🏆ONC ROUND 2 AMBASSADOR PICK 🏆 A lone lighthouse keeper watches over the coast, tending to her light as the sea rages beyond. The storms are nothing new-neither is the solitude. She is content with the quiet rhythm of her life, the crash of waves against the cliffs, the scent of salt and parchment filling her days. But when a shipwreck leaves a battered stranger at her doorstep, the tide of her world begins to shift. The man is rough-edged, a relic of salt and shadow, with secrets hidden beneath his scars. He speaks of a past that the waves should have swallowed, of maps inked in the margins of forbidden books, of love letters lost to time. Trapped together by a storm that refuses to pass, they share stories by lantern light-one seeking refuge, the other searching for something long forgotten. Yet not all ghosts are content to stay buried, and not all storms end when the sky clears. Whispers of war linger in the distance, and the truth he carries may threaten the safe harbor she has built for herself. As the past and present begin to intertwine, she must decide-will she cling to the safety of her lighthouse, or will she risk everything to follow the reflection of something new?

Supermodel Kaia Keene has the perfect life-until she uncovers her footballer boyfriend's infidelity and shady charity dealings. Refusing to be just another scorned ex, she teams up with a rising pop star, podcast hosts, and a relentless journalist to expose his secrets. This time, she's not the side character in his story-she's the one rewriting the script. Open Novella Contest 2025, prompt 25.

Mabel's life is falling apart. Between her long-time situationship who wants to be more than friends now, her rapidly deteriorating grades, and a group of friends who've been conveniently excluding her from their plans lately, nothing is going her way, and the pressure keeps building up from all sides. That's when Katie comes along, a brilliant new student who is quickly arranged to be her tutor. She seems like everything Mabel could never be. And yet, she understands her better than anyone ever did before. As the two start spending more time together, and Mabel's life becomes increasingly messier day after day, Katie will add another problem onto Mabel's plate-one that, if not handled properly, could leave a bitter taste in their mouths... and hearts. ~ 🍋 ~ Entry written for Open Novella Contest 2025 Prompts: 126, 118, 134, 69 Genre(s): Contemporary YA Romance PUBLISHED: 2/1/2025 COMPLETED: TBA

× ONC Round 2 Ambassador Pick × Dorothea thought she had her life under control. Sure, she's not super rich and successful, and she doesn't have a gorgeous, loving partner by her side, but she's a barista in a local coffee shop who swore off of relationships, so she doesn't expect anything better. That is, until one short encounter at work flips her world upside down. Sofia Amaro has been Thea's number one weak spot since their high school days, but whatever they had ended five years ago. She left the town, and Thea moved on-or so she thought. When Sofia suddenly returns because of a work project, and a friendly round of drinks turns into a lot more than either of them had in mind, Thea is conflicted. She's a different person now. But Sofia is too, and she's not the same girl who strung her on for over a year. So when she tells Thea she wants to be more than friends now, Thea has to decide whether she's willing to take the risk once again. Perhaps some mistakes need to be made twice. ~ ❤️‍🩹 ~ Entry written for Open Novella Contest 2025 Prompts: 120, 121, 18 Genre(s): NA Literary/General Fiction PUBLISHED: 2/20/2025 COMPLETED: TBA

Olive and Sebastian have been best friends since they can remember and are total opposites. Despite everyone around them thinking they would get together, they both thought they were too opposite to see each other as anything more than friends. When a new, suspicious cafe called Brewtiful Souls opens on their high street overnight, promising to find someone their soulmate with a cup of tea, both Olive and Sebastian dare each other to try it. Little do they know, they may have been looking at their soulmate all along. *Cover made by -milasteele * *For ONC 2025* Prompts: 15, 111, 129

When her estranged sister is involved in a near-fatal car accident, twenty-five-year-old Jordan Friedman finds herself the temporary guardian of her eight-year-old niece, Cory, who she has not seen since she was a toddler. To make things easier for everyone, Jordan moves Cory into the house she shares with her two eccentric and very opposite housemates. As the four girls navigate growing up together, Jordan struggles to balance caring for Cory, managing her comatose sister's affairs, and continuing to scrape by with her wedding photography business. The longer Cory stays with her, the more Jordan struggles to stay afloat. But Cory has nowhere else to go, and after six years of silence between them, Jordan is determined to do right by her sister, even if it means wedging a hesitant foot in a door that closed long ago. In the midst of tragedy, the four girls navigate growing up together and discover what being a woman truly means through heartache, a stray cat, and the unexpected truth behind the Womanhood Theory. *** Rated mature for recreational drug use, suicide, and passive suicidality. *** Main prompt: The door that closed to you many years ago has reopened, and now it's up to you to take a chance once more. (120) Additional prompts: You return home late one night only to find it's no longer your house. Nothing is as it seems. (56) A group of people wake up with no memory and find themselves adrift on an old steam passenger liner. The name? Titanic. (42) A famous singer and their pilot crash land on a tropical island. With no one else around, survival isn't their only challenge. (47) It's not a mystery - it's the walls. They hold secrets, but what are they hiding? (66) »You're wonderin' why half his clothes went missin'.« - Taste, Song by Sabrina Carpenter (124) »I've got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane.« (127)

Two ex-best friends are invited back to the reality TV cooking show that caused their ruined relationship three years ago. *** Three years. That's how long ago it was when Luci Baker shoved a cake in Shae Brown's face. That's how long the fifteen-year friendship of Shae and Luci has been extinct. Now, the show the hosted the infamous scene has invited Shae back to participate in a bake-off with other baking "Fiascos" that were featured on Tiana's Kitchen. Shae is embarrassed that their debacle made it into Fiasco territory even though the episode they participated in never actually aired. But, they are also determined to redeem themself from the humiliating experience. The problem? Luci was invited back too. And she wants to be friends again. Will Shae's pride get in the way of their friendship's-and their reputations'-redemption? Let the bakeoff begin! *** Cover from @TaeTaeGinger! WARNINGS: extreme profanity, themes of mental illness, alcoholism, mentions of domestic violence and abandonment, enbyphobia, on page panic attacks and autistic shutdowns with unintentional self-harm during these attacks Chapter Title Teasers for May: • May 8th: Prologue - Back to Tiana's Kitchen • May 13th: 9- I'm Stuck with the Most Annoying Chef on the Face of the Earth • May 18th: 10 - Lemon Cakes and the Moons that Live in Them • May 23rd: 11 - Winner, Loser, Who Gives a Shit? • May 28th: 12 - Maybe the Real Prize Is the Friends We Made Along the Way • May 31st: Epilogue - The Mystery of the Missing E 1st Draft Published: February 28th, 2025 1st Draft Finished: - 1st Draft Word Count: 24,970 Based on ONC prompt 36: Two exes-turned-rivals enter a high-stakes Master Chef competition. Can they set aside their differences in the kitchen or will their simmering rivalry boil over?

An up-and-coming violinist entangles with a renowned ballerina, and their lives will never be the same. ⋆☆⋆ Leah Dellman needs a stellar grade in her performance seminar to earn a spot in Juilliard's prestigious postgraduate Music program. For her final project, Leah seeks a collaboration with Nashwa Fakhoury: the disciplined, captivating, and renowned New York City Ballet soloist who once kissed her at a New Year's Eve party. Leah and Nashwa share their art, aspirations and emotions, both finding a rare connection in the other. But the deeper they fall, the more is under threat: reputation, identity, and family. They both think they love their art above all - but they might have found something they love more. ⋆☆⋆ [ ONC 2025. ] [ Standalone. Completed. Word Count: 35K - 40K ]

In desperate need of a lifeline, Spencer Pelekai catches a last minute flight to San Francisco where she runs straight into the arms of her missing piece. ***** Spencer Pelekai isn't sure how to let go of her seven-years long relationship that has ended. In a desperate attempt to escape her feelings, she hops on a plane to San Francisco where her former best friend moved to years ago. And though she's never before stepped foot in the city by the bay, she discovers her heart somewhere along the way. ***** OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2025 | main prompt #120, additional prompts #111, #134