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gasoline_allie's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mjl810's review against another edition
DNF at 60%. Not bad but also not particularly good, kinda felt like reading it was a chore.
halesnbooks's review against another edition
4.0
first off, i never read the acknowledgments, and i read this books and the last line, no lie, did make me start crying. so theres that.
BUT, this book, this story was just wow! it was very eccentric and outlandish at times, but definitely beautiful. i liked learning about narcolepsy and seeing her deal with mild anxiety and the disease of being an over thinker- which was INCREDIBLY accurate, holy shit,- but when it came to character growth, you didn’t s e e her grow, you just kinda heard her come to a revelation and was t o l d about how she was or had changed from her previous ~ways~ so i found that a bit off putting. but otherwise it was an amazing, cozy story and now i want to purchase all the nancy drew books and maybe find a new crime/detective show to watch. (:
pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I genuinely don't know how I feel about this book. There were some really great aspects to it, but there were times where I just sat bakc and asked myself what was going on and why it was happening (in terms of how it was moving the plot forward). A part of me feels like the book had too many moving parts at the same time but overall it was still a fairly easy read and I'd be open to reading more from this author.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Grief, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Stalking, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
christiana's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I don't really buy the premise, but this was a fun summer read.
ladytiara's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so delightful, and I really enjoyed it. It's your basic Girl meets Boy, Girl has sex with Boy in his car, Girl freaks out and runs away story.
When Birdie starts her first job, the night shift at a hotel front desk, she’s horrified to find that she’s working with Daniel, the guy she had an awkward hookup with a few weeks earlier. They met in a diner and ended up having sex in his car. She freaked out afterward and ran away. Now that they’re working together, it’s very awkward, but Daniel, knowing Birdie’s love of mysteries, convinces her to help him solve a mystery: he thinks a famous, reclusive author may be visiting the hotel. As they grow closer during the investigation, Birdie has to figure out if she can actually manage a relationship.
This book is so cute, and I liked watching two people stumble into a relationship. Both Birdie and Daniel have baggage. Birdie’s mom died when she was 10, and after that, she was raised by the grandparents who kicked her mother out of the house when she got pregnant as a teen. The grandmother didn’t want Birdie to follow in her mother’s footsteps, so she was very overprotective and homeschooled her. The grandmother died a few months before the book starts. Birdie is still grieving, but she also has a lot of unresolved resentment toward her grandmother. She’s also ignoring a pretty big health issue.
Daniel also has some issues, having survived a rough patch in high school, and he’s got unresolved issues with the father he’s never met (who dumped his mother when she got pregnant). He wants to be a magician, but he’s also being pressured by his mother to go to school for something more practical.
This book has a lot of things I really enjoyed. It's very sex-positive. There's no shame attached to sex, as long as you're being careful (which the characters are). It's a really nice exploration of grief as Birdie realizes that she can grieve for her grandmother even while she still has some conflicted feelings toward her. I like that the books features young people who aren't going to college. Daniel just isn't interested in college, and Birdie technically hasn't graduated high school since her grandmother passed away unexpectedly before giving her a diploma for her homeschooling. A lot of YA books focus on college-bound kids, and it's refreshing to see other options explored. There's some diversity--Daniel is half-Japanese. And as a mystery buff myself, I loved Birdie's interest in mysteries. I really loved the character of Birdie's "Aunt" Mona, a quirky artist who was Birdie's mother best friend and who helped raise Birdie. She's super wacky, but she's also a great friend to Birdie and is always there for her. I firmly believe We all need a wacky aunt in our lives.
Serious Moonlight is a really fun read, and I definitely recommend it.
I received an ARC from Simon Pulse via Netgalley.
When Birdie starts her first job, the night shift at a hotel front desk, she’s horrified to find that she’s working with Daniel, the guy she had an awkward hookup with a few weeks earlier. They met in a diner and ended up having sex in his car. She freaked out afterward and ran away. Now that they’re working together, it’s very awkward, but Daniel, knowing Birdie’s love of mysteries, convinces her to help him solve a mystery: he thinks a famous, reclusive author may be visiting the hotel. As they grow closer during the investigation, Birdie has to figure out if she can actually manage a relationship.
This book is so cute, and I liked watching two people stumble into a relationship. Both Birdie and Daniel have baggage. Birdie’s mom died when she was 10, and after that, she was raised by the grandparents who kicked her mother out of the house when she got pregnant as a teen. The grandmother didn’t want Birdie to follow in her mother’s footsteps, so she was very overprotective and homeschooled her. The grandmother died a few months before the book starts. Birdie is still grieving, but she also has a lot of unresolved resentment toward her grandmother. She’s also ignoring a pretty big health issue.
Daniel also has some issues, having survived a rough patch in high school, and he’s got unresolved issues with the father he’s never met (who dumped his mother when she got pregnant). He wants to be a magician, but he’s also being pressured by his mother to go to school for something more practical.
This book has a lot of things I really enjoyed. It's very sex-positive. There's no shame attached to sex, as long as you're being careful (which the characters are). It's a really nice exploration of grief as Birdie realizes that she can grieve for her grandmother even while she still has some conflicted feelings toward her. I like that the books features young people who aren't going to college. Daniel just isn't interested in college, and Birdie technically hasn't graduated high school since her grandmother passed away unexpectedly before giving her a diploma for her homeschooling. A lot of YA books focus on college-bound kids, and it's refreshing to see other options explored. There's some diversity--Daniel is half-Japanese. And as a mystery buff myself, I loved Birdie's interest in mysteries. I really loved the character of Birdie's "Aunt" Mona, a quirky artist who was Birdie's mother best friend and who helped raise Birdie. She's super wacky, but she's also a great friend to Birdie and is always there for her. I firmly believe We all need a wacky aunt in our lives.
Serious Moonlight is a really fun read, and I definitely recommend it.
I received an ARC from Simon Pulse via Netgalley.
kacelaface's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointed with this one. It literally pains me to give a two star review to a Jenn Bennett book!
I just never really felt the connection between the two leads and it seemed like there was just SO MUCH crammed into this book - too many issues/topics and many I feel never got satisfactorily resolved.
I just never really felt the connection between the two leads and it seemed like there was just SO MUCH crammed into this book - too many issues/topics and many I feel never got satisfactorily resolved.
steph01924's review against another edition
5.0
Jenn Bennett is a contemporary queen. Serious Moonlight had some serious swoon and was just a fuzzy, feel good jaunt set in Seattle, where I now MUST GO. Loved it!
samrushingbooks's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
This was another great contemporary by Jenn Bennett. I loved the discussions on family and sex and mental health. My only thing is that I expected the mystery writer hunt to be a little more important to the story, but it ended up having a little bit of a backseat to these two main characters and their developing relationship.
This was another great contemporary by Jenn Bennett. I loved the discussions on family and sex and mental health. My only thing is that I expected the mystery writer hunt to be a little more important to the story, but it ended up having a little bit of a backseat to these two main characters and their developing relationship.