February 23, 2022 | Issue #82 |
|
Five Facts From Our Friend, V.E. Schwab
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
Fresh air.
Your perfect day:
Work all morning, then walk along the sea by my house, read a book with an oat latte in a cafe corner, workout, make dinner, and curl up with a movie and my two kittens.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Whichever one is within walking distance.
The last book you raved about:
Your next book in ten words or less:
The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak.
|
|
Spotlight on G.R. Macallister
G.R. Macallister, author of the Five Queendoms series, also writes bestselling historical fiction under the name Greer Macallister. Her novels have been optioned for film and television. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Washington, DC. SCORPICA is her epic fantasy debut. Greer joined us on F&F back on February 17, 2021 to discuss her most recent work of historical fiction, THE ARCTIC FURY. You can watch her episode on YouTube. We are so glad to welcome Greer back to tell us all about SCORPICA, her first book in this brand-new series.
|
|
Sponsor Spotlight
Announcing our "Coffee with Friends" Partnership with Charleston Coffee Roasters!
We are so excited to announce the “Coffee with Friends” 3-month promotion with our partner Charleston Coffee Roasters! What goes together better than coffee and a great book? How about friends to chat with over a cup of joe about the books you love? We call that a match made in heaven!
We will launch this partnership LIVE on the show tonight with special guest Lowell Grosse, the President of Charleston Coffee Roasters, and F&F founder emeritus Mary Alice Monroe! Over the next three months everyone in the F&F community will have access to a special 20% off discount code on all bagged coffee on the Charleston Coffee Roasters website. We will also have book & coffee bundles, giveaways, and lots of other fun things in store! Tune in tonight for the big announcement!
Meanwhile, let’s show our new partner the power of the F&F community! Be sure to sign up for the Charleston Coffee Roasters email newsletter and follow them on Facebook & Instagram!
|
|
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.
|
|
Latest News From "The Fab Four"
This past weekend was all about the Savannah Book Festival. The Fab Four were joined by F&F Managing Director Meg Walker and F&F Writers’ Block Podcast host Ron Block for an incredible weekend in gorgeous Savannah, GA. It was great to see so many members of our beloved community in person who made the trip to Savannah for the weekend. The crew even got to enjoy cocktails on Friday with our fearless book club leaders Lisa & Brenda, and F&F super fans Annissa & Dawne. The F&F crew attended the opening keynote by David Baldacci on Thursday and the Friday keynote by beloved friend of the show, William Kent Krueger. On Festival Saturday, the entire F&F crew attended Kristin’s spectacular talk about The Forest of Vanishing Stars. It was great to meet so many authors, some we knew already, some who are new to us—and to get lots of ideas for future guests to welcome to the show and podcast someday. On Sunday, the Fab Four were joined by Ron on stage at the Lucas Theatre for their closing keynote address. The house was packed with about 900 book lovers and we hear that the livestream of the F&F talk was the best attended of all the festival’s virtual events. A huge thank you to all who turned out in person or watched online. We continue to be amazed by the overwhelming support of this incredible community.
MKA remains so grateful for the outpouring of support and kindness in the wake of the passing of her beloved daughter Katie. She has read every single card that has landed in her PO Box so far. Keep them coming: Mary Kay Andrews, PO Box 717, Avondale Estates, GA 30002.
We are almost ready to announce a way that folks can contribute to an education fund in Katie’s honor to support her children, Molly (12) and Griffin (10). Stay tuned for those details.
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming soon! Out this Friday, February 25th—Ron talks to YA author Jennifer E. Smith (The Unsinkable Greta James) and Dianna Rostad who wrote the USA Today bestseller You Belong Here Now, about the orphan trains in 1920s Montana ranch land.
Out Now! WB_S2E7—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. LISTEN NOW!
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!
|
|
News from the F&F Official Book Club
Brenda and Lisa had a whirlwind weekend at the Savannah Book Festival. They really enjoyed spending time with the Fab Four , Ron Block, Meg Walker as well as reading challenge coordinator Annissa and several book club members and various authors. It was a fabulous bookish weekend!
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.
May 6: Happy Hour with Ron Block and special guest Patti Callahan Henry
Grab these books and start reading now!
We had the best time discussing The Wedding Date with Jasmine Guillory. If you missed it, catch the replay HERE.
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!
|
|
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/.
|
|
|
|
F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
|
Did you miss last week’s episode with Jayne Allen? 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 16th show HERE.
|
|
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!
|
|
CONNECT WITH THE FRIENDS & FICTION HOST AUTHORS! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
