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

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

PJ wants to marry his high school sweetheart, whom he hasn’t seen in forty-five years. Ten-year-old Luna wants to find her biological father, a soap opera star.  Pancakes, the orange cat, who can read and sense impending death, is along for the ride. Don’t miss this one.

PJ is an alcoholic, but when Fred invites him to be the best man at his wedding to PJ’s ex-wife, Ivy, PJ decides to become sober. When Fred and Ivy leave for a vacation to Alaska, PJ feels abandoned. Fortunately, PJ learns that his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, has been widowed. He decides to drive from Massachusetts to Arizona to marry “the one who got away.” Also, when the grandchildren of PJ’s estranged brother, Chip, become orphans, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families gives PJ guardianship of Ollie and Luna, nine- and ten-year-old Irish twins. This is a comedy. Enjoy it.

This is how author Annie Hartnett explains the book: “And I decided I would make that novel as funny as I possibly could. That was my challenge to myself: to put everything bad I could think of in there and make it my funniest book yet. Humor is how I have always coped with anxiety and fear and terror and discomfort, so I wanted to make it all terrible but also very funny. Things are so horrendously bad, let’s laugh about it!”

Ollie and Luna are happy to live with PJ instead of going into foster care. He won $1.5 million in the lottery. He bought them a trampoline and iPads. However, what Luna wants is to confront the soap opera star Mark Stackpole. Her research through her mother’s papers has convinced her that her mother was in a ménage à trois that included Mark, and that Mark is her true father. She convinces PJ to help her find Mark.

PJ had two daughters. Kate, his older daughter, died after Prom, drunk, drowned in two inches of water. Sophie, seven years younger, has lost her job. She also feels abandoned by her mother, Ivy, and fiancé Fred.

PJ, Sophie, Ollie, Luna, and Pancakes steal Fred’s Volvo for a road trip to find Mark Stackpole and Michelle Cobb. During the trip, PJ discovers he is down to his last $20,000.

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