The Road to Tender Hearts

The Road to Tender Hearts

Annie Hartnett

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A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—from the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ 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, PJ 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 PJ reads an obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back. Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also figures he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter, adrift in her 20s, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home. This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a second shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.


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  • bookgang
    Mar 30, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

     Annie Hartnett is back with another zany, heartfelt story, which opens with an animal moment that only Hartnett could pull off. Pancakes the cat resides at a local nursing home in Pondville, a small town nestled in the armpit of Massachusetts.  The animal's presence, we discover, isn't comforting like you would expect to the home's elderly residents mainly because when Pancakes come a-knocking, whoever he visits dies shortly thereafter. When word breaks out in the local paper that the nursing home cat can predict death, residents run from him, one patient jumping out of their window to escape the Agent of Death. But Pancake's adventures are just beginning as he finds his way into the arms of sixy-three-year-old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday after running away.   

    With PJ's ex-wife officially moving on with someone else and his lottery winnings quickly running out, he is searching for a fresh start. He learns from the obituary of his high school rival that his first love, Michelle Cobb, is finally single. Convinced this is his chance at happiness, PJ plans a cross-country road trip to Arizona to win her back.

    But life throws him another curve ball, and  PJ suddenly becomes the guardian of his estranged late brother's grandkids. PJ considers canceling the trip, but Ollie & Luna smartly pitch why they can't return. Hartnett writes, "Kids need time to grieve after tragedy." It was something Ollie read in one of the books at the foster home. "We need time to trust our new caregiver and adjust to life after loss. We might withdraw or act out or even get violent." Luna was impressed with this pitch. He wasn't usually clever like this. She was the clever one, and he went along with it."  

    The pitch is a roaring success, so PJ packs up the kids and his adult daughter Sophie for support and hits the road with the cat in tow. A luck would have it, Luna believes her biological father is a soap opera star, and a side trip to reunite her with her dad at a soap opera convention becomes a perhaps misguided but heartwarming side quest.

    The shenanigans we go on with this hodgepodge crew are hysterical and written in a way only Hartnett can manage. Pancake's special gift for predicting death persists in alarmingly dark ways on the road, Luna shoplifts and carries a purse filled with hysterical oddities from their travels, and Sophie's bond with her dad renews as the two discover more about her years growing up. Your heart will be pulled in all different directions, especially as the story concludes with a gorgeous twist.

    I loved every minute of this laugh-out-loud road trip adventure, which contained heart-aching surprises and hilarious comedic bits that showcase Hartnett's unmatched timing for spinning an incredible story.

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