Description:

In this Book Club edition of For the Love, Jen sits down with novelist Annie Hartnett to talk about The Road to Tender Hearts — a book Jen calls heart-wrenching, heartwarming, weird, hilarious, and deeply satisfying all at once.

They open with a very funny catch-up from Me Camp, the solo month Jen takes every July. This year she’s in a tiny lake town in Canada, cooking, meeting neighbors, reading on the deck at sunset — and buying blueberries for scones instead of checking her calendar.

From there, Annie traces her path from high-school art major to novelist, and the two teachers whose offhand comments redirected both of their lives. She unpacks the real backstory behind the novel: a Providence rental house that delivered basement floods, gas leaks, black mold, vicious rats, a falling tree, and a neighborhood tragedy — all in 2020 — and the anxiety that followed her to a new town anyway. Her answer was to write down every bad thing she feared could happen to her family, then make it as funny as she possibly could.

Jen and Annie also get into:

• PJ Halliday, built from Annie’s dad and grandfather — lottery dreams, storytelling, lollipop trees and all
• Pancakes the death-predicting cat, inspired by Oscar, a real Rhode Island nursing-home cat
• Why Ivy and Fred keep loving PJ, and what that tells us about him
• How a talking cat in chapter one bought Annie the freedom to go very dark
• Writing grief, addiction, and fear without losing the comedy
• The “year of floundering” that starts every new book
• Why readers mourn whichever character they want, no matter what the author intended

Jen closes by asking what Annie’s reading, and Annie makes a hard case for Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

• “Life is suffering and joy.” — Pancakes, The Road to Tender Hearts
• “I realized in that class that I could be exactly who I am. I could be weird and I could be really accepted.” — Annie
• “Your words are not wasted. The stuff that you say into our little ears when we are formative and searching can absolutely set me on a path.” — Jen
• “She took my face in her hands and said, Jennifer, you have a gift for words and you should use it.” — Jen
• “I will put every bad thing that I think could happen to my family in a book, but I will make it as funny as possible.” — Annie
• “That’s how I feel like that’s the only way you get through bad things — to talk about them. But also to make them funny.” — Annie
• “I love people despite their flaws, sometimes because of their flaws.” — Annie
• “He has to be loved before he can really… he wants to be in the family.” — Annie, on PJ
• “The year of floundering, when you spend a year just flopping around like a fish out of water.” — Annie

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
• Unlikely Animals and Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
• Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://www.anniehartnett.com/

Instagram - https://instagram.com/annie_hartnett

Newsletter - https://www.anniehartnett.com/newletter

Connect with Jen!

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Description:

Jen is coming to you from the last two days of Me Camp in Canada, eyeballs on the lake, four weeks into having the volume turned down on every channel. And when the static quiets, the truer things rise up. In this me-to-you episode, Jen kicks off August's theme of honesty with the idea at the spine of the whole month: there is the thing we say, and then there is a truer sentence sitting an inch underneath it. And usually one inch under that.

Jen shares what her own silence cost in the last years of her marriage, names the difference between truth-telling and truth-throwing, and offers the gentlest possible place to begin: one true sentence, one page, just between you and you.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

• “Staying quiet only masquerades as keeping the peace. We are genuinely just deferring the bill.”
• “It doesn't disappear just because we're not willing to look it in the eye. It just goes underground, but it charges interest.”
• “So here I am thinking I'm protecting this marriage, protecting the kids — and I was actually helping to sink the ship.”
• “My body was absolutely telling the truth. Maybe my mouth wasn't, but my body was.”
• “There is a difference between truth telling and truth throwing.”
• “Honest is not the same thing as "unfiltered." Honest and kind are not opposites.”
• “You are not too much, and your real self is not an inconvenience.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• The AWAKE Collective, the monthly live gathering where this conversation started, included with a paid subscription to Jen’s Substack: jenhatmaker.substack.com
• Letters from the Middle, Jen’s Substack, where the honesty conversation continues all month: jenhatmaker.substack.com
• Tell us your story — head to jenhatmaker.com/podcast, look for the Send Voicemail button, and tell Jen the quiet thing you finally said out loud (or the one you’re working up to).

Connect with Jen!

Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Substack - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker

Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker

Jen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

Description:

Some yeses cost us something. Some of them save us.

Jen sits down with her partner, actor, author, and speaker Tyler Merritt, hours after his chemotherapy infusion. Tyler is midway through treatment for colorectal cancer, his second diagnosis in six years, and the two get honest about making thoughtful decisions when your body is calling every shot.

They talk about the yes Tyler gave in the middle of radiation: booking a brand-new theater tour that opens seventeen days after his last chemo, a yes he says he "arguably shouldn't have" given, made so he'd have something beautiful to walk toward. Jen turns the lens on her own year and the yes she almost took back: getting on the plane to Me Camp after a hysterectomy, a brutal spring, and a boyfriend in chemo two thousand miles away.

Tyler also flips the mic and asks Jen whether she regrets writing AWAKE. Her answer is about closure, discretion, and the two longest weeks of her life waiting to hear what her daughter thought of the book.

Plus: how to tell your intuition from everybody else's fear, Jen's top three Me Camp TV experiences, one Enneagram argument, and the one yes Tyler is still too scared to say out loud.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

• "There is something absolutely sacred in choosing your body in a time period where it may not be convenient." — Tyler

• "Rest is the thing that I choose. Rest is my sacred yes." — Tyler

• "It's not a yes that feels obligated. It's not coerced. It isn't even careless. It's thoughtful. It is baked in with wisdom." — Jen

• "In the midst of the fire, I made the decision to do something that would be difficult if I was just healthy." — Tyler

• "When someone else puts their caution on your yes, that can be a real governor on forward progress." — Jen

• "The sacred yes I'm afraid to say out loud is that I'm going to be okay." — Tyler

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• AWAKE by Jen Hatmaker
• I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt
• Tyler's new theater tour, opening August 28
• Me Camp, the Enneagram, and Jeremy Pope
• John Candy: I Like Me, Widows Bay, The Bear, The Five-Star Weekend

Guest's Links:

Website - thetylermerrittproject.com

Instagram - @thetylermerrittproject

Twitter - @TTMProject

Facebook - The Tyler Merritt Project

Youtube - The Tyler Merritt Project

Connect with Jen! Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker Jen's Twitter -

In our Sacred Yes series, we've explored what it means to choose courage, curiosity, and joy in the second half of life. Who better to join than the woman who quietly taught Jen those lessons from the beginning?

In this deeply personal episode, Jen calls home from MeCamp to check in with her mom, Jana. Jana was originally supposed to be lakeside in Ontario with Jen this week—until Jen's dad, Larry, discovered that Jana's passport had expired back in April. Instead of catching up by the water, mother and daughter connected remotely. Thankfully, they hit record so we could all benefit from Jana's wisdom.

This warm, funny, generation-spanning conversation explores the stories, fears, and freedoms we inherit. Jana reflects on growing up in the '50s and '60s, the cultural scripts that told young women they couldn't quite "make it" on their own, and how her own mother—who died when Jana was just 33—refused to let her carry fear. Jen and Jana trace how that fearlessness rolled down through the family, for better and occasionally for worse.

Jana shares insights from 55 years of marriage and raising four resilient children in a home where faith was central and failure was never a dealbreaker. She also discusses her decades as an educator and the joy of discovering new passions after retirement—including the "yeses" she's given herself lately, from traveling with her best friend to opening her own bank account (so she never has to explain a $78 lunch again!).

Whether you're navigating an empty nest, caring for aging parents, rebuilding after loss, or wondering what this next chapter holds, this conversation offers the gentle mentoring so many of us wish we could still receive from our own mothers. Because the greatest gift a parent can give isn't certainty—it's the confidence to believe that no matter what happens, you can always get back up and begin again.

Thought-Provoking Quotes:

• "Everybody's been on the ground. Everybody screws up… But while you live with the consequences, you can still just get back up. That doesn't need to define you." — Jana King
• "We built a solid foundation on faith, but mostly we built it on just loving our kids and giving them a safe harbor." — Jana King
• "Even if you weren't given that privilege of unconditional love, that doesn't need to define you. You can still step out and be brave." — Jana King

Resources Mentioned:

• Moonshine Grill (Austin, TX) & Kinfolk Cocktail Lounge
• Community First! Village (Jana's post-retirement library project)
• Good Hang with Amy Poehler Podcast
• Awake Season Quiz

Connect with Jen!
Website - Instagram - Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

There’s a lot of dopey financial advice out there. Jill Schlesinger is here to call it out, answer your questions, break down the financial news that actually matters, and help you manage your money without losing your mind. No jargon. No judgment. Just clear, actionable financial guidance about saving, investing, buying a home, managing your career, and deciding how to spend your hard-earned dollars. When it’s time to panic, Jill will tell you. When everyone else is panicking and you shouldn’t be, Jill will tell you that too. Your money. Your move. Let’s go.

Description:
What if your biggest breakthrough hasn't happened yet?

In this joyful and deeply encouraging conversation, Jen sits down with comedian, author, actress, and beloved storyteller Leanne Morgan to talk about dreams, disappointment, perseverance, and the surprising possibilities waiting for us in midlife.

As part of our Sacred Yes: Reclaiming Joy in Midlife series, we're bringing back one of our most-loved episodes because Leanne's story embodies everything this season is about: saying yes to possibility, trusting your own timeline, and refusing to believe that life's best chapters belong exclusively to youth.

Before sold-out tours, bestselling books, Netflix specials, and national recognition, Leanne spent decades raising children, caring for family, performing in comedy clubs, and quietly holding onto a dream that seemed increasingly unlikely. Then, in her fifties, everything changed.

With her trademark humor and warmth, Leanne shares what it was like to keep showing up long after many people would have given up. She reflects on motherhood, caregiving, marriage, becoming a grandmother, and the surprising freedom that comes with getting older.

Most of all, she reminds us that there is no expiration date on becoming who we're meant to be.

Over this delightful hour, Leanne will regale you with charming hard-won life lessons including:

● Why success arriving later can be a gift● The power of perseverance through disappointment● The balancing act of holding dreams, caregiving, and family life all with care● How humor helps us survive hard seasons● Why comparison is a thief of joy● The freedom that comes with embracing your own timeline● What it means to trust that what's meant for you won't miss you

If you've ever wondered whether you've missed your chance, whether it's too late to pivot, or whether your most joyful years are already behind you, Leanne has a message for you:

You are not behind. You are not too late. Your story is still unfolding.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

★ "I always just knew it was going to happen... I knew there were people out there going through the same thing I'm going through. I just didn't know how to reach them." — Leanne Morgan ★ "I really try to be present and enjoy it, because what a gift after all these years. It's just like icing on the cake, really." — Leanne Morgan ★ "I hope they take away: use humor to get you through hard times. I think it's the best thing that could ever happen to anybody, to be able to laugh through the bad times." — Leanne Morgan ★ "I've got to be me. I've got to do what I've got to do. If y'all love me or if you don't, it's okay." — Leanne Morgan

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

➢ What in the World?!: A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs by Leanne Morgan - https://www.leannemorgan.com/book➢ I'm Every Woman (Netflix Special) - https://www.netflix.com/title/81688708➢ You're Cordially Invited (Amazon MGM Studios) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0D9WF53QX➢

Dinner With Strangers: Jess Janz On The Friends We Haven't Met Yet

We're more connected than ever—and lonelier than we'd like to admit. What if the answer isn't finding the right people, but simply pulling up another chair?

This week, Jen sits down with writer, poet, and community-builder Jess Janz to talk about her new book, The Table Where We Meet, and the social experiment that grew into the phenomenon known as Dinner With Strangers. What began as a gathering around a table with a few curious questions has now welcomed more than a thousand people into conversations that move past small talk and into the territory we all secretly long for: belonging.

Jen and Jess explore why so many of us feel disconnected, what makes a question powerful enough to crack a person open, and how vulnerability creates the conditions for genuine connection. Whether you're craving deeper friendships, navigating loneliness, or wondering how to build a bigger table in your own life, this conversation is a hopeful reminder that meaningful connection is still possible—and closer than you think.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• The hidden costs of loneliness and our growing hunger for belonging
• Why "What's your favorite movie?" might be the wrong icebreaker—and what to ask instead
• What happens when one person chooses vulnerability first
• Why community isn't something we stumble into—it's something we create

Quotes:

• "There's alchemy in holding a heavy dish for the person beside you, reaching across, filling water glasses. All of that is so disarming. It shouldn't be a roadblock to connection—it should be the bridge." – Jess Janz
• "Loneliness and helplessness is something that is weaponized in our lives right now, and so it's radical to be in community together." – Jess Janz

Resources Mentioned:

• The Table Where We Meet by Jess Janz
• With Strangers
• Jen's dinner party for her daughter
• Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker
• Dan Mangan
• Buy Jess' book

Guest's Links:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Substack

Connect with Jen!
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

Every summer, Jen heads off on her annual Me Camp, a month dedicated to stepping away from the noise to reconnect with herself. But this year, Me Camp isn't a tradition or a luxury. It's an act of survival.

In the wake of major surgery, while carrying the weight of parenting adult children, navigating family crises, supporting loved ones through illness, and trying to hold together a life once built for two people, Jen found herself physically, emotionally, and mentally depleted. She almost didn't go.

In this deeply personal solo episode, Jen shares what finally convinced her to leave anyway, why asking for help has become one of the hardest and holiest lessons of this season, and what she's learning about the difference between escaping your life and stepping away long enough to return to it whole.

If you're the dependable one, the fixer, the person everyone calls in a crisis, this conversation is a gentle but urgent invitation. Loosen your grip. Let people show up for you. Remember that rest isn't a reward for finishing the work. Sometimes it's the very thing that makes it possible to keep going.

In this episode, Jen explores:

• What happens when life outpaces your capacity
• Why asking for help feels so uncomfortable, especially for capable people
• The hidden cost of believing you're indispensable
• How codependency can disguise itself as responsibility
• Why retreat can be an act of courage, not avoidance
• The simple invitation to "choose the lake chair anyway"

Whether you're recovering from something visible or carrying burdens no one else can see, this episode offers permission to stop white-knuckling your way through life, receive the care that's available to you, and trust that stepping away can be the very thing that helps you step back in with renewed strength.

Thought-Provoking Quotes:
"I have managed and been the troubleshooter, the point person, the heavy lifter, the anchor, the decider of so much in the last few months by myself. And some of it is absolutely consequential. Huge, huge things. And all of it just outpaced me." – Jen Hatmaker

"I think those of us who struggle to ask for help have some brutal combination of pride (the bad kind) and a false sense of self-sufficiency, and this is somehow wrapped up in how people think of us. Do they think of me as needy? Do they think of me as irresponsible?" – Jen Hatmaker

"I'm gonna treat rest like it's sacred, as opposed to the go, go, go adventure energy I normally have." – Jen Hatmaker

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Sacred Yes: Reclaiming Joy in Midlife Starts Here - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/sacred-yes-reclaiming-joy-in-midlife-starts-here/
• Jen's first cookbook, Feed These People: Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew - https://amzn.to/3R1P0ps
• Jen's Substack - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/
• The Awake Collective - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/p/the-awake-collective

Connect with Jen!
Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ | Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker | Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ | Facebook -