Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: May 5, 2026
Format: Hardcover - 304 pages
Audiobook - 11 Hours 5 Minutes
Kindle - 294 pages / 1.7 MB
Nook - 320 pages / 2 MB
ISBN (Hardcover): 978-1250284433
ASIN (Audiobook): B0FMLN514B
ASIN (Kindle): B0FLYRCLYX
BNID (Nook): 978-1250284440
Genre: Literary Fiction / Women's Fiction
Buy The Book:
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review. I also purchased a hardcover edition of this book from my monthly Book Of The Month (BOTM) subscription.
Book Description:
From the bestselling author of The Collected Regrets of Clover comes a vibrant, heartfelt novel about friendship over the decades, self-discovery, and what it means to have a life well-lived.
Break the rules. Find your joy.
For over eighty years, Joy Bridport has played by the rules: she's been a devoted wife and mother, contributing to the community in her small Hudson Valley town. But her quiet existence is jolted when she learns that her best friend, Hazel, only has months left to live. Hazel has always been the more adventurous one of their duo, and she seems at peace with all that she’s squeezed out of her long life. Yet Joy realizes she can’t say the same.
Determined to live boldly and make the most of the time that she and Hazel have left together, Joy steps outside of her comfort zone—and into a bit of trouble. But as her foray into rule-breaking escalates into committing petty crime, Joy must consider what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind, and whether there's a way for her to embrace the liberation that "Bad Joy" offers without losing all that she holds dear.
Is it ever too late to become who we're meant to be? With laugh-out-loud hijinks and emotional heft, Good Joy, Bad Joy is a heartwarming and wise celebration of the choices we make, the friendships we cherish, and the lengths we go for love.
My Book Review:
If you are looking for a heartwarming story of a lifelong friendship and fulfilling a life well lived, then you have to read about the story of Joy and Hazel's eighty-one years as best friends in Good Joy, Bad Joy by author Mikki Brammer!
Joy Bridport and Hazel Scottsdale met in 1942 when they were eight-year-old second graders in Wisconsin. They are complete opposites, Joy lived life playing by the rules, while Hazel lived life by her own standards. For the entirety of their lifelong eight-one year friendship, Joy has lived vicariously through Hazel's worldwide travels. Now at eighty-nine years old, Hazel told Joy that she has terminal cancer, and that she has accepted it because she has had a long-fulfilled life. Joy questions her own life, and wonders if it has been inconsequential and unfulfilled. Joy decides to throw caution to the wind and experience life with the limited time that she has left with Hazel.
The story is set in Joy's house in the Hudson Valley town of Beacon, NY and Hazel's apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Told in the first-person narrative by Joy, the reader follows along as she processes Hazel's terminal cancer diagnosis, and the grief that comes with the impending loss of her best friend. The reader follows Joy and Hazel's lifelong friendship in the present time with flashbacks to their past. Joy takes the reader through her own exploration of her life as she looks back on the choices that she made, and wrestles with what she would have changed. Add in a little bit of "Bad Joy," when she samples some naughtiness when she breaks some rules in humorous escapades, and Joy realizes that it's never too late to experience a life well-lived.
There is a great mixture of emotion, drama, angst, banter, humor and crazy antics mixed in this story. The author does a great job of describing Joy and Hazel's longtime friendship. I loved how we got to see the differences in their life choices, and how through thick and thin their bond remained steadfast and strong. Their undeniable bond of friendship was amazing, it made me think of my own lifelong friendship with my bestie and how I cherish the bond that we have.
Good Joy, Bad Joy is a beautifully written story about a lifelong friendship. The story celebrates choices, friendship, self-discovery, and living your best life.
Rating: 5 Stars
About The Author
Mikki Brammer is an Australian journalist and author who hails from Tasmania. She is now based in Brooklyn, New York (by way of France and Spain) where she writes about design, architecture and art for publications such as Architectural Digest, Dwell and ELLE Decor. 'The Collected Regrets of Clover,' her bestselling debut novel, was named a Best Book of Summer 2023 by the New York Times Book Review and a Best Book of 2023 by NPR and is being published in 27 languages. Her second novel, ‘Good Joy, Bad Joy,’ was published in May 2026.
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