The Lucky Break [ONC2024]

Fated for heartbreak or lucky in love?

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Juliana Guo's carefully planned life has gone off the rails. Her once promising legal career is dead, her chances for love lie in tatters around her, and her painstakingly penned magnum opus - an investigative nonfiction book about the Japanese mafia - has been stolen by a homeless man and destroyed in a dumpster fire. Literally.

So when she receives the news that her no-nonsense, straitlaced immigrant mother has sold all their worldly possessions to purchase a quaint Alaskan lodge retreat and invited the entire family to winter there for the Lunar New Year, Juliana sees no better option than to pack up her life and travel across the country. But little does she know that her mother has invited another guest: Elliot Chan, the annoyingly handsome son of a family friend and Juliana's most hated academic and professional rival - and what's more, her mother has a matchmaking scheme in mind.

With no future prospects and no way home, Juliana is forced to stay at the retreat where she discovers that there is a strange magic swirling in the quiet, whimsical northern town - and that there might be more between her and Elliot than she realized. No matter what happens, Juliana will find out that her idea of a perfect-not-so-perfect life might look very different than she could have ever imagined...

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A cozy and comedic Lunar New Year holiday read, filled with wintry romance, magic, and just a little bit of luck. ;)

My entry for the Open Novella Contest!