After reading The Nightmare Before Kissmas, I KNEW I needed more in this world and Sara Raasch definitely delivered with this one! This book is full of witty banter, heart felt self discovery and LOL moments. I absolutely adore Kris and I was so excited to get to see his story unfold! I love all the creative touches to this magical world and, of course, I love seeing characters from the previous book! I’m ready for more in this world ASAP!

I don't know if I liked this one or book one more. For now, we will say they are tied. An absolutely wonderful sequel to Nightmare Before Kissmas. I love how emotional and raw this book is as both of our main characters are dealing with trauma and their own self-worth. I loved that they were able to be there for each other while also making space to find themselves. This book felt like it could be happening to someone I know in real life while also being magical. I loved every second of this.

I feel like this must be a sophomore slump or perhaps it was just me. Whichever it was, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first. I didn't really like the character work. I actually found their relationship to lack the believability that is needed when crafting romances. This left much to be desired.

Go Luck Yourself is a daring sequel that continues to expand the Royals and Romance series. Any complaints about a slow-burn in the first novel are not present whatsoever in this one. I wouldn't quite classify this as an enemies to lovers but perhaps rivals to lovers, as I don't believe they were truly enemies. What hit the hardest was how emotional the story was. This was a tear-jerker, at least for me. I cannot wait for more stories, and this author is 10/10, 5 stars for me every time!

Funny and lighthearted although I felt the Irish characters were a little stereotypical. I like the whimsical world Raasch is building and would like to see more of it

There was no part of me that thought I would love a Christmas/St Patricks' Day mash up more than I could possibly love anything involving Halloween. Color me surprised when I absolutely fell in love with these 2 from the very beginning. I was fully expecting the second book to be a Christmas/Easter book (which would have been fine), but hot damn is Loch such a better surprise.

The comical premise of holidays having families that run them shouldn't fool you into thinking this series is just a silly romp through seasonal silliness. These books at their core are about the weight of familial expectations, self-image, and what it means to show up for yourself.

Read This Book If…you love a Shamrock Shake!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch

Genre: queer holiday romance
Series: Royals and Romance # 2
Spice Level: 3/5🌶, 1-2 explicit scenes
Setting: Ireland
POV: single, 1st person, present tense
Tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, “good boy”

My Thoughts:
If I thought the first book had similarities to Red, White, and Royal Blue, then I was not prepared for this one! We get even more enemies-to-lovers and must-spend-time-together-to-rehab-image goodness.

The toxic parent/guardian storyline was somehow even worse in this book, but I thought it was handled really well. There was also anxiety/panic attack rep.

This book was a little spicier than the first and I loved the chemistry between Kris and Loch! One interesting thing about this author is that the writing is very casual during most scenes, but when it’s bedroom time, it gets veryyyy flowery and lyrical.

The ended felt a little rushed to me, but otherwise this was a very cute read!

Memorable Quote: “You aren’t an awakening. You’re a whole dawn. And I can’t believe I ever thought I’d seen the sun before you.”

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

I want to say that I read Nightmare Before Kissmas and we straight into Go Luck Yourself. I adored Kissmas. I love the whole idea behind holiday royals and I do hope there will be more. There are still lots of holidays. While I enjoyed this book, I will say I didn't enjoy it has much as the first. It was funny and charming and this author is amazing at character and world building. The one thing I did not like about this book was the dominant and submissive angle of the book. I don't think is needed it. I get getting a little bossy in bed bit I don't think Kris needed another dominant person in his life. He needed one that would help him be true to himself. But with that being said. I really enjoyed this series and I really hope there is another one.

A very good sequel to “The Nightmare Before Kissmas”! It had some very good relationship building, character development, and plot points that made sense to the continuation of the first book, would definitely recommend!

This was such a fun follow-up to NIGHTMARE BEFORE KISSMAS! Kris was my favorite side character from the first book, and I was thrilled to finally read his story. While I found the ending to be tied up a little too neatly (especially with how Loch gains his powers back and gets the rest of his court back on his side so suddenly), I enjoyed the chemistry and banter between Kris and Loch. These books are really fun trope and holiday-themed handsells in the store!

Go Luck Yourself is the second book in the Royals & Romance series and it follows Kris the spare prince of Christmas and Lochlann the crown prince of St-Patrick's Day.

This book was so much fun! I really enjoyed The Nightmare Before Kissmas but I think I loved this one even more.

After a harmless prank on the crown prince of St-Patrick's Day turns into a PR nightmare, Kris, the spare prince of Christmas is forced to do some damage control for Lochlann's reputation. Kris is sent to Ireland to act as an ambassador for his holiday and show a united front for the press. They are forced to put their differences aside and pretend to enjoy eachother's company for the tabloids.

I love a forced proximity trope and Kris and Loch living together in the castle gave me everything I needed. The tension, the banter and the flirting were everything 😮‍💨
I love how their relationship progressed even in the short amount of time they had. I loved Lochlann's sisters and I hope we see more of them in future books! I also loved the found family aspect and that we got to see Coal, Hex and Iris!

I highly recommend you read this series if you like MM romances set in a magical world that feels nostalgic and new at the same time.

Sara writes pure joy into these books, and I am here for it! I was expecting Kris and Iris, but I'm not at all disappointed by this turn of events. Kris is 100% relatable, and I love him for it. The chemistry between these two is chemistrying right from the meet cute. What starts out as revenge for stealing his study room turns into a rivals to lovers, angsty, passion filled story between the Prince of Christmas and the Prince of St Patrick's Day.

I can't get enough of this world. I really hope we see Iris and a certain sister next 😏

My journey with this series has been fascinating. Many of the things people disliked about the first books, the political scheming and the inter-holiday relations, I gobbled up. While the romance of the first book was important, it wasn't the only think the book focused on. This book leans heavily on the romance while the holiday politics took a trip down some stairs and out a window. Loch and Chris were never that convincing as enemies to lovers and the pseudo-dominant aspect felt kind of forced. I would have loved to see more of Lochlann's holiday or at least been given more of St. Patrick Days history.

I didn’t think it could get better after ‘The Nightmare Before Kissmas’, but this book took all the joy and banter of the first and affectionately had you ‘Go Luck Yourself’. The enemies-to-lovers had such a grating spark from the first scene and never lost that friction heat that caught flame. Kris’ character arc was so heart wrenching and relatable, really laid open a well of vulnerability that had me aching. And Loch? Yes. Just, yes. This had all the lighthearted rom-com moments you are here for, the churning darkness and triumphant return, and the depth of character for you to fall just as hard as these boys. Encore!

The next installment in the Royals and Romance series is an ol'Irish blessing. Go Luck Yourself brings back our favorite characters from book one, The Nightmare Before Kissmas, and introduces us to some new "Cairdeas."

Awe Kris and his belief he's the spare. To witness the things dragging him down his luck and coming into "who" he wants to be was pure JOY.

Just like the first book, Go Luck Yourself is absolutely adorable. This love story is grá.

Thank you, Tor Publishing Group | Bramble

I love seeing people set up boundaries and stand up for themselves.
I had a really fun time in the beginning with their rivalry and trying to one up one another.

But then I don't know....the energy didn't stay and I was struggling to get through it.

thank you to netgalley and tor publishing group for this eARC!

this book was so so stinking cute. i had high hopes for this book because i loved, the nightmare before kissmas, and it did not disappoint. kris and loch are adorable and i did absolutely have a blast doing a terrible irish accent in my head while reading.

the plot was solid and i felt like hex’s role in the end made a lot of sense. i’m glad that loch ended up being the thief, it would’ve felt too convenient if it was malachy, and kris’s reaction made sense to me in connection with the trauma he has. i feel like his relationship with iris was a little weird in this novel. partly i don’t understand how he was never actually in love with her? how do you believe you’re in love with someone, and act that way, and the person who knows you best (coal) believes you’re in love with them, and in minutes you realize you weren’t? i could understand him falling out of love with her but this didn’t quite add up to me. i also feel like he just got over his hesitation about talking to her again without the two of them really having a conversation about it.

i enjoyed how raasch conveyed the contrast between christmas and st. patrick’s day. it helped develop what malachy was doing from the get go and made that reveal that much more gratifying.

the romance was perfect; it had me giggling and kicking my feet. the emotional parts had me tearing up. raasch knows how to write a love story.

i loved this book and i’m SO excited to read finn and iris and get to be in iris’s head a little more.

*Thank you Netgalley for the advanced e-book of one of my most anticipated releases of the year*

This book was delightful! I knew going in exactly what to expect based on the first book - The Nightmare Before Kissmass - : cozy light fantasy, great inner thought dialogue that will make you laugh out loud, a grumpy broody man, and a fantastically swoon worthy romance. And that is exactly what I got.
One thing that I really appreciated about this book was the mental health representation - specifically in our main character Kris. Kris suffers from anxiety/panic attacks and depression throughout the book, and I could tell that Sara put a lot of thought into these moments while writing. As somebody who has suffered with these same problems for most of her life, I related deeply to Kris' experiences, and they felt very real to me. Obviously everybody has different experiences with their mental illnesses, but I personally related deeply to Kris.
I also loved getting to see Coal and Hex again, and see how their relationship has progressed since the end of their story.
As for the romance- it was amazing of course. I didn't love Loch quite as much as Hex, but I still had a lot of fun reading about him and his romance with Kris. I think the audio book for this would be amazing, hearing his accent and dialect spoken - as I never love reading the dialect, its hard for me to understand completely

Go Luck Yourself is Sara Raasch’s delightful follow up to my favorite holiday read of 2024, The Nightmare Before Kissmas.

It publishes in March, which is perfect because it’s actually a St. Patrick’s Day holiday rom com. Surprising, but it totally works!

Just like in the first book in this series, the characters shine in their messy awkwardness and you can’t help but fall in love with them. I loved the journey of healing that Kris goes on as he steps into his own, identifies what he truly wants and oh yes, falls in love. The romance is very enemies-to-lovers, so much tension and banter!

Overall, this was a fun, quick read that made me laugh and also tear up. It’s a beautiful story of connection and growth. Definitely recommend if you are looking for a springtime rom com!