Firstly though, I’ve also been at Shiny New Books last week with my review of Flame Tree Publishing’s short story anthology Best Served Cold from their Beyond & Within series of beautifully produced hardbacks.
The collection comprises ‘Chilling short stories of crime and revenge’ – mini psychological dramas by author known and new with some great twists and a tinge of horror. Nice!
Read my full review HERE.
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
When offered a copy of this novel, the premise immediately appealed.
- It has a road trip quest
- It has a family drama – and sounded a little like Little Miss Sunshine
- It has a rather unique cat
If I’d known the cat would play such a large part in it, I’d have read this for Malika’s ‘Reading the Meow‘ challenge back in June. And the novel begins with the cat…
Dr. Gust found the resident nursing home cat in his office, curled up on the keyboard like a fat loaf of bread. “Shoo,” Dr. Gust said, but the cat would not budge. “I’m fifty-seven,” he told Pancakes. Pancakes was the hospital’s therapy cat. He was supposed to be in one of the rooms of the nursing home residents, comforting them. That was his job. To comfort people at their end. […]
It was Maribeth on the housekeeping staff who had noticed the pattern. Maribeth was in charge of stripping the beds, cleaning and dusting and sanitizing, and after a resident died, she noticed there was always orange cat hair everywhere, […] In the morning, the cat was found on the chest of another patient, who had died overnight. Soon, Dr. Gust was obsessed with the cat’s movements.First, Pancakes spent all his time in Mrs. Monty’s room. Dead in three days. Then on to Mr. Broomfield’s room down the hall. Dead in a week. …
You get the picture. I won’t tell you how long Dr. Gust survives for… After meeting Pancakes, who will go his own way, we meet the main man in this story. PJ Halliday. Sixty-three, divorced but still friends with his ex-wife Ivy and her new man Fred, his best friend, who live down the road, PJ has had two heart-attacks already, and is a hoarder, and a million-dollar lottery winner some time ago. It was grief over the child they lost (and PJ’s drinking) that split them up finally.
A unique combination of circumstances lead PJ to take a road trip from Pondville, Massachusetts to Tucson, Arizona (via Atlanta). Firstly, the first girl he ever fell for in High School has been recently widowed. Now living in Tucson, he proposes to rekindle the flame with Michelle Cobb before it’s too late. Secondly, Fred is taking Ivy on a long bird-watching trip to Alaska where he’ll propose to her, so no more breakfasts at their house for PJ.
However, he has to put off the journey to Arizona for a while, as a family drama of his own puts a hold on things when, as their next of kin, he ends up becoming guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren, Luna (10) and Ollie (9) when Chip is killed in a car accident. He can’t put them up in his own full up house, so he takes over Fred and Ivy’s. He’s itching to get on the road though, Fred has said he can use his car (envisaging local shopping only), but PJ doesn’t get his licence back for a few weeks. The solution: get grown-up daughter Sophie to drive. Sophie having lost her job and hating her roommate doesn’t take too much persuading, although she and her father have a difficult relationship since her sister’s death. Ollie and Luna can miss the last days of school – they must be missing their parents, no? (actually not – Chip was not a good man).
So they all pile into the car, taking the cat, an orange one who’d adopted them (!) too. PJ discovers he only has $20k left of his million, he’s a soft touch, and had given lots to local causes too, but he’s not going to let that stop him. Luna though, has other plans. She is convinced that Chip wasn’t her father – her mum had had a fling with a chap called Mark Stackpole at school at around the right time. Stackpole is probably the most famous ex-Pondsville resident, starring in a Hollywood soap opera – he’ll be at a soap convention in Atlanta in a few days time. PJ is persuaded to detour so Luna can challenge him on her paternity (but they fully expect not to get there in time). By this point I had many questions and they hadn’t started the road trip yet.
- Will they make it to Atlanta? If they meet Stackpole, what will happen?
- And then Tucson? Will Michelle be glad to see PJ?
- Will Sophie and PJ make up?
- How will PJ pay for everything?
- Will Ivy and Fred enjoy Alaska? What will Fred say when he gets back and sees the Volvo gone?
- Will his brother’s grandchildren be able to stay with PJ?
- Where will they all live?
- Will Pancakes predict anyone else’s deaths?
All these will be answered by the end of the novel and, given that this is ultimately a heart-warming, feelgood novel, you can rest assured that everything will be resolved in a good way. It does tackle serious abuse issues of several types, and the grief of losing a daughter along the way, but once on the road trip there’ll be many adventures, and Pancakes will do his thing! I thoroughly enjoyed this book – a super summer read. This was my 14th read for #20BOS26.
Source: Review copy – Thank you! Mountain Leopard Press UK paperback original, 372 pages. BUY at Amazon UK or Waterstones via my affiliate links.
