#TNReads: Real Quick Reviews for Lazy Readers featuring Jenn Bennett

I only discovered Jenn Bennett this year, and I’m so glad I did. There’s just something about her stories that speak to me. And Serious Moonlight really took the pie – I mean cake.

Birdie meets Daniel at her favorite diner and regrettably (in her mind) hooks up with him…then runs away. Like all delusional characters, she never expected to see him again, so of course, he walks through the door at her new job. Turns out he works there too. Cue internal and slightly external freak out.

But, there isn’t much Birdie loves more than a good mystery and Daniel has one he wants help getting solved. I loved how Birdie and Daniel’s relationship and friendship grow as they delve further into their mystery quest. We learned so much more about both of them as they discovered one another. I loved both Daniel and Birdie – they’re something special, separately and together. Daniel is this quirky, perfect nerd who loves street magic, and Birdie is also quirky in an entirely different way. She idolizes Nancy Drew and other fictional detectives, all while wearing flowers in her hair. They’ve both suffered some major losses in their life, but in a way, it bonds them and makes them truly think about how they feel about each other. Their emotional baggage felt genuine and quite relatable.

While this book is ostensibly about a mystery that Birdie and Daniel are trying to solve, it’s more about them solving the mystery of each other. They went up and down, hot and cold, and as they learned more about each other and set aside their history and expectations, something beautiful happened. I loved that the essence of this story is that if you open your heart despite the fear, you might just let in someone who perfectly fits into the gaps. Your life will be filled with breakfast pie, scavenger hunts, and sleeping side by side in an all green house.

Justine and Nick are childhood friends who shared both the sandbox and one night of teenage romance. Now ten years have passed without contact until they unexpectedly run into each other. Their friendship is quickly rekindled and Justine’s crush on Nick is as well. Unfortunately, Nick has a supermodel almost-fiance and Justine has missed her chance at a grown-up romance with her childhood friend. Then again, Nick also makes most of his important life decisions based on his monthly horoscope; the same horoscope that Justine edits at her job so maybe not all hope is lost. Obviously Justine messes with his horoscope and obviously it has ripple effects on other readers in their community and obviously, I loved it.

The Woman in the Lake, by best selling author Nicola Cornick, gives readers two alternating stories connected by the golden threads of a seemingly malevolent dress. Lady Isabella Gerard is given the gown by her abusive and secretive husband in 1763 London. Two hundred and fifty years later, the gown is stolen from a historic home in the English countryside buy a young girl with a compulsion to take things that don’t belong to her.

Visions, conspiracy, and murder seem to follow the golden dress as it changes hands over time. Fennella Brightwell had all but forgotten the dress she had stolen on a class trip until it mysteriously returns to her decades later. While Fen begins to research the dress and its former owner, she experiences unusual urges and is haunted by memories she would rather leave behind. As the history of the dress unfolds, so does Fen’s grasp on reality. The Woman in the Lake is a twisty story of family, revenge and a secret society with a touch of romance and the supernatural. A must-read for fans of Cornick’s other novels and for historical fiction devotees.