This is Halloween – Melody Rose

3.5 stars

I’ve never read a Nightmare Bfore Christmas reimagining before, so this was really cool! It’s my favourite movie, so I’ve seen it loads of times, and I caught myself sometimes reading the characters’ dialogue in their voices from the movie.

I liked the twist on Santa being an evil overlord, but I thought Margo could’ve used a little more motivation to turn against him. She talks about all these punishments that he employs and what happens when he deems you useless, but never really in a way that meant it was something she’d experienced. I thought it would’ve given her more depth if she really had a vendetta, like if some of those things had happened to her or to her family.

The romance was a touch stilted. I love the idea of her being with Jack, Sam, and Wraith (Oogie), but it felt rushed. They jumped into bed pretty quickly and didn’t seem to happen as a natural progression. The guys, mostly Wraith, weren’t super thrilled about sharing her and didn’t really work through that beyond her telling them it was going to happen, so deal with it or leave.

The ending felt a bit rushed as well. I think this could’ve benefited from being a little longer so that everything could be fleshed out more. It was a very fun story to read, though, and I’d love to see a sequel that explores Margo and her boys more and what happened after that ending.