romance with lots of pining and yearning, this ain’t it.
Christmas Conclusions
This is the last book I will read and review in 2024. As far as books I’ve read this book are concerned, this one is…fine. I don’t think it would have worked if I had read it at. different time of year. It was definitely the kind of lighthearted and silly romance novel I was looking to end the year with and it kept me entertained during what was a fairly boring Christmas week.
That’s all from me. Happy Holidays y’all.
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