ALL OF THE STARS! This book was so touching. The author has an amazing ability to balance light and serious and I fell in love with this entire quirky town.

This was such a fast paced and important story to be told. Emma starling was born with the gift of healing before losing it (you will find out why). She has a complicated home life, riddled by addiction, guilt and grief. The family dynamics are played out well throughout the novel. Despite this being such a serious and sad story line, I did find the ending to be uplifting and hopeful. I would recommend to everyone but be advised of trigger warnings.

This is a tricky review to write because I have many feelings about Unlikely Animals.

On the one hand, it is right up my alley with quirky characters, a bit of magic and even a missing person mystery. Emma is returning home to take care of her father who is dying. Her family is hoping she can use the healing powers that she used to have, but she is afraid they have dried up.

When she returns, she learns that her best friend is missing and her father is one of the few people in the town who are actively looking for her. Her friend, unfortunately was into drugs, so many feel she just skipped town.

Her father, who was let go of his job when he had visions of rabbits, is also having visions of Ernest Harold Baynes, who used to live in their house. Ernest Harold Baynes was a real life sort of Dr. Doolittle. Real photos of Ernest Harold Baynes and his animals are included in the book.

Also commenting on the goings on in the town are the voices from those buried in the cemetery.

On the other hand, it’s a lot going on. It’s all entertaining and engrossing, but it’s a lot. A woman taking care of her dying father, healing hands, talking graveyard spirits, a real life spirit who communicates and a missing girl and I think there’s even more, but it’s been about a month since I finished the book.

However, the fact that it’s been a month since I’ve finished the book and read 4 books since then and yet I can still tell you all about the book, means it stuck with me. Some books I can barely remember two weeks after I’ve read them.

I would not hesitate to read anything else this author has written, I am curious to find if she packs all of her books with many stories. I received an ARC of the book.

This book addresses several areas of life. Coming home to a small town to find her former classmate missing, and no-one really concerned or looking for her (except her own father), helping care for her father who is having memory and confusion issues, and dealing with a brother who is in and out of rehab for an opioid addiction. It's a lot to face for our main character! I enjoyed reading the book, but thought the title a little off.

I have been a fan of Annie Hartnett since her first book Rabbit Cake. She never disappoints and creates such real characters.

What a cute and quirky read! The plot centers around Emma Starling, former “natural born healer” who moves back home to New Hampshire to take care of her dying father after losing her way out in California. Clive Starling, her father who is suffering from an unknown brain disease and extremely vivid hallucinations, is on the hunt for Emma’s childhood best friend Crystal who went missing and was presumed dead of a heroin overdose. Together, Emma and Clive team up to try to find Crystal in a heartwarming and goofy tale of father-daughter bonding.

This book will have you feeling happy and sad and will give you a new outlook on life … and death! It covers dark topics like addiction, death and infidelity, while simultaneously keeping things lighthearted and silly - thanks so the graveyard full of opinionated onlookers and free spirited children in Emma’s substitute classroom!

Overall, this adorable read is worth the hype! Definitely recommend grabbing for a book club or beach read!

Emma Starling, returns home from college, as soon as she heard her father wasn't doing well, a series of events and stories start to unfold daily around Emma's family.

Emma's father is not well, he has a terminal illness that is preventing him from continuing a normal life, including his job as a teacher, his mobility is not as before and his mind is not as it use to be, Emma feels like is her job to be there and support her family and Father during this journey even if that meant to quit her career, not knowing things will start to change and unfold for her, she has a condition or ability that heals but somehow this ability is not anywhere to be found because Emma feels like this gift is no longer with her or she is somehow not knowing how to work with it.

Emma is also there to help her mother and her brother who is a recovering addict, Unlikely Animals is the story of a family with their ups and downs, their problems, their funny moments, illnesses, and addictions that can rock the relationship of anyone even if it was very solid on the first place.

I admire Emma for how strong she was to be able to handle many of these experiences that tend to be so overwhelming but she was a great character, she was strong when they needed her the most.

A story full of love, a little bit of magic, with the problems like any other, a family trying to survive but at the same time trying to hold it together and support each other at these uneasy times, there were funny moments and special moments too, Unlikely Animals will have you with a smile, with tears and also with a laugh at all times.

Great book great story and great characters something very different and refreshing

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Unlikely Animals in exchange for my honest review.

A delightfully charming mix of fantasy & realty in a small New Hampshire town. When Emma returns hom to help her dying father who sees invisible animals among other things, she not only has to deal with him and her own failures. She also faces a ton of other challenges. it may sound gloomy, but it's not Hartnett takes what could be difficult and mixes them with humor and fantasy into a lovely book.

What a quirky and perfectly delightful book. Just the right mix of hard-hitting (addiction, end-of-life) and light-hearted (pet foxes, Titanic musical put on by 5th graders) issues woven into an unbelievable-yet-at-times-relatable story. I enthusiastically recommend if you’re looking for something a little bit different.

This is a perfect book. I adored the characters, the plotting, the voice, and the incredibly unexpected way it hit me square in the feels. I laughed, cried a little, and was impressed and delighted. This story is so clever, sparking all the human parts of a reader. It reminded me of so many of the most important things about being a human being. How frail and temporary life is, how wonderful and amazing and weird animals are, how often we feel alone when we really are not at all, how we end up someplace totally unexpected as a result of small choices, and how everyone everywhere is living a life entirely as full and unique as my own. This is everything I want in a reading experience. I enjoyed this book so much and will be recommending it to everyone I can find.

It is not often that I find a book like this one and I loved all of the quirk. This author has created something so funny, endearing, and just overall smart at the same time. I did struggle a bit at first to understand what was going on with a few different aspects of this book, however once I got the gist of the different elements in the book, I was down for the ride. I want more of whatever this was from this author. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Unlikely Animals is certainly the most unique book I’ve picked up this year. I was intrigued at the beginning but found the book difficult to start and stop while reading at work. I ultimately DNF’d it but hope to pick it up again over the summer when I can truly immerse myself in the story. I felt like I was missing out on the intricacies of the storytelling by only reading a few pages at a time. I am very intrigued to see what others reactions are to this book.

Thank you to Annie Hartnett, Random House Publishing Group –Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a little while to get into this book because it has a very different vibe than most of the books I've been reading lately. It's quirky and humorous and yet it seems like it's telling a serious story at the same time. It's heartwarming and really just a beautiful tale of family, finding yourself, coping with love and loss and all the normal life things set against a small town backdrop. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as I finished it.

Emma Sterling returns home to help with father Clive, who has a been seeing small animals due to a mysterious brain disease. Emma discovers her estrabged, best friend from high school has gone missing and no one is looking for her so she decides to help. This is a small town, Everton,New Hampshire town that is in an opioid crisis and so the police don't want to look for drug addicts. Its also known for an exotic town member who built a large park for wild animals that also lived in his home. Emma was born with the gift of healing that she lost when she moved away. Shewas accepted to med school but never went. Wanting to get away from the healing needy.The town cemeteryoccupants cheer on the living and knows their thoughts and actions and even the town animals can hear tbem.
This is a tragic comedy by Annie Hartnett that is lovely and heartwarming. Worth picking up this book. Its funny, sad, caring and just a great read.
Thank you Herbalist and Random house Publishing House for an ARC of this book.
#Netgalley #RandomHousePublishingHouse

Quirky and life affirming small town story. A mystery, ghosts, and domesticated forest animals made this another 2022 favorite!

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.