Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne is part cozy mystery, part psychological drama, and part family portrait with a twist. Joy runs Joyful Suds, a pink laundromat in suburban Melbourne, raising her twin daughters in strict isolation—no tech, no outside school, and the persistent claim that they’re from the year 2050. When Joy dies on their 21st birthday, the truth behind her strange rules and fabricated history begins to unravel, pulling the sisters in very different directions. While Joy’s intentions are never entirely clear, her elaborate deception and isolation of the girls read as a form of emotional abuse—one that shapes their identities and trust in the world.

Mayne balances quirky warmth with creeping unease, creating a story that feels comforting yet unsettling at the same time. The first half moves slowly as the world is built, but the second half rewards patient readers with emotional depth, tense reveals, and characters that stay with you long after the last page. It’s an inventive, bittersweet tale about love, lies, the damage that control can cause, and the lengths we go to protect the people we hold closest—sometimes to their detriment.

I appreciate Kerryn Mayne's quirky style and eccentric main characters. Joy Moody was certainly that, and she also harbored a host of secrets pertaining to her twin daughters and their supposed existence in the future. The story was original, unique, and definitely kept me curious as to what may happen. Once the book reached its climax I felt like there was a bit left to be desired, but it was still a fun little something different. Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

Twins Cassie and Andie live with their mother, Joy Moody, in a smalltown working in their cute bright pink laundromat, Joyful Suds. There are quite a few eccentric neighbors who reside in Bayside alongside Joy and her girls. But that doesn’t matter because Joy and the twins are about to embark on a time traveling journey moving them to the year 2050 where the twins will be 27 years old and meet their futuristic parents.

Ok, say what now? Yes, Joy has been preparing her twins for their journey home to the future of 2050 and today in 2023, the twins turn twenty-one. Wait, the math ain’t mathing, right? Hmm! Cassie and Andie were excited about going to the year 2050. Joy has been preparing them for this very moment in August of 2023 for them to go home and meet the parents they are supposed to be with but something is off.

Joy’s brother came to town for a visit. She hadn’t seen Grant in quite a few years and now all of a sudden he just pops up unexpectedly. He wants to stake his claim to Joyful Suds because their father left it to them and not Joy solely. Joy knew this information was wrong and quickly ushered her brother out of her establishment before the girls would see him. Not only was Joy aggravated by Grant’s resurfacing but a blast from the past came to visit her as well. Could this visitor have something to do with her and the girls going to 2050? Tyler comes unannounced at Joy’s doorstep unbeknownst to her believing he was a customer coming to pickup clothes when he advises that he received a strange message from an Andie and wanted to know if his girlfriend of over 20 years ago had ever set foot in Joy’s place? Joy immediately felt ill at the sight of Tyler and knowing what he truly represented. He was interested in finding Britney, his long lost girlfriend of many years ago. What was Joy’s connection to Britney? Well, Joy wasn’t about to get into this conversation with a strange man she didn’t know. He further advises that he received a notice from History Mystery telling him he may have a relative named Andie. Joy knew at that moment; her time was running out. She had something particularly important to do before her twins returned home for their birthday celebration.

What I love about Mayne’s writing is how quirky she makes her characters. They always do things you don’t normally read about in books and her story lines may feel slow at times but when you keep reading, she begins to paint a picture so vivid you feel like you could step right in and become a part of it. However, having said that, what irritates me about Mayne’s books is the story is entirely too long. She truly makes you work for it and I find that some of the moments she adds in feel like extra fluff that could have been left out. She doesn’t edit herself enough and that can grate on my nerves. Even though that is a pet-peeve of mine, I still love her stories.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Suspense
Spice Level: Nothing on the page
Language: Some cursing

JOY MOODY IS OUT OF TIME gave me chills!

This is one of the oddest books I've read this year. At one point, I'm thinking, "Oh, please, not that."

The mystery twisted and turned, and there were some points I figured out but not all. I really liked Joy and her daughters. I also liked the neighbors. But wow, this book did not go exactly like I expected.

Are you a fan of *The Maid*? This one doesn't really have an autistic character, but I still feel like fans of the one will like this one.

Happy reading!

Joy Moody has been lying to her twin daughters for years now. She has told Cassie and Andie that they are from the future and they must stay hidden to stay safe until their return to the year 2050 with their birth parents.

The trio doesn’t venture far from their laundromat attached to their home. The girls were home schooled, they don’t have tv, or cell phones or even…. Birth certificates?

As the twins 21st birthday approaches, (the date they are set to return to the future) Andie starts to question her mom’s story. Time travel isn’t real.. right?

Then, Joy is found dead and the twins are left to pick up the pieces in a world they know very little about.

The first 30% of this book was a struggle for me. I didn’t quite understand where it was going and how the time travel was going to work.

As loose strings started to come together at the end, it felt too rushed. Better pacing throughout would have helped.

Thanks to #netgalley, the publisher and the author for this e-arc. It’s out 8/19!

I enjoyed this authors last book so much that it was always going to be hard for the follow up to measure up. Unfortunately I struggled with this book a lot. And it’s very hard to say why without getting into SPOILERS so reader be ware.

I could never get past what Joy did it taking Andie and Cassie even though in her mind she was protecting them. She had been a social worker for goodness sake and while she provided for them she also controlled and brainwashed them. When she later is suffering from a brain tumor and is confused by what is real and what isn’t, her behavior is a little more understandable, but that doesn’t give her a pass on the prior 20 years.

Honestly once she’s dead the book does improve, because I liked many of the characters and the fierceness with which they protected and looked out for the reins, but the general set up of the story was too sad and difficult for me and so I was greatly disappointed.

This was an interesting ride. I will admit I wasn't prepared for how this book played out. It was definitely a slow burn and the character development drug a little.

Told in varying timelines and multiple POVs, I found myself a little lost, at times. Twins, their mother and a web of lies. When the girls turn 21 things change and life is never the same.

I really liked the setting and the characters. Overall this was pretty fun ride.

This is such a delightfully weird book. I love unique and odd storylines and characters, and this did not disappoint.

While the three main characters were a joy (hehe) to read about, the side characters really stole the show for me. Linh is probably my favorite with her IDGAF attitude and sailor's mouth. They were all well developed and contained multitudes. Their sense of community and support of one another were some of my favorite parts, despite Joy raising the girls completely sheltered and without technology or contact with almost anyone else.

Although there was a point toward the middle I felt it getting a little slow, I enjoyed it overall, especially after it picked up again in the second half.

Read if you like: cozy mysteries, small reveals throughout, nonlinear timeline, found family, morally gray decisions and behaviors.

Based on the description of this book, I was drawn to it because it sounded like a creative take on a mystery. However, it fell a bit short — the allure of mysteries is that you are given clues and hints that build to a discovery (usually one that, in retrospect, you should have seen coming). Instead, this book merely explains what happened, usually after some delay. It was still an interesting read, but not a particularly sophisticated mystery. I also think the mindset of the twins needed some development to be more believable — their psychology (Stockholm syndrome? Stunted development? Something akin to cult delusion?) did not have much depth and did not feel well researched.

This is an unforgettable tale of motherhood, mystery, and the fragile boundary between truth and lies. Centered on Joy Moody, owner of a bright-pink laundromat and devoted adoptive mother to twin daughters named Cassie and Audie. The story unravels on their twenty-first birthday, the day Joy is found dead. For years she's spun an elaborate yarn: the girls are from the future and destined to return to 2050 to lead a revolution. But the fantastical story has become all too real- for Joy herself.

As the narrative unfolds, the novel shifts between Joy's perspective and those of her daughters, especially as Audie begins to question everything she's been told. Meanwhile, Cassie remains town between loyalty to her mother and an emerging desire to step into the wilder world.

This book is a mix of mystery, heart, and quirky charm!

Moody Women, Uplifting and Compelling Read! 3.5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy! This book will be released 8/19/25.

Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne is an insanely good book told in multiple perspectives and timelines. The prose is phenomenal and the slow pace allowed me to get into the minds of the character which revealed pain, love, difficult choices, loyalty and desperation to be liked. The lengths people go to for those they love can be off the charts, sometimes misplaced and detrimental to others, though with good intentions.

Joy proudly owned and operated the pristinely clean Joyful Suds laundromat and she and her two young adult twin girls lived behind the shop. Andromeda (Andie) and Cassiopeia (Cassie) were raised believing they were the daughters of the future revolution. They had no reason to believe otherwise. Joy taught them to be suspicious of the police and technology. Their lives were sheltered and full of naivete. Though Joy wasn't their biological mother, she was their mom in every way. But her coping mechanism was to stick her head in the sand. The girls prepared to celebrate their twenty first birthdays in the future. Sounds odd...and it is. But wait. Later on in the story, the reader understands the reasons for Joy's subterfuge. When Joy dies, we are privy to the reactions of the girls who are left on their own. They are so different, yet so similar.

Man, do the twists and surprises ever work! Joy is a strange character but I can empathize with her, too. My heart melted into a puddle a few times as the story and characters were so convincing. The cloud game evoked nostalgia. One of my favourite characters is steadfast Monty. Originality is an A+ for me. The more I think about the novel, the more I like it. For me the writing is phenomenal and the ending beautifully unexpected. A win-win of a mind twister!

I have no patience for "quirky" characters doing bad things. What Joy Moody did was child abuse. Plain and simple. I don't care about her at all and this upset me

Joy Moody is an eccentric woman convinced that she and her twin daughters will time travel to the year 2050 on the girls’ 21st birthday. But beneath that unusual belief lies the heart of the story—a portrait of a mother willing to do whatever it takes to protect her daughters.

JOY MOODY IS OUT OF TIME
BY KERRYN MAYNE

What a wacky book. It is a book about how difficult it can be to know the difference between what is real and what is not real.

This took me back to another odd little book that I really enjoyed…Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. It told the story of an alien baby born to a human mother.

Joy Moody sold her twin daughters the story that they were to be collected on their 21st birthdays to be part of a future revolution.

There are so many things I loved about this novel that I cannot share as I never write spoilers in my reviews.

Here are some things that I really enjoyed about this book that I can share:
● The author exploring the mysterious connection of twins and their possible telekinetic connections
● It explored the realness of very simple lives being quite special
● It examined motherly love and what can be done in the sake of it
● It takes a very bizarre premise and twists into a delightful book
● It drags us along the line of whether someone is thinking straight or may very well be losing it
● The author really did a bang up job of with her character development which is something I quite treasure as a reader
● The twists here and there throughout the story made myself imagine a reader with their hand held over their mouth drawn into an O

Having really enjoyed Kerryn Mayne's premier novel I was so tickled to read this charming second. If you enjoy a read that's a bit off kilter you most definitely should take time and look into the lives of these very interesting folks.

Thank you to Kerryn Mayne not only for writing a really well written sophomore novel but also for allowing me to be an advance reader. Thanks as well goes to her publisher St. Martin's Press for choosing me as an advance reader. As always thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to be part of their group of readers.

Joy Moody Is Out of Time was a conundrum for me. I wanted to love it because I thought it was a very unique storyline. But the first half dragged so much and the second half seemed too short. I loved Cassie and Andie but was mostly annoyed with Joy. I did appreciate the police procedural part of the book. So in the end I was happy I read this story.

This was a very different book, with an odd plot and some quirky characters, and it worked well for me!

Joy Moody owns and runs the "Joyful Suds" laundromat where she lives with her twin daughters, Cassiopeia and Andromeda, who are about to turn 21. Since their early childhood Joy has been explaining that they were born in the future, to another family, and are here with her while she keeps them safe. On their 21st birthday, they will return with her to 2050, as "daughters of the future revolution". The twins have been kept off the radar - homeschooled, no internet, no mobile phones - and so are naive and trusting.

Their world does change significantly on that day, just not in the way they expected, when their mother is found dead. What happened to her? Who are the twins' real family? How do they survive without her?

I loved the characters, especially Joy and the twins, despite the fact that it takes us a while to understand Joy. We uncover why Joy behaved the way she did, and the slow reveal worked well with the plot and the secondary characters.

It's quite an emotional journey, sad in places, and uplifting and poignant in others.

Joy Moody, owner the laundromat Joyful Suds, has been lying to her twin daughters for their whole lives, it started as a way to explain why Joy was raising them instead of their biological mom but went a little too far. She told them that they are from 2050 and she is just keeping them safe (by homeschooling and never letting them really have friends) until their 21st birthday so they can return to their time and their parents. But now Joy is running out of time because she’s fatally ill and there’s not much time left to make things right.

I really enjoyed the author’s last book but this one was not for me. Once I got past the whole future warrior concept (which took a bit of time) I still couldn’t truly engage in the book or connect with most of the characters. I ended up listening to much of it (and I did like the narrator) but I only really got into the story for the last 1/4 of the book (and that 1/4 was good) which was when the story really focused on past stories, and when the twins began to integrate with other characters. Since I liked the author’s other book I would definitely give her another chance.

3.25 star
Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC to review

A very unusual story. Joy has twins she has raised since birth, but who she has told they are from ten future and at 21 will be brought back. When a brain tumor makes it harder and harder for Joy to know reality from fiction, things begin to take a turn. I enjoyed the sec ok and half more than the first which felt oddly disjointed. I did enjoy how little things were unveiled but by bit.

Strange things are happening behind the bright pink facade of Bayside’s premier laundromat, Joyful Suds, home to Joy Moody and her twin daughters. Joy has been lying to Cassie and Andie most of their lives. What started as a colorful tale to explain how the twins came to live with her was always something she meant to set straight. Joy really did think she had more time.

Having enjoyed "Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder", I was really looking forward to this novel by the same author and was very invested in the story in the beginning. As it progressed, I became more and more disenchanted with Joy and the manner in which she raised the twins. She was actually kind of mean - no electronic devices, no school, blind obedience to Joy - which took me by surprise but the girls loved her and were so dependent on her. That's not to say my enjoyment went out the window, but this didn't go the way I anticipated. I think I was expecting another lovable character like Lenny Marks. The story is told mostly from the points of view of Andie, Cassie and Joy with odd chapters from some of the other characters. Everything became clear by the end of the book and I softened towards Joy quite a bit. I'm looking forward to Kerryn Mayne's next work of fiction.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for the electronic ARC, via Netgalley, in response to my request to read this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: August 19, 2025

This review will be posted to Goodreads on August 8, 2025 and to amazon.ca on or after August 19, 2025.

This story is about Joy Moody, the lies she has told her twins, Cassie and Andie, and the fallout when those lies are revealed. The premise is unique and intriguing, and I found Mayne's writing engaging. She has an excellent ability to write with detail. I loved how we get inside the heads of the characters; they're all very well-developed, and I enjoyed reading about how they each deal with their struggles. It was relatable to a certain extent, as we've all had "growing pains" when transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

I found the pacing of the story a little out of whack. Some parts of the book felt rushed, while others just dragged on. The plot twists were predictable, and I didn't find myself reading with as much anticipation as I had hoped. And, as complex as the character of Joy was meant to be, she felt one-dimensional at best. I wish there was more to her personality.

I liked what the author was trying to do with the theme of family, but the story could have used a less heavy-handed approach. Overall, this was just an okay read that showed promise but was flawed in its execution. Please note that three stars isn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations.