The art was nice.



•••MILD SPOILER WARNING•••



 I’ll be honest, this was not the vibe. “Merry Christmas Donatella, you get to be kidnapped and assaulted!” There has to have been a better way to handle the whole kidnapping thing, but this was definitely not it, VERY dubious, and it did not actually do anything to resolve or even acknowledge their actual relationship problems (which were briefly alluded to in the beginning) in any way. Make-out sessions do not solve problems guys.
 Also, this is definitely not appropriate for YA, which I’m pretty sure the whole Caraval series is categorized as. It also did not feel like a Caraval book except maybe in the very beginning and kinda in the bonus epilogue; this had a completely different tone and was not at all what I was expecting to get for a holiday novella set in a magical/whimiscal land. I thinking more along the lines of like cozy Christmas celebration with the family, or Tella trying to help Legend enjoy the holiday and not be so grumpy all the time. I know there were a few almost steamy moments lightly sprinkled in the series but I don’t think anyone was expecting it to jump straight into dark romance territory. While it didn't get explicit, it was very icky, and the themes are in no way appropriate for 12-18 year olds.
 I also was hoping for more Scarlett and Julian, they’re my favorite. And something mysterious was going on in the first chapter and it just never got brought up again; seems really weird to leave that unresolved.
 Anyway, very disappointed by this and a little disturbed that anyone thought this would be okay.