*Trigger warning: The beginning of this episode starts off with a politically charged conversation about the Supreme Court and the recent overturning of Roe v Wade. But we eventually do talk about books. ** Also, this is our last episode before our summer break, but we will be back in the fall rested and refreshed, with more amazing books to share with you all. Aileen read Olga Dies Dreaming by Sochi Gomez, a story that explores two different interpretations of the American Drea...

Alisa’s daughter Ella, and Lauren’s daughter Ana gave us a list of YA titles we hadn’t read yet. Aileen read We Were Liars by E. Lockheart, a thriller with a blow-your-mind twist at the end. Though classified as YA, we all felt like this book was just as suitable for adults also. Lauren read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak after years of her daughter Ana telling her to. Ana has a special connection to this book and briefly joins us to talk about how books she read and loved when she was...

This week we read books that hovered somewhere in the beach read category, yet much more challenging and satisfying than the run-of-the-mill sand and surf fluff. Aileen read The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, a story of summer, secrets, love, and lies. Lauren read Mr. Wrong Number, a hilarious rom-com by Lynn Painter. Alisa read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, about an aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon who is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scanda...

This week on Fiction Between Friends we have a special guest, New York Times bestselling author, Beth Revis! We talk about her new book The Princess and the Scoundrel, coming out August 16, 2022, and her serial novel Museum of Magic that is out right now on Kindle Vella. Beth tells us all about the lovely people at Star Wars, and about how she worked pulling tarot cards and throwing dice to decide plot points in Museum of Magic. We also discuss the state of YA, publishing in genera...

This week the gang reads historical fiction. Alisa and Aileen are old pros at this sub-genre while Josie and Lauren are more like dabblers. Ironically, almost all of the picks were in the WW2 category while Josie was the odd duck who traveled back to medieval Europe. Aileen read Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. She’s been trying for years to read this book but every time she picked it up, she’d put it back down after asking herself, “do I really want to read about a leper colony?” Well, she finall...

Ever wonder how your favorite book becomes a movie or a TV show? Well, wonder no longer because we have brought in a bona-fide filmmaker to explain it. Lauren couldn’t be with us, but we had our first guest speaker, Barbara Stepansky on in her place. Barbara is an award-winning screenwriter and a director who writes for the show Outlander. She had us read Kate Morton’s The Forgotten Garden as a hypothetical book-to-miniseries project and we had a blast “breaking” the story (that’s Holly...

This week on Fiction Between Friends, anything goes! It was the “What’s on Your Nightstand?” episode. Aileen read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. A modern re-telling of Pride and Prejudice. Lauren swung for the fences and read a book in Spanish that she’s been trying to read forever. En los Zapatos de Valeria by Elisabet Benavent, about 4 women who are best friends (sounds familiar) who are all on different paths in their lives and in their loves. Alisa read The Midn...

We talked about it, and we’ve decided that the pandemic is over. For now at least. And we wanted to celebrate by talking about what helped get us through it. Each other, of course, but also what we read. Aileen talked about how much she loved reading Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Lauren reminisced about Ross Poldark, the first book in the Poldark series by Winston Graham. And Alisa and Josie went non-fiction with I’m Judging You: The Do Better Manual by Luvvie ...

This week we all read books that were set in our neck of the woods. New England! Aileen starts us off with On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Lauren covers The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. Josie read The Secret History by Donna Tartt. But Alisa probably “won” this week with her read, We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry. Trigger warnings: heavy drug and alcohol abuse, suicide.

We felt like we needed to lighten up a bit, so this week we read books that made us laugh. Lauren read an old favorite, One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. Alisa read Faking It by Jennifer Cruise. Aileen read The Humans by Matt Hague. And Josie read one of her favorites, Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.

Aileen had always wanted an excuse to read Nora Ephron, so she read Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Lauren got her sweet tooth fix with an old copy of Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Alisa read A River Runs Through It by Norman McClain, and Josie dug up her copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Happy (early) Valentine’s Day! Lauren read The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon. Fun, vivacious dialogue and tons of red hot lovin’. Aileen had a much more PG rated read with The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, about a quirky, schedule-obsessed hero, and the innocent, light-hearted love that he develops for the girl who breaks all the rules. Alisa had the heaviest read this week with Normal People by Sally Rooney, about two people learning to love both themselves and each other in spi...

Aileen is a huge Stephen King fan and has been for as long as we can remember. This week she picked a book of his for each of us to read. Aileen read one of King’s more recent books, Billie Summers. A crime thriller that’s something of a departure from what we all think of as a typical Stephen King novel. Alisa should have read 11.22.63 like Aileen asked her to, but instead she read The Institute. Lauren also deviated from Aileen’s assignment and read Elevation instead, an e...

Right now in our country there are towns, cities, and states making lists of books that certain people want banned from schools and libraries, and we are absolutely horrified by this. So, each one of us pick an AMAZING book that is on one of these nefarious lists and read the heck out of ‘em. Aileen read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and had her mind blown. Alisa found Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard by Echo Brown on a challenged list in Kansas and ...

Our final episode of the season! We'll be off for three weeks and then be back January 10 for Season 2. Things get quite steamy in this episode, as Aileen warms us up with Jennifer Weiner’s, Big Summer. Then Lauren goes full romance with Robyn Carr’s, Virgin River, and Alisa gives a saucy reading of one of the love scenes. Alisa then brings back a group favorite with Helen Fielding’s, Bridget Jones’s Diary. And Josie empties a box of tissues reading Jojo Moyes’s...

We tried something a little different for this episode and chose to partner up and cover two books instead of four. Aileen and Lauren read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes that the only way to survive is to open your heart. The book is soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon. And...

We read books recommended by Lauren, our in-house librarian, who is still out of commission, and it’s unanimous. She’s a book whisperer. Aileen read and thoroughly enjoyed Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal a lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women's lives at all ages. Alisa read Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches and her lifelong mission now is go out to dinner with Deborah. And Josie became a Naomi Novik f...

Unfortunately, Lauren couldn’t make it, but the remaining gang soldiers on without her and discusses captivity and survival stories. Aileen re-read Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews and found that her opinion of this once beloved book had changed drastically since her teen years. Many of the things she adored about this “forbidden read” shocked her now, and the gang discussed how the Me Too movement has changed the way many books are viewed. Alisa went full boy vs. nature with Hatchet ...

We chose to go dark on this one, all except for Lauren who went with some lighter fare because sometimes you read what the book gods send your way and you don't ask any questions. Aileen tips off the book talk with her pick, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Alisa cuts the line with Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Lauren brightens the mood with A Season for Second Chances by Jenni Bayliss, and Josie wraps things up with the dark and heavy, Dune, by Frank Herbert. Lauren also gives...

What is it about certain books that brings us back, again and again? Why re-read at all, considering there are so many great books waiting on our TBR lists? Well, this week we break down our favorite re-reads. Aileen dusts off her old copy of Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Lauren shares A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Alisa comes prepared with her stack of Twilight novels by Stephanie Meyer. And Josie lets her freak flag fly with A Hitchhiker’s Guide t...