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Friends & Fiction

Join us for a Seven Author Beach Party TONIGHT!

Join us for a Seven Author Beach Party TONIGHT!

Friends & Fiction: Episode 271 – Kritina McMorris

On this episode, Kristin Harmel & Patti Callahan Henry welcome New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris to discuss her latest work of historical fiction, THE GIRLS OF GOOD FORTUNE, which shines a light on shocking events surrounding Portland’s dark history. Kristina is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of two novellas and seven historical novels, including the million-copy bestseller SOLD ON A MONDAY. The recipient of more than twenty national literary awards, she previously hosted weekly TV shows for Warner Bros. and an ABC affiliate, beginning at age nine with an Emmy Award-winning program. Kristina joins us from her home near Portland, Oregon, to discuss THE GIRLS OF GOOD FORTUNE (Sourcebooks, May 20), a gripping novel of love, lore, and betrayal which has been called a “page-turning, propulsive read,” by Fiona Davis and “a captivating blend of intrigue and heart,” by Jean Kwok.

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Meet Kristina McMorris TONIGHT!

Meet Kristina McMorris TONIGHT!

Friends & Fiction: Episode 270 – Kristy Woodson Harvey

On this episode, the Fab Four gather to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Kristy Woodson Harvey, to discuss her delightfully moving new novel, our May 2025 Pick of the Month, Beach House Rules, about a mother-daughter duo learning to lean on their community of women—and each other—after their world is turned upside down. Kristy is the NYT-bestselling author of a dozen novels, including The Wedding Veil, Under the Southern Sky, and The Peachtree Bluff series. A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism, her writing has appeared in Southern Living, Traditional Home, USA TODAY, Domino, and O. Henry. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize and she blogs with her mom, Beth Woodson, on Design Chic. She joins us from her home in coastal North Carolina before heading out on a massive tour to support Beach House Rules, which Booklist, in a starred review, calls, “charming and beachy in the best way.” These LIVE launch episodes are always a blast and you do not want to miss this!

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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Watch our LIVE show with Kristy Woodson Harvey TONIGHT!

Watch our LIVE show with Kristy Woodson Harvey TONIGHT!

Friends & Fiction: Episode 269 – Ruth Reichl

On this episode, Ron Block & Kristin Harmel welcome New York Times bestselling author and award-winning food editor and restaurant critic Ruth Reichl to discuss her book THE PARIS NOVEL, which was an instant bestseller that met with rave reviews in hardcover last year and was recently released in trade paperback. Ruth is the NYT-bestselling author of five memoirs (including SAVE ME THE PLUMS), the novel DELICIOUS!, and the cookbook MY KITCHEN YEAR. A former restaurant critic for both The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times and Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet Magazine, Ruth has been honored with six James Beard Awards and the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award. An adventure through the food, art, and fashion scenes of 1980s Paris, Ruth’s THE PARIS NOVEL was called “mouthwatering” by the New York Times, “an enchanting and irresistible feast” by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, and named a Best Book of the Year by Saveur and Food & Wine. Our resident cookbook reviewer and James Beard judge, Ron Block, and our very own Paris expert, Kristin Harmel, are so excited to talk to Ruth all about this irresistible novel that we devoured when it came out in hardcover last year.

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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Meet Ruth Reichl TONIGHT!

Meet Ruth Reichl TONIGHT!

Friends & Fiction: Episode 268 – Mary Alice Monroe

On this episode, the full Fab Four—Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry — welcome New York Times bestselling author (and one of the original five founders of Friends & Fiction!), Mary Alice Monroe, to discuss her highly anticipated new book, WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE, the first of two epic and triumphant novels celebrating one intrepid woman’s life across multiple generations in the American South. Mary Alice is the NYT-bestselling author of 27 books, including THE SUMMER OF LOST AND FOUND, the 2021 installment in her beloved BEACH HOUSE series. Nearly 8-million copies of her books have been published worldwide and she has earned numerous accolades and awards including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame, the International Book Award for Green Fiction, and the prestigious Southern Book Prize for Fiction. An active conservationist, Mary Alice has championed the fragility of the earth’s wild habitat and the coastal southern landscape in her work and does hands-on volunteering with animals, including as a proud 20-year state-certified member of the Island Turtle Team. We are so excited to get the band back together and chat with Mary Alice all about WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE which has gotten starred reviews from both Booklist and Library Journal and which Lisa Wingate calls, “book club fiction at its finest!”

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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Meet Mary Alice Monroe TONIGHT!

Meet Mary Alice Monroe TONIGHT!

Friends & Fiction: Episode 267 – Carley Fortune

On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune to discuss ONE GOLDEN SUMMER, a radiant, new escape to the lake which has already been named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by TODAY, E! News, Buzzfeed, Us Weekly, and The New York Post. Carley is the #1 NYT and Globe and Mail bestselling author of four novels including THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT and MEET ME AT THE LAKE. Her books have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 30 languages in over 50 territories. An award-winning journalist, Carley has worked as an editor at some of Canada’s top publications, including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and Toronto Life, and oversaw the launch of Refinery29 Canada. Carley spent much of her youth in the tiny lakeside rural Ontario town of Barry’s Bay which inspired the setting for several of her novels. She joins us from her home in Toronto to discuss ONE GOLDEN SUMMER (May 6, Berkley) which centers Charlie Florek, a beloved character from Carley’s debut novel EVERY SUMMER AFTER. Abby Jimenez says this new book “was everything I wanted for Charlie and more! Alice and Charlie’s chemistry is an absolute bonfire, the banter is perfection, and Nan is a treasure.” We can’t wait to talk to Carley all about it!

Make sure to join us every Wednesday night at 7pm EST on Facebook and YouTube for our latest episode!

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