Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

The first Jenn Bennett book I read was ALEX, APPROXIMATELY which I loved. SERIOUS MOONLIGHT is another heart-warming and cute read that will leave the reader with a smile on their face and a feeling of contentment.

This follows Birdie and Daniel and its a super cute romance set in seatle, the setting worked well for this book and I think a lot of people would highly enjoy this book.

Thank you, Simon & Schuster Children's UK for providing me a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Family isn't always blood, and it isn't contained in a single tree. It's a forest."

If what you're looking for is a quick read full of cuteness, quirkiness, and even a little mystery with an overall feelgood ending this is the one for you!


This was the first book I read by Jenn Bennett, I went into it with high hopes after seeing so many readers praise her contemporary work. That being said, I was not disappointed in the slightest with this one. The main characters were charming, funny and something about them always made them feel so real.

As someone who has struggled with grief, Birdie felt all the more real to me. And even though grief is very much present in her life, it doesn't become too overwhelming to the story, this aspect of her life is written beautifully and in a very realistic way. As she learns to cope and bring her walls down, the people around her help her become a better version of herself and figure out her own way of living.
As for the romance part, it is extremely cute! Birdie and Daniel solving mysteries together in order to reconnect was something I thoroughly enjoyed and made this read extra fun. The scavenger hunts, the adorable coincidences, and the overall cuteness of the interactions of these two characters are something to look forward to.
It is also notable that the author included some diversity and representation in this book as Daniel is Japanese and deaf in one ear. Other sensible themes, other than grief, included in this book are depression and mental health, attempted suicide, and narcolepsy disorder.

In the end, a cute romance full of mystery and multilayered characters, with real struggles, well-developed backgrounds and interests, and I was absolutely sold! I'd recommend this to anyone who's a fan of the genre.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

A well written and thought provoking YA contemporary novel. I loved the character of Birdie and thoroughly enjoyed following her journey

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Serious Moonlight follows Birdie as she takes a job in a Seattle hotel, and uncovers a mystery right in front of her. Working with Daniel, who she had a one night stand with when they met at a local diner, and he just happens to be her coworker, they try to uncover just who the reclusive author is, and whether they can cope with the feelings growing between them.

It's no secret that I love Jenn's books, so when this was fell through my letterbox, I was overjoyed and dove right in. Unfortunately it wasn't my favourite of hers (but nothing will ever bump Alex, Approximately from that spot), but I was definitely intrigued with the historical aspects surrounding the Cascadia Hotel, and the mystery of the secret author. Birdie was a great character, who had faced a lot in her life. After her mother died of congenital heart disease, she's been living with her elderly grandparents, and seeing her aunt Mona as much as possible. Because of this, and her diagnosed narcolepsy, she's been sheltered for most of her life, and getting this job is her first break for independence. I loved how her and Daniel's liaison's at the Moonlight diner were dealt with, and this book was so sex positive and definitely perfect for today's market. Daniel, on his half, was hearing impaired, and had been diagnosed with depression with was discussed in such a sensitive manner which was wonderful to see. What was definitely the best part of the book was the detective aspect working to uncover who Raymond Darke was. I was left guessing at times, and was invested in this plot line. Even though I wasn't blown away by the romance in this, I will be reading any and all of Jenn's books in the future!

I’ve recommended and reviewed this book on many of my platforms. It is such a perfect YA novel. Jenn’s writing is once again just phenomenal and the story absolutely takes you on a journey. I loved the characters and everything about this book really! Please please check this out if your looking for some seriously good YA!

This was my second Jenn Bennett’s book and I am hooked! I adore her writing and the stories are always such quick reads. I get absorbed in the story and found this was a great mystery romance book!

I have heard a lot of good things about Jenn Bennett, which left me wanting to dive into some of the author’s work. I think, however, I set my expectations too high. Whilst Serious Moonlight had me curious to see how everything came together, I was not in love with it.

I think my biggest problem with this one was the fact I worked everything out far too easily. There were plenty of things introduced, many different things were dealt with, but I saw them all coming and was more than prepared for them. This took some of the fun out of it for me, and I was surprised our mystery loving heroine failed to pick up on these things.

Although I was not won over, it was an enjoyable little read. It kept my attention and it still has me curious about the author’s other work. It’s not pushed the author’s other books to the top of my to-read list, but the curiosity remains.

I'm a huge fan of Jenn Bennett and her new novel was no exception. Quirky characters, an engaging romance - this is a perfect summer read.

Birdie has a new job, working the night shift at a hotel. There, she meets Daniel, another sleuth-enthusiast who is hot on the trail of a famously anonymous author. Together, they follow the clues and grow ever closer, which is mildly worrying to Birdie, who has never been close to anyone before. Especially someone so cute and heartfelt and funny.

Jenn Bennett is on my auto-buy list, she is one of my favourite contemporary authors, and this did not disappoint. It was sweet and very funny, full of surprising twists and turns, bit of mystery and romance thrown in, plus some incredibly vibrant supporting characters. I read it in a few days, gasped a few times and just loved it.

Birdie has had an isolated life filled with grief - her mother died when she was young, after which she lived with her grandparents who home-schooled Birdie, and several months ago Birdie's grandmother died.
Birdie manages to convince her grandfather to let her get a part-time job working the night-shift at a hotel. There she encounters Daniel who works as a driver. Daniel is charming and funny, but there's one problem - they have already met and it didn't end well.
When Daniel tells the mystery-obsessed Birdie about a mysterious guest that he thinks may be a reclusive, famous author, the duo decide to put the past behind them and find out what the guest is up to.
Can Daniel and Birdie solve the mystery?
Can they put what happened behind them and just be friends?

Having read one of the author's other books and enjoyed it, I was keen to read Serious Moonlight, especially as it had a mystery element.
Birdie was a good protagonist, but there were several times where I found her a bit annoying.
I actually liked Daniel more as a character - he was sweet, funny and kind, and I loved his family.
Both Birdie and Daniel had gone through a lot and I felt sorry for them.
Mona was an interesting character and I liked how close she and Birdie were, but I can't actually imagine anyone dressing how she did in real life.
The plot was good overall, but I did find myself becoming less interested and invested throughout the second half of the book- mainly because the mystery didn't intrigue me as much by that point and I felt that Birdie and Daniel were just being nosy. However, I didn't actually guess the mystery, which did end up surprising me.
I hadn't read a book before with a protagonist with sleep problems so that was different and interesting.
The writing style was easy to follow, but I wasn't gripped.
I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more, but it was a nice contemporary book.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

Funny and engaging, this book follows much the same formula as Jenn Bennett's previous YA contemporaries, but unfortunately lacks some of the charm.

Girl & boy, one night stand, she runs off, they meet at work months later and he initiates a mystery solving project to fill the summer and try and encourage her to open up to him.
Along the way we learn about both of their troubled pasts, meet eclectic characters and solve the mystery.

I really enjoyed the story of Birdie and Daniel. The well written humour broke up the tension and emotional moments as Birdie leaves the isolation of the island where her grandmother has ensured she was home schooled and starts to grow up. The case files between chapters add to the way Birdie perceives the world and give us a unique point to move the plot on with. The twist at the end is not one I saw coming and was a good way to revolve the teenage angst.

Best part: Covert op 3: visit the opera.
Character who needs to die Like now: Chuck, what an a**hole
Reaction to the end: well that was.... flat? (The book peaked about 3 chapters from the end with a wow that’s a twist moment)
Summing up the book : gentle, sweet, mystery classic ya romance
Will I read it again? Maybe, not my favourite of hers.
Score: 8/10

A lovely coming of age tale, a great YA novel. I loved Birdies character- so well developed, and how she came out of her shell as the book progressed and her confidence grew. A great book for late teens.

Characters & their fledgling romance are more compelling than the half-baked 'mystery' plot but it's overall quite an engaging tale with an atmospheric sense of place too

I've never read anything by Jenn Bennett, so this was a completely new experience for me. And I was pleasantly surprised!

I don't read a lot of YA anymore as I found that its all a bit much of a much, but this felt very unique. The plot was unusual, the tone was engaging, and the writing was fantastic. I was also really impressed with the way that the medical condition involved in the book was treated and discussed (won't say anymore!), as it was definitely something i didn't expect in this sort of book.

The relationship was also totally unique, and really stood out as something that I will remember fondly about this book. Overall, it was a perfect summer read - the perfect combination of a light, easy read that was also compelling and interesting enough to keep you gripped.

Content warnings: mentions of past suicide attempt, depression, death of a family member & grief

This was my first foray into Jenn Bennett’s writing, whom I’ve heard a fair bit of buzz about, and if yo’ve been around my blog for a while you’ll know I love fun YA contemporaries. So I had high hopes for this one, and whilst I did enjoy it I felt a little bit let down. However I’ve heard that her other books are better than this one.

Serious Moonlight follows a girl as she starts a job working as a night porter to earn money before college. This is where she meets Daniel Aoki who tells her about his hunch that a mysterious author stays the the hotel and they hatch a plan to catch him.

I enjoyed that the male love interest wasn’t white, I don’t know if they representation was accurate, but Bennett made many references to his family life and growing up as a mixed race Japanese American that it didn’t feel like he was mixed race just so Bennett could say her book was diverse.

My main issue was that there was this whole big plot around them tracking down a mysterious author who seemed to be staying at their hotel, which was fine to begin with, I didn’t overly care for it but it was whatever. But then it turned out to be something else entirely, and I won’t spoil but I did not like the turn it took.

I did fly through the book and I loved how sex positive it was, I just wanted something different for the plot.