1.96k reviews for:

Unlikely Animals

Annie Hartnett

4.18 AVERAGE

emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes

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scorpstar77's profile picture

scorpstar77's review

5.0

I loved this book. It was weird and charming all at once. A family reunion story with a lot of complications and big feelings and hard moments, but it feels healing somehow to read it.

aleung0993's review

4.5
emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

caitlinrising's review

5.0
emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Amazing plot and storytelling—like if John Irving were funny and female. The narrator does a great job, too.
emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

After finishing and ADORING The Road to Tender Hearts, I knew I needed to add her earlier work to my list. When I saw Mark Bramhall narrated this one too, I snagged it from Libro.fm immediately. 

📖: This book is about so much. It's about the Starling family of Everton, New Hampshire. Emma came hope from California to take care of her ailing father, Clive. She is in for a wild ride. Clive's condition has him seeing an imaginary friend, buying a domesticated fox, and relentlessly searching for Emma's missing ex-best friend, Crystal Nash. While Emma navigates her bonkers family, she becomes a long-term sub for the local fifth grade class. Will Emma end up embracing her life in Everton?

🤝: This may be a good fit if you enjoy: 
- small town shenanigans
- quirky and endearing characters
- a mix of humor and heavy topics
- a splash of magical realism

💭: I'm glad I read The Road to Tender Hearts before this one. I knew what to expect since this one has a similar vibe but is a little more (wonderfully) weird. I loved the characters and felt connected to the whole town of Everton. The fifth graders were probably my favorite. Like Tender Hearts, I wanted to stay in this world for a long time. This one might not be for everyone, but it was certainly great for me.

I cannot wait to see what else Annie Hartnett has in store for us. Hopefully Mark Bramhall keeps narrating!

🎧: Annie Hartnett + Mark Bramhall are my dream team. His reading of teen and kids dialogue cracks me up. I listened at 1x speed because I wanted to savor it. If you're an audio person, do it. 
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
rachelkb's profile picture

rachelkb's review

5.0

Gorgeous, strange, beautiful. Will be recommending this for eons.