I love Mary Beth Keane! 'She has such a beautiful style of writing - cathartic and relatable. I think this one will be a hit, once again. I love the drama of the restaurant and how the familial relationships tie in.

Once I again I call on editors everywhere to EDIT THE BOOK!!! I am curious how so many books seem they had no editor. This was good- but def could have been better with editing.

This is a good book. The characters are well-drawn. The story is well though-out. It's well-written. It's a comfortable story about people I might know. It's about family and history and what it means to be from a particular place. It's about the inner life of a marriage when two people have different dreams and neither wants to tell the other that they just aren't going to happen. That it's time to stop trying. It begins on the eve of a major blizzard, which echos the cold and powerlessness going on inside Malcolm and Jess, and hits the pause button on their lives. From there the it all unfolds.

This novel didn't reach deep inside and strum a chord that will keep playing on long past the last page, or leave me seeing the world in a new way, but I did enjoy reading it. I would give it 3.5 stars, but I can see it being a 5-star read for someone else.

Life is short and this book left me with hopeful feelings and a reminder to stay close to those that make you feel the magic in the everyday.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This book is well written with developed characters. Three stars.

“The Half Moon” is the latest novel by Mary Beth Keane. This is my first exposure to the author but not the last.

I have been reading and reviewing a lot of thrillers, so I appreciated the opportunity to read a story that slowed down and focused on people struggling at difficult points in their lives. Malcolm is a bartender who dreams of owning his own establishment. Jess is an attorney who fell in love with Malcolm when they were both in their twenties. Then, an unexpected pregnancy led to marriage that led to heartbreak when Jess had a miscarriage and then found herself unable to get and stay pregnant. Flashforward to the present—Malcolm took one too many loans to buy the “Half Moon” while Jess resents Malcolm who she believes has failed to support her through endless rounds of IVF. Marriages do not usually fall apart because of one big event but minor rips and tears; Malcolm and Jess’s story is a fantastic example of that.

There is nothing unique about this plot, but the way the characters jump from the page and tug at your heart strings make this story memorable. I had not previously read “Ask Again, Yes,” but now I want to.

Four and a half stars.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

This is another great character study from Mary Beth Keane. Not a lot really happens in this novel, but you see a married couple, Malcolm and Jess, go through a rough patch in their marriage. They each deal with their issues on their own until they come together to solve some problems. I enjoyed the novel, and would recommend it for anyone who likes contemporary fiction with a focus on character development.

What happens when your current life doesn't match what you thought it would be? That's what's happening with Malcom and Jess. the married couple thought things would be easier, but life keeps throwing curveballs at them. Then over the course of a blizzard, they are forced to reckon with their decisions and determine if they can move forward in a different path.

This book just made me sad. From the beginning you find yourself hoping Mal will just catch a break. Also, MBK writes in such a way that you feel the struggles of the character as if they are your own. There are some life lessons to be learned in this story - it’s like therapy!

Keane is an excellent writer, particularly with character development. The same goes for “The Half Moon.” Malcolm is having a helluva week in this book between his failing marriage with Jess, the struggling bar his somewhat owns, an upcoming snowstorm, worrying about his mom, and a patron who’s gone missing. Some of this felt relatable in how life is, but too many plot points led to the book fizzling out.

I absolutely loved "Ask Again, Yes" so I was really looking forward to this book. I once again enjoyed Mary Beth Keane's writing, but I didn't feel as connected as I wanted to be with the characters and the plot seemed too obvious. I've seen other reviewers complaining about the structure and how the story jumps back and forth in time but that really wasn't an issue for me. I never got confused or annoyed by the flashbacks. The Half Moon just didn't hold up for me next to 'Ask Again, Yes' but that won't stop me from reading whatever Mary Beth Keane writes next.

Enjoyable, well written novel that takes a reader into the lives of a young couple trying to get established after they were married and start a family. As most married couples quickly learn, things rarely go as planned in marriage (or in life for that matter, too). And Jess and Malcolm in the book are no exception when infertility challenges arise. The character development of Malcolm is strong, perhaps a bit too much so, in that at times it overshadows his wife, Jess. A couple subplots are interwoven about halfway through the novel, which keep the storyline moving along. I feel that the novel would still be enjoyable if one of those subplots had been left out. Overall, I think people will enjoy this one and recommend it!

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for my ARC to read and review.

Poetic, compelling and so, so real -- The Half Moon paints a gripping portrait of a failing marriage in small town America. Alternating between Malcolm and Jess's point of view, the novel recounts the events that lead to their separation and what takes place after.

I enjoyed the characterisation of both the focalisers. Keane brought out their virtues and vices subtly, making the characters realistic. The language was beautiful but not over the top, and made for a fairly enjoyable read.

My only criticism is the subplot with Tripp was unnecessary and dragged the book on. It took me about half a day to get through the first two-thirds of the book and then three more to get through the last third. I liked reading it the first time, but I wouldn't read it again.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The old wooden sign above the door of this bar showcases a carving of a crescent moon, and customers love pointing out how inaccurate the sign is when entering the Half Moon bar.

In storytelling details like this, Keane shines in this slow-burn portrait of a childless couple searching for a purpose and direction in their forties.

The reader is introduced to Malcolm, who worked at the Half Moon bar for twenty-four years before he bought it.

This bar holds a history for him because it is where he has learned everything from fixing a running toilet to soldering a pipe. He also seems to relish being the tried-and-true vessel for his regular customers' worries and complaints. However, his current preoccupation lies not in his joy in running the bar but in the lack of financial resources to make it into the bar he knows it can be.

Meanwhile, Malcolm's wife, Jess, struggles with her own. A successful lawyer, she's been trying for years to start a family but is coming to terms with the possibility that motherhood may not be in her future. This six-and-a-half-year battle consumes Jess's life, where her first waking thought is singularly focused on what her ovaries are doing.

As both Malcolm and Jess confront the reality of their aspirations and the ticking clock of their youth, they must also navigate the turmoil of a tumultuous week that includes the disappearance of a regular customer during a major blizzard in their town.

I loved how Keane writes about the challenges of trying to blend a family and the fertility challenges that her character faces in relatable ways that had me highlighting passages.

This book did not match my expectations of her finely crafted Ask, Again, Yes, but much of that also landed in weird structural waters.

The story jumps from past to present with no clear indication of the change for the reader, making it difficult to keep track of where in the characters' lives certain events occurred.

That doesn't discredit this storyteller, and if you enjoyed We are the Brennans and craving a quiet story, the two were similarly built.

This novel will hit store shelves on May 2nd!

This was my first read from Mary Beth Keene and I hope this book isn’t my last due to how I felt towards Half Moon. I didn’t quite enjoy the time jumps in the story. It made it difficult for me to keep up with the story. I think it was just a little confusing or my liking . How I mentioned before this was my first read from Mary Beth Keene and I’m hoping this book didn’t ruin the rest of her work.
Overalll the story is very real and heartfelt. I know many people who will see themselves along the characters of the book. I really appreciated the character development along the way. This story deals with infertility, divorce, finding one self, and even has a missing person investigation. I would tell people to read this book for themselves and give it a try cause at the end of the day it was a good read.

Interesting characters, interesting plot, well written prose that moves us along. Should be a good fit with our patrons.

I personally stopped at 12% but it should be an easy 3-4 stars for our usual readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC.

Thank you again NetGalley for the chance to read a highly anticipated book that I was very much looking forward to. Ask Again, Yes is definitely one of my favorite books I've read in the last five years so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. Although I did really like this book, I didn't connect with it quite the same way though. The characters are great. Mary Beth Keane writes them with such specific detail and feelings that they always feel so vivid, authentic, and flawed, like people we would all know. And their marriage struggles and trials were also written so well. But ultimately, some of the plot of this book just felt off. I really loved the first half but felt that the storyline was a little unbelievable in the last section and some parts wrapped up too neatly for me. Probably a 3 1/2 star book rounded up for superb writing and memorable characters that I enjoyed spending time with.

3.5/5 rounded down

There’s a lot to love in this book. Incredibly well written characters, beautiful articulations of daily struggles and how the pains of disappointment can transform you as a person and a perfectly woven setting are the top three that come to mind.

The story follows the dissolution of a marriage and the struggle of what happens next, and despite all of the above I really struggled to connect. Perhaps it’s the slow burn of it, perhaps it was the few times the book started going somewhere only to not finish that route, but at the end of the day it just left me wanting a bit more. More for Malcom and Jess, but more for myself for the time it took to read.

If you like complex relationship dramas or are obsessed with small town dive bars, you should definitely pick this up.

Malcolm owns a bar that is run-down and probably on its last legs. Jess, his wife, is a successful attorney. They have been trying for years to have a baby and now, in their forties, realize that's probably not going to happen. Jess has moved out and is living with another man.

A blizzard of epic proportions is bearing down on the city. From this point on, it is almost the blizzard that controls the story. Together and separately, Malcolm and Jess try to re-evaluate their lives, both together and apart. Malcolm worries about his mother, he worries about the bar employees who are holed up in their respective homes; he worries that the bar will survive the intense cold and of course the power is out. Then the police make it to his house and ask if he knows anything about a patron who has gone missing. From there the story twists and turns.

Told in dual timelines, there were times it was confusing as to who was speaking and if this was past or present times. I had difficulty investing myself in this story and its characters.

Was intrigued, but unable to finish. Might pick it up later, but I flew too close to the sun by picking up way too many books from the library.

Malcolm and Jess’s marriage is very familiar and normal. Both have their life’s dreams but only Malcom’s seems to come true, temporarily. The struggle of infertility and its endless procedures and costs weigh heavy on the marriage as does the struggling bar they “own”. The story is an interesting and heartbreaking tale of everything falling apart and the courage to hold on to a real love.