Serious Moonlight By Jenn Bennett Book Review
“Sometimes mysteries turn up things you didn’t expect to find. Like witty, beautiful boyfriends who may turn out to be the love of your life. You never know. Fate’s funny that way.”
(pg 432)
About
Author: Jenn Bennett
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Click to read other book reviews
Also by Jenn Bennet: Alex, Approximately and Starry Eyes
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.
Review
Spoilers Contained Below
Dear mystery lovers,
Isn’t love the greatest mystery of them all?
Jenn Bennett combines two interesting genres together for an interesting romance between Birdie and Daniel.
Birdie and Daniel knew each other way before they met again at the hotel that they worked at. They knew each other from Moonlight Diner, Birdie’s favorite eating place and safe haven, where she had one “fun” night with Daniel in the back seat of his car. After having said “fun,” Birdie gets this anxious feeling in her chest and runs away without a word to Daniel because she’s not the type of person to just have a fling at random with a guy she barely knew, but yet Daniel was someone who she did it with, which remained a mystery to her.
She hoped that she wouldn’t see him again and live that awkward conversation down about why she ran away from him that night, but as fate would have it, she ended up working the night shift at the same hotel that Daniel was a hotel driver for.
Birdie is your Nancy Drew extordinare and loves all things mystery. She’s very pragmatic and a realist when it comes to things, so she doesn’t quite believe in things like fate or magic as much as cold hard truths and facts. Birdie even likes to create these profiles of peoples like she’s a real time deactivate with files in her cabinet when really she’s an average teenage girl who just wants to do detective work in the future. Her mom and grandma passed away recently and were known for having frail hearts and never going to the doctors to get checked up on, so Birdie refuses to go to the doctors even though she lives with narcolepsy. Narcolepsy causes Birdie to have these periods of time where she goes “boneless” and she looses feelings in every part of her body and can’t speak and it also makes her more tired. I think that Birdie handled her narcolepsy as best as she could without doctor help or medication, but I still think that she should have gone to seek medical attention when she would have those episodes or when the effects were making her more tired than usual. I felt like part of her was scared to go to the doctors because she didn’t trust them like her mother and grandmother and also she didn’t want to be diagnosed with it and have to officially come to terms with living with narcolepsy like her grandfather who hurt two people when he fell asleep on the boat while he worked for the navy.
To be completely honest, I have never heard of narcolepsy before, so I think adding it as something that Birdie lives with was such a different thing compared to most books. I think it sheds light as to what it is and to realize that people deal with different things out there that you might not know about. One of her coworkers would call Birdie Dopey because he noticed she was clumsy one day, but not because she was tired, but because she was drunk off of love, but still, calling her Dopey was kind of rude. People should always be careful of their name calling and know that you don’t really know the full story of a person, so don’t make a joke out of someone if you don’t know them that well and that crosses a line somewhere.
Another thing about Birdie is she’s very guarded. I understand that, coming from a person who’s not the most open either. Birdie just had to deal with a lot of complications in her life like not knowing who her father was, vaguely having an idea of who her mother was, and having a tense relationship with her grandmother. All of those, whom left her. So Birdie’s kind of tired of being left by people who were supposed to love her an be there to give her wisdom and help her through life. She has Mona, who was her mom’s best friend. I quite liked Mona and it’s probably the Pretty Little Liar in me that imagined Mona as Janel Parish. Did you? Mona was just over the top, larger than life, and such a spunky soul. She kind of also reminded me a little bit of Lola from Lola and the Boy Next Door with her fashion sense. I also liked Mona’s living arrangements and how she lived in a theater where each room was dedicated to her different crafts of fashion or art. I mean, how cool would it be to live in a movie theater?! But the main thing I loved about Mona was how she served as a mother figure to Birdie when she didn’t have a strong woman in her life to be there. Mona was always there for Birdie to gossip and give her advice. So when Leon Snodgrass, Mona’s baby daddy, comes into the picture, Birdie’s hesitant and angry. She’s hesitant because Leon has never treated Mona with any ounce of respect before and she’s scared that Mona would leave her to move to Texas to be with Leon. And losing Mona would be like losing a mom all over again, so Birdie can’t help but resent Leon because he’s taking the one person in her life that felt like family.
Then there’s Daniel, our magician van driver. If Mona was Janel Parish, then Daniel was Bobo Stewart. I can already see the casting now 😉
Daniel is a very optimistic person on the outside. He’s sunshine and light reincarnate and he just seemed very okay. But the thing was, he wasn’t okay on the inside because he lived with depression and suicidal thoughts and had tried to attempt to take his own life sometime during the school year. When this revelation came up, al that ran through my mind was how this didn’t sound like the Daniel we’ve come to read about in the book, the one who would smile and laugh and flirt.
But it just goes to show you that you really don’t know what a person is going through and sometimes they fake a smile and fake a laugh when on the inside their struggling inside—-or was struggling on the inside. Daniel was in a dark place in the past and the book never really fleshes out why he would be in such a dark place as to try to take his own life. Maybe he missed a father figure? The stress about this future? I don’t know. What I do know is that the explanation as to why can be unknown because sometimes in life you have your good days and your bad days and some days where you’re just completely sad for no reason. So maybe Daniel was sad for no reason and it’s okay to be. But what hurt my heart was how he felt the need to end his pain by ending himself, and gosh, that just broke me because he was doing so much better now. And he got the help he needed. And I LOVED that. I loved how he was seeing a psychologist to talk about his feelings and how he was vulnerable enough to tell Birdie about that dark period in his life where he did something like that. The amount of trust he also had to have for Birdie had to be so great enough to tell her such a thing and that’s how I was like, “That’s love.” To trust someone to see the darkest parts of you and to love that person for that anyway. Loved loved loved.
I mean it was a lot for Birdie to take in. It would be a lot for anyone to take in? How do you respond to that kind of thing? When the kids from Daniel’s school saw him on that date and were like “You’re the guy who did that thing,” I was like what thing? Senior prank? Graffiti? Birdie kept questioning what he did in her mind, but never did she think what he told her, never did I think what he told her. But I think Birdie reacted to it as well as anyone could react. I just felt for her too because that was a lot of pressure on her shoulders now. Walk away and break his heart to the point that maybe he spirals into a dark place. Or stay when you don’t feel like it because you don’t want to be the reason that he spirals into that dark place. Either way that worry was still there of not wanting to hurt the person to the extreme. And Daniel told her it was fine to walk away if she couldn’t handle him because he understood, and I thought it was so mature of him to say that because he loved her enough to set her free and let her be happy if she chose. So Birdie thought about it a while and she was hesitant and worried that she wouldn’t be enough for him or strong enough to be the person he needed. And I totally got that. She also felt like she didn’t want to be in love with him to one day lose him again so soon like she lost a lot of people she loved. So it was hard for her to figure out what she wanted to do because it was either let the love in and risk getting hurt or walking away and hurting both their hearts, because deep down we all knew she loved him.
They were cute.
I loved the whole idea of them being mystery partners together; her the Nora to his Nate. Kind of like Betty and Jughead from Riverdale, if you know what I mean. The whole mystery surrounded this mysterious author, Raymond Darke, who would check into the hotel at specific times under a pseudonym. Being Birdie, she had to solve a mystery that was right under her belt, so she teamed up with Daniel because he had insider information as to how he knew that was Darke.
They followed Darke to the park where he walked his dogs to the point where they almost got chased by police. Then they tried to understand Darke by going to the vinyl shops where he shops for his music. After that, they snuck into his hotel suite to figure things out and found this list of names on it in Ukrainian. This whole time, they’re thinking that he’s doing some sex trade because they had a meeting in a hotel room with a woman and an Ukrainian man. To translate the company name on the paper/spreadsheet they found, the asked Mona’s art friend who’s a sleeze. Mona sold her first painting to the man who said he sold it for a higher price to someone else when in reality he kept the painting and swindled Mona so she got less money. So after getting the translation they needed, Mona, Daniel, and a worried Birdie ransacked the painting and drove away. That was such a fun scene! Necessarily it’s not stealing if it’s your painting in the first place. Mona’s quite cool.
But my favorite part was the clue date that Daniel deliberately planned between him and Birdie. IT WAS JUST PERFECT. It was really thoughtful because he knew she loved mysteries and so taking her on a mystery murder date was perfect for them and the fact that he chose that as the first date to please her was beyond cute. I mean, get you a man 👏🏼 Then they got stuck in that closet together for a while and kissed, which was unexpected but it was a date so, duh.
The funniest part would have had to have been when Birdie went to the convince store and was in the condom aisle and she was sooooo embarrassed to be there, wondering if anyone she knew would show up and see her. Then someone walked into the aisle and Birdie grabbed the first thing in front of her and brought it to the cashier who was like, “Good for you!” I was in hysterics. I think most of us has felt that awkwardness of buying something “scandalous.” This is to my girls and is completely unrelated, but when you were younger and had to buy pads or tampons, did you ever feel embarrassed about walking down that aisle and then grabbing the box, thinking someone was judging you? 😆
Anyway, Birdie went to Daniel’s house with her box of glow in the dark condoms and I’m here thinking, you don’t go to his HOUSE with a box of condoms without expecting to see his parents there. The whole family was there and she had a box of condoms! I’m kind of wondering, did she have a bag to hide it when she went into the house? I hope she did because aca-awkward! 🤪 So Birdie ended up having dinner with the whole family even though she just went there, for “you know” and to tell Daniel she didn’t want to walk away from him.
So they went to the neighbors Green Gable house where she planted the box of condoms ceremoniously on the counter and was like let’s do this again! I CRINGED! CRINGED!!!! 😣 And she kept saying all these ridiculous things about how we can do it again and get a second chance to see if it will be better, and I was like shut up Birdie, you’re making this worse. And you don’t just show up to a person’s house with condoms and say let’s do this. Way to set a mood. For a girl who’s kind of guarded, she’s very blunt about what she wants. And it was just very weird!!!! SOOOO CRINGY! What was also cringey was the fact that they wanted to sleep next to each other because they couldn’t just “do it” because she brought some rubber there. And my goodness, I kid you not, WHY IN THE WORLD, would they need to strip down to take a freaking nap next to each other. I swear every time they wanted to nap, they stripped. I mean, I get it if you’re uncomfortable and was wearing jeans and stuff, but you do not need to go practically nude to take a nap! If you do that, I’m not judging, I’ve just never heard of that before 😆
Daniel left for a bit to get his phone back because he accidentally grabbed his mom’s phone. During that time Birdie helped herself to some drinks and some food—-because we all know when you’re in someone’s house the first thing you go for is the kitchen—– and she stumbled upon these gummies, and what do you know?!
They’re weed gummies!!!
He really should have warned her.
The good thing was she only had two gummies before Daniel came in and stopped her. If she didn’t know and she was already halfway through that gummy bag, who would have known what would have happened to her knowing she lived with narcolepsy. It was beyond hilarious though to see her act kind of high? Stoned? Delirious? (I’m sorry, I’m not well versed in these kinds of things), but she was out of it and Daniel was amused but also worried because that’s when she had one of her episodes and he didn’t know she lived with narcolepsy. What a way for the secret to come out. But I loved that he didn’t judge her for it or think her weird, but was concerned about her well-being. He was raised right.
When her cataplexy reaction was done, they fell asleep next to each other. To make matters worse, the mom found Daniel and Birdie half naked with a box of condoms in someone else’s house unsupervised. Every parents disappointed nightmare!!! I mean, what could have the mom thought given the situation and the fact that they were teens? I would have thought the same thing. The mom was beyond mad at Daniel, but she scared Birdie away with threats that she didn’t want her to hurt her son and that she didn’t want her to play with him and all of that. Daniel didn’t talk to the mom after that and Birdie and Daniel were only on a texting bases of sorts because Birdie felt some of the mom’s words hit home. She really didn’t know what she was doing in terms of Daniel or what she wanted for the future.
Upon further thought, she realized that she did love him and all that he was, so I really just loved the moment when she goes to the mom’s dance studio to apologize and clear the air. That took some real maturity and a lot of guts after the threats and the embarrassment Birdie felt. But she did it because she loved Daniel and she didn’t want him to have a rocky relationship with his mom when she didn’t have a good relationship with the woman in her life.
I also enjoyed that conversation between Birdie and Mona and Leon. Mona told Birdie that she was three months pregnant with Leon’s child. Being Birdie, she was shocked, angry, and happy. Shocked that she didn’t pick it up sooner, angry because what happened if Mona moved away, and happy because Mona was having a baby. I think though it was helpful to have that conversation with Mona where she reassured Birdie that she would never leave her and how she would need Birdie’s help raising the baby because she claimed to not know how. And I loved when Birdie responded with something along the lines, but you raised me. Awwww! I truly did love their dynamic. I also give credit to Leon because as much as Birdie disliked him and raged on him the night Daniel’s mom scared her away, he was still so kind to her and understood that she was a teenage girl with feelings. He understood that Birdie was scared that he’d take Mona away from her and he was like I would never do that. I think that maybe Mona and Leon might get married because he seemed like a good guy.
Things were going better in Birdie’s life with the relationships with her family and Daniel, but things were still kind of left unsolved with the whole mystery.
So did they solve the case?
Does Nancy Drew ever leave a case unsolved?
Raymond Darke was Daniels dad and he knew it!
The shock.
I was kind of shocked.
I’m not much of a mystery person so I had no idea who would be Raymond Darke in the end. My guess was Mona at first because she was keeping a secret from Birdie and seemed nervous to tell her, so I thought maybe she was nervous to tell her she was Darke because Mona knew Birdie was doing this whole case. Then Mona turned out pregnant instead. So I gave up guessing, but the dad, nope, nada, never thought that would be the case.
The fact that Daniel knew was kind of a kick in the gut to Birdie, but I could see where he was coming from. If he hadn’t got her into the mystery of things, she would have never gave him a second chance. So as much as it was wrong to mislead her—-“misdirection is a magicians best trick”—he should have been honest with her before she figured it out. I get why Daniel would also have kept it a secret because he wanted to know what his dad was up to. Apparently he was trying to adopt a kid with his new Ukrainian wife, ready to finally start a family. For a mysterious author, he was a real jerk to his son. Couldn’t he have known that his long lost son just wanted to know who he was? What a prick.
Didn’t like him, but I liked that after that whole argument in the opera theater, Daniel still gave Darke a chance in getting to know him. After that movie theater, Birdie needed a break from Daniel to focus on his revelation and to focus on her health. After hearing a story from Mona about how the mom didn’t go to the hospital even though she knew she was pregnant for a second time and felt ill, Birdie decided she had to choose differently to give herself a fighting chance because things could have turned out differently if she went to the hospital to get checked on. So I loved that Birdie finally saw her mom for who she was and learned that she was only human and made mistakes and I also liked how found that strength to go to the hospital to be the change in her life. She was diagnosed with narcolepsy and cataplexy and had to stop taking the night shift at work. That was okay though because the hotel was closed down due to the animal rights group finally getting a win in shutting it down. The pipes were also going bad in the hotel, so people had to move to other hotels.
The ending was cute when Birdie was sent on a mystery egg hunt by Daniel. It started at the hotel, then led to the magic shop where they got that fate fortune from Elvis, to Moonlight, and then to the top of the Seattle needle point, just like they talked about. I loved how all the places in the scavenger hunt had significant meaning to them and that it ended in a romantic way like in Sleepless in Seattle (even though I haven’t watched that movie, don’t dislike me for that 😆). But nevertheless, it was cute how they made up and told each other the loved each other. They really have come far from that backseat in the car 😏
The final chapter gave a tidbit about how Birdie was going to be an intern private investigator and I LOVED that for her. I also enjoyed hearing how she was handling her narcolepsy in a healthy way that worked for her. It was also fun to go to Mona’s baby shower and see everyone there, having fun. I liked that Daniel made a wooden bassinet for Polma, Mona’s future baby, which I’m thinking is going to be a girl. I never heard of that name before and I actually quite like it; it’s unique. They have pie and they celebrate love, family, and future mysteries.
Birdie really evolved as a person who was scared to let down her gaurd and be seen and loved by people because the people she loved always left her, but I was happy she was making something work with Daniel and that she had her family by her side. I also think Daniel was a good character to read about too because he had depth to him—-more than just his happy exterior.
And I can’t wait for the next mysteries life has in store for them.
Who knows, maybe they’ll get married one day?
That’s the big mystery here, isn’t it.
If you’ve read this book, what was your favorite part? Least favorite part? Do you believe in fate? What’s your favorite pie flavor? I’m thinking mine is a good banana cream pie or strawberry pie with the freshly sliced strawberries on top. Gosh that sounds good! Anyway, let me know below in the comments 💕
I hope you have a beautiful and bright day whenever and whereever you might be reading this 😊
And as always, with love,
Rating
3.56 Full Bloom Flowers
Characters: I liked the interesting depth to Birdie and Daniels character and how they both grew as people by being with each other. I also enjoyed the family relationships in this book.
Plot: The mystery wasn’t the most intriguing thing about the book; I think it wasn’t a forefront plot in the book as much as the romance and character development was. I actually liked the character development the most, and the romance was sweet.
Writing: Easy to follow and get into.
Romance: At first, it’s Birdie’s very receptive to being in a relationship with Daniel and there’s parts that are really awkward because she doesn’t know how to be in a relationship (the condom box scene), but I appreciated how she learned to figure things out and how she handled every revelation with stride. Daniel was also very respectful too in trying to be patient with Birdie and never giving up on her no matter how many times she pushed him away at first. I also liked that he let Birdie know that she could walk away from him if she didn’t want to be with him after revealing a deep part of himself.