A slow burn spousal drama that we have come to expect from Keane. I loved her previous work and I loved this one. Keane has a way with character development and this story about a couple with different dreams was no expection. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve never read any of Keane’s novels previously but I will certainly be doing so now. Keane is an excellent writer and I was thoroughly drawn into the lives of Malcolm and Jess. Also, having recently emerged from the world of lockdowns due to Covid, the snowstorm and its consequences really rang true.

This is a very moving story of a couple and their marriage (I can’t really say more without giving some of the plot away). By the end of the book I felt as though Jess and Malcolm were my friends and I’d like to meet them in the bar! Fantastic characterisation, and a well crafted book.

This just didn't do it for me - it is so slow. I gathered right from the start that the marriage in question fails, and the narrative steps back in time to deliver a long, drawn out explanation as to why it imploded. Just to really prolong the agony you are treated to both sides of the marriage. I just could not get that fussed by the characters so I am afraid I gave up.

Really enjoyed how this story flowed through, the characters are great and the story is so believable. Highly recommend.

Malcom and Jesse's story a tale that's intriguing and moving.

The main focus is Malcom the new owner of the Half Moon who had believed Huge had looked it for him and let him have his old club (inn). Malcom isn't one to accept defeat but there are things that you can't always predict but he won't just just give up. When Jess changes decides she needs space a chain of event just happen and their future well you have to read that I'd hate to spoil it for you.

They both want a child but time has moved on and it seems to be strain for them both. But what about the novel did I enjoy it? Yes the characters were very real and a reflection on people you can imagine in your own community but still a read that let's you escape into a world away from our own reality.
There are a few storyline that all work together as well as Jesse's s plus her relationship with Malcom. there is a missing person last seem at the half moon and the future of the Half Moon. This is a full story a great read and it I really want to recommend to you.

I started this book thinking that I wouldn’t enjoy it but actually loved both of the characters and the way the story examines the break down of a marriage from both perspectives so sensitively and beautifully. The bewilderment of Malcolm and the anguish of Jess as they tried to have a baby is really accurately portrayed.
There’s also a couple of great sub plots that keep the story moving along nicely with a few twists and turns on the way.

Set in a small American New York town, The Half Moon follows Malcolm and Jess, recently separated, over a blizzard-hit weekend in which he’s facing a financial meltdown and she’s taking the first tentative steps in a new relationship.
After shaking hands on a deal he was less than honest about with Jess, Malcolm is the owner of the bar he’s worked in for two decades, making changes that haven’t gone down well with the regulars. On top of his business liabilities, he and Jess have debts accumulated through years of infertility treatment. Once the full extent of Malcolm’s dishonesty is clear, Jess decides it’s time for a break. Four months later, the storm hits during the bar’s busiest month leaving Malcolm desperate for the weather to clear while Jess has arrived for her first weekend in Gillam since leaving their home.
Keane’s novel slips smoothly between Malcolm and Jess unfolding the story of their relationship. Each is very different from the other but both are appealing enough to engage our sympathy as they navigate their way through the roller coaster misery of failed IVF and the difficulties of running a business that’s hit the skids. Keane catches the claustrophobia of living in a town where everyone knows everyone else’s business and isn’t afraid to share it counterbalanced by enduring friendships and neighbourliness. No literary fireworks here but an absorbing story well told that might be just the ticket if you’re looking for something to pack in your holiday suitcase.

The book was a slow read for me. I enjoyed the characters but what frustrated me was Malcolm and Jess not talking to each other. Malcolm makes a lot of decisions without talking it through with his lawyer wife. This did not make sense to me. Eventhough I found the above odd I still enjoyed the characters as well as the story. This book takes place ober the course of a week with a lot of flashbacks. I would give this book a 4 star rating.

A slow moving story about a couple Malcom and Jess and their troubled marriage. Both wanting more out of life and both feeling disappointed.
I found it hard to engage with the characters and the storyline.
Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely book. Gives us a real insight into what it must feel like when the perfect relationship goes wrong. How do you start up with someone new? A week of bad weather conditions and someone going missing leads our main character on a journey of self discovery. What should he do to cope with all that’s gone wrong in his life and without the one he loves the most. Will he ever sort his life out again?
This story highlights how what we think we want most isn’t always that at all. Sometimes life can throw in some challenges before it all works itself out. This is just a lovely story and should be read and totally enjoyed. Think I may be reading it again because I loved it. .

FROM THE COVER📖
There are two sides to every story - and every marriage in crisis . . .

Malcolm, bartender at the Half Moon, has always dreamed of owning a bar, and when his boss finally retires, he seizes his chance. He sees unquantifiable magic and potential in the Half Moon and hopes to make it a bigger success.

His wife, Jess, has devoted herself to her law career, but after years of trying for a baby, she's struggling to accept the idea that motherhood might not be in her future. She finds herself slipping away from both her career and her marriage. The bar is Malcolm's dream, and as she feels her youth start to fade, she wonders how to reshape her own life.

When a blizzard hits their upstate New York town on the same day that Malcolm learns some shocking news about Jess, and a regular at the bar goes missing, everyone is frozen in place for a single, pivotal week. In The Half Moon, award-winning author Mary Beth Keane carefully explores a marriage in crisis, what it takes to make a life with another person, and the true meaning of family.

One tumultuous week. One marriage in crisis. One chance to begin again...

REVIEW⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First off I requested this ARK after skimming the description so I went in blind as I have also never read anything from this author.

Once I was approved I did some research and dreaded this would be American Sally Rooney full of self entitled snooty people chatting about feelings,using big words and with no plot to speak of apart from people moaning about nothing really that traumatic, #realworldproblems, giving it the big poor mes. So to say I was sure this would be on my DNF list boy was I wrong. This was nothing like Sally Rooney and the like it was brilliant and I loved it. Thank you so for the ARK I’ve already purchased the authors previous novel set in the small American town.

Told in the third person POV we hear from Mal and Jess over the course of snow storm week expertly and seamlessly passing though the then and now we hear the story of their marriage.

The writer shows how accomplished her writing is as she moves from Jess to Mel expertly within chapters, even within paragraphs and at times managed to just from the present to the past while doing this.I love hearing different POV in books but I have never seen such flawless movement between the POV she doesn’t even divide them by chapters like most writers. So skilled. I loved her writing style.

The characters are very well written they feel very real and true, the cast of characters within the novel are as well written as the two leads, I had proper feelings for them all. I hated Neil, felt so sorry Neil’s kids and I loved Mal’s mum.

The book captures the heartbreaking wanting of a childless couple with care and deep understanding. It’s handled with such delicacies it’s really hits homes. In fact the full novel examines life with such heart, understanding and insight it makes the novel so special


I loved this small town drama. I was completely lost in the story and read it in a couple of sittings. Lost myself in it.

Such a seemly ordinary story told in such a beautiful way with a added mystery element that lifted this from a insightful book on the very heart of human nature to something a little different. And with a tidy , believable and satisfying ending this truly a gift of a book.

Malcolm is the owner of the Half Moon bar.
This gentle and very human story about him and his wife Jess is reminiscent of writers such as Anne Tyler and Margaret Forster.
It centres on a period of turbulence in their marriage as they face some hard issues, such as their life without the children they dearly wanted.
The perspective shifts from Jess to Malcolm and back again and I found this very satisfying: no one view is ever truth, and my allegiances changed and changed again.
To be honest I really loved this novel and I’m so sad it’s ended! The characters are real and wholly believable and I was rooting for Jess and Malcolm, despite feeling that there couldn’t be a happy ending.
This is a solid five stars for me - read it!

I loved this small town drama. I was completely lost in the story and read it in a couple of sittings. I am still thinking about Malcolm and his friends days later. I loved the glimpse into bartenders and owning your own bar. Some triggers connecting to fertility but i felt Mary Beth Keane dealt with topic in such a sensitive realistic way. I highly recommend. This book did not disappoint.

Mary Beth Keane is one of those authors who, much like Anne Tyler and Mary Lawson, can tell an ordinary story in such a beautiful way.

I really enjoyed this story and really felt invested in the main characters. The only slight issue was that I felt the story moving back and forth was a little disjointed but not to take away from a brilliant book

A few years ago I was very impressed by Mary Beth Keane’s ‘Ask Again, Yes’, particularly for her characters and her presentation of important emotional issues in a sympathetic, non-judgemental way. There is more of the same in this new novel - believable characters struggling with life’s disappointments - and the quality of her writing is just as good as I expected. This is a family drama, the main players Jess and Malcolm forming a family unit of just two, to Jess’ distress, and that unit is in danger of collapsing. The reason for this is that they each have a dream they want to realise - Jess to have a baby and Malcolm to have a bar of his own - and neither is as driven by the other’s dream or as disappointed when success eludes them as their partner would like. It seems they cannot continue together.

The drama lies in how they choose to proceed from this point. The action takes place during a blizzard lasting a week when power is cut off and communication is particularly difficult. There is plenty of back story to be filled in and we hear that from both points of view with the result that I felt equally engaged with them both, rooting for them both.

As Malcolm says towards the end, thinking about how his and Jess’ lives might look in the future:

‘He remembered being a kid, all the things he felt capable of, all the streets and avenues that branched away from his body, all the possibilities. But in the end you can only have one life. One at a time, at least. You could turn, you could pause for a while, but you couldn’t go down two streets at once. The things they didn’t end up doing, the places and people they decided against, all defined them as much as anything else, in the way negative space defines a photo or a song. The lives they didn’t lead were there, too, always with them. Only recently did he begin to see the shape those choices had made.’

An emotional read with some unpredictable outcomes for its characters, I’d happily recommend it to fans of intimate family-driven fiction.

,An involving read which highlights the problems caused by lack of communication in a marriage. The deep feelings suffered by the two main characters are separately clearly defined.. You feel for them both in their struggle to resolve their problems

I wasn’t really engaged with the story. As the first half of the book was written as the main character was thinking about the past, I was waiting for the story to start. The second half was more engaging but as it was written in that very American way- using terms that are not always understood by a reader in the UK I was glad to get it finished. I was engaged with the main character and began to feel more positive towards his wife .
I am sorry but this was not my favourite book,

This is a compelling contemporary fiction novel with realistic well drawn characters. It is the story of Malcolm, the owner of Half Moon Bar and his wife Jess. Taking place over a week, with flashbacks to important events in the past, it explores a marriage in crisis, what it takes to make a life with another person, and the true meaning of family.
It is well written and I totally recommend it.

I loved Ask Again, Yes, so I was delighted to be offered this book to review. I was not disappointed. The story explores the relationship of Malcolm and Jess, who have been married for a number of years, Jess having fallen pregnant in her early twenties. This pregnancy ended in miscarriage and unfortunately she has been unable to have another baby. She leaves Malcolm, needing a break. He owns a bar in the small community where they live, which he has always wanted to do - he is sociable and enjoys building up a friendly atmosphere for his customers. He does not understand fully why Jess has left him. There is a complicated story in the background of the ownership of the bar and money troubles which come to a head in a dramatic way during winter storms, when the snow is deep and the electricity is cut off. The supporting characters are well drawn - Malcolm's mother and her neighbour, Patrick and Siobhan, Neil, Roddy, Hugh, etc. I do not wish to give anything away, suffice it to say that the ending was satisfying.