Celia Martinez and Brian Young have been best friends since high school and now share an apartment together in Dallas. They are opposites in every way. She’s the extrovert to his introvert, the sunshine to his grumpy, the interior designing fashionista to his online gamer. But he’s been there, quietly cheering her on in every event the highly competitive Celia has entered them into over the years.
Little does Celia know that Brian has harbored a crush on her for more than a decade–and there is no way that Celia can find out. It would ruin their friendship and living situation forever.
But when their friend Katie shows up and begs the two of them to join her team for a city-wide, New Year’s Eve race in their Louisiana hometown, Celia is ready to jump in feet first. After all, the prize is $10,000 and Celia is desperate to use the money to help her sister. Brian wants nothing to do with the race–but he can’t say no to Celia.
Soon Brian and Celia join Katie and her fiance, Jacob, for the night time competition. Following the clues, they will sing, dance, race, draw, and strategize their way to the finish line. They have built the perfect team, but they didn’t count on Celia’s high school rival showing up and trying to sabotage their sprint to the finish line.
The more they work together, the more Brian and Celia have to confront their deeply buried, smoldering attraction to one another. Can their team overcome the obstacles and odds and start the New Year off with a financial bang?
Jessica is a lifelong reader and writer. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and professional writing before making a career in journalism and editing. Jessica has always dreamed of writing a book, and her love for novels spurred her into becoming an avid bookstagrammer (@readbelievelove).
Jessica grew up in North Louisiana, but now resides in Southwestern Ohio with her husband, pack of rowdy children, and a couple of hounds. They love to spend their time together visiting independent book stores, outside digging up worms, and transforming piles of sticks into castles.
This is such an addictive little novella. Jessica Booth really packed a rich and vibrant story into only a few pages. And the heat? Pure fire! If you haven't read anything by Jessica yet, I suggest starting with A Match Made in Autumn since this will have mild spoilers for her first two books in the series. The details included to tie everything together shows the level of dedication Booth has for making her stories all encompassing. She also adds a lot of little nerdy details which make my heart sing. I really hope she makes some more novellas in the series, I need more Celia & Brian. Much love to Jessica Booth for hooking me up with an ARC, I adored it!!!
Jessica Booth has done it again, but that isn’t surprising. She has given us a novella to go along with her other two amazing books, A Match Made in Autumn and A Picture Perfect Summer. Not only has she now written A Race To Midnight, but we can also get excited for another novel for the series that she is currently writing!!! EKK!
Novellas are never my go-to, but A Race To Midnight had me hooked from the very beginning. It could be because I was already in love with some of the characters from Booth’s previous books in her Ruston Festival series, or it could be because this short story grabs hold of you in the first chapter.
A Race to Midnight is told from both Celia and Brian’s point-of-views. Celia is best friends with Katie, who we met in A Picture Perfect Summer. Katie and Celia want to enter a scavenger hunt that has an awesome cash prize. Of course Jacob, Katie’s fiancé, who we fell in love with in A Picture Perfect Summer, will be joining their team. But they need one more, so they also want to ask Brian, her roommate and friend, to join.
It doesn’t take much convincing to get Brian to jump on board, especially since he worships the ground Celia walks on, even though she is completely clueless. The team of four know it won’t be easy, but they are excited to partake in the scavenger hunt.
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.
I love how we also get to hear about Amelia and Rhett, the original MVP’s from A Match Made in Autumn. They might not have primary roles like the other characters, but I loved checking in on them!
Thank you Jessica for sending me a copy of your masterpiece. I can’t wait for what you write next!
I absolutely adored this novella and devoured it in record time. I loved visiting the charming Ruston Festival characters again and enjoyed getting to know Celia and Brian. Begging the author: pleeeease write another with Celia and Brian, I need more!
Celia and Brian have been best friends since high school and are now roomies. When Celia’s best friend Katie invites them to join her and her husband’s team for a NYE scavenger hunt with a cash prize, she jumps at the chance. Brian takes a little bit of convincing, but ultimately can never say no to Celia.
As their team progresses in the competition, they come across some very unexpected challenges. The closer Brian and Celia work together, the more undeniable their attraction becomes.
Read if you like: - friends to lovers - opposites attract - touch *him* and die
This novella is so cute!! Jam-packed with fireworks, romance, scavenger hunts and rivalries this is fun and engaging read. This is the author’s third story in the Ruston Festival world and I would love to see more of Brian and Celia in the future!
This novella was perfect! It was action packed and so witty! The characters are so relatable. Jessica Booth had me smiling from ear to ear with A Match Made in Autumn and A Picture Perfect Summer and this follow up novella was no different!
I could have finished this in one sitting! I wanted more and more of Brian and Celia’s story. I still do! The story plot was fun and the love story was sweet! My book club and I started with a plan to read 2 chapters a day between Christmas and NY. Well, I tried but ultimately I wanted to keep reading at the end of every chapter so I just let myself! I’ve loved all of Jessica Booth’s novels and this novella is right up there too! Loved it!!
Quick novella to fit the theme of new years. Nothing too exciting. I liked the plot of the sister being able to do things herself and earn the money her own way instead of having Celia to depend on. Thought it would be predictable but it wasn’t and I liked that. But it wasnt anything special
This short but fun and sweet novella is the perfect addition to Jessica Booth’s Ruston Festival verse!
What you get: 🥳NYE fun 🥳friends to lovers 🥳scavenger hunt 🥳dual POV (Celia and Brian) 🥳quick read (it’s a novella)
Overall, this is another ⭐️FIVE STAR⭐️ read from this author and is a perfect companion to the other books, while also being easy to read as a stand alone!
I received an early copy of this novella (but ya girl has also already preordered the ebook and a signed copy) but all opinions are my own.
𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 🥵 love spicy scenes 🕛 have ever done something exciting for New Year’s Eve 😍 are secretly in love with your roommate 💪🏼 take competition seriously
• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓
Celia Martinez and Brian Young have been best friends since high school and now share an apartment together in Dallas. They are opposites in every way. She's the extrovert to his introvert, the sunshine to his grumpy, the interior designing fashionista to his online gamer. But he's been there, quietly cheering her on in every event the highly competitive Celia has entered them into over the years.
Little does Celia know that Brian has harbored a crush on her for more than a decade-and there is no way that Celia can find out. It would ruin their friendship and living situation forever. But when their friend Katie shows up and begs the two of them to join her team for a city-wide, New Year's Eve race in their Louisiana hometown, Celia is ready to jump in feet first. After all, the prize is $10,000 and Celia is desperate to use the money to help her sister. Brian wants nothing to do with the race-but he can't say no to Celia.
• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒
This was such a cute novella! Jessica manages to pack a lot into a book that is only 100 pages long, and this did not disappoint! She really sets the scene in Louisiana with a New Year’s Eve competition that sounded insanely fun (seriously though, do they do this cuz I’ll join) and really helped to move the story forward. Brian sounded so adorable in every way, and I loved that this was a friends to lovers story. While I haven’t read her previous two books yet, I loved the fact that we see previous couples from those novels appear in this one! I love an interconnected world!
Maybe it's because this was a novella or because it was outside my usual genre but this story seemed very shallow and .... high school to me.
It's obvious that the author just wanted to tell the love story between two best friends and didn't really put much effort into the surroundings. The 'Ruston Race' was supposed to be the whole point but barely showed up. There was no tension at all. All the clues were easy to solve and the 'challenges' were not that challenging. Even the introduction of the mean girl cheerleader who never left high school didn't add any tension, just annoyance.
And the ending seemed like a 'everyone gets a trophy moment'. If these sisters are so close why doesn't she know anything about what's going on in her life and what she's doing to work on her own future?
Final verdict: Cotton candy book - Sweet and fluffy without much substance. Doesn't make me want to read anything else in this series.
I knew I needed to wait to read this until around the end of the year, given that it's a book about New Year's Eve. I grabbed it when I wasn't ready to start a new, full length book, after just finishing one. The novella was the perfect size.
Celia and Brian have been friends since high school and now they're roommates, too. They can always count on one another and that means in their crazy endeavors too. When Celia asks Brian to go back to their hometown of Ruston with her to compete in a New Year's Eve scavenger hunt, he can't say no. Brian is an introvert to Celia's extrovert and she just may have to take the lead on more than this race to make it a New Year's neither of them will ever forget.
This was very cute and such a great quick read. I literally read it in one sitting. I'm not always a fan of a man lacking confidence, but Brian was done well. He didn't irritate me with his lack of self esteem the way most would. In fact, Celia seemed to be all in for it, which made the whole thing even better.
Tropes: • Friend to Lovers • Small town • Dual POV • Opposites Attract
ARC Review: Loved this little story of Celia and Brian! "We stare at each other, each searching for something in the others expression, something that's always been there but tucked away deep beneath years of friendship" I wanted so much more of the New Years Eve Ruston Race and their glow tye dye uniforms and seeing Brian come out of his shell. While love can be hot and spicy it can also be awkward or intimidating so i really did love how awkward they were about moving from friend zone even after admitting their love for each other and both their comfortability of helping guide him on what to do. I absolutely ate up this small but packed Novella, and was left wanting more when I turned the page and it was acknowledgments!
If you haven't check out the Ruston Festival series!!!
💕Such a cute a novella! Love how the author had two main character point of views. This is my second book that I have read by this author and I can’t wait to read the rest of her books that she has. But anyways Celia and her best friend Brian have been friends since high school and currently share an apartment in Dallas. They join a race on New Year’s Eve with two of their friends in hopes of winning the prize money so Celia can help her sister. Brian has no interest in joining this race but can’t tell Celia no. The chemistry between Celia and Brian had me in tears near the end. (Happy tears) And Christy definitely would have made me want to push harder in the race. If you’re looking for a quick read then check this out!! It’s available in paperback and on kindle unlimited!!!💕
This was such a cute novella!! I loved these characters so much, and I really wish we could have gotten more of them!! I’m such a sucker for that angsty pining, and the way Jessica Booth wrote these two makes me want so much more of it with them!! Brian’s sweet gamer boy personality is so adorable and I love his unwavering support of Celia! And Celia sass and snark (in the best ways) just makes you fall instantly in love with her! And of course, the side characters are incredible!! I truly only wish we could have had more!!! 4.25⭐️; 1.5🌶️
Tropes: - Small Town - Friends to Lovers - Mutual Pining - “Touch Him and Die” - Novella
what a sweet, quick new years novella read!! Our two MCs are roommates who are dragged into a small town New Year’s Eve scavenger hunt race with their two best friends who live in Ruston, and it seems that once they’re out of their big city comfort zone and forced together for this race, a spark finally catches fire between them! Brian has been into Celia since high school, but he’s a ‘nerd’ and she was the beautiful, popular girl in school. Nonetheless, it was sweet getting to experience these two finally connecting in a more than friends way and deciding to give ‘more than friends’ a chance 👀
This was such a cute novella! I was instantly interested in the characters and I hope we get another book about them in the future because I want to see how their relationship progresses. Brian was so sweet and how he had been hiding his crush from Celia for years, and they are roommates! The plot was fun, and it had the perfect amount of spice for the length of the book!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️.5/5
Dual POV
💜 Childhood friends to lovers 💜 It’s always been you 💜 Roommates 💜 One bed 💜 Secret pining 💜 Small town
If you’re looking for a super fast read, this one is perfect. This story was super sweet and to the point for our sweet Brian and Celia. We are introduced to them as Katie’s best friends and they are brought into town for a New Year’s Eve race that Amelia is putting on. Not only is it fast paced because of the race 😉 but it is a short amount of pages that still packs a punch. I believe Brian and Celia still got a good story and I’m happy we got to see them have their HEA
This is a sweet, fast paced best friends to lovers, New Year's Eve race competition with some mean girl energy thrown in.
Celia and Brian are best friends living together and Brian has always held a crush. This race puts them in a position to really see each other in a different. Mean girl Christy is terrible and needs to go back to high school. I love how all their family and friends around them could see Brian's heart eyes for Celia.
4 ⭐️ Un novella bourré de péripéties en quelques pages, c’est vraiment impressionnant ce que l’auteure a pu nous raconter en si peu de temps. C’était efficace et vraiment bien! L’auteure a meme pu y ajouter des petites scenes spicy 🌶️ J’ai aimé le concept de la course comme activité du nouvel an mais je ne pouvais arrêter de penser à la logistique de la chose qui ne faisait pas de sens pour moi et ça m’agaçait vraiment. Malgré tout c’était cute et parfaite petite lecture du nouvel an! 🥂
I picked up this novella on NYE hoping to finish it by midnight but life and kids and all that… This book was cute! Brian and Celia have been BFF’s since high school and he has been crushing on her since then! Oh, and they’re also roomies! There’s a NYE scavenger hunt, high school nemesis and just a pinch of spice. I don’t usually go for novellas because I don’t like how rushed everything feels. But this was such a fun little read! This is my 3rd Jessica Booth book and I can’t wait to read more!
This was such a cute novella! I think this definitely has a potential to be a full length novel. If some moments between the love interests were expanded on but as it stands, I really enjoyed it. I would love to see more, but I understand that was not the intention for this book lovers romance trope isn’t one I always enjoy, but it played out really well with this specific relationship.
This was the sweetest novella. I love childhood friends to lovers. Brian and Celia are such great characters. So caring and loyal. I love that they are best friends and know each other so well but at the same time are so blind to the other's feelings. It was a nice, fun little romp. I genuinely recommend it. You will not regret racing out to get this one on release day.
Ladies and gentlemen…Jessica does it AGAIN! Ahhh I cannot get over how fun and amazing her stories are. They are witty, clever, have such adorable characters that I fall in love with every single time! Told in a novella format, I was immediately drawn into the different POV and history of these characters. If you follow me you will know that I LOVE games in books and this one is centered around a scavenger hunt! Wahoo! Of course there are some challenges but what you’ll end up with is a sweet and fiery story with some of our favorite characters from her books before, A Match Made in Autumn and A Picture Perfect Summer. Her books never cease to amaze me how well written they are. I am telling you, if you haven’t picked up Jessica Booth’s books yet you’re missing out! I adore all of them! And can we just talk about the cover that SHE designed?!
4.5 stars This novella was everything I wanted. We had already met Brian and Celia in the previous book so I was so happy to read the start of their romance. And I loved seeing Katie and Jacob again. I’m also a sucker for a scavenger hunt type story so it had all the things I love. I met the author today as well and she was so nice. Love supporting local authors!
This was such a great book!!! I loved the characters. The plot was fast paced and you really felt yourself rooting for them through the race (both in the race and in their relationship) which was so much fun. I love a nerdy boy so this MMC was a huge win for me 😘