9 Heartwarming Books to Read if You Loved Little Miss Sunshine

In The Road to Tender Hearts, multiple ill-fated events draw together an unlikely group of characters for a hopeful road trip.

 Along for the ride are PJ, the loveable, if not slightly helpless, lottery winner; his adult daughter; the two grandchildren of PJ’s recently deceased brother; and an orange cat who may or may not be a predictor of death. 

Annie Hartnett weaves these characters’ stories together in a captivating tale of bravery, love, and second chances.

Gilda finds herself in a Catholic Church for therapy, accidentally accepting a receptionist job. A lesbian obsessed with death, she decides to go along with it. 

A job is a job after all. She continues to deal with tense family dynamics, a new girlfriend, loneliness, and emails from her predecessor Grace’s old friend. 

Gilda will have to decide whom to lean on, whom to ask for help, and when to walk away in this quirky book by Emily Austin. 

Three characters, connected by painful circumstances, run into each other at a bookstore, and so unfolds this story of pain, forgiveness, and love by Monica Wood. 

In How to Read a Book, Violet, Harriet, and Frank come together to grapple with the past and their present lives. This story inspires hope and the possibility of redemption. 

Told from the perspectives of four characters, One Plus One invites readers on a road trip to a math competition. 

Jess is a single mom to Tanzie and stepson Nicky, and she is in over her head. Ed is a rich tech guy who gets himself into trouble. 

Through a strange connection, Ed ends up driving the dysfunctional family to a competition for Tanzie, a gifted child. It’s a fun, charming read. 

You can’t help but root for the characters, each a portrayal of our humanness in an imperfect world.

Jubilee Jenkins, a woman allergic to human touch, must brave the world after her mother’s death. Fortunately for her, she’s able to find employment at the library. 

There she meets Eric, a divorced dad who’s trying his best to be there for his adopted son, Aja. 

Both of these characters are dealing with their own fear and grief, and through their connection, we see that letting others in is the best path to a life fully lived.

Fred Fife finds himself accidentally taking the place of Bernard, an old man who lives in a nursing home. Denise is the woman at the nursing home who is helping to care for Fred. A case of mistaken identity leads both characters down the path toward the forgiveness and connection they don’t realize they’re searching for. 

In this book, author Anna Johnston spins a wonderful tale of humor, warmth, and friendship you won’t want to skip. 

Retiree Harold makes a split-second decision to walk a letter all the way to its destination. The correspondence is written for an old friend reaching the end of her life. 

Walking there wasn’t exactly as planned. The journey finds him connecting with a wide array of characters. 

Rachel Joyce gives us a portrait of a man who wants to mix things up and ends up looking at his life in a whole new way.

Kevin Wilson takes his characters on the road trip of a lifetime in Run for the Hills. Reuben finds Madeline living on a farm with her mother and proclaims they are half-siblings. 

He then invites her on a trip to find their other half-siblings and their aloof father. Throughout the story, the characters find themselves thrown together as a family through the man they thought they all knew. 

Ultimately, Wilson’s character reminds us that family is what you make it. 

Four individuals find themselves teetering on the edge of life when they meet on the roof of Topper’s House on New Year’s Eve. 

It’s a place known for people who want to end their lives, and they find themselves there out of desperation. All four of these characters, Jess, JJ, Maureen, and Martin, are swept up into each other’s lives after this chance encounter. 

Nick Hornby tells the story through each character’s point of view. We are able to see what gives each of them life, and what leads them to contemplate death.