Serious Moonlight – Jenn Bennett

After an awkward first encounter, Birdie and Daniel are forced to work together in a Seattle hotel where a famous author leads a mysterious and secluded life in this romantic contemporary novel from the author of Alex, Approximately.

Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Raised in isolation and homeschooled by strict grandparents, she’s cultivated a whimsical fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. But her solitary world expands when she takes a job the summer before college, working the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel.

In her new job, Birdie hopes to blossom from introverted dreamer to brave pioneer, and gregarious Daniel Aoki volunteers to be her guide. The hotel’s charismatic young van driver shares the same nocturnal shift and patronizes the waterfront Moonlight Diner where she waits for the early morning ferry after work. Daniel also shares her appetite for intrigue, and he’s stumbled upon a real-life mystery: a famous reclusive writer—never before seen in public—might be secretly meeting someone at the hotel.

To uncover the writer’s puzzling identity, Birdie must come out of her shell…discovering that most confounding mystery of all may be her growing feelings for the elusive riddle that is Daniel.

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Oh, Jenn Bennett, will you ever write a book I don’t love? I highly doubt it. You know what I love the most about Jenn’s books? Her characters are all so unique and quirky. None of them are cookie cutter. They all feel like real people with real issues and insecurities. As an adult, I love them, but as a teenager I would’ve connected with them. They would’ve made me feel better about being different. And I think that is incredible.

Serious Moonlight was somehow fun and emotional. I laughed and cried, and swooned. Do I feel like an old hag for laughing at things an eighteen year old male character said? A little. Do I care? Hell no.

Birdie and Daniel were just too cute for words. They were also both deep, flawed characters and I loved their growth both apart and together. A lot of the time, when I finish a YA Contemporary, I think “Well that was adorable, but we all know high school sweethearts don’t last.” I never feel that way at the end of a Jenn Bennet book. Not only did Birdie and Daniel have an epilogue that showed the lasting power of their relationship, they just feel like characters that can go the distance together.

Filled with witty banter, a fun mystery, and all of the feels, Serious Moonlight was everything I’ve come to expect from a Jenn Bennett book, and more. When you’re in the mood for a book that will just make your heart happy, pick up this one. You won’t regret it.