This book started out with your typical cutesy type Christmas story with Santa and elves (normal people, no pointy ears here). Then it turned into so much more! The main character is Curtis, a former airline pilot who's life totally changed one day after a disastrous occurrence. He quit flying and is working in Vegas full time and for Mr. C part time.

Curtis' journey is one to find forgiveness within himself and realize that those who love him are also capable of forgiveness. It is really a touching, lovely story.

I was gifted a copy of this book via Atmosphere Press and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

So this was a fairly quick read. I thought in the first chapter it was promising but after that it went downhill fast for me.
I think the title and cover of this book would be very misleading because it is honestly not really a Christmas story. Just because it is set partially at the North Pole doesn’t make it a Christmas story. And to be perfectly honest I think I would have liked the story more without the “Santa Claus” and “elves” tie in.
We never found out how Curtis aka Josh came to be an elf. There was no mention anywhere of how he went from the “accident” to all of a sudden being an elf. It seemed rather odd. Another thing I didn’t like was that the story surrounding the accident was very unclear. We know that somewhere Curtis’s nephew died, because of Curtis apparently, but the details are extremely vague and we never found out how Josh died or how exactly Curtis caused it. There were also some verbiage issues. There were several times that something that clearly should have been written past tense was written present participle along with a few spelling errors throughout.
All in all I am being generous with two stars because I do think the story has potential but would need a serious re write as well as better editing.

I enjoyed this book that was Christmas themed with a difference, it was really readable and had such an interesting story, a good read.

Curtis was an airline pilot who during every bad weather lands the plane on a highway instead of the runway. What happens Grif to that landing changes his life.
Curtis now is a bartender in Las Vegas, he also works for Mr. C as one of his elves.
A story of learning how to forgive yourself first as well as forgiving others.
Not your typical elf story.
You never know if the person you are standing next to, or your co-worker is an elf working for Mr. C.
A cute short story with a little Christmas magic.

Thank you NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a cute, and also heartfelt story of Curtis, a former airline pilot, turned bartender in Las Vegas, who also works for Mr. C. as one of his elves, helping to prepare for the big night when the toy deliveries are made all over the world.

A bit of fantasy plays into this story, however, the heart of the story is Curtis. As a pilot, he landed a plane during extremely bad weather on a highway, rather than a runway. The consequences of that one act, shaped his life for the next ten years. His biggest time of fulfillment comes once a year working as an elf helping with Christmas. preparations up north for Mr. C.

Unexpectedly, one year his usual shift, in the summer, got moved to the winter, and it fell on the anniversary of the tragic plane landing. Curtis tells Mr. C. he must go home early because he can't handle the grief that overcomes him on that date. Being the wise man, we know Mr. C. to be, he has other plans for Curtis that are life-changing.

This is a quick, heartfelt, easy to read story that reminds us of what is important, including forgiveness, as well as forgiving ourselves.

A very short book, easy to read in just one sitting, so if you’re after a quick read, this is definitely for you.

I thought it was going to be a happy little Christmas novella about elves working at the North Pole with Santa. But it was a lot deeper than that. It’s all about forgiveness, forgiving others, but most importantly forgiving yourself, especially when things happen that are out of your control.

I suppose, even if it doesn’t actually revolve much around the North Pole or Christmas, in my opinion, it does still show the magic that the very belief of Santa Claus can bring. It also portrays elves in a completely different way. We tend to imagine elves as small people, with rosy cheeks and pointy ears, always happy. In this, elves are just everyday people who just so happen to spend 3 months of the year working at the North Pole. And I think that’s amazing. The idea that our very best friend or next door neighbour could be working for the big man himself. That definitely adds a magical sparkle to everyday life.