This book was billed as quirky so I shouldn't have been completely surprised by just how quirky it is. But a quirky book amid a small town opioid crisis mixed in with a cemetery full of ghosts, a missing girl no one seems to care about, terminal illness and the musings of a long dead famous naturalist didn't quite work for me. I had trouble figuring out of the book was supposed to be serious or funny or both. The best way I can describe it is Beetlejuice and Stranger Things meet Darwin's Natural Selection, and not in a good way. I don't enjoy leaving less than great reviews but I see this book is very popular on Goodreads so I don't feel so bad this time. Clearly this is a well loved book, it just wasn't for me.

This quirky story contains multiple elements I usually detest in my reading (ghosts and magic), but I trusted Annie Hartnett based on her debut novel, Rabbit Cake. And, she delivered a delightful 5 star book! Emma Starling is a med school dropout and “natural born healer” who returns to her small New Hampshire hometown to care for her dying father. She confronts family issues, a crime in her hometown, and the fact that her father is hallucinating small animals and seeing the ghost of a famous naturalist. This is a story about serious issues (addiction, illness, and grief), told in a joyful, light-hearted way. Hartnett handled the supernatural elements lightly and, even the Greek chorus narrator of the bodies in the town graveyard was delightful in a "town gossip" way. But, the number one thing I loved about this book is the voice...it's morbidly funny and tongue in cheek and it absolutely made this story for me.

This was very heartwarming, cute and funny. I truly liked all the characters, such a good story. I'm not crying you're crying

Emma returns to her hometown after graduating from college and dropping out of medical school. Her father is ill, her childhood best friend is missing, she has lost her power to heal, and everything is a mess. My favorite part of this book is that the residents of the town’s cemetery are rooting for Emma and the townsfolk, they know everyone’s secrets, and have a lot of opinions.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

I LOVED this book. I really liked Rabbit Cake, and was eager to read Hartnett’s newest. Unlikely Animals had me crying and laughing on the same page, multiple times throughout the book. Unique, touching, funny, and memorable. My husband read it after me and he adored it as well. This is one I will be gifting to friends and family.

I really enjoyed reading this book. And although the storyline dealt with some very heavy topics (drug addiction, dementia), there was still quite a bit of humor threaded through the story. The basic storyline follows Emma who returns home to her parents house after lying about being enrolled in med school. She gets a job as a long term substitute teacher and the book follows her teaching career, her father's declining mental health, her brother's past drug addiction, her mother's side trip into an affair with the family doctor and much, much more. There are happy endings and sad (but expected) endings. Overall a very interesting read that holds your attention throughout.

An entertaining read. The variety of characters draw you in. The fact that half the characters mentioned, if not more than half, are dead just makes it more interesting!

I got about 25-30% in and just couldn't do it. There was too much ghost talk/ animal talk/meandering about stuff other than the present-day plot and I just didn't care. I was interested in knowing what was happening w/ the missing girl but I couldn't get past the rest.

A great read. Really loved the main character Emma. Great family Dynamics, and a mystery all in one. This was one of my favorite books I’ve read in quite a while. I look forward to reading more books by this author thank you for my advance copy. I will surely recommend this to my friends and family.

This is a completely delightful, endearing novel. There are so many wonderful things to say about this novel, but I must start with how original this book is, and how full of heart it is! I came to fall in love with this family, and deeply care about all of them and their pets. The animals are some of the best parts of this novel, as a huge animal lover, I loved how well they were treated and considered just the same as any member of their family (as it should be!). The pets had their own personalities that felt so real, as well. While there is a whimsical nature to this book, at the heart there are deeper issues, such as grief and prolonged illness, addiction and the drug crisis in America, friendship and family, and finding oneself. I loved this book so much that I felt heartbroken to finish it and leave this sweet family behind.

“This book is about rooting for everyone…” from the Author’s Note

Unlikely Animals has a great New Hampshire small-town setting and community, as well as eccentric, flawed, and lovable characters. I don’t usually select magical realism, but I loved this book. The special omniscient narrators are great, and even better on audio. I also enjoyed the substitute teacher storyline (as a former teacher and sometimes sub).

Heartwarming, unique, a treat, but also serious

The opioid crisis, dementia, death, and dying are all prevalent in the novel, but the novel manages to feel light and uplifting. Be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end, where she addresses her desire to be sensitive to opioid addiction and also explains the inspiration for the novel.

Unlikely Animals is a five-star read for me, and I hope that you read it! Try the audio! It's great on audio!!

This review is also posted on Instagram and Facebooks @beginandendwithbooks and on Goodreads Michelle Beginandendwithbooks

Annie Hartnett is a force, and this is another wonderful addition to her catalogue. Every time I picked this book up, I couldn't wait to see where the story led. Annie has become a must-buy author for the Scuffy Book Dude!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5! I really loved the magical quirkiness of this book and its entire cast of characters. It's full of heart and gave me that cozy and familiar feeling even when meeting characters for the first time. The ending is the only reason I would give it a 4.5 and not a 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

What a quirky, lovely novel! I can't even describe it, because it's as if the author took a half dozen unrelated things and threw them all between the pages. But it works, and I loved reading the author's note to discover that there was a method to her madness.

Small town New Hampshire, the golden daughter coming home with her tail between her legs, the eccentric father dying from a brain disease that makes him see ghosts, a Greek chorus of the dead buried in the town cemetery - it sounds bizarre. And it is a bit strange, but if you just go with it, you'll be treated to a terrific story.

“It’s unfair how the body crumbles while the soul still lives in it.“

This was almost incredible. Clive is suffering from a brain disease that causes entertaining hallucinations. Daughter Emma returns home to help watch over him. For me, this, the animals, and school kids were enough. Rasputin and Moses were nice touches, but the healer stuff, missing person, and cemetery commentary were TOO much. This needed reining in a smidge.

🌟UNLIKELY ANIMALS🌟 by Annie Hartnett ~published April 12, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Creative, quirky, fun! More general fiction than literary fiction, imo.

We meet Emma Starling who, after deciding not to attend med school after all, is returning home to her native Everton, New Hampshire to break that news to her parents and try to figure out what she actually wants to become. She’s also coming home to spend time with her dying father, Clive, who is suffering from a degenerative illness that is causing him to hallucinate animals. As Emma navigates her new life substitute teaching, coming to terms with her father’s illness, and reconnecting with her brother (now sober nine months after previously being addicted to opiods), she discovers that she does, indeed, have healing powers, just maybe a different kind than she previously thought.

Much like Nothing to See Here, this novel is that perfect combination of funny and sad that is so hard to achieve but when done well, gets me every time. The ghosts narrating from their gravestones were excellent and added just the right amount of quirk. I loved their rules about how much they could and could not meddle in the townspeople’s affairs. Emma’s mother was such a strong character, and I am still reflecting on her relationship with Clive and how she chose to handle its ups and downs. As one would expect, there are quite a few animals in the book as well (both real and imagined), and I found them to be so calming and comforting, just like in real life.

My small criticism would be that the mystery aspect of the novel — Emma and Clive instigate a search for Emma’s missing ex-best-friend to determine whether she’s overdosed like everyone thinks, is in some other kind of trouble, or has simply left town — didn’t quite hit the right note for me. It was too unbelievable and it distracted me from Clive and Emma and their journeys. But overall, this feel-good, almost fairytale-esque story was just what I needed. Unique!

Many thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse Ballantine Books for the complimentary advance review copy. All thoughts are my own.

This is a delightfully quirky novel. It takes place in a small town in New Hampshire, that is somewhat famous for being residence to a man who loved, and lived with, lots of wild animals. In the middle of town is Maple Street Cemetery, where the residents watch the townsfolk carefully, but aren't allowed to help too much.

Emma Starling returns to help her family. Her father is dying, and each family member has problems. I came to like them, as I discovered their pasts and their hopes. I also liked the fox, and Emma's fifth-grade class.

I also liked how unique the story is, and want to thank Annie Hartnett for the ARC and Netgalley for helping me discover this book.

I liked this book! Heartfelt and funny (laugh out loud funny). A feel good book that everyone should read.

I liked Hartnett's previous book Rabbit Cake, so was looking forward to this one! I had a hard time suspending the disbelief necessary to fully buy into this story. I don't enjoy ghost stories or reading about characters that are deceased, so for that reason this book didn't totally work for me. But I know so many other people who really loved it!

This was a quirky, lovely read. Beautiful prose, endearing characters and an unusual voice, all of which I greatly enjoyed!