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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The Road to Tender Hearts Printables
Get the full printable pack on Etsy, or print individual pages from Bingo, Discussion Questions, and Hosting.
Book club invite
Printable invite with the kit’s hook about showing up late but meaning it this time.
Included in printable pack
Character profile cards
PJ, Sophie, Luna, Ollie, Pancakes, Ivy, and Michelle — cut-and-pass profiles.
Included in printable pack
Road-trip bingo
24 squares mixing reading moments and meeting reactions for live play.
Included in printable pack
Hosting checklist
Shopping list, timeline, surprise touch, and wrap-up on one page.
Included in printable pack
Tender Hearts name tags
Blank badges for the surprise touch — plus a silly Mark Stanpole guest tag.
Included in printable pack
Review sheet
Score PJ’s arc, Sophie’s arc, the kids’ portrayals, humor vs. heart, and ending satisfaction.
Included in printable pack