Having enjoyed Kerryn Mayne's debut, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, I was excited to dive into Joy Moody is Out of Time. While distinct in their narratives, both novels showcase Mayne's talent for crafting uniquely compelling plots populated by a cast of endearingly quirky yet intricately layered characters. This was another hit in my book!
In Joy Moody is Out of Time, we are introduced to Joy, the owner of the laundromat "Joyful Suds," and her twin daughters, Cassie and Andie. Joy has raised them on an elaborate lie: they're time travelers from 2050, returning home on their 21st birthday. From the start, we know Joy isn't their biological mother, and her intense belief in her own delusion, fueled in part by a developing brain tumor, is evident. How has Joy come to raise the twins? Why has she built their entire lives around a deeply seated lie?
The twins' twenty-first birthday takes a dark turn when Joy is discovered dead. This sudden tragedy shatters Cassie and Andie's carefully constructed reality, forcing them to grapple not only with grief but with the crumbling foundations of their entire lives. As they begin piecing together fragmented memories and deciphering Joy's secrets, they uncover a far more complicated truth than their fantastical upbringing.
Mayne possesses a remarkable ability to create unconventional characters who, despite their flaws and questionable decisions, evoke a fierce protectiveness from readers.
While the initial pacing is deliberate, the narrative steadily drew me in, and I became deeply invested in this unconventional found family. Kerryn Mayne is quickly solidifying her place as an auto-buy author for me, and Joy Moody is Out of Time further cements that status.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for providing me with an eARC for review! All opinions are my own.

This one was out there, and mostly in a good way. I wasn’t sure if I would like the book when it started, based on the premise of time travel. But the book is so much more and it was quite endearing. If you liked the author’s first book I recommend you give Joy, Cassie, and Andie a chance too.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I absolutey loved Kerryn Mayne's debut, "Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder", and couldn't wait to read her sophomore effort, "Joy Moody Is Out Of Time". (Great titles!) I didn't know if she would be able to replicate the magical quirky characters she had in her debut novel but she absolutely did!

I love to read mysteries, and these are technically a mystery, but that is almost beside the point. The author creates an immersive world you dive into and wish you could really meet these astounding characters. These books are a sort of palate cleanser for me, when I need something a bit deeper and more inventive than your average mystery. Here the characters and the drama of their lives is the thing, and yes, there is a mystery too.

I'm not going to explain the plot. It sounds crazy, but it works! It takes a lot to stand out for me, and I'm a voracious reader, but Mayne's books are definitely one-of-a-kind, in the best way!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kerryn Mayne and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne is another unique novel by Ms. Mayne, who I've come to enjoy! Her first novel, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder was delightful and this one is just as a fun.

Cassie and Andie are Joy Moody's twin daughters. They've been told their entire lives that they are important to the future and must be hidden to keep them safe because on their 18th birthday, people from the future will be coming to get them. She told them this to explain how they came to her for protection as babies, since they aren't really her children. When they turn 18, she told them she'd received a missive saying they would be collected when they're 21. Well, now they're 21 and waiting for someone to show up. Joy's quirkiness as she runs the laundromat that they live behind, her raising of the girls and what the girls believe (and don't believe) makes this a fun and enjoyable novel. A well fleshed out cast of characters you will love are the icing on the cake. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited to read Joy Moody Is Out of Time after I really enjoyed Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne. In the end it didn't really measure up, but I did enjoy and would recommend it you like a cozy mystery type story. It definitely keeps that quirky feeling from Lenny Marks, and I did enjoy that a lot, but I was just forced to really suspend belief when it came to Joy's 21 year old twins who we learn have been hidden from the world.

In the beginning I was getting fantasy/magical realism vibes, but it definitely was not either. But at the end I wasn't sure if Joy was the heroine or the villain. I definitely felt like she had some mental issues, and keeping the twins isolated for so long was abusive. This also took me a long time to get through. I would constantly put it down, read something else, and then come back to it. A good read that you will enjoy if you like Kerryn Mayne's writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun, cozy mystery novel that also deals with the twins dealing with their grief of their mother s death and the impact of the stories she told them growing up.

I’m going to be honest here when I say that the reason I first requested this book was based off the title and cover and I didn’t really know what it was about and went in very much unaware of what I was in for—a really great story about family, secrets, lies, and trust. It was really well written and it felt like a quick read for me with the author’s way of story-telling. Great book!

Joy has been preparing her twin girls, Cassiopeia and Andromeda, to travel to the year 2050 when they turn 21. Growing up, Cassie and Andi, have been told they will have an important role in the Daughters of the Future Revolution, women who will fight in a future war.

Joy owns a laundry mat and has home schooled the twins and restricted television and other electronics.

While Cassie does everything their mother wants them to do, Andi has begun asking questions and does a DNA test. She’s very surprised when she learns the name of their father. She’s also gobsmacked when a tattoo artist shows Andi a series of books that includes the entire story their mother told them their entire lives; a fictional story that Joy believes is true.

How did Joy come to be the girls mother? Does she actually believe they will travel to the future to fight in a battle? What happens when we’re influenced by something that we wish were true? Sometimes the line between fiction and reality blurs leading to fatal results.

I absolutely love the writing of Kerryn Mayne. Her book Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder was phenomenal so I was super excited to see she had a second book! I was immediately hooked especially considering the end of the prologue. Mayne is a master story teller and I certainly hope she continues to delight and entertain us with her books!

Thank you NetGalley, Kerryn Mayne, and St.Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ahead of the proposed release date of August 19, 2025.

Thank you to Erica Martirano of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. It starts off so bizarre that I was convinced it was about child abduction and mental illness. I have read other books by Mayne, and bizarre is the theme. This book does not disappoint. As we learn about the history of the twins and how their life story developed, we see how important their tiny little community is to this family. There is little that I can say about the story without spoiling some of the aspects, I can say that the ending is a mix of sad and hopeful. The characters are all very quirky to crazy, the storyline is not actually as outlandish as you first think, but it takes some crazy twists.

3.5 stars rounded up. I thought this book was a bit unbelievable, especially in this day and age. The relationship between Joy and her girls was touching. I loved the closeness/togetherness of the community. I enjoyed the twists at the end and although I was saddened by the outcome. I just didn’t love it as much as Lenny and had mixed emotions. It was an easy read with writing that flowed, but I couldn’t get beyond the fact that it was unrealistic/unbelievable. .

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.
An emotional mystery about Joy, the mother of twin girls, who believes the girls, on their 21st birthday, will travel to the year 2050.
Joy has so.many secrets, which will come out over the course of the book, and she can't wait for the 3 of them to leave to fulfill their destiny.
It's a bittersweet story with a lot of heart which I recommend highly

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Das Buch enthält eine faszinierende, frische Geschichte um zwei junge Frauen Anfang 20, deren Leben auf einer Lüge aufgebaut ist.

Das Buch ist gut zu lesen und es war für mich einfach, in der Welt der Geschichte anzukommen. Die Geschichte wird von der Autorin unaufgeregt erzählt, wilde Szenen und lautes Drama sucht man vergeblich. Die verschiedenen Charaktere wirkten auf mich faszinierend, als mehr als Figuren in einem Buch konnte ich sie aber nicht sehen. Dazu fehlte dann doch etwas.

Ich bewundere die Ideen, die Kerryn Mayne in das Buch gepackt hat. Beim Lesen wird es entscheidend sein, ob man daran glauben kann, dass Cassie und Andie wirklich an Joys Geschichte geglaubt haben. Ich hatte damit so meine Probleme, was sich leicht negativ auf mein Leseerlebnis ausgewirkt hat.

Was das Buch aber auf jeden Fall geschafft hat, ist mich zum Nachdenken anzuregen. Vor allem in Bezug auf Joys Persönlichkeit muss ich auch nach dem Beenden des Romans noch darüber nachdenken, wie ich alles unter einen Hut bringen soll und wie ich Joys Verhalten bewerten soll.

Wer Bücher mit außergewöhnlichen Geschichten mag, der kann sich auf den Roman freuen.

🖤🖤🖤 1/2 (Ich tue mich mit einer Bewertung des Buches wirklich schwer!)

Wer Romane mag, die auf einer frischen, faszinierenden Grundidee basieren, und nicht den Drang hat, alles beim Lesen hinterfragen zu müssen, der könnte mit “Joy Moody is out of time” eine gute Zeit haben.

3.5⭐️s. It was a creative story of a mother who raises her “daughters” on a sort of fairy tale to cover up the truth until it runs away from her, while the girls wade thru trust, betrayal, questions and sort of redefine and relearn their family in the end.

Some of the elements on motherhood are relatable, and I thought the effects of ultra-sheltering of the girls was well portrayed. I especially liked the undercurrent of community even when a character pushed them away for self-protection, how people pull together in a crisis or just to show someone they’re seen.

The first part of the book was honestly really slow. The second half I liked a lot more as it picked up, but I struggled thru a little in the beginning. That said, I really liked the author’s writing style. It had a sort of honest subtlety to it that felt real and transparent.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

Kerryn Mayne is now an auto-read author for me! While I loved her debut, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, I think Joy Moody is Out of Time is even better. I stayed up until 4 a.m. this morning devouring it because I simply couldn’t put it down. By the time I finished, I was in tears. What a phenomenal book!

Mayne’s distinctive storytelling is effortless and engaging. Her use of segmented timelines, combined with perfectly placed mini cliffhangers, is awesome. Those twists and turns are exactly what kept me hooked until the early hours because I had to see what would happen next! The way she ties everything together in the end, often with emotional depth and last-minute revelations, is brilliant.

The characters are perfect, and their stories are unique and layered with secrets. I’d call them all quirky, but they were much more than that. Maybe it’s more honest to say they’re simply ordinary people navigating life in their own imperfect ways. I loved each of them… well, except for two characters and you’ll know who they are if you read the book.

This is a found family story, with a fascinating mix of dysfunction, a murder mystery, and even a dash of time travel. That may sound like an unusual combination, but it works seamlessly, and everything makes perfect sense by the end.

I can’t stop thinking about how this book so poignantly captures the way life’s experiences can blur the lines between right and wrong. It pushes readers to empathize with flawed characters and think about how they might handle similar situations. Joy Moody and her daughters are unforgettable, and this story will stay with you long after the final page. I can’t recommend it enough!

Thank you @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for an eARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed voluntarily.

This is the second book that I have read by this author, and I enjoyed it as much as the first book. The main character Joy is an amazing woman. She manages a successful business, is raising two teenage daughters, and is an important contributor to her community. You cannot help but admire her. She is well loved by the business owners in her small cozy town and has developed some very strong friendships since she moved there.
Yet Joy has some serious secrets and there is a wild, crazy mystery that surrounds her. Everyone in town knows that Joy likes her privacy, but they have no idea what she has been hiding until she is dead! You will enjoy the surprises that are uncovered when Joy Moody runs out of time.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I think I’m going to be an outlier with this book- but it just didn’t tickle my fancy 😕. This is another book in which I loved the author’s debut novel, “Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder”, so I was very excited for this sophomore novel- but for me personally, it just didn’t deliver. This book was quirky, and a bit erratic…

This book is about Joy Moody who owns a laundromat, “Joyful Suds”. Joy also has twin daughters Cassie and Andie, who have lived pretty sheltered lives with Joy (even though they have been very well taken care of). It is now August 2023, and Joy and the girls are going to time travel to the year 2050. Cassie and Andie have been taught many skills for their lives in the future, and Joy at the last minute prepares to go with them. However, Joy Moody has run out of time…

As Joy Moody is found dead on the twins 21st Birthday, the girls start to piece together bits of their past, as well as pieces of Joy’s past. Reading through parts of Joy’s past was heartbreaking, and I so wished for this book to go in a different direction, but the storyline just seemed silly to me. I did like the characters well enough, but I couldn’t connect with any of them. Also, when I put this book down for a break I had no strong desire to pick it back up again. I just didn’t care and somewhere along the way, I lost interest.

While this book may not have been my cup of tea (or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this type of book right now), I still recommend it for those who enjoy quirky, happy ever afters.
(2.5 stars)

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for a DRC of this book.
Publication date: August 19, 2025
Genre~ Women’s Fiction, General,Fiction (Adult)

A story about grief and loss and how it colors our perceptions, making us do questionable things. The characters are not lovable or likeable, profoundly flawed, but as this unusual story progresses, you learn to accept them and understand their humanity and quirks. This twisty murder mystery keeps you engaged, ever-evolving, from start to finish. Satisfying read

I love Kerryn Mayne’s quirky characters and stories! Joy Moody is really something; funny, frustrating, kooky and quite imaginative. The relationships between the twins and the other business owners on the strip was heartwarming. I enjoyed everything about this book and hated to see it end.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

Such a great book! I have to admit, when the book first started, I was a little skeptical with the whole time travel/from the future vibe. However, once I got a little further into the story, I couldn't stop reading! I really felt connected to Joy, the girls, and Monty as the story went on. I think the author did a great job depicting what it would be like to live a sheltered life like the girls lived. I love how the story progressed and the ending was great! There was the perfect amount of mystery intertwined with family in this story and I really enjoyed reading it! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this ARC and to get to know Joy.