A queer, corny and ultra-cute romance perfect for the Christmas season! 

 

Coal, the prince of Christmas, can’t seem to keep himself out of disaster. He’s a PR nightmare for his father, the reigning Santa, who’s taken it upon himself to set Coal straight through an arranged marriage with his BFF, Iris, the princess of Easter. The only trouble is, Hex, the prince of Halloween shows up to compete for the princess’s hand—and he’s totally hot. Rekindling a drunken encounter from years prior, Coal and Hex must keep their attraction a secret, or risk their and their courts’ reputations in the process. 

 

I had a lot of fun reading this! It was the perfect fluffy, low-stakes romance I needed at the time I read it, and I leaned into all the corny, adorkable-ness the story had to offer. Coal is an extremely melodramatic character, but he knows and owns this, often questioning his ability to be a good friend, son, partner and leader because of his dramatics. This was a little tiresome at the start of the novel, but I got used to Coal’s quirks by the end. 

 

The romance between Hex and Coal was really sweet. It’s fueled with a ton of banter and flirting but has some relatively abrupt spice sprinkled in. Although we stay in Coal’s head throughout the book, I felt like Hex was well fleshed out and enjoyed his character a lot. We also got to know the side characters, including Coal’s brother, Kris, and Iris, who I look forward to exploring more in future stories. This book set the stage for what I assume will be an even funnier book 2. 

 

Three cheers for holiday-fueled fantasy romance, bisexual rep and cute lovers!