Intensely captivating and utterly enchanting!

Master storyteller Jennifer Moorman's latest magical tale, THE VANISHING OF JOSEPHINE REYNOLDS, is a testament to her exquisite storytelling skills. It's a must-read for all book lovers, especially those who enjoy historical fiction and time travel narratives.

From the time travel, romance, and self-discovery to the excitement, adventure, and speakeasy to the glamour, decor, fashion, parties, and charm of the 1920s era reminiscent of The Great Gatsby—it will surely captivate fans (Alma and myself included).

With Jennifer Moorman's signature blend of Southern magic, charm, historical details, and family bonds, THE VANISHING OF JOSEPHINE REYNOLDS is a beautifully told story of courage, resilience, self-discovery, and second chances.

Audiobook...

I enjoyed reading the book and listening to the audiobook performed by one of my favorite narrators, Kathleen McInerney, @theveronicat a perfect voice for this Southern gem. The magic, history, and vivid descriptions come alive as the characters with an engaging performance, ensuring an entertaining and immersive experience. I highly recommend the audiobook. (I love Kathleen/MKA audiobooks).

About...

Josephine Reynolds, a 35-year-old widow, finds herself at a crossroads after her husband Nathan's death. It has been six months, and she is still grieving. She had lost herself in their marriage, giving up her friends, preferences, and identity to fit into his world.

Her sister Katherine suggested she sell the house and move elsewhere to start over fresh. Then they found their grandmother's house in Nashville was being foreclosed, and she decided to buy and renovate it.

The historic Victorian home in Belle Meade, The Carter Mansion, was a wedding gift to her great-grandmother Alma when she married in 1916. She had not been inside the house since childhood, but the photographs resurrected those memories.

First, she finds what appears as a speakeasy in the basement, and then she goes to replace the front door with an original one and finds herself transported back to 1927 and the magical era of the roaring 20s, where she meets her great-grandmother Alma, a daring woman running an illegal speakeasy in the basement.

What happens next transports readers to another time and the what ifs? Josephine must race against time to rewrite history to save Alma and her future, where the past and present collide.

My thoughts...

CAPTIVATING! I loved this charming story of Josephine Reynolds and her great-grandmother Alma. Although I am typically not a fan of time travel, I found this one a delight! I adore historic homes and the 1920s!

The drama builds with each page, and I could not wait to see how it would turn out. A seamless blend of choices and chances celebrates the enduring spirit of women. Memorable, atmospheric, nostalgic, suspenseful, and mysterious, with an unforgettable heroine.

With parallel timelines, Josephine faces decisions in the present and the lush Jazz Age of the 1920s. I enjoyed the present with Josephine, her mom, and her sister, as well as the 1920s timeline with all its prohibition, speakeasy, scenery, drama, vivid descriptions, and fashion.

Heartwarming! The author opens the door to possibilities and offers readers a perfect blending of Southern, literary, and historical fiction, romance, coming-of-age, time travel, and some magic! From self-discovery, loss, love, and second chances! A testament to family ties and the power of love.

This is my first book by the author, and I cannot wait to read more!

Recs...

This is for fans of the author and those who enjoy Sarah Addison Allen, Sarah Jio, Rea Frey, Patti Callahan Henry, Karen White, Matt Haig, and Meg Shaffer.

A special thank you to Harper Muse and Harper Collins Focus for an ALC and ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Jan 14, 2025
2025 Must-Read Books
Jan 2025 Newsletter

Maybe I am just not an audio book girly but I just keep fading out when I was listening. The concept of the story was good tho!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this part historical, part romance, part fantasy novel about a young widow who discovers she can time travel through a door. Lately, these stories have really been my vibe and this one by Jennifer Moorman did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the back and forth between time periods, and learning more about the Jazz Age. I didn't love the ending and was hoping for it to take a different route but overall, I enjoyed the plot and the story. The narrator did a fantastic job!

Time travel is one of my favourite tropes and I really enjoyed this! I loved that Josephine was able to travel between eras and wasn’t stuck in the past. Josephine was really well developed as a character and her relationships with other characters were all well done. I listened to the audio version and found it really engaging.

Josephine, newly widowed, purchases her late great-grandmother’s home. In her grief, she wishes to disappear, and discovers that, through the early death of her great-grandmother, her wish is coming true. She finds a way to travel through time, and works to save her great-grandmother’s life, and therefore her own.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Focus for the advanced review copies.

Very easy read that left me feeling transported back to the 1920's. Had a great time reading this and recommend giving it a try if you love the idea of time travel with some magic.

I have decided to DNF this book at 18%.

I think this is well written and interesting for the right audience, but that audience may not include myself unfortunately. My only complaint, and maybe this is more due to the narrator's voice, but it almost felt like Josephine and her sister were living in the 50s-60s based on different terms used and such. I was actually surprised when it mentioned that Josephine got a text message just because the overall vibe gave retro. The narrator's voice and inflections also had an old time-y vibe as well that may have skewed my perspective further.

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds by Jennifer Moorman is a captivating blend of magical realism and historical fiction that transports readers to the vibrant Jazz Age. I had the pleasure of listening to an ARC audiobook thanks to Harper Muse Audiobooks. The story came to life with this engaging audiobook, I would recommend listening to this audiobook version. 

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds would appeal to readers who enjoy time travel and historical fiction stories. 4 stars.

In this historical fiction and magical realism novel, recently widowed Josephine moves into the Carter Mansion in Nashville to start over. After replacing the ugly front door, she discovers a perfect salvaged door; upon installing it, Josephine finds a Gatsby quote engraved on it and is transported to 1927, where she meets her great-grandmother Alma. As Josephine navigates this dual-timeline experience, she learns she must save Alma from a deadly raid to ensure her own future. The story’s pacing is just right, creating a cozy, reflective atmosphere while exploring themes of family, healing, and the possibility of love after loss. It’s a comforting, easy, and somewhat predictable read that I recommend to anyone who enjoys time travel, the 20s, love & friendship, and/or a little mystery.

The narration by Kathleen McInerney was enjoyable. A huge thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Focus, and Jennifer Moorman for the audio ARC.

This had me at Craftsman bungalow in disrepair and promptly lost me somewhere between magical time travel mechanics and a salvage yard door that might as well have been stamped “As Seen on TV.” The setup was irresistible: a grieving widow, a historical home dripping with secrets, and a basement speakeasy practically begging for jazz hands and a splashy Netflix miniseries. Unfortunately, the execution wobbles like a bad Charleston performed after one too many bathtub martinis.

The 1927 setting was a VIBE. Smoky jazz, clinking glasses of bootleg gin, and Alma—great-grandma turned speakeasy queen—owning the room with the kind of charisma that makes you wonder why the story isn’t just about her. Alma has that “main character energy” that Josephine can only aspire to.

And then there’s Josephine. Poor, well-meaning Josephine, who stumbles through the plot like she’s lost in a Home Depot trying to find aisle “Enchanted Door.” The rules of time travel? Who knows. Why does the door work? Who enchanted it? Why does stepping into 1927 apparently obliterate all sense of causality? The book doesn’t know, and neither will you. Josephine barrels through it all with the finesse of someone trying to build Ikea furniture without the instructions, hoping sheer willpower will keep it all from collapsing. Spoiler: it doesn’t.

By the end, the whole thing feels like a Gatsby-themed party that started with high hopes and devolved into mismatched costumes, flat champagne, and a iphone speaker blaring jazz remixes. The book tries to juggle grief, family secrets, romance, and the literal unraveling of time, but it drops so many balls it’s a wonder the characters didn’t vanish into a plotless void.

Final Grade: C+, the plot is vanishing

I gobbled this gem up in no more than 24h. It reminded me by turns of A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams, or of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and without being as an intense a love story as the former or as dark as the latter, this had the depth of historical detail of the first and endearing characters of the second. Absolutely recommend for fans of historical fiction and not only.

P. S. If you ever wondered what fabulous outfits and make-up being a flapper girl would've entailed, this book is for you!

Josephine Reynolds goes back to 1927 to save her Great Grandmother from dying after finding out her front door can transport her back in time.

I was really hopeful for this book, the magical realism and time travel caught my eye. It was an OK book and I enjoyed it, but most of the time I found myself unable to pay attention. The narrator has a clear voice and is easy to understand. Everything was just average to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for the opportunity to enjoy this audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you enjoy a time traveling novel that is full of nostalgia for the 1920’s and a nice, sweet story about moving on from grief, you will love this new novel by Jennifer Moorman.

Josephine Reynolds is a young widow who after losing her husband, a cardiac surgeon, is feeling lost and lonely for her old life. She decides to move into her grandmother’s home in Nashville where she discovers a door that leads back to the 1920’s and her grandmother's illegal speakeasy. Her discovery begins to alter the future, so Josephine must find a way to go back in time and save her grandmother from harm or lose her entire family, including herself.

This was a fun jump back in time, and I want to NetGalley and Harper Muse Audiobooks for the Advanced Reader Copy. #NetGalley #TheVanishingOfJosephineReynolds

It was a fun read and I really enjoyed it. Even though I'm pretty sure most of its success on me was thanks to the audio narrator, it still is a lovely light-hearted story to spend an evening with.

Thanks NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with the audiobook

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version.
I have been waiting for what feels like a very, very, very long time for this author to release a new book. I was so excited to be gifted this novel!

I love how Moorman writes, and her stories are always so warm and cozy. This was a great concept, and oh, how I would love to go back in time and meet my ancestors.

If you are a fan of Saraha Addison Allen, you will love this novel! The narrator did a great job, and the cover is beautiful!

Oh my gosh, The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds by Jennifer Moorman is an absolute must-read! If you're a fan of Beatriz Williams or Kristin Hannah, then this book is going to absolutely blow you away. It's the perfect blend of romance, mystery, and time travel, and trust me, you're going to be hooked from page one.

Seriously, if you love historical fiction with a dash of mystery and time travel, this book has everything you could want and more.
I couldn’t get enough of it.

Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: 1/14
•
After the loss of her husband and wishing that she was never born, Josephine Reynolds has the opportunity to purchase her family’s house. When there she finds a speakeasy and from there she is transported into the past in order to fix the past that she set in motion.
•
I absolutely love a time travel story and when I found out that this one sends the main character back to the 1920s, I was immediately like sign me up!! I absolutely loved Josephine and Catherine and their bond. The raw honesty from Catherine to make Josphine to make her realize that she always became what the men she dated. I love how this made Josephine really take a deep dive into who she was and how that was deepened even more when she traveled back to the 1920’s to stop a raid of the speakeasy in her great grandmother’s house.
•
This was like a coming of age, historical fiction and romance all in one. The pacing in this story is steady throughout, I found myself hooked to this story and its characters. I felt that Josephine really grew as a character throughout this story. I loved the meaning behind the carving in the antique door that was able to transport Josephine between times. I especially loved the epilogue and how we were able to get complete closure. It was really a super fun read.
•
I listened to this one via audiobook and Kathleen McInernerny was fantastic as Jospehine. I really felt like I was in this story the entire time I listened to it. It was a quick listen and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking to read this book!
•
Huge thank you to @netgalley @harpercollins @harpermusebooks and @jenniferrmoorman for the ALC in exchange for my honest review. Be sure to check this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook; the time traveling fictional story held my attention throughout. Some time travel books can become confusing with multiple timelines, however I was able to follow this one's plot without any trouble. The story reminded me of the "The Time Traveler's Wife" crossed with "The Great Gatsby." Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook and am giving it a 4 out of 5 star review.

The Vanishing Of Josephine Reynolds is the third stand-alone novel by American author, Jennifer Moorman. The audio version is narrated by Kathleen McInerney. “I wish I’d never been born” is what thirty-five-year-old Josephine Reynolds mutters on a particularly bad day when she’s been widowed six months. She had moulded her life to suit his, so Nathan’s absence has eliminated Josephine’s purpose and direction.

But her sister Katherine is determined to bring back the Jo-Jo she once was, and has suggestions, starting with selling the house that was Nathan’s status symbol, a way to showcase his ambition and impressive lifestyle, but was never what Josephine wanted. The impetus to actually do so comes when she learns that Grandma Dorothy’s historic Victorian mansion in Bell Meade has been foreclosed on: she can easily afford the wonderful home their Uncle Donnie helped himself to when his mother died.

It's late September when Josephine moves into the Carter Mansion. The sound of music takes Josephine down to the cellar where she stumbles on a hidden door. When they open it, she and Katherine discover what used to be a speakeasy. A bit of internet sleuthing reveals that their great-grandmother, Alma, given the house by her first husband, Franklin Carter, ran the speakeasy in the late 1920s during Prohibition, and was once almost arrested during a raid.

Soon after getting essentials unpacked, Josehine’s priority is to replace the ugly front door Donnie put up, probably to annoy the fussy neighbourhood association. The door that Leo Freeman at the salvage yard shows her is perfect: it’s the door his father originally crafted for the house. His mother blessed it, and he even has the door key. This was meant to be! Leo does mention something about Alma being shot dead in a raid on the speakeasy, but she lived to the ripe old age of ninety-eight, so that can’t be right.

The new door fitted, Josephine spots some words engraved next to one of the glass panels, a Gatsby quote she recites just before turning the key and finding herself in the mansion’s foyer, being greeted by Alma Carter. She bluffs her way through, and begins to realise she’s stepping between dual timelines or, as she later understands, duelling timelines.

Back in her own time, Josephine notices that random items, clothing, furniture, photographs, seem to be disappearing, and her chat with Leo, the only person who might not think she’s crazy, leads to the conclusion that her throw-away wish might come true if the timeline in which Alma is shot prevails. If Josephine wants to continue to exist in the 2020s, she needs to save Alma’s life in 1927.

Moorman certainly evokes her era and setting, although her wordy descriptions of clothing, furniture and buildings do become a little tedious. The time-hopping is fairly well handled, with any anomalies put down to Josephine’s ignorance of quite how it works. There’s a good bit of drama in the climax, and a sweet, possible happy ever after at the end. An enjoyable time-travel romance tale.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Focus.

I loved this time hopping love story. Josephine purchases her great grandmother’s home after the loss of her husband and mysterious things begin to happen. After a trip to the salvage yard where she acquires the original door and original key to the home, she installs it and the door becomes a portal to 1927 where Josephine meets her great grandmother, Alma. I loved the historical fiction parts of the story where clothing, music, prohibition, cars etc. were all discussed as Josephine helps Alma throw a party. When things begin to change in present day because of what is now happening in 1927, Josephine has to make some decisions. The characters were all wonderful, especially Josephine who flourished and the strong women represented were wonderful. The plot was easy to follow even though it jumped back and forth between timelines. This was a story about love, loss and family. The ending of the book was done to perfection.

This started out okay, not something I would consider remarkable writing but good enough to pass the time. Living on the Kentucky/Tennessee boarder, I enjoyed the setting of the Nashville area. It made the story feel homey and fimilar. I thought the narration was okay but also not my favorite. Around the 19% mark, as the FMC was looking for a door for her historic home, the shop owner announced his mother was a "see-er" and put blessings and protection over the door/home. I went back to re-read the synopsis and learned she apparently repeats some words inscribed on the door and then is transported back in time. I'm okay with a little time travel, but I think this dabbles a little too far for me as magic, and occult-type practices are not a subject I am willing to tolerate regardless of "innocence". It's a no for me.
Thank you, NetGalley, HarperCollins Focus, and Harper Muse for the opportunity to listen and review this advanced copy.