This book was received as an ARC from Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing-Simon Pulse in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a story that you can't help but to fall in love with. I love the fact that the main heroine is named Birdie and that she is a mystery writer fan. She has the perfect job in the hotel where she sees so many people so many in fact that one day she spots a famous author having a pretty mysterious second life that she did not see coming. She engulfs all of this casework with a guy that she can't seem to figure out herself in one mystery with another. So engaging and heartwarming that you will not want to stop reading.

We will definitely consider adding this title to our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Bennett pulls out another heartwarming teen tale following the life of amateur sleuth and possible narcoleptic Birdie Lindberg. Birdie meets Daniel, a magician gifted in the subtleties of a classic misdirect, at her favorite cafe, the Moonlight Diner. After a whirlwind evening where the two parted on a rather awkward note Birdie feels confident that she will not see Daniel again... until she starts her new job at a fancy hotel. Daniel and Birdie embark upon a wild mystery ride with plenty of twists and turns. I can honestly say that I did not expect the ending. Bennett kept me entertained and guessing where this mystery would end next!

Serious Moonlight is an adorable novel set during the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel, the Cascadia. Birdie is shocked to discover the guy she had a one night stand with, Daniel, also works the graveyard shift at the Cascadia, and he and Birdie get closer to one another as they team up to investigate a bestselling mystery author, never before seen in public, who is having mysterious meetings at the Cascadia every week. Serious Moonlight has a lot of diversity and representation, and although it is a slow burn of a novel, you will find yourself feeling warm and fuzzy when you read the last page.

I think Jenn Bennett writes the perfect book boyfriends.  I loved Alex, Approximately and I loved this one, too.



Birdie is kind of an awkward girl who is always afraid of embarrassing herself.  Her mom died when she was younger and she grew up with her grandparents.  Her grandma was very strict and home schooled her.  After she died, Birdie was able to convince her grandpa, with the help of Aunt Mona, that eighteen year old Birdie was ready to get a job in Seattle.  Birdie is also obsessed with mysteries.  She actually makes detective profiles of the people she meets.  Birdie has sleep issues and might have narcolepsy, but hasn't been diagnosed yet.



Daniel is nineteen and very outgoing.  He's always smiling and everyone knows him.  He does have a secret that he's been keeping.  Daniel lives with his mom, but never knew his dad or who he was.  His mom just said he was white, had money, and had to marry someone white, which she was not.  Daniel loves magic and lost his hearing in one ear.



Birdie and Daniel meet one day at The Moonlight Diner.  They have this instant connection and decide to go on a date.  They never got further than the car.  Birdie and Daniel were having sex, but she freaked out and ran away.  She figured she would never see him again, but she thought about him and what happened often.  She always looked for him when she went to The Moonlight Diner.  She lived about the diner when she was growing up and it felt like home there.



Birdie gets a job at a hotel on the night shift.  She is shocked on her first night when she sees that Daniel works there.  Birdie is freaked out, but they eventually start talking a bit.  He knows she likes mysteries, so he tells her about this guy that shows up every Tuesday for an hour.  He believes it's a popular mystery writer that keeps himself hidden.   While working to solve this mystery, Birdie starts to have feelings for Daniel which scares her.  Half the people she's loved have died.  



I loved Birdie and Daniel.  They both had insecurities and the relationship never felt forced.  It showed the awkwardness and not just the good stuff.  I also loved Aunt Mona.  She was so funny and made the story even better.



I gave this book 4  1/2 stars rounded up to 5.  Thank you to the publisher for reaching out and sending me a copy through Edelweiss.



Warnings for depression, talk of suicide, and abandonment from a parent.

Okay, so I don't even really know where to begin, this book is FANTASTIC. I love all of Jenn Bennett's books but this one is probably my favorite. It's like she wrote this one just for me. Serious Moonlight might be the PERFECT contemporary book, in my opinion. Daniel and Birdie are amazing character, they are unique and charming. Their conversations with each other were so witty, fun and heartfelt. I was in love with them from their first conversation. The writing in this story is just wonderful. It's full of old mystery references, books and movies alike. Not to mention the wonderful music mentioned in this book. Oh, and they go to couples CLUE...like the worlds most perfect date. I could go on forever but I won't, just READ and love this book!!!

I have some serious love (and some criticisms) for this book.

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett follows Birdie, an eighteen-year-old girl with narcolepsy and love for mysteries after she takes a night shift job at a hotel. On the job, Birdie runs into Daniel Aoki, a brief fling who she works with to solve the mystery of a reclusive writer who visits the hotel. 

I have read one other book by Jenn Bennett, Alex, Approximately, which was an average read for me. I read Alex, Approximately as an ARC. While I enjoyed it, I was surprised to see so much hype surrounding the book upon its release. I wanted to try another book by this author to see if it lived up to the hype since I am a huge fan of contemporary books. While Serious Moonlight started off much stronger for me that Alex, Approximately, it ended up falling into several of the pitfalls that I did not enjoy in the first book that I read by this author. 

Let's start with the characters. Jenn Bennett does an amazing job of inclusivity with her characters. She includes characters from different races and cultures. Her characters struggle with mental illness or disability. But Jenn Bennet does not just include diversity in her books, but she fully fleshes out every character so they come across as people and not a checklist. The main character, Birdie is a shy and sweet main character that I think many readers will enjoy. Daniel, Birdie's love interest, is also multi-faceted and interested. While I was initially put off by the "he's perfect, but WAIT there's a MASSIVE secret," I think the author really steered clear of the typical formula that trope follows. 

That being said, there were a few issues that I had with characterization in her book. My largest issue was with Birdie's Aunt Mona and her former flame, Leon Snodgrass (yes, you read that correctly). Aunt Mona has a large personality and outfits to match. So much that you may roll your eyes at her outfit descriptions because they are so ridiculous. While Aunt Mona has many moments that let readers see how amazing she is, I could do without the countless descriptions of her outfits that attempt to make her look quirky. The same goes for her love interest Leon Snodgrass, presented as what a frat boy becomes when he leaves college and barely anything else. I had this same problem in Alex, Approximately because I felt like I was being hit over the head with the character's unique vintage style over and over again.

As for the pacing, the beginning of Serious Moonlight grabbed me a lot more than Alex, Approximately. For the first 200 pages, I found myself moving through the story quickly. While the mystery aspect could come across cheesy, I actually found it somewhat endearing since it helped Birdie come out of her shell. Then, the book took a major shift. There was a large chunk of the middle solely devoted to the relationship and devoid of any progression of the mystery plot, which confused me. This part of the book really slowed down for me and I found myself pushing through for more of the plot to develop. While I assumed I knew how the mystery ended (and I was correct), this derailment wasn't my favorite aspect of the book.

Another aspect that I move back and forth on is the relationship in this book. For the majority of the book, I absolutely loved Birdie and Daniel. Both Birdie and Daniel grow as people throughout this book and learn to open up to each other throughout their relationship. I was actually really excited during the first 90% of this book because it generally steered away from the soap-opera style drama that I wasn't a fan of in Alex, Approximately. Then, the big moment of the mystery came and some of my love left quickly. While I understand how Daniel reacted to this moment, it seemed fairly out of character for him, especially how he treated Birdie after it happened. I also was not satisfied with how quickly the characters moved past this moment either. 

Overall, Serious Moonlight is a solid young adult novel. I can see why so many people consider Jenn Bennett an auto-buy contemporary author because she creates loveable and multi-dimensional characters in her books. However, there were still several aspects of this book that reminded me of reasons that Alex, Approximately was only a three star read for me. That being said, I am still interested in checking out Starry Eyes, another book by this author currently out on the market. I give Serious Moonlight three out of five stars.

ARC provided from the publisher( Simon and Schuster UK Children's ) via Netgalley+ in exchange for an honest review (Thank you, Publisher!!)
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.
I Just had to say that I absolutely loved Alex Approximately and I had so many high hopes from this one. Andddd YASS!!! I just loved the book, it was a awesome combination of Light Romance and Detective Skills.

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I’m obsessed with Jenn Bennett’s books. Imagine my surprise when I was offered an ARC of one of her books by the publisher! Thank you so much to Lauren at Simon & Schuster for getting this ARC to me!

There are two things found in every Jenn Bennett book that I really love: sex positivity and witty dialogue. Both of these are present and accounted for in Serious Moonlight, and, honestly, I couldn’t have been happier about it. I think it’s so important for teens to read about a safe, healthy relationship that just happens to include sex. I also love that Jenn Bennett’s witty dialogue never comes across as pretentious or forced.

If I’m honest, this is a slightly lower five than Starry Eyes or Alex, Approximately. The reason for that is partially me (I just kept getting distracted while reading) and partially the book (the mystery aspect didn’t pull me in as much as I’d expected and I guessed the ending pretty early on). But even with those small complaints, I still loved this book.

Jenn Bennett is one of my favorite authors and I don’t think she’s capable of writing anything less than an amazing book.

Serious Moonlight is the first book by Jenn Bennett that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last. I was blown away by how good the story was. I loved the characters - especially Birdie, Daniel, and Mona: they were sweet, fun, messy, and evolving. Birdie and Daniel's relationship felt really authentic - I like that they were confused and had to learn how to communicate with each other. I loved that their communication included shame-free talks about sex. Birdie and Mona's relationship was amazing - a perfect balance of quasi-parental and closest friend. Birdie and Mona personified the theme that you don't have to be related to be family.
The story itself revolves around mystery loving Birdie as she comes of age in the wake of her mother's death (ten years ago) and the recent death of her grandmother. Due to complicated family dynamics, it is only as an 18-year old that she is experiencing any kind of freedom. This newfound freedom leads her to her first job and Daniel.
Daniel entices Birdie to solve a mystery about the identity of a famous author, but the mystery is the least important part of the story.
Serious Moonlight is a lovely, character-driven story that I didn't want to end. I could keep reading about Birdie and Daniel and Mona for many more books.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for this eARC.

If you've enjoyed any of Jenn Bennet's books, you should read this one! Birdie and Daniel, our protagonists, have kind of a Meredith and McDreamy (from Grey's Anatomy) meet cute before ending up working together on the graveyard shift at a Seattle hotel. They get to know each other while investigating the identity of a mysterious author who is a sometimes guest at their hotel.

All of Jenn Bennet's best book ingredients are here: A full, interesting setting (I love Seattle and want to go back), quirky, lovable characters, and a solid romance, plus an added mystery. Daniel may be my favorite of Bennet's heroes - he is deeply sweet, but has definitely been through it, and we get to love his family and giant cat blueberry too. I also love that Birdie and Daniel are 18 and 19, prime college stress age, but that they are both on slightly different paths. There is a little future anxiety here, but it wasn't the focus of the book, and I loved that Bennet could let her characters travel a different path.

I just love this author and this book. If you like contemporary YA, Jenn Bennet is one of the best!

Another great read from Jenn Bennett. Birdie and Daniel will give you the swoons while dealing with their individual baggage and solving the mystery of the mysterious author. I loved both characters, including their flaws, and enjoyed the story.

This was the most darling book!! Filled with everything you might need in a YA Contemporary:

•Teen Detectives
•Sweet Grandfather
•Amazing Aunt/parent figure
•Teen Detectives
•ALL THE PIE
•The sweetest love story
•Seattle—amazing city and backdrop

I highly recommend this story! Jenn Bennet is an auto-buy for me and I can’t wait to see this book on my shelves next to her other amazing stories.

Jenn Bennett is quickly becoming my favorite author. She killed it again with this amazing book! The characters and situations are realistic and her writing draws you in. I love how sex positive she is and how invested in the characters she makes the reader.

I love this author. As with her other books, her characters are realistic and likeable. The romantic relationships are always on point and lots of cute movements - not to spoil anything but Daniel’s first date idea is adorable. This was a bit slower paced for me compared to her other books, but still a solid YA Contemporary Romance and one fans of the genre should take the time to read.

3.5 stars.
Let me preface this review by saying that I have adored what Jenn Bennett has put out thus far (Alex, Approximately, Starry Eyes, Anatomical Shape of a Heart) and I will continue to read whatever she writes for as long as she writes. So I hate to say that I didn't fall in love with this book. I can't quite put my finger on why this one didn't work as well because her writing is still stellar, especially in the YA world. Serious Moonlight had a good premise but it was weighed down by a few too many elements that didn't click like they normally do. I really liked Birdie and Daniel, both as friends and a couple. They both have interesting pasts and weights on their shoulders that make them feel like real people and not 2D characters. I especially appreciated the diversity in this novel as well as the sex positivity (which is a big reason why I love the author so much). The dialogue is snappy with the MCs and there were multiple occasions where I had a smile on my face or was rooting for them but I didn't swoon over as many lines as I have with her other characters.
What didn't work for me was the mystery plot. It slowed things down just enough that I couldn't get sucked in like I have with her others. I felt like I was reading 400 plus pages instead of zipping through this in one sitting. The mystery aspect made the story feel a bit convoluted a couple times. While I did enjoy reading the book, this just wasn't as fantastic as her others and that is a little painful for me to say. There are unique characters in this story and there's an organic feel to them but it's not my favorite from the author.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.