Celebrating Road Trip LIVE with Mary Kay Andrews
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—May 27, 2026
Tune in LIVE at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!
Join us on Wednesday, May 27th LIVE at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as the full F&F family gathers to celebrate the launch of our very own “undisputed queen of beach reads,” (Southern Living) NYT-bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews’s new book, Road Trip, which is, of course, our June Pick of the Month!
A former journalist with a fourteen-year career in newspapers, including a decade as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, MKA is the NYT-bestselling author of thirty-four novels and a cookbook. Her novel, Summers at the Saint is currently in development with Universal Studios. She joins us before heading out on a massive book tour to discuss her most personal novel to date in which two estranged sisters honor their mother’s dying wish to take a road trip to Ireland to uncover the provenance of a mysterious and potentially priceless family portrait. Publishers Weekly says Road Trip “sparkles,” and Library Journal calls it “a delightful tale with vivid characters.” We can’t wait to celebrate in grand F&F style complete with games, a signature cocktail, and lots of laughs.
Join us for the LIVE video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 5/27 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 5/29.
Meanwhile, order MKA’s new book—along with all of our guests’ and hosts’ books—at a discount in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org!
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus Q&A’s with our guest authors which include a writing tip, book recommendation, and information about their works-in-progress, plus other great material not covered on the show!
Latest News from the Fab Four!
MARY KAY ANDREWS spent the Memorial Day weekend dodging raindrops, doing last minute shopping with daughter-in-law Meghan for her ROAD TRIP book tour—travel umbrella, check, comfy airport shoes, check, air-vac compression bags for suitcase packing, check. Saturday she joined her extended family to celebrate a high school graduation. A fun dinner with friends on Sunday, and brunch with son Andy and wife on Monday. MKA’s so excited to finally launch ROAD TRIP with the F&F gang tonight. She also announced a fun giveaway for the in-person Savannah F&F event on June 3. Every ticket-buyer to the Savannah event will be entered into a drawing to win a two-night stay at a dreamy restored vacation rental townhouse in historic downtown Savannah, courtesy of her friends at Lucky Savannah Vacation Rentals. Go here to buy tickets.
KRISTIN HARMEL spent the weekend celebrating her mother’s birthday (along with her brother and his family), and then on Memorial Day, she spent the day with her family and friends at Discovery Cove, where she swam with a dolphin and snorkeled with stingrays and tropical fish. What a weekend! She’s so excited to be launching MKA’s ROAD TRIP on the show this week–and to meet up with her Friends & Fiction friends next week in Savannah for MKA’s in-person celebration!
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is so grateful to everyone for all your support of SUMMER STATE OF MIND, which just had its second week on the USA TODAY Bestseller List! Hooray! She had the best start to summer with friends and family on the water, and couldn’t be more thrilled for her favorite season to be beginning. She absolutely LOVED MKA’s ROAD TRIP and is so excited to celebrate the launch! She will miss all of you in real life in Savannah because—unbelievably—her son’s 8th Grade Graduation is that day. But she will be there in spirit and knows it will be fabulous!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is thrilled to help MKA launch her book ROAD TRIP into the world! Join us tonight for the shenanigans. Patti had a great time in Simsbury CT at a library event and then a beautiful Memorial Day weekend with her family boating, pooling (as if that’s a verb) and finishing her page proofs!
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for an ongoing series of roundtable discussions and personal essays by the Fab Four about their careers, writing processes, and all things book and publishing related!
Upcoming Events
MKA’s Road Trip book tour kicks off this Friday May 29th with a double-header of events in North Myrtle Beach, SC & Ocean Isle Beach, NC. See the full book tour details & ticketing links HERE.
Kristin will be touring in July/August for her forthcoming book, Meet Me in Paris. Stay tuned to her events page HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristy’s upcoming events HERE.
Join us Wednesday, June 3rd for an in-person Friends & Fiction Live event in Savannah to celebrate the launch of MKA’s Road Trip! Get full details and tickets HERE!
Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!
In Case You Missed It
On our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Patti Callahan Henry & Mary Kay Andrews welcomed the multimillion-copy-selling author of The Help, Kathryn Stockett, to discuss The Calamity Club, her bold, big-hearted new novel about a group of unbreakable women, fighting for what’s rightfully theirs—and the power of friendship to change everything.
You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.
Coming Up on The Friends & Fiction Show
All shows can be watched on Facebook & YouTube each Wednesday evening at 7pm ET, and listened to on our podcast each Friday, all year long.
Already aired: Joshilyn Jackson, Missing Sister
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lucy Score, Mistakes Were Made
WATCH | LISTEN
SPRING 2026 SCHEDULE:
Already aired: Virginia Evans, The Correspondent & Allen Levi, Theo of Golden
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Evelyn Clarke, The Ending Writes Itself
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Tana French, The Keeper
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lynn Cullen, When We Were Brilliant & Priya Parmar, The Original
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kristy Woodson Harvey, Summer State of Mind
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Christina Baker Kline, The Foursome
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kathryn Stockett, The Calamity Club
WATCH | LISTEN
Mary Kay Andrews, Road Trip
Watch LIVE: 5/27 | Listen: 5/29
Annabel Monaghan, Dolly All the Time
Watch: 6/3 | Listen: 6/5
Ann Patchett, Whistler
Watch: 6/10 | Listen: 6/12
Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
Watch: 6/17 | Listen: 6/19
Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
Watch: 6/24 | Listen: 6/26
F&F 2026 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
The 2026 FRIENDS AND FICTION Subscription Box is available for purchase now, exclusively from our friends at Oxford Exchange.
This subscription includes three separate shipments:
1. MAY 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s forthcoming book SUMMER STATE OF MIND!
2. JUNE 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews!
3. AUGUST 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of MEET ME IN PARIS by Kristin Harmel!
Get your subscription NOW from Oxford Exchange!
F&F Merch Store
We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We also have other items like wine tumblers, reading journals, and our original white v-neck logo tees available through Oxford Exchange.
We’ve added TWO NEW COLORS for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts. We now have them in a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books out in May, June & July! Get yours now and dress to match the books when you come out to Kristy, MKA & Kristin’s tour events!
F&F Official Book Club & 2025 Reading Challenge
Join Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison for monthly book club picks and live online author chats on the Facebook page for the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa, where they’ve amassed nearly 40,000 of their own members. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram and subscribe to their YouTube channel where you can catch past discussions, including their most recent chat with Wade Rouse about his new novel, That’s What Friends Are For. Mark your calendars for June 15th for their next author guest, Kristy Woodson Harvey, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Summer State of Mind. The Book Club is also hosting the 2026 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The April prompt is to read a book recommended by a favorite librarian and for May it’s to read a book about a female detective.
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