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The Road to Tender Hearts

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - 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--by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals

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Paperback

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$20.00

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Pair It With Make Me Laugh
  • The Sip: Salted-caramel cocoa
  • The Cookie: Confetti sugar cookie
  • The Cozy: Bright cozy blanket and a no-serious-business reading setup
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 the 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 thinks he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter who's adrift in her twenties, 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 fresh 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.
AH
Annie Hartnett

Annie Hartnett is an American novelist known for her distinctive blend of dark humor, emotional warmth, and unconventional storytelling. Her fiction explores grief, family relationships, loneliness, friendship, and the unexpected ways people find connection during life's most difficult moments. With an eye for eccentric characters and the absurdities of everyday life, Hartnett creates stories that are simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and deeply compassionate.

Hartnett is the author of *Rabbit Cake*, *Unlikely Animals*, and *The Road to Tender Hearts*. Her debut novel, *Rabbit Cake*, follows a young girl navigating the aftermath of her mother's death while trying to make sense of her family's grief. *Unlikely Animals* combines a missing-person mystery, complicated family dynamics, and touches of the supernatural in a small New Hampshire town. In *The Road to Tender Hearts*, Hartnett brings her signature offbeat humor and tenderness to a story about loss, unexpected companionship, and the possibility of finding purpose and connection again.

For readers who enjoy stories that make them laugh at unexpected moments and feel deeply for imperfect characters, Hartnett offers fiction filled with heart, originality, and memorable personalities. Her books are especially suited to readers drawn to quirky literary fiction, found family, dark comedy, small-town settings, unconventional mysteries, and stories about discovering hope and belonging in the midst of life's messiest chapters.

See all book by Annie Hartnett

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