Meet Natalie Messier, Kyleigh Leddy & Chloe Liese TONIGHT
Weekly News from Friends & Fiction—July 29, 2026
Tune in at 7pm ET tonight for this week’s episode!
Join us on Wednesday, July 29th at 7pm Eastern on the F&F Facebook page and YouTube channel as Kristy Woodson Harvey & Kristin Harmel chat with three novelists all with new contemporary summer romance novels out — Natalie Messier with her debut, Every Version of You, Kyleigh Leddy with her debut, Worse Than Strangers, and USA Today bestselling author Chloe Liese with Happy Ending.
This week Kristy & Kristin sit down with three of their Gallery Books pub house sisters to hear all about their new novels.
Released on July 7th, Natalie’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’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, Chloe’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.
Watch the video broadcast of this interview as it airs on Wed 7/29 at 7pm ET on the F&F Facebook group page & YouTube channel. Catch the audio version on our podcast Fri 7/31.
Meanwhile, order Natalie’s, Kyleigh’s & Chloe’s new books—along with all of our guests’ and hosts’ books—at a discount in our F&F Shop 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!
KRISTIN HARMEL is so happy to have already seen so many Friends & Fiction friends on the road! She kicked off her book tour for MEET ME IN PARIS on Monday with a sold-out crowd at Parnassus Books in Nashville, followed by a sold-out event last night at Silver Coast Winery in Ocean Isle Beach, NC, in conversation with Friends & Fiction pal Dallas Strawn (with Pelican Bookstore)! She’s at 21 Main in Myrtle Beach this morning, with Litchfield Books, then it’s on to the Delaware Shore, Scottsdale, Tucson, Denver, St. Louis, Plainville (MA), Orlando, and more! She hopes to see you on the road!
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY can’t believe it, but she is gearing up for her FALLING FOR PEACHTREE BLUFF tour! She has more dates being announced, but check it out and see if she’s going to be in a town near you! And, she can’t believe it, but there are fewer than FIFTY preorder freebies left to claim! If you want in on Kristy’s three-month Peachtree Bluff-themed mailing list, don’t wait! Fill out your form here. Most of all, she will be re-reading MEET ME IN PARIS–one of her favorite books of 2026 by far!--macarons and champagne in hand! Go see Kristin on tour. She’s the BEST!
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY has been visiting her daughter for a week now and is headed home today! This is what she’s been up to: building sandcastles, playing Uno, reading Country People by Daniel Mason, snuggling a baby, laughing at the antics of little grands, swimming in the ocean, and more….But now she is back at the desk and preparing SO MANY cool things for the publication of Heart of the Wild!. And of course she wants to say HAPPY PUB WEEK TO KRISTIN for MEET ME IN PARIS!
MARY KAY ANDREWS enjoyed back-to-back events in Atlanta last weekend–and of course, toasting the launch of Kristin Harmel’s MEET ME IN PARIS. Now she’s off to North Carolina for two college visits with her granddaughter Molly, who, unbelievably, will be a high school senior this year. Then it’s back home and back to work on her next novel in progress.
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
Kristin is touring now for Meet Me in Paris. See her full tour HERE.
See MKA’s remaining Road Trip tour dates HERE.
See Patti’s upcoming events HERE.
See Kristy’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 our most recent new episode of The Friends & Fiction Show, the full F&F family gathered 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!
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: Kathryn Stockett, The Calamity Club
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Mary Kay Andrews, Road Trip
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Annabel Monaghan, Dolly All the Time
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Ann Patchett, Whistler
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lisa See, Daughters of the Sun and Moon
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Lisa Jewell, It Could Have Been Her
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: John Searles, Single Girls
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Ben Reeves, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
WATCH | LISTEN
Already aired: Kristin Harmel, Meet Me in Paris
WATCH | LISTEN
Jo Piazza, The Parisian Heist
Watch: August 5 | Listen: August 7
Christina Lauren, The Romance Revival
Watch: August 12 | Listen: August 14
Karin Slaughter, The Secrets We Hide
Watch LIVE: August 19 | Listen: August 21
Kristy Woodson Harvey, Falling for Peachtree Bluff
Watch LIVE: September 9 | Listen: September 11
Chloe Benjamin, Under Story
Watch: September 16 | Listen: September 18
Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen
Watch: September 23 | Listen: September 25
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:
1. MAY 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s forthcoming book SUMMER STATE OF MIND!
2. JUNE 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews!
3. AUGUST 2026: A hardcover, signed, first edition of MEET ME IN PARIS by Kristin Harmel!
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.
We’ve added TWO NEW COLORS for our fan favorite name list tee-shirts. We now have them in a heathery hunter green and a kelly green—both of which match perfectly with the three new Fab Four books out in May, June & July! Get yours now and dress to match the books when you come out to Kristy, MKA & Kristin’s tour events!
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 Mary Kay Andrews about her new novel, Road Trip. Mark your calendars for August 17th for their next author guest, Kristin Harmel, when they’ll discuss her new novel, Meet Me In Paris. 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 April prompt is to read a book recommended by a favorite librarian and for May it’s to read a book about a female detective.
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