Join us LIVE with Janie Chang & Kate Quinn TONIGHT!Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—February 4, 2026
Tune LIVE in at 7pm ET for TONIGHT’s episode! Join us Wednesday, February 4th 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 Authors, the bestselling Janie Chang to discuss her haunting Gothic novel set in 1911 China, The Fourth Princess, and the NYT-bestselling Kate Quinn to discuss her gorgeously written fantastical adventure, The Astral Library. These are our TWO February 2026 Picks of the Month in one fabulous double whammy episode!
Janie Chang is a Globe and Mail bestselling author of historical fiction that often draws from her family history and ancestral stories. She is the author of Three Souls, Dragon Springs Road, The Library of Legends, and The Porcelain Moon; and co-author of the USA Today bestseller The Phoenix Crown, with Kate Quinn. We are excited to hear about The Fourth Princess in which two young women living in a crumbling, once-grand Shanghai mansion face danger as secrets of their pasts come to light. Kate Quinn is a New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. A lifelong history buff, she wrote four novels in her Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. We are looking forward to discussing Kate’s first foray into magic realism, The Astral Library, which poses the question: have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Watch the LIVE video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 2/4 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 2/6. Order Janie’s new book & Kate’s new book on Bookshop.org! Latest News from the Fab Four!
MARY KAY ANDREWS was only a teensy bit jealous of all the snow other parts of the South got and Atlanta dodged. She spent the weekend baking bread (again) and sitting by the fire in her living room, sipping wine and pretending summer is here by reading Kristy’s adorable Amazon short story LEAVE IT UP TO LOVE. She’s looking forward to a fun Galentine’s Day event this Saturday with the Friends & Fiction Official Book Club and her author pal Lynn Cullen at Poe and Company Books in Milton, Ga. Go here for info and tix. KRISTIN HARMEL spent the weekend celebrating her son Noah’s 10th birthday at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, where (despite temperatures that dipped into the twenties overnight and in the mornings), they still got to see lots of zebras and antelope roaming around the savanna. She can’t wait to read Kristy’s short story, LEAVE IT UP TO LOVE, this week! KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is so thrilled to announce that her new short story with Amazon, LEAVE IT UP TO LOVE, is an Amazon First Reads Selection. Hooray! For more information, check it out here! It was looking like she might have to miss the show this evening for her son’s last middle school basketball game (and team dinner) against the school’s big rival…but thanks to the massive, historic snowfall in Beaufort, the game has been postponed and Kristy will be on the show! Her hubby has a big birthday too, so between that and the last middle school basketball season, there’s lots of celebrating in the Harvey house! PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY has no real idea what happened to last week. It flew away with the freezing cold weather. Patti bundled up at home but braved the roads to Murfreesboro, TN for a library event, driving through a landscape that looked like Elsa from Frozen had come through on her run from the castle. She is so thrilled to cuddle up by the fire and read LEAVE IT UP TO LOVE –Kristy’s Amazon First Reads Selection. She is prepping for book tour in less than a month and so excited about tonight’s show with Janie and Kate! 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. Oct 19-26, Patti’s Literary Tour of the Lowcountry—Join Patti for a Literary Tour of the Lowcountry this fall! This fabulous, immersive, small-group trip through Savannah & Charleston will take place October 19-26, 2026. We will tour all the key places in Patti’s novels, especially those in Surviving Savannah, including the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum together with a shipwreck hunter with actual treasure recovered from the Pulaski. Details and registration can be found HERE.
Want to know what our F&F Live events are all about? Watch this video compilation!  In Case You Missed It
On our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, the full F&F family gathered to welcome our January 2026 F&F Featured Author, the NYT-bestselling Paula McLain, to discuss our Pick of the Month, her new mesmerizing tale of Paris above and below, Skylark, in which a woman’s quest for artistic freedom in 1664 intertwines with a doctor’s dangerous mission during the German occupation in the 1940s, revealing a story of courage and resistance that transcends time. 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: Brad Meltzer, The Viper Already aired: Jayne Ann Krentz, The Shop on Hidden Lane Already aired: Jesse Q. Sutanto, Read Between the Lies Already aired: Paula McLain, Skylark Janie Chang, The Fourth Princess & Kate Quinn, The Astral Library Omid Scobie & Robin Benway, Royal Spin Terah Shelton Harris, Where the Wildflowers Grow Joshilyn Jackson, Missing Sister Lucy Score, Mistakes Were Made Virginia Evans, The Correspondent & Allen Levi, Theo of Golden F&F 2026 Subscription Box with Oxford Exchange
The 2026 FRIENDS AND FICTION Subscription Box is available for purchase now, exclusively from our friends at Oxford Exchange. This subscription includes three separate shipments: 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 (hot pink & turquoise!) 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 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 Rebecca Armitage about her debut novel, the December Reese's Book Club Pick, The Heir Apparent. Mark your calendars for February 23rd for their next author guest, Vanessa Riley, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Fire Sword and Sea. 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 February prompt is to read a BIPOC Goodreads nominee or award winner and for March it’s to read a book from an indie or small press. Stay in Touch!Subscribe to our PODCAST. Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.
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