Join us LIVE with Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham TONIGHT!Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—September 10, 2025
Tune in LIVE at 7pm ET for TONIGHT’s episode! Join us Wednesday, September 10th LIVE at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as the full F&F family gathers to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, #1 NYT-bestselling novelist Elin Hilderbrand along with her daughter Shelby Cunningham, to discuss our September 2025 Pick of the Month, their irresistible new co-written novel, The Academy, the deliciously scandalous story of one drama-filled year at a New England boarding school.
Elin is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Iowa Writers Workshop. The Academy is her 31st novel, and the first co-written with her daughter. Elin is the co-host of the podcast Books, Beach and Beyond with @TimTalksBooks creator, Tim Ehrenberg. Last year’s TV adaptation of her novel The Perfect Couple, premiered in Netflix's #1 slot with more than 20-million views in its first four days becoming the most-watched original streaming series in the US for several weeks running. Shelby Cunningham was born and raised on Nantucket Island. A 2024 graduate of Rhode Island’s St. George's School, she is presently a student at the University of Miami. This dynamic mother-daughter duo joins us to discuss their fresh, buzzy take on boarding school life which represents a thrilling new direction from one of America's most satisfying and popular storytellers. Watch the LIVE video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 9/10 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 9/12. Order Elin & Shelby’s book 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!
MARY KAY ANDREWS is racing toward the end of her work in progress, fueled by peanut M&Ms, fridge cigs (cold Diet Coke) and deadline-induced adrenalin. Be sure to tune in for tonight’s live show to get a look at the cover for next summer’s book! KRISTIN HARMEL took a spontaneous (planned and booked only six days in advance!) trip to Paris at the end of last week, to fill in some research blanks in her upcoming novel, MEET ME IN PARIS, which will be out in August 2026! She flew out Thursday afternoon, landed in Paris on Friday morning, and spent just over 24 hours in the city before her nine-and-a-half-hour flight back to Orlando! She’s still recovering from the jet lag, but it was an incredible trip, complete with nearly 12 miles of walking Paris’s streets on Friday (armed with a very specific list of places to visit for research!), a picnic at the Eiffel Tower, a one-hour photo shoot for new author photos, a dinner-with-a-view just across the river from the Eiffel Tower, plenty of croissants, cheese and wine, and even a bit of shopping at the airport on the way home! She’ll be posting photos of her travels closer to the book’s release next year; she made a point to take pictures of many of the key locations in the novel! KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY spent all weekend reflecting on what was one of the best summers she has had! She has been reading Elin’s new book, THE ACADEMY and she is LOVING it! Although she says that every year! She had such an amazing summer celebrating BEACH HOUSE RULES but she is now turning her sights on finishing her 2026 novel. Kristy will be in Savannah Georgia on October 14th and the Savannah Book Festival interviewing Nicholas Sparks on his upcoming release! PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is relieved at the hint of autumn in the air. This weekend she was back at her alma mater for the first home game of the season at Auburn University, and this is always the harbinger of fall. She sent out a newsletter last week with some of her favorite reads, watches and listens. You can check that out HERE. She was also thrilled to have her book, Surviving Savannah included in the TOP TEN historical fiction novels set at sea in Woman’s World Magazine. 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
See Kristin’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 last week’s episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, Kristin Harmel & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcomed NYT-bestselling author Sarah McCoy to discuss her spellbinding new novel, Whatever Happened To Lori Lovely?, which is based on the true story of a beautiful young movie star of Hollywood’s Golden Age who gives up her bright career to become a nun. 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: F&F June Pick of the Month—Kristin Harmel, The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau Already aired: Julie Clark, The Ghostwriter Already aired: Jess Walter, So Far Gone Already aired: Fourth of July “Best-of” Kristin Hannah, The Women Already aired: Meg Waite Clayton, Typewriter Beach Already aired: Adriana Trigiani, The View from Lake Como Already aired: LIVE! July Pick of the Month: Lisa Scottoline, The Unraveling of Julia Already aired: Susan Wiggs, Wayward Girls Already aired: Celebrating Debuts! Morgan Pager, The Art of Vanishing & Laura Dickerman, Hot Desk Already aired: Victoria Benton Frank, The Violet Hour Already aired: LIVE! August Pick of the Month: Francesca Serritella, Full Bloom Already aired: Christina Baker Kline & Anne Burt, Please Don't Lie Already aired: Sarah McCoy, Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely? LIVE! September Pick of the Month: Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham, The Academy Hank Phillippi Ryan, All This Could Be Yours Jane Hamilton, The Phoebe Variations Stay tuned for the reveal of our Fall Season (Oct–Dec) guest lineup, coming soon! F&F 2025 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
The 2025 FRIENDS AND FICTION Subscription Box is available for purchase now, exclusively from our friends at Oxford Exchange. This subscription includes three separate shipments: *Optional add-on: A paperback, signed, first edition of SUMMERS AT THE SAINT by Mary Kay Andrews (released in paperback June 3)! 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. Tees in New Colors!We’ve added two fun, new colors to our Bonfire merch store in our signature Name List apparel line. 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 more than 38,000 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 Eliza Knight about her novel, Confessions of a Grammar Queen. Mark your calendars for September 15th for their next author guest, Regina Black, when they’ll discuss her new novel, August Lane. The Book Club is also hosting the 2025 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 an author’s sophomore book and for September it’s to read a book that’s been on your TBR list for over a year. Stay in Touch!Subscribe to our PODCAST. Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.
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