My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Publishing for the ARC of "Joy Moody Is Out of Time" in exchange for an honest review.

What a strange, sad, heartbreaking yet somehow uplifting book this is. Though the cental plot may seem initially far fetched and way out there, Kerryn Mayne's skill at creating fascinating characters had my full attention from page one. And her additional talent to pull on your heartstrings without mercy is on full gripping display, especially in the book's second half.

In a beachside Australian town, twin sisters Cassie and Andie have lived their lives under the all encompassing total control of their mother Joy, the manager of a busy laundromat. Home schooled and forbidden access to TV, phones or any social life outside the confines of the store, the twins now approach their 21st birthday with a monumental event in store. Joy, who's told her daughters that she's a time-traveler from the not-too-distant future, prepares them for a trip into that era she came from. According to Joy, the twins are needed to fulfill their destiny as freedom fighters against the autocratic, dystopian society that rules 2050.

Is Joy completely insane? Or simply an overreaching fabulist who's spun so many fanciful fantasies for these children she practically raised in captivity that all three of them believe Joy's 'truth' is in fact, the truth.

But maybe not all three of them. The gentle timid and sweet natured Cassie stays enthralled by Joy, while the sharp=witted, realistic Andie wants a life outside of Joy's self-contained universe. And Andie's developed more than few skeptical doubts about the time traveling adventures supposedly planed for her and Cassie on their birthday.

Some catastrophic events, both past and present overtake Joy and her twins, leading to no end of long held secrets about this family. Tragic, heartrending revelations unfold, none of which I'd ever want to spoil here. Prepare to have your emotions hammered away at in both brutal and benevolent ways.

You can enjoy this book as either an astonishing, bizarre, psychological thriller or simply as a contemporary, realistic Grimm's fairy tale, grounded by its truly unforgettable characters. Either way, it's quite a unique story, well told. and a terrific read for anyone who loves something off the beaten track.

I could not wait to read this novel. Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder was one of my favorite books of 2024, in fact, Lenny Marks was one of my favorite characters. With that being said, I was more than a little excited to get acquainted with Joy Moody.

Joy Moody loves her twin daughters, but she has lied to them their whole lives. Andie and Cassie have lived very sheltered lives. They were homeschooled, they worked at the family laundromat, they had no friends, and they were not allowed to watch television, have a computer, or a cellphone. Joy has always told them that they were special, as any mother should, however, Joy told them that they were going to time travel to the year 2050 on their twenty-first birthdays as leaders of a revolution. When August 1st, 2023 arrives, the only one who is gone is Joy Moody.

I will admit that I had a bit of trouble with the time travel lie that Joy had told her girls. While Joy’s story of Cassie and Andie’s lives and fates was told on a fanciful whim, she stuck with the story right up until their twenty-first birthdays. Even if they lived sheltered lives, I doubted the plausibility that girls that age would still buy into such an elaborately spun tale. That was really my only issue, but as a reader, I can and do leave reality at the door, it is fiction after all.

It didn’t take me long before I was fully invested in this story. Kerryn Mayne writes about interesting, quirky, flawed characters that you can’t help but like. This is a very original story, one that deals with the complexities of growing up, familial relationships, all topped off with a murder mystery.

Joy Moody Is Out of Time was an entertaining read. It had a little bit of everything: emotion, heart, humorous moments, and mystery. I am already looking forward to meeting Kerryn Mayne’s next main character.

*4 stars

Thank you, @KerrynMayneAuthor and @StMartinsPress for my free ebook.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 341
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Release Date: August 19, 2025
🥳#HappyPubWeek!🎉

Joy Moody raised her twin girls Andie and Cassie all on her own as best she could. But she also sheltered them from reality so much that she starts to believe the stories she’s been telling them. The biggest one being that the girls are from the future and on their twenty-first birthday, their lives as leaders of the revolution will begin. But when their big day finally comes, Joy is found dead and the girls are left on their own for the first time in their lives.

At its core, this story is about the close bond between Joy and her daughters. By sheltering them so much, Andie and Cassie maintain an innocence and sweetness that most people their age don’t have. It’s also a mystery about what Joy’s been hiding all these years that slowly unravels as you read on. I really enjoyed it.

Joy Moody is Out of Time took me completely by surprise—in the best way possible. I was hooked from the very first page to the very last. Each of the characters is compelling in their own way, even despicable Uncle Grant, who is written so well you can’t help but enjoy disliking him. Cassie and Andie, Joy’s sheltered 21-year-old twin daughters, are fascinating in their naivety, and their perspective gives readers a unique, limited window into their mother’s life and secrets.

I especially loved the setting: Joyful Suds, situated in a quirky multi-use zone where neighbors live behind their storefronts, connected by small hallways. These neighbors are far more than background—they’re solid secondary characters who each contribute something meaningful to Joy, Andie, and Cassie’s story.

The book unfolds in unexpected directions. What at first seems to be a time travel story transforms into something much more layered: a complex exploration of family, the human condition, and a mystery that kept me fully invested. Even when a plot point seemed unbelievable, the author’s engaging storytelling made me want to keep turning the pages.

The pacing shifts noticeably—the climb to the zenith is steady and intriguing, while the journey from climax to denouement moves more quickly—but it worked well, keeping the tension high and the resolution satisfying. Interestingly, the development of Joy Moody’s character happens mostly after her death, making her both enigmatic and central at the same time.

By the end, I found myself both surprised and satisfied. Joy Moody is Out of Time is an inventive, moving, and thoroughly engaging read. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves stories that blend mystery, family drama, and a touch of the unexpected.

First off, I’ll admit it, I totally picked this up because of the cover. And honestly? No regrets, because the story inside was just as strange and intriguing as the outside promised. This book is honestly one of a kind. The plot is bizarre (in the best way) and it felt like such a fresh mix of mystery and family drama. The characters were original, and it really stood out compared to the usual reads. It had that “what on earth is happening?!” energy that kept me curious the entire time. 👀

The start was definitely on the slower side. But weirdly enough, once I settled in, I realized that was part of the charm. The slowness lets you sink into the atmosphere and really become invested in what’s going on beneath the surface.

What I really appreciated was how the book pushed me to empathize with these deeply flawed characters. But that’s the point, right? The author makes you ask yourself, “Okay, but what would I do in that situation?” and suddenly you’re reflecting on your own morals while flipping the pages.

Overall, I’d say this was a really refreshing read.

Unique premise, sure, but the lighthearted tone really clashed with the subject matter. Child abuse and manipulation dressed up as whimsical “time travel” just didn’t sit right with me. The second half picks up, but by then I was already too uncomfortable with how casually the darker elements were handled. Creative idea, disappointing execution.

Kerryn Mayne, Australian police officer and author of Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder, now gives us Joy Moody Is Out of Time. As the story opens, Joy Moody is ready for time travel. It’s August 1, 2023, her twins’ birthday and time for them to return to 2050, the year they were born and where, as Daughters of the Future Revolution, they must carry out their intended role as saviors of the world. Joy has protected them for twenty-one years from “the People”--those from the dystopian future who have cause to kill these unlikely future revolutionaries. For Cassie and Andie, Joy’s protection has meant an isolated lifestyle largely confined to Joyful Suds laundromat and their living quarters behind it, with little outside contact or connection.

The conditions are right. It’s the night of the supermoon, and Joy, Cassie, and Andie are holding hands ready to go together, forever leaving Joy’s Joyful Suds laundromat behind. Then nothing happens. They go nowhere despite Joy’s having already sent a message to the police to tell them about someone named Britney, whose identity a
nd fate will eventually be revealed. If not transported to the future, Joy knows this will be her own last day. She will be dead by midnight.
Chapter 2 moves back in time to July 11 with three weeks remaining. I experienced a sigh of relief because I wasn’t ready for a time travel book. Instead, Mayne slowly fills in the backstories of Joy Moody and her twins Cassiopeia and Andromeda, who aren’t really her twins. In the same building as Joyful Suds and the Moody women’s living quarters are locksmith Monty Doyle with his cat Donna, lawyer Ellen Scott, and tattooist Linh Tran.

Yes, Joy dies that night, and the twins are on their own to explore life for the first time. However, that life is soon complicated by police investigations--not one, but two. An assortment of other characters keep readers wondering who can be trusted, who might have committed murder, and how Cassie and Andie will cope with lives on their own.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader eGalley of this second recommended novel from Kerryn Mayne.

When I picked Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne, I made certain predictions about how the book would go. Not only was I wrong, I was absolutely wrong. I was at first interesting in the story line until I realized it was a made up story line based on a fantasy book that Joy Moody told the twins . There was also the newest information about a brain tumor in Joy Moody's brain that was obvious interfering with her cognition and ability to tell real from unreal. Certainly there is enough evidence to suggest the twins are not from Joy Moody and a perhaps even being taken as babies from their family. However the book did not read smoothly or realistically enough for me. I was bored at the disjointedness of the chapters and the multiple points of view. I was pretty sure that I didn't really connect with the characters - which is important to me while reading.

When I first started reading Joy Moody Is Out of Time I thought is this a sci-fi book? Not what I was expecting. However, after that first chapter it became clear that this was a story about a woman who was desperate to protect the twin girls that she had raised since birth, even to the extent of telling them an outlandish tale that and keeping them on a very short rope.

The novel’s main characters, Joy and the 21 year old identical twins, Andie and Cassie are all quirky in their own ways. Having been sheltered their entire lives, (no formal schooling, no tv, internet or mobile phones), the twins have very little idea of how the real world works. Joy has been feeding them a false story their entire lives and when that inevitably falls apart, the twins need to deal with reality quickly. The novel is told from various perspectives in a dual timeline with a story that is ultimately compelling, sad and yet infused with love. I thought it was well written and entertaining. Readers of the author’s first novel, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder, will enjoy this one!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

💭: Let me start by saying this book wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be more light hearted, but there are many sad and serious parts to this plot. The lies Joy told her twins had me shook. Where the twins came from made me so sad. What happened with the twins after Joy passed caused conflicting emotions. The story was well written and well paced. Told from multiple POV, you will better understand each character and their actions.

This was an intriguing book. It took me a bit to figure out how it was all going to, for lack of a better word, become more coherent? But, that's more of a statement on me than the author. There's layers here, and peeling them back in a specific way lends a lot of value to how the story weaves together.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Joy Moody is busy running her laundromat and raising her twin daughters while also preparing them for their 21st birthday. 21 for the Moody sisters is more than just a number, it's when they get to go home...back to the future of 2050 where they will help fight to save the world. Or at least that is what their mother has told them for the last 11 years. But even Joy is having a hard time remembering what is fact and what is fiction now. One thing that does happen on that fateful day is Joy dies. The twins, Cassie and Andie, will never be the same.

This book grabbed me with it's synopsis. Time travel and a mysterious death? I'm in! It just didn't quite deliver,
It reads a bit disjointed. At first I liked that with Joy's POV because it put you in her confused and frantic mind but it continued on in other characters too. The twins were definitely sheltered but not in such a way that they should be so stunted.
I just didn't connect with any of the characters, I guess.

The story and mystery themselves were fun and twisty but again, disjointed. I read this all in 24 hours partially to find out the answers and partially to just get it done with. I loved the themes of found family and growth but I think it had a lot of potential and didn't quite deliver.

2.5 stars rounded up.

3.5-4 stars
I enjoy stories about quirky characters and found family and this fits the bill. However, I found it a bit implausible that Joy was able to control the girls and their beliefs to the extent that she did--maybe out in the backwoods where they rarely encountered others, but not in the middle of a town where they had regular access to neighbors and customers.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Kerryn Mayne’s Joy Moody Is Out of Time is a quirky, emotionally layered crime novel that keeps you guessing while pulling at your heart. Set behind the bright pink facade of Bayside’s premier laundromat, Joyful Suds, the story follows Joy Moody and her twin daughters, Cassie and Andie. For years, Joy has woven elaborate tales to explain the twins’ past, always intending to reveal the truth… eventually. But time runs out, and on their 21st birthday, Joy is found dead, leaving her daughters to confront a world they are wholly unprepared for.

Mayne does an excellent job blending mystery, family drama, and dark humor. Joy is an unforgettable character—eccentric, secretive, and deeply human—and the twins’ journey through grief, discovery, and resilience is both compelling and heart-wrenching. The plot twists are satisfying, and the laundromat setting adds a unique, almost whimsical charm to the story.

The novel isn’t without its flaws: some side characters feel underdeveloped, and certain revelations could have been unpacked more. Still, the pacing and Mayne’s sharp, engaging writing make this a captivating read from start to finish.

Joy Moody Is Out of Time is a standout debut that will appeal to fans of character-driven mysteries with heart, humor, and a touch of the unexpected.

Ok it’s official!! Kerry’s Mayne is definitely one of my new favorite authors. I loved reading her first book, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder, and I wasn’t sure how her second novel was going to stack up. But I was so pleasantly surprised. Mayne’s writing is so enjoyable the world could have been ending around me and I never would have known.

This book is about a women, Joy Moody, who tells her twin daughters that on their 21st birthday they will be picked up by their time traveling parents and brought back to the year 2050 to save the world. Joy, while not even close to being a perfect character, has good intentions and does everything out of love for her girls. It truly is a book about the love we have for our kids, the lengths we will go to protect them, and lastly, about forgiveness.

I cannot wait to see what else Mayne writes and I thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Joy Moody is Out of Time is a strange, haunting, and emotional story that hooked me right away. Joy runs a laundromat with her twin daughters, but behind the quirky setting is a whole life built on secrets and half-truths. Cassie and Andie grew up believing they were special; destined to lead some kind of revolution when they turned twenty-one…but the truth is far murkier, and when their mother dies on their birthday, they’re suddenly forced to face a reality they were never prepared for. This book is part mystery, part family drama, and part coming-of-age, and it really makes you think about the stories we’re told, the ones we tell ourselves, and what happens when the truth finally comes out.

I originally fell in love with this cover and the description, after approval of this ARC and starting I was not able to get into it. I only reached 33% in 5 days, which for me isnt good speed. I would read one chapter and be done for the day. It was so slow and dragging!! I wanted to finish this book because I was interested in what was happening but it just wasn't keeping my attention. I ended up skipping to see what happened. Come to find out it was just an up then back down again. This might be for someone but it wasn't for me. I also found I didn't like the third person writing.

Although I basically DNF it, I'm giving it 2 stars because the story itself is a good concept, the writing just didn't keep my attention enough to want to continue. I might even come back to it another time to give it another try.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this Advanced copy of Joy Moody is Out of Time

Joy Moody is the proud owner of Joyful Suds, the area's best (and pinkest) laundromat. Her two daughters, Cassie and Andie, are about to turn twenty-one and return to their birth parents. The girls are from the year 2050, and this is finally the year they are being called home to protect the future. Or at least that is what Joy has told them for the last decade. When Joy suddenly dies on that fateful day, their lives are changed forever - just not in the way they were expecting. Joy was hiding more than just the truth behind their "time traveling," and the girls are left to pick up the pieces. After being hidden away for their entire lives, Cassie and Andie are not only discovering what their mom was hiding, but also how to live in a world without their protector.

I loved Lenny Marks and was so excited to be given the opportunity to read Mayne's newest novel. However, I was a bit thrown off by the time traveling at the very beginning, which set the tone for my interest in the rest of the novel. I think if the girls weren't "time travelers," I would have enjoyed this more. The overall storyline is interesting and did keep me reading until the end, but I just genuinely felt bad for the twins, which made it more difficult to push through. I'm all for an awkward character, but these girls were just a little too sheltered and awkward for me. Overall, I definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed Lenny Marks. Kerryn Mayne is a great writer, and despite the semi-awkward plot and characters, the twist was not what I thought it would be.

This book was very different. Joy Moody is a small business owner who operates Joyful Suds laundry with her twin 20 year old daughters. That sounds like a boring book, except the twins are not her daughters she is keeping them safe to travel in time to defeat the evil in the world. On their 21st birthday, they are supposed to time travel, except that doesn’t happen and Joy dies. After Joy’s death so many secrets come out, and they realize Joy has been lying to them their whole lives. Cassie and Andie are left trying to navigate a world they have been sheltered from and to pick up the pieces of the mess Joy left behind. A very unique book about found family that makes you wonder what you would do if you were put up against a tough decision. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Kerryn Mayne’s "Joy Moody Is Out of Time" is a witty, offbeat crime novel with a lot of heart. Joy Moody is a woman whose life is built on tall tales, half-truths, and secrets she’s been keeping from her twin daughters, Cassie and Andie. When she is suddenly found dead on the twins’ 21st birthday, the girls are left to face a strange and much more dangerous reality than anything they were led to believe.

Mayne expertly balances the mystery element with family drama, humor, and quirk into a story about lies, loyalty, and having to finally grow up. The twins believe they were destined to lead a revolution, which gives the book a surreal and satirical edge, while Joy’s unreliable version of events keeps readers questioning what’s real and what isn’t. The mix of absurdity and suspense creates a unique tone that sets this story apart from typical crime fiction.

"Joy Moody Is Out of Time" is both entertaining and thoughtful. It mixes the sharp pacing of a mystery with deep insight into familial bonds. Readers who enjoy unconventional crime novels with dark humor will find this one especially memorable.