I really thought there was no topping a Halloween x Christmas romance but here I am, wanting to sing Christmas carols while eating corned beef and cabbage.

We’ve got a spare prince figuring out what he wants in life, a university rivalry filled with tinsel, and stubborn tension that is thick as a blanket of snow. The chemistry hits, the burn is slow, the banter is kicking. This was an audio read for me and the narration was oozing with sass and wit. The magic of the world continues to develop and I’m really interested to see where it leads to next.

How can a book possibly be this sweet & lighthearted, and sexy at the same time?!

How can a sequel be this good, BETTER even than the first?!

So, remember Red White and Royal Blue? (We do.) THIS is like that ... but better. With a bit of Beauty & the Beast (delightful) and Bridge to Terabithia (shattering).

"Wonder. That's the feeling. Like all these books hold possibilities and if I pick the right one, I'll get swept away somewhere better and righter and truer."

This read was an absolute delight, so much fun to dove back into this world that Raasch created. Between the obvious sexual tension and the slight edge of mystery learning more about the second prince of Christmas was the magical ride I thought it would be- but so much more

I recently finished reading Sara Raasch's latest addition to her holiday royalty romance series, "Go Luck Yourself," and wanted to share my thoughts. Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book, "The Nightmare Before Kissmas," I was eagerly anticipating this new release.

Initially, I was a bit surprised by the change in Kris's romantic interest. However, I quickly grew to appreciate his new love interest, Prince Lochlann Patrick, the heir of St. Patrick's Day.

While I didn't enjoy "Go Luck Yourself" quite as much as "The Nightmare Before Kissmas," it was still a delightful read filled with queer joy and festive holiday spirit. Sara Raasch continues to impress with her work in this series.

I really enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers romance novel! Thank you so, so much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this title!

Blurb:
Someone has been stealing Christmas’s joy, and there’s only one clue to the culprit—a single shamrock.

With Coal busy restructuring Christmas—and their dad now having a full midlife crisis in the Caribbean—Kris volunteers to investigate St. Patrick’s Day. His cover: an ambassador from Christmas to foster goodwill. What could go wrong?

Everything, it seems. Because Prince Lochlann Patrick, Crown Prince of St. Patrick’s Day, happens to be the mysterious student that Kris has been in a small war with at Cambridge. They attempt to play nice for the tabloids, but Kris can’t get through one conversation without wanting to smash Loch’s face in—he’s infuriating, stubborn, loud, obstinate, hot—

Wait—hot?

Kris might be in some trouble. Especially when it turns out that the mystery behind Christmas’s stolen magic isn’t as simple as an outright theft. But why would a Holiday that Christmas has never had contact with, one that’s always been the very basis of carefree, want to steal joy? Can a spare prince even hope to unravel all this, or will Kris lose something way more valuable than his Holiday’s resources—like his heart?

I loved this book probably more than the first in the series. The first book had great detail to world building. This one had greater detail to the enemies to lovers trope as well as to cultural commentary. I'd read it all over again for the first time if I had the chance.

I loved this second book in this holiday royal romance series. I’m not a big holiday theme reader, but the first book was just so adorable I had to pick this one up. While the first book felt cuter and more wholesome(?), the second book felt more emotional to me. Still fun but less whimsical. We don’t get to see as much magic in this one due to St. Patricks joy situation.

First off, there is less of a found family vibe with this. Even though Loch has siblings, we don’t get to know them like we did with Kris in book 1. So most of the plot is focused on Loch and Kris. This made the romantic development better but I did miss having this wholesome friend group. Fortunately we are visited by Coal, Hex, and Iris a few times throughout this one.

Second, we dive deep into Kris’ past trauma that he’s fought so hard to accept. We see him eventually find peace and self-love. We also get Loch’s story but the primary character is Kris. His struggle to learn who he is and what he wants is both heartbreaking and healing.

The concept of the holiday lands is still fun. We don’t learn more about other lands like we did in the first book. This is very much focused on St. Patricks. I felt like the author could have incorporated more history of the holiday, instead it felt like a bunch of celebrations of Irish culture. Still, fun!

Just like in Book 1, we have an “evil” family member that needs to be taken down. We also get a who-did-it type of mystery as we follow Kris in trying to figure out who is stealing joy from Christmas and why.

This is spicier than book 1. There are a lot more intimate scenes between Loch and Kris. I loved the attitude they both had with each other when they were “enemies.” It’s less enemies, and more “that annoying guy who is also really hot.” 😆

I really thought book 2 would be about Iris. After reading this, I am convinced book 3 will center Iris’s love story and Easter land. We get hints that she is busy in Easter but things are not going smoothly. We see a new friendship form between her and another character; and it’s clear the other character is crushing hard on Iris. 🥰

One thing to note is the author intentionally leaves out religious beliefs in both books. So even though Christmas, Easter, and St. Patricks Day all clearly have Christian ties, the author does not incorporate this in her stories. For example, Easter mainly represents Spring. I appreciated this choice. I recommend suspending belief and just accepting the lands as they are presented for the best reading experience.

ARC Review
Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch
Royals and Romance - Book 2

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun trip back to the world of magical holidays. Instead of Christmas and Halloween, we have the mixing of Christmas and St. Patrick's Day.
After a disaster at school, there is a bit of media scrutiny. To try to keep the peace, Kris is going to visit Loch and St. Patrick's Day. There were quite a few sparks that flew - the story that follows was a lot of fun.

I enjoyed this one just as much as the first one. I liked seeing into Kris's head and understand his thoughts.

I absolutely love this series! It's lighthearted, hilarious, and a little bit silly. A prince of christmas solving a mystery and falling in love with the heir of St. Patrick's day? Perfection!

Go Luck Yourself is the sequel to The Nightmare before Ex-Mas. We follow Kris as he meets the Prince of St. Patrick’s Day and must act as a representative from Christmas to look at who is stealing joy from Christmas. This is a difficult review for me to write because I am not sure if I liked it. Kris’ whole arch is that he does things for other people and not for himself so people are trying to get him to do things for himself. We follow him as he has to work out his feelings for the Prince of St. Patrick’s day, work on personal family business and his own uncertainty. I personally don’t know how believable Kris and Locke are and that’s one of the reasons why I am conflicted about this book. Kris was going after Iris in the first book and realized at the end that he thought he wanted it because that is what everyone else wanted for him. He wanted that “storybook love story,” if you will. However, he start to realize in this book that he was wrong and is starting to fall for Locke. I just don’t know if that is super believable, but that is the point of the book that he needs to find himself. But, I am not sure if that was a forced plot point, or if it’s something the author wanted to work through. I did find the story funny and I was invested in who was stealing from Christmas. Also the look into another holiday was interesting and I am happy we explored something that is so based on culture. This was not a bad book by any means, I am just struggling with how believable I found Kris as a main character. I would recommend this book if you enjoyed the first one and I am looking forward to more from the author. I just didn’t enjoy following Kris as much as following his brother.

This series is proving to be very sweet. I really love the conceit around the holidays as corporations or political entities that have to work together, or compete for the joy of humanity. It's creative and magical and makes for some clever humor. I also think Raasch does a really great job of writing sweet vulnerable young men which we don't see often enough. There is definitely some repetition in the tropes, but it wouldn't be a romance if there weren't. The conflict in this book more that the first in the series seemed a little contrived. I did not buy the conflict with the uncle as much as I bought the father son conflict in the Nightmare Before Kissmass. That said, I think the love of the friendship group is only getting stronger as the series goes on. I'm still invested in this adorable little fantasy world and I can't wait for the next book.

Once again Sara Raasch has created a story that is not only funny in its entirety, but also incredibly deep, healing, and inspiring.

Thank you so much to Bramble for my early and finished copies of this book! All opinions are my own.

We are once again thrust into the politics of the holidays, this time between Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. I loved the added twist that Kris had no idea he was pranking Lochlann at the beginning, setting off a great enemies to lovers, “I was sent to destroy you,” rooted in academia rivalry and feuding families.

As Kris navigates St. Patrick’s Day in the aftermath of his father’s greed and the shadow of the St. Patrick’s Day king, it’s incredibly clear that both of these prices are traumatized and just need a hug. I loved how artistic and caring Lochlann was despite his sticky situation. I loved how steadfast Kris was in standing up for Lochlann against his uncle.

Throughout this book as Lochlann and Kris healed apart and together, we laugh, we cry, we just wish the world would stop being so damn unfair for five seconds. It’s another masterpiece of a story and I’m so glad I read it.

I have never read anything by this author, but I will be looking out for other books they write in the future. I really enjoyed the story as well as the pacing of the story.

Raasch continues to absolutely kill it with these holiday royalty romances. Reading The Nightmare Before Kissmas the first time was such a delightful, funny, odd (complimentary) experience that I didn't hesitate to request Go Luck Yourself when it became available, and it was even better than book 1. I loved everything about the world that Raasch built in this series - it ought to feel over-the-top and cheesy, but instead Raasch's deft touch with prose, and the emotional sincerity of the story, deliver an experience that has all the beloved warmth of a Hallmark/Disney holiday special, along with a cheeky sense of humor and a healthy dose of camp that keeps the book from taking itself too seriously. Which would certainly spoil the fun and the magic! I mean, a hidden world full of holidays personified as modern day royalty with their own scandals, romances, and complex multi-national political system? It shouldn't work, but somehow it really does! And the relationship between Kris and Lochlann was absolutely everything.

I don't know if Raasch intends to write any other books in the Royals and Romance series, but believe me, I will be first in line if she does!

God Raasch has got a reader for life in me. Where NBK was a suprise twist into examining the meaning of holidays in a capitalist world that treats assimilation as it's end goal, this is a surprisingly wonderful look into mental health and the pressure be good enough when you've set an unobtainable goal for yourself and the failure of not completing the impossible feels soul crushing. I love these book, I will read anything Raasch writes at this point.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. To be fair, after reading The Nightmare Before Kissmas I really shouldn't have wondered.

Raasch has a way of writing banter that is relatable, and will have you kicking your feet. Go Luck Yourself follows younger brother Kris while he deals with his parental issues, and the realization that he might not be as in love with his bestfriend like he thought he was. This book is romantic, funny, sad... and I have never rooted for two grown a** men as much as I did with this two while they were having their little moment in the backseat of a car. LOL.

I love this book so much that it's one of my staff picks at work. :)

This story follows the other prince of Christmas and the crown prince of St. Patrick’s day. I liked this book a lot more than the first one. The storyline was better and delivered. This book was fun with great pacing and conflicts throughout the storyline. I still wish that it was dual pov because why split the cover in half for the side lead but here we are. There’s bantering in the story which was cute. I do think you need to read the first book to get an understanding of Kris.

Kris is the MC and I loved this character. He’s relatable and I loved seeing his growth throughout the story. Then we have Lochlann and I have to say that I was just entertained to learn more about the prince of St. Patrick’s day because who would think of a prince of St. Pat. He was a great character who showed great growth and a good story. There are many side characters and I think we might get Iris’ book next but we will see. The romance is cute and a lot better than book 1. This book is enemies to lovers comapred to book 1.

The ending was well done and overall a great story. I liked the plot and characters of this book a lot more and saw so much improvement. I do recommend reading book 1 but of course you don’t have to in order to understand the story of this one.

*this book was sent to me free by the publisher.

"Go Luck Yourself" by Sara Raasch is an absolute delight! This quirky, feel-good read is packed with humor, charm, and just the right amount of holiday magic. Raasch does a fantastic job of creating a fun, fast-paced story with a perfect mix of romance and personal growth. Huge thanks to the publisher for the ARC! I’ve already grabbed a copy for my library system. If you’re looking for a lighthearted, feel-good book with lots of heart, this one’s definitely worth picking up. Highly recommend it!