Here’s Where The Idea For Netflix’s Let It Snow Came From

Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, but it’s never too early to start decking those halls and getting yourself in a festive mood for the holidays. Enter, Netflix’s new movie Let It Snow, which dropped Nov. 8.

The story takes place in a small town on Christmas Eve and centers around a group of teens who find themselves in the midst of a major snowstorm. Naturally, this offers up the perfect excuse to throw an epic party, prompting numerous friendships and romances to unfold. The project clearly has all the makings for a great holiday rom-com, but is Let It Snow based on a true story? Let’s just say that the premise doesn’t come completely out of nowhere.

Let It Snow is actually based on the 2008 best-selling novel Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances, penned by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle. As the title suggests, three holiday romances become intertwined throughout the course of the film and unravel in unexpected ways. (Love Actually walked so Let It Snow could run.) However, the novel isn’t a novel in the traditional sense of the word. It’s actually a compilation of three short stories that involve different characters but still take place in the same small town.

The stories include "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle" by John Green, "The Jubilee Express" by Maureen Johnson, and "The Patron Saint of Pigs" by Lauren Myracle. All three plots end up merging at the end, allowing the characters to come together in the same place at the same time. The Netflix movie may choose to interweave these stories much earlier in the narrative, but the cast of characters and overall premise mostly remains the same.

The characters and stories don’t appear to be based on any real-life people or events, though the themes of young love and friendship are things everyone should be able to relate to. And if you’re from Upstate New York, that snowstorm will also undoubtedly hit pretty close to home, too. All-in-all, this Netflix Original is nothing too serious — just a great excuse to curl up on the couch and kick your holiday spirit into overdrive.