As with many Christmas romances, a bit of suspension of disbelief is required to accept the premise of Avery Cockburn’s The Christmas Curse – namely that a grown man could continue to believe he’d been cursed by a cranky elf at a shopping centre when he was a kid – but it’s worth getting past it in order to enjoy this sweet and charming story about two men who are a little bit lost finding each other during a very short but memorable Yuletide holiday.

Ever since the day seven-year-old Martin Gibson annoyed said cranky elf, something has always gone wrong on Christmas Day. Two days after he was cursed, his family’s Christmas tree burned down and they were lucky they didn’t lose their home. In subsequent years the degree of mishap has varied from the trivial (dropping a tray full of dishes) to the more momentous (the disappearance of Beagle 2) and Martin is tired of worrying about something bad happening to his loved ones. This year, he’s decided the best thing he can do for them is to get far away from his home in Glasgow – so he books a short break at a secluded tiny home in West Virginia that was recommended to him by a friend. His plan is to hole up there by himself, do absolutely nothing on Christmas Day and then fly home on Boxing Day. If he can’t actually break the curse, he figures he can at least avoid it this year.

Former TV weatherman Anthony Bello was fired from his job in Pittsburgh when the higher-ups at the station decided his forecasts were too inconclusive and not what viewers wanted to see and hear. He’s returned home to West Virginia and is helping out with his family’s holiday rental business while he works out what he wants to do next. He arrives at the Harper’s Ferry tiny home to drop off some provisions – only to get an eyefull when the very naked new tenant exits the outdoor soaking tub and, startled at the sound of Anthony’s voice calling out, drops his bathrobe down the side of the mountain.

After fetching Martin another robe, Anthony introduces him to Betty, the big black Bernese Mountain Dog he’s fostered. Martin takes to her straight away and invites them both in, and the two men spend a quiet half hour or so chatting over tea and the muffins Anthony brought over. Martin talks about the football team he manages in Glasgow, and Anthony, who actually coaches his niece’s school team, doesn’t let on he knows much about the sport, immediately thinking that asking Martin for pointers would give him a good excuse to see him again. Martin suggests that maybe they could watch a match together while he’s there – and Anthony readily agrees.

But fate brings them together sooner when Martin wakes up the next morning, goes to the kitchen to make coffee and the power fritzes off. His first thought is that it’s the curse – then he remembers the date and knows it can’t be. He isn’t sure how to fix it so he texts Anthony for help – and after sorting it out, Anthony offers to buy Martin breakfast if he’ll help him to chop down a Christmas tree!

Martin and Anthony click straight away, despite their different backgrounds and outlooks, and they spend a couple of very enjoyable days together – finding a tree, rescuing a cat, stargazing, and generally hanging out and getting to know each other a little. Martin is reluctant to tell Anthony about the curse at first for fear he’ll laugh at him, but Anthony’s good humour, the way he so readily embraces his geekiness about meteorology and talks about what happened with his job make Martin feel comfortable enough to share his story. To his relief, Anthony doesn’t laugh; he takes it in his stride and offers a different perspective, the idea that maybe Martin needs to find a way to lessen the curse’s hold over him – whether it’s real or not, he believes in it – and that he should learn to stop letting his fear of bad things happening run his life. In turn, meeting Martin marks a turning point for Anthony, as, for the first time since he left Pittsburgh, he feels ready to move forward and on to a new challenge.

The romance moves fairly quickly, but the connection between the leads is very well-written and developed, and their easy companionship and obvious care and consideration for each other make it easy to believe they’ve fallen for one another in such a short space of time. The intelligence, warmth and humour in the writing, together with the author’s ability to create quirky, likeable characters and a story that is both realistic and romantic make The Christmas Curse one of my favourite seasonal romances of this year. Yes, it could have been a bit longer, and perhaps Anthony’s character could have been fleshed out more, but I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, feel-good romance to curl up with this holiday season.