Lenny Marks was a pleasant surprise! I don’t typically go into books blindly, but I’m glad that I did with this novel. Based on the title and cover art, I was expecting a cozy mystery. However it is more of a journey of self discovery/recovery for Lenny, a neurodivergent teacher with a traumatic and repressed past. It is slow to start, with considerable time spent identifying Lenny’s obsessive and anxious behaviors. Over time I found Lenny endearing as she tries to build a life for herself. The revelations of her past trauma are gradually revealed, and although not surprising, are dealt with sympathetically. I enjoyed Lenny’s support system, especially her foster mother, new friend Ned and dog, Malcolm.
I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the narrator’s sweet voice. Overall an entertaining read - consider if you enjoy diverse representation in books.
3.5/5⭐️ (rounded up)

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I was excited for this one, but maybe it was me at the time, maybe it was the book, but I just couldn't get into it. I listened to about 30% and just didn't care about the next steps in the book or the characters, so I am putting it down for good.

Elementary school teacher, Lenny Marks finds peace in routine, finding contentment in life rather than striving for happiness, a fleeting feeling, in her experience. She’s fine with coming home every day to her favorite show, Friends, and “playing scrabble with Monica”. However, when she receives a letter from the parole board her carefully constructed life starts to unravel. Flashes of her childhood start coming back, a different version than she’s allowed herself to remember.

I completely adored Lenny and her matter-of-fact way she approached life, but I did hope for more for her! I knew things weren’t quite the way she remembered them, and I was eager to find out what exactly happened in her past! Some of these revelations were heartbreaking! I was happy as Lenny started waking up, taking charge, and making changes. I was fully on board with Lenny’s unlawful activities, such as with Malcom the dog and well, other things best left out of this review.

I absolutely loved this story! It started out sedate and quiet and ended up with some twisty revelations. I rooted for Lenny throughout her journey and there was even a bit of romance by the end!

I alternately listened to and read the story and I can recommend either version. Annie Maynard’s performance was fantastic, her Aussie accent wonderful and she brought Lenny’s quirky personality to life! I listened at my normal 1.5x normal speed.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for my ALC of Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder.
I thought this book was going to be different based on the description. Sadly it was not for me.
I listened to most of it, but found it did not grab my attention.
I will table this one for now and try again this winter.

Very strange book indeed…
Not at all what I was expecting, but interesting nonetheless…

Lenny Marks is a unique character. She is pretty much on her own in all aspects of life…

She is a huge fan of ‘Friends’…and has an imaginary roommate named Monica.
She teaches the fifth grade, and is actually TRYING to make some friends there (with the teachers…)

She has NO love life to speak of, and she is nearing 40.

I did mention strange, right??

But…the story continually alludes to an event that happened when she was just a child…and she never got over it.

We finally uncover what it was, but I feel like we could’ve shortened the book significantly…but that’s just MY opinion…

And when the ‘problem’ re-enters her life…well, it’s just chaos.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

*** The release date was 7/9/24, so you should be able to find it on shelves already. ***

3⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. Good, but not terrific…but I’m a tough critic. 😮😉

#LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder by #KerrynMayne and narrated nicely by #AnnieMaynard.

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“Fay had always told her there were choices, even if none of them seemed desirable.”

Lenny is a creature of habit. She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same food and eats the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). But when a letter from a parole board arrives at her door, her carefully curated world is in danger of collapse.
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Lenny is such an endearing character and she reminded me quite a bit of Eleanor Oliphant, a character that had stayed with me. She has had some trauma in her life and, thus, has shut the world out. She has created a routine for herself that is as isolating as it comforting. I enjoyed watching her branch out and let people in but I wish I got to know her just a little bit better.

Tha audiobook narration was fantastic! The Australian accent is just so soothing to listen to. An easy and enjoyable listen!

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for the ALC and ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book was so wonderful. Lenny was such a fun character to follow and I absolutely loved her transformation and development over the course of the book. Following Lenny come to terms with her past and also find herself as an adult was so heartwarming. I loved all the details of Lenny's life, especially her Friends obsession! I cannot recommend this book enough! My one issue (which is most likely a personal problem) is I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with all of the characters.

Set in Australia, quirky main character, heartwarming, and mysterious - I'm all in!

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC.

The one where Lenny Marks gets a life. I love all the friends references. Lenny is socially awkward and antisocial. But she’s trying to change things. Lenny goes on a journey that is truly a journey of self-discovery. Her past and her present will collide in a heartbreaking realization. This was such a great story of how your mind can try to protect you. And things aren’t always as they seem.

Book Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I broke the cardinal of reading and judged this book solely based on its cover!!! I wrongly assumed that Kerryn Mayne’s debut novel, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, would be a cozy murder mystery. I came to this conclusion using only the title and cute cover art. While I got a lot more than I bargained for, it is definitely worth the read.

Lenny Marks likes routine. So much so that she has one for just about every aspect of her life. Buy when she receives a letter from the parole board, her routines and life are thrown into utter disarray. Will she be able to re-compartmentalize her life, or has this letter just unearthed the past she has desperately tried to forget?

I found Lenny Marks to be a fascinating FMC. One of the more rememberable ones I have read lately. While she is full of social anxiety and struggles to make connections with those in her everyday life, she is a productive member of society. However, as the story began to unfold I was saddened to learn that those characteristics weren’t just quirks, but came about from repressed childhood trauma (It reminded me a lot of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine).

Overall, I was blown away by Kerryn Mayne’s character development in her debut novel. If this is any indication of the books to come, I will be a devoted reader!

Special thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and Kerryn Mayne for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

* I had the pleasure of both reading and listening to this book and enjoyed both formats. I will say that having the audiobook narrated by Annie Maynard proved a bit challenging. Her thick Australian accent required me to really focus as I listened. Part of what I love about audiobooks is that it allows me the freedom to do other tasks like cleaning, driving, etc. However, with this book I mainly just stayed stationary as I listened.

Filled with likable characters and even a dog. A book that will keep you turning the pages. Lenny Marks was a very shy and awkward woman. A teacher. A friend. A woman with a past that her mind rearranged so she could cope. So she could have a life. Lenny had problems with accepting that people could like her. Or that she was good enough. She tended to stay home, inside, watching tv. Friends was her tv show of choice and playing scrabble with Monica from friends. Of course that was only in her head but still.... Lenny Marks really needed a life.

When Lenny finally comes to terms with what happened all those years ago she has to face her childhood self. She was only thirteen years old when her mother went away. Though she will remember later that things didn't exactly happen the way she remembered. She was abused by her stepdad and he went to prison for murdering her mother. He was a very vile and evil creature.

I loved how Lenny made so many words. One word that contained several. She is what I would call a wordsmith....

This book was well written. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking. It's honest. It has things in it that will make you cringe. Also give a chuckle. It will make you cry and hope that Lenny finally has a good life. I wanted Lenny Marks to get a life. I think she finally did.

Lenny is such an endearing, likable character. On the surface this is a slice of life story about a quirky woman and her ordinary life but there is a lot more under the surface as we learn of her traumatic past.

I loved the side characters in this story and the themes of found family, self worth and finding one’s passion in life.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio and St Martin’s Press for the ALC!

Lenny Marks is an elementary school teacher in Australia. She rides her bicycle to work every day. She visits the same grocery store every week, to buy the same things, to eat the same things each week. She spends her evenings with her favorite friends, the cast of Friends, as she watches the reruns on television and plays Scrabble against Monica Geller. Lenny has 36 copies of The Hobbit, which she rearranges from time to time. Sometimes by height. Sometimes by when she acquired them, from the one that had been her mother’s before hers, and on to the latest one she had bought. Her life is careful and regimented. Until she gets the letter.

The letter came to her in care of the school where she worked, and it was from the parole board. Lenny doesn’t want to read it and hides it deep in her bag. She does her best not to think about it. But then she starts getting calls from a woman who wants to talk to her about what’s going on with the parole board. Lenny starts ignoring the calls too.

Meanwhile, Lenny’s regimented life is starting to show some cracks. She gets invited to a pub with some of her coworkers, and she can’t figure out a way to say no. She ends up going to the pub, helping the team do well in the quiz, and drinking far more than she usually does. In addition, Lenny is having warm thoughts about Ned at the grocery store. They’d had conversations in the past about his favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but now Lenny starts to wonder what it might be like to spend time with him outside of the grocery store.

The small cracks in Lenny’s world start to grow, and she finds herself blurring some facts from the past with the present. She sees a dog being abused and does something a little crazy to protect it. She breaks into her elderly neighbor’s house to find the woman on the floor, barely breathing. All those careful edges she’s built and maintained for years start to bend and splinter. At the point where the secrets of her past and the truths of her present collide, she starts to break open completely.

As Lenny finally starts to face her traumatic past, she finds that she has the strength and support to face the things that happened to her when she was a child. The sad secrets come to light, and Lenny’s understanding of her life and her choices becomes more clear. But will she be able to face the lies she told, or will she finally break?

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is a compelling story of toxic relationships and the path of healing. It’s humorous and heartbreaking, with layers of secrets and misunderstandings. Lenny was only a child when her family broke apart, and she could only understand or process so much of what was happening around her. As a child, she got only part of the story, and she made choices based on that childish understanding. But when things break open for her as an adult, she can finally get a fuller explanation of what had happened, and she can move forward with the understanding of an adult. It’s a fascinating journey, and the way author Kerryn Mayne has crafted this story is ingenious.

I listened to the audio book of Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, narrated perfectly by Annie Maynard. Maynard brings Lenny’s voice to life through the entire story, making her a bit of a curiosity at the start of the story, then through her journey, she becomes a strong, actualized woman who takes action on her own behalf. Maynard never portrays Lenny as the victim, but keeps her thoughtful and caring throughout. I thought this book was so amazing, and the narration makes it even more striking.

A copy of the audio book for Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder was provided by Macmillan Audio, and egalleys were provided by St. Martin’s Press, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This is such a good book. It's both lighthearted and intense. It will make you laugh and cry. It's this author's debut novel and she should be very proud. It's so well done. The narrator did a fantastic job. This is just an all around great read/audio.

Filled with likable characters and even a dog. A book that will keep you turning the pages. Lenny Marks was a very shy and awkward woman. A teacher. A friend. A woman with a past that her mind rearranged so she could cope. So she could have a life. Lenny had problems with accepting that people could like her. Or that she was good enough. She tended to stay home, inside, watching tv. Friends was her tv show of choice and playing scrabble with Monica from friends. Of course that was only in her head but still.... Lenny Marks really needed a life.

When Lenny finally comes to terms with what happened all those years ago she has to face her childhood self. She was only thirteen years old when her mother went away. Though she will remember later that things didn't exactly happen the way she remembered. She was abused by her stepdad and he went to prison for murdering her mother. He was a very vile and evil creature.

I loved how Lenny made so many words. One word that contained several. She is what I would call a wordsmith....

This book was well written. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking. It's honest. It has things in it that will make you cringe. Also give a chuckle. It will make you cry and hope that Lenny finally has a good life. I wanted Lenny Marks to get a life. I think she finally did.

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress and #MacmillinAudio for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five big stars.

This was very surprising. I really wanted to hug Lenny (even though she would not have appreciated it lol).

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed Lenny’s story. There was healing, acceptance, discovering your past and understanding more about who you are. It was wonderful to watch Lenny go from her everyday life to healing and ultimately facing her demons.

Narration Review: I really enjoyed the narration, I think the narrator did a good job of bringing Lenny to life.

Thank you Macmillan for the ALC copy,

This debut novel was published previously in Australia, where it is set. It's a much deeper story than might be assumed from the publicity.

Lenny, a 37-year-old school teacher, finds happiness in organization and routine. She keeps mostly to herself, though she has a warm relationship with her foster mother, Fay, and she seems to enjoy conversations with a worker at her favorite grocery store. Lenny doesn't read social cues well, but still tries to be social, particularly with some of her coworkers. Several good relationships are developed during the story.

As the narrative progresses, the trauma Lenny has endured and carried through her life is revealed, which goes a long way in explaining Lenny's habits and behaviors. Despite the trauma, there is comic relief sprinkled throughout. I found the conclusion satisfying, with an appropriate mix of light/positivity and darkness.

The audiobook is narrated by Australian actor Annie Maynard, who managed an incredible range of emotions and characters.

Some readers are comparing Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder to Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Notably, the publisher did not, which I appreciate greatly. Had I seen that comparison, I might have skipped this. If, unlike me, you were a big fan of Honeyman's Eleanor, you might also enjoy Lenny—the characters do share some traits. Regardless, I recommend this book for anyone who likes fiction with depth and dark humor. Specific content warnings would likely serve as spoilers. If you are a sensitive reader, you might want to seek more information or consider skipping this book.

I was entertained by—and impressed with—this debut. I am anxious for Mayne's second book to be released in the States.

Have you ever read a book that just seems to have it all? Cause this was one of those books for me. Lenny Marks is quirky and different. She has forgotten her past, until a parole letter comes in the mail. Then the past that haunts her, opens up all her memories, good, bad and inbetween. The characters were incredibly well thought out. We watch them grow and change and confront skeletons. There was some mystery, some everyday drama, some heartbreak and heartwarming moments. Parts that I didn't see coming and other parts that were more expected and typical. Just a well written, adorable book about a young woman's past, present and future.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

4 stars

I love debut novels and there is nothing better than finding a good one and helping to promote it so word gets out and more people read it. This book looks to be a recipient of a lot of good buzz and I will be adding to it. What's helpful with looking at other reviews is that it urged me to keep going because this is a book I wasn't really connecting with at the start. (It took a big to get going.) I liked Lenny, but with the author presenting her as neurodivergent (at least I believe she is presenting her this way) some of her personality and coping mechanisms were very repetitive. I don't necessarily mean the acts themselves, but the author seemed to really want to drive home the point that Lenny followed a routine and liked order and explain it every single time. So I felt a little disconnected from Lenny and the plot that the author was trying to establish. Once I got to about the 30% mark, I started to get into it more and fall in love with Lenny and obviously, her dog Malcolm. It was a great story and one that leaves you feeling better than when you start. I thought the book could have ended a couple of times, but really liked how everything was presented and while certain things did wrap up rather nicely, I don't think anything should have been cut.

I found myself really getting emotional throughout parts of the book - almost crying at my desk a few times. There are a lot of trigger warnings so please be sure to do some research or ask someone who has read the book for what those may be if you have concerns. If you read Meredith, Alone a few years a go and liked (or loved it), you will probably feel the same about this one.

As far as format goes, I think either format would work here. The narrator was fantastic and did an excellent job with making the characters come to life. I think a less experienced narrator could have made Lenny sound almost robotic (especially with all the repeating of anagrams), but she didn't at all so I'm really glad I had the opportunity to listen.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: 07/09/2024
Review Date: 07/09/2024

Happy Publication Day!

When I first started reading Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, I expected a cozy mystery and although this book was darker than I expected, I was not disappointed. Lenny Marks is the definition of introvert and is set in her routines that include shopping at the same place for the same meals every week and playing scrabble every night with her "friend" Monica. When Lenny receives a letter from the parole board, her routines and Lenny start to unravel.

This description of this book was correct in that this book is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I felt for Lenny as she faces her new reality while realizing that she doesn't want to be alone in this world. As she relives her past, she soon finds out that she may have had a community behind her this whole time. I do suggest for new readers to look at the trigger warnings for this book as some of the content may be difficult for some.

I was lucky enough to get the audiobook for Lenny Marks gets Away with Murder. The narrator did a great job for each of the characters and found myself engulfed in the story. I would highly recommend the audiobook if you are interested in this book.

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is out today!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to review Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such an interesting story with a main character I couldn't quite track down. We follow Lenny Marks through her current day "trying to get a life" and flashbacks from times that made her who she is today. Repressed memories make for an unreliable narrator at times, but I found myself cheering for Lenny the whole way. The suspense was well-paced, and the story was very well crafted.