Review: The Christmas Curse by Avery Cockburn

Title: The Christmas Curse

Author: Avery Cockburn

Length: 175 Pages

Category: Holiday Romance

Rating: 4 Stars

At a Glance: Watching Anthony and Martin connect through shenanigans, compassionate moments, kindness, the mutual love of dogs (and cats), and uncompromising attraction to each other translates into a holiday romance that teaches a sweet and sentimental lesson about what it means to let go but never give up hope.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: “Lucky’s one thing I’ve never been.”

Martin Gibson is cursed. Ever since a childhood clash with a Christmas elf, the holiday has brought him bad luck. In a desperate attempt to avoid the Curse—or at least prendotect his loved ones from its calamities—he leaves his beloved Scotland and travels to America for a Christmas utterly alone.

Anthony Bello is adrift. Fired from his job as a TV weatherman, he’s returned to West Virginia to be caretaker for his family’s vacation rental properties. When a hot Scot with an unlucky—and unlikely—story checks into one of the tiny homes he oversees, Anthony is more than smitten. Now he has a thrilling new project: help Martin break the Curse for good.

Will a wild winter storm let Martin and Anthony’s attraction build into something deeper, or will it trigger the most cursed Christmas yet? And when Martin’s transatlantic escape is over, can they bear to walk away with nothing but memories?

Review: Avery Cockburn’s The Christmas Curse is a lovely bit of romance that, at its heart, is a journey to gratitude. That it’s wrapped up in a warm, charming, and meaningful holiday affair, with a great fluffy chonk of canine affection included, makes that lesson all the more endearing to watch emerge.

The “curse” in the book’s title isn’t so much an actual curse as it is a self-fulfilling belief that something bad is destined to happen to (or near) Martin Gibson every Christmas. He’s believed in that jinx since he was an impressionable seven-year-old boy who was waiting anxiously to sit on Santa’s lap. Call it a silly superstition, but the power of suggestion has made him miserable for thirty years, so this Christmas, rather than spoil his family’s holiday, he’s removed himself from their proximity. To an entirely different continent, to be specific. Extreme? Perhaps, but being isolated in a tiny house in rural West Virginia until December 26th should surely break this long streak of relentless misfortune.

Then, Anthony Bello comes along and interfere’s with all of Martin’s best laid plans.

Surely if Martin believes in a curse, he should also be able to fathom destiny. Good fortune. Fate. That’s what Anthony brings to the story: a man who isn’t so quick to dismiss Martin’s belief but, instead, wants to help fix what Martin believes is broken. Watching them connect through shenanigans, compassionate moments, kindness, the mutual love of dogs (and cats), and uncompromising attraction to each other translates into a holiday romance that teaches a sweet and sentimental lesson about what it means to let go but never give up hope.