🌹 Hiring a Holiday Spouse: Shared World Bible
Tagline: Fake Marriage. Real Fire.
Concept Overview
Every family has expectations especially during the holidays.
In the small, picturesque town of Mistletoe Ridge, love and lies are as common as pumpkin pie and mistletoe kisses. The townspeople are charmingly nosy, the events are over the top, and the pressure to show up to family functions with someone is real.
That’s where “Hiring a Holiday Spouse” comes in—a secretive matchmaking service that pairs people who need a temporary spouse for the holidays. Some need to prove they’ve “moved on,” others want to please a dying grandmother, and a few just want to avoid the dreaded “When are you getting married?” talk. But as the saying goes...
Fake vows can still lead to real sparks.
🏠 The Setting: Mistletoe Ridge
A quaint East Coast mountain town famous for its year-round celebrations. The town transforms for every holiday—fireworks in July, spooky festivals in October, and dazzling lights in December. Everyone knows everyone, gossip spreads faster than wildfire, and the town’s charm makes even the grumpiest loner fall a little bit in love.
Key Locations:
The Cupid Café: The heart of town gossip and romantic meetings. The baristas know everyone’s secrets.
Mistletoe Ridge Inn: A romantic getaway often used for couple photos, honeymoons, or fake wedding nights.
Holiday Hall: The main event center where many family gatherings and community functions are held.
Harper’s Bridal Boutique: The go-to for “last-minute” fake weddings or vow renewals.
The Ridge Winery: Hosts Valentine’s parties, New Year’s brunches, and many drunken confessions.
The Greenleaf Park: Used for BBQs, festivals, and awkward fake spouse introductions.
The Holiday Agency Office: The mysterious “matchmaking” front where clients sign their “spouse-for-hire” contracts.
❤️🔥 Shared Rules
To keep consistency across the shared world, every story should include:
The fake marriage trope — They must pretend to be married or engaged for a holiday event.
A major holiday backdrop — Use the corresponding event below.
A family function or social event forcing proximity, touch, or public affection.
Heat level: 3.5 🌶 or higher — emotional tension, physical chemistry, and open-door intimacy.
Standalone endings: No cliffhangers. HEA or HFN optional.
Spice meets heart: Passion is great, but emotional connection, humor, or chaos makes it unforgettable.
🗓️ The Holidays & Required Events
Each author chooses one holiday and must include its signature event.
Holiday required Event tone Suggestions:
New Year’s Brunch hungover confessions or morning-after family brunch fresh starts, mistakes, second chances.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day community service or charity gala redemption, rebuilding trust, deeper meaning.
Valentine’s Day Party lavish couples event at the winery High romance, jealousy, playful fake PDA.
Memorial Day BBQ backyard chaos with meddling relatives flirty, summer heat, tension-filled encounters.
Juneteenth town celebration & cookout cultural pride, reconnection, healing past wounds.
Independence Day fireworks festival Explosive chemistry, freedom, breaking free from expectations.
Labor Day company retreat or family reunion forced proximity, work rivals, playful banter.
Halloween costume party or haunted house event masks, secrets, hidden desires, dark seduction.
Veterans Day military tribute or reunion second chances, loss, emotional depth.
Thanksgiving family dinner from hell chaos, humor, unexpected emotions.
Christmas Family holiday week or fake engagement reveal warmth, cozy romance, or emotional slow burn.
New Year’s Eve party, countdown kiss, or final reveal explosive ending, truth revealed, fireworks finale.
💍 The Agency
“Hiring a Holiday Spouse” is a discreet service run by Marjorie Bellamy, a retired psychologist and hopeless romantic. She started the agency to help people “find comfort during the holidays” though she knows full well that sparks usually fly.
Agency Rules:
All clients must sign an NDA.
No refunds if feelings get involved.
The “spouse” is chosen based on personality compatibility and situation needs.
Optional add-ons: Couple’s photos, fake proposal rings, travel packages, and social media coaching.
🧑🤝🧑 Recurring Characters (Optional Cameos)
Marjorie Bellamy: Owner of the agency, late 60s, with a twinkle in her eye and a gossip streak a mile long.
Theo Harper: Sexy, grumpy bartender at The Cupid Café. Knows everyone’s business.
Sabrina “Bree” Monroe: Event planner for Holiday Hall—constantly frazzled but fabulous.
Mayor Ellis Carter: Widower and hopeless romantic, trying to keep Mistletoe Ridge festive.
The Bellamy Sisters: Marjorie’s granddaughters who sometimes “fill in” as spouses for hire.
💫 Tone & Style
Each book should blend humor, heat, and heartfelt emotion. Authors can write in any sub-genre (rom-com, dark romance, small-town, interracial, age-gap, etc.), as long as:
It includes the fake marriage setup.
The holiday is central to the story.
The chemistry feels real even if the marriage isn’t.
🎯 Examples of Story Hooks
A soldier hires a fake wife for Veterans Day to appease his traditional mother—but the woman turns out to be his ex-fiancée.
A grumpy CEO pretends to be engaged to his assistant for the Labor Day company retreat.
A plus-size influencer hires a fake husband for Christmas content—but their chemistry on camera starts feeling too genuine.
Two best friends fake a Valentine’s marriage to get revenge on their exes—only to realize they’ve always been each other’s person.
A firefighter hires a fake fiancée for the Fourth of July fireworks event—only to find she’s terrified of fire.