This book was a really enjoyable read. I loved the quirkiness they all had and getting to hear a little of each person's POV was a nice tactic. I felt each character was really well balanced- equally flawed yet redeemable. The author also did a great job of balancing more serious and dark topics with humor and reflection. One thing that I thought could use a little more exploration was the deaths that took place throughout the story. I just felt that element felt a little random and I had a hard time connecting it to the rest of the story.

It was cute and quirky. I could not stand PJ; his whole personality just seemed off and he was too much of a caricature. The kids and cat were great however, and I was invested in the story.

I loved this book. Moving and tender while not shying away from the difficulties of life, The Road to Tender Hearts follows PJ on his grand trip across the country to woo “the one who got away”. Accompanied by his adult daughter, two young kids he’s now the guardian of, and a death predicting cat, the book tackles redemption, change, and life after tragedy.

This was a gem of a novel: found family, personal growth, a road trip, and Pancakes, the cat that can predict death. I loved all of the quirky side characters, and I especially loved how much PJ loved this ex-wife and her new husband. Super quirky and cute—just my style!

This novel involves alcoholic lottery winner PJ who has never gotten over the death of his daughter or his wife leaving him; his daughter Sophie who hasn’t gotten over the death of her sister or her father’s unreliable alcoholism; 9 and 10 year old siblings Luna and Ollie who suffer a family tragedy; and a cat named Pancakes (whose thoughts we can hear) who is a harbinger of death, as they end up together making a road trip across America.

I don’t want to say any more about the plot than that, as it’s one best experienced rather than described. Let’s just say it’s a very quirky book, funny but also pretty dark - though luckily ultimately heartwarming! I also loved Annie Hartnett’s book Unlikely Animals - she really is an original one!

Filled with quirky complicated characters, this road trip book is chock full of laugh out loud moments and some great life wisdom. I loved that the characters are not perfect, just oh so human. And Pancakes the cat steals every page - best book animal!

I really enjoyed Annie Hartnett’s last book was excited to get an arc of her latest!

This is a very quirky book so if that’s not your thing- definitely pass on this one. But if you enjoy an unusual read, you will probably find this one fun.

I found it very heart warming and loved the kids and Sophie and of course Pancakes. I think what ultimately bothered me about this book was the main character PJ. At 63, he is the sweetest in that he really cares for people and is generous, but he is a complete buffoon who makes the lives of those who love him more difficult. He just didn’t feel like a real person but more of a cartoon character and I would have liked more from him. I could have done without PJ entirely and just had the other characters and this book would have been so much better!

Overall- I enjoyed it. 3.5 rounded up

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

This book broke me open in the best way.

The Road to Tender Hearts is one of those rare novels that manages to be laugh-out-loud funny, deeply tender, and quietly devastating—all at once. I went in expecting a quirky road trip and came out feeling like I'd been hugged, dragged through the mud, and stitched back together by people who love imperfectly but fiercely.

PJ Halliday is the kind of mess you can't help but root for. His voice, his grief, his stubborn hope—it all felt so human. And the rest of the cast? Unforgettable. Sophie, his daughter, who’s trying so hard to untangle herself from him while also being just like him. The kids, Luna and Ollie, broke my heart and mended it again. And yes, even Pancakes the death-predicting cat stole a piece of me.

Annie Hartnett has this way of writing that makes heavy topics feel accessible without diminishing their weight. Addiction, loss, estrangement...it’s all here, but woven into a story full of road trip mishaps, oddball characters, and moments of surprising joy.

This is a story about second (and third, and fourth) chances. About how family is often who we fight for, even when they drive us a little bit nuts. About tenderness, and how it sometimes shows up disguised as chaos.

I loved it. I didn’t want it to end. And I’m still thinking about PJ and his makeshift crew, long after the last page.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Company and author Annie Hartnett for the e copy of this book! The Road to Render Hearts centers around a man named PJ - a lottery winner with a big heart and a drinking problem. After hearing “the one that got away” was newly widowed, PJ made it his goal to win her over but needed to get to Arizona all the way from Massachusetts in order to do so. Despite losing one of his children to a drowning and later divorcing his wife, PJ is a giving person. His ex-wife still maintains a friendship with him which he cherishes dearly. When his ex-wife and her new S/O leave for a vacation, PJ is left to his own devices. PJ is named guardian in a will to two young children who are the grandchildren of his estranged brother after both of their parents die under awful circumstances. One of the children, Luna, believes that man who raised her was not her biological father. Luna believes a famous actor who had once lived in her town was her real father. This book follows a road trip the children, a cat who can tell when someone is near death, PJ, and his daughter embark on in order to find the truth of Luna’s paternity and meet PJ’s old sweetheart. Through heartwarming moments and inspirational speeches - as well as heartbreaking realizations - the group makes it from Massachusetts to Arizona and back. I loved reading this book, it felt like drinking hot chocolate while wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. Despite the hard parts of life still being included in this read, we still are shown that life is worth continuing on and doing your best to be better. Would definitely recommend to others!

This book is all heart. It spoke to all of the parts of me that have known loss. Annie Hartnett gives us the quirkiest, most human characters that make this somehow the very best fictional road trip.

There is death and tragic coincidence and heartache here - but this book isn’t only about grief. It’s less about what we have left behind and more about what we have to look forward to. It’s unusually beautiful. It’s funny, poignant, and so generously written.

And there’s a cat named Pancakes with the uncanny ability to predict death. So there’s that.

Please find room for it on your shelf. It has so earned its place there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

<b>I recently spoke about my ten favorite reads of the spring, and this was one of the titles I highlighted. I hope you'll check it out if you haven't already!

In this heartwarming story of wonderfully faulted characters who face tragedy and often make a mess of things, loyalty and steadfastness overcome all and allow a makeshift family to heal, find adventure, discover their individual strengths, and realize that they're meant to be together forever.</b>

PJ Halliday is 63 and won the million-dollar lottery. Now he's about to set off on a cross-country road trip to track down his high-school sweetheart following the death of his former nemesis and rival.

But not everything in his life has been luck and adventure. PJ has weathered terrible tragedies in his life. His oldest daughter died as a teenager, and the grief destroyed his marriage. He's self-obsessed and sloppy, and he's allowed himself to become distant from his only living daughter, now a young adult who's drifting in her life. He's spent years drowning his sorrows in drink, and now that he's had three heart attacks (and secretly given away almost all of his money, while living in a hoarding-type home situation), he realizes his time may be almost up.

But before he can set out for Arizona to try to win back his young love, his estranged brother dies, and PJ becomes the guardian for his brother's grandchildren. So he packs them into the car, enlists his grumbling grown daughter to help him, and hits the road.

When I read Hartnett's novel Unlikely Animals, I said it was an irresistible, oddball tragicomedy with heart, in which characters explore the limits and solidity of friendship and family loyalty, show mistakes and imperfections, and cling to hope. While The Road to Tender Hearts is its own story, the same charming elements show up here: tough situations are real but are surrounded by lighthearted, zany circumstances; characters are faulted and make missteps but learn to forgive themselves and those around them; loyalty and steadfastness serve as bridges to love and caring; and animals work with magical realism to shift and affect outcomes.

While the characters in The Road to Tender Hearts face sometimes devastating turns of events, the tone of the story is such that you won't wonder whether a happy ending is coming. Past hurts aren't erased, but love overcomes, and the ending is sweet sweet sweet.

Hartnett employs dramatic irony, as the reader knows the full story of protagonists' motivations, abilities, and true selves, while her characters do not.

I received a prepublication edition of The Road to Tender Hearts, scheduled for publication April 29, courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House/Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a book full of quirky and slightly broken characters who through a series of unfortunate events band together to try and find second chances and happy endings for all. This was a little bit of a heavy story interspersed with some humor, dark at times, but overall was an emotional and heartwarming stories about how we can move beyond any mistakes of the past and make a new life.

Annie Hartnett has a writer’s voice like no other - she somehow manages to perfectly blend quirky and occasionally morose with heartwarming moments. The Road to Tender Hearts is no exception; somehow the terribly heavy themes of the book are perfectly balanced with the absolute absurdity of the story. An auto buy author for me, I’ll read anything she writes.

This was a unique story with equally unique characters.

If you know me at all, you'll understand why Pancakes is my favorite "character" in the book. C'mon, how can you NOT love him?

As for the others, and the story .... it was only ok for me. There was almost too much in it. Too many stories within the story.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ballantine Books
Pub Date: 4-29-25

Thank you @netgalley, @ballantinebooks, and @annie_hartnett for the opportunity to read this eARC.

". . . this isn’t a story about cats, or even about dogs. It’s a story about horrible things that happen to people, and how on earth anyone can stomach raising children in a world where doom and disaster lurk around every corner. So, no, it’s not a story about a cat. It’s just a story that starts with a cat, and it goes from there."

What a cast of characters, truly, including a cat named Pancakes. I love a good road trip story and enjoyed the relationships that developed during this cross country journey. Some darkness, for sure, but also light and hope.

". . . it’s the impermanence of life that makes it beautiful."

PJ is a boomer who has made some poor choices in life and has been handed some bad luck. This is the disastrous story of how he ends up with 2 children in his care and makes his way across the country on a road trip. This was reminiscent of "Nothing to See Here" by Kevin Wilson.

Annie Hartnett just blew me away again with her story about a 63 year old guy kind of on his last legs, a cat named Pancakes, two little kids he unexpectedly acquires due to a tragedy and his ex-wife and younger daughter. The whole story turns into a ridiculous roadtrip that happens on a whim and involves an unlikely group of travelers. PJ is a former 1.5 million dollar lottery winner. He is divorced from Ivy, the mother of his daughters. When the older one Kate died on prom night, PJ deteriorated into a hard drinking alcoholic, irresponsible, bereft and inattentive to his younger daughter Sophie, who lost her sister when she was just a tween. Sophie's in her twenties now, out of a job and she avoids her dad. She resents him, he makes her crazy with his dependency on her mother who feed him breakfast daily and shops for him.

Ivy left PJ for Fred, a Boston judge and avid birder. He has a vacation home down the street from PJ's and Ivy's old house. They decide to take a multi-month trip to Alaska, leaving PJ feeling adrift and abandoned. Until… PJ reads an obituary and learns that his high school crush, Michelle Cobb, is now widowed from PJs' rival who stole her away. PJ, who hasn't been out of Pondville except for a brief stint in Vietnam decides he will go to Arizona, propose to Michelle and settle down to wedded bliss. Michelle's only contact with him since high school was that she, along with her husband, sent flowers when Kate died fifteen years ago. That's enough for PJ.

PJ has a car available, even though his eight year license suspension doesn't expire for a few days. Fred left him his volvo to use just to run to the store, since Ivy won't be there to shop for him. PJ answers the phone at Fred and Ivy's house when he dropped in to see if they left any food behind. He answers their phone and finds a social worker has been trying to reach him to tell him he has been named the guardian of a grandniece and grandnephew that he knew nothing about. They need him to take them in. They are both in fourth grade, having been born ten months apart. They have lived two blocks from him their whole lives, but PJ's brother was a very bad actor and PJ was estranged from him.

The Road to Tender Hearts is a story of an elderly man named PJ who decides to go on a road trip to visit his high school sweetheart. There is some humor. But I just didn't fall in love with it. It was just an okay story. Pretty depressing with one bad thing after another happening. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

I absolutely loved Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett and couldn’t get my hands on her new novel fast enough. It’s hard to believe, but Hartnett has done it again! Road to Tender Hearts is a truly beautiful tale featuring a wonderfully unique cast of characters and situations. It’s filled with humor, nostalgia, and warmth. The must-read book for everyone this summer!

4.5 stars, really sweet and heartfelt book.

This is the story of PJ Halliday, a divorced 63-year-old divorced man who won a 1.5 million dollar lottery years ago. He's an alcoholic who has never recovered from the death of his oldest daughter when she was in high school. When he sees that his old romantic rival (who supposedly stole his girl when PJ went to Vietnam) has died, PJ makes plans to drive to Arizona from Massachusetts to win her back. Complicating matters are a couple of young children who have lost their parents and PJ is named their guardian. And a therapy cat named Pancakes with some uncanny abilities.

I just loved this story. It was funny, sad, and realistic all at the same time. PJ is a flawed man, and his transformation is not without pitfalls and setbacks. I thought the kids were portrayed authentically as well, and there are twists and turns that kept me engaged and interested throughout my reading experience.

My one small quibble about this book is that I couldn't quite figure out when it is set. There's no way, if it is set in the present year, that PJ would have been old enough to go to Vietnam. And I kind of dislike that 63 is supposedly elderly and people living in retirement communities, when in reality most 63 year olds are still working, many have kids at home, etc.

Other than that, I just absolutely enjoyed my experience with this book. It's such a lovely tale of grief, loss, and learning how to move forward.