A Race To Midnight by Jessica Booth

The Ruston Festival Series by Jessica Booth is one of my favorite series to recommend. It has a little bit of everything, but what I love the most is the humor and authenticity in each book. So far there are three books in the series: A Match Made in Autumn, A Picture Perfect Summer and her newest addition, A Race To Midnight, a New Year;s Eve novella. 

A Match Made in Autumn 

Amelia has been assigned to put together the Fall Festival in her small Louisiana town. When Amelia sees two newspaper reporters pull up, she is shocked to see Rhett Herbert get out of the vehicle. Rhett, the guy she has been avoiding for ten years, ever since that awkward moment in highschool. Thankfully, Jacob is the reporter covering the festival and not Rhett. Unfortunately, Amelia is desperate for the festival to be perfect, and that means swallowing her pride and asking Rhett's band to play for the event. 

Rhett, local newspaper reporter,  is struggling to find inspiration when he stumbles onto an interesting story about a young boy who went missing the night of the festival twenty years ago. He is chasing down every loose end trying to figure out what happened to him. His clues lead him to the one person down the street from where the festival is taking place. Unfortunately, she hates the Fall Festival and doesn’t want to speak to anyone. 

Amelia and Rhett end up working closely with each other the weeks leading up to the festival. The tension between the two turns from anger to sexual and they keep finding themselves in very close quarters. They are both working towards something, and they both have surprises in store. 

A Picture Perfect Summer

Jacob is a reporter who covers festivals, including the one we come to love in A Match Made in Autumn. Jacob has been a part of Rhett’s life forever, spending time with the whole family, including Katie, Rhett’s little sister. Jacob is a hard worker who has been taking care of his father through his aging and dementia. With a new magazine starting up in town, the newspaper for which he works has decided to get a little creative. Jacob is assigned to cover the North Louisiana festivals throughout the summer, traveling to each one with a photographer, to create the perfect summer series for the paper. 

Katie Herbert is the definition of a hot mess. She has no idea what she wants to do for a living, is still residing with her parents, and is a little lost. When her brother Rhett gets her a part time summer gig as a photographer, Katie couldn’t be more excited. That is until she realizes she will be working with Jacob, her lifetime crush. 

Together they travel to different festivals, capturing the chaos during each trip. Something always seems to go wrong, but that just makes for even better articles. But all of this time together is starting to feel intimate. While they are being forced to work together, the sparks that have always been watered down by their surroundings start to fly, and they are not so sure they can stay away from each other. 

A Race To Midnight 

This novella is told from both Celia, Katie’s best friend, and Brian’s point-of-views. Celia and Katie want to enter a scavenger hunt that will land $10,000 in their pocket, or $2,500 after they split it four ways. They already have three team members lined up, but want to ask Brian, Celia’s roommate and friend, to join.

It doesn’t take much convincing to get Brian on board, especially since he worships the ground Celia walks on, even though she is completely clueless.The team knows it won’t be easy, but they are excited to partake in the scavenger hunt. While the others are doing it for fun, Celia is motivated by the money she could give to her sister, who could really use the help.

Throughout the competition, the foursome works hard to try to beat the other teams. Of course they come across challenges, some very unexpected, especially the feelings that continue to develop between Celia and Brian. 

What's next? 

Jessica’s next book will be published in November, a Christmas novel! I can’t wait to see what is coming next in the small town of Ruston!!!