February 16, 2022 | Issue #81 |
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Five Facts From Our Friend, Jayne Allen
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
I've learned that I can't live without a set schedule of regular check-ins with my close friends. The isolation of the pandemic forced me to become a lot more deliberate about making time to maintain my relationships, so time with my friends is now on my calendar every week. Each person has a set timeslot that we make every effort not to miss.
Your perfect day:
I found my perfect day during a writing retreat in Mexico. I woke up to the ocean each morning, shared breakfast with Oprah (reading "What I Know For Sure"), and then did my writing very much inspired by the sounds and energy of the waves crashing. As a break I'd take in a walk, then do a bit more writing. In the evening, it was spending downtime socializing with others at the location. So, it was a perfect mix of inspiration and perspective, creativity/work, rejuvenation, self-care, and community. Those are my keys to balance.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
There are so many independent bookstores that have played such a significant role in the trajectory of my writing career that it's impossible to have a favorite. But one of my favorite memories was at Mahogany Books in Washington, DC, as it was my very first book store event. It was a dream opportunity to see my book on a shelf and to connect with readers in person.
The last book you raved about:
The last book I raved about was Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. I couldn't stop talking about it for weeks.
Your next book in ten words or less:
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Spring Subscription Box
Subscribe Today for Signed Books & an Exclusive Gift!
Friends & Fiction co-hosts & co-founders Mary Kay Andrews and Kristy Woodson Harvey have teamed up with Oxford Exchange to offer this fun Spring Reading Box! Order the box from Oxford Exchange to get a signed copy of THE WEDDING VEIL when it releases in March, a signed copy of THE HOMEWRECKERS when it releases in May, and this fun, exclusive Friends & Fiction notebook with sticky flags for marking all your favorite parts! (We hope there are tons!) Get more information and place your order with Oxford Exchange HERE.
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Bookseller of the Week
Bookshop.org
Find all the books by every F&F guest, past and present, in the F&F Bookshop.org Shop! Portions of all sales placed in our shop help fund F&F and support our guests! Proceeds from every sale made anywhere across Bookshop go straight into the pockets of indie booksellers nationwide. Since its inception, Bookshop.org has raised more than $19 million for indie bookstores! Find recent books by tonight’s guest Jayne Allen—and by the Fab Four—on our Friends & Fiction 2022 Guests list!
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Each week, we share with you in this section the fun, exciting things we have going on in our personal and professional lives.
This week, though, was all about Mary Kay Andrews's daughter, Katie.
As many of you have heard, Katie tragically passed away last week at the age of 39. As you may be aware from MKA’s social posts and our discussions on the Wednesday night show, Katie was diagnosed with liver failure in the fall after a particularly bad bout with Covid. Katie lost her battle while waiting for a transplant.
This week, Patti, Kristy, Kristin, and Meg traveled to Atlanta to support Mary Kay and her family at this impossibly difficult time, and to attend Katie's funeral. All of us--especially Mary Kay--felt the great outpouring of love and support from this Friends & Fiction community, and we are all enormously grateful.
Tomorrow, Patti, Kristy, Kristin & MKA head to the Savannah Book Festival, where Kristin will be speaking on Saturday, and all four of them will be joined by Ron Block on Sunday for the festival's closing address. They're honored to be a part of this festival. Mary Kay considers it part of her healing process to get back to her work that she so loves and to be with her beloved community of authors and readers. If any of you plan to attend, please do come up afterwards and say hello. We would all love to thank you in person for your friendship and support.
Meanwhile, please join us in sending thoughts of love and healing to Mary Kay and her family during this difficult time. And in honor of Katie, please hold your friends and family members a little closer this week--and tell them you love them. In that spirit, we'll say the same to you--we love all of you for being a part of this very special community, and we're so grateful that you're here.
Many of you have asked us about how you can support Mary Kay and her family during this difficult time. If you’d like to send condolences, you may use this address:
Mary Kay Andrews
PO Box 717
Avondale Estates, GA 30002
If you wish to make a donation in Katie’s name, here are four charities recommended by the family which were near and dear to Katie’s heart:
There is also an effort afoot to be able to donate in Katie’s name to directly benefit her two children, Molly (12) and Griffin (10). We will share that information as soon as it is available.
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The F&F 2022 Reading Challenge
Join the Fun in Our Reading Challenge!
Join us in 2022 for a fun 12-month reading challenge. We will challenge each other all year long to read books in a different category every month. This will help all of us broaden our horizons and read books in different genres we may not have chosen for ourselves. This is a fun way to join with the rest of the F&F community and share a fun reading experience. And the F&F Reading Journal makes the perfect companion piece to this challenge, helping you keep track of all the books you read all year long. Grab your reading journal HERE.
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming soon! Out this Friday, February 18th—Ron & Patti interview Robin Whitten, the editor and founder of Audiofile magazine, as well as Fiona Hardingham who narrated the audiobook of Patti’s Once Upon a Wardrobe.
Out Now! WB_S2E5—Ron & MKA interview Linda Ketron, the founder of the wildly successful longstanding author luncheon series with Litchfield Books in Pawley’s Island, SC. LISTEN NOW!
Listen, download, subscribe, rate, review & share wherever you get your podcasts!
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News from the F&F Official Book Club
🎉 BIG NEWS from the Book Club!🎉 They've hit 11,000 members! Now that is something to celebrate!
We have a lot of fun events coming up! Take a look at our book club schedule and be sure to save the dates! All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
Grab these books and start reading now!
Are you going to the Savannah book festival? RSVP HERE! Join Lisa, Brenda, and Annissa at the Savannah Book Festival to support the Fab Four.
If you missed our wonderful happy hour on Feb 4th with our favorite librarian Ron Block and author Nancy Johnson please click HERE.
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Join us! We would love to have you!
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F&F is Now on LoCo+!
Come join Friends & Fiction on LoCo+, a brand-new streaming platform that launched just a few days ago. The platform specializes in locally produced content and will eventually include channels from all over the country, but this is your chance to get in on the ground floor with us; we're part of the platform's rollout, and we'd love for you to be there, too. Eventually, it will be a paid subscription (like Netflix or Hulu), but if you sign up now, you can get the first month free--and you can see past and current episodes of Friends & Fiction as well as lots of other great, independently produced content, including the "Good News Lady" show from our friend (and former F&F guest) Daryn Kagan. Sign up for your free trial here and check it out: https://golocoplus.com/.
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F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
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Did you miss last week’s episode with Fona Davis, Marie Benedict & Brenda Janowitz? You can watch the whole thing on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show live on YouTube every Wednesday night at 7pm ET. And every episode since our show’s inception can be found there too. So if you ever miss one, or Facebook is being difficult, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode and get alerted every time we post new content. We also have book trailers and highlight clips on our channel too! Watch the February 9th show HERE.
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
SHOP THE F&F MERCH STORE!
NEW! Stay on track with the exclusive Friends & Fiction Reading Journal, featuring 52 book entries (one for every week of the year), a lending library, reading list, and books you put down. With a cloth cover, gold foil embossing, a satin ribbon page marker, elastic band, heavyweight paper, and a back pocket to store notes, this is the perfect gift for the book lover in your life—or for yourself! ORDER READING JOURNALS HERE.
Cozy cotton with a flattering v-neck and our signature Friends & Fiction logo, these comfy t-shirts are the perfect way to show your Friends & Fiction pride! ORDER T-SHIRTS HERE.
Friends & Fiction wine sippies are available and shipping now from Oxford Exchange!
But that’s not all! We also have F&F 20oz travel tumblers for on-the-go coffee of drinks!
We can’t wait to see you model your merch!
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CONNECT WITH THE FRIENDS & FICTION HOST AUTHORS! |
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