Heartfelt and quirky story that covers themes of grief, parenting and found family. Hartnett’s humor is unique and clever. I will never forget some of these characters - definitely memorable!

Pj’s ex wife and her new boyfriend are going to Alaska for 3 months. That shouldn’t sound like an issue, but since they still take care of PJ, it’s a bit of a problem. When he sees that Michelle Cobbs husband has passed, he knows he needs to go after the one that got away. Before he can head out though, he finds out that his great niece and nephew have been left to his care after their parents horrific deaths. Surely a road trip would be good for the kids right? After all, he is meant to get his license back in a few days, and he hasn’t had a drink in a week!

Oh my god, this book 🥹. This book has the storyline and humor of The Guncle, so obviously you know I loved it. There were several times I laughed out loud while at the gym. I’m sure people were wondering what was wrong with the crazy lady but I don’t even care! PJ is the most easily hatable but somehow loved character I have read in a while. I was rooting for him the entire book, and I loved the relationship he built with the kids, as well as the one he was trying to heal with his daughter Sophie. Plus pancakes? Pancakes the cat was just perfection. My goodness writing this review there is just so much I want to say but I don’t want to dive too far into the weeds here! Ollie and Luna beyond adorable, even when they were getting into a bit of trouble :::cough:: pineapple purse. Overall this book had a cast of characters I didn’t realize I really needed right now in my reading! I highly recommend picking this one up if you need a comical and heartwarming read!

Thank you to @randomhouse for my gifted copy of this book!

Have you ever read a book and through tears you were incredibly sad to realize it was the last page and you would no longer be going on this hilariously, rocky road trip anymore? That is exactly how I felt when I realized this quirky, fun, but beautiful book had ended.

PJ, a sixty-three year old Massachusetts lottery winner, who has drank himself through the tragedies of his life, reads in the local paper that his high school sweet heart just lost her husband. Since she lives in Arizona, in a retirement community, he decides to set off on a road trip to capture her heart because PJ believes she was the "one who got away". With an additional cast of characters like Pancakes the Cat who has a penchant for cozying up to people on the brink of death; Sophie, PJ's troubled daughter; and two orphans who PJ has inherited, this book takes you on a crazy ride through the United States that is not only hilarious but heart warming. I absolutely loved it!!!

I have read all of Annie Hartnett's novels, but this is my favorite. This book is being published April 29, 2025 and I highly recommend it. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review. Please send me all of Annie Hartnett's future books. Hartnett's novels are completely original and a joy to read! #NetGalley #TheRoadToTenderHearts

Oh this was such a fun and heartwarming read.

63 year old $1.5m lottery winner PJ learns his first love’s husband has died. Filled with unearned confidence, he packs up a car he technically doesn't have permission to use and embarks on a cross country road trip in pursuit of an old flame while seeing as much of the country as he can. His passengers? The two newly-orphaned "Irish twin" 4th graders now in his care, his semi-estranged daughter, and a cat that can predict death.

This book is, appropriately, very tender. The characters are flawed and quirky but endearing nonetheless. It is very well-paced and readable, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes complex relationships, questionable life choices, intergenerational friendships, and very tender moments between family and friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on April 29, 2025.

Where do I even start...

Summary
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.

The first few chapters are dark, like *really* dark and had I not read Harnett's other books I may have just DNFd right then. But, because I had, I figured I'd attempt to get past the crazy setup, I also usually enjoy the road trip aspect in books so I was hopeful.

Well, the "old man on a mission," PJ was an absolutely horrible human -- I get that he has some unhealed trauma but 63 and acting absurd, selfish, and reckless for a majority of the book was a huge turn off, never once did I feel badly for him. So why did I keep reading?

Some of the shenanigans were kind of entertaining, entertaining or couldn't look away from the car wreck type of situation. I also grew to love the kids in this novel, they have had a shit time in life and I just wanted someone to reach in and be consistent and loving.

I've read two others by Annie Hartnett and here's the order and what I rated them:
🦊Unlikely Animals⭐⭐⭐⭐
🐰Rabbit Cake⭐⭐⭐⭐
🐱The Road to Tender Hearts⭐⭐⭐.75

I really did enjoy Tender Hearts but PJ killed it for me.

Have you read any of Hartnett's books?
.
.
.
.

PJ Halliday just needed a second chance. He's 63 and already had three heart attacks. His oldest daughter died suddenly and his marriage dissolved soon after. He did win a million-dollar lottery, but he's pretty sure he's at the end of his life.

He reads an obituary of an old rival...the rival who married his first love. That second chance he needed is looking like it's going to be that old sweetheart in a retirement home across the country.

Suddenly, he's the guardian of two young children - his estranged brother's grandchildren. He figures he might ask his daughter Sophie to come along; she can babysit these surprise children. To add to the rag-tag group, Pancakes, a former nursing home cat...who has a history of predicting death, has shown up outside of PJ's home.

PJ as a character, on paper, sounds like a pain in the ass. He's a man who need redemption and The Road to Tender Hearts provides that. We all need a redo sometimes. Sometimes, we all need that fresh start, before its too late.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Annie Harnett proves yet again that she can create a novel simultaneously heart-warming and darkly, tragically humorous. In Road to Tender Hearts we meet PJ, an alcoholic who practically lives with his ex-wife, Ivy, and her soon-to-be-husband, Fred. As PJ bumbles through his days, he is tortured by his inability to get over the loss of his oldest daughter on her prom night, strengthen his relationship with his younger daughter, and live independently even though he won $1.5m in the lottery on a scratch-off ticket.

When Ivy and Phil leave for a months-long vacation without him, PJ is lost. That is, until he is swept up in a whirlwind of new people in his life. First, he is adopted by an orange cat recently escaped from the assisted living facility where it was rumored to be able to predict the deaths of the facility’s inhabitants. Then he inherits two children after their parents’ almost absurd deaths. However, the oldest of the two children informs PJ that she strongly suspects her dead father isn’t really her father but instead is a well-known soap opera star.

To prove that theory and to find his long, lost high school crush, PJ loads up the cat, the kids, and his reluctant daughter in Fred’s old red Volvo and hits the road. On this epic journey, PJ learns that he needs to take responsibility for his actions, his life and, most importantly, his drinking.

The scenes and characters throughout this novel are vivid and often absurd (at times laughable). In spite of being related by blood, the characters fall into the found-family trope --and a large, kind, and big-hearted family at that. I began this one hoping for a read as whimsical and fun as the cover art, and I was not disappointed in the least.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballentine for the ARC of this book through NetGalley, which I received for my honest review. This book will be available to the public on April 29, 2025.

#TheRoadtoTenderHearts #NetGalley #annieharnett #books #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookstagram #nerdventureswithbooks

Dare I say this is my favorite read of 2025? Big thanks to the publisher, Ballantine Books, for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. “The Road to Tender Hearts” will be published on April 29, 2025.

As usual, I approached this read blind, and at first, it did feel a bit odd, but that is what makes it wonderful. It’s about life and death, how we are all just trying to get on, to do the best we can.

I can’t recommend this enough; it made me laugh and cry. A favorite quote is, “The cat was amused at these two idiot humans, talking about how unfair death is, when it’s one of the few things everyone gets.”

This is my first Annie Hartnett read, and I’ll definitely pick up her earlier novels.

The Road To Tender Hearts follows alcoholic, chronic screw up PJ as he embarks on a cross country road trip with his orphaned great niece/nephew (Luna and Ollie), semi estranged daughter Sophie, and cat Pancakes. Luna, after losing her parents in a murder/suicide, is convinced that biological father is a soap opera star. The motley crew heads off on a road trip attempting to find her biological father.

The subject matter is heavy but the delivery is light. I rated this 4.5 stars and rounded down. The Road to Tender Hearts tackles mental health, bereavement, substance abuse with humor. Fans of Stephen Rowley’s The Guncle and Kevin Wilson’s cannon will adore this quirky read.

Quirky yet often amusing, Hartnett’s latest novel which publishes at the end of the month was an interesting cross country road trip full of all her typical zany characters and personified animals.

There are a lot of serious topics in this one that get glazed over by the cutesy cover, and if trigger warnings were provided might take up half a page. While she uses a National Lampoon’s Vacation quote in the beginning, the feel of the book is anything but Clark Griswold and is a bit misleading. It also felt like it dragged on for awhile, so if you haven’t read Rabbit Cake or Unlikely Animals, start there as I enjoyed those a lot more.

**< Best Book of 2025 >**

The Road to Tender Hearts is a strange, charming, and sneakily emotional novel that completely caught me off guard. Yes, I already know, I judged this book by its cover (which is primo), and imagine my delight when the story inside superseded all expectations. PJ Halliday, a 63-year-old lottery winner, sets off to reconnect with an old flame at a retirement home, but instead finds himself stuck with two orphaned kids, a semi-estranged daughter, and a death-predicting cat named Pancakes. It’s odd-ball, arrestingly funny, and somehow tender without trying too hard.

With every twist and turn, just as your hope fades, you’re thrown a morsel. And as your hope returns, you’re met with irony and loss. As if Hartnett understands something raw and true about humanity—our bottomless appetite for hope, and life’s unrelenting deal with disaster. The tone is playful but the feelings are real, and the absurdity just makes the grief more believable.

This is a story about broken people who keep showing up anyway. It’s about second chances that don’t come easy, and love that arrives a little late but still counts. Honestly? It’s a mess. And that’s exactly what makes it so good.

Reconfigured family unit of father, adult daughter and newly discovered grand niece & nephew go on cross country road trip. Fun, funny, heartwarming, healing & redemption.

I LOVED Unlikely Animals and this book was no different. Hartnett has a way with characters and making the relatable and loveable even with their flows. READ IT!

Deeply heartfelt and full of spirit, this is a wonderful read that will bring joy through the imperfect situation of PJ Halliday and the children he is a guardian of (Luna and Ollie).

Throughout the book, you get a glimpse of the struggle, PJ, an alcoholic grieving the death of his eldest daughter still faces 15 years after her passing. He wants to do sweet and kind things for the children he is a caregiver for but is imperfect and still negotiating his relationship with his youngest daughter, Sophie.

The roadtrip they all take together deepens the reader’s understanding of each of their needs. They are also accompanied by Pancakes, a cat who can predict death. Pancakes’ storyline woven throughout helps bring more humanity to the journey.

Thank you to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I admit I have sat on this review a bit as I didn’t want to write it. I am the unpopular opinion. I did not like this book. I have enjoyed this author, so I struggled with different this one hit for me.

PJ Halliday who is codependent on his ex-wife and her now husband, is a lottery winner (a typical now broke-ish one), gets two kids “left” to him when his terrible brother’s grandchildren are left orphans through a horrible and somewhat ridiculous murder suicide situation. He reluctantly takes the kids but then decides they will go with him on a road trip to marry his long ago high school girlfriend whose long time husband has just died. Yep, you read that right. PJ is 66, not an impulsive, selfish kid, but yet, that is exactly what he is and shows himself to be again and again.

He heads out to his HS girlfriend’s retirement community. He doesn’t even call ahead, but he ropes in his frustrated adult daughter to help him on this foolish and unplanned odyssey with kids who are grieving and also don’t know him. The horrible plan turns out to be mostly that, a horrible plan with some mad cap tangents where I wanted to like PJ a little but also am grateful he is not in my real life. I whole heartedly believe that people should never be told they are “too much” but this guy…too much.

*It’s important to note that PJ’s own daughter died when she was a teenager explaining why his wife left, many marriages don’t survive the loss of a child, and his estrangement with his younger daughter. He doesn’t recognize his own grief which is likely why he walks over everyone else’s. He is also an alcoholic who occasionally tries recovery, so his immaturity makes some sense. Often addicts stop maturing when the addiction begins, for PJ that’s about right. But also, I am making excuses because this if’s often what people do when they can’t explain why someone is such a disaster.

I think I know people like PJ, and that might be my problem with this book. I like to get invested in a story and I just couldn’t.

4.5 stars!

I really enjoyed the latest from Annie Hartnett - she is a master at quirky situations. In her new novel she gives us a road trip and found/actual family coming together through family secrets and A LOT of death. It's funny, it's heartwarming, it's poignant, but yes there is A LOT of death... Not in a creepy way, but quirky/morbid humorous way.

I loved all of the characters and their flaws and motivations, but the quirky death aspect of the book quickly grew a little old to me, especially once I noticed and came to expect it. And it kept coming and coming and coming.

This book is probably best read relatively quickly so this won't be much of an issue, but over the course of several days of reading it did get pretty eye-rolly.

Overall though, the characters and clever plotting made up for it and I would definitely recommend!

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the gifted ARC!

Title: The Road to Tender Hearts
Author: Annie Hartnett
Pub Date: April 29, 2025

Ugh, these characters have my heart! I felt the widest range of emotions while reading this book! I laughed out loud SO many more times than any books I've read in the recent past and teared up several times as well! There were also many audible "AWW"s I instinctively let out!

Let me just say this: this book is a special kind of humor and sometimes the humor was downright dark and morbid....but oh, did I find this book to be hilarious. If you're a fan of all things unique and quirky, this one is definitely right up your alley!

I think if I had to make some comparisons to previous books I've read, I'd call it a weirder mix of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife and The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.

Read if you love:

Quirky Humor
VERY unique and memorable characters
Cats
Road Trips
Books revolving around senior citizens

The ending of this book was nothing less than shocking. The whole plot just gets more brilliant the more I think about it! I think this would be such a blast to read with a bookclub, because the discussion would be a total HOOT!

Annie Hartnett, you took me on the wildest and craziest road trip to one of the strangest destinations and I'd 10/10 go on the journey with you again! I'm adding all her backlist books to my TBR and prioritizing them after this!

4.5 stars, rounded up

Darkly comic, this novel slips around constant themes of grief and loss with lighthearted energy. An unconventional group end up on a road trip - a sixty-something alcoholic, his partly estranged adult daughter, and the previously unknown grandchildren of his estranged brother. Joining them is a cat that knows who nearby will die next. As the group road trips to Arizona from New England, they form bonds and begin to heal. All along, the slight magical realism and funny asides keep all the deaths from dragging the story down. I really enjoy the tone of Ms Hartnett's writing (Unlikely Animals is a book I recommend regularly), and I am glad to have had a chance to read this one early.

In the running to be my favorite book of the year so far! I loved every moment of this family/found family road trip novel. I laughed and cried and remain profoundly moved. Annie Hartnett is a gift.

★★★★★
The Road to Tender Hearts (Annie Hartnett - releasing 2025)
e-ARC Review

✧ Read with me ✧ Instagram ✧| @haileydianereads

A massive thank you to NetGalley, Random House, Ballantine Books, and Annie Hartnett for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest book review! 🥰🙌

This book is perfect for readers who enjoy…
- Families who need a second chance
- A cat who can predict death (the harbinger of death)
- Dark comedy (seriously, things get bleak at times)
- Uplifting stories that will reconnect you with your humanity
- Poignant, yet life-affirming, writing that will gut you to your core

SPLENDID! Seriously, of the 30+ books I’ve read so far in 2025, this takes the cake as the overall best book I’ve read. There are so many factors that go into that statement, but I just want to applaud Annie Hartnett for accomplishing such a masterpiece. This novel made me laugh and cry - sometimes, at the same time! Not only is this novel witty and chalked full of ridiculously funny scenarios, but it will hit readers in the heart. From the impact of prolonged grief to a parent who simply cannot get their shit together, this book holds nothing back. Immediately, I’ve added Hartnett’s other novels (Unlikely Animals and Rabbit Cake) to my TBR.

RATING SYSTEM: I rate my books by 5 literary element groupings: plot and pacing, characters and development, setting and world building, dialogue and writing style. See below for a full review:

📖Plot and Pacing
PJ Halliday is simultaneously the luckiest and unluckiest of men. Winning a million dollar lottery? Luckily? The unexpected death of your daughter who was eighteen and only days away from her high school graduation? Unlucky. At 63, PJ has barely lived. He’s only ever left Pondville twice in his life - basic training and Vietnam. Readers meet PJ and will instantly have feelings towards him - good or bad. Maybe both. PJ has spent the last fifteen years drinking to numb his pain and it has cost him his wife and youngest daughter, Sophie. Both can’t help but love him, but have put in place some boundaries for self-preservation. PJ is asked to care for two tragically orphaned kids he’s never met at the same time he decides to take his first cross-country road trip to reunite with “the one who got away.” As Sophie reluctantly agrees to round out the party size to four (plus one deadly cat), PJ leads the way as the rag-tag group starts their journey. The pacing of this whimsical trip to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community slows for no one! Readers should expect an engaging story of hope, resilience, truths, sorrows and second chances.

🧞‍♀️Characters and Development
While the main character, PJ, may not be every reader’s cup of tea, he is written in such an endearing way that leaves the reader feeling that they might be a member of this quirky family. While PJ learns some hard lessons and has to confront truths he’s always known but wasn’t quite ready to come to terms with, readers have a whole cast of characters to enjoy getting acquainted with along the trek. Luna (10) and Ollie (9) are the two children, Irish twins, PJ has recently been given custody of and they’ve endured more trauma in a day than many adults in one lifetime. Sophie, PJ’s eldest, and Ivy, PJ’s ex-wife are still coming to terms with all the ways in which PJ has failed them. Fred, Ivy’s boyfriend, is one of the most patient characters I’ve ever met in a novel. This is the family you can’t look away from when a scene unfolds in public. They’re magnetic and gritty while remaining true to life. The best part about the novel is witnessing these characters grow in ways that seem impossible at the start. The emotional souvenirs from this road trip may prove to be invaluable.

🌇Setting and World Building
Set in the spring/summer of 2014, PJ and his family embark on a road trip from Massachusetts to Arizona. So much of this adventure immerses the reader in the car and alongside the family for meals and motel stops. As a Tennessean, the Waffle House and Cracker Barrel stops felt reminiscent of my own memories and associations with those diners. If you’ve ever taken a family road trip and stopped at some questionable (read mediocre) sites, this is a story that might provide you with some nostalgia.

🗣️Dialogue
One of the most compelling aspects of this story is just how hysterical, yet heart-wrenching, the dialogue is - especially the internal dialogue. It’s smart and witty. It is satirical at times and completely raw at others. There’s something truly beautiful that unfolds once all of the truths are laid out bare for the reader. I could not have enjoyed the character interactions more. At times, the absurdity of the situations or actions seem too much to bear, but in reality, we probably all know someone we can picture saying these exact words. They may have good intentions, but they have no filter and can leave a path of destruction behind them.

📝Writing Style
I STRUGGLE to read (and enjoy) novels where the main character is downright unlikable at times. However, Hartnett’s ability to create a backstory and character arc for PJ that keeps me interested this journey will take him is unparalleled. Truly, Hartnett does what few other writers have been able to convince me of when it comes to redemptive stories. Outside of the character writing, Hartnett’s approach to humor and levity is perfectly placed. I laughed, out loud - loudly at times. The writing felt reminiscent of any great travel. I was so glad I took the journey, but happy to find myself at home in the end. I cannot wait to read her other stories.

❉BONUS❉: Emotional Connection
The entirety of this book was an emotional rollercoaster. There were times when I just could not stand PJ and his decision-making. However, I was often reminded of a loved one who is so similar to his character. At other times in the book, I wanted to hug Sophie and whisper to her that she didn’t always have to be so strong. Wow, wow, wow. This book really did leave me speechless (and in a puddle of tears - happy & sad ones).

😤The Flaws
I always try to find a flaw. Sometimes, I try to find a flaw just so that I feel I did a thorough job critiquing a book. I’m sure this novel may have a flaw or two, but I’m not going to go looking. Nope. For me, this book is flawless. No notes!

I want to move Hartnett’s two other books to the top of my TBR list, but I must stay committed to the cause and continue down my list for the year. I am hoping these can be added later in the year because I am so extremely impressed with Hartnett’s writing style and ability to tell such an engaging story.

Gratitude, always.
- H.