Annie Hartnett

At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner P.J. Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, P.J. spends both his money and his time at the bar, and he probably doesn’t have much time left...he’s had three heart attacks already. But when P.J. reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high show more school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, P.J. decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back.
P.J. Halliday may have won $1.5 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket he bought, while he was drunk, at the gas station 10 years ago, but his life has been far from what anyone would consider, lucky. He's a 63-year-old alcoholic and a hoarder who’s had three heart attacks...been fired from his job as a postal worker in Pondville, Massachusetts. Seems that the post office didn’t care much for P.J. driving the mail truck into a pond. Can you imagine that?

There have been two tragedies in P.J.’s life; his teenage daughter died and his wife, Ivy, left him. P.J, who is a charming man, now has breakfast every day at Ivy’s house with her and her new partner, Fred. While there he sees the obituary. He now knows that his high school sweetheart is now a single woman...but she’s a long, long ways away in Arizona and P.J. isn't supposed to drive because of his DUI's. Oh, no... that's not going to stop him. He begins constructing a plan to go to Arizona and confess his undying love to her as soon as Ivy and Fred leave on their planned vacation.

P.J. gets a big surprise that he wasn't expecting. Seems that he has become the sole guardian of two orphans...his estranged brother’s grandchildren, Luna and Ollie. The two children are dealing with the violent deaths of both parents, although Luna is convinced that her "real father" is some soap opera star and that she should go find him. P.J. figures they can combine their trips and decides to take the children with him on the road trip to not only find his true love, but also Luna’s soap-opera star, father. Sophie is a little concerned about the kids’ safety, so she decides to come along.

Along on their journey they also take "Pancakes"...not the food but the cat. The cat who had some time ago wandered out of a nursing home and straight into P.J.’s life. Pancakes is an unusual animal; seems that he has the ability to predict death, which comes into play quiet often over the course of this road trip.

Annie Hartnett did a magnificent job of balancing these quirky elements along with some really dark subject matter...PJ’s grief and the deaths of the kid's parents. P.J. was an absolutely remarkable character who was equal parts fascinating and charming even when he was frustrating everyone...which was pretty much often.

This book is a beautiful reminder that our world is filed with tragedy, but there is joy just around the corner. if we look for it. A big "Thank you" to my friend, Lynda for this recommendation. show less

Unlikely Animals is a hopeful, compassionate, gentle novel that tends towards a sort of whimsical, hapless optimism when faced with the harsh realities of a world that cares for you not at all. It's redolent with the scent of innocence blossoming into hope sustained by a belief in an infinite number of possibilities for personal redemption.

I'm sure the words that are supposed to be going through my mind as I read it are 'heartwarming' and 'uplifting'.

Instead, I'm finding myself reluctantly show more acknowledging, at almost halfway through the book, that I can't take any more and I need to set it aside.

I'm not an optimist and I tend to default to Graham Greene's description of innocence in The Quiet American “Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.” so probably, I'm not the target audience for this book.

So why did I buy it and why did it take so long to decide to abandon it?

Well, look at that gorgeous cover. And there are foxes (although those turned out to be imaginary). And a big friendly dog (who wasn't at all unlikely but was still my favourite animal). And cute primary school kids. And it's narrated by Mark Bramhall who has a comfortable-armchair sit-awhile voice that I could listen to all day. And the writing is engaging and often humorous. And I loved the idea of seeing what's happening in a small town through the eyes of the residents of the local graveyard.

So I listened for longer than I might have expected because everything was so easy to listen to. A bit like watching kitten videos on Instagram or YouTube - you know it's not getting you anywhere but you're happy to lose time to it.

I also listened to it because I could feel the dissonance between the hopefulness of the writing and the hopelessness of the content like a powerful low-frequency hum upsetting my gut and I was waiting for a change of tone.

This so-cute-it-sometimes-hurts book tells the story of a friendless, goalless, unhappy young woman who won a place at medical school that she only pretended to take up and who has come home because her father is dying from a brain disease that causes him to hallucinate. Her brother is recovering from opioid addiction (again). Her mother has stayed in a marriage she wishes she'd left when her husband had an affair and before he became a man so sick it would be callous to divorce him. Her best friend from school, who it turns out she never knew that well, is missing and presumed to have died from a heroin overdose and her love interest is only back in town because his mother is dying of cancer.

So I kept waiting for the book to take a darker turn. For reality to overwhelm hope. For life to turn out to be tough and unforgiving and for some decisions to be irrevocable.

Today, I realised that that was probably not going to happen. That it was likely that all of these characters were going to spend the next six hours sliding towards a heartwarming, uplifting, improbable happy ending and that, if I sat through all that, I'd just be angry at myself, so I set the book aside. show less

No book or reading experience is perfect, but this came pretty close to it.

This is darkly funny, in the sort of way that you’re mildly moritified you’re laughing, but also defiantly unashamed. Let’s just say there’s a shockingly high death count. If you’re a reader who checks trigger warnings before deciding what to read next, I can pretty much assure you this will not be for you. Pretty sure this single book may have blackout-bingoed them all.

I read this in less than a week show more because I couldn’t predict where it was going and just enjoyed the ride. Kinda didn’t want it to be over and really wanted these people to be real.

Aside from the dark humor, this book is lovely, hopeful, messy and tenderhearted - a family adventure road trip story across the heartland. PJ is my favorite character, but it’s hard not to love them all, including Pancakes, the grim reaper cat.

Without question, this is one of my favorite reads of the year and probably deserves a spot in my all-time top 10. It is not for everyone, for sure. But, anyone who it is for is probably my people. Ravingly recommended for the right reader. show less

PJ is a middle-aged and divorced man-child, heavily and emotionally reliant on his ex-wife and her boyfriend Fred. PJ and his family have seen some tragedy in their lives (pay very close attention to trigger warnings for this book, because hoo boy is there a *lot* to process). He's surprised to become a sudden guardian to a young brother-and-sister pair (Ollie and Luna) who have lost their parents under tragic circumstances. Along with PJ's adult daughter Sophie (and Pancakes the cat), the show more group goes on a cross-country road trip to find PJ's lost love, with some interesting detours along the way.

There's a lot going on here so pay close attention or you'll miss something. I read a lot of romance, which I adore. But the thing is, those stories can be predictable. This story was not predictable in any way, and it was an adventure to follow along with PJ and Pancakes (which, incidentally, would be a great title for a buddy-cop dramedy). The subplot with Pancakes' special talent was an amusing diversion from the darker themes, even though Pancakes' purpose in the story was inherently dark. Overall the book was a little hard for me to get into, there was a grimness to the story that kept popping up in ways that were surprising to me. I struggled to finish but the mood did lighten here and there throughout the book (helped along a great deal by the dry wit used by the author). But despite the pervasive wit, this is a gloomy book wearing a thin veneer of hope and love.

PJ was very hard for me to warm up to, he had a selfish streak that defined almost everything he did and all of his relationships. This was definitely a theme for the book: very few of the characters were 100% lovable which, of course, is realistic. It also kept me on edge as I was reading though, wondering what troubling character trait was going to pop up next in which person. And I guess the over-arching theme here is that no one is happy and we're all damaged and just doing the best we can. And of course that death, like love, is unavoidable.
I was probably not the right audience for this story. But even though I struggled a bit to finish and I found the story to be darker than expected, I'm giving this 4 stars for the quality of the writing, the author's attention to detail, and the increasingly ridiculous storyline with all of its quirks. And, of course, for Pancakes. :) Publishes April 29, 2025. This review was based on a complimentary ARC of the book, all opinions are my own. show less