This novel is a slowly paced character-driven story about one week in the marriage of Malcolm and Jess Gebhardt. Told by alternating chapters from each of their points of view, we watch them assess their marriage, their individual dreams (he to own the bar The Half Moon, she to be a mother), themselves, and each other.

How far do you chase a dream when it carries a huge price, both financially, and on your marriage? What/who will your priorities be? What sacrifices are you willing to make? Will you compromise what you believe in? Is love enough if you have to give up your dream? Which would you rather be without?

Mary Beth Keane creates rich characters that you feel you know, and writes of the complexities of a marriage with skill and understanding. I struggled with the slow pace, but am glad that I read it!.

My thanks to Scribner for allowing me to read a DRC of the book via NetGalley. Publication is set for 5/2/23. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

Although this book covers basically a week in the life of a local bar owner, it explores his and his family history intertwined with a little mystery and a little love. Great read.

I was so into the story of Malcolm and Jess that I read this book on one day. Told over the course of a week in their lives during a snowstorm, you get their backstory and learn how they met and how their marriage fell apart. This is a story about a broken marriage, but also about broken dreams. It was so realistic and simplistic that this couple could easily be any couple you know, and I think that’s what made it so compelling. Malcom is very handsome. Everyone knows him and loves him. Jess is a lawyer. On paper, their lives should be perfect. I think someone in the book even described them as the prom king and prom queen. But, is anyone’s life really perfect? It’s difficult to review without spoiling it but I will just say that I was surprised at the way my feelings about their relationship changed over the course of the book. This one will stay with me for a while.

The Half Moon was a heavier book than I expected it to be. It's a book about chasing your dreams and realizing that sometimes those dreams fail. I really liked how this book ended but it was a little hard to get into at first. Not because it was hard to read... it was just sort of depressing (which was intentional). Overall, this book is 4 stars for me!

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This was a great, but very emotional read.

Malcom buys the at that he’s been working at for years. Jess is a lawyer, but wants to be a mother more than anything.
Debt, failed infertility treatments, and bad communication, lead to major marital problems for them.

Mary Beth Keane writes her characters to be so realistic , that you feel like you know them, you are them, and are living their lives. This book deals with real problems and is heavy. That being said, it was a really good book and will sit with me for awhile. Definitely a fan of her last two books, and looking forward to reading more from her!


📘: The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane
🗓 Pub Date: May 2, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley, Mary Beth Keane, and Scribner for this ARC!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Reviewed on NetGalley and Goodreads. Will review on retail once published!

Mary Beth Keane is so good at digging in to the drama, humor and heartbreak of ordinary life. Her characters always feel like real people you know, and you miss spending time with them when the book is finished. I just loved this one, and eagerly await her next book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. I did enjoy Keane’s previous book “Ask Again, Yes” (I gave it four stars). This novel orbits around the Half Moon, a neighborhood bar in Gillam New York, a fictional suburb based on Keane’s hometown of Pearl River. The main characters, Malcolm and Jess are married and having relationship and financial troubles stemming from sinking all of their money into the bar and years of expensive and unfortunately unsuccessful fertility treatments. Each with different priorities, resentment abounds. The story was pretty sad and depressing and I didn’t find any of the characters that likable. The numerous flashbacks were disorienting. There were even several flashbacks within a flashback! I enjoyed the book better when it was set in the present. There is a tangential storyline of a bar patron who goes missing; this seemed unnecessary and a distraction. I really wanted to like this book based on “Ask Again, Yes” but alas I did not.

When I read Mary Beth Keane's "Ask Again Yes" I remember being struck by how much she "gets it" about interpersonal relationships between a couple. She's done it again with The Half Moon.

Malcom and Jess are a happy couple, but they have separate wants out of life - he wants to own a bar, she wants a baby. Those goals aren't mutually incompatible at first, but as time passes and she suffers miscarriage after miscarriage, the stress takes a toll on their relationship. The finances are tight. The bar is struggling, and the IVF treatments are expensive, and aren't working.

He spends more and more time at the bar, trying to make a living. She feels emotionally abandoned and shuts herself off. They can't seem to talk to each other about it in a way that works.

It's such a totally believable narrative, and the characters are drawn in such a beautiful way that you really feel for both of them. They're both so likeable, and you really want them to work it out. You want them to have what they want out of life. You know it's not going to happen, and you wonder what's going to happen when they figure that out.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy. I've already suggested it as a title to my library, and I'll be recommending it to our readers as soon as its available.

I was a bit nervous to read this book, knowing that it was all about a marriage in trouble. The book honestly started out a bit slow, and I struggled to connect with the characters and plot at first. But, after the first third of the book, I was fully engrossed and emotionally invested. The characters are flawed but have incredible depth and the reader really comes to understand both sides of the story. The book addressed real, relatable problems in a couple's marriage - mid-life crises, infertility, infidelity, and money problems. The author perfectly captured the essence of life - the mundane everyday decisions, how we all question the choices we didn't take, and how we're trying to just figure shit out. I ended up really enjoying the book, and would highly recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane. However, it was a DNF for me. I got about 60% through and was forcing myself to pick it up and continue. The story was just too long and dragging. The description talked about the book taking place over one week in a couple’s life, but when I shelved the book, I had barely made it through two days. The premise of the book was a good one, and rereading the description, it still sounds like a book I would want to read, but it just wasn’t for me.

Jess is a committed career woman and Malcolm is a bartender. Their marriage comes to a crossroad. Jess sees her future as a mother slipping away and Malcolm buys a bar. They need to decide where their future path will take them. A emotionally charged story about love, devotion and marriage. Unique storytelling with a fascinating plot and well written characters.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was immediately pulled into this one by the cover and I tend to love family dramas.

While this book has so much potential it unfortunately was not for me. I ended up DNF so I’m assuming the second half is much, much better. But as someone who has struggled with infertility and miscarriages this book completely upset me. Malcolm came out and shamed Jess multiple times and I am so mad. She should have left him sooner. And I will never root for a man who shames a women for having a miscarriage.

I’m assuming the second half is full of character development that makes you love him, but I never got to that part. I hope the final copy has trigger warnings listed. I was not prepared.

I received an Advanced Reader copy from Netgalley through Simon and Schuster for my honest opinion. I wasn’t sure where the story was heading for about 1/4 of the book. The focus on Half Moon bar and the life it takes on of its own starts to make sense. The regulars, the staff, individual families and dreams come together. Tripp is a regular that has a hidden agenda. Roddy is smarter than he appears. Jess and Malcolm have a marriage that hits some bumps with trust in love and business. About halfway through I started to care what happened. Things got complicated! It is hard to describe the connections between spouses, friends, and lovers. What length would you go to to make a marriage or career flourish and not just survive?

I loved this book. A family drama with characters that you wish you could get to know more.
I highly recommend to those that love contemporary fiction that will make you think.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is basically the story of a marriage in disarray. The wife is obsessed with baby-making and refuses to give up. The husband also is stubborn and somewhat naive when it comes to his lifelong dream for owning a bar. He closes his eyes for far too long to the mounting debts. In the end, he helps her realize that a baby is not in the cards for them, and she helps him to come to his senses about his failing business. Love conquers all, as they say.

Throughout my reading experience I felt like I was in the room with this couple. While that can be a good thing in terms of a writer's talent, it wasn't particularly enjoyable in this instance, A little too much angst for me. There also was a side plot towards the end of the book which didn't seem to have much connection to the story. It baffles me as to why it was included. Did the author need to fulfill a requirement for a certain page count? Anyway, this was a just okay book for me.

Like "Ask Again, Yes," Keane's novel "The Half Moon" is quiet and atmospheric. There's not a lot of action, but the story still gives you plenty to think about. The story takes place over one week in the New York suburbs during back-to-back winter storms that cut-off power to homes and shut down businesses, including Malcolm Gephardt's troubled bar, The Half Moon. As Malcolm struggles to keep his business afloat, he is also struggling to keep his marriage together. The story alternates between Malcolm and his wife, Jess, with generous flashbacks that bring the reader up to speed on how they both ended up in their current predicaments and if there is a second chance for both of them.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

May be in the minority, but I could not get into this one. An incredible amount of exposition, slow moving, and just did not connect with the characters.

4.5 relationship-driven stars

I am a huge fan of this author, so I eagerly dug into this book. We start with Malcolm’s perspective, he’s the spark of the party, the bartender, and now the owner of the Half Moon bar. He’s a bit of a dreamer too, not ready to face the harsh realities of running a bar. Especially when men keep showing up to collect payments.

We then shift to his wife Jess, she’s an attorney and successful in her professional life. In her personal life, she wants to have a baby more than anything. As the years go by, medical intervention never works, and she feels like a failure for not being a mother. Things become strained between Malcolm and Jess as debts pile up.

I loved the way the author showed both sides of the story, I felt like I really got to know these characters. As their marriage crumbled, I still held out hope that Malcolm and Jess could work their way back together, with or without a baby. We get to know their friends, their families, and the impact that a broken marriage has on everyone, especially in a small town.

This well-written book made me ponder if a marriage can be successful if the parties want different things. How much are you willing to give up? Authentically portraying family and relationships shows that this is a strong writer for me! I had to round this one up because I’m still thinking about it a few days after finishing.

Malcolm and Jess have been married for several years.. he a bar owner, she a lawyer…problems with the debt of keeping up a rundown bar, student loans and also of many rounds of intervention because of miscarriages and infertility problems for Jess they are both maxed out other avenues open up for Jess that threaten to end their marriage.. it all comes to a head during a major blizzard that keeps everyone trapped in place during power outages, etc..
The story of a midlife marriage in trouble.. in a small town ..and what it means to be a family.

By the author of Ask Again, Yes which was an amazing read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC!

I loved Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Yes, and recommended it to so many people. The Half Moon, however, didn't quite hit the mark for me. The writing was well done, it was just difficult to read about the main couple's relationship. While this isn't my favorite, I would still be interested in reading other books by the same author.