Book Review Of Serious Moonlight By Jenn Bennett: A Book That Felt Like A Dream
Synopsis
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 the most confounding mystery of all may be her growing feelings for the elusive riddle that is Daniel.
Genres/Categories
YA Contemporary Romance, Cozy Mystery
Trigger Warnings
Grief, loss of a parent, loss of a family member, disease (narcolepsy), suicide (mentioned), deteriorating mental health, depression, hearing loss/partial deafness
☆☆☆
Have you ever been woefully unprepared for something that you avoid it at all costs for fear of messing up, or worse, disappointing said thing?
That’s how I feel about reviewing Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett. I finished reading it quite a long time ago but it has put me in a bookworm dilemma.
I don’t know if my review is going to do this beautiful, infinite star of a book justice but at the same time I want to scream about how amazing it is. Like I said, it’s a dilemma.
I’m going to try my best though in my usual, slightly verbose, way!
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett was a dream I didn’t want to wake up from. Or, if you’re a booktok fan Serious Moonlight is:
☆A book I’d sell my soul to read again for the first time.
☆A book that made me forget I was reading
☆A book I think everyone should read at least once in their life…
You get the memo: Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett is a fantastic YA novel. Here’s why:
My Review Of serious Moonlight
The Central Boldness
There’s of course no shortage of YA books that spotlight grief and the past few years have seen the appearance of many novels, both YA and middle-grade, that foray into mental health.
But still, a book about teenagers with a palpable, almost, paralyzing interweave of grief, mental health, and suicide AND also addresses sex is rare. Serious Moonlight is one of those rare books.
Frankly, even society often has demurred topics like this. In a way, books that truly cover them can be life-changing, eye-opening, and the likes. Jenn Bennett released Serious Moonlight in 2019. That’s five years ago! Most of the books I was reading before the 2020s hit definitely were more light-hearted. I didn’t mind then, though. I was young and a little naïve about the world.
But as I’ve grown older, I’ve seen things I really wish books would touch upon. What Jenn Bennett has covered in Serious Moonlight was a bold (for 2019, that is), but desperate need in YA novels. It showcases that grief can be something you live with forever. It’s positive about sex and open-communication.
There’s so much more in Serious Moonlight that is rave worthy but alas if I do that this review will not be spoiler-free.
The Characters in Serious Moonlight Are Actual People
There’s this little bookish thing I often muse on. It’s when characters are of good physical health. We’ve covered the formerly deficient, presently okay, and admirable, focus on mental health in books. But about characters’ general, physical health?
For example books, especially that are from the perspective of a girl rarely mention her period. This is alright if the book is of fantasy genre where the rules stem from our overactive imaginations.
But contemporary YA books, usually chronicling teenagers daily lives, have no trace of this mundane thing several women possess, and ocassionaly find themselves pained by. I understand it’s not relevant to plot. What I’m trying to convey is that not everyone is of perfect health.
I eat up little, rare, mentions of a girl getting her period in books, or skipping out on an activity because of cramps, because I have them too. I love books about characters who climb hills, slove murders, all those wonderful things but still at the end of the day something triggers their chronic migraines because I have them too and so do 10 million other people.
All this to say is that even the smallest mention of physical health issues is extremely important. It creates relatability. It makes the character seem a lot more human. And that’s why Daniel and Birdie were humans (kind of humans—until I figure out how to bring them to life) to me.
Daniel was partially deaf (like Millie Bobby Brown). Birdie has genetic narcolepsy. Both conditions are their own entity and can be confusing and debilitating for some. For some they can be a normal part of their life, like a cup of morning coffee.
I loved, in a non-sadistic way of course, that Daniel’s single sided deafness was normal to him but for Birdie it was confusing to her, and that she had to make decisions about her health too. I loved reading this juxtaposition.
The Multi-faceted Relationships In Serious Moonlight Are Admirable
Now this is a pretty simple, well-known fact that all relationships can be complicated.
Birdie might have found Daniel’s ease, charm, and a penchant for magic enticing. Daniel may have found Birdie’s fascination with mystery, the single flower in her hair intriguing. They might have had chemistry (with a splash of awkward) the first time they met.
But it’s the second, third, and all the other times they encounter each other that make their relationship heartwarming, raw, and deliciously complicated. Daniel and Birdie aren’t perfect. Their struggles with mental health and grief are palpable throughout Serious Moonlight, in the moments they spend alone and with each other.
I loved that Jenn Bennett emphasized the idea of how getting to know someone, slowly and mindfully, can change anything in a relationship. Sometimes it’s better to dip your toes in the beginning rather than recklessly plunging into the water.
The chemical moments in Serious Moonlight made me blush. The messy, confrontational moments, now those were the ones that made me swoon hard.
It’s not just Daniel and Birdie’s relationship I loved. I adored reading about Birdie’s life with her Aunt Mona and her grandfather. And I loved, loved, loved Daniel’s family.
The Setting of Serious Moonlight Is Super Atmospheric
Lately, all the books I’ve been reading have magnificent settings. Boarding school for witches, small towns named Christmas, and in Serious Moonlight, the story unfolds in Seattle and mostly at night.
Jenn Bennett has penned such a wonderful description of Seattle and its landmarks in Serious Moonlight, doing complete justice to Seattle-dwellers. I’ve never been to Seattle but the way it’s written about makes Seattle sound dim and dreamy—exactly my cup of tea.
Aside from all this, some other things I adored in Serious Moonlight:
☆That Birdie is a shy introvert and such a dreamer.
☆The mystery plot which was tortuous. I did not see the end coming!
☆Birdie and her Aunt Mona’s relationship. Aunt Mona is like a more artistic and colorful version of Lorelai Gilmore from the show Gilmore Girls. And Birdie showed similar traits to Rory Gilmore (Season 1 Rory, of course!)
Serious Moonlight In A nutshell
Pros
Extremely relatable and multi-dimensioned, quirky characters, delightful setting, crazy mystery, mental health and grief representation.
Cons
Once you read Serious Moonlight, you’ll feel this terrible, gaping hole in your body because you just soared through an amazing book and you can never get the first reading experience back. (Anyone relate?). So savor it!
Recommended for
Those looking for a book you can get lost in or a book that you will not be able to stop thinking about.
Comment Down Below!
Are there any books that you love and wish to read again for the first time? Let me know in the comments!
