Literary Fiction · Free kit
The Road to Tender Hearts
PJ Halliday is sixty-three, sober-ish on a good week, and still eating breakfast with the ex-wife who left him and the partner who replaced him. A lottery win a decade ago bought him time, not peace — and three heart attacks later, Pondville, Massachusetts, feels smaller than the grief he carries for his drowned daughter Kate. When his estranged brother’s grandchildren land in his lap after an unthinkable loss, PJ does what he has always done when life corners him: he gets in the car. With adult daughter Sophie, ten-year-old Luna (who is certain a soap opera star is her real father), nine-year-old Ollie, and Pancakes the nursing-home cat — rumored to sense when death is near — he heads west toward Michelle Cobb, the high school sweetheart he never stopped wondering about, and a retirement community called Tender Hearts in the Arizona desert.
“You don’t always get a map for the road back — sometimes you just keep driving until the landscape matches the courage you’re trying to grow.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
The Road to Tender Hearts Hosting Guide
A free, printable-minded plan for hosting The Road to Tender Hearts.
Invite hook
“What if the only way forward was a crowded car, a skeptical daughter, two grieving kids, and a cat who might know things you don’t?”
The question you’re arguing about: Is showing up late to fatherhood — or grandfatherhood — still showing up if you mean it this time?
Shopping list
- □Diner-style coffee and a carafe of hot refills (road-trip fuel)
- □Pancakes mix or mini pancakes for a ‘Pancakes the cat’ pun tray
- □Southwest snack board — prickly pear candy, cactus chips, or citrus wedges (Arizona nod)
- □Map-print table runner or place mats with highway lines
- □Disposable cameras or polaroid-style props for ‘mile marker memories’
- □Printed bingo cards and pens
- □Cat-shaped cookies or a small stuffed cat for the surprise touch
Day-of timeline
- 0–10 minWelcome & road-trip icebreakers
- 10–20 minEasy trivia warm-up (Pondville to Tender Hearts)
- 20–45 minMain discussion — grief, humor, and second chances
- 45–55 minWould You Rather or a speed debate
- 55–70 minBingo, ratings, and next-book vote
Surprise touch
Leave a ‘Tender Hearts Retirement Community’ name tag at each seat and one blank tag labeled ‘Mark Stanpole — Guest Star.’ Guests wear them until someone catches the joke — then swap to their real names for discussion.
Wrap-up
- □Group photo with map props or cat cookies
- □Quick rating round: 1–5 stars plus ‘funniest moment’ and ‘hardest moment’
- □Share one road you’re glad you took — or one you’re still avoiding
- □Vote on next month’s book