★★★☆☆ – Disappointing Compared to Lenny Marks**

I had high hopes for *Joy Moody is Out of Time* after loving *Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder*, but this one didn’t land the same way. The story tried to frame Joy’s actions around her brain tumor, but that felt like a weak excuse for the much more troubling choice of keeping the girls when they were born—especially with what happened to Brittany. It left a bad taste and made it hard to connect with or forgive the character. A compelling premise, but ultimately, a letdown.

The last 20% of the book redeemed the book for me. I love how Joy's small community of neighbors rallied around the girls.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For much of their lives, Joy has been lying to Cassie and Andie. What started as a colorful tale to explain how the twins came to live with her grew over the years and was always something she meant to set straight. Joy really did think she had more time. Worse still, Joy is struggling to define the truth from the lies.

The girls have long believed they are vital to the future and must stay hidden to stay safe. Joy has told them that their impending 21st birthday is significant; they will step into their roles as daughters of the future revolution and life as they know it will change. Joy was right - everything will change, just not in the way the expected. On Andie and Cassie’s birthday, Joy Moody is found dead and her girls face a world they are not prepared for without their mother. Joy Moody is out of time… in more ways than one.

I loved Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder, her debut novel, so I was excited to receive this one. I'm not sure if it was just the timing, mood, content...but I could not get into this one at all. I devoured her debut, but I rode the struggle bus for days with this one. While it had the quirky characters and good feels on Lenny Marks, I was just not as invested in Joy Moody or the twins and found them all to be annoying.

2.5 ⭐ rounded to 3
Thank You to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for a DRC of this book.
Publication date: August 19, 2025

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Joy Moody is Out of Time" and all opinions expressed are my own. I did like the authors first book. This one just didn't do it for me. I found myself skipping a bit. Towards the end it did get better but overall just okay.

I was excited to read an advance of this book after loving Kerryn Mayne's debut novel “Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder”. The premise was peculiar yet intriguing - Joy has told her twin daughters that at 4:39pm on the date of their 21st birthday, they will be transported back to the year 2050, the year in which they escaped war through a portal to the present day 2023. We learn from the beginning that things did not go according to plan - there was no time travel back to the future. Circumstances are revealed - Joy has been an overprotective mother to the girls to hide the secret of their birth story and the twins lead a highly sheltered life. Joy also has some secrets about her own health - she is hiding a terminal brain tumor. Is the tumor causing her to tell these fantastical tales to the twins or is is for another reason?

When I got to the halfway point of the book, things mostly seemed resolved and I wondered what else the author could do for the remainder. The book got really slow at that point - a bit of a mushy middle - and only picked up a bit in the last section. Grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me an advance read of this sophomore novel and will watch for other books from this author to see if she captures the same magic of her debut.

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.