This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a beautiful story of disappointments - disappointment in business, marriage, family, fertility - all of the stories we tell ourselves of who we are, what we want, where we are going, and how life should be. It's about what happens when your plans don't align with life's happenings.

Malcom is an incredible bartender who his customers adore. A few years ago, he bought his bar - the Half Moon - and the building it's in from a friend of his deceased father's. Since then, things have gone poorly, and the father's friend is employing shark-like techniques to get his money.

Jess is a lawyer who has done everything to have a baby, but neither fertility treatments nor IVF have done anything but leave her and Malcom even further in debt. When Malcom says he's done trying, she leaves to pursue another life with a family friend, Neil, who has three children of his own.

This book is a character study of richly developed characters with complicated pasts, wants, fears, and insecurities. The theme of disappointment in one's life carries over to even minor characters, who all seem to have different approaches to surviving a life that isn't what you envisioned.

A great read, highly recommend.

Thank you #netgalley for a free, prepublication copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored The Half Moon. Mary Beth Keane has such great insight into relationships and marriage and how what happens within a marriage can be radically different from how it appears to even close observers. Reading The Half Moon is like stepping into the middle of a marriage in crisis and getting an intimate view of one crucial week in the lives of a well-meaning but all too human couple. I love how the characters are not judged, not presented as victims or perpetrators, just as real people coping with real dilemmas and coming to terms with life not turning out how they had hoped or expected. Keane's writing is both exquisite and unnoticeable - meaning that it doesn't call attention to itself but always hits just the right tone. The Half Moon is also a welcome return to Gillam, the working class town that is the setting for Keane's previous novel, Ask Again, Yes.

Another great book by Mary Beth Keane. This novel centers around a run down bar(The Half Moon), owned by Malcolm who is trying to hold on to it any way that her can. His wife, Jesse, is at a crossroad in her life after years of infertility. Add some interesting characters and a missing person, one is captivated until the very end! Kudos to the author.

Simultaneously powerful and subtle -- an analysis of a marriage as only Mary Beth Keane can write. Good writing, accessible and comprehendable characters, and an engaging plot.

This truly complex novel was both hard to read and also felt like a breath of fresh air. Go into this one with nuance, and enjoy.

This is the first book I have read from this author and I was definitely enamored with the writing. The book was such a three dimensional glimpse into a marriage with all of it's thorns and imperfections. I could really understand each of their parts, however felt the book needed to come full circle and their needed to be the connection between the two halves of the moon. I really didn't get the whole missing person saga and it ended up just feeling forced toward the end. I will definitely read more from this author. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

ASK AGAIN, YES caused me to fall in love with the writing of Mary Beth Keane. THE HALF MOON continues my love affair with her work. This author has the ability to get under the skin and make each character, no matter how small, fully three-dimensional. Malcolm, effortlessly appealing, affable and sexy owns The Half Moon, a honky tonk bar that has seen better days. Jesse, Malcolm’s lawyer wife, is left alone most every night while Malcolm tries to keep The Half Moon afloat. A divorced dad moves into their orbit and Jesse slowly wanders.

Mary Beth Keane is a master at the unsaid. Malcolm is gorgeous on the outside but stuffed full of thoughts and desires and fears he can’t say out loud to the love of his life Jesse. Jesse finally tires of that endless silence.

I recommend this book highly. Well done, Mary Beth Keane. Yes, Again!!

I was privileged to receive this novel as an ARC! Thank you to the author, Scribner and NetGalley!

Marriage. If you’ve ever been in one you know it’s not always sunshine and roses. They’re complicated, and years of little hurts, misgivings and half-truths can pile up and it gets ugly. That’s where we find Malcolm and Jess. They’re seemingly at a cross roads in their marriage, after years of trying to have a baby they have different ideas on where life is taking them next, and we watch as their decisions unfold.

Mary Beth Keane is the master of the character driven novel. She has the ability to peel back the layers and give you so much raw realness and relatability in the way she develops the story and the people within it. Her talent in highlighting the humanness of our existences and then reflecting that on the written page is amazing. This is my favorite kind of book, one that digs deep into the lives of flawed characters, that makes it seem like you’re reading their journals or that you live inside their head, where your feelings towards each fluctuates constantly between love, annoyance, understanding, and forgiveness. If you loved Ask Again, Yes and much as I did, you won’t be disappointed with The Half Moon.

This heart wrenching, genuine story directly captures your heart, make you think harder about your own life choices, embracing your fears, confronting your mistakes, chasing your dreams no matter how much risk you take!

It’s a sad, realistic, struggling marriage story! Jess and Malcolm’s story is nothing unique. Their story reminds us our close friends or our siblings’ marriage story or maybe it’s your own story resulted with different consequences! That’s why it’s so well developed, grabbing your from the center of your soul, because it’s so real!

They met at young ages: Jess was aspiring lawyer candidate as Malcolm was playful, charming bartender. Jess found out she was expecting so they got married and they lost the baby. But they didn’t care because they had each other!

But when we move forward we understand they are separated. Jess takes a break to live with her mom who never gave Malcolm her full blessing to marry with her daughter. And Malcolm is trying so hard to keep his dream job, “ Half Moon” bar afloat! He always dreamed of owning a bar, didn’t he? He just followed his own father’s steps, but he may have made a deal with a devil: the previous owner Hugh is unreachable and his mobster like associates keep threatening Malcolm to pay his loan which passed its due date! And no matter how much renovations cost, the regulars of the owner are displeased with the changes he’s made. He already lost some of his regulars to the modern bar that recently opened.

Jess resented her husband because he gave up having kids with her after several failed IVF attempts that siphoned their savings. She resented her husband because he focused on his own dream to become a bar owner, he cared Half moon and its needs more than Jess!

Now in the middle of the blizzard, the bar’s one of the regular patrons is missing under suspicious circumstances. Both Jess and Malcolm question their life choices. What could they have done to change their lives? Are they really happy? Are they satisfied about the persons they turned into? But most importantly:
“What is it they plan to do with their one wild and precious life?

I loved the characterization! I loved the whole execution and the ending ( of the beginning )!
I even loved it more than “ Ask again: yes”
Of course I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.