The Nightmare Before Kissmas

Raasch (The Fate of Magic) opens the Royals and Romance series with a fantastical love story that’s equal parts playful and earnest. Nicholas “Coal” Claus, Prince of Christmas, is a well-intentioned screwup and perpetual disappointment to his father, the reigning Santa. While Coal’s home from college on Christmas break, King Claus announces Coal’s betrothal to his best friend Iris, Princess of Easter, as a way to cement the two Holiday Kingdoms’ alliance, even though neither Coal nor Iris wants this union. Complicating matters, Prince Hex of Halloween arrives to compete for Iris’s hand. Coal is surprised to recognize Hex as the guy he kissed on the worst day of his life and soon finds himself crushing hard. As the three royals navigate a tangled web of deceit, duty, and desire, they also contend with King Claus’s ruthless political gambit to make Christmas the most powerful Holiday of all. Can Coal win the heart of Halloween while saving the soul of Christmas? Raasch touches on the cultural and religious significance of the holidays she’s playing with only lightly, somewhat shortchanging the worldbuilding to instead keep the focus largely on Coal and Hex’s turbulent and steamy relationship. The result is a delightful paranormal rom-com that sets up the series for good things to come. (Oct.)