Unfortunately I have not been able to connect with this book and after multiple attempts have had to admit defeat and mark as dnf

Ask Again, Yes was one of my favourite reads of 2021 and I was hugely excited to read The Half Moon. I’m so pleased to say that it met and exceeded all of my expectations.

The Half Moon follows Malcolm and Jess, a married couple who are at something of a crossroads in life. Malcolm owns and runs The Half Moon, a local bar that always seems to miss the mark when it comes to true success. Staying afloat financially is a month to month struggle. Jess and Malcolm have been trying for a baby for years and Jess is now having to face the reality that it may not happen for her. Both of them aren’t where they thought they’d be at this stage of their lives and both feel time and opportunity slipping slowly away.

What follows is a complex character and relationship study that explores so many grey areas and nuances of marriage, the decisions we make, the opportunities we take and the ones we miss.

I’m such a fan of Mary Beth Keane’s writing; her ability to create complex characters, relationships in such a subtle and quiet way is just 👌🏻 definitely an author to read if you’re a fan of authors like Claire Lombardo or Ann Patchett.

I adore Mary Beth Keane so was so excited to read this - it didn't disappoint.
The Half Moon is a wonderful family drama.
4 stars.

Malcolm and Jess are married but separated. They have been trying for a baby for many years and there are money worries. This is a slow paced account of an ordinary relationship and all the facets that add up to the love they have for each other. But is it enough?

I enjoyed this story very much as the writing is so beautiful and the characters become important to the reader. My only criticism is that it is really slow to start and jumps around timelines for a bit too long.

My thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. Keane's writing is gorgeous and just pulls you through the narrative without letting go. This isn't a book about spectacular events - instead it deals with quiet desperation and reaching a point where you just don't know what to do next, so you have to do something. Malcolm and Jess are both completely realistic characters and you understand every decision they make across the course of the novel. It deals with some really heavy subjects - miscarriage, childlessness, adultery - but with a deft touch and sympathy for the situation. Having just got married, I'd say this was a must-read for any newly weds to see a different but equally true side of marriage.

Gorgeous read from a great author.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I absolutely loved the author’s previous novel Ask Again, Yes so was thrilled to have the opportunity to read The Half Moon.
It’s a quietly understated novel that drew me in from the beginning and I became completely immersed in the story of Malcolm and Jess. Malcolm is the owner of the Half Moon bar in upstate New York, and his wife Jess is a lawyer. They have had many challenges in their relationship from an inability to conceive to Malcolm’s financial difficulties with the bar and have now separated.
The study of their relationship is set against the backdrop of a blizzard and we discover how they met and the secret Jess has been keeping from Malcolm.
I absolutely loved this beautifully written novel which is such a moving portrayal of a marriage in crisis. I had so much empathy for both characters who are so authentically portrayed with their own flaws. The novel seamlessly moves from both characters points of view to take the reader inside their thoughts.
A gorgeous and hopeful read. Recommended.
Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I enjoyed this thought provoking story of a marriage in trouble, and a community of interesting characters who weave around the struggling couple. There were some beautifully written paragraphs. However I thought the backstory about Tripp Waggoner was an unnecessary and somewhat irrelevant distraction from the main plot.

An enjoyable read. I'm going to miss Malcolm and Jess. The stuff about Tripp felt a bit superfluous. I look forward to reading more of Mary Beth Keane’s work as I really liked her style of writing.

The Half Moon is exactly the kind of book I like - stories about regular people loving regular lives, and the beautiful details that they contain. These characters are realistic, with their charms, faults, hopes and dreams.

The story is very much one of seeking happiness, as we see two characters attempting journeys to reach their dreams, that they feel will help them achieve happiness.

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Malcolm has always held the dream of owning a bar - specifically, The Half Moon in his hometown of Gillam. When the owner, Hugh, makes him an offer he can't refuse, Malcolm goes all in. But his wife, Jess, starts to become suspicious and picks holes in the expenditure for the bar. Eventually, Jess reaches her limit and leaves Malcolm. But living in a small town where everyone knows your business means that neither of them can simply walk away and a snowstorm forces them both to face the issues with their marriage and decide whether they can make it work.

I really liked the way that the narratives were told in this novel. The perspectives shift from Malcolm to Jess throughout so that your allegiances shift as the chapters go on. The Half Moon is a character driven novel and I would say that the bar itself is the third main character. The Half Moon dominates both Malcolm and Jess's lives, consuming them until neither can see a way out (although I loved the direction that Jess took the plot!).

Absolutely gripping from the start and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane is a wonderful read. Mary Beth Keane is one of my favourite authors and the Half Moon doesn’t let me down. It is a story of young love and ambition rolled into heartbreak. The young couple we meet are lovable and full of character which is a skill MBK brings to all of her books. Malcolm is my favourite character and his love of his small town America is one I haven’t come across before. His open personality is taken advantage of and used against him. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. Thank you for allowing me to read and review this book.

It was so interesting to experience the relationship from both sides, it made for a very different picture from just one.
I enjoyed Malcolm and Jess’s company so much, I wanted a sequel!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book for review.

The Half Moon is an intimate and absorbing read about the private and complex caverns of marriage.

When the book opens, Malcolm and Jess Gephardt's marriage is a state of dissolution: Malcolm is continuing to manage his slowly failing bar in their hometown of Gillam, and Jess has left him to live temporarily with one of her girlfriends in nearby New York City.

As the book moves on, we revisit different stages of their lives: the first days of their relationship; their decision to marry young, when Jess becomes pregnant; their unfortunate miscarriage and, later, their struggles with infertility, and managing the bills for the bar's upkeep, student loans, and professional setbacks. There are many fault lines in their marriage, the biggest being that Malcolm independently made the decision to buy the bar (and the building in which it stands) from the previous owner, Hugh, without consulting Jess or a lawyer. Hugh hired Malcolm to tend bar in his late teens, but is hoarding a resentment for Malcom's father, who ran a more successful bar in the city years before.

I won't go too much deeper into the story for fear of ruining it for other readers, but I will say that while the plot of the story is engrossing, it is Malcolm and Jess who provide the true momentum behind this novel. The Half Moon isn't just a story about a failing bar and a faltering marriage, it is a story about the small moments - in marriage, in life - that matter. And this is why I love Mary Beth Keane's writing. Her expertise lies in capturing the 'interior-ness' of relationships, the quiet struggles of ordinary people, and the extraordinary grace in the world around us.

It can be intense to live inside a marriage for 300 pages, and while sometimes I found the story quite poignant and difficult to read, I couldn't tear myself away. In the end, this is a book about love, and I loved reading it.

Malcolm Gephardt is a popular, handsome bartender, married to Jess. He has just bought a bar, The Half Moon, from his former boss, despite not actually being able to afford it. He believes that the vision he has will come to fruition - but is it a dangerous pipe dream?

Jess, Malcolm's wife, has undergone years of unsuccessful fertility treatment, and has come to a crossroads in her marriage. With Malcolm's heart set on owning the bar, Jess needs to figure out what - and who - she wants in her life.

Meanwhile, there's a snowstorm causing power outages and forcing people to have difficult face-to-face conversations.

This was just okay for me. I liked the writing style a lot, but the timeline was all over the place and I found it very hard to follow. There were quite a few storylines happening at once, with quite a few side characters, and I'm not sure any of them actually advanced the story. What is the story? I would say it's about a married couple who have little in common anymore except each other, learning that they can't both have what they've always wanted. Which is kind of miserable when I see it written down?

I feel like this book took me weeks to read (in reality it was about three days, which is a lot for me) - I just couldn't warm to any of the characters and didn't see the point of any of the side plots, especially the one involving the missing patron. Mainly I just ended up feeling sorry for Neil's children.

If you like stories about married couples at a crossroads, then I'm sure you'll like this. For me I prefer something with a little more of a main plot, with a clearer timeline.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as Keane’s previous novels. It was perfectly readable, but lacked an intensity or pull. I don’t feel like the characters were fleshed out nearly as well as they normally are, and the plot was very flimsy, in my opinion. I’d point others to her earlier books before this one.

A book where it seems like nothing happens, but everything happens. I was gripped and found myself really invested in the characters.

There was a lot to appreciate about this book- complex characters, the small town vibes, reminiscent to me of Anne Patchett and Anne Tyler in some ways. It also made me feel quite sad though- a poignant read. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

This was a definite 5 star read for me. An exquisitely written story of a marriage in trouble, told from both sides.

Jess and Malcolm were amazing. Until they weren't. Failed IVF, financial troubles and loneliness leading to infidelity all make it seem unlikely this couple will make it.

But the connection between the characters was too strong for it to be the end.

Added to the story is an element of intrigue when it comes to the bar Malcolm has worked at and ultimately brought. A customer goes missing and this event becomes integral to the story.

Being tenacious, leads Jess to use her knowledge and instinct to rescue this couple from financial devastation and ultimately a fresh start that leaves this story on an optimistic note.

There is no schmaltzy romance, it's real and messy and heartbreaking at times.

Absolutely captivating and beautiful to read, I adored everything about The Half Moon.

I loved both the Walking People and Ask Again, Yes, so was thrilled to receive an ARC of Mary Beth Keane’s newest thanks to NetGalley.

Malcolm Gephardt owns the Half Moon, an Irish pub in New York he had been bartending all his life. His lawyer wife Jess dreams of motherhood, but has endured more failed IVF treatments than anyone should have to experience.

Theirs is a marriage in crisis.

“He’d learned over the seventeen weeks since Jess left that waiting for something to happen was exhausting, as if a door slammed four months earlier were still slamming, and he was still standing there, flinching, body tensed, waiting to find out what would come after. Now he knew, he supposed. In a tiny way, it was a relief.“

The novel goes back and forth between past and present, as we learn what brought these two together and what is tearing them apart.

“When she asked whether he was happy, he acted as if he didn’t understand the question, like he didn’t even know how being happy or unhappy was relevant to a life like theirs. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, you always seem upbeat but are you really? Do you ever want something else?”
“Something else?” he asked. “What are my choices?” She saw that he’d never asked himself that question, or if he had, he’d refused to answer. She saw him wondering if what she was really asking was whether she was happy.”

Irish catholic family, east coast of New York, Irish pub, marriage in crisis, poor financial decisions, it’s impossible not to draw comparisons with We are the Brennans. But The Half Moon goes deeper, is more of a character study, perhaps at the expense of a plot.

I want to say that when the writing is this good then it’s hard to care about anything else, but really I found it a bit of a slog. It’s beautiful but I found myself bored. The story was just a bit slow and plodding. I struggled go get really invested like I did with her previous books. And, I don’t think the Tripp subplot added anything but unnecessary length.

I wanted to love this book so much, and Malcolm and Jess Gephardt really captured my heart, and I adore Keane’s writing, but something was just missing for me.

3.5*