Loved this! It was quirky, heart breaking at times, but mostly heart warming and weirdly fun. It’s a bit Kevin Wilson-esque (whose recent great read is also a road trip.)

I loved this book. Truly.

If you enjoy stories with road trips, found family, love, hope, loss, grief, humor and cats then you will love The Road to Tender Hearts. I did not think that I would rate this 5 stars when I started it, but these characters are ones that I will not forget. They will remain on my mind for a while.

An absolutely lovely read. Once I started this book I found it hard to put down. The story sucks you in right from the beginning and does not loosen the chokehold. Tender and emotional without being cloying. The writing just flows naturally. Great storytelling.

Thanks for giving me an arc of this title. It was an enjoyable beach read, fastpaced and filled with quirky, but fun characters. PJ Hailday becomes the legally guardian two young kids Luna and Ollie Meeklin. Together the kids and PJ take a summer road trip along with his adult daughter Sophie and Pancake, an orange tabby cat. This unique group has lots of interesting adventures along the way.

Unfortunately alot of bad things happen to these characters, but somehow the author manages to still keep the story happy. I love the author's unique writting style as she brings levity to dark things. This is a character drivin escape novel that focus on finding literal found family (extended family that you never knew)

through the story the reader feels emersed in the characters and there world as if you are tagging along on there summer road trip with them. I really enjoy taking the "road trip" with everyone.

Endearing, dark, and quirky! The Road to Tender Hearts had several themes I tend to enjoy - road trips, dysfunctional families, navigating grief, second chances, found family, etc. Similar to The Guncle from an unlikely caregiver and grief perspective, but it also gave me some Little Miss Sunshine vibes (quirky characters, dark, family dynamics, road trip, etc.). The most surprising character of the story was Pancakes, an orange cat that has the ability to predict death.

Thank you for the eARC!

The Road to Tender Hearts is the perfect summer road trip book. It's full of heart, humor, and flawed characters you can't help but fall in love with. I love the small magical elements woven through each of Annie Hartnett's story. This is a story I won't soon forget.

PJ is 63 years old, living off his million-dollar lottery winnings, and the new guardian of his brother's grandchildren. This was not what he expected for this stage in his life. After losing their parents, these kids end up with a stranger they never knew existed. The three of them, along with PJ's adult daughter, set off on a road trip to meet PJ's high school sweetheart. This road trip was not what any of them had planned for their summer.

This cast of characters kept me laughing throughout the book. PJ was very frustrating at times, but his dynamic with the kids, plus the addition of Sophie and Pancakes, made the whole trip worth it. There are a lot of heavy themes in this book and a lot of grieving. There is also a lot of healing that goes along with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for the ARC of The Road to Tender Hearts.

The Road to Tender Hearts is quirky, heartwarming, and unexpectedly touching. PJ Halliday, a flawed but endearing 63-year-old, sets off on a chaotic cross-country trip with two kids he unexpectedly inherits, his estranged daughter, and a scene-stealing cat named Pancakes. What starts as a mission to reunite with an old flame turns into a messy, beautiful journey about second chances, family, and healing. It’s funny, cheesy at times, and full of lovable, well-drawn characters. Annie Hartnett nails the balance of humor and heart—this kept me up reading past 1 AM, and I don’t regret a minute of it.

If Little Miss Sunshine & The Guncle (about young kids & their grief) made a book. Will definitely recommend!

I'll be honest, this book was not one I likely would have picked up right away, but my favorite book podcaster was RAVING about this novel, so I had to read it. I loved Annie Hartnett's last book, Unlikely Animals - again, another novel I likely would not have gravitated towards - so I knew I was in for a fantastic story. This novel was exactly what I needed in my life right now. Annie writes characters so beautifully, every one so well developed and nuanced, with really witty commentary woven throughout. She takes very serious subjects, such as death and suicide, and helps readers find the magic and humor in everyday life, even when things are incredibly sad and depressing. This was such a sweet, hopeful and unconventional book, and I'd highly recommend it - especially for book clubs. Thank you Net Galley for the early copy.

I requested this because I was in the mood for something emotional and boy did this deliver. My heart was full and I was feeling everything the main character was right along with them. This was just a beautiful story that I think is best done into blind

For fans of literary fiction that delves into themes of grief, redemption, and the enduring bonds of chosen family, The Road to Tender Hearts offers a journey that emotionally resonant and whimsically unpredictable.

Thank you to Penguin-Random House and NetGalley for an advance readers copy of this book.

This quirky, dark comedy about a makeshift family is both funny and poignant, and I’m glad I could be with them for their road trip.

It is Spring, 2014, in small-town Pondville, MA. We meet P.J. Halliday, 63, former postman and million dollar lottery winner, trying-to-recover drunk, who still has breakfast every day with his divorced wife and her partner, a retired judge named Fred.

Into his life come Luna and Ollie, 10 and 9 years old, PJ’s half-brother’s grandchildren, who are orphaned when their parents die of a murder-suicide. PJ is their only living relative, and he is given guardianship of them. PJ’s underachieving, Goth daughter Sophie, 26, joins them on a road trip to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona, where PJ is looking for a lost love.

The final member of their team is Pancakes, a large orange cat, taken from his role as a companion animal in a nursing home after it becomes clear his attention to a patient portends imminent death. (Fortunately, this does not apply to PJ and his crew.)

The family relationships are complicated, with more half-siblings than full ones, a sister who dies young and another one who is discovered later in life. Some of the situations are absurd, some are touching, but in either case, along the way, love and understanding builds. Despite the difficult circumstances faced by each of the characters, the book ends on a hopeful note, leaving this reader to wonder what the following years brought to these flawed but endearing people.

The Road to Tender Hearts was cute and quirky. The tragic premise takes the flawed characters on a cross country trip of discovery with many comical moments along the way. For me it was a bit slow but I could see that many would find it heartwarming.

This book takes a minute to get invested in but once you are introduced to all the characters it pulls you in. The cat pancakes," uncle" even thd children make quite a misfit group you cant help falling in love with and root for. This story was sweet, and endearing.

This is one of the most riveting, bleakest, chaotic, endearing books I’ve read in a long time. It’s honestly a marvel that one novel can create space for so many simultaneous emotions, which I give the author a lot of credit for doing. The characters grow on you, and even though most of the time they veer towards the wrong moral outcome, you still find yourself rooting for them (especially the children!).

Overall this is a roller coaster of a story, one that would be good to read in a book club.

I absolutely loved Annie Hartnett’s first two novels, 𝘙𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘊𝘢𝘬𝘦 and 𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘴. Both were books I couldn’t stop talking about, so I was VERY excited for her new book, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗦, which is the story of a crazy group of five on an unlikely road trip. Now comes the pain: I didn’t much like it and it’s really hard for me to pinpoint why.⁣
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I generally like road trip books, so it wasn’t that. I also like books with humor in them. I especially like humor when it jumps out and surprises you. I remember laughing out loud many times in 𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘴 simply because I was so surprised at something that happened…and here might be the problem. I feel like Hartnett’s first two books were serious stories laced with humor. I love that! For me, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 was a humorous story laced with serious parts. There’s a difference. In the end, I found this one just too kitschy, too cute, with not enough depth on the more serious side. ⁣
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I realize I’m a big outlier here and I’m happy about that. Annie Hartnett is still an author I love and I’ll be just as eager to read her next book as I was with this one.🤷🏻‍♀️ We simply can’t all connect with every book.⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 ⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 #BallantineBooks 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

I loved Hartnett’s last novel, Unlikely Animals, so of course her newest release was an auto read for me.

This book was charming, heartwarming, funny, and tender. Hartnett has such a unique writing style and does such a good job blending serious topics with humor and heart. The characters were flawed, and at times frustrating, but lovable. Also, there was a cat, Pancakes, who was probably my favorite character. 🐱🥰 I loved following this gang on their journey throughout the story, all their shenanigans, and all they learned along the way.

If you’re looking for a heartfelt and uplifting book to read this summer, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up!

In any other author’s hands, this story would be off the rails. In Hartnett’s, on the other hand, it was heartfelt, funny, whimsical, and oftentimes sad AF. I’m not sure how something could be so funny and so sad all at once.

I wanted to love this book, and I love Annie’s overall vibe to her writing. But the start was odd, off-putting, and a little gross. It made it hard to feel invested after that! I will still read future books from her!