Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Curse Before Christmas 
AUTHOR: Eli Easton
PUBLISHER: Pinkerton Road, LLC
LENGTH: 138 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 31, 2025
BLURB:
When game developer Patrick Bocker receives a Krampus figurine in the office Secret Santa exchange, he doesn’t think much of it. Then the accidents start happening. The absurd calamities mount, and Patrick becomes a repeat offender at the Emergency Room. By his third visit, Patrick starts to believe that maybe, just maybe, the Krampus figurine is cursed. There is, however, one silver lining – a super hot ER doctor.
Dr. Gray Reynolds is prepared to ignore his attraction to the striking young man in bay two. But by the third time Patrick shows up with new injuries, Gray starts to fear for the cute redhead’s life. He’s determined to drive Patrick home, make sure he’s safe, and get to the bottom of this string of bad luck.
To lift the curse, Gray and Patrick have to find out which of Patrick’s co-workers gifted him the Krampus and return it, all while evading livestock, a criminal Santa, and general mayhem.
Oh—and fall in love. Is that too much to ask of one crazy Christmas Eve?
THE CURSE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is a wild romp set in Chicago with a hot doctor, cute patient, cursed figurine, game developer hijinks, trapped-together-in-the-snow, uber Christmasy, MM rom-com story chock full of giggles, hot chemistry, and a touch of magic.
REVIEW:
Patrick Bocker has moved to Chicago from California to be closer to his aging parents in Ohio. It’s his first Christmas in the city and he’s going to be spending it along as he and his sister are sending his parents on a cruise. His boss, Eleanor, isn’t too excited to hear this. She is a VERY enthusiastic person in general and especially so around the holidays. It’s Christmas Eve and the office is closing at noon and at 11 she demands everyone participate in the Christmas party. There is a secret Santa and everything! Raphael, Sam, Traya, Lloyd, Leslie, Eleanor and Patrick are the team and they are begin to unwrap their gifts. But Patrick had drawn Doug who recently left the team, so there is an extra package and nothing for Patrick. But wait! There is a package for Patrick. And it’s very unexpected. It’s an antique Krampus figure complete with an inscription in some nordic language. Hmmm. Well the directions are to make a wish, and so Patrick does. But he has no idea what the inscription means and thus begins his run of bad luck and near misses. And three trips to the ER where he meets Dr. Gray Eyes, the hot doctor who is quite surprise to see a frequent flyer – 3 times in the same day! They have to stop meeting like this 😉
So full disclosure – I am not a gamer. Like the most I play is World of Words. So the gaming stuff if kinda lost on me. But it didn’t really matter. I liked the riddles and I liked the premise and I really enjoyed the setting and the characters 🙂 As someone who has worked in Chicago for 40+ years now, I felt so familiar with everything in this story. Patrick’s workplace was pretty fun despite Patrick not really engaging with this coworkers. I think this is something that is more common than we think! When I was cleaning out my great aunt’s house 20 years ago when she died, I found all her company newsletters that she saved from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Everybody knew everyone, their spouses, their kids, etc. The news was largely personal – about vacations, graduations, weddings, christenings, etc. I had a coworker in another office that went out on maternity leave this fall and I didn’t even know that she had gotten married over a year ago or that she was pregnant! It’s a very disconnected world.
I loved how the magic/misfortune/curse of the Krampus ended up opening Patrick’s eyes to the people who were around him. Kind of ironic since his Christmas wish was find someone who would see him – all of him – when he himself was guilty of the same thing. Turns out his work team had a lot more going on than met the eye! Patrick was so focused on his work that he kind of missed all other context. Gray is a bit of a workaholic too and he’s falling into the same rut as Patrick. Focusing on work, not having the time/energy/inclination to try to date or find someone for more than a hookup. He was a sweetheart and clearly the Krampus magic worked on him 😉 I loved filterless Patrick! I literally laughed out loud multiple times at the stuff he said. And wow – talk about being under a black cloud! I used to have coworkers who told me if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all. This was basically Patrick’s Christmas Eve. In the face of the chaos though, Gray was his one bright spot of safety and care. It was amazing how they clicked. And I loved the bit of a mystery they have to solve to figure out how they can get ride of the curse.
This is a fun, sweet, romantic if a bit whacky holiday story. Eli Easton is a favorite for a reason and this is another example of why. The characters are engaging, the setting is perfectly described and the plot drives the story in a way that is fun and compelling. I really loved this rather unconventional tale of finding true love at the behest of a cursed artifact! Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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