2022 RECOMMENDED
6 stories
We Remember || ONC2022 by kathrynwild
kathrynwild
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Complete • 40,000 words • lgbtqia+ YA fantasy • A lonely sea witch finds a long-lost boy on the beach, a boy who disappeared and came back changed. A story filled with magick, romance, mysterious dreams, and buried secrets uncovered. The sleepy fishing village of Saltash is still grieving the disappearance and presumed death of Alder Flint when, exactly one year later, Selwyn Blackthorn finds him swimming at the beach. Alder seems unharmed, but he has no explanation for his long absence and Wyn knows that there's something different about him. And it's not just that Alder's suddenly interested in being Wyn's friend. Wyn is one of the last remaining sea witches in Saltash, and the Goddess Below the Waves has been sending him mysterious dreams that he's sure have something to do with Alder. As he grows closer to Alder and finds himself falling in love, Wyn must decide if he really wants to solve the mystery of Alder Flint. Along the way, Wyn also uncovers long-hidden secrets about himself, and he must decide if it's better that some things stay buried beneath the waves. Written for the Open Novella Contest 2022 Prompt 61: A person from your colony runs away one night. A year later, the person returns, all safe and sound, but you find something strange and fishy. © All Rights Reserved
Night Shift by anniecrownbooks
anniecrownbooks
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(SAMPLE) Now available everywhere in ebook & paperback (and on Kindle Unlimited in the US & Canada). Kendall works the night shift at the campus library. It's the perfect job: she gets to spend hours reading her romance novels without interruption... until the night that Vincent, king of campus and star of the basketball team, comes to the front desk and asks her for reading recommendations. (75k words. No cheating, no love triangles, happy ending. Adult content. 18+ recommended.)
Chase (#ONC2022) ✅ by IzYoneyama
IzYoneyama
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¤ LONGLISTED IN THE OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2022 ¤ // COMPLETE - stand-alone sequel to featherlight - Chase Collins steps onto a late night train, his last in the city before he moves to a new state with a job promotion. What he doesn't expect, however, is to sit opposite Kyle Rivera: former best friend, football teammate, and Chase's first love. Kyle is the incarnation of everything he thought had been forgotten and left in the past- his high school bravado, his secrets, his forgotten dreams. So he goes to sit down beside him. And they talk. And over the course of that one night, both of them will remember, relive, and most importantly live, as they explore what it means to grow up, to grow apart, to find yourself and to find each other.
The Vampire's Pastry Chef (ONC 2022) by M_A_Hartman
M_A_Hartman
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|| WINNER AMBYS 2022 VAMPIRES CATEGORY || || FEATURED: FOODKART || When single mother and baker Autumn Milford is hired to cater a high-end party in the Berkshires, she discovers the "special ingredient" she is required to use isn't just the quirk of an eccentric millionaire ... ------------ Autumn Milford has been determined to rely on no one but herself after her parents kicked her out at seventeen. With the money she's due to earn from catering a high-end party in the Berkshires, she'll finally have enough to open up her own storefront bakery. But her employer is not just another eccentric millionaire and his guests aren't your average denizens of high society. Autumn is about to discover that creatures of the night are real ... and they're eating her cinnamon rolls. Corbin Westbrook would rather cut off his own head than host the once-a-decade gathering of the New England Knowing. There have been sightings of a Fallen in the area and it is Corbin's duty to ensure that the creature is disposed of. But to decline such an "honor" is ill-advised. Left with no choice but to throw the party, Corbin stays as far away from the event planning as possible ... until he meets the baker. Hold onto your cinnamon rolls, it's going to be a sweet ride! ------------ ONC 2022 Prompt 20. You manage a catering company. The latest request has a few ... interesting menu items. [Status: Complete] [Word Count: 28,000] [Content warning: PG-13 for mild swearing, violence, sensuality, and fade-to-black intimacy.] [ [ Highest rankings ] ] [#1 in Baking 2/26/22] [#1 in Singleparent 4/1/22] [#1 in Paranormalromance 4/14/22] [#8 in Paranormal 4/11/22] [#10 in ONC2022 4/14/22] [#11 in Supernatural 5/3/22] [#16 in Vampireromance 4/20/22] [#20 in Romance 4/11/22] Cover by @chessaandersen
Break Me // ONC 2022 by MissJina
MissJina
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On the outside Nore Mcguire was your average twenty-six year old High School Writing teacher. She had a lot of friends and didn't mind sharing a home with her eighty-year old Grandmother and her nine cats. But there was still something off. She sort of blames it on the stories her grandmother told her growing up about the night-walkers. Sometimes she thought she saw them, hoovering over people just before their death. She figured it was just her imagination and moved on, but that was until the new English teacher came to town. Jaime Donovan rode into town like a wild storm on a summer night. The ladies loved him. Nore found him attractive, sure, but he always found a way to get under her skin, and there was just something off about him. On the night of the Founders Day masquerade ball, Nore finds herself semi-plastered and dancing with one masked man the entire night. They danced and kissed the night away. She waited for her Cinderella moment to take place, but it never did, and that's because half the town was left for dead. And the next morning when the sun rose, things looked a little different. And now not only does she want to figure out who the masked man was, but she has to figure out why she was the only one to see creatures killing people in the daylight, when no one else could, and how to get rid of them for good. ----- Written for ONC 2022 - #66 & #23
Complete Without You (ONC 2022) by Voyageavecmoi
Voyageavecmoi
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Sadie takes her dream trip to Australia, where she embraces solo travel life until she crosses paths with quirky Irish traveller Neil. The two discover they share more than their love for adorable Aussie animals as they complete bucket lists they'd planned with their exes. As their connection strengthens, Sadie considers unsettling her newfound peace and self-acceptance for a connection she'd thought impossible since her destructive break-up. Amby's Contemporary Novella Favourite 2024 ONC Shortlisted Story 2022 Featured on Adventure's 'Modern Adventures' reading list (Nov 2025) ContemporaryLit's Ambassador's Picks (Sept 2025) Ambassador's 'Lattes and Life' chapter of the 'Ambassador's Picks' book (April 2025) ContemporaryLit's 'Hot Encounters' (Dec 2024) 'Contemporary LGBTQIAP+' (June 2024) reading lists Romance's 'Slow Burn' reading list (June 2024) StoriesUndiscovered 'Tales of the Heart' reading list (May 2022) Copyright all rights reserved 2025