The Nightmare Before Kissmas Book Review: Gay Holiday Royalty Romance? Yeah, I'm In.

Rating: ★★★★★

"The Nightmare Before Kissmas" Book Review:

Okay, here's the pitch: holidays are kingdoms. Christmas, Halloween, Easter — each one is ruled by a royal family. The Prince of Christmas is a golden-hearted himbo named Coal who's disillusioned with the whole Santa PR machine. The Prince of Halloween is a brooding, dark-magic-wielding disaster named Hex. They're rivals. Then they're not.

If you read that and thought "this is unhinged" — you are correct. Sara Raasch wrote a book that is gloriously, unapologetically unhinged, and it works because she commits to the bit with complete sincerity. The holiday-kingdom worldbuilding is ridiculous in the best way. Christmas has its aesthetic. Halloween has its aesthetic. Easter has its aesthetic. And the politics between them — trade agreements, royal marriages, centuries of rivalry — are played with just enough seriousness to give the romance actual stakes.

Coal is forced by his father (the reigning Santa, who has turned Christmas into a corporate spectacle) to court Iris, the Easter Princess, in an arranged marriage neither of them wants. Enter Hex, who challenges Coal for Iris's hand and who also happens to be the mysterious stranger Coal hooked up with behind a bar. The enemies-to-lovers pipeline is short and extremely well-constructed.

Raasch writes the M/M romance with a warmth and specificity that elevates the material beyond its campy premise. Coal and Hex both carry real emotional baggage — an absent mother, fathers who weaponize duty, the pressure of performing holiday cheer when you're falling apart inside. The moments of vulnerability between them hit harder than they have any right to in a book where someone's dad is literally Santa Claus.

Is this high literature? No. Some of the worldbuilding raises more questions than it answers, and the pacing in the middle section dips when the political machinations get too convoluted. But the romance is strong, the humor is genuinely funny, and Raasch has created something that feels like a holiday movie you'd actually want to watch — cozy, queer, and surprisingly emotional.

Ellis Evans narrates the audiobook with exactly the right blend of earnestness and camp.

Four stars. This was an instant USA Today bestseller for a reason. If you're looking for a queer holiday romance that commits fully to its own absurd premise, this is the one.

If You Liked The Nightmare Before Kissmas, Try:

• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston — Another queer romance where public duty and private desire collide, with sharper political commentary and the same investment in making the love story feel earned.

• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune — A cozy fantasy romance with a found-family core and the same conviction that joy and queerness belong in genre fiction.

• In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren — A holiday rom-com with a time-loop twist. Different energy, same seasonal warmth.

From Luke Stoffel's Bookshelf

If this book review resonated with you, check out The Stardust Pirates — a queer YA horror where, like Coal, the protagonist discovers that the magical system he was raised inside is built on lies, set on a Philippine island where ancient siren lore is as seductive and theatrical as anything in Raasch's holiday kingdoms. thestardustpirates.com (https://thestardustpirates.com) Learn More: The Stardust Pirates

The Stardust Pirates by Luke Stoffel