🌜The Half Moon by @marybethkeane
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Malcolm and Jess are a young, ambitious married couple. Malcolm dreams of owning the Half Moon bar when his boss retires. Jess, his wife and lawyer, sees it as a stretch in their finances.
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While Malcolm sees it as his life's dream with nothing but benefits, quickly changes when the bills begin to pile up.
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Behind the day to day at the bar, Malcolm and Jess have struggled with their plans to start a family and this begins to take a toll on their relationship.
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What made me fall for Mary Beth's stories has been her ability to create characters that feel like they could be your next door neighbors- which is what I loved in Ask Again Yes. I was so engrossed by the Half Moon, Malcolm and Jess' heartaches as a couple and as individuals. This book moved me.

Malcolm is an outgoing bar owner who is struggling to keep The Half Moon afloat. After working there for years, he jumped at the chance to buy it when the owner, Hugh, retired, but he's finding it isn't easy to make changes to a local institution. Malcolm's wife, Jess, works at a law firm and is longing to start a family. She's finding it difficult to combine her stressful job with her efforts to get pregnant. The story takes place over the course of one week, but there are a lot of flashbacks to the events that led up to all the characters' current situations. Life moves on until a deadly blizzard changes everything - one of Malcolm's customers seemingly disappears, Jess considers moving on with a ready-made family new to the area, and Malcolm's deal with Hugh seems to have not been completely above board. I enjoyed the author's writing style, and the way she combined small-town life with life in the big city (in this case Manhattan). This was mostly a character-driven story, and I felt like I knew them (well, most of them) well. Many thanks to Ms. Keane, Scribner, and NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC digital copy. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.

I enjoy reading books with dual narration. Unfortunately, I just could not get into The Half Moon. I attempted several times but was unable to connect with the characters.

3.5 stars out of respect for the author and the fact that The Half Moon is likely is just not the right book for me at this time. I will keep in on my "to be read" list and will update this review in the event that my opinion changes.

I received this book as an Arc and I was excited to go on the journey with the characters. Unfortunately, I had a hard time following all of the time jumps that happened within each chapter as one minute it was the present and the next it was the past, and back and forth. I also, felt that while I enjoyed the characters I couldn't relate to them, and too much time was spent on their problems I felt that I wanted to skim a lot because it felt redundant. Maybe I was looking for a more upbeat book to read right now, either way, the book was well-written and the characters developed.

The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane is a realistic and heart-rending story.
A very well written and thought provoking read.
Beautifully written with unforgettable characters.
The author does a great job of developing the characters and making you invested in their lives.
The characters in this story are captivating and they make this novel so hard to put down.
I loved this new story by Keane and would defiantly recommend it.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You Netgalley and Scribner for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

Half Moon by the author of As Again Yes follows the demise of a marriage and a bar. Mal and Jess marry young in a shotgun wedding. They’re in love, they’re pregnant … then not. And time goes by while they struggle though fertility treatments. Golden boy Mal buys a bar, The Half Moon, without Jess’ consent. Mal has always been lucky and the kind of guy that skates on his good looks and personality. But that can’t save the bar or his crumbling marriage. Jess has become bitter, frustrated and starts looking outside her marriage for validation. The story rotates in time and perspective all the while so you get a sense of each characters musings. All that said, I never felt that close to these characters. I appreciated how the marriage and even the bar failed and how that was tracked but this book was missing something for me. The writing was plain, nothing fancy, though it mostly kept me engaged. I think it was both not deep enough, not edgy enough or not special enough for me. I compared it to We Are the Brennans which I sort of felt the same about. It wasn’t bad but I never “got” why I should care for the Brennans or why they were special and I guess I felt a bit of the same sentiment here. That said I think a lot of folks will love this and maybe if you haven’t read ask again yes you’ll love this more than I did. This isn’t necessarily a family drama but a marriage drama. And maybe I wasn’t expecting that either.
Probably a 3.75 but rounding up here

A couple’s marriage is strained by infertility, infidelity, and an unpaid debt on a bar that the husband bought without his wife's informed consent.

I found the first part of this book to be a bit of a grind. The relentless focus on the couple’s problems put me on edge, and the timeline jumped all over the place in a way that made it hard to follow. Things picked up near the end when they got together to deal with the bar, but it was hard going to get there.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

The Half Moon
by Mary Beth Keane
Pub Date: May 2, 2023
Scribner
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts on this book!
This story captures your heart because it is so real! This book was a sad, realistic, marriage story. This book grabbed me from the beginning. Malcom was a bit slower for me to warm up to.
I liked that the book was hopeful at the end. I liked this book much more than Keane's first novel, Ask Again.
I highly recommend this book.
4 stars

Relationship's... It's complicated. Malcom and Jess have a history, through various circumstances they are brought together and torn apart. Well written, the author moves back and forth between the two characters
telling two very personal perspectives.

I loved the writing and the characters in this story. Mary Beth Keane writes about a marriage that is in trouble after dreams are deflated and the timing and plot are right on.I read this book in two sittings and highly recommend. It is a bit depressing but super realistic as anyone who has struggled in a marriage will agree.
I just loved the way the story moved along and the sidebar mysteries that unfolded and the downright dirty tricks and dealings going on outside of the main story. This is a must read for anyone that needs realistic fiction in their lives.

I am deeply appreciative to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Keane digs deep into what it means to be married and takes a hard look at where one draws the line. Her fine prose left me cheering for both Malcolm and Jess at different times. Although this story was dark at times, Keane shines a light for you to follow their stories to the end.

Aside from the heartbreaking narrative of living with infertility, this story delves into the missteps of relationships, and how quickly they add up. She poses questions you may even change the answers to once you realize both sides of the story add up to one incredible tale of love, heartache, and second chances—in both love and life.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

This one had moments where I thought it was going to be interesting, but then I got bogged down by the lack of a moving plot. I chose not to finish this one.

I love Mary Beth Keane! 'She has such a beautiful style of writing - cathartic and relatable. I think this one will be a hit, once again. I love the drama of the restaurant and how the familial relationships tie in.

Once I again I call on editors everywhere to EDIT THE BOOK!!! I am curious how so many books seem they had no editor. This was good- but def could have been better with editing.

This is a good book. The characters are well-drawn. The story is well though-out. It's well-written. It's a comfortable story about people I might know. It's about family and history and what it means to be from a particular place. It's about the inner life of a marriage when two people have different dreams and neither wants to tell the other that they just aren't going to happen. That it's time to stop trying. It begins on the eve of a major blizzard, which echos the cold and powerlessness going on inside Malcolm and Jess, and hits the pause button on their lives. From there the it all unfolds.

This novel didn't reach deep inside and strum a chord that will keep playing on long past the last page, or leave me seeing the world in a new way, but I did enjoy reading it. I would give it 3.5 stars, but I can see it being a 5-star read for someone else.

Life is short and this book left me with hopeful feelings and a reminder to stay close to those that make you feel the magic in the everyday.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This book is well written with developed characters. Three stars.

“The Half Moon” is the latest novel by Mary Beth Keane. This is my first exposure to the author but not the last.

I have been reading and reviewing a lot of thrillers, so I appreciated the opportunity to read a story that slowed down and focused on people struggling at difficult points in their lives. Malcolm is a bartender who dreams of owning his own establishment. Jess is an attorney who fell in love with Malcolm when they were both in their twenties. Then, an unexpected pregnancy led to marriage that led to heartbreak when Jess had a miscarriage and then found herself unable to get and stay pregnant. Flashforward to the present—Malcolm took one too many loans to buy the “Half Moon” while Jess resents Malcolm who she believes has failed to support her through endless rounds of IVF. Marriages do not usually fall apart because of one big event but minor rips and tears; Malcolm and Jess’s story is a fantastic example of that.

There is nothing unique about this plot, but the way the characters jump from the page and tug at your heart strings make this story memorable. I had not previously read “Ask Again, Yes,” but now I want to.

Four and a half stars.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

This is another great character study from Mary Beth Keane. Not a lot really happens in this novel, but you see a married couple, Malcolm and Jess, go through a rough patch in their marriage. They each deal with their issues on their own until they come together to solve some problems. I enjoyed the novel, and would recommend it for anyone who likes contemporary fiction with a focus on character development.

What happens when your current life doesn't match what you thought it would be? That's what's happening with Malcom and Jess. the married couple thought things would be easier, but life keeps throwing curveballs at them. Then over the course of a blizzard, they are forced to reckon with their decisions and determine if they can move forward in a different path.

This book just made me sad. From the beginning you find yourself hoping Mal will just catch a break. Also, MBK writes in such a way that you feel the struggles of the character as if they are your own. There are some life lessons to be learned in this story - it’s like therapy!