This unique and quirky novel was a book club pick for Good Housekeeping. It tells the story of Emma. She is a young woman who has had her struggles. She has left medical school and seemingly has lost her way.

Emma returns to the place where she grew up. Things are no easier there. Emma’s father is dying. Emma’s mother judges her. Emma’s brother has issues. Emma’s good friend is missing. There is much to cause despair.

This is a novel that invites readers into a world and asks them to consider some big issues. This is all done in a work that is both funny and heartbreaking at times as readers spend time with both human and animal characters.

Many thanks to Random House-Ballantine and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

Family, community, and love for our animal friends are at the heart of this quirky, poignant novel with a lovable protagonist.

Let me start by saying this book was unlike any other that I have ever read. I admit I had a bit of a hard time getting into it but I try to always finish any book I start. I'm glad I stuck with it. This book has a bit of everything, mystery, comedy, family, a touch of psychic, mental illness and a lovely ending. Emma, the main character is quite relatable. When Emma has to return to her childhood home she is faced with many issues and we travel her journey along with her in this story. I would recommend giving it a try. I found it to be well worth it in the end.

I really enjoyed this one! There are multiple points of view, including the spirits observing life on the street they used to live and offering commentary. Emma is a natural born healer who has lost her "touch". She has a father who has dementia and is slowly declining. Enter in his visions including conversations with a naturalist that befriended animals and you have a wonderful, quirky, thought provoking tale.

Thank you to my friends at @randomhouse for this free advance copy of UNLIKELY ANIMALS! This book comes out April 12 and I highly recommend it. Like ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ recommend it! 🦊

When I read the synopsis, it was like this book was written just for me! The backdrop of a small town in the opioid crisis, a medical school dropout goes home to help with her father. Her father has brain disease and has hallucinations of animals. That’s right, GHOST ANIMALS. Well actually, the dead naturalist is the ghost, but there are invisible animals. Once I read it, I fell in love. Hartnett is an incredible storyteller. 🦊

Quirky, funny, witty, heart-grabbing, fresh, poignant and so much more. There are so many words I could use but it's hard to describe a novel that encompasses so much. The hardest part is wrapping into a small package because this story wants to burst at the seams.

Annie Hartnett sets the scene, prodigal daughter coming back to her rural New Hampshire town leaving medical school behind to find her brother a recovering addict, her father dying, her mother at her wit's end, her high school best friend missing and her own remarkable gift gone. Trying to get back on her feet, she takes a long-term elementary subbing job and with it learns to trust her instincts more and give back to an ailing community.

One of the most clever and heartfelt decisions made, Hartnett chooses for the inhabitants of the town's cemetery to narrate this story, giving the reader perspective from not only the present but from the dead's endearing hope for their town. The opioid crisis breaks my heart but Hartnett has a way of interspersing humor in times I needed it most. I mean, c'mon....Auggie's speech, sheer tears...enough said.

If you are looking for a mainstream novel that leads to point A, to point B and so on, skip this. This tragicomic takes you outside your bubble, makes you think outside the box and leaves you with the town's wholeness you didn't know you needed. For an even better experience, I was able to interview Annie for an author chat learning so much about what drew her interest, her writing style, who she based characters off of, scenes she almost included and so much more. Visit my YouTube channel, LB the Lover of Books to view: https://youtu.be/xWIVmMymPqE

Thank you Netgalley, Annie Hartnett, RandomHouse publishing and Ballantine Books for my advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

The heartfelt humor poured into every line of this story is unlike any other novel I've read this year. You will fall in love with the characters despite, or maybe in spite of, their complexities. This was a sweet and beautiful read. This is not the typical book I reach for on the shelf, but I'm glad I read it and discovered the quirky story.

I have to say, Unlikely Animals is one of my favorite weird reads ever. To start: this book is collectively narrated by the…residents?…of a local cemetery. Really, they’re all a bunch of gossips, deeply interested in the lives of the people who live in their New Hampshire town.

Their focus in this story is the Starling family. Emma has returned to town from California, where she was supposed to be in medical school (but wasn’t), and now is back because her father, Clive, is dying of a brain disease. Clive is having hallucinations–of animals and of ghosts who keep him company. He’s also obsessed with finding Emma’s former best friend, Crystal, who has disappeared. No one else seems concerned–they assume she’s another victim of the opioid crisis running rampant through their town–and Clive is generally dismissed because of this disease.

On top of all this, Emma also has a touch of magic about her–the ability to heal small things, which seems to have disappeared. So between the magic, the ghosts, the visions, and the gossips in the cemetery, there’s a lot of levity to be had here, mixed in with the very real crises of drugs, disease, and the disappearance of a young woman. Despite these dark themes, it’s not a spoiler to say that this had one of the most delightful endings in recent memory.

This book is perfect and has everything I want in a story.... Animals, humor, family dynamics.... what a world the author built. It was a pleasure to live in Everton for these 300 pages. I demand a sequel!

Loved it! I really like this author; she writes what I want to read: true to life fiction ( is that an oxymoron?) that highlights growing problems in America. Emma is a healer but is also a med school dropout who comes home to take care of an ailing father. Her brother, Angie, is fresh out of rehab and struggling with his own demons. Her mother is tired and needs help but also wants out of her marriage. Her father is an ex-band member, ex-professor who sees ghosts and animals that aren't there. Now starts the caretaking; mostly by Emma but it takes a village to take care of Dad. He's a handful. This village includes the local dead so the book reads a little like Our Town or Lincoln in the Bardo. They all have their own opinions but can't act on them or.... poof....they're gone. Great story! Highly recommend!

Wow, what a fun, heartwarming (and I mean that in the least corny way) story! I’m so glad I decided to read this ARC from NetGalley and thank them and the publishers for the opportunity to read it. I’m not sure how the book is categorized but I’d suppose as contemporary fiction.

Emma is a disillusioned college student who has to return from hip California to her parent’s home in New Hampshire when her father is diagnosed with a fatal disease. She takes a job as a long-term substitute teacher at a local elementary school to pay off her debt. To make her situation worse, she has a younger brother recovering from addiction, her mom & dad’s marriage is rocky due to some poor decisions made under duress and her childhood best friend has disappeared, presumed to be deceased of an overdose. Interspersed with this narrative is the historical ramblings of a local Dr Doolittle type of figure and numerous ghosts inhabiting the town cemetery and watching over the living. This doesn’t sound like the basis of a lighthearted reader’s romp, actually it sounds like a literary mess, but trust me on this, it really is a good read. Ms Hartnett is a skilled writer, with a real talent for the polished phrase. Perhaps the writing was a tad juvenile, with references to farts and butts and bodily functions, but as a former teacher of elementary and middle school students, and mother of 3, it struck me as incredibly authentic. I totally enjoyed the characters and found the author’s dialogue amusing. I also was struck by the not-exactly-specific descriptions of Clive’s (Emma’s dad) illness. I’m wondering if the author was alluding to him perhaps having Lewy Body Dementia? Anyway, great book, I totally recommend it.

This book was.an unexpected and wonderful delight. Since reading it, I have listened to multiple interviews with the author on podcasts, and I just wish this book had gotten more press when it released! It sold very, very well at the independent bookstore I work for, and I believe that is because everyone on staff just loved it and was able to hand sell it. This is a smart, compassionate, often funny and beautifully written story about love, with some mystery, ghosts and grief woven in. It’s so good. I cannot wait to see what Annie Hartnett does next!

I enjoyed this quirky book. The main character is Emma, who once had a healing touch but decided medical school was not for her, and returned to her small town. Her father is dying, her mother is having an affair, and the dead souls in the town graveyard comment and kibbitz on all the action. Dad is palling around with the ghost of a real-life naturalist who had a heavy influence on the small town, and can’t quite make it into the graveyard. This story is full of heart, family and friends who see each other for what they are and love them anyway. There are many plotlines that seem disjointed but come together satisfactorily in the end. Who knew that a fox and a dog could be such good friends? Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

What started as a random pick on NetGalley became my favorite book of this year. My first Annie Hartnett read blew me away. Her light touch with some heavy topics elevated this family story. She wove together humor and emotion, including a Greek chorus of dead cemetery residents to bring Emma's story to life. It also allows for deep issues between family members to become fully realized without taking over the tone of the book. If you enjoy a quirky story set in a small town with some depth and some fun animals, be sure to pick up this novel.

a solid 4 star read for me. the voice in this book was so well done, and the moments of tenderness were expertly mixed with moments of wry humor. I loved the ghostly cast of narrators so much, they were my favorite aspect of this book by far. I loved the animals that Clive brings into the family, and I really enjoyed the writing of the small-town. I think my only knock was Emma's story dragged a bit for me, but overall I really enjoyed this one and the way the author wrote about some truly awful events in a wry and readable way that still made you think.

An exciting romp of a family trying their best amidst drama, sickness, addiction, and literal ghosts. Partly narrated by the cemetery locals, this book is filled with questionable decisions a and humor.

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did but once I started the audio I was completely invested in the characters and story. I absolutely loved Clive - the dad in this story- as well as the animals throughout.
There’s something for everyone as the author incorporated mystery, humor, sadness, and family drama/dynamics in ways that had me basically binging this. I was truly sad to see it end

Absolutely loved this one! Not one I was expecting in a good way. It was quirky and hilarious. I loved the talking ghosts and the love for animals. And you even get a mystery rolled in. Amazing. Highly recommend.

Unlikely Animals is an original story that provides laughs, tender moments and a few stressful moments. Between the quirky moments, the ghosts and foxes is a wonderful tale mainly about the small town of Everton, New Hampshire and the characters that reside in it. The story is told quite uniquely by those that reside in the town's Maple Street Cemetery. They focus on the return of Emma and her healing hands and her family and friends.
I highly recommend this heartwarming, mysterious and out of the ordinary book. You will enjoy the colorful characters and they will feel like your friends by the end of the book.
I am very grateful to Netgalley and Random House Ballentine for the opportunity to read a copy of this wonderful book in exchange for a honest review.

An absolutely delightful and humorous book. This is the story of a family like many families...they love one another, but just do not always like each other. As one of five children, hand raised. Every family member struggles in his/her own way to come to their own appropriate place in the world as time passes. Again, life as it happens. Well worth a read. I am so grateful to NetGalley, the author Annie Hartnett, and the publisher for this slice of life read in exchange for my honest review.