Mary Beth Keane's novel Ask Again, Yes shows just how friend friendship can be stretched without breaking. Living next to each other since babies, Peter and Kate become natural friends. When a horrifying tragic event tears them apart and they are forbidden to see each other again, their lives take on two separate paths. Years later, after high school and college, they are brought back together and the tragedy that once tore them apart may just be ready to be healed.
This was a moving novel that I would recommend again and again.

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a family drama spanning decades that covers heartache and tragedy, as well unconditional love, forgiveness, and acceptance. It's about two families, a night the changes everyone's lives forever, and their ensuing lives after the tragedy. The characters were developed so well, I felt like I knew each one intimately, and could understand their decisions - good or bad.

This book was a bit of a slow burn, but it is engrossing. This book broke my heart and my mind kept drifting back to the story even when I wasn't reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for allowing me to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Two families are forever tied together through work, proximity, children, and tragedy in this family saga centering around Kate and Peter. This is a story about mental illness and the effects on those who love the ones who suffer. This is a story about learning to forgive and move forward. The author makes us care for the characters and writes the story from different character viewpoints to allow us to see a fuller picture of the events that transpire.

'The quiet of the house when she kept to her room was not the peaceful silence of a library, or anywhere near as tranquil. It was, Peter imagined, more like the held-breath interlude between when a bomb either detonates or is defused.'

'She learned that the beginning of one's life mattered the most, that life was top-heavy in that way."

Yes is a wonderful family story that really hits home. The poor decisions made by the characters seem like it would all happen in real life. Love this book!

Sometimes, you read a book in which the characters make such stupid decisions that you want to...shake the author, because you know that the only reason these decisions are being made is to further the plot,

Sometimes, you read a book in which the characters make really bad choices, and you want to reach in and shake THEM, because, despite being terrible decisions, they’re perfectly realistic.

This book is the second sort. Almost every character in it is making poor life decisions, but, given time, place and character, the decisions are believable. This is a very believable book, and one feels sorry for pretty much everyone in it. I think that being able to invoke that kind of sympathy, without it feeling manipulative, is quite a remarkable feat.

There are some lovely passages, this being just one example:

"The quiet of the house when she kept to her room was not the peaceful silence of a library, or anywhere near as tranquil. It was, Peter imagined, more like the held-breath interlude between when a button gets pushed and the bomb either detonates or is defused."

All in all, it’s a quiet, well written story about (relatively) normal people, about whom one has come to care.

Peter Stanhope and Kate Gleason have been neighbours all their lives, as well as best friends for as long as they can remember. They are so close, their bedrooms face each other. When they are 14 years old, a horrific event occurs between the two families. It was so awful that , in 99.9% of cases, it would prevent these families from ever having anything to do with each other ever again. Although Peter and Kate separate in space (the Stanhopes must move out of their house after the event), they are never far apart in their hearts. Against all expectations, Peter and Kate reunite and marry. Can their marriage survive, given the history behind the two families? In the novel, author Mary Beth Keane delves into the history of the Gleason and the Stanhope families, how their past was never really behind them. It is only once all members of the family can come to terms with their own histories, that they can begin to understand where they went wrong and to change the future. When Peter and Kate discuss any regrets they may have looking back at their lives (at around age 40 or so), Peter asks Kate if she would marry him AGAIN, now... Ask Again, Yes

I really enjoyed reading Mary Beth Keane's latest novel #askagainyes. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Thank you #netgalley for this ARC. in sores May 28th 2019.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Two NYPD cops, Brian Stanhope and Francis Gleeson, become neighbours in the 1970s and a traumatic event connects their families for the rest of their lives. The novel focuses on these families and how they cope for the next 40 years.

Simply put, Ask Again, yes, is a story of coping with trauma, forgiveness, and every big and small moment in between.

The whole story was engrossing, but it wasn't until about 1/3 of the way through the book that I was completely hooked and could not put it down. Keane really does the third party narration really well, and put a lot of care into her characters. My heart felt heavy during this read and I really wanted all of the characters to find peace.

The praise for this book is well deserved and I can see it being a popular book club choice!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I am quitting this at 16% - it is just so depressing. Lena and Anne and their police officer husbands live next door to each other. Lena keeps having babies and feels lonely. Francis, her husband, doesn't really communicate with her and finds his job stressful. Anne has miscarriages and clearly has (at the very least) mental health problems and parents her son Peter poorly. Her husband is thus far a bit of a closed book, but I'm not really warming to him either.

It is just very sad and I can't bring myself to read on.

Great story of two unique family. This fascinating book teach us how much we are made by our past and that , finally, it can turn out to be better than we thought. Peter and Kate grow up together, have a great friendship and, years later find their way together. Their future is not always easy but they came through stronger because of the real love they have for each other.

Ask Again, Yes is a wonderful family saga that strikes home.

It is the story of two neighbouring families in the Bronx , both fathers policeman, two of their children are best friends. Then a tragedy strikes and one family moves away.

This is a story about love, strength, tragedy, mental illness, addiction but mostly about family and forgiveness.

How we all have different memories of the same incident. I know that happens in my family.

Ask Again, Yes is a heart warming book and I hated for it to end.

This will be a Book Club favourite, no doubt in my mind.

Thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster Canada, Scribner for the privilege of reading Ask Again, Yes.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.