Emma Starling returns to her hometown of Everton, New Hampshire to a lot of complications. Her father is dying and her younger brother is a recovering addict. Her best friend from high school, Crystal, is missing - presumed dead by just about everyone but Emma's father. Emma quickly becomes enmeshed in the drama of the small town. It was very easy to get pulled right in there with her.

Best of all was the narration by the residents of the Maple Street Cemetery - a sort of Greek chorus of the deceased members of the Everton community.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an ARC of this book!

Another magically quirky book by this author. I wasn’t sure about the cemetery setting but it worked. An oddball family, a disappearance, time passes but it all goes together. The multiple points of view were handled well and seemed distinct.

As a huge fan of Annie Hartnett’s novel, Rabbit Cake, I was so excited to read this book and it did not disappoint. Drama, laughs, Unlikely Animals has it all and everything in between. Emma Starling is a born healer, once with high hopes, but now a medical school dropout, she’s returns home to take care of her dying father, Clive. Clive has animals on the brain – at least, he seems to be hallucinating and having visions of animals as well as conjuring Ernest Harold Baynes, a naturalist who has been long dead. Aside from other uncomfortable family dynamics, Emma learns that her former best friend is missing and the police don’t seem to want to put any effort into finding her. But Clive believes her as well as believes in her ability to help. If you are into ghosts, animals, stories about unhinged families, a little suspension of disbelief and as story with a lot of heart that tackles the opioid epidemic in an original way, then this book is for you! Thank you to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

Emma, born with the ability to heal, returns to her small New Hampshire town after moving to California for med school, though unbeknownst to her family she never attends, dropping out before classes begin, to care for her father, Clive, who is dying of a neurological disorder which has him hallucinating animals and befriending a long dead ghost. Emma's brother is fresh out of rehab, her mother is at the end of her rope, and her estranged best friend has been missing for a year, though her father spends his days posting missing persons posters all over town determined to find her.

Unlikely Animals was a bit of an uneven read for me though it seemed right up my alley. I love that the story is narrated by the ghosts of deceased townspeople from the local graveyard, I appreciate the mystery element as Clive spearheads an effort to locate Emma's missing friend, and I really loved this quirky town populated by colorful characters, loosely based on a real place. But I felt a disconnect with the main characters that kept me at arm's length. It just never quite all came together for me

Read this if…you liked A Man Called Ove or The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett.

Emma Starling, once known for her “healing hands,” returns home to her small New Hampshire town after dropping out of med school. She is reunited with her family, including her father who has an undiagnosed brain disease, her strict mother, and her adult brother who is in recovery from a drug addiction. Part of her father’s disease includes periods of dementia as well as hallucinations that feature small animals and the ghost of a veritable Doctor Doolittle. Emma’s shocked to discover that in addition to her father’s failing health, her best friend from childhood has gone missing. The cops believe she’s just a drug addict who ran away, but Emma’s father suspects foul play and spends his more lucid moments trying to find the girl. Emma learns some valuable life lessons while trying to get used to her new- albeit anything but normal- life.

Books this wonderful don’t come along very often. To say I loved Unlikely Animals would be a massive understatement! I went into this totally blind and was met with the quirkiest characters and a plot that made me feel all the emotions.

I loved watching the Starling family grow as they navigated through their issues. The author blended heavy topics like death and drug addiction masterfully with moments of pure hilarity. The photographs and historical elements that were woven in between the Starlings’ shenanigans added depth and authenticity to the narrative. I will also say that I’ve never read a story told from the collective POV of those buried in the town cemetery. As odd as this sounds, it works and just goes to show how creative Annie Hartnett really is!

Seriously, do yourself a favor and read this book! I already know it’s going to be a contender for my favorite book of the year.

A big thanks to Netgalley, the author, and Ballantine Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What can you say about the dead who speak from their graves? They play a prominent role in this book, along with a father who is terminally ill, mother who left father, daughter who returns home after not attending medical school and a brother who succeeded in rehab but can't get a job. Oh, and then there's the ghost who occasionally shows up, the ability to heal the sick and the animals...all the animals. What a clever and enjoyable book. A nice break from all the seriousness and post-war trauma I've been reading. I love suspense and war stories, but here is a fun, though sometimes sad, change of pace. Emma Staring returns home to Everton, New Hampshire, to assist with her father's care after not attending medical school in California. Her father has a terminal brain disease and he's driven his fourth wife, her Mom, crazy after years of misbehavior. Brother Auggie has no purpose in life, but he has successfully kicked his drug habit. Now they are all living together in the caretaker's house loaned to them by their wealthy friend. Emma and her father search for her missing friend. Emma takes a job as a temporary elementary school teacher and also meets up with her old high school crush. It's a lot to take in, but good things happen...and some not so good things, too. A great story, quirky and I recommend it! Thank you Net Galley and Random House Books. I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This quirky read publishes tomorrow, and I really really liked it! Emma Starling could heal people as a child, but that has gone away and she has just dropped out of med school. She returns to her small New Hampshire town when her dad begins hallucinating small animals while dying from a mysterious brain disease. She also finds out upon return that her childhood friend has gone missing. Oh, and this is narrated by the townspeople buried in the local cemetery. 

So yes, this book is STRANGE, but it is equal parts tender, funny, and heartwarming. The residents of the cemetery try not to meddle, but they are the biggest cheerleaders of the living, and I'd read any story they want to tell me. Unlikely Animals has moments of sadness, but it's balanced out by so much else. 

If you are a fan of Nothing to See Here and/or Lincoln in the Bardo (both five stars for me), run to your library or bookstore tomorrow to get this one. Thank you to @netgalley and Ballantine Books for this advanced copy.

4.5 stars
What a lovely book. This was reminiscent of A Man Called Ove, which is a compliment I don't take lightly.

This book is told from the perspective of the souls in the Maple Street Cemetery in Everton, New Hampshire. This sentence sounds dark and sad, but it wasn't at all. It was the beautiful story of Emma, who returns home after dropping out (or really, never starting) medical school, to help her father, who is nearing the end of his life with a degenerative brain condition. Emma's brother is a recovering heroin addict, and Emma's best friend is missing.

The author finds a way to weave these sad storylines together in a lighthearted and quirky way that made it a delight to read. It is a story of a family finding their way, while grieving and struggling through every day life.

I expected this novel to be difficult to read as I recently lost my mother, but it was heartwarming instead.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book free of charged from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was a odd, quirky yet interesting book. Emma has dropped out of medical school, that she didn't really want to attend but because she has a "healing touch" her family thought it was a good thing. When she goes back home to help her family with her father, who has a terminal illness that is affecting his brain, she finds out that her best friend from school, Crystal, is missing. Her father had been going around town putting up missing posters. Everyone thought he was crazy. He was seeing animals everywhere. He bought a fox from Russia named Rasputin.

Emma starts teaching 5th graders at the local elementary school and soon grows to love them. On the side she starts to do a little sleuthing into what happened to Crystal. Was she murdered? Did she run away from the town that offered no future?

I enjoyed the book but it took me a few weeks to kinda of process it and like it more than I did when reading it.

3.5/5 stars

A gentle thoughtful novel about a family and a small town in New Hampshire. Emma didn't even start med school but she never told her family and now she's back home because something's very wrong with her father Clive. Her brother Auggie is fresh off another stint in rehab, her mother has more or less given up, and Clive is seeing things. A chorus of voices from the cemetery and bits and pieces of the diary of Ernest Harold Baynes, who kept all sorts of animals (including bears) as pets, contribute to the narrative as Emma navigates a new reality of sorts with Clive. She takes a job as a substitute to replace a beloved teacher whose husband was arrested for selling drugs and finds new things within herself. She also takes up her father's search for her best friend Crystal, who he is convinced is still alive while others believe she od'ed. This won't be for everyone but I liked it tremendously. Yes the characters are quirky (but real) and yes there are ghosts who have strong opinions but there's also a good mystery and a lot of love. Hartnett is a great storyteller and she hits the right tone throughout. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Great read.

Oh to be the golden child who has high expectations but no guidance. That was what we found here. Except in a small town of quirky characters. Now I know that a small town of quirky characters cannot make a successful person. So there is that. Just OK.

I can't say enough about this novel! Reminiscent of the best of John Irving, Annie Hartnett has created the beautiful rundown town of Everton, New Hampshire, where boundaries bleed between animals and humans as well as the living and the dead. The action is centered around the dysfunctional Starling family, whose patriarch, Clive Starling, is dying from a brain disease and was forced to retire from his position as a professor after seeing invisible cats in the classroom. His beleaguered wife Ingrid is having an affair with his physician, his daughter Emma, having lost her potential to magically heal, returns home from California a failure, while his son Auggie is trying to get his act together after battling a heroin addiction. This indeed is a story worthy of the inhabitants of the Maple Street Cemetery, who continue to show concern for the living and who like stories that are both funny and sad the best. This book has it all, full of laughter and tears, and the author loves her world so much that we can't help rooting for the good characters to triumph over the bad. It is a beautiful adult fairy tale with the dark shadow of the opioid crisis lurking in the background. 4.8 out of 5.0 stars. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books, who gifted me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is just plain fun! Emma comes home from medical school to care for her father who is suffering from a brain disease. A disease which it seems is causing hallucinations, some of which feature ghosts and talking animals.
This is a rollicking roller coaster ride of eccentric characters, finding humor in the sadness, in no way leasing the severity or emotional toil of caring for an aging parent.
Anyone who has walked in Emma's shoes needs to read this book, a perfect blend of funny and serious about a very real, very emotional situation the majority of us readers will encounter. Well done, highly recommend.
Thank you to Random House and Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

This book explores a popular trope, returning to the small town you grew up in – in this case we meet Emma Starling, and the small town is Everton, New Hampshire. Emma has a healing touch, and she flees Everton to go to college in California. She’s all set to attend medical school, but things don’t work out.

She’s headed back to Everton now as her father is very ill. She’s not able to heal people anymore and she doesn’t want to share much about her life in California. She’s quickly thrown back into her family – often hilariously dysfunctional – and small-town life. Somehow, she ends up as a long-term substitute teacher as she tries to care for her father. He’s seeing a ghost and animals overrunning things.

Speaking of ghosts, we get to hear the perspective of many of the townspeople who are full time residents of the cemetery. They love to watch over the town, but they shouldn’t interfere with the living!

This one made me smile and laugh several times and I loved the antics of her fifth-grade class! Emma’s childhood best friend has been missing for months and her dad is a bit obsessed with finding her, putting up posters all over town. There are also shadows of the opioid epidemic that hang over the town.

If you are looking for something different to read and you enjoy some magical realism thrown in, this book will fit the bill! It was so nice to take a break from thrillers and darker reads with this one. There are definitely moments of humor in this one, but some serious issues as well. I enjoyed the family dynamics and don’t miss the author’s note at the end!

This book is a charmer. It's a bit disjointed, (when you read the author's note, it appears that she pieced together a number of interesting tidbits to create this plot.) It kind of shows in the story. But you know what? It kind of all works.

At its heart, this is a family drama. Emma comes home after finding herself lost in the world and is greeted by a long list of problems. She has no career goals and no home, Her father is dying, her parents marriage in on the rocks, her brother has just come home from rehab, and her childhood best friend is missing.

Emma finding her footing again, and learning to love her family and her community forms the core of the story. However there is an Our Town-ish twist where the dead from the town's cemetery are narrating this story. There's also a bit of a mystery, in which Emma and her father are trying to find the friend. And there's a bit of historical fiction in the father's interactions with a hallucination of a real-life naturalist, and the family's caretaking of a real life mansion. There's also a bit of true crime, as the town grapples with the opioid epidemic, and some citizens who have been arrested for dealing drugs.

See what I mean about a lot of elements?

However, while at times these elements seemed to fight each other for attention, when the author manages to weave them together, the book really soars. It's easy to become invested in these characters and the animals that love them (Moses! Rasputin!. I have never before wanted my very own pet fox this badly. :) The Greek chorus of deceased citizens keeps assuring the reader that all of this will make sense in the end. And it does.

Overall, this was a sweet find. Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a gem! Readers looking for a light-hearted, wholesome good time with a bit of magical realism, will love this book. Those who have dealt with any kind of dementia will appreciate how the characters showed such compassion towards the person who was suffering, trying to make his final days worthwhile.

Emma, a young woman returning home to New Hampshire after an unsuccessful venture at medical school, feels like a failure. She once had the gift of healing touch, but it has gone away and she knows her family will be expecting her to heal her ailing father. She does just that, but not in the way many expected.

With one of her childhood friends missing and a brother who is recovering from substance abuse, Emma becomes instrumental in changing each situation in some way. She also gets a job as a long-term substitute teacher and touches the lives of the children, just as they touch hers.

Throughout the story animals play a starring role. Set against the backdrop of a large nature preserve, readers are privy to tales of foxes, bears, birds, and of course, the ever-faithful dog.
I loved reading about Rasputin and Moses and how they protected the one that needed it most. And last but certainly not least, I loved the narrators from the local cemetery.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to give it my honest review.

Delightfully weird and equally heartfelt, I absolutely love this book. This book packs it all in, a story of coming home, small town life, family and self discovery with a pinch of historical fiction and a dash of mystery. Told from the point of view of the town cemetery's residents, yes ghosts, it's full of humor and heart. The story doesn't rush you but wraps you up in it like a well worn quilt or a softly burbling stream. You could sit down and finish the whole thing on a rainy Sunday afternoon or you could read a little bit every day and savor it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Publishing for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful book by Annie Hartnett. 4.5 stars rounded up!

Emma Starling was born with The Charm - an ability to naturally heal people. She went off to California to attend medical school but lost her way and her ability. She returns home to small town Everett, New Hampshire, because her father is dying of a brain disease. Clive Starling has been hallucinating small animals as well as the ghost of a famous NH naturalist, who is giving him advice on his last days. Clive also is the only one taking an active interest in finding Emma's estranged best friend who has gone missing.

I loved all the quirky characters in this story, including those inhabitants of the town's cemetery who give commentary to the tale. While tackling difficult subjects like addiction, infidelity, and caring for aging parents, we are treated to a hilarious story of wild animals in the house, antics of elementary school children, and given the gift of love, hope, and second chances. Be sure to read the author's note at the end and don't miss this book!

An extraordinary book that encompasses what I thought it would be. I highly recommend if you are up for a heartwarming and emotional story, yet a humorous look at depictions of families.

Emma returns to her home in Everton, New Hampshire to help with her father suffering with a progressive brain disease, much like Alzheimer. After studying medicine to be a doctor, she dropped out of medical school and must confront the wrath of her family. Her mother is of little help with her father since she has dealt with her husband's infidelity. Her brother Auggie is dealing with his own demons as a recovering drug addict. Her best friend is missing and to no avail from the local police to locate her because of her drug addiction. The opioid crisis has hit this little town hard and Emma works as a substitute teacher after a teacher's family is affected.

Emma's father was a former professor and is obsessed with Ernest Harold Baynes (1868-1925)...he was known as the real life Dr. Doolittle seen conversing with animals. Her father now sees these animals in his house. Emma and her father's bond strengthens in a touching yet sometimes comical way when she cares for him and he helps her search for her missing friend.

One of the most quirky and genius parts of the book is the residents of the Maple Street Cemetery that keep watch over the living. They each long for one more chance to do life over and appreciate the little things. Their conversations are humorous and include 2 rules: #1 No meddling in the living's affairs #2 If you stop caring about the living, your soul will wither away. The realization that they are dead
can be haunting yet humorous. They witness realistic views as families battle daily with problems and as caretakers of loved ones.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this title in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.