Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the new book by Kerryn Mayne, with the audiobook perfectly narrated by Annie Maynard. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 5 stars!

Joy Moody runs the laundromat, Joyful Suds, along with her twin daughters, Cassie and Andie. But Joy has been lying to her daughters forever, telling them a colorful origin tale. She always thought she had time to make things right, but she's out of time. The girls have always believed Joy and her story that they are vital to the future and must stay safe and hidden until their impending 21st birthday. But when that day comes, everything has changed.

I loved this author's debut book, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, with that audiobook also narrated by Annie Maynard, who has such a lovely accent and voiced these characters perfectly. Mayne's sophomore book just as wonderful, so she's now a must-read author for me. This book was so original in its plot and execution, and I loved everything from the description of the laundromat to wondering just exactly what and who to believe. I'd suggest going into it mostly blind so that you can really enjoy the spooling out of the story, complete with its hazy-feeling truthfulness. The characters are quirky, and the story is told from the POV of all three women, plus a few others. It's a good mystery with plenty of family dynamics thrown in the mix. Bravo!

After loving her previous book, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, I was excited to read this one. Joy Moody is a quirky cozy mystery that combines charming wit with some darker themes. Joy is a hardworking owner of a laundromat raising twin daughters. The daughters have grown up pretty isolated from the world (no TV, no phones, few friends) and have always been told that on their 21st birthday, they will be returned to the future 2050 where their real parents are waiting for them. Despite the strange premise, the story is still very much grounded in reality. I alternately felt empathy for Joy and also anger at how she deprived her children of a more normal childhood. I loved the found family aspect and the supporting characters. I found the beginning to be a very slow build but the story picked up in the middle. I enjoyed unraveling the underlying mystery and getting to know these characters and all of their flaws. I highly recommend her first novel Lenny Marks which I still enjoyed more than this one. Overall this was an entertaining book and I would recommend it to those who enjoy slightly quirky characters, dark humor, and found family dramas.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved Mayne’s debut novel Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder, so I was very excited about the opportunity to read her latest book.
Cassie and Andie have spent their entire lives being told that they are from the future and they are going to return to 2050 on their 21st birthday. Their lives certainly change on that milestone day, but not in the way they expected.

They must now untangle the mystery surrounding their origins, which is doubly confusing (no pun intended) because they have been sheltered for their entire lives, almost never leaving the sanctuary of the laundromat.

The titular Joy, architect of the whole scheme, also provides her point of view, but as the blurb states, this fades away midway through the narrative, leaving far more questions than answers regarding motive and reasoning.

This book was so good– the premise is highly original and it was executed so well. Andie and Cassie, who both serve as narrators, are not total recluses because they interact with the people who come to the laundromat, but as I mentioned, they have been somewhat sequestered their entire lives and never been to school etc. They have been told that they need to be kept hidden from the mysterious adversaries from the future, and they have mostly accepted this as the truth, although there is some skepticism as the day of their “Departure” draws closer.

I would absolutely recommend Joy Moody is Out of Time. With this stunning sophomore book, Mayne has become an insta-buy author for me. I love the unreliable narrators and the plot twists that both of her books have provided. Even though I knew there was going to be at least one plot twist, I was not prepared for how the story was going to unfold. I am going to be talking about this book with all of my bookish friends.











I received a digital ARC of this book from St. Martin’s/NetGalley

Readers who enjoyed Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, Kerryn Mayne's debut novel, will surely love Joy Moody Is Out of Time. In this novel, we again see a very quirky heroine, Joy Moody, the mother of nearly 21-year-old identical twin girls who may or may not have been left in her care by their time traveling parents...and those biological parents are coming back for them any day now. As the day of their 21st birthday approaches, a lifetime of cover-ups is unraveling, and Joy must face the music.

I had reservations as I started reading this story, as the tale that Joy has told her daughters for their entire lives seemed outrageous and unbelievable. Little by little, however, Joy and the girls (as well as the neighbors in their little neighborhood) crept into my heart and what seemed crazy started to make sense. By the end of the novel, I even became a little teary as Joy's story comes to a close and we understand everything that happened.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne. The opinions in this review are my own.

"Joy Moody Is Out of Time" is a delightful novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. I went in blind and had no idea what I had gotten myself into when I first started reading. What I thought at first was going to be a sci-fi/fantasy novel turned out to be a quirky mystery. This was such a unique, heartwarming, and emotional story. I enjoyed the original premise, the intriguing mystery, and the unconventional but lovable characters. There weren't any crazy twists, but the story kept me captivated nonetheless. The endearing characters really make this one special, and I think this book will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny - I get that these are white lies parents tell to their kids when they are little to keep them entertained or have something to look forward to. But lying to your kids about how they came to existence, about the life beyond the walls of their house, and purpose of their lives, that's little too much. Sure.... they are keys to the future....

Joy raised Cassie and Andie while running a laundromat. This sounds like a perfectly normal life of a single mother. But also she filled twins' minds with stories of time travelling and unachievable greatness. She hid them; she limited their interactions with others. They never wanted for anything, but still girls were not just girls. One day Joy suddenly died and girls were left to face with the realities of the life and not so nice people

I loved how girls still went through puberty fits and were teenage rebels. It did not matter how closeted they were, nature beat the nurture. This aside, more than girls' story, I was taken aback by the way their past was shaped by a single decision of Joy. I want to justify what Joy did, but I cannot. She kept her promise for sure, but at what cost?

First of all, I don't say this very often, but it was the cover art that drew me to this book. Absolutely masterful. The pink laundromat is the setting of the story, and the neon sign of the title with "TIME" blacked out makes the whole thing beautifully symbolic. I wish more book covers were this unique and inventive!

As for the story... I'm not sure how to talk about it without spoilers, but I LOVED it. If you've been following my reviews for a while, you know I love a good unreliable narrator, and this book is full of them. Joy is unable to distinguish reality from fiction, and her daughters Cassie and Andie have grown up sheltered under Joy's lies and have no idea what reality even is. I'm sure that setup won't appeal to everyone, but a story like that is catnip to me. Kerryn Mayne does an excellent job of controlling that chaos and allowing the truth to unfold layer by layer.

The characters are also really well drawn. I felt very attached to Joy, despite her major flaws, and especially to the two girls, despite their naivety. There are also several other characters floating around them - neighbours, Joy's brother Grant, a detective, etc. - who at first struck me as stereotypes or one-layered caricatures, but who become more complex as the unreliable narrators get to know them better.

If I'm going to criticize anything about this book, it would be the pacing and parts of the ending. I've seen a few reviews that complain about the pacing, and I did question the author's choices a couple of times. However, it's a pretty quick read, so I wouldn't say it's a huge problem. Just know that it does start to drag now and then, where it rewinds to tell us some backstory or another angle of the same event.

As for the ending... I liked the ending, but I felt it leaned too heavily towards saccharine at times. Just some of the dialogue choices and stuff, nothing major. It didn't bother me enough to take away that 5-star feeling I'd had for the rest of the book.

Conclusion

This is a great read! I highly recommend it if you enjoy unreliable narrators and twisty-turny plots. It's a great study of mental illness, too, and unusual mother-daughter relationships.


Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is a domestic mystery that centers around Joy, who is a troubled and awkward character, hiding secrets from her twins. Joy has created a whole false world for her twin daughters; it’s very odd and a bit implausible. She promises herself to tell them the truth when they are 21, but before she can, she dies. But the twins start to put pieces of the past together; it does get a bit emotional.

Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this yet. I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters. I think there’s something to this plot that I could be missing; I’m just not sure it was executed in a way that worked for me.



Thank you @stmartinspress for the #gifted ebook via #netgalley.

I loved reading Kerryn Mayne’s debut book Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder. I was super excited to have the opportunity to read her sophomore effort. Joy Moody Is Out of Time is a unique, wholly original and unconventional mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. This fascinating story had me captivated, and totally invested in the characters up until the very last page. A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press, the author and NetGalley for the eARC of the book.

Joy Moody, the proprietor of Joyful Suds honestly thought she had more time to explain the tale that she had been telling her twin girls, Cassie and Andie for most of their lives. An inventive tale that has blossomed over the years about how her girls came to live with her. But now she can’t actually distinguished what’s true from the lie that she has been telling for such a long time?

Joy has kept Cassie and Andie hidden, sheltered away, and home schooled them to keep them safe. She has convinced the twins that they come from the future, and on their 21st birthday they will finally return back there, to the year 2050 to play pivotal roles. However, when their birthday arrives, Joy is found dead. When Cassie and Andie come to terms with what’s happened they begin to uncover the truth about their own past, a murder, Joy’s deception and her involvement.

Kerryn Mayne seamlessly weaves a suspenseful, quirky murder mystery, filled with secrets, deception, and elements of fantasy. Joy Moody Is Out of Time is a highly entertaining, dark humored, heartfelt, engaging book that should not be missed out on.

I had really high hopes for this story at the beginning but by the end.. I was quite disappointed by the way the author decided to go with this story.. Joy is not a great person, period.

I’m unsure of my complete feelings on this. An offbeat kind of a story, it was both fun, and not, at the same time lol. Definitely interesting

A little time travel, a quirky cast of characters, found family, love, and loss - all this and more contained in one book!

I kept vacillating on how I felt about this book as I was reading it. On one hand, it is a cute and quirky as the cover suggests. A woman and her twin daughters live somewhat isolated lives running a laundry mat while waiting for the future to come whisk them away to save the world. (whew!) On the other hand, this is a really sad story of lies, death and kidnapping (depending on how you look at it), terminal illness, greed, and mental illness. It is also the story of strong family, found family, and love. I think this book could be completely different to different readers and at different times based on what you bring to your reading. But either way, the writing is exceptional and the characters are so endearing!

Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another sophomore novel that showed up and showed out. 🧺

What a strange (in a positive way) book! I was so excited to see Mayne had written another book as I had Lenny Marks as my favorite book in July ‘24. And just like Lenny, you can expect this one to have quirky characters, found family, and heartwarming moments.

The ending of this book made it all worth it for me. I found myself a little discombobulated as I was reading this, and I thought maybe it wasn’t for me. It jumped timelines and POVs and the premise was really out there. It also felt really drawn out at first. But the ending pulled everything together and helped this book pull a 4-star rating. I’m so glad I stuck it out because I felt extremely satisfied as I put this one down for the final time.

It was weird, and it needed time to come together, but it was a poignant story at its core. Fans of unique stories, quirky characters you can’t help but root for, and books that explore why humans do what they do will find much to love in this one.

The mysteries surrounding the Moody family are unveiled slowly and not in chronological order. The cast of quirky characters, especially Joy Moody, relate the events surrounding this family and their neighbors from their differing POVs. I found the beginning to be a bit disjointed and hard to get into. However, once I got the gist of what was going on, I found it hard to put down.

Joy Moody is an anomaly. You will not figure her out until then end, and maybe not even then. The premise of this book is very unique as are the characters. You ant help but be swept into the plot as the laundromat becomes the site of so much life and loss and potential and eventually, a prison of sorts. Grow up with the Moody twins as they experience life in a different way and meet the people who keep them safe. You won’t be the same afterward. It’s a darn good, witty, soulful book. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Title: Joy Moody is Out of Time-a standalone

Author: Kerryn Mayne-I read Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder-gave it 4 ⭐

Publication date: 8-19-25 | Read: 8-19-25

Format: e-Book 352 pgs.

Genre:
*Suspense/Mystery
*Crime
*Adult Fic

Tropes:
*found family
*family drama
*whodunnit
*single parent
*secret identities
*mental illness
*LGBTQIA+ rep
*book within book- The Fortis Empire Trilogy-created 2041 where everyone is chipped and reprogrammed.

POV: 3rd person multiple

TW: infertility, murder, cheating, drug addiction, foster care, cancer

Setting: Melbourne

Summary: On Joy's twin daughters 21st birthday, they will time travel home to their biological parents into the year 2050. Joy believes they are daughters of revolution in the real world, so she sacrifices everything to keep them safe from The People.

Heroines:

Joy Moody-56, owned and worked at Joyful Suds Laundromat for 20 years, was a social worker when twins were born

Cassiopeia "Cassie"-20, the quiet one, plays chess w/ Monty, and too friendly w/ people

Andromeda "Andie"-20, the rebellious one, suspicious of Joy, and attracted to Linh. She does a DNA test w/o telling Joy or Cassie

Other Characters:
* Montgomery "Monty" Doyle- next door neighbor, owns Doyle's Locksmith
* Ellen Scott-next door neighbor, runs Scott Family Law
* Linh Tran-next door neighbor, works at Lotus tattoo parlor
* Britney White-17, a troubled teen lived off and on w/ Joy years ago
* Tyler Rodriguez-Britney's boyfriend, used History Mystery-DNA family tracker to find Andie
* Arthur Tennant-Joy's husband
* Nina Nguyen-Joy's BFF
* Det. Holliday Betts- newly promoted, investigating Joy's death
* Grant Moody-Joy's older estranged brother

My Thoughts: This was a great crime mystery. I felt for Joy as she lived a disappointing life until Andie and Cassie came into her life. The found family in the neighbors was sweet, and they protected each other deadly secrets and all. I wished we learned more about the world 2050, Tyler, and Holliday's lives.

Rating: 4/5 ⭐
Spice level 1/5 🌶️️ kissing only

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kerryn Mayne for this ARC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne was an emotional, mystery book with some family drama. The story is about Joy Moody who has twin daughters, Cassie and Andie and they run a family business at a laundromat called Joyful Suds. At first glance it appears that Joy is a very overprotective mom to the twins. She has very strict rules for them like no phones, tv, she homeschooled them when they were little and she limits their contact with people.

Now that their 21st birthday approaches, Joy must reveal a lie she has been telling them for most of their life… that they are from the future and that on their 21st birthday they will reunite with their biological parents in the future. She has been telling them that they have an important mission to help the world which is why they will travel to the future on their 21st birthday.

Andie and Cassie are not sure what to believe and it’s Andie who starts questioning this story they’ve been told. Unfortunately, Joy dies on their birthday and now they must try to figure out the truth without Joy being there to clear up their questions.

As the story progresses we get to learn so much of Joy’s past and why she is the way she is and why she does what she does. You can’t help but feel bad for her as well as the twins. Their story is sad and tragic. As they try to unravel the truth their neighbors, Linh, Monty and Ellen are there to support them. You can’t help but love they way they just showed up for Cassie and Andie to reassure them that they are not alone.

Overall the story was really good and it makes the reader have all the emotions. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press. All opinions are my own.

Joy Moody is Out of Time was a pretty good read with good characters. It started out a little slow for me but quickly picked up. Unique storyline; really had my questioning if these girls were from the future! Overall I enjoyed it.

This book certainly has a unique concept, which I enjoyed. I wasn’t really sure where it was going, and it took me by surprise. The found family aspect with the twin girls and their neighbors was the highlight for me. Unfortunately I was just rubbed the wrong way too much by the way Joy parented her children and I was not prepared for such an emotionally effecting story. I don’t think this one was for me, I didn’t really get into it until about 2/3 through. I do think it’s well written though and will find its audience.