Ricardo Torres has spent most of his twenties chasing the bohemian lifestyle, right down to the paintbrush that seems permanently attached to his hand. In his quest to capture the damage wrought to his beloved Lake Fúquene on a canvas, Rico once again finds himself lakeside. However, he soon discovers that the lake has been hiding a secret beneath its waves. With the water all but gone, a stolen Botero sculpture emerges from the cracking, muddy lakebed. Shortly after the police are called, Detective Sonia Mendoza arrives on the scene, eager to warm up this cold case. But as soon as Ricardo and Sonia are back at the police station in Bogotá, they learn that the lake was hiding one more secret. Now this unlikely pair must team up to solve a mystery neither of them anticipated. [[[ONC 2021 Longlister]]] [Based on Prompt #5]

Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are all real. But they're nothing like who we've grown up believing in. Half Elf, Faryn Morozko is the illegitimate daughter of Mrs. Claus, and Nick Claus has made it his mission to make her life miserable. Coal in her stocking would be a nice gift compared to what she gets from him and his reindeer every year. On Faryn's 23rd Christmas, Nick goes missing, and the last person he was seen with was Faryn when she followed him into the woods. To say she was angry as hell at the time would be an understatement. Now accused of his kidnapping and possible murder, Faryn is forced to flee her home in Oxford if she wants to clear her name. But it won't be easy, not when she's hunted by her cousin, Jack Frost, and if it weren't for Cassian Etend, the Tooth Fairy's heir, she'd be dead at the hands of her cousin. Accused of being Faryn's accomplice, Cassian is forced to help Faryn prove her innocence, all while believing she's guilty. But Cassian is Fae, and Elves and Fae are known for stabbing each other in the back--quite literally. With the help of Peter Ton, the new Easter Bunny, and a Leprechaun named Clíodhna, Faryn may stand a chance of finding Nick and making sure that whoever took him, doesn't take her mother. If she fails, she'll be locked in the ice dungeons of the Frozen City, doomed to be remembered as the villain who killed Ol' Saint Nick.

When Ph.D. candidate Scarlett is forced to play loving wife to her mentor's playboy son, the last thing she expects is to fall for the fantasy herself. ***** Scarlett Rong has dedicated her life to anthropology, and she wouldn't have it any other way, even if her overbearing Ph.D. mentor makes a social life impossible. Dr. Alexeev has the power to make or break Scarlett's career and there's no way she's risking that. Even if it means getting roped into a holiday scheme that can't possibly be university policy. When Maxwell, the rebellious son of Dr. Alexeev's ex-husband gets into a car accident that leaves him with amnesia, Alexeev is far from heartbroken - in fact, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to find out why he's planning on signing his billion-dollar company away to his best friend for pennies. Before she knows it, Scarlett finds herself playing doting wife to the infamous playboy to find out the truth. But as the lies become more entangled, Scarlett finds herself questioning her involvement in this scheme, and more importantly, what her true feelings are for the handsome billionaire. A fake marriage was hardly on Scarlett's wish list this year, but maybe Maxwell is more of a gift than she initially suspected... [[Word count: 50,000 - 60,000]] Cover designed by Regina Dionela

A Mind filled with random thoughts.