I have enjoyed this authors previous books so I was very interested in reading this. I enjoyed it and found the storyline and characters intriguing. Recommend.

Mary Beth Keane's "The Half Moon" is a quietly powerful novel set against the backdrop of a blizzard that parallels the turbulent emotions of its characters. Taking place in a small town in upstate New York, the story revolves around Malcolm and Jess, a couple whose marriage is teetering on the edge of collapse.

Malcolm, the owner of the bar named the Half Moon, has poured his heart and soul into making it a special place. Meanwhile, his wife, Jess, a lawyer, grapples with her own disappointments. Years of trying to conceive have left her feeling a deep longing and an increasing sense of distance from Malcolm.

Keane skillfully weaves their individual struggles into a compelling mystery when a regular at the bar goes missing, ensnaring Malcolm in a web of suspicion. As the snow accumulates outside, trapping everyone indoors, tension rises, and long-buried secrets begin to surface.

What makes "The Half Moon" so captivating is its nuanced exploration of marriage and the complexities of human connection. Keane doesn’t shy away from the messy realities of long-term relationships—the resentments, compromises, and unspoken hurts. Yet, she also highlights the enduring power of love and the possibility of redemption.

The novel is beautifully crafted, with precise and evocative language. Keane adeptly captures the subtle nuances of human emotion, making her characters feel authentic and relatable. The setting is vividly depicted, with the Half Moon bar serving as a microcosm of the town—a gathering spot where people seek solace, connection, and an escape from their daily lives.

While the pacing can be deliberately slow at times, it heightens the sense of anticipation and unease. The ending, though perhaps not entirely surprising, is fulfilling and resonates emotionally.

Overall, "The Half Moon" is a powerful and moving read that lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned. It’s a story about love, loss, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.

**Recommended for:** Readers who appreciate character-driven narratives, literary fiction, and stories set in small towns. Fans of authors like Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, and Tom Perrotta are likely to enjoy Keane's writing.

Not really my type of read. Character's that I didn't really like and quite a dull drawn out storyline. If it had had a little more of the writting that was towards the end of the book I would have enjoyed it more.

While starting off at a leisurely pace with the dissolution of a relationship, this novel offers a profound insight into the dynamics of human connections. The characterisation is masterful, inviting readers to delve deeper into the complexities of the human psyche.

Malcolm is ambitious, struggling to make ends meet in The Half Moon. His wife, Jess, is unsettled and feels something is missing in their marriage, but confused. I can’t commend how she dealt with that. I felt pity for the long-suffering Malcolm, who was more generous than I would have been—food for thought and discussion.

I must add that the cover was exquisite (as a lover of snow scenes), and it attracted my attention immediately.

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.

.

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.