Joy Moody runs a laundromat called Joyful Suds with her twin daughters, Cassie & Andie. The girls have known all their lives that Joy is not their biological mother and have been expecting to time travel on their 21st birthday to the year 2050 to meet their parents, along with Joy. However, Joy dies on their birthday, leaving them to figure out life and piece together their past. Joy Moody is officially out of time, can her girls figure out life before it’s too late?

This was a cute book. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I couldn’t put it down because in reality I put it down a lot and then kind of forgot to pick it back up. The characters were likable enough and definitely had some growth but nothing that I would say left a huge impact on the reader in my opinion. The story itself was a combination of heartfelt family tale and mystery which worked just not enough to make me care of much as I would have liked.

Wow. Joy Moody Is Out Of Time is such a unique story and it took me on an absolutely wild ride. I think a lot of people are going to love this one.

Joy Moody has been telling twins Andie and Cassie that they are from the future and will return to the
year 2050 on their 21st birthday. While devoted to the girls, she has kept them isolated with
homeschooling, lack of electronic devices and who they are allowed to associate with. When Joy is
found dead, the police are called in to investigate the cause of her death and the reason for the girls'
isolation will be revealed. Story of a woman's love for children left in her care .
#JoyMoodyisOutofTime #StMartinsPress #KerrynMoody #NetGalley

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, for providing the copy of Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne. I don’t think this book was for me. It felt uneven and I didn’t get involved in the story until about 30% into the book, but it didn’t last. I vacillated between enjoying it and being bored. I’m not sure if it was the writing or my lack of connection with any of the characters, but while the story had promise, I didn’t love it. 3 stars

A solid 2nd novel from a stunning debut author. This author has a knack for creating quirky, yet relatable characters. There is emotional depth to the “mystery” and despite their flaws, the reader can’t help but care about the characters. Looking forward to this author’s next book!

Such a mind twist. I didn't know which way it was going to go. Such a great book. Thank you for letting me read it in advance. I couldn't put it down. Five stars for sure.

When I read this author’s first book, I fell in love with Lenny, then when I received the authors new book at first I was skeptical about Joy…. Could she find a way into my heart? What I love most about this author is to write such unique characters with issues we can all identify within ourselves endearing ourselves to them and the bad decisions they make all while simultaneously hopeful they can turn it around and somehow be the hero of their own story.
Joy although she may have some flaws… finds a way into your heart.

A very unique and quirky storyline. Not my favorite. must say I enjoyed “Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder” better.

Joy Moody is out of time is one of the craziest and most heartbreaking reads ever! Joy is raising her two twins Andie and Cassie. She runs a laundromat and is quite successful. The girls are turning 21 and Joy is ready for the great reunion with the people from the future. Joy has kept the girls homeschooled and raised them on their own preparing them for the fact that they are time travelers and the 21st birthday will bring their parents coming to get the girls and Joy and take them to 2050. The story was gripping and had so many layers and details.

Joy Moody is definitely a "character" in every sense of the word. She goes through her life convinced she is doing the right thing for those that she loves. She protects her adopted daughters like a fierce mama bear, even when her thinking is misguided. Joy has convinced herself and her daughters that they are from the future and are set to time travel out to 2050 on their 21st birthday. It's truly hard to tell if she really believes this but she sure acts as she does. Add onto that the fact that she is dealing with a serious medical issue and you can feel where she is coming from. And her girls have been raised to keep their world small and to not question what their mother shares as their truth. This is a story of these young ladies coming into their own and realizing that Mom may not have nown best as she had her secrets and a large sprinkling of faults.

*Joy Moody Is Out of Time* is a haunting and emotionally charged debut that blends family secrets, suspense, and a touch of speculative mystery. Kerryn Mayne skillfully portrays the complex bond between Joy and her twin daughters, Cassie and Andie, whose coming-of-age is shadowed by cryptic warnings and looming danger. The story unravels with a quiet intensity, building tension around the twins’ uncertain futures and the unsettling truth about their mother’s mysterious death. Mayne’s prose is evocative, capturing the small-town atmosphere and the daughters’ raw grief and confusion with nuance. Though the plot’s pacing occasionally slows, the emotional core remains strong, delivering a compelling exploration of legacy, identity, and the cost of keeping secrets.

This is a unique book to be sure. I struggled to get into it and didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped. Quirky seems to be the ultimate word for it.

Three and a half stars rounded up. Joy Moody is Out of Time is not unlike Kerryn Mayne’s debut, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder. It too deals with a thorny problem in a thoughtful and creative way. I don’t know that I loved it, just because it felt so offbeat for much of the story and it felt hard to distinguish if there was inconsistency in a major plot point. The general premise is that Joy Moody ended up raising twin sisters, Andie and Cassie, that weren’t biologically hers under questionable circumstances and the girls don’t technically exist according to the Australian government, where the book takes place. It seems like initially she told the girls that they were from the future as a way to keep them from doing anything that would draw attention from authorities. She had a good reason for keeping custody of the girls, and they both love her, but of course this wasn’t a good thing to do, and made them woefully unprepared to deal with the world in the event she wasn’t there. Then Joy ends up having a brain tumor that increasingly leads her to believe that the story she’s been telling Andie and Cassie for years is reality and that the trio will travel to 2050 to be reunited with the girls biological parents to save the world. I did struggle to follow at what point Joy really became convinced her story had become real, because it seems to start happening when the twins are around ten years old, which is way before she’s diagnosed with a glioblastoma. And despite being a social worker she never takes any steps to legitimize her parental rights to the girls. I would think with her background it would be so easy to claim they were abandoned on her doorstep. If I can ignore things that feel inconsistent to me, then the rest of it is an interesting exploration of what would happen if children were raised completely closed off from the world and then were exposed to it abruptly and the good and bad people that populate it. In this story the three women are part of a four store shopfront where the other people are good people with their best interests at heart. The same cannot be said for Joy’s brother Grant. I don’t want to go into too much detail and give away surprises in the story, but it is almost as much about how Joy, Andie and Cassie are a product of their circumstances as the events that unfold. I just wish those circumstances felt a little less confusing. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Joy Moody lives with her soon-to-be 21 year old twins, Cassie and Andie, in an apartment behind their laundromat Joyful Suds. For years, Joy has been telling her daughters that they are from the future and have been delivered into her care for safe-keeping until they travel back to 2050 and will lead a revolution. This lie was created to explain why Joy was raising the two girls who were not hers biologically. Recently, th waters have since become muddied as Joy has fallen ill and has begun to believe the tale she has woven.

Wow, did this book tug at my heartstrings! Not a mystery, but a story with lots of unanswered questions that are uncovered with time. Author Kerryn Mayne employs beautifully written prose to unfurl the plot and introduce us to this quirky cast of characters. The sheltered twins, the neighbors and Joy herself seeming jump off of the page with Mayne's descriptors.

The laundromat is also stunningly rendered, bright pink and bursting with eccentric character--it's the perfect place for this story to take place. 4.25 stars for this clever, inventive, heart-capturing tale.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC! This book was quite enjoyable! I really liked the premise and the storyline was interesting and engaging. Babies from the future… you don’t get that in most psychological thrillers.

Lenny marks was spectacular. I think the bar was set in my mind a little too high for this one. I did enjoy this book but not as much as the authors debut. Joy moody is odd. She has a hard time with people especially her brother. She has two twin girls that have been home schooled and grown up in the laundromat she owns. The twins have been told a story about how they are from the future and will travel in time on their birthdays.

There were parts of this story I loved but it dragged a little and I didn’t really love the ending.

So very good! An oddball family deals with loss and growing. Some of the depictions of the twins' grief was so touching and realistic.

This was such a fun and quirky book. I was completely immersed in Joy's world and seeing the bizarre situation she seems to have created for herself. My only wish is that it had as whimsical a finish as it did a start.

I wasn't super thrilled about this book but man, did I have fun with it! The entire story plus writing style were unique and I loved the characters.

It took me a couple chapters to get the feel for Joy Moody but after those first couple of chapters I was hooked. I read this book in one day.

This is the story of Joy, her death, and her twin daughters Cassie and Andie. There are a lot of unsolved happenings in the book so I’m not going to go into too much detail because I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say I felt bad for everybody!!

The ending tied up everything which is right up my alley. Overall a great read and I highly recommend it!