Best-Of Re-Airing with Elin Hilderbrand
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—August 26, 2026
Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!
On Wednesday, August 26th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel we will re-air one of our favorite episodes from the vault! Join us as Kristy, Kristin & Mary Kay talk to #1 NYT-bestselling novelist Elin Hilderbrand along with her daughter Shelby Cunningham, to discuss their 2025 bestselling co-written novel, The Academy, the deliciously scandalous story of one drama-filled year at a New England boarding school.
Now is the perfect time to re-air this episode as Elin & Shelby’s eagerly anticipated follow-up, The Thoroughbreds, is set to release on September 15th. Class will soon be back in session for senior year at Tiffin Academy promising loads of high-stakes drama, tension, and intrigue—and the big reveal of what was in Cinnamon’s email. Tune in for this fun chat with this dynamic mother-daughter author duo—now with a brand-new intro from Kristy Woodson Harvey—as we discuss Elin & Shelby’s fresh, buzzy take on boarding school life which took one of America’s most satisfying and popular storytellers in a thrilling new direction.
Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 8/26 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 8/28.
Order The Academy and The Thoroughbreds on Bookshop.org! Shop all of our guests’ & hosts’ books 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!
Ask Us Anything—Next Week!
Next week we are running an “Ask Me Anything” episode with the Fab Four. What have you been dying to ask them? Here’s your chance to submit questions! It could be about the show, guests, processes, plans for the future, merch, Substack...or it could be specific to one of our hosts, their books, their craft, touring, etc.
Submit your questions via THIS FORM.
Deadline to submit is TODAY (Wed 8/26) by 5pm Eastern. We will record a Q&A session and air it next Wed 9/2 in place of a regular episode of the show.
Including your name is not required. You can submit anonymously. But if you include your name, we'll be sure to credit you on-air.
Please participate if anything jumps to mind.
Upcoming Events
Kristy is about to go on tour for Falling for Peachtree Bluff! See all of her upcoming tour dates HERE.
See Kristin’s upcoming events HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See MKA’s upcoming events HERE.
In Case You Missed It
On our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, the full F&F family gathered to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, the #1 New York Times bestseller Karin Slaughter to discuss The Secrets We Hide, the next thrilling mystery in her new North Falls series featuring Sheriff Emmy Clifton, which is our August 2026 Pick of the Month!
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
Already aired: Ben Reeves, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kristin Harmel, Meet Me in Paris
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Christina Lauren, The Romance Revival
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
WATCH | LISTEN
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
The NEW 2026-27 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange!
Have you heard about the NEW 2026-27 F&F Subscription Box? It features Kristy’s Falling For Peachtree Bluff, out 9/15, and Patti’s Heart of the Wild, out in April 2027. You’ll also receive an adorable Friends & Fiction keychain and Friends & Fiction bookplates, so all the books you lend out are sure to make their way back to you! Those goodies are available ONLY in this subscription box. So, visit Oxford Exchange to get yours while supplies last!
F&F Merch Store
We have a Friends & Fiction merch store with t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and a book bag on Bonfire. We recently added a couple new colors for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts—a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books that were just released in May, June & July of this year! Get yours now!
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 Kristin Harmel about her new novel, Meet Me In Paris. Mark your calendars for September 28th for their next author guests, Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt, when they’ll discuss their new novel, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman. 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 August prompt is to read a book inspired by a childhood favorite and for September it’s to read a book that takes place over a week.
Stay in Touch!
Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
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.
