Like no book I’ve ever read, this throws you right in to Lia’s disfunctional way of dealing with her grief but makes no apologies, allowing that everyone deals with their emotions different. Sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes heart breaking.

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me.

The premise was really good but at 25% in I don’t really know what’s happening and I can’t connect with the main character Amelia.

I feel like I’m in a whirlwind and I can’t make our which way is up.

Some parts it feels like it should be comedic and in the next sentence I have deep feelings of melancholy,

DNF for me currently but I may revisit at some point.

New Animal is a bold story that explores the uncontrollable nature of grief.

When Amelia - a make-up artist at a funeral parlour - experiences her own grief we see her completely unravel. As we watch her unravel we see how her grief manifests in the strange. She runs away and delves into the world of BDSM trying to feel pain to make the unbearable emotional pain she is feeling.

Ella Baxter is an exciting new voice. Whilst New Animal didn't hit all my needs for a story it was Ella Baxter's easy writing style that kept me engaged. I'm excited to see what else she can do.

New Animal by is available now.

For more information regarding Ella Baxter (@Ella_Baxter_) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding Pan Macmillan (@panmacmillan) please visit www.panmacmillan.com.

A book about BODIES! I loved Amelia's voice - Ella Baxter has a wonderful way with words, and that's what kept me reading rather than the plot. The mortician stuff was well-researched and I liked that it was a young woman moving through a world you absolutely do not associate with young women! I wasn't sure the scenes about kink culture felt as authentic as the rest of the book.

Amelia is no stranger to sex and death. Her job in her family’s funeral parlour, doing make-up on the dead, might be unusual, but she’s good at it. Life and warmth comes from the men she meets online – combining with someone else’s body at night in order to become something else, at least for a while.

But when a sudden loss severs her ties with someone she loves, Amelia sets off on a seventy-two-hour mission to outrun her grief – skipping out on the funeral, running away to stay with her father in Tasmania and experimenting on the local BDSM scene. There she learns more about sex, death, grief, and the different ways pain works its way through the body.

It takes two fathers, a bruising encounter with a stranger and recognition of her own body’s limits to bring Amelia back to herself.
Gripping!

When I saw New Animals​ on the front page of NetGalley for its UK release, I was intrigued. The cover looked incredible (I mean look at it! Big kudos to the cover designer!) and when I read that the main character worked in a funeral partner, I was morbidly hooked. With the added bonus of the book being about exploring sex and grief, this book was right up my street. New Animal tells the story of losing yourself in grief and in sex, and it also tells the story of finding yourself through those very things once again. While I think this is a great debut, I am hesitant to recommend this book. It is an incredibly difficult book to read, and it is most definitely not for everyone - and, unfortunately, it was nowhere near being the favourite I assumed it would be. I was hoping to be more connected to the protagonist, but unfortunately I found her a bit bland. While I understand that she was making decisions through grief, I also could not help feeling enraged at her for the choices she makes in the book - primarily because she, in her internal dialogue, tends to reflect on how bad of a choice it is to make. I wanted more character development, but the pace of the book was too quick for the character to follow it, and I wish there had been some more reflections on lust, sex, and, perhaps most importantly, grief and death. Nonetheless, New Animal is a completely okay debut, and I will definitely be picking up whatever Baxter releases next, albeit with some hesitation. 3/5 stars​.

I’ll start off by saying that this book was, very much, a visceral experience. There are a lot of very strong moments and images that sometimes made me squirm a little. Much like the content of Animal by Lisa Taddeo, I didn’t think that this uncomfortable feeling was a bad one. It’s like an awkward truth or taboo topic which we explore as the novel goes on.
New Animal follows Amelia as she struggles to come to terms with the death of her mother and how to live with her grief. Amelia is a protagonist with a very strong personality and voice. I couldn’t help but root for her to find what she needed!
To me, this book was very much about bodies and how important they are. It’s easy to get caught up in the mind, as that’s where ‘we’ essentially. Baxter seems to explore our connection with bodies and what they mean for our identities.
The writing in this novel was beautiful with some very profound moments.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this book at first as it was very fast paced and just seemed to be a lot of stuff going on but then it found it’s pace and the story was an interesting look at how and what different people do to deal with grief and trauma. Once I got into it I really enjoyed it and really felt for the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

New Animal. I had high hopes for this book. I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into, but I knew that this was a story that centred around the grief of a young lady as she deals with the death of somebody close to her. Sounds like my bread and butter. I live for sad, weird, uncomfortable stories.

Amelia works for her family's funeral home. She's responsible for the presentation of the dead. She dresses them, does their hair, spends time on their make-up. She's close to her family. One of them dies. What follows is the story of Amelia's departure from her life as she tries to run away from her grief by flying away from it and going to stay with her birth father.

It's a story that isn't for the faint of heart. It doesn't shy away from the weird, the sad, the sexual and the grotesque. So maybe skip this one if that doesn't sound like something you'd be into, or if you're easily offended. I applaud what Baxter has tried to do here. To be entirely fair to the author, I haven't read this story before. It didn't quite remind me of anything else.

It's a quick, easy and punchy read. But something didn't hit the mark for me. I wanted more of something. More grief, maybe? Somehow I felt unattached from the protagonist. I felt as though she wasn't quite as fleshed out as I would have liked her to be, and some of the secondary characters felt a little two dimensional.

I can't say that I disliked this story, but I was glad when it was finished. I'm sure that this will be one for others to rave about but this time, it didn't quite do it for me. All that said and done, it's an interesting debut, and I'd definitely be curious to read what Baxter writes in the future.

I enjoyed this. Short and punchy. I was a bit apprehensive at the start of the book that the character of Amelia was a little one dimensional but as the book progressed (and I assume as she learnt further how to deal with her feelings and process her mums death) the character became more interesting. I did enjoy the exploration into the world of kink however I did think there was a little bit of negative emphasis placed on it- particularly in the way Amelia keeps referring to her body being ruined, however this could be more in her mind as she does things mindlessly rather than claiming that kink ruined her body. It was good to mention how unregulated the industry is and how there is more need for safe places in the community. My favourite character was probably Jack- the poor aloof estranged dad. I like his literature quotes, the importance of dreams and using the natural world to heal sadness and grief for humans.

Thank you NetGalley and Picador for my copy

Review of New Animal by Ella Baxter
I’ve been very jealous of everyone in the U.K. with the physical version that I completely forgot I had been approved for the ebook through @netgalley via @panmacmillian
Wow what a book. This deals with uncomfortable subject matter such as grief and kink but in a raw way that you can’t turn away from.
This book very much reminded me of My Dark Vanessa, one of my favourites of the year, and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.
I found the exploration of the relationships really interesting and enjoyed the language, I would’ve changed the spacing in the book as the last half felt rushed. I could’ve easily had an additional hundred pages on Amelia’s exploration of kink and her closing revelations.
Thank you for the arc and I’m looking forward to the book being properly released in the U.K. in February

This is such a fascinating book — a really interesting and unique premise. If I had to be critical, I felt that some of the description, particularly of landscapes and locations, became tedious and overwritten. Also I felt that the message became a bit confusing and moralising towards the end. But all in all, I read it quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for the reviewer copy.

I’ve heard mixed things about this book. The general consensus is it is a powerful story and is well written, but the subject matters are hard to read and can make the reader uncomfortable, so I was when on the fence when I started.

It is brutal - no beating around the bush here. Everything is so honestly written, whether nice or not, but it is not always as expected. Sex - often depicted as beautiful - is seen in a natural and awkward state, often used as a drug; death - often seen as scary and taboo - is seen as a blessing and a positive. Her depiction of death and grieving is hard to read for those unaccustomed, but for someone who has experienced deep loss, it is all too real.

I admit it is not an easy book to read and it’s not for everyone, so I will leave it to you to decide if it’s your cup of tea, but I do feel all the better, all the more open, the more free, for reading it.

I really enjoyed this book. I did find it quite slow in the middle, but it is so we'll written and enjoyable that I didn't mind

Really enjoyed this novel. The writing is so good, the insights so deep. It’s a fresh take on grief which enters some very unexpected territory. I’d consider it a spoiler to say more.

this story follows amelia, a makeup artist at her family’s funeral parlour, who is filled with emptiness and despair and doesn’t know how to cope with it.

when i first read the synopsis for this book, it sounded right up my alley. i thought that it would be another sad girl book, a book about being in your 20s and dealing with grief and using sex as a coping mechanism, and in a way, it was. but there was something missing from the book for me to fully immerse myself in the storyline, i felt at arm’s length from amelia the entire time, and i didn’t really have a clear sense of who she was. at 240 pages, i actually think that this book would benefit from being around 100 pages longer.

towards the middle of the book, amelia visits a bdsm club. tbh, i’m a massive kinkshamer, i tried to be open minded but i was just left feeling really uncomfortable and uneasy. i’m also scared of blood, and there’s one scene featuring blood which almost made me vomit and i can’t get it out of my head. surprisingly, the bdsm aspect of the book really isn’t that important, and i don’t really understand how these experiences helped the main character.

overall, there were some good pieces of writing within the novel and it’s a quick read. i would encourage those who are interested to read it, but maybe keep your expectations on the lower end of the spectrum. 1/5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. Baxter has a fresh voice and there were some excellent observations. The parts with the grief for her mother really resonated. I think the author is one to watch.

I was really lucky to be able to read this ahead of time thanks to #NetGalley especially as the synopsis of the book sounded amazing when it hit my email inbox.

What I loved about New Animal aside from some of the grotesque and sexy detailing, was the writing overall. I found the way Baxter wrote about Amelia's grief and heartbreak was so profound and quite beautiful at the same time.

New Animal is equal parts heartbreaking as it is raunchy, which is a combination that you think doesn't work but it does.

I was very much reminded of Boy Parts reading this, which as you ALL know is one of my favourite books of all time. You like but loathe the protagonist in a sense that you understand her decisions but you can't help but want to shake her sometimes.

The only thing I think was lacking was a bit more context on the situation with this Daniel character that seemed to weave in and out, and I feel like it ended quite abruptly. Other than that I massively enjoyed New Animal and would recommend it to anyone after their next fix after Boy Parts.

A tragic and heartbreaking novel exploring hard hitting themes of loss and love.

Poignant yet a harsh blow to the gut at times.This is powerful writing and a fascinating insight into the industry of funeral services.

Razor sharp prose and dark humour keeks you turning the pages.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you!)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

This was a very much a curate’s egg book for me. Good in parts.

Which is to say, it’s about sex and death, and while I was 100% here for everything it had to say about death, I bounced hard off the sex stuff. Particularly the BDSM orientated sex stuff because, if nothing else, it felt mean-spirited, badly researched, and included primarily for shock value, rather than because the author had anything meaningful about to say about BDSM as either a practice or a subculture.

Also—and forgive me a bit of personal bitterness here—but it’s increasingly bugging the shite out of me that women’s-fiction adjacent litfic (I’m also side-eying Sally Rooney here) gains endless credibility for centralising toxic sexual dynamics. Whereas an entire genre gets pissed on for depicting healthy, consent-driven relationships. Gah.

Anyway that’s not this book’s fault, although this book is part of the problem. The heroine, Amelia, works for her family’s funeral parlour, preparing the dead for, err, display. To deal with the thoughts and emotions such awareness of death and the body stir up, she spends her evenings seeking catharsis in anonymous sex. Then her mother dies and her own grief becomes too much to handle: fleeing from the funeral, she goes to stay with her biological father in Tasmania and randomly plunges into the BDSM scene because blah blah bodies blah blah emotions blah blah external versus inner pain.

On the positive side, while I’m in no position to judge the accuracy of the body preparation material, it was super fascinating, and I really appreciated the family dynamics (Amelia’s brother, for example, is just incidentally in a throuple which is presented on-page as positive and unremarkable) and the thoughts about death and grief and mourning as private versus social act.

But Jesus Christ the BDSM. Now listen I’m not putting myself forward as some kind of apologist for or defender of the Scene because, like any community of ultimately disconnected people, it has its prejudices and its toxicities and its deep-seated fucking problems. I am, frankly, not a fan. BUT the fact remains that the way the is book uses BDSM as a reflection of the heroine’s damaged emotional state is all kinds of fucked up. There are definitely some tropes that rang, err, scene-authentic like the red flag guy who is all like “I try to avoid aftercare as much as possible as it kind of impacts on the experience for me” and the other guy who is like “I don’t believe in safe words, I believe in intuition”. But everything else was just, like, perilously close to deranged—there’s the fact a guy literally draws blood with a bullwhip in a club setting and the entire place doesn’t immediately lose its shit or the fact she’s thrown into an actual live scene after about ten minutes of conversation about doming with the club owner. Or for that matter that, after she fucks up the domme scene because she’s been given no training, support or actual instructions (and is clearly in the middle of a nervous breakdown) they tell her she should probably sub again, even though one of the other dommes is pretty open about the fact subbing sucks (fun fact: obviously subbing sucks if you’re NOT A SUB). Or, indeed, should we talk about the fact that there is no monitoring at any point during either private or public club scenes, apart from a random bouncer who comments “It was obviously a fear scene” when the heroine is visibly traumatised.

And the thing is, it’s not so much the “inauthenticity” that bothers me. I’m genuinely not sitting here being “inaccurately depicted, according to my subject understanding, the logistics of BDMS clubs – 1 STAR”. And I’m definitely not saying abusive situations are not rife in kink, as they are rife in life, but I think the idea that abuse is, err, inherent to BDSM *because* it’s BDSM is fucked all the way up. Especially when the BDSM sections of the book are set up specifically to entrap the heroine in abusive situations and to present kink itself in the most grotesque and outlandish light possible.

To put it another way, the way New Animal presents BDSM is sort of the equivalent of that Mazes and Monsters starring Tom Hanks where some young people lose their grip on reality due to playing too much D&D. The problem there is not that the portrayal of D&D is inaccurate so much as the movie is using its own limited understanding of D&D to tell a story that has nothing to D&D, isn’t for people who are into D&D, and is, instead, pandering to an audience who want to feel justified in their belief that D&D is probably a bit weird and, y’know, could even be dangerous in some sort of way.

This is cheap and it doesn’t thrill me. And I don't care how insightful and interesting you've been about death alongside.