Mary Beth Keane’s new novel, “Ask Again, Yes” is now on my list for best books for 2019. Two rookie policeman, Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, work together in New York City, and soon move next door to each other in a small commuter town. There they start and raise their families while their careers go in diverging directions. There are troubling signs of unacknowledged and untreated mental illness and the families don’t really connect except for two of the children, Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope. They grow up together and fall in love as teenagers, until a night of tragedy sends all their lives crashing off the rails. The repercussions of that night continue to haunt both families for decades and demonstrate how wounds can fester and affect people until they are finally healed.

“Because it means that all that stuff, from years ago, it didn’t end back then. It’s still happening.” Well, no, Peter thought, but he didn’t want to argue. Everything that happened had happened to their parents. Or at least, their parents were the agents of all that had happened. Or at least, their parents were the ones who could have stopped it from happening. Or . . . He got that choked-off feeling he always got whenever he thought about that night. If he’d never suggested to Kate that they should sneak out. If they hadn’t been caught. One thing leads to another which leads to another, yes, but who could have predicted that last fallen domino would skid so far from the neatly toppled row? Not the pair of teenagers, that was for sure.”

Despite parental abandonment and the physical and emotional suffering that members of the family endure, redemption and forgiveness can and do occur, even though they are hard-won.. The dramatic events that occur in the novel are always in service of the story, not merely devices to propel the plot. Keane is an exceptional writer and the book radiates with empathy, insight, compassion, and understanding. The characters are extremely well developed and the story told is so profound and powerfully written that it is still resonating in my mind. Highly recommended.

My review was posted on Goodreads on 6/25/19 .

Kate and Peter were born 6 months apart and lived next door to each other their entire lives. They grew up best friends and had a special bond no one else could really understand. Then one day a tragedy strikes both families that forces them apart. This is a story about how they try to find each other again and if they are able to overcome all the tragedies in their lives together or if it ends up being too much to overcome.
I liked this book. For me, I’m not sure what all the hype was about because it was just ok for me. I definitely wanted to keep reading but at the same time I just didn’t think it was great. I think a lot of people will like it though.
Thanks you #AskAgainYes #NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I really wanted to like this one! I've seen it everywhere on social media and I honestly didn't think I'd end up with an ARC through NetGalley, but alas I did. And now I'm paying for it.
The writing style just isn't for me. I don't like the long sentences and the structure. It's just so weird. I couldn't get into the story because the writing was so bland. I'd read a page and then look up wondering what I just read. It was so boring!

I absolutely adore this book. So much so, that I chose it as my BOTM pick in addition to already having it on NG to read and review.
This is a gorgeously written, beautifully flowing family saga that has a little bit of everything. I love the Romeo and Juliet story line through part of it as well as the basis of the connection between the two central families. My husband's family are from New York and originally from Ireland so many of these themes rang completely true to character for me.
There was an interesting level of psychopathology of both sides of the family that could have led to any number of outcomes. I enjoyed the pacing of this novel and the themes that ran throughout.
This will be a book club pick for me for our group in the future!

Highly recommend!

#AskAgainYes #NetGalley

We’ve woken up to a stormy morning here in Houston (hello, hurricane season!) but luckily I snapped this for the gram’ yesterday! Many thanks to @scribnerbooks for gifting me a copy of ASK AGAIN, YES when they sent me their new summer tote!

This is a narrative that follows two families (Irish immigrants to the US) and how a tragic incident one evening impacts the trajectory of their lives from then on. I couldn’t help but compare it to Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH - though I felt the the characterization and narrative style in Keane’s book to be more compelling and memorable. We skip perspectives and time as the narrative progresses, and the choice of which character to tell each point of the narrative from was really well done, and a highlight of the book for me. It also spoke a lot to themes of mental health the legacy of trauma on a family, and the power of forgiveness - and while I enjoyed my time with it, for me it unraveled in the final quarter. There was some neatness that didn’t sit with me and felt like it needed further exploration given the development of the plot. Still a novel I’d recommend, just not one that lived up to the immense social media hype for me. It was an excellent buddy read with @kdwinchester and I think given the themes it brings up and discussions it prompts, it’d make a great bookclub pick!

3.5 🌟

Never having read this author before II wasn’t sure what to expect. She did a very thorough job with the different characters in the story truly flushing out their personalities. Everything between love and hate was depicted in this story of two families. It was a story of how one incident can reverberate throughout the rest of your life. This is a great story for book groups that love to examine character growth.

There was so much in this story that I should have loved. I love literary fiction, stories where we can see the past reverberate in the future and what those ripples look like. This had all the elements to make me fall in love with it but something didn’t click with me. I didn’t like it, I felt like the story was telling me what to feel instead of showing me and allowing me to create my own impressions. I also didn’t like the depiction of mental illness that was used here and when we are given a glimpse to the past is this supposed to answer some of the questions in the future. I really wanted to love this story and there were sentences that I truly loved. Overall this book wasn’t for me but I’m in the minority with this one.

I had a very hard time reading this book or even understanding it. It dragged to the point of skimming many parts. I cannot honestly say I’d recommend it. Why Peter became an alcoholic was ???. Yes he had issues with his parents but he got the one thing he had always wanted- Kate. At any rate, thank you NetGalley for allowing me the read this book in exchange for an honest review. Just sorry my review couldn’t be better.

“ Ask Again Yes” has been on my TBR list since I first heard about it. It has been one of my most anticipated reads of 2019. With all this being said, Mary Beth Keane did not disappoint! I won’t go into the details surrounding this book because I hate giving a summary or even glimpses into things that happen. What I will say is that this book grabbed my attention and held it throughout. Characters were very developed. This story explores so many levels of what it is to be human. Like seriously, there were so many layers to this book! It is a story of friendship, love, forgiveness and more. I cannot recommend it enough. 4.5 stars rounded to 5.

* I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Very good, sad story with a plot that you've read before and yet it still had me engaged and curious at the prologue. Around 45% of the way through the book I made a note that it seems like the story was over - what more could happen. It's almost like book 1 and book 2 are combined into one tale. Although the plot wasn't unique the writing was good with strong character development. I loved George - a great guy flaws and all. In fact perhaps that is the strength of the character development - the good guys have flaws and the "bad guys" have glimpses of goodness. I definitely recommend this book.

Summer reading lists and the bookstagram buzz have been all about Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. It is a family drama that begins in the 1970s with two police officers who become neighbors. Their children grow up together, particularly Peter and Kate. They become inseparable. However, Peter’s mom begins to show signs of struggle. One night, a tragedy occurs that will change the course of these two families forever.

*Sigh* I wanted to love this book. This will be a very unpopular opinion but this book did not live up to the hype. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is beautiful. There is so much emotion to take in. I actually took a few days to read this because I needed time to process everything that was happening. The problem that I had is the pacing. For me, it is slow. It takes over 100 pages for anything to happen and then after the tragic incident, the rest just seemed predictable. The book is written like a timeline. The book goes through over 30 years of history of this family.

This novel does go into mental health and addiction and how it is viewed over time. Even though there is still a lot of stigmas attached to mental health and addiction, there is at least a conversation now. We have more options. This novel shows how at one point, no one talked about it and how it dramatically affected families. I did enjoy the characters. It is heartbreaking that they felt that they couldn’t reach out for help.

Overall, it is worth the read. It just didn’t reel me in as I hoped it would. For this, I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley for a copy of this book!

this book will stay with you well after you close the pages. . two families lives are irrevocably intertwined when two rookie policemen work together for six weeks one summer. keane has written unforgettable story.

4.5 stars.

The first half of Ask Again, Yes was a solid five star read for me, while the second half seemed to lose a little of its steam. But just a little. I never wanted not to keep reading, though. Keane does a remarkable job establishing the setting and characters for this novel. It's the perfect book club book, plenty to digest, discuss, and debate. Plenty of family drama, with plenty of unexpected results, and with an ending that satisfies. I will be eager to read her next book!

I think you should know before picking up this book that this is a story that will really make you think, make you question choices you would make in the same situation and will sit with you for awhile. And none of those things are bad. The blurb they write to give you an idea of what this book is about doesn't do it justice. That is just the tip of the iceberg for this deep story that keeps having layers upon layers added as you get into the trenches of it.

This is a family drama that spans over almost four generations and will tug so strongly at your heart strings. This is not your average love story and this is definitely not your normal family drama. Mary Beth Keane has developed characters that are just as strong as the storyline she has written. She takes you on a beautiful journey of friendship, love, tragedy, growth, redemption and forgiveness. Some very true and realistic issues are addressed and you see how these issues not only effect the lives of each individual character but also the domino effect it has in their lives and their families. And the author handles this delicately and with compassion. It's emotional and dramatic, but very realistic and one you will become invested in. I came to honestly care about each of the characters and what happens to them (I don't want to give any spoilers away). You will run through every possible emotion reading this book. For me, that is rare for an author to accomplish and it be an overall enjoyable read by the end much less a 5 star read!! And there are some great lessons to be learned from reading this and searching your own personal truths of how you would respond in this scenario.

I truly enjoyed this book. It's one I will definitely recommend and I think it would make an excellent book club read. This is a fantastic book for discussion. And this is an author I would like to read more of.

My thanks to Mary Beth Keane, Scribner and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A book full of heart, there were times I almost didn't want to pick this one up - it was just too emotional. Yet I couldn't stay away from these characters, I was so invested in their lives. Beautifully written, the book is the story of Kate and Peter and their families. The story explores how the events of your early life continue to have an impact on your life as an adult, even in unexpected ways. There's a love story of course, but its almost secondary. The only negative thing I can say about this story is because its told by different characters and jumps through time, there are pieces that are given away early - removing some of the shock of the reveal. Yet this book is one I'll be recommending for a while, its just that good.

This one is on all of the lists of summer and deservedly so. I was pulled into the lives of the Gleeson and Stanhope families from the beginning and had a hard time closing the book on them in the end. They are two different families brought together by one tragedy that changes them in so many ways. It tackles the subject of mental illness and alcohol abuse with grace and dignity. It is written in such a way that even the most heinous thing that happens is not made to seem sensationalized or black and white. Through all of it, Kate and Peter know they belong together. It was hard to watch Peter throughout the book. His mother’s illness had shut him off so completely, even though he loved Kate, to showing any kind of emotion. It was the 70s and mental illness was not talked about. It seemed as if it was swept under the rug and everyone went about their merry way, pretending it wasn’t there. At least it wasn’t happening to them. In the beginning. I really felt no sympathy for Anne but as her story is told, my heart broke for her. Having lived with alcohol abuse in our family, I so understood Kate. I understood every nuance and every fear.

This is such a beautifully written book. They are messy families living in a messy world and they are oh so real. I loved the journey through the years and I always love a story with heartfelt redemption. The scene towards the end in the restaurant really touched my heart and everything made sense.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for a copy of this wonderful book.

This is definitely a book club book. It has everything I think they look for. Family Drama, high conflict, tragedy, forgiveness, and realizing you had displaced anger. The only reason this isn't getting 5 stars is because I wanted there to be more. More drama, or another plot twist. I don't know it just didn't feel complete and like the author just said "I'mma wrap it up right here and call it good." I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time, and it never did.

This book was so incredibly beautiful! I went out and bought it immediately. This was a wonderful, much-needed break from the multiple thrillers I've been reading. Its emotional, raw, honest, and thought-provoking. It's a must read for all!

-Ask Again, Yes- Review-⁣⁣
4🌟 ⁣ marybethkeane ⁣
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🏡 This is a beautifully written story of the Stanhope and Gleason families spanning the course of 4 decades. They are torn apart by a tragic situation, but are also forever bound by their secrets and history. ⁣
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🏡The characters are developed so eloquently that they are incredibly relatable. I found myself invested in their story and routing for each of them on many occasions while reading this. ⁣⁣
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🏡 I’m not usually a huge fan of character driven books, I tend to veer more to thriller and fast paced. But, this slow burn, character driven novel was a wonderful read and made me feel all the feels. I highly recommend it!

Keane's storytelling ability is seriously OUT OF THIS WORLD! Ask Again, Yes wove in themes of family drama, romance, and the power of forgiveness when an unexpected event bonds two families together for life. I loved the side story or Kate and Peter and found myself cheering for them from the very first page. Such a wonderful read that is available NOW!

Thanks to Scribner Books and NetGalley for my review copy!!