On this episode, the full Fab Four—Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry — welcome New York Times bestselling author (and one of the original five founders of Friends & Fiction!), Mary Alice Monroe, to discuss her highly anticipated new book, WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE, the first of two epic and triumphant novels celebrating one intrepid woman's life across multiple generations in the American South. Mary Alice is the NYT-bestselling author of 27 books, including THE SUMMER OF LOST AND FOUND, the 2021 installment in her beloved BEACH HOUSE series. Nearly 8-million copies of her books have been published worldwide and she has earned numerous accolades and awards including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame, the International Book Award for Green Fiction, and the prestigious Southern Book Prize for Fiction. An active conservationist, Mary Alice has championed the fragility of the earth’s wild habitat and the coastal southern landscape in her work and does hands-on volunteering with animals, including as a proud 20-year state-certified member of the Island Turtle Team. We are so excited to get the band back together and chat with Mary Alice all about WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE which has gotten starred reviews from both Booklist and Library Journal and which Lisa Wingate calls, “book club fiction at its finest!”

On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune to discuss ONE GOLDEN SUMMER, a radiant, new escape to the lake which has already been named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by TODAY, E! News, Buzzfeed, Us Weekly, and The New York Post. Carley is the #1 NYT and Globe and Mail bestselling author of four novels including THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT and MEET ME AT THE LAKE. Her books have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 30 languages in over 50 territories. An award-winning journalist, Carley has worked as an editor at some of Canada’s top publications, including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and Toronto Life, and oversaw the launch of Refinery29 Canada. Carley spent much of her youth in the tiny lakeside rural Ontario town of Barry’s Bay which inspired the setting for several of her novels. She joins us from her home in Toronto to discuss ONE GOLDEN SUMMER (May 6, Berkley) which centers Charlie Florek, a beloved character from Carley’s debut novel EVERY SUMMER AFTER. Abby Jimenez says this new book “was everything I wanted for Charlie and more! Alice and Charlie’s chemistry is an absolute bonfire, the banter is perfection, and Nan is a treasure.” We can’t wait to talk to Carley all about it!

On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Kristin Harmel welcome New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory to discuss Flirting Lessons, her “sexy-sweet, opposites-attract, friends-to-lovers romance, enriched with found-family vibes…an absolute delight” (Booklist). Jasmine is the NYT-bestselling author of nine novels including Drunk on Love, The Wedding Date, and the Reese's Book Club selection The Proposal. She’s been a Today Show favorite, with 18 appearances (and counting!) to recommend upcoming novels to their TV audience. Jasmine’s work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Time. She joins us from her home in Oakland, California, to discuss her captivating and sizzling new queer romance, Flirting Lessons (Berkley, April 8) which Taylor Jenkins Reid calls “Jasmine Guillory at her best…absolutely one of the most fun rom-coms of the year!”