Serious Moonlight

February 15, 2019
Birdie Lindberg, a lover of detective novels, teams up with her one-time hookup Daniel Aoki to solve a mystery at the historic Seattle hotel where they work. After years of being home-schooled by her strict, recently deceased grandmother, orphaned 18-year-old Birdie's circle of friends is limited to three adults: her widowed grandpa, Hugo (with whom she lives on Bainbridge Island); her free-spirited-artist honorary aunt, Mona Rivera; and Ms. Patty, co-owner of her favorite refuge in the city, the Moonlight Diner. So when Birdie, who's white and has undiagnosed narcolepsy, starts a night shift at a historic hotel, she's gobsmacked to bump into co-worker Daniel, a handsome half-Japanese/half-white boy with whom she shared a romantic-turned-awkward night before fleeing the scene. Remembering Birdie's love of mysteries, Daniel--who's 19 and a magic aficionado--suggests they investigate whether a regular guest is actually Raymond Darke, the pen name of a reclusive bestselling local mystery author. Bennett (Starry Eyes, 2018, etc.) excels at nuanced characterization, portraying deeply felt first love and offering readers well-researched diversity (Mona is Puerto Rican, Daniel's deaf in one ear and has grandparents who survived the Japanese-American internment). The mystery theme is compelling (each chapter opens with a quote from a famous sleuth), but it's the way Birdie and Daniel navigate an emotional and physical relationship--despite their sensitively handled issues--that's truly memorable. An atmospheric, multilayered, sex-positive romance from the talented Bennett. (Fiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Eighteen-year-old Birdie Lindbergh is an aspiring detective and mystery-book aficionado. Raised by her conservative grandparents, she's also a self-described wallflower who's used to playing by the rules. After her grandmother dies, Birdie meets a charismatic stranger at the Moonlight Diner and shocks herself by spontaneously having sex with him in the backseat of his car. Then on her first day of her summer job at the swanky Cascadia Hotel, she discovers that her random hookup is none other than her new coworker, Daniel Aoki. Daniel (who is hearing-impaired) is gregarious and disarmingly honest, and he reels her in with the promise of a juicy mystery: Raymond Darke, a reclusive, best-selling novelist, checks into the hotel under a pseudonym every week for a few hours. As Birdie and Daniel sleuth their way across Seattle, they get to know each other through adventures including a murder-mystery dinner, the opera, and an accidental art theft. But as troubling secrets from Daniel's past are exposed, Birdie must decide whether to let her fear of loss keep her from a relationship that feels like it's meant to be. Imbued with a rich sense of place and the magic of first love, this is a heartfelt, sex-positive romance that tackles grief, depression, illness, and disability with nuance. Daniel and Birdie are mature, likable characters with strong communication skills, and the mystery thread is enjoyable, if not particularly mysterious. VERDICT Compulsively readable and enormously fun, this is a first purchase for YA collections.-Elizabeth Giles, Lubuto Library Partners, Zambia

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 20, 2019
Set in Seattle, this romantic mystery stars 18-year-old Birdie Lindberg, a homeschooled teen with narcolepsy. Birdie is great at solving mysteries, except when it comes to matters of her own heart. She’s spent the last month trying to avoid Daniel Aoki, with whom she had her first (and very awkward) sexual encounter. She’s successful, until she begins working the graveyard shift at the historic Cascadia Hotel, where Daniel drives the hotel van. He wants to rehash what happened between them; Birdie just wants to forget. Still, she can’t resist his invitation to help solve an intriguing puzzle about a local author who takes great pains to hide his identity in weekly visits to the hotel, and their sleuthing takes them all over the city. At the same time, Birdie tries to sort out her growing attraction to Daniel and control her increasingly erratic sleep patterns. The startling, somewhat contrived solution to the mystery leads into resolutions of Birdie’s internal dilemmas perhaps too neatly. But Bennett (Starry Eyes) creates a cast of vibrant supporting characters, including Birdie’s eccentric-artist mentor Aunt Mona and Daniel’s mother, a former magician’s assistant, and offers vivid descriptions of Seattle’s landmarks along with nonstop suspense. Ages 14–up.

March 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 Since her mother died, Birdie has lived with her grandparents on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle. Homeschooled by her strict grandmother, Birdie has had very little experience with the outside world, living her life through the mystery novels she devours. When her grandmother dies, Birdie, now 18, reels from a second intense loss, but she also finds herself with surprising new freedom. When she takes a graveyard shift at the Cascadia hotel in Seattle, she encounters Daniel Aoki, the hotel's night van driver and the boy that Birdie once had an awkward sexual encounter with?her first. Embarrassed to see him again, Birdie initially ignores his enthusiastic overtures, but Daniel soon gets her attention with an enticing real-life mystery: a reclusive author conducts secret meetings at the hotel. Between their budding romance, their investigation, complicated family situations, and Birdie's ongoing struggle with narcolepsy, there are quite a few plot threads here. But Bennett grounds this quiet love story in its heroine, a young woman slowly learning to trust in herself and her place in the world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)