[ONC 2025 SHORTLIST] The Endless Brew lazes in the 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏. Its residents dedicate their afterlife to helping ghosts tie up loose ends. But when a cry for help echoes from the town of Wisteria, the tea house is thrown into uncharted territory. This time, their charge isn't a ghost-it's Nina, a living, breathing human with no apparent wishes to fulfill. Stumped and stranded, The Endless Brew's residents must unravel why she's crossed into their spectral world. As they take her under their wing, Nina finds herself drawn to Kai, a brooding, enigmatic ghost with a past as mysterious as his piercing gaze. Their electric connection might defy the boundaries of life and death, but it doesn't change the fact they're from different worlds, and their parting is inevitable. 🌸 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: 𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒘-𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏, 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 🌸 𝐎𝐍𝐂 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭: 15. 𝑨 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓: 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕?

The Dark City Chronicles ⁓ Book Three The apocalypse looms ever closer! Steamy romance, heart-stopping action, seductive vampires, magic that defies nature, sprinkles of dark-humor, and, as always, the everlasting bonds of friendship. Hannah's struggling to survive in a vicious world of monsters. The cost of dark magic is steep, and she nearly lost everything, but she can't dwell on her misery because there's a baby that needs her to fight. And she will. She'll fight until her last breath for that child's future. The demon she's been carrying might just hold the answers they need to tip the tide of coming darkness in their favour, but that's only if she's willing to pay his price. There's a prophesied beast he has to vanquish. A vampire gone mad that's killing indiscriminately. And countless enemies are vying for his head and the lives of everyone he loves. Kane will have to salvage his broken family, train harder than he's ever dared, and then kill all the foolish bastards who thought they could put him on their deranged chessboards and not suffer his wrath. Reid hears voices, not the rational kind. These are whispers that speak to his darkest desires. He'll have to delve deep into his family history and break a curse that his lineage has suffered for centuries before he can no longer defy their musings. The bells are tolling, and if he wants to thwart their augury and resist the allure of darkness, he'll need to choose love and hope it's enough. [COMPLETED]

Rebecca Nurse is a video blogger who has earned her Internet fame tracking down the origin stories of urban legends. She heads into a town, scares up its folk-tale monsters, and documents their stories for her YouTube channel. Then she moves on to the next town and the next story. There's something different about Grover, a small town in America's Northeast. The town is home to a famous witch who starred in an even more famous encore. Rebecca goes in search of the Witch of Embers and discovers the story is more real than she ever could have predicted.

AMBY AWARDS TOP PICK 2024 ❤️ The knocking continued. And she continued to lie prone on the floor, her heart thudding desperately in her chest. Her brain was telling her something she couldn't allow herself to believe. Because there was only one thing she'd left in her garden. And it couldn't possibly be the thing that was trying to get her attention right now. "Hello?" A male voice shouted pleadingly all of a sudden. "I'm cold. Holly?" It couldn't be. Could it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Holly Sprigg hates Christmas. It's forced fun at its very worst. It's the best way to bankrupt her. And it's a chance to feel even more alone than she usually does. But when she takes her nephew to see Santa, her life takes a bit of a turn . . . And suddenly, she has somehow created her dream man. Out of snow! What is the purpose of the mysterious "faux man"? And can he help Holly regain some of the festive spirit she lost so long ago?

The Dark City Chronicles ⁓ Book Two The stakes have never been higher! The Demon's Scion is a darker sequel to its predecessor. Spicy romance, action, seductive vampires, gutsy werewolves, sprinkles of dark humour, and, as always, the everlasting bonds of friendship. Trying to keep her newfound family alive is an endeavour when they're in firefights with crazy cultists, brawling with werewolves, and giving the middle finger to fate itself. Hannah wouldn't give up the headache that is her insane life because she's finally found a place where she belongs, and she'll do anything to keep those she loves safe. Kane, admittedly, might have taken his screw fate mantra too far, and now he's a slave to an idiot vampire that isn't even responsible enough to have a bank account. He's slipping, but he'll need to keep swinging his sword if he wants to keep them both alive and everyone else that's counting on him, because their foes aren't stopping, no matter how many he cuts down. An unwilling star of a twisted play perpetuated by a vampire that went mad centuries ago, Reid is trying to find his feet with his new, blood-drinking lifestyle while fighting to stay one step ahead of their enemies. He's inherited a power that could have him burned alive, but to beat the monster that's plagued his nightmares since the murder of his mother, Reid will have to fall farther than he's ever dared-and hope that love is bright enough to guide him back from the brink. [COMPLETED]

Milo Skart had a terrible decision to make. "Help me." The pregnant teen girl stumbled into the lobby of the Atraville Hospital. Barefoot and tattered, she appeared ready to give birth. "Help my baby." However, the girl and her unborn child carried a dangerous energy. If he helped her, he would defy Axion. That meant certain death. If he didn't help her, well, she was about to give birth. How could he not help her?

AMBY AWARDS TOP PICK 2024❤️ I can only see half of his face, reflected in the mirror at the front of the bus, and part of that is obscured by the peak of the black company-branded cap he's wearing. But I can see enough to glean that there's a strong jaw covered in scruff. A wide mouth that looks like it would be prone to smiling. He's wearing glasses with trendy light tortoiseshell frames, and I can't quite discern the colour of his eyes from my position . . . but some weird intuition is telling me that they'll be hazel, and I wonder when my brain is going to catch up. Because I *know* him, don't I? I'm almost certain of it. And he seems to know me, too. Or at least he thinks he does. The way he's glancing over at me lets me in on that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mirren Shepherd has *many* pet peeves. Top of the list, though? Staycations . . . And surprises. So when her girls' trip abroad is cancelled at the last minute and she finds herself roped into a minibus tour of Northern Scotland instead, she isn't remotely happy. And when she finds out who their guide is . . . It's yet another reason for her to dislike surprises. Because Owen Sullivan wasn't so much the one who got away . . . He was the one who just didn't return. And, after she finally got over him, she never expected to see him again. Mirren would prefer to leave the past in the past, but Owen is determined to try to right his wrongs. Can she trust him? Can she trust *herself*? Maybe, just maybe, this surprise - and staycation - won't be as bad as Mirren thinks . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kiera is the other woman. She is never alone, she is always alone. Follow her journey through life and death, in a short story filled with Lana Del Rey, Nina Simone, and Leonard Cohen references.

-MYSTERY- I'm dead. Deceased. Definitely not breathing. Laying in my favorite striped bikini, the one that fit the absolute best, and showed off my gym body. But none of that matters now. Not when you're dead. I feel nothing too. Void of any kind of physical sensation. Have you ever wondered what death would be like? I can tell you my experience, what I know about it that is, so far. "Oh my God!! Do you see that??" "Someone call 911!!" "Why isn't anyone helping her??" "She is surely dead.." Murder mystery that is sure to ensnare. Can you figure out who the killer is among all the secrets? Modern day 'Clue'. *Rated Mature for brief language, sexual references and themes of death Copyright KE Jennings 2022, all rights reserved Cover art by Canva