On this episode, the full F&F family — Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry — gathers with Managing Director Meg Walker and Producer Shaun Hettinger for a special “just us” episode. We’ve got another F&F family episode of our show, but this time we are joined by our tech guru and #1 cabana boy Shaun for a super fun musical discussion. Shaun is a talented musician who has been in several bands and written lots of film scores and soundtracks. When he told us he has a new single dropping on March 20th (and a full album coming this fall!), we knew we wanted to talk to him about it. This leads to a fun group chat about the music that has shaped and inspired us the role music plays in our creative lives. We hope you’ll tune in and enjoy the old-school camaraderie that’s the heart and soul of Friends & Fiction!

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On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Mary Kay Andrews welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Lucy Score to discuss her new swoonworthy small town rom-com, Mistakes Were Made, which invites us back to Story Lake for a steamy escape full of emotional twists, slow-burn tension, and Lucy's trademark charm. Lucy Score is a #1 NYT-bestselling author who stumbled into her dream job after being fired one too many times. Known for her laugh-out-loud romances and fiercely loyal readers, she’s sold millions of books across the globe which have been translated into 31 languages and counting. When she’s not writing, Lucy can be found impulse shopping, fighting a losing battle with her couch’s butt-dent, or plotting her next great story while pretending to work out. She joins us from her home in Pennsylvania to discuss Mistakes Were Made, her new steamy opposites-attract love story that revisits Zoey and Gage from last year’s Story of My Life.

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On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Patti Callahan Henry welcome New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson to discuss her fast-paced new thriller, Missing Sister, a chilling story of sisters and revenge. Joshilyn is the author of eleven previous novels, including Gods in Alabama and Never Have I Ever. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. A former actor and an award-winning audiobook narrator, Joshilyn is a recent expat from the American South. She joins us from her new home in upstate New York to discuss Missing Sister, the book Karin Slaughter calls “deliciously sinister,” and which has gotten starred reviews in Kirkus (“propulsive and satisfying”) and Library Journal (“heart-pounding”).

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On this episode, Ron Block & Patti Callahan Henry welcome acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris to discuss her new novel, Where the Wildflowers Grow, poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living. Terah is a former librarian who now writes upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings. She is the author of One Summer in Savannah and Long After We Are Gone. Her books have been chosen as a Target Book Club pick, LibraryReads pick, Kobo Best Book, Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book, and a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Debut. Terah was also named Target's inaugural Author of the Year. She joins us from her home in Alabama to discuss Where the Wildflowers Grow, which has been named a most-anticipated book of the year by Goodreads, Essence, and BookBub, and which Annabel Monaghan calls, “a masterpiece.”

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On this episode, the full F&F family — Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry — gathers with Managing Director Meg Walker for a special “just us” episode. Consider this a throwback to the earlier days of Friends & Fiction when we wouldn’t always welcome an author guest every week and our hosts would occasionally just gather to have an off-the-cuff chat about what they’re reading and loving, what trends they’re seeing in the industry, and what’s happening in their busy author lives. On a week when the show would have been “dark” for a monthly break in the action, the Fab Four decided to record one of these fun chats instead of airing an old guest interview from our vault. We hope you’ll tune in and enjoy the old-school camaraderie that’s really the heart and soul of Friends & Fiction!

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On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Kristin Harmel welcome preeminent journalist and royal biographer Omid Scobie and his National Book Award-winning co-author Robin Benway to discuss their much-anticipated novel, Royal Spin, in which they draw from their real world expertise to create an irresistibly entertaining story about a young American woman who takes a job at Buckingham Palace—where she finds herself tangled in a royal mess she might not be able to spin her way out of. Omid Scobie is a British journalist and NYT-bestselling author of Finding Freedom and Endgame, which have been published in more than 20 countries. He spent 12 years covering the royal beat for major outlets including ABC News, Good Morning America, and Harper's Bazaar. Scobie is co-creator, writer, and executive producer on the forthcoming TV adaptation of Royal Spin. Robin Benway is a National Book Award-winning and NYT-bestselling author of nine YA novels (Far from the Tree, Emmy & Oliver), which have been published in more than 25 countries. Her nonfiction work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Bustle, Elle, and more. Omid & Robin join us from their home base in LA to discuss their first co-written novel, Royal Spin, which Jasmine Guillory calls, “hugely entertaining and engaging” and “a fun, page-turner of a book!”

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On this episode, 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?

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On this episode, the full F&F family gathers to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, the NYT-bestselling Paula McLain, to discuss our January 2026 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. Paula McLain is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, including The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun, and Love and Ruin, as well as two collections of poetry and a memoir. Her work has been published in over thirty-five countries, and featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Town & Country, Real Simple, and elsewhere. She joins us to discuss her new dual timeline historical novel, Skylark, which was recently named as this month’s GMA Book Club Pick, and which has been praised by People magazine as a “vivid, inspirational story of brave resilience,” and by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes, as “the gift of a brilliant storyteller.”

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