The Half Moon is an interesting look into a marriage and the emotional and physical toll of infertility treatments. There is more to the story, of course, but Keane depicts the strain (financial, physical and emotional) of multiple fertility treatments on the relationship between Jess and Malcolm. Coupled with differing ideas about life and the future, the marriage goes through a lot. I really loved the details in this novel. The characters are multi-dimensional and the way they relate was very real. The mystery between a bar customer and employee added another plot line which also brings to question the choices we make in life and how those decisions can affect the course of our future.

Keane writes beautifully and with compassion about every day problems of ordinary people. You care about the characters and at the end there is always hope. Recommended!

I tend to have an unusual way of rating the books I review, I read on cardio machines in the gym. If my 35 minute stint seems to go by in a flash, it's either a four or a five star review.. If, on the other hand, it feels twice as long as the actual time worked out, I tend to rate lower.

I had heard such good things about Mary Beth Keane's previous novel Ask Again, Yes, that I was totally delighted to have been approved for the ARC of her new one. Truth be told, it's closer to 3 1//////2 stars because the writing is good. Perhaps I was put off by the alternating point of view of the chapters without an early clarification of whether it was Jess or Malcom's viewpoint.

So many novels are about marriage, as this one is, but I don't know why I should have found the entire premise difficult to believe. Malcolm is the owner of a bar in suburban New York City. He has been bartending there from before buying it from the time he was in his teens. It has been his life. Jess, his wife, an attorney, obviously better educated by drowning in tuition loan payouts, does not seem to be the perfect match described. There is little more than physical attraction keeping them together.

Aside from their lack of real communication, I could not understand how Jess decided to leave Malcolm and move in with a divorcee with three young children. Okay, I understand that she wanted kids whereas Malcolm had had enough of unsuccessful IVF (costly) treatments to let it go.

There are two mothers (his and hers) and two friends who interfere, and ultimately, everything works out, (sort of.). There is also a, mysterious disappearance of a bar patron and a part-time bartender, and some hanky panky perpetrated by the previous owner of The Half Moon Bar. All in all, this left me unsatisfied and made by time at the gym seem interminable.

As always, thanks to NetGalley and Scribner's/Simon and Schuster for the chance to read this novel pre-publication in exchange for an honest review..

Keane's magic is in her ability to write characters that feel intimate and fully-developed. "The Half Moon" looks closely at the relationship between Malcolm, a bartender who dreams of owning his own bar. And Jess, a lawyer, who dreams of motherhood. The backdrop of a silent and snowy town in the middle of a power outage creates the space for a deep reflection of the marriage. A heart wrenching and deeply personal look at love and how it can transform, stretch, and grow over time.

I feel very medium about The Half Moon. The novel felt slow paced to me, and I wasn't always compelled to pick it up and continue reading. It is more of a character-driven novel but I don't feel like I ever really had a connection to the characters and they felt a bit flat to me. I especially had trouble picturing the main female character, Jessica — big city lawyer but also small town girl who (at one point) was very happy hanging at her husband's bar (The Half Moon). As a character I couldn't quite wrap my head around her and her personality. There were certain points in the book when I felt we were on the cusp of some exciting moment that would enliven the plot, but those moments always just sort of fizzled.

I saw a lot of similarities between this book and Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Yes (town setting of Gillam, marital strife, small-town working class characters - cops, etc.). If I had to pick between the two, Ask Again, Yes felt more exciting and like an epic work spanning the lifetimes of the characters, and The Half Moon never seemed to have the excitement or emotional depth to make it compelling to me.

I should say Keane's writing is strong, but the plot (of lack thereof) in this book just didn't click for me.

The Half Moon is the story of Malcolm and Jess, a couple struggling to keep their marriage intact through infertility, a failing business, and both of their selfish decisions.

Perhaps I struggled with this book bc I’ve never dealt with any of the issues presented, but I could not find empathy for either main character. A good relationship is about being a team, and neither of them acted as such, even at the end. Had this not been an ARC I would have stopped reading halfway through this book.

There was also a subplot about one of the bar patrons who goes missing, which could have been left out entirely. It just felt like a distraction.

This book wasn’t for me, but if you like heady, character driven stories maybe you’ll be a fan.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC kindle version of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I read the summary, but as a person that struggles with infertility (and DOR, like Jess, specifically) this one hit a chord I was not prepared for when reading. Keane did a great job describing the endless hope, emotional exhaustion, and difficulties that the experience can bring upon even the strongest relationship. Similarly, I spent more than a decade in the service industry as a bartender, so I liked seeing that side pop up for Malcolm, too.

Sadly, though, that's sort of where my enjoyment stopped. Malcolm and Jess seemed to be doing a slow-motion beach run. How such a small town didn't quite know what was happening seemed unbelievable. Then, the almost mob-like secondary story line, the way characters never actually resolve any problems-just push them behind and move on-, and the oh-so-convenient offer that puts a bow on things at the end...it just all felt shallow and wasn't enjoyable for me.

Overall: 3 stars

I'll tell my students about: language, trauma, sex, infertility, adultery, alcohol, crime, fraud, infidelity, divorce,

**Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the free ARC prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own.**

I really enjoyed the Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane. This is a story that is driven by it's characters. A domestic drama that encompasses marriage, separation, infertility, infidelity, and most importantly disappointment.

The half moon started off slow for me but eventually moved along well. There were some unexpected twists that I did not see coming which made it all the better!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC of The Half Moon.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an early copy of The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane

Author Mary Beth Keane has created another realistic and absorbing world of ambition, let-down and ultimate redemption in her new book The Half Moon. Flawed characters are at their best as they struggle with the realities of life that are not a part of their dreams.

Malcolm Gephardt is the owner of The Half Moon bar after taking it over in a less-than-sound business deal with retiring owner Hugh. Malcolm's goal is to make the bar a huge success; Malcolm's wife, Jess, nurses a very different goal: to become a mother. When these goals come into conflict, Malcolm and Jess turn from each other. Several secondary characters have their own parts to play and are completely believable in their relationships with Malcolm and Jess.

Mary Beth Keane writes in a direct but caring style and the reader will be engrossed with the turn of events that will lead to new insights into possibilities not previously imagined.

The Half Moon is a novel that tries to tell a small story that is occasionally hidden under big plot points, but ultimately falls short of successfully pulling it all off. At its core, this is a novel about Malcolm and Jess falling apart and maybe back together after several years of marriage, a marriage that has been strained by fertility problems and money problems and fidelity problems. For some reason, though, Keane is also telling a story of Big Plot Events that didn’t really work for me—arson, money laundering, and runaway criminals fill the back half of the book in a way I found baffling rather than satisfying.

At this point, I would read Keane's grocery list. This is a gorgeously written novel about family, love, and complexities of life, all set against the bar, The Half Moon. I absolutely loved it.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is about a marriage falling apart under multiple pressures and feels believable. But it's also a character driven story and nearly all the time is spent up in the heads of the two characters. That's not my jam and it didn't help that I didn't feel connected to either of them. This book was tiring to read - the format required you to pay close attention and the time jumps were clunky.

"The half moon" is the story of a couple struggling with life decisions and how those choices have created their current circumstances.
The first half of the book is told from the POV of Malcom. He and his wife,Jess, are the heart of this novel.
The novel is very slow paced until a charater goes missing,about half way through. The pace does pick up ever so slightly.
This novel is character driven, so much so that I began to wonder about the overall "point" of the book. I could never really get invested in the story of the circumstances.

I prefered "Fever", by Keane. This nove just did not appeal to my reading prefence.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scriber for the ARC.

What a devastating read. I loved how well the author was able to put you in both main characters shoes while facing a divorce.

However, I didn't feel drawn to either character. I was more sad for the situation rather than the characters feelings or issues.

The prose was wonderful and I loved how the story revolves around the Half Moon.

My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner Books for an e-ARC of this novel.

The Half Moon centers around Malcolm and Jess, whose marriage is crumbling under financial woes and infertility. In the course of one week, their future will be decided as the fate of their marriage hangs in the balance.

Mary Beth Keane so beautifully weaves this story together, patient with her pacing and crafting such real characters. She gives us such an intimate view of their marriage, the heartache of infertility, the crippling weight of debt, it almost feels to personal to read, all while layering their backstories perfectly into her prose.

This novel is for any fan of character driven novels that leave them feeling different than when they first picked it up.

Loved Ask Again Yes and The Half Moon did not disappoint! The book centers around a married couple’s relationship (Malcolm and Jess). Malcolm is the owner of a bar (the half moon) and Jess is an NYC lawyer. The couple struggled with infertility, which led to turbulence in their marriage. This book has so many relatable points and works with the theme of how little decisions or events in life can determine the rest of your life trajectory. The book is mostly told from Malcolm’s POV but we get a bit of a glimpse into Jess’s world as well. Would highly recommend and I’ll read pretty much anything from this author!

Much like "Ask Again Yes," "The Half Moon" tells the story of a couple torn apart and brought back together. Malcolm owns a struggling bar and is caught up in a cycle of debt he is unable to pay. His wife, Jess, is crushed by her infertility and begins to wonder if she might be happier elsewhere. The book unfolds over the course of a week, as Jess and Malcolm navigate a terrible snow storm. Through flashbacks, the reader gets a glimpse of their earliest love and its eventual unraveling. Mary Beth Keane is nothing if not a hopeless romantic so this book does find its end with a warm gentleness. I found this to be a sensitive and moving portrait of an aging couple, with beautiful prose about the habits we form in relationships. I mean, this sentence alone: "She thought of the show she'd fallen asleep to earlier that week, on National Geographic, about spiders, how they're born knowing how to weave a web, without ever having seen one, without imagining what a web could be for."

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I don’t know how else to describe my first book by Mary Beth Keane except to say it totally knocked my socks off! This is a story of love and marriage, of friends and family, of loyalty and despair, and learning how to trust in the one you love. Being a long-time married person, I am fascinated with the workings of couples, relationships, and successful marriages.

Malcolm and Jess have been married for quite some time and have been trying for a baby for several years. On the surface, they seem a bit mismatched as Malcolm the long-time bar manager just bought a bar without Jess’s approval and Jess is an attorney who feels less than a woman after multiple IVF attempts to get pregnant. Once madly in love, they are having communication problems and are drifting apart.

With problems at the bar increasing, Malcolm does not give Jess the attention she needs, and their marriage begins to unravel leaving Malcolm clueless. Their friends try to help, but he is stoic and continues in his usual way. It was interesting reading their story and trying to understand how they came to this point.

I really enjoyed the book and Keane’s writing style, so much so that I am looking at her backlist. I thoroughly recommend this book and thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest opinion. I gave it four and one-half stars rounded up to five!

Very real story about the heartbreak and strength of a marriage in trying times. Malcolm and Jess share their highs and lows in the span of a week, yet the author takes us back in time and leaves a glimpse of their future together. I enjoyed this book immensely as it was so authentic. Trigger warning: pregnancy loss.

Mary Beth Keane's previous novel Ask Again, Yes is a stunning look at life among the working and middle class in suburban New York City. Most of the characters are police or related to someone in law enforcement, and this is central to the plot. The Half Moon shares this trait-the title refers to the bar owned by Malcolm, and is important to the story, also set in the NYC metropolitan area. Malcolm is the hero of The Half Moon-he's a middle aged man struggling to keep his bar afloat while his lawyer wife yearns for more. It is Malcolm that will keep you vested in the novel, and you'll feel the same anger and frustration he does at giving his all to his wife and business, but still watch them fall apart. Malcolm and Jess have tried unsuccessfully for years to have a baby. Malcolm has mostly accepted their childless status, not so much for Jess. Among their friends and coworkers having a baby is a given-but for Jess and Malcolm their "no kids" status has them floundering as though they were dropped in a foreign country without knowing the language. While every marriage is unique, most breakups happen because of money, in laws, or cheating- in The Half Moon it's lack of money and a wayward spouse. Miss Keane writes with unparalleled depth and insight into a failing marriage. Especially for Malcolm her words are intense as any thriller. The plot veers into The Godfather territory-with burly gangsters threatening Malcolm for an unpaid loan, and underhanded dealings by some of the secondary characters. This is a small distraction from a beautifully told family drama, but is necessary for the conclusion. Few write from the heart as well as Mary Beth Keane-and that's something you'll never have to ask again.