Unlikely Animals is a quirky, heartfelt paean to family expectations and learning to face immenent death. Emma's healing 'gift' has deserted her when she needs it most; to heal her dying father. She returns to her hometown hiding this fact and so much more. Before she can get her bearings, she finds out that her ex-best friend has been missing for months and that her father, who is literally seeing dead people, seems to be the only one that cares.

This book throws a little bit of everything into the mix. Terminal illness, mental incapacity, a missing person, hallucinations, a touch of supernatural, family dynamics, and drug abuse are just some of the factors that wind throughout the book. While most of these issues are handled well the sheer number of them means that some are not given their due attention. The sudden rift between the parents felt forced and could easily be ommited. The romance with the high school hottie turned high school teacher seemed a bit too convenient. The twist at the end with the missing friend was the one that jumped the shark. While that storyline made a good point about how people can fall through the cracks, the crazy plot of what happened was just too much. You've got talking ghosts, wild animals, and a dying old man. You don't need a bizarre plot that frankly makes no sense.

I thought this book had a good bones, and I enjoyed reading it for the most part. It just needs to be steamlined and focused on the truly important parts of the story.

In this charming yet sad story, the ghosts of the town are active participants as narrators from the graveyard!

Emma Starling was born a healer - golden hands bringing help to all she touched.. Years later she has lost her way and is now a med school dropout. She returns to her small town via her mother's commands to care for her dying father who is suffering from a brain disease (unnamed but dementia like)

Her father Clive was once a strong father figure in her life and is still a strong character. He communicates continuously with the ghost of Ernest Harold Baynes - a historically known figure who kept many wild animals in his home. Their conversations make this book!

The secondary plot line deals with the opioid epidemic. Emma arrives, her ex best friend is missing and the police can't be bothered to search. With only her dad's support she seeks to heal her home and her town.
Illustrated with lovely pictures, this is a book for those who love animals, modern fairy tales or have to deal with the ravages of opioids or dementia. #UnlikelyAnimals #NetGalley #NetGalleyreads #RAndomHousePublishing #Ballantine

Hartnett really shines at creating quirky likeable characters. I wasn't sure about the narration by the dead initially, but I came to love it too.

Such a wonderful book. It makes you cry, but also laugh out loud. Having dead people providing part of the narrative was unique.

Aren’t we all animals? The intersection of humans alive, humans deceased, and animal characters makes this an intriguing title for an intriguing book. Based in part on a real 26,000 acre private preserve in New Hampshire, Annie Hartnett weaves a story of a young woman returning home to help care for her dementia stricken father, a wayward mother, her brother with opiod issues and a missing best friend. Chapters begin with animal stories that leave the reader wondering how those tales will fit in with the overarching story and they do, they really do! This is a book about redemption, of lives well-lived with ordinary troubles that are based on love, on father-daughter and son healing, and on the weaknesses and strengths of small-town life. A thorough pleasure of a read and as the author says, “sometimes magic might just be magic.” May we all find that the stories of our lives reflect the humanity and imagination that is in this marvelous book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Emma comes home after dropping out of med school to care for her dying dad and her brother's fall into Opiod addiction and rehab. Her best friend is missing and she is unable to heal any of them since her childhood gift of healing has disappeared. Emma is a mess. There are very funny snippets of dialogue from the inhabitants at the local cemetery and real life photographs and descriptions of the town hero naturalist couple. Heartwarming, clever and delivered in a unique way this is about the desire in all of us to heal those we love and the frustration that comes with knowing we can't. A cross between Saunder's LINCOLN IN THE BARDO and a Fannie Flagg small town saga, this had me checking off all the columns. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Why doesn't Emma's healing power work anymore? Where did her high school friend disappear to? Why does her retired professor dad see the ghost of the town naturalist and a bunch of animals everywhere? And why are the town ghosts telling the story? Hartnett answers all these questions and many more you forgot to ask in this charming, page-turning, and heart-tugging novel. Set in a fictional New England town, the author manages to address marital problems, the opioid epidemic, and dementia in a sensitive yet laugh-out-loud manner. As an academic, it's been a long time since I picked up a book that was so readable it was easy to keep going for hundreds of pages. Definitely a lovely and laugh-inducing refreshing read.

If you enjoy off-beat literary stories, run don't walk to pick up UNLIKELY ANIMALS.

Fans of Rabbit Cake, Hartnett's previous novel, will recognize her somewhat experimental approach here, as well as her immense talent. This is not a straightforward story. Instead, the narrative is full of twists and turns with surprise POVs popping up. Throughout the novel, Hartnett injects a quirky humor that never distracts from the emotional lives of the characters.

Emma Starling returns home after a failed attempt at medical school to see her dying father. Suffering from a mysterious brain disease that makes him see animal hallucinations and the ghost of Ernest Harold Baynes, Emma's father has not given up looking for a missing person through his illness. The missing person is Emma's estranged high school best friend, presumably dead from drug use. Emma faces judgement, grief, and the vast unknown in this quirky and humorous novel.

As I mentioned before, the two best words to describe this novel are quirky and humorous. It is extremely different from anything I have read before. It is told from the viewpoint of the dead. It also made me laugh out loud quite a bit. I appreciated Annie Hartnett's way of blending serious themes with the lightness of her sense of humor. It was touching and I genuinely liked most of the characters laid out, flaws and all.

Unfortunately, this novel seemed like it had a bit too much going on. Without detailing spoilers, there were many things going on that seemed a bit disjointed. This made it difficult for me to follow along or stay engaged until after the second half. Overall, though, this was a good read and a book I will not forget.

Content warnings: There were jokes about Jesus and some mentions of witchcraft and magical abilities. Mild language, some mild sexual references. Themes of death and drug use.

What a quirky collection of characters, odd ghosts, and unlikely animals! Toss in some significant issues such as a missing person, opioid addiction, and dementia, and you have a way out-there story that somehow works thru it all. The narration itself is unusual; a single voice made up of an us/we collection of the souls residing at Maple Street. (Maple Street being the town’s only cemetery).
In the beginning I was not sure what to think about this menagerie of situations. We have a golden girl coming home after finally admitting to her parents she never actually went to medical school. Her ner-do-well brother is also home after being discharged once again from rehab. We have a class full of elementary school children with no teacher and no direction. Add a retired poetry professor, some very real ghosts, and an old high school crush and you come up with a heck of a mix of a story. You would think this would be just a disaster of circumstances…. except it’s not. Those issues? They are REAL issues. Emma’s father Clive is dying of a mysterious brain disease. Emma’s best friend really is missing. Emma’s hometown is overrun with a heroin epidemic. Not to mention all the animals! Rabbits in the kitchen (imagined). Cats in the classroom (imagined). A crazed deer in the house (real). And a ghost that likes to egg Clive on – I know, it seems aimless at first, but hold on. Because this seemingly adrift story emerges as a truly thought-provoking experience. I had to take a deep breath the moment I realized Clive’s brain disorder was true dementia as opposed to a ghost induced affliction. I could feel his own confusion, and Emma’s heartache, when he could not remember where his wife was. Why he was not teaching anymore. Why he was not allowed to carry his wallet or drive his own car. Yet there are moments of profound clarity, beautiful in their simplicity. And wisdom; little things like Clive telling Emma she is not too messed up, only just as messed up as she’s supposed to be at her age.
The author has done an excellent job melding these stories and characters together; these unlikely animals, trying to move forward in the face of their own heartbreak and hardships. Well done.
Thank you very much to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Annie Hartnett for allowing me early access to this wonderful book. I enjoyed it very much.

What an interesting concept! The author does an excellent job of mixing historical fact, modern day issues, and all the ups and downs of being a family into a story full of redemption. Narration provided by a host of souls lingering in the local cemetery provides a delightful mix of noir and comic relief as med school dropout Emma navigates a disgraceful return to her quirky hometown to watch her father die. A recovering addict brother, a mother who has met her limit, a classroom of 5th graders each struggling with the fallout of the local opioid epidemic, and a father whose best friend is the spirit of a deceased local conservationist all come together to create a moving tale of the unexpected you find when you take a chance on coming home.

Pros: I knew I was going to like this book as soon as I started reading because it begins with a map of the town where the book takes place. This book was a creative and original take on a family dramady, with a bit of magical realism, a school musical, and a missing person thrown in. My favorite part of this book is that it is told from the points of view of the deceased members of the town who “live” in the local cemetery. It reminded me of Lincoln in the Bardo but not in a derivative way.

Cons: None really. I can see how the quirkiness of this book won’t be for every reader, but I also don’t think every book needs to be for every reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I’ve shared this review on Goodreads and StoryGraph.

Emma Starling returns home at the request of her mother to see her father, Clive, who is dying of an unidentifiable brain disease. This book approahes death, addiction, brain disease, and educational and career failure all with an undelying humorous tone. The characters are well develop and evoke sympathy in spite of of as well as because of their individual limitations and failures. This was an enjoyable and engrossing reading experience.

Ahhh this book was so cute and so fun to read! All of the characters were lively and the plot was easy to follow - definitely recommend :))

What a sweet, funny, quirky story this is! There is not one single moment in this book that you won’t get a kick out of.

Emma returns home from medical school, that she was only pretending to attend, because her dad, Clive, is dying from an unknown degenerative brain disease. This ailment causes him to have hallucinations in which he mostly sees animals, and Ernest Harold Baynes, a naturalist he has always admired visits him daily in a hallucination. Emma’s brother, Auggie, is newly out of rehab for a drug addiction, and also lives at home. Ingrid, her mother, is about fed up with Clive and his daily mischief and just needs a break. Then there’s Crystal, a family friend, who has been missing and nobody seems to care except Clive, who has made it his mission to find her.

You absolutely must pick up this book, you won’t be sorry. I won’t divulge more about it so you can experience every page anew.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC of this delightful book.

This is a unique book, to say the least. There are intermittent backstories of the man and his wife who bought up 26,000 acres and dedicated the area to wildlife, both in the natural and in their home.

There is a former professor and father of our protagonist (also a noted philanderer) who is well into dementia.

There is the case of the daughter (main character) who has run off to California to get away from it all and, supposedly, to go to med school – but she skips med school. Oh yes, she has healing abilities that were noted from her birth. She has returned to this place in NH as she has been told that her father is dying – of some undiagnosed illness. And she learns that her best friend growing up, with whom she became estranged, is missing.

Let’s see. What else? Oh yes, there are the dead who inhabit the town cemetery who pop up from time to time like a Greek chorus or the witches in a Shakespearean drama or the dead in The Whole Town’s Talking (by Fannie Flagg) to give their opinions about what’s going on.

I’m sure all this would have come to a satisfying conclusion if I’d been able to stick with it. There was just too much going on and too many different directions for me to enjoy. 50% was as far as I could manage.

I appreciate this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Random House, in exchange for an honest review.

A quirky cast of characters and an interesting twist make this lighthearted read one of the more unique books I've read recently. It's 'Sharp Objects' sans the looming darkness of the Preaker family's history, and with a few happy bonuses along the way. I was transported to the small-town Americana of this book's New Hampshire setting and found myself deeply invested in the many lives contained within.

I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys a medium-bodied mystery with a sunny outlook, stories about returning home, and opinionated animal characters. Pick it up if you're looking for something different.

I normally love quirky books but I think this was just a bit too out there for me. Emma, returning hone after being fired from a nursing home; has magical healing powers. Her dad is dying of a neurological diseases and sees both animals that aren’t there and talks to local dead people. On top of that Emma’s best friend has gone missing. I couldn’t get into all of the different strange plot points unfortunately.

Emma, a former healer and medical school dropout, returns home to a disappointed mother, healing addict brother and dying, hallucinating father. She seems to have lost her focus and the news that her former friend Crystal has been missing for quite a while shakes any stability she possibly hoped for. Taking a position as substitute teacher, she sets on a path that could add to her unhappiness or possibly provide a rewarding experience. Having no training, she relies on basic instinct. Emma is not a likable character nor are many in this town. The fifth-graders she teaches, her father, and the spirits speaking from the graveyard save this novel for me. These and the occasional plot surprise enabled me to continue, despite the slow pace. Annie Hartnett’s work is based on two deceased figures, a robber baron who provides the setting and and a naturalist whose spirit accompanies Clive, the dying man, and influences his love for animals. The title intrigues me. Who are the unlikely animals? Those hallucinated by Clive? Or are they the human characters whose behavior is often questionable?

I thought Annie Hartnett couldn’t out do her first and fabulous book, “Rabbit Cake,” but she did it again. Another fantastic, original and compulsively readable novel.