⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Named the most anticipated book of the year from several sources. I was fortunate to receive an ARC copy. This book had the ins and outs of dreams coming true with more struggles than peace/control. Mid-life crisis in reality. Cleverly written. A true authentic insight of struggles and triumphs, blame and forgiveness, love and marriage.
Malcolm is the guy everyone loves. He is witty, clever, fun, and incredibly handsome. Perfect personality for bar tender that becomes bar owner. It has been his dream to own and operate his own bar. After working at the The Half Moon, he is finely able to purchase it and have his dream come true. However, the Half Moon bar did not come grandfathered into all the vendors and suppliers. Soon he finds himself struggling to keep up with the debts.
His wife Jess, is struggling to make partner in the law firm. She has monthly student loans. They have tried for years and cashing in all their funds to have a baby. Feeling defeated adds strain to their marriage. Feeling defeated leads to making mindless choices/decisions.
Some marriages stay and fight the struggles together. Like Malcolm and Jess, some marriages need a break to reflect.
Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for ARC read in exchange for my review.

The Half Moon is an intimate portrait of a marriage in trouble. The story is told mostly over a week when a snowstorm shuts down the small commuter town of Gilliam, New York. Malcolm is a bartender who recently purchased a bar called The Half Moon. He didn't consult with his lawyer wife, Jess when he decided to do an under-the-counter deal with the former owner. Jess had separated from Malcolm seven months earlier because of the stress of her infertility. She wanted to keep trying and Malcolm did not. The financial and emotional strain of the bar purchase and the infertility treatments had put them over the edge.

During the week, both Malcolm and Jess reflect on their marriage. Will they move on from each other or try to start anew? In addition, one of the bar patrons mysteriously disappears after getting into a fight there the night of the big snowstorm. That patron had often talked about starting anew in a different country. The weather and lack of power add a distinct iciness to the story.

“Such a strange set of days, all the rules were different until the power came back on.”

I love a family drama as much as any reader and Ms. Keane’s Ask Again, Yes is a favorite novel of mine. Her latest work met my expectations but fell a bit flat in comparison.

Readers spend a few weeks in and around The Half Moon bar in a small town outside of New York City, during 2 snow storms. Time stands still as the power goes out, distilling day to day activities into acute concerns, hopes and fears. The sensory depictions of the low key pub and the storm itself are spot on and will relate to anyone who has ventured into a hometown bar and all who have experienced cabin fever.
Malcom and Jess Gephardt are a married couple hitting a rough patch - both had dreams that went sideways and their relationship to each other is in the crosshairs. They married young, thinking that a family was pre-destined, but drift apart as their communication breaks down.

This book was simply too slow for me, although my confidence in the author’s writing encouraged me to wait for things to pick up steam. The last third was a welcomed relief as the pace picked up and I finally wanted to “finish and find out.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner Publishing for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book had the potential to be tremendously powerful, focusing in on topics like infertility and the ups/downs of small business, but the writing was SO flat and dry and devoid of emotion. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy,

This is the story of Malcolm and Jess, a couple whose marriage is in crisis. Jess desperately wanted a baby and went through several unsuccessful IVF treatments. And Mal's baby was the bar that he bought after many years of working there. The story begins when they are at the brink of financial crisis after both of these investments and Jess has left to start a life with another man. and his family Much of the story is told in flashbacks .Heavy stuff to say the least!

I had a really hard time finishing this book. It was well written and I can usually muster through depressing topics, but I think I had a hard time with this one because I didn't really connect with either of the main characters. Jess was just selfish. She wasn't likeable at all. Mal was much nicer, but so naive. You would think that a bar owner would have a little more street smarts. And, while the ending was probably satisfying to some, I didn't feel like it was realistic.

I previously read Ask Again, Yes by this author and enjoyed that book a lot. I'll definitely give Mary Beth Keane another chance but this one just didn't hit the mark for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for this ebook in exchange for my honest review. The publication date is May 2, 2023.

This book takes place over a week’s time but the back story woven in spans about 15 years. At its heart, it is a story of a relationship, a marriage, that is troubled and falls apart as a result of the pressures both of the main characters feel. First, both of them, Jess and Malcolm, are very likable. There are no bad actors here. The author did an excellent job demonstrating the humanity behind both Jess and Malcolm. You can feel that both of these two are good, caring people who truly love each other.

Jess and Malcolm met and felt an immediate attachment. After a marriage prompted by an unplanned pregnancy, Jess suffers a miscarriage and has been unable to get pregnant again even after a series of unsuccessful and expensive IVF treatments. Having a child is uppermost in how Jess sees her future and while it’s important to Malcolm, he is able to accept the lack of an extended family and move on. Jess is not.
Conversely Malcolm is fixated on his ownership of The Half Moon, a local bar that has been the center of his life for many years, and he sinks what little money they have into keeping it afloat. It is no wonder that the relation begins to fray under the emotional and financial pressure.
With a ringside seat, the reader watches from the sidelines as Jess and Malcolm try to negotiate the relationship’s pitfalls. When another player, a friend of friends of Jess and Malcolm, appears to distract Jess, Malcolm is left to try and figure out if the relationship can be saved. In the midst of a major snowstorm, with loan enforcers on Malcolm’s tail, things teeter on a precipice.
I found the writing here to be excellent. Because both of the characters are so likable, I found the book easy to read and compelling. I think if one of them had been portrayed as the bad guy, I would’ve had a problem but that wasn’t the case. I truly enjoyed reading this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy. I plan to seek out the author’s previous book Ask Again, Yes.

I knew right away that this was not going to be a book for me, but I did continue on and read until the end given that I was reading an ARC edition in exchange for my honest review. While the topics covered in the novel (infertility, small business ownership, economic stresses) in relation to marriage are valid and important, they alone cannot lift a storyline. The Half Moon is plagued by too much exposition and flat characterization. There is altogether too much telling and not enough showing. Although I did enjoy the author’s previous novel (Ask Again, Yes), this new release does not come close, and was a disappointing read.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on May 2, 2023.

Mary Beth Keane is an automatic yes for me, if I ever see her name come up. What's so special about her writing is the ability to capture the very complicated reality that humans can have two very strongly conflicting desires at once and our attempt to reconcile them with one another or find a way to pursue both is what lands us in the "dark night of the soul" kinds of moments in life.
Her examination of morality, vs the idea of - "Are we actually just breaking free from societal norms and being true to ourselves? Does the action of eschewing false social obligation immediately put us in the territory of the 'immoral'?" is actually quite fleshed out an perfectly balanced so as to make this a true question for the reader to ponder long after they've put the book down.
Jess and Malcolm met quite young, and rushed into marriage - unexpectedly but happily. What followed was years of fertility treatments and disappointments, financial decisions (some made one-sidedly with major impact to both of them), aging family members to "notice" and wonder if it's "time" for care... and then of course, some infidelity. A breaking point always comes.
The questions of interest to me here are: are we allowed to have secrets from partners, and if so, which ones are to protect (possibly just in the moment, until we've come to stronger decisions?) And which are insidiously harmful,...
And also - she makes the point, some things you actually can repair, but not revert to a prior state. Some things are never the same after wounds so big. But, some things (and I really really see this, but perhaps I'm jaded), you just can't walk back. They've been said, done, and the only repair to part and heal from the rupture.
Beautiful writing and story from Keane, as always - there's actually a whole subplot of conspiracy and fraud, bringing in the feds, that adds a surprising (and believable!) element of excitement to this very domestic town set in the sleepiest most routine of locales.
Thank you for the chance to read!

This was my first Mary Beth Keane read and I will definitely be doing a reread of this at some point. I enjoyed the plotline the first time through, but this felt like a right book, wrong time read for me. I was trying to read on a deadline, but this is one of those books where you have to have the mental and emotional capacity to process the plot.

Malcolm and Jess's stories are so heartfelt and emotional. I felt like the author did a great job at capturing the drama and feelings associated with trying to navigate a marriage when your goals aren't the same anymore.

Thank you to Mary Beth Keane and Scribner Publishing for an eARC via NetGalley. I loved Ask Again, Yes so I was very excited to dig into The Half Moon.

This story takes place over one week and moves back and forth in time, giving so much depth to the characters. A family drama that explores marriage, infertility, friendships, disappointments & and mistakes. Keane is a mastermind at character development, it is a book that stays with you long after the last page.

This story doesn’t make any sense.

If you purchase a business, I am not sure how you cannot have a lawyer. You would need someone to incorporate for you, get all of your licenses, and you would also need someone to do your taxes for you, especially your sales tax and payroll deductions. Who manages your IP (intellectual property) like your trademark and logos?

Also, Jess is a lawyer. Half the Moon talks about her student loans. The standard repayment term is 10 years so how is she still making payments after 12 years? When you graduate, you can consolidate your loans and usually secure a lower interest rate. Why pay 6.8% if you can pay 2%? Jess is also working in a large law firm, trying to make partner. The beginning salaries are usually $110,000 to $120,000 (and this is information from about 10 years ago). How in the world is she only making the minimums on her student loans? She would have to have an incredibly lavish lifestyle.

Malcolm gives off Ryle vibes from It Ends With Us. Hasn’t he ever heard the phrase, “Happy wife, happy life?”

The two main characters: Malcolm and Jess who are supposed to be mid-40’s and late-30’s respectively but act more in line with someone in their early 20’s.

For example, Jess was struggling with her suitcase, and Malcolm just watches her. What? Help the poor woman! In life, you get to decide who you are. You can either be a reactionary or you can already have a strong sense of self. If someone approaches you screaming, you get to decide to scream back (reactionary) or you can keep a low, gentle tone, deescalate the situation because you know that you are a kind, gentle person and no one can force you to act inconsistently with your inherent identity.

But all of that usually develops over time. Apparently, Malcolm and Jess did not get the memo.

At one point, Malcolm says that he deserves something because Jess spent money on medical expenses. Imagine if your partner had kidney stones and you spend $2,000, you wouldn’t just immediately demand a big-screen TV to even the score. The immaturity was astonishing.

The book is a bit bleak, and it would have been nice to cut through some of that with jokes, maybe a snarky character.

I wanted to like this book. I tried several times to read it. From the beginning I just couldn’t stay interested and this is no fault to the author. Sometimes a book is just not going to work out and that’s okay! I can see that others have really enjoyed it!

I thoroughly enjoyed THE HALF MOON. I found myself so consumed by Jess and Malcolm's story that I couldn't do anything else until I found out how their relationships turns out at the ending. Yes, it is slower-paced, but that to me made it all the more suspenseful, richer. I appreciated the dual POV and the two timelines and really enjoyed the style of the writing. Such emotional depth, layers, realness, and complexity in the character development. So much pain, heartache, and broken dreams between Jess and Malcolm. I thought the author did a tasteful job of addressing infertility.

And boy, does a lot happen and change in just one week in a town where the power's gone out and for a couple whose marriage is up in the air. It was my first time reading the author's work, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my candid review.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

Sometimes when I start reading a book I can tell from the start that this will be a slow burner and this time I was right. It was too slow and I couldn't keep my interest up. Apparently I'm an outlier since it's received a lot of five star reviews.

THE HALF MOON by Mary Beth Keane is the story of the marriage of Jess and Malcom and their struggle with infertility. The feelings and emotions of the couple are well-written and bring the reader into the story. The Half Moon is the bar that Malcom owns. I loved the way the two stories blended into one.
The story has a dual timeline, the past and the present. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and her development of the characters and the plot.

Is life complicated or simple? Is the glass half full or half empty? These are questions that I thought about a lot while reading The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane. Jess and Malcom Gephardt have a very complicated relationship, but they love each other. Malcom is an optimist who believes everything will work out in the end. Jess is the worrier of the family, often worrying about things before they even happen. Throughout this novel, the Gephardts are met with a series of difficult events and decisions. Jess’ inability to get pregnant, Malcom’s decision making without input from Jess, fraud, infidelity, etc., all lead to some bad decisions, some revelations and finally to finding out a very simple fact. The simple act of loving someone can make all the ups and downs of marriage, as well as life, easier to take. I loved most of the characters and could identify with some of them, but most importantly, loved Gephardt and their struggles. This is an “everybody” book. Both men and women can appreciate how well “life” is portrayed with all its problems and rewards.

This was my first book by this author, and while it didn't knock my socks off, I didn't hate it either. I enjoyed the writing and authenticity of this story. The character development was on point and Malcolm and Jess's relationship seemed very realistic to me. I couldn't relate to their struggles, but I could empathize.

If you like books about married couples with struggles and drama, then you would like this one, but don't expect any action. I suppose the story progressed too slow for me, and while I hoped it would pick up at some point along the way, it just never did and that was a huge disappointment that left me unsatisfied with the overall book.

There's a dual POV, and I can't say that I liked one more than the other. It does allow you to get both sides of the story and see the faults and flaws of both characters.

There were times when I just wanted to quit this book or at least put it down and read something more uplifting or fast paced and then come back to it when I was in the mood. This is definitely a mood read! It's sad, depressing and gets you thinking about your own life choices, which isn't a bad thing if you're in the mood for it.

Special thanks to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars. This is a story about Malcom, his wife Jess, their marital troubles, and their bar, The Half Moon. This book is really slow. I’m a big fan of slower, character-driven literary fiction books, but I struggled with this one a little bit because it was slow and I couldn’t find myself caring about Malcom or Jess at all. I much prefer reading books where I like or dislike characters to ones where I just don’t care about any of them. The first half is much slower than the second half, but a small mystery is introduced into the story that kept my attention and I really enjoyed reading about The Half Moon

4.5 stars.

Digital Advanced Review Copy received from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read and really enjoyed Mary Beth Keane’s earlier book, Ask Again, Yes so I immediately requested this new novel. It is an intense character study of a couple, Jess and Malcolm, who live in a small suburb outside of New York City. Malcolm is the owner of the failing bar, The Half Moon, which features heavily in the book. I had a day off of work and read this book in one day, which proved to be a fever-dream like experience in which I felt as if the characters in the book were part of my real life. Keane is so brilliant at creating realistic, extremely flawed characters that you still in up rooting for in the end. Centering around the middle-age realization that you have to accept and enjoy the life you have currently and not the one that you always imagined yourself having, this book will be one that I think about for some time. The resolution of this book felt a little rushed, especially after spending so much time with these characters but this author is definitely someone who I will immediately read.

Malcolm and Jess fell in love and married without thinking about it but now they're struggling, with each other and with life. He bought the bar where he's spent his entire working life - without checking with Jess, an attorney. She's invested all her hopes and dreams into having a baby and they've been through so so many failed procedures. Now things have come to crisis point even as a blizzard hits their small town. Jess has left Malcolm, Malcolm can't make his nut, and it's all a mess. Oh and one of the bar's patrons, father of a policeman, went missing from kitchen just as the snow started. This moves back and forth in time and between Malcolm and Jess's (third person) perspectives. Keane has a somewhat mannered writing style but she's also a good storyteller. One of the subplots didn't really work (no spoilers) but I was caught up in Malcolm's fight for his bar and for Jess. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Very good read.