It's been a whole month since the release of Eden Sword, the final installment in The Chronicle of the Three Trilogy. I already miss these characters. I know that right now you are screaming at me to write that Claire-centric prequel then, but I have two books in the works so my brain just can't handle it. Not yet.
But my brain is also weird and likes to go to weird places. Places like, if TCO3 were a Hallmark Christmas movie what would that look like?
I would love for my books to get turned into movies, or even a tv show. That would be the coolest thing. A Hallmark Christmas movie doesn't seem like the right fit though, and if you're thinking that you would be correct. It isn't the right fit. But it could be...sort of.
I was recently watching one of those Christmas movies. You know the ones I'm talking about. There are some new characters and a new location plopped into a pretty standard movie-romance formula. They are a little cheesy and a lot predictable. I'm not knocking them. Come December I am completely on board for every single one of them. Do I know what's going to happen? Sure, but it doesn't matter because they are feel good and at Christmas we want a movie that makes us feel good and believe in the magic of love and happily ever afters.
Anyway, I was watching one and started to wonder what it would look like if Michael and Claire met in one of those ABC Family, Hallmark Christmas romances?
Let's walk through the main plot points I've put together. (Hallmark, if you get this and are interested, call me.)
1. It takes place at Christmas. I know I have made that clear but since it's June you might be confused. I just couldn't wait all the way until Christmas to write this post and share it with you so here we are in June. But Christmas is perfect. The second and third books in the TCO3 Trilogy even happen around Christmas time. Plus life-changing romances are more believable at Christmas time. I don't know why but they are.
2. Claire lives in the big city and goes to a small town in Virginia because she needs a break after a particularly difficult season of demon slaying. Emotionally she is drained. She's beginning to lose herself in her work and is probably heart broken by something. A little time away is just what the doctor ordered. Or in this case her boss or best friend. The point is she leaves her normal big time life to head to a quaint little spot where everyone knows everyone else.
3. She decides to spend her holiday at the lovely Haven Bed & Breakfast run by an older couple played by Abigail and Charlie. Abigail is warm, kind and a little nosey. Charlie is kind of grouchy but a teddy bear at heart who becomes some wise counsel right when she needs it most.
4. Going into the B&B she runs smack into a tall, handsome man. I mean she literally runs into him making her lose her grip on her suitcase and spill it's contents. He helps her pick them up. She is a little sassy about the whole thing. He thinks she's a little bit of a diva. Of course this is Michael.
5. Michael owns the local bakery, It's called Angel Food Bakes. (Isn't that the cutest bakery name ever?) He stops by the B&B daily to drop off homemade muffins and scones and helps Charlie with some of the maintenance.
6. Claire is constantly running into Michael wherever she goes in town. He's there when she grabs her morning coffee. He's there when she stops into a local shop. He's there when her bike tire goes flat. (I don't know why she's riding a bike around town in the middle of winter but she is and she gets a flat tire and he puts her bike in the back of his vintage truck and drives her back to the B&B. On the way they talk about their childhoods or something.)
7. The more Claire sees Michael around town the more endearing he becomes and she can't help but start to like him. Especially after finding out he is directing the local small-church children's nativity play with the cutest little-kid versions of Daniel, Lucas, Maggie and Zoe you have ever seen. They adorably ask if she wants to be his girlfriend. She says something about he has to take her to dinner first, that that's a rule or something. She smiles. He blushes. The kids give him a look that says "go ahead and ask her" and he does.
8. They have dinner together and then he walks her through the town's little courtyard and snow begins to fall softly. He's about to kiss her but is stopped by a shadow slinking near the gazebo. Together they take it down. (Okay, that isn't something that would happen in a Hallmark movie but this is still TCO3 so a little demon slaying only seems right.)
9. She goes to bed that night all swoony. ( I know that's probably not a real word but you know what I mean.) She's also a little flustered because she has a demon-slaying city life she was planning on getting back to after Christmas and she isn't sure she can just pack up and transfer here for a guy she just met. (Side note: she goes to bed with her makeup still on and in festive, button up, flannel pajamas. While these are lie pajamas because people buy them but don't actually ever really wear them to bed but just for family photos, we will ignore it though we all know outside of this film she'd be wearing an oversized t shirt and baggy sweats to bed like the rest of us.)
10. There's a snow ball fight...or sledding...or the making of snow angels. This occurs because she finds Michael outside the church giving those cute kids a break from nativity practice to play in the snow. She joins in. It's super romantic. We can't explain why but it is.
11. Michael comes to the B&B to decorate Christmas cookies he baked with the guests, including Claire. They are elbow deep in the cutest frosting fight ever when who shows up? Claire's ex-fiance, Alex. *Gasp* He has seen the error of his ways and wants to win her back. He pulls her outside to talk and tells her he deserves another chance and that they've been together for years and she just met this other guy. She tells him he hurt her and she won't settle for things like they were. He says he can change. She tells him to go home but he promises to prove himself to her.
12. Christmas is getting closer. Alex is hanging around Claire like they are still together. She's trying to be nice. Michael is bummed out and thinks she still has feelings for her ex. (She doesn't and this could all have been solved by a simple conversation but instead we get a couple comedic scenes of Alex trying to win her back but only making a fool of himself. He face plants in the snow, spills hot cocoa all over himself, tiny Maggie kicks him in the shin.) At one point something happens (I haven't figured out this little detail just yet) that makes Claire feel a little bad for him and she goes with him back to the B&B. Perhaps he then tells her the city needs her. Maybe he gets a call from a mutual friend talking about a demon attack in the park and tells her that thats her life and this was just all a fantasy, that the city needs her, that he needs her. Blah Blah Blah. (In all the hub bub and blah blah blahs with Alex she misses the nativity play which makes Michael think she made her decision and is leaving.)
13. Claire has a lot of thinking to do. She calls her bestie but they can't talk because they are at a loud Christmas Eve party. So she walks around the quiet house that everyone else has left and ends up talking to Charlie who just happens to still be there and shares some wisdom that makes her realize what she really needs. She runs to the church but the play is over and Michael is gone. She tells the kids she's sorry and they tell her Michael probably went to the bakery to get the cookies for the tree lighting. She runs to the bakery but he isn't there either. She hears caroling from the town square and realizes he must be there since the tree lighting festivities are beginning.
14. She makes her way to the center of town and runs into Alex. She tells him she can't go back with him. He is disappointed but understands because ultimately he wants her to be happy. (Alternatively he is a jerk about the whole thing.) She hugs him goodbye right as Michael walks by. She can tell he thinks the wrong thing and runs after him.
15. There is a dramatic conversation that basically ends in her telling him she wants to be with him and he makes her better yada yada and I love you and blah blah I love you too and the town is singing a sweet carol in the back ground and just as they kiss the tree is lit along with all the lights they have put around the whole town square and it's super magical. (I know this GIF doesn't really fit but it makes me laugh.)
16. We assume they live happily ever after otherwise what was the point of all this.
So, there you have it, my take on TCO3 as a feel-good, sweet Christmas romance. You might be thinking, "if you could put all this together why couldn't you give us that Claire prequel?" I get it, I do, and I will work on that prequel, but honestly, all this took me about ten minutes to piece together. I am also toying with the idea of a PureFlix- God's Not Dead type Lucas redemption story Kendrick Brothers' style. (If the Kendrick brothers see this and are interested, call me.)