Friends & Fiction Episodes

Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham

This episode is a re-airing of 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.

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Karin Slaughter

On this episode, the full F&F family gathers 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! Karin is the #1 NYT-bestselling author of more than 25 novels, including the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and standalone novels Pretty Girls and False Witness. An international bestseller, Slaughter is published in 120 countries with more than 40-million copies sold across the globe. Pieces of Her, based on her novel, debuted at #1 worldwide on Netflix as an original series in 2022. Her bestselling Will Trent series is now a television and streaming sensation in its 4th season. Karin joins us to give an update on all her projects currently in development for film/TV, her work with Save the Libraries, and, of course, her pulse-pounding new thriller, The Secrets We Hide, about which Booklist said this in a starred review: “themes of motherhood, betrayal, and redemption are tied up in the final twist in Slaughter’s gripping portrait of a painfully human small town.”

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Christina Lauren

On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Kristin Harmel welcome New York Times bestselling author duo Christina Lauren to discuss their brand-new instant NYT-bestseller The Romance Revival, in which a fateful accident erases a troubled marriage from memory and a scientific breakthrough gives love one extraordinary do-over. Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 internationally bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series plus more than 20 other novels including The Unhoneymooners and The Paradise Problem. They join us to discuss The Romance Revival, their delightful new twist on second-chance romance which Ali Hazelwood calls, “unexpected, ridiculously charming, and romantic enough to short-circuit my last brain cell.”

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Jo Piazza

On this episode, Kristin Harmel & Ron Block welcome bestselling author, podcast creator, and award-winning journalist Jo Piazza to discuss her new novel, The Parisian Heist, a propulsive dual-timeline mystery drenched in art-world intrigue and brimming with family secrets, betrayal, and the intoxicating lure of power. Jo is the internationally bestselling author of thirteen books, including Everyone Is Lying to You, The Sicilian Inheritance, and the Good Morning America Book Club pick We Are Not Like Them co-written with Christine Pride. She’s also the host of the critically acclaimed Under the Influence podcast. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She joins us to discuss her new suspense novel, The Parisian Heist, about an all-female art heist at Paris’s Musée d’Orsay, the legacy of Vincent van Gogh, and two daring women generations apart who refuse to be written out of history no matter the cost. Kristin Harmel calls the book “absolutely riveting and delicious,” Fiona Davis says it “has everything I’ve ever wanted in a novel,” and Kate Quinn says it’s “twisty, satisfying, and atmospheric.”

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Natalie Messier, Kyleigh Leddy & Chloe Liese

On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Kristin Harmel chat with three three of their Gallery Books pub house sisters all with new contemporary summer romance novels out. Released on July 7th, Natalie Messier’s debut novel Every Version of You is for fans of The Love of My Afterlife and The Seven Year Slip. This heartfelt contemporary romance follows a woman who gets a second chance at a formative time in her adult life—this time to win the “one that got away.” Natalie is a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow and Los Angeles-based screenwriter. Released on June 23rd, Kyleigh Leddy’s debut novel, Worse Than Strangers, is for fans of Jane Austen, Elin Hilderbrand, and Gilmore Girls. This beachy retelling of Austen’s Persuasion set in a modern-day Nantucket cottage is about finding romance, second chances, and a new path in life. Kyleigh penned the memoir, The Perfect Other, based on her NYT Modern Love essay, “Years Ago, My Sister Vanished. I See Her Whenever I Want.” Released on April 14th, USA Today bestselling author Chloe Liese’s Happy Ending is a clever and heartwarming rom-com perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Annabel Monaghan about two best friends who must fake a relationship for their exes. Chloe believes that everyone deserves a love story and is the author of two romantic family sagas, the Bergman Brothers and Wilmot Sisters.

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Kristin Harmel

On this episode, the full F&F family gathers to celebrate the launch of our very own NYT-bestselling author Kristin Harmel’s captivating new novel, Meet Me In Paris about several intertwined stories of love, loss, courage, and redemption set over the course of one magical week in Paris, which is, of course, our July Pick of the Month! One of F&F’s co-founders and co-hosts, Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, The Paris Daughter, The Forest of Vanishing Stars, and The Book of Lost Names. She is published in more than thirty languages. She joins us before heading out on book tour to chat about her new contemporary novel, Meet Me In Paris, which is described as Love Actually meets The Notebook. We can’t wait to celebrate this tale of love, loss, and finding your way home set during one life-changing week in Paris in grand F&F style complete with musical performances and a signature cocktail!

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Ben Reeves

On this episode, 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.

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John Searles

On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Patti Callahan Henry welcome 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. John is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of four atmospheric thrillers including Strange But True which was adapted as a major motion picture starring Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Brian Cox, Blythe Danner, and Margaret Qualley. He appears regularly on the Today show to discuss his favorite book selections and has written for The New York Times, Oprah Daily, and The Washington Post. He spent more than two decades as a top editor at Cosmopolitan. He joins us to chat about Single Girls which has been named a Best Book of Summer by Oprah Daily, Harper’s Bazaar, and The Boston Globe, and been praised as “an irresistibly fun, sparkling novel that you’ll want to binge in one night” by Kevin Kwan, and “a poignant and rollicking good time” by Wally Lamb.

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Lisa Jewell

On this episode, Ron Block & Mary Kay Andrews welcome #1 NYT-bestselling author Lisa Jewell to discuss her “deliciously dark, devilishly addictive” (Alice Feeney) new novel It Could Have Been Her, in which two women’s lives converge in a house containing devastating secrets that refuse to stay buried. Lisa is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels, including Don’t Let Him In, None of This Is True, The Family Upstairs, and Then She Was Gone. Her novels have sold more than 15-million copies internationally, and her work has been translated into more than 30 languages. She joins us from her home in London before embarking on her US tour to chat about her new psychological thriller, It Could Have Been Her, which Riley Sager calls “twisty, twisted and oh so dark,” and Publishers Weekly calls a “pitch-black spine-tingler.”

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