The story is not really what I expected. But I like the premise and how it actually much darker than it tend to be. It sounds like a light-hearted read but its not, each of the characters struggle with their own issue (very heavy imo),

Maybe I'm not just in mood for it, but the story fell flat to me.

Thank you Netgalley for the review copy.

Do you love hedgehogs? Then this book is for you. No but, seriously, it was a cute read. I especially enjoyed that we get a subplot from multiple neighbors. Besides the hedgehog fluff and cute community, it touches on a few more serious subjects such as marriage, adoption and ptsd. It actually got pretty emotional and heartwarming. All around it wasn't what I was expecting and I loved that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of Prickly Company by Kitty Johnson.

This was a cute read with a whole host of characters, many of which were likable. A few of which had a bit of a surprise to them. Didn’t see the dynamic that came out in Jess and Michael’s relationship. The book centered around saving the hedgehogs and how the neighbors came together (some literally more than others) to take part. This also looked at how individuals overcome with the challenges they face, such as Ryan being confined to a wheelchair and Tara trying to make ends meet to care for herself and her daughter. Many dynamics in relationships were explored. A book with depth, but still managed to be cute.

"Prickly Company" by Kitty Johnson is a charming novel that intertwines the lives of Hilltop Place residents with the hedgehogs living nearby. The story uniquely starts from the hedgehogs' perspective before shifting to the human characters, effectively highlighting the bond between people and wildlife.

The characters are likable and relatable, undergoing personal growth as they learn to live harmoniously with nature. The wildlife-saving focus is a compelling theme, though some plot developments feel a bit unrealistic, requiring a suspension of disbelief.

The book's first half is particularly captivating, drawing readers in with its unique narrative style. While the latter half loses a bit of momentum, the resolution is satisfying and hopeful.

Overall, "Prickly Company" is a delightful, thought-provoking read with a heartfelt message about wildlife conservation and community. Kitty Johnson’s novel will appeal to animal lovers and those who enjoy stories about finding happiness in unexpected places.

I went in quite blind to this one and didn’t know what to expect, but I was hooked from the beginning. I loved the sense of community as it is set on those who live in the same street, but each household has their own story to tell. The layers of stories within this book is really enjoyable. Brilliantly written and thought provoking!

💛🦔𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕊𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥🦔💛


A gorgeous heartfelt story centred around the trials and tribulations of the residents of Hilltop Place, both human and hedgehog! Thank you Netgalley for access to the ARC for this lovely book before it was published in late May. For those on KU it is available to read or listen to on there now!

A street with many quirky, relatably flawed and yet endearing characters, who come together with a shared goal of helping their local prickly friends by creating a #hedgehoghighway. Along the way the characters each go through their own journeys of discovery and acceptance, whilst some of their secrets come to light with the potential to change their lives irrevocably. Relatable, but heavy, topics are well written and thought provoking whilst dealing sensitively with found family, adoption and more. (TW for PTSD, neglect, abuse, adultery and death)

A group of misfit neighbours coming through, despite their differences and own difficulties, to help the Hodmedod community thrive. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and getting to know more about hedgehogs along the way so wanted to share some of Kitty's facts included at the end of her book.

I was shocked to learn that the hedgehog population in the UK has dwindled from around thirty million in the 1950s to just one million now. The dramatic decline in numbers is thought to be due to habitat loss for housing, removal of hedgerows in rural areas, and fatalities on roads.

💛𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔:
1. By establishing hedgehog highways, holes at the bottoms of gates and fences to allow hedgehogs to get about more easily to find food
2. By leaving cat, dog, or hedgehog food and water out for them between March and December
3. By leaving parts of their gardens wild with leaf and log piles for foraging and hibernation
4. By making or buying a hedgehog house for them to rest of hibernate in
5. By ensuring any garden ponds have a slop or other easy way for hedgehogs to get out of them
6. By contacting a hedgehog rescue charity if a hedgehog is out in the day when it shouldn't be or seeks I'll or underweight before hibernation

💛🦔𝑯𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒈 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏🦔💛
🦔Hedgehogs are nocturnal and depend mostly on their senses of taste and hearing
🦔Hedgehogs eat a diet of insects, worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and anything meaty they can find. They can consume fifty to seventy grams of food a night and travel up to two kilometers to find it
🦔Hedgehogs hibernate between December and March, when the weather is cold and food is scarce
🦔A group do hedgehogs is called an array, but they are generally solitary creatures
🦔An adult hedgehog has between five and seven thousand quills (spikes) to protect them from predators

#hedgehogs

I thought the premise of this book sounded quirky and interesting, but it didn’t capture my attention from the start. There were also some themes and events off the very start that were a bit activating for me, so I didn’t want to continue.

DNF

<i>Prickly Company</i> is really not at all what I expected. This came through more as a dark family drama filled with many different characters' traumas, rather than a lighthearted story about a neighborhood community and their interactions. There are small comparisons to the biology and life of a hedgehog with the characters in this book which makes it a tiny bit weird. I did not come out of this book in a feel good type of way. Instead, I am still a bit strick by how deeply affected these characters are by the things that befell them - wartime bombing, abusive husband, cheating spouse, disconnection with child.

This book exceeded my expectations; it was both emotional and heartwarming, and the characters were so loveably flawed in their own individual ways. I was totally engaged throughout and I was thrilled that everybody got their own happy ever after endings

This book was a little bit of slow start for me. It took a while to get a hang of all the characters. It was a lot of fun to see how everyone changed and how they all crossed paths throughout the book. I enjoyed seeing them connect through the hedgehogs.

Deeper than expected

When the neighbors living in Hilltop Place band together to create a hedgehog highway, none of them expected what follows.

Hedgehogs might have been the impetus to bring the neighborhood together, but they are only part of the story. As the neighbors get to know each other, secrets are revealed, relationships are torn apart while others are formed, and no one family comes out the other side the same way they started.

This is a good book for those who enjoy small town, family based stories and books that lean toward environmental issues. I enjoyed it and would read this author again.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

A very different story from the ones I have been reading, that although the setting is that the group of neighbors in Hilltop Place seeks to create a safe environment for hedgehogs in their gardens, it is much more than that. You can get to know the neighbors and their problems, it feels like a more real book with different stories, both about love and other slightly more complex events, but they are facts and stories with which one can identify.

I have really enjoyed Kitty Johnson's writing, and Prickly Company is no exception. My issue, however, is really just the story itself.

While the hedgehogs as their own mini stories and a microcosm of the larger world they live in were a unique and adorable element of the story, it was a tad strange to me.

The stories of the human characters and their interconnections were interesting but also really depressing to me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and had a very difficult time engaging with any of their personal plights.

Unfortunately, this one was just not for me.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for sharing this digital ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so cleverly told and had me completely roped in from early on. It enters on Hilltop Place, the people and the hedgehogs who live here. There is Jess, mother of Stella who is just adopting a one year old boy, Toby but who feels unable to bond with this boy she expected to adore. One of her neighbours is Frances, who lives as something of a hermit with an unmanageable garden that she considers to be a sanctuary for the local hedgehogs. Then there is Ryan, a foreign correspondent who is now wheelchair bound and living back at his mother's house in Hilltop Place, bitterly divorced and separated from his eight year old son Eric.
There are more characters, including single mum Tara and the 'perfect couple' with the 'perfect house and garden' being Justin and Helen.
When Frances calls a 'street meeting' in a bid to build a 'hedgehog highway' between gardens to ensure that the animals don't risk getting run over, it sparks connections that have a significant ripple effect.
The story is funny, sad and all about hedgehogs.
Thank you Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

If you looking for a quick read and some views from hedgehogs that need saving this is the book for you. It's a fun read from Hilltop Place where Francis is trying to get the community members support in creating a safe path for Hedgehogs.
I knew nothing about hedgehogs prior to this book and enjoyed the animals points of view. I expected a little less drama from the characters but it was an entertaining read covering many topics, some topics are heavier and could be triggers.


Thank you NetGalley for the advanced edition in exchange for my honest review.

Prickly Company is set in the fictional suburb of Hilltop Place. Here Frances decides a hedgehogs highway is needed to help the prickly inhabitants of the area - can she get the rest of the residents on board to help her with the campaign?

I will say that I found the cover and blurb too be quite misleading. I expected a "feel good" book, but what I actually read was quite traumatic for the characters - adoption, disability, parental rejection, and abuse were all covered. I also thought the ending was a bit too rushed, and too neat for me. Characters that have experienced nothing but trauma throughout are very neatly tied up.l with happiness at the end, it all just felt a bit incongruous to the plot.

However, I loved the sections written from the point of view of the hedgehogs themselves. They were very informative and fit well with the story progression.

4/5 ⭐️

This book was so cute! With seeing hedgehogs on the cover I immediately knew I needed to check this out. I loved the way hedgehog facts intertwined with the day to day life of the community. It was so interesting getting to know multiple people/families and to get the sense of why people may act a certain way. There are many things that people don’t share and it was refreshing to see all of the thoughts and worries they all had at the same time.

This was different from my normal to go genre of books but I loved it! So many scenarios played out and shocked me. I am so happy I was able to read this as an ARC and I can’t wait to read more of Kitty Johnson’s work.

An interesting and aptly titled read about a small community.

Francis Matthews doesn't go out much since being widowed, but the plight of hedgehogs and their inability to freely travel around due to securely fenced off gardens galvanises her into action. Surprised at the support from the majority of her neighbours, she sets about educating them as to the necessary changes they need to make to encourage a vibrant hedgehog community to live alongside the human one. Of course, every household faces their own challenges . . .

This is a well written book with plenty going on and lively, entertaining characters. Living in the country, I was already aware of the hedgehog code and we often find them in our garden. However, with two lively labradors we don't really encourage them! An enjoyable read, one which I'm happy to give 4*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

Prickly Company by Kitty Johnson is such a special and warm-hearted novel.
Beautifully told with a heartwarming climax, it was a pleasure spending time in Hilltop Place with Frances and her neighbors.
The dynamic between characters was very real and entertaining - the things they all dealt with and the way they handled them felt very authentic. I pretty much liked every character.
Prickly Company is such an incredible story full of friendships, feuds, romance, and unexpected secrets.
With incredibly likable characters that are engaging and so much fun to be around.
Kitty Johnson has written a heartfelt, compassionate, and delightful novel.
Overall, this was a quick and fun read, and the ending was very satisfying.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Have you ever seen a hedgehog? I have seen some coming out at sunset when visiting Latvia in the spring. They are fast-moving and nocturnal, so the folks in the fictional community Hilltop Place set up infrared, motion-activated cams to check on their hedgehog highways.🦔

This new release from Kitty Johnson has a narrator doling out hedgehog info and comparing them to the humans living nearby. It's an interesting twist on relationship fiction and turned out to be both entertaining and informative. Additional hedgehog facts are included at the end of the book as well. On the plus side, there was quite a bit of neighborhood drama going on. Kept those pages turning as Johnson rotated through the various households and their connections. She introduces subjects like adoption, parental attachment, domestic abuse, wildlife conservation, PTSD, wheelchair accessibility, and so much more. On the negative side, this got to be a bit soap operaish as things went on. There were a few too many big reveals that came out of nowhere for me.

Overall, this was a read I liked even more than I expected. Thank you to Lake Union and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book really was not for me. It seemed the story couldn't decide what it wanted to be, vacillating between voices and genres and writing styles. I did enjoy the multiple POVs, and the interludes from the hedgehogs' perspective were very cute and well placed. Aside from that, the characters were wholly unlikable. The male characters in particular had absolutely no depth and were in essence the same characters with different names.