Beth’s Pick
February 2026
The Road to Tender Hearts
Annie Hartnett
Ballantine Books, April 29, 2025
This heart-warming novel centers on PJ Halliday, a 63-year-old lottery winner living in Pondville, Massachusetts. His older daughter has died tragically, his marriage has ended, he spends too much time at a neighborhood bar and his younger daughter is tired of worrying about him. In high school PJ loved Michelle Cobb and when he learns that her husband has died he is determined to travel to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle’s heart.
PJ becomes the guardian of his brother’s two grandchildren so setting off on this road trip across America are PJ, the orphaned children, PJ’s adult daughter Sophie and a former therapy cat named Pancakes who has a knack for predicting death.
There are many adventures along the way. This novel has moments of happiness and sadness, and it can feel zany and fantastical but there are many deep passages. Ultimately PJ’s hopeful quirkiness and the way the group is transformed by their journey give the reader many reasons to smile.
This was an NPR and Lit Hub Best Book of the Year and the New England Book Awards Fiction Winner.