ASK AGAIN, YES caused me to fall in love with the writing of Mary Beth Keane. THE HALF MOON continues my love affair with her work. This author has the ability to get under the skin and make each character, no matter how small, fully three-dimensional. Malcolm, effortlessly appealing, affable and sexy owns The Half Moon, a honky tonk bar that has seen better days. Jesse, Malcolm’s lawyer wife, is left alone most every night while Malcolm tries to keep The Half Moon afloat. A divorced dad moves into their orbit and Jesse slowly wanders.

Mary Beth Keane is a master at the unsaid. Malcolm is gorgeous on the outside but stuffed full of thoughts and desires and fears he can’t say out loud to the love of his life Jesse. Jesse finally tires of that endless silence.

I recommend this book highly. Well done, Mary Beth Keane. Yes, Again!!

I was privileged to receive this novel as an ARC! Thank you to the author, Scribner and NetGalley!

Marriage. If you’ve ever been in one you know it’s not always sunshine and roses. They’re complicated, and years of little hurts, misgivings and half-truths can pile up and it gets ugly. That’s where we find Malcolm and Jess. They’re seemingly at a cross roads in their marriage, after years of trying to have a baby they have different ideas on where life is taking them next, and we watch as their decisions unfold.

Mary Beth Keane is the master of the character driven novel. She has the ability to peel back the layers and give you so much raw realness and relatability in the way she develops the story and the people within it. Her talent in highlighting the humanness of our existences and then reflecting that on the written page is amazing. This is my favorite kind of book, one that digs deep into the lives of flawed characters, that makes it seem like you’re reading their journals or that you live inside their head, where your feelings towards each fluctuates constantly between love, annoyance, understanding, and forgiveness. If you loved Ask Again, Yes and much as I did, you won’t be disappointed with The Half Moon.

This heart wrenching, genuine story directly captures your heart, make you think harder about your own life choices, embracing your fears, confronting your mistakes, chasing your dreams no matter how much risk you take!

It’s a sad, realistic, struggling marriage story! Jess and Malcolm’s story is nothing unique. Their story reminds us our close friends or our siblings’ marriage story or maybe it’s your own story resulted with different consequences! That’s why it’s so well developed, grabbing your from the center of your soul, because it’s so real!

They met at young ages: Jess was aspiring lawyer candidate as Malcolm was playful, charming bartender. Jess found out she was expecting so they got married and they lost the baby. But they didn’t care because they had each other!

But when we move forward we understand they are separated. Jess takes a break to live with her mom who never gave Malcolm her full blessing to marry with her daughter. And Malcolm is trying so hard to keep his dream job, “ Half Moon” bar afloat! He always dreamed of owning a bar, didn’t he? He just followed his own father’s steps, but he may have made a deal with a devil: the previous owner Hugh is unreachable and his mobster like associates keep threatening Malcolm to pay his loan which passed its due date! And no matter how much renovations cost, the regulars of the owner are displeased with the changes he’s made. He already lost some of his regulars to the modern bar that recently opened.

Jess resented her husband because he gave up having kids with her after several failed IVF attempts that siphoned their savings. She resented her husband because he focused on his own dream to become a bar owner, he cared Half moon and its needs more than Jess!

Now in the middle of the blizzard, the bar’s one of the regular patrons is missing under suspicious circumstances. Both Jess and Malcolm question their life choices. What could they have done to change their lives? Are they really happy? Are they satisfied about the persons they turned into? But most importantly:
“What is it they plan to do with their one wild and precious life?

I loved the characterization! I loved the whole execution and the ending ( of the beginning )!
I even loved it more than “ Ask again: yes”
Of course I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.