Well, it took longer than I anticipated, but here we are with the second book review of the year. I was actually talking to someone at work about how I need to step up my game if I want a hope of actually getting arc copies of books to review. Maybe I need to step up my game in how I review books, but I definitely need to step up my game with how many books I read. But, we can figure that out later. Today, let’s talk about my second read of the year – The Road to Tender Hearts.
Summary of The Road to Tender Hearts
We have a bit of a unique story here that is written by Annie Hartnett. It’s a darkly comedic heart warming story about an older man who has decided to go on a cross country road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. He is joined by his adult daughter, two orphaned children, and a cat. This cat, unbeknown to our main character, who goes by PJ, can predict when someone is about to die. This group sets off on a road trip filled with strange happenings, interesting encounters, and a chance to grow as individuals. They’re each broken in their own way and it’s up to them to overcome obstacles of different kinds as they navigate this road trip.
What I Enjoyed
This book was very easy to read and to keep going. In fact, I read this book in a weekend. That’s the fastest I’ve read in a long while. It was also, for the most part, a very enjoyable read as well. I had fun with it. This isn’t a genre that I think I’ve really ever read before. I enjoyed the cat, immensely. His name is Pancakes. The reveals that they had floored me at times. This wasn’t exactly a book that you could predict, but it had some predictable moments. I would say it was a good balance. And the overarching theme of imperfect families finding a way to make things work was super wholesome.
It’s Different in Story Telling
This book touched on death, a lot. I mean, it’s kind of obvious when you have a cat that can predict death. The way this was covered was….interesting. There was a seriousness to the whole thing, but at the same time there were some that were more humorous? Is that the word I want to use? I can think of a few deaths that had me staring at the book and wondering Did that seriously just happen? To be clear, the writer was not making fun of death. They were just kind of out there and random.
The Way Children Were Written
The main thing I hear all the time is that children are not written well. They don’t appear to act and talk the way they should. Now, I will admit that I don’t spend a lot of time with kids 10 years old, but I think Annie Hartnett wrote the two children well. There were also factors that make a child act differently than a normal kid their age would. I think that was correctly established. There were certainly times I wanted to throw the book in frustration, but at the same time I knew it made sense.
What I Didn’t Enjoy About The Road to Tender Hearts
I had some moments where I did like PJ as a character, but for the most part he infuriated me. To me, he had almost no growth as a character at all. He did things that made me want to smack him over the head with the book. I could understand some of the lack of growth, but it felt like any growth he started to have was undone with one decision. His mindset towards so many things had me shaking my head. There were a lot of things that frustrated me about PJ. And now that I think of it, I think that was my biggest critique. To a point, the characters did have moments of being super annoying, but I saw the growth in them, or as much as made sense. Obviously kids are not going to have huge growth arcs.
Overall Rating and Thoughts
The Road to Tender Hearts was an enjoyable story and a great first book for a book club. Now, I did enjoy the book for the most part. There were certainly moments where I wanted to stop reading because PJ or another character was annoying me, but overall a good book. I gave The Road to Tender Hearts a 4 star rating. It was fun, cute, but I could have done without all the profanity that was put in the book. And it wasn’t here and there, but quite proficient. As a Christian, I do not enjoy reading God’s name being used in vain every chapter. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it was frustrating. But a 4 star rating is my final rating.
Side Notes
This actually wasn’t supposed to be the second book review of the year. I was reading another book and got to the halfway point when it hit me. I didn’t care about a single character. Not one. There were two characters that we were introduced to and I thought that they were going to play a larger part. I liked them. Then one was captured and the other was killed. The one that died, how they died really pissed me off. So, I DNF’d the book. It was called The Last Stormlord. I had actually done blog prep for it too. So disappointed that I just couldn’t enjoy the book.
March TBR Jar
The Road to Tender Hearts was actually on my March TBR list. It was the book club pick. How is the rest of my TBR list? Well, they’re still sitting on my desk and waiting for me to pick them up. You’re probably wondering which one I will pick next. Good question, but I am about to disappoint you.
A TBR Interruption
From the library I got a book that I started as an audio book. I knew I wouldn’t finish the audio book in time (also from the library) so I went to the library to get the physical book. And while trying to read one book at a time, I do want to go back and finish that one. The reason I stopped to read The Road to Tender Hearts is because the month flew by and tonight I have my book club meeting . So I needed to jump into that book and quickly read it.
Next
So, as I mentioned, I am already about halfway through my next book. It is a really big book, so I’ll see how long it takes to get through it. Hopefully before the book is due back at the library. After that I will go back to my TBR list. I do believe I am getting my reading mojo back, so maybe I can start going through books faster. Anything can happen, if I try.
