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Christmas romantic comedy · Premade three-book pack

The December Returns Counter

Name: The December Returns Counter: premade three-book series
Brand: PlotProse
Price: 705 USD
Availability: InStock

One Christmas returns counter. Two customers claiming the same refund. A fondue fountain about to make things considerably worse.

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3-book package

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The December Returns Counter, a christmas romantic comedy concept package. The graphic shows 3 novel covers and the free lead magnet, Return This Mistletoe.

The concept

Bea brings back the fountain. Nick brings back the cheese forks. Both walk out of Brogan’s with the full refund, which ought to take five minutes to fix. Then comes the chase through menswear, the incident with the mannequin and the discovery that somebody wanted these two in the same queue.

Three closed-door Manchester romcoms play out over successive Christmases. A pair of feuding neighbours enters a couples’ quiz for two mismatched nutcrackers, and old sweethearts start a correspondence in the hem of a scarf. The free novella explains why the returns supervisor has had it with mistletoe and still saves a smile for the man from displays.

The worldThe Quieter Counter is a real service with an unglamorous bell, a kettle and a manager who can authorise a refund. Customers exchange contact details voluntarily. Staff friendships last beyond Christmas, and each new December brings back the couples from earlier years.

Series tropesHoliday Romance • Big City Romance • Flirtatious Teasing Banter

Intended readershipFor readers of sweet British Christmas romcoms who enjoy busy high streets, escalating misunderstandings and endings that last into ordinary January mornings.

Tone & contentBright and closed-door. Warm workplace comedy, kisses and adult courtship. Each romance reaches a lasting happy ending.

The people behind the promise

Free novellaCass Worsleya returns supervisor

Free novellaFrank Tunnicliffethe visual merchandiser who saves her the advent chocolates

Book 1Bea Bucknalla prop buyer

Book 1Nick Oseia paediatric dietitian with an actual sweet tooth

Book 2Penny Ridingsa meticulous copy editor

Book 2Hassan Mirthe neighbour who starts celebrating in October

Book 3Lou Ashmana tailor newly home for Christmas

Book 3Eric Bleasea returns clerk who kept her scarf

Series arc

A mistletoe return gives the quiet counter its beginning. An accidental double refund brings two strangers together. Two mismatched ornaments send quarrelling neighbours to a couples’ quiz, and the final scarf exchange reunites a pair who keep finding reasons to come back.

The three books

The direction is set. The books are written after you order.

Free novella

Return This Mistletoe

Cass removes the sprig above her counter for the fourth time. Frank swears he hasn’t been hanging it there. He has, however, been saving her the chocolate from the staff advent calendar for eleven years. A customer tries to return the sprig and its alarming plastic berries. Now Cass has to account for a product the store never sold, while Frank tries to work up the nerve to ask her out without botanical assistance.

Story outline

Story arc and endingCass asks Frank to help her stage a deliberately unromantic staff demonstration. It ends with both struggling to keep a straight face beside a sign about faulty batteries. The sprig came from a charity stall and a shy colleague put it up to encourage them. Cass arranges its return, Frank replaces it with a bell and the two test a discreet counter for awkward returns. When a rehearsal kiss becomes a staff spectacle, Frank closes the shutters and asks Cass out properly. The following December the pair are sharing a flat, and the counter is officially open.

Emotional payoffCass risks an honest invitation after years of joking about the subject. Frank finally understands that a private answer matters more than the grand gesture.

Story focusWorkplace Romance • Friends to Lovers

Length30,000 words planned

Book 1 of three

One Receipt for Two

Bea returns a novelty fondue fountain. Nick returns the matching cheese forks. One gift receipt somehow refunds both of them for all of it. Getting the money back to the shop ought to take five minutes. It takes a chase through menswear, a misunderstanding involving a mannequin and a demonstration in which Nick discovers that Bea will dip absolutely anything in melted chocolate.

Story outline

Story arc and endingDuring the fondue spill Nick saves Bea’s prop notebook first. Bea begins to suspect she would quite like a man who knows which part of her bag to rescue. They learn their matchmaking godmothers split a gift set to introduce them. Both object to being managed and agree on one gloriously disastrous decoy date to discourage interference. The date becomes real in the stockroom after they ruin a chocolate display and stay to clean it up. Nick tells the families to leave them alone. Bea invites him to a second date with both families’ phones switched off. A year later they return for forks of their own, announced engagement entirely their own idea.

Emotional payoffBea and Nick take the pleasure of surprising one another away from their families’ matchmaking scheme.

Story focusStrangers to Lovers • Opposites Attract

Length55,000 words planned

Book 2 of three

The Nutcracker Comes in Pairs

Penny would like one replacement nutcracker. Hassan would like the other half of the pair. The clerk has put each one in the wrong box, and the only spare set is on its way to a couples’ Christmas quiz. Penny and Hassan agree to enter as a pair. If anyone asks, their genuine affection began approximately forty minutes after their last argument about a flashing reindeer.

Story outline

Story arc and endingHassan guesses Penny’s childhood Christmas dinner exactly because she has complained about his outdoor decorations through three long winters. Their invented first date wins a round and their truthful account of a bin dispute unexpectedly wins another. At supper the lie starts hurting when Penny discovers Hassan’s ex is hosting. He admits he enjoyed appearing happily partnered. They correct the record, return their prize and buy the rejected mismatched pair. Penny hangs hers beside his reindeer and asks him out without an audience. By next December both figures stand in their shared window.

Emotional payoffPenny discovers their quarrels have contained an astonishing amount of attention. Hassan owns the part of the evening he staged for his ex.

Story focusNeighbor Feud to Lovers • Fake Dating

Length55,000 words planned

Book 3 of three

Your Scarf Is in Exchanges

The scarf in exchanges is long enough to wrap Manchester twice. Lou recognises every dropped stitch. She knitted it for Eric the winter she left for a tailoring apprenticeship. Eric has attached a note saying it needs shortening. Lou returns it with a note saying his neck has evidently shrunk. Several alterations later they have written each other everything except the reason they stopped.

Story outline

Story arc and endingOne note slips into the scarf’s hem by mistake. Eric unpicks the seam himself so he can answer the one question Lou hadn’t intended to mail. Lou once mistook Eric’s silence for relief when she left. He thought her unsentimental goodbye meant she wanted a clean break. Their notes get increasingly elaborate until somebody puts the scarf into the staff tombola. They chase it through three departments, buy the winner a replacement and tell each other the truth in the delivery bay. Lou has opened a local alterations business on her own terms. Eric asks to bring supper there on late nights. A year later they wrap the scarf twice around themselves on their walk home.

Emotional payoffLou asks what his silence actually meant. Eric gives her an answer she can hold him to when the shop lights come down.

Story focusSecond Chance Romance • Love Through Letters Texting

Length55,000 words planned

From the free novella into Book 1

The new counter’s first official case has one receipt and two strangers at opposite ends of the queue. It is the opening encounter of Book 1.

In the concept package

Includes the author pitch, editable Authorythm seeds and individual AI-generated front-cover concepts. The planned fiction totals 195,000 words.

Included free

Buy the 3-book concept pack and receive the companion lead magnet concept free. Each novel is planned at 55,000 words. The lead magnet, Return This Mistletoe, is planned at 30,000 words.

Included in the pack

Author pitch PDF with the series premise, characters, book blurbs and complete story arcs. One editable Authorythm seed document. 4 coordinated front-cover concepts.