Meet Ben Reeves TONIGHT!
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—July 15, 2026
Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!
Join us Wednesday, July 15th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome debut novelist Ben Reeves to discuss his super buzzy new book, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, an astonishing, deeply moving story about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.
When Ben Reeves is not writing, he paints, makes music, and works as a web designer for a book printing company in Peterborough, UK. An early draft of Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt won the international 2024 Bath Novel Award. Perfect for fans of Fredrik Backman and Virginia Evans, the book has been named a Most Anticipated Book of the Summer by People, BuzzFeed, and Goodreads. We are excited to talk to Ben about the book that NYT-bestselling author Graeme Simsion (The Rosie Project) calls “one of the most original, riveting, and moving books I’ve read in a long while.
Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 7/15 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 7/17.
Meanwhile, order Ben’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!
KRISTIN HARMEL is doing a short writing retreat with three writer friends she’s written with nearly every summer for the last fifteen years: Wendy Toliver, Allison Van Diepen and Emily Wing Smith (all of whom are young adult writers). She can’t believe she’s LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OUT from the release of Meet Me in Paris! She’ll be kicking off her book tour on Monday, July 27 with stops in Nashville, TN; Ocean Isle Beach, NC; Myrtle Beach, SC; Bethany Beach, DE; Rehoboth Beach, DE; Scottsdale, AZ; Tucson, AZ; Denver, CO; St. Louis, MO; Plainville, MA; Orlando, FL; Council Bluffs, IA; Margate City, NJ; St. Petersburg, FL; and Tampa, FL. She would love to see you on the road; find out more here.
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is so thrilled to announce her FALLING FOR PEACTHREE BLUFF Tour!! Check it out because you know it won’t be complete without YOU! She is working away on her next novel and trying to savor every square inch of summer. It is going way too fast! She is so excited that John Searles will be joining her tomorrow in Atlantic Beach for a fun event, and, it is also her favorite week of the year… Her birthday! (If you want to help her celebrate, she loves reviews of SUMMER STATE OF MIND on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you review your books ;))
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is so excited for you to see this week’s show with Ben Reeves and his beautiful debut, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. This week, Patti was reminded again of the power of community and family as she attended two funerals for people she loved. Some weeks are full to overflowing with fun and adventure and others are a reminder of the fragility of life and how much our love matters to each other. Now she is off to her nephew’s wedding and then to visit her daughter and grandbabies for nearly two weeks. A slew of photos incoming! Did you see that Kristy and Patti announced the new Friends and Fiction Subscription box?
MARY KAY ANDREWS had a blast doing three events with old pal John Searles this week. She’ll be at Poe & Company Bookstore in Milton, GA on Thursday for their Crabapple Summer Stroll at 5pm (deets HERE). And she’ll be the author du jour next Monday July 20th with the Friends & Fiction Book Club (join us HERE).
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
Kristin is touring in July/August for her forthcoming book, Meet Me in Paris. Stay tuned to her events page HERE.
See MKA’s remaining Road Trip tour dates HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristy’s upcoming events 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, Mary Kay Andrews & Patti Callahan Henry welcomed NYT-bestselling author John Searles to discuss his infectious and utterly charming new novel, Single Girls, which is a fictionalization of the iconic Helen Gurley Brown’s early years at the helm of Cosmopolitan, and the intrepid group of women she took under her wing to create one of the most talked about magazines of all time.
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: Kathryn Stockett, The Calamity Club
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Mary Kay Andrews, Road Trip
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Annabel Monaghan, Dolly All the Time
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Ann Patchett, Whistler
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: John Searles, Single Girls
WATCH | LISTEN
Ben Reeves, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
Watch: July 15 | Listen: July 17
Kristin Harmel, Meet Me in Paris
Watch LIVE: July 22 | Listen: July 24
Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist
Watch: August 5 | Listen: August 7
Christina Lauren, The Romance Revival
Watch: August 12 | Listen: August 14
Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
Watch LIVE: August 19 | Listen: August 21
Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
Watch LIVE: September 9 | Listen: September 11
Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
Watch: September 16 | Listen: September 18
Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
Watch: September 23 | Listen: September 25
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 Kristy Woodson Harvey about her new novel, Summer State of Mind. Mark your calendars for July 20th for their next author guest, Mary Kay Andrews, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Road Trip. 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.
Stay in Touch!
Subscribe to our PODCAST.
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Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.
