Join us Wednesday, February 21st LIVE at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as all four of F&F’s hosts and founders welcome this week’s guest, our Featured Author of the Month, Tia Williams, to hear all about her new book, our F&F Pick for February, A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE, an enchanting love story featuring a free-spirited florist and an enigmatic musician who are irreversibly linked through the history, art, and magic of Harlem.
Tia Williams has been called “a writer’s writer with a fashionista twist” by NBC News. She began her career as a beauty editor (Elle, Glamour, Essence) and, in 2003, pioneered beauty blogging with her site, Shake Your Beauty. She’s the author of The Accidental Diva, the It Chicks series, and The Perfect Find, which was adapted as a Netflix film starring Gabrielle Union. Her most recent novel, Seven Days in June, was an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and a Reese’s Book Club pick, with a TV series adaptation in development. We can’t wait to chat with Tia about her latest novel, A LOVE SONG FOR RICKI WILDE, praised for its “dazzling prose” by The New York Times, and predicted as “one of your most memorable reads of 2024” by People.
Watch the LIVE video broadcast of this interview Wed 2/21 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast this Fri 2/23.
Buy Tia’s book on Bookshop.org!
Shop all of our guests’ & hosts’ books in our F&F Shop on Bookshop.org!
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for a detailed Q&A with Tia which includes her favorite indies, the writer who most inspired her work, a writing tip, book recommendation, and other fun stuff not covered on the show!
MARY KAY ANDREWS spent the week on Tybee Island, giving The Breeze Inn a much-needed freshening up. She finally snuck away to Savannah to dip in and out of the Savannah Book Festival, hearing Ruth Ware’s opening night keynote and grabbing dinner with F&F Book Club’s Lisa Harrison afterwards, drinks on Friday with Steven Rowley (can’t wait for his upcoming The Guncle Abroad), and snagging a front row seat at Grady Hendrix’s side-splitting comedy act, along with Patti and at least a dozen F&F book club members.
What MKA is reading and why she’s loving it: After Annie by Anna Quindlen, a touching novel about love, loss, family ties, and the enduring power of friendship by one of MKA’s all-time favorite writers—whether she’s writing fiction or non-fiction.
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY has some new exciting news, she recently signed a new book deal with Gallery Books for her 2025 release titled, FORCED FAMILY FUN. This story is about a mommune in North Carolina and she is so excited to share more about this with you as we get closer to 2025.
What Kristy is reading and why she’s loving it: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams. We are interviewing Tia this week on Friends and Fiction and this book is magical, and completely absorbing, you will not want to miss it.
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY spent her anniversary week in South Carolina with her husband and youngest son, and then she spent Saturday at the Savannah Book Festival where she was able to hug and hobnob with our favorite people – the Friends & Fiction community and MKA! She is gearing up for The Secret Book of Flora Lea paperback tour in SIX weeks, and is thrilled at this huge news: The Secret Book of Flora Lea is the All Arkansas State Read! Patti will be traveling all over the state in July!
What Patti is reading and why she’s loving it: Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle. We are hosting Rebecca for our March 6th show, and I am loving all the fun twists and turns of this romantic, magical, and imaginative novel.
KRISTIN HARMEL is on the road this week for literary festivals in the Dallas and Birmingham areas; she hopes to see you there! She’ll be coming at you live tonight on Friends & Fiction from her hotel room in Dallas! She’s excited that the Dallas festival includes a morning assembly and a workshop with high school students; she loves talking to teens! And she’s especially thrilled to be meeting up with Patti—and fellow historical fiction writer (and F&F fave!) Kate Quinn—at the festival in Alabama.
What Kristin is reading and why she’s loving it: The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall. Coming June 4, this riveting tale of pianist in WWII Berlin and a recent divorcee in 2010 England, who has left London to restart her life, hits all the right historical fiction notes. I’m loving it!
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Thursday, Feb. 22, 6:30pm ET: Patti in a virtual event with Ontario Canada’s Barrie Public Library for their Simcoe Author Talk Series about The Secret Book of Flora Lea. Register to attend online HERE.
Thursday, Feb. 22, 7pm CT: Kristin will be the keynote speaker at the Highland Park (Texas) Literary Festival. More information here. Admission is free; if you’re in the Dallas area, Kristin hopes to see you there!
Saturday, Feb. 24, 11:30 am CT and 2pm CT: Kristin will be speaking twice (and hanging out with Patti!) at the Southern Voices festival in Hoover, Alabama. All ticketed events are sold out; more information here.
Last week on The Friends & Fiction Show, hosts Mary Kay Andrews & Kristin Harmel interviewed authors Kate Quinn & Janie Chang about their new co-written novel, THE PHOENIX CROWN, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles. Tune in to hear about the book New York Times bestselling author Jamie Ford calls “impeccably researched, magnificently rendered, and breathlessly paced.” Order Kate & Janie’s book (out now!) from the F&F Shop on Bookshop.org, where you’ll also find books by all our hosts and guests, all at a discount—and where all your purchases support our show and our beloved indie bookstores nationwide!
You can WATCH that episode on Facebook or YouTube, or LISTEN to it on our podcast.
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: 2024 Sneak Preview with the Fab Four
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: Grady Hendrix, How to Sell a Haunted House
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: F&F January Pick of the Month: Kristin Hannah, The Women
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: Abbott Kahler, Where You End
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: Jennifer Moorman, The Magic All Around
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: Amy Jo Burns, Mercury
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
Already aired: Kate Quinn & Janie Chang, The Phoenix Crown
WATCH now! | LISTEN now!
F&F February Pick of the Month: Tia Williams, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
Watch LIVE: Feb 21 | Listen: Feb 23
Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars
Watch: Feb 28 | Listen: Mar 1
Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates
Watch: Mar 6 | Listen: Mar 8
F&F March Pick of the Month: Chris Bohjalian, The Princess of Las Vegas
Watch LIVE: Mar 13 | Listen: Mar 15
Anna Quindlen, After Annie
Watch: Mar 20 | Listen: Mar 22
Allison Pataki, Finding Margaret Fuller
Watch: Mar 27 | Listen: Mar 29
The Fab Four are taking turns interviewing some additional authors in short 10-minute video segments we are calling “Behind the Book.” Check out a few recent bonus interviews that our host authors have run on the F&F YouTube channel!
NEW! Patti & Ron talk to award-winning writer, Roxana Robinson about her newest novel, Leaving. Praised by Kirkus as “a searing interrogation of honor and passion” this novel is a profound look at the risks we might take to fall in love again. Tune in for their discussion about the truth that we must always take chances, about morality and love, and about writing characters of such depth. WATCH HERE.
WATCH Patti’s interview with Frye Gaillard about A Hard Rain.
WATCH Patti & Kristy’s interview with Rachel Linden about Recipe for a Charmed Life.
WATCH Kristy & Kristin’s interview with Jeffrey Blount about Mr. Jimmy from Around the Way.
WATCH Kristin & Kristy’s interview with author Kristina McMorris & illustrator Amanda Yoshida about their new children’s book, Ellie Mae Dreams Big!
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. You can also order the F&F 2024 SUBSCRIPTION BOX through our friends at Oxford Exchange. All details HERE!
Did you catch Brenda Gardner & Lisa Harrison’s live book club discussion this past Monday, February 19th with author guest Virginia Kantra to discuss their February pick, The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale? If so, watch it (and all their past discussions!) now on the F&F Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa Facebook page or YouTube channel. Mark your calendars for Brenda & Lisa’s Happy Hour with special guest Ron Block on Thursday, February 29th at 7:30pm ET and for their next book club discussion happening on Monday, March 18th with Tia Williams about A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. You can also follow the Book Club on Instagram. With the help of Annissa Armstrong, the book club is also hosting the 2024 F&F Reading Challenge. Join them for a different category prompt each month to read outside your comfort zone. The February prompt is to read a debut novel by an author of color. And for March it is to read a book with “book club” or “bookstore” in the title.
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