Friends & Fiction

Latest Episodes:

Friends & Fiction with Marjan Kamali Aug 02, 2024

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On this episode, Kristin Harmel and Patti Callahan Henry welcome award-winning, internationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali to discuss her new book, THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN, a heartfelt, epic novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. Marjan Kamali is the author of several novels, including The Stationery Shop, a national and international bestseller, and Together Tea, a Massachusetts Book Award finalist. Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, Marjan was raised in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the U.S. The 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, her novels are published in translation in more than 25 languages, and her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She joins us to discuss her brand-new national bestseller, THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN, which is an Amazon Editors’ Pick, a Book of the Month main selection, an IndieNext pick, and an Apple Best Book of the Month.

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Friends & Fiction with Emily Giffin Jul 26, 2024

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry and Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin to discuss her new novel THE SUMMER PACT in which a group of friends, in the wake of tragedy, make a pact that will cause them to reunite a decade later and embark on a life-changing adventure together. Emily is the author of twelve internationally bestselling novels, including All We Ever Wanted, The Lies That Bind, and Meant to Be. A Chicago native, Emily is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. She practiced litigation at a large Manhattan firm for several years while dreaming of becoming a writer. When her 2004 debut novel Something Borrowed (which was adapted as the 2011 feature film starring Kate Hudson & John Krasinski) became a sensation, Emily vowed never to practice law again. With books translated into 31 languages and more than 12-million copies sold worldwide, Emily has been dubbed a “modern-day Jane Austen” by Vanity Fair and a “dependly down-to-earth storyteller” by the New York Times. She joins us to discuss her latest instant NYT-bestseller, THE SUMMER PACT, which Booklist called “a triumph” in a starred review.

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Friends & Fiction with Jamie Brenner Jul 19, 2024

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On this episode, the Fab Four gather to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, Jamie Brenner, to discuss her brand-new book, our July 2024 Pick of the Month, A NOVEL SUMMER, in which a bestselling author finds love and second chances in the stacks of a quaint beach town bookshop. Jamie Brenner is the bestselling author of eight novels including The Forever Summer and Blush. She grew up in suburban Philadelphia on a steady diet of fiction and soap operas, then moved to New York City where she worked in book publishing and fashion. After raising two daughters in Manhattan, Jamie has returned to her hometown and spends her summers visiting the beaches that inspire her novels. Her compulsively readable new book, A NOVEL SUMMER, has been praised as “a rich, satisfying and surprising summer read” by Adriana Trigiani and this “summer’s BIG book that everyone will be raving about” by Kristy Woodson Harvey.

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Friends & Fiction with Christina Dodd Jul 12, 2024

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On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Ron Block welcome NYT-bestselling author Christina Dodd to discuss her brand-new book A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, a humorous historical update on the Romeo and Juliet story which Susan Mallery has called “a tour de force,” and Kirsitin Hannah has praised as “fun, funny, charming, and absolutely delightful.” Christina Dodd is a perennially bestselling author whose suspense, paranormal, mystery, regency and contemporary romance novels have been translated into 30 languages, have sold more than 15-million copies, and have won numerous awards including the Romance Writers of America RITA and Golden Heart Awards. She joins us from her home in the Pacific Northwest to discuss her new novel, A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, which has been described as "Knives Out meets Bridgerton." This book kicks off a frothy, irreverent, witty new series with an irresistible premise—Romeo and Juliet’s daughter as a clever, rebellious, fiercely independent woman in fair Verona—told from the delightfully engaging point of view of the captivating Rosie Montague herself.

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Friends & Fiction with The Killer Author Club Jul 05, 2024

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry, Kristin Harmel & Mary Kay Andrews welcome the three bestselling authors—Heather Gudenkauf, Kimberly Belle & Kaira Rouda—who make up the Killer Author Club, a unique platform for suspense and mystery fans to hear from their favorite authors as they chat about killing—of the fictional kind, of course. Kimberly Belle is a USA Today and internationally bestselling author with over one-million copies sold worldwide whose The Paris Widow came out on June 11th. Kaira Rouda is an award-winning, USA Today, Amazon charts, and internationally bestselling contemporary fiction author whose Under the Palms was released on May 21st. Heather Gudenkauf is the Edgar-nominated, NYT-bestselling author of 10 novels whose Everyone is Watching was released on March 26th. Together they started the Killer Author Club in 2022. Each bi-monthly, half-hour show, airing on Facebook, YouTube & Instagram, features a Killer Author, a Killer Cocktail, and a Killer Giveaway—all in a fun and fast-paced setting. We are excited for this cross-over episode where we deliberately collide our two worlds.

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Friends & Fiction with Chris Whitaker Jun 28, 2024

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Ron Block welcome the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Chris Whitaker to discuss his newly announced Read with Jenna pick, All the Colors of the Dark, an epic novel about a man fixated on finding a missing woman―and the FBI agent on his tail, who might be even more obsessed than he is. Chris Whitaker is the author of five novels including Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, and The Forevers, as well as the instant New York Times bestselling phenomenon We Begin at the End which was optioned by Disney’s 20th Television and was named a No.1 Indie Next Pick, a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick, and a GMA Buzz Pick. Chris joins us to discuss his highly-anticipated and super buzz-worthy new novel which Kristin Hannah said kept her “frantically turning the pages and somehow made me cry at the end” and which Bonnie Garmus called “impeccably crafted, deeply emotional, entirely shattering.”

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Friends & Fiction Celebrates the Launch of Kristy Woodson Harvey's A HAPPIER LIFE Jun 21, 2024

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On this episode, the Fab Four gather to celebrate this month’s F&F Featured Author, the NYT-bestselling author of The Summer of Songbirds and the Peachtree Bluff series, our very own Kristy Woodson Harvey, to discuss her brand-new book, our June 2024 Pick of the Month A HAPPIER LIFE, a tender and touching novel about a young woman who discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina. Kristy is the NYT-bestselling author of ten novels, including The Wedding Veil, Under the Southern Sky, and the Peachtree Bluff series, which is in development for television with NBC. Her writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications including Southern Living, Traditional Home, USA TODAY, Domino, and O. Henry. Her latest novel, A HAPPIER LIFE, is imbued with “her signature warmth and Southern charm” (E! Online), and has been called “a family mystery wrapped in a love story and a gracious nod to tradition and the people who came before us” by bestselling novelist Annabel Monaghan, and labeled “women’s fiction at its best” in a rave review from Publishers Weekly. The full Fab Four plus Meg & Ron are on-hand to launch this beautiful book in grand F&F fashion on a LIVE show with all the laughs and shenanigans you’ve come to expect.

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Friends & Fiction with Lisa Wingate Jun 14, 2024

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristin Harmel welcome the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Wingate to discuss SHELTERWOOD, her sweeping new novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth. Lisa Wingate is the author of the #1 NYT-bestseller BEFORE WE WERE YOURS, which remained on bestseller lists for more than two years, has sold more than 3-million copies, and been translated into more than 40 languages worldwide. The author of more than 30 novels and the co-author (with Judy Christie) of the non-fiction book BEFORE AND AFTER, Wingate is an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, a Southern Book Prize winner, and a Goodreads Choice Award winner. According to a recent starred review in Publishers Weekly, “Wingate is at the top of her game.” We are thrilled to hear from her about SHELTERWOOD, which Adriana Trigiani calls “an instant American classic,” and Marie Benedict calls “Wingate’s best book yet!”

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Friends & Fiction with Annabel Monaghan Jun 07, 2024

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On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome national bestselling author Annabel Monaghan to discuss her brand-new, highly-anticipated rom-com, SUMMER ROMANCE, the humorous and heartwarming story of a professional organizer whose life is a mess, and the summer she gets unstuck with the help of someone unexpected from her past. Annabel Monaghan is the author of LibraryReads pick and national bestseller SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER and IndieNext and LibraryReads pick NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT, as well as two young adult novels and DOES THIS VOLVO MAKE MY BUTT LOOK BIG?, a selection of laugh-out-loud columns that appeared in the Huffington Post, The Week, and the Rye Record. She joins us from her home in Rye, New York before departing on book tour to talk to us about SUMMER ROMANCE, the book Publishers Weekly has called “the ideal beach read” in a starred review, and which Abby Jimenez has called “a bingeable five-star read.”

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Friends & Fiction with Sunny Hostin May 31, 2024

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On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome four-time Emmy Award winning co-host of ABC’s The View, Sunny Hostin, to discuss the captivating third novel in her New York Times bestselling Summer Beach series, Summer on Highland Beach. Sunny Hostin is an attorney, a multi-platform journalist, an ABC News Legal Analyst, a co-host of ABC Daytime’s The View, and the author of SUMMER ON THE BLUFFS and SUMMER ON SAG HARBOR as well as the memoir I AM THESE TRUTHS. In the third installment in her NYT-bestselling series, Sunny transports readers to the gleaming shores of Maryland’s Highland Beach in a story that celebrates family, friendship, and community and reminds us of the importance of the legacies of our collective past and of finding one’s way in the world. According to Booklist, “Hostin has penned another deliciously soapy beach read about elite Black beach communities” and we are so excited to talk to her about it.

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