Winner of Once Upon a December 2023 contest. After Ananya walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her, she takes up the offer to hole up in her best friend's cabin. But when an unexpected blizzard brings a stranger from her past to the door, will things take a turn for the better or the worse? Prompt: You've just broken up with who you thought was the love of your life and now you feel the need to get away from the small town where you both live. Your best friend offers you their cabin. Thinking that this is just what you need, you take them up on their offer only to get snowed in at the cabin. A knock on the door startles you, but what is more surprising is who is behind the door.

[Entry for the Once Upon A December, @NARomance Winter Prompt - Unedited - word count: 5k] After an unforeseen breakup with who she thought was the love of her life, Eira was left moping around, wallowing in self-pity, and drowning in negativity. Running away from her overwhelming pain, she jumped at the opportunity to hide away in her best friend's secluded cabin. Snowed in and left a prisoner to her vicious thoughts, she didn't expect her savior to come banging at the door half-naked and coated with blood. However, life had a weird way of taking things from you before finally giving you what you truly need, not just want. And so, follow Eira's lil journey to healing where Snow Falls and Love Howls.

[Entry for the Once Upon A December, @BadassReads Winter Prompt - Unedited - word count: 5k] Growing up with an abusive mother, Elara hated everything in and about Everwood - a small village where everyone avoided her loud and rebellious younger self like the plague. When Elara finally left, she vowed never to come back...until her mother finally bit the dust and she had to return to sell everything off before resuming her busy life. What she didn't expect, however, was colliding with a soft soul she'd never paid attention to before but was now a danger to her well-protected (neglected) heart. He set her frozen heart aflame, searing his way into every crevice of her being with his gentle touches and soothing passion. Join Elara's journey through the frozen flames of burning passion where wintry confessions promise an eternity of passionate seasons.

[Entry for the Once Upon A December, @ComeAndSitWithUs Winter Prompt - Unedited - word count: 4k] Ever since that fateful night where she'd lost everything precious to her, Iliana was frozen in time...trapped in a vicious cycle of endless winter. She was existing in pools of blood and pain, enduring suffocating despondency, and hanging on to a fading past. Iliana was reduced to a specter of vengeance, numbly killing her way through life. Wherever she went, crimson rivers followed, death reigned, and snow hardened. Once her goal was achieved, however, Iliana was offered a chance at life again. She found herself surrounded by fluttering butterflies and the promise of a new beginning where snow wasn't red anymore, and her days weren't as empty. All it took was a chance encounter with a little bundle of life with eyes that set her free and an innocence that breathed life into her frozen soul.