FIRST CHAPTER FUN

By First Chapter Fun

Want to get hooked on a new book? Every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET, fiction authors Hannah Mary McKinnon and Hank Phillippi Ryan read the first chapter of exciting new releases and favorites across multipl... more

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FAQs about FIRST CHAPTER FUN:

How many episodes does FIRST CHAPTER FUN have?

The podcast currently has 49 episodes available.

FIRST CHAPTER FUN episodes:

January 24, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 320 - JUST THE NICEST COUPLE by Mary Kubica
First Chapter Fun - Episode 320 - JUST THE NICEST COUPLE by Mary Kubica
Listen to powerhouse, multi award-winning, nationally bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan read the description and opening pages of the instant New York Times bestseller Just The Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica, which is available now!
About Just The Nicest Couple: Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.

Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and co-worker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.
About the author: Mary Kubica is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense thrillers including The Good Girl, Local Woman Missing and her latest, Just The Nicest Couple. Her books have been translated into over thirty languages and have sold over two million copies worldwide. She’s been described as “a helluva storyteller” (Kirkus) and “a writer of vice-like control” (Chicago Tribune), and her novels have been praised as “hypnotic” (People) and “thrilling and illuminating” (L.A. Times). She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and children.
Connect with Mary:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaryKubicaAuthor
Instagram: www.instagram.com/marykubica
Twitter: www.twitter.com/marykubica
Website: www.marykubica.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
Please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hank & Hannah x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
33min
January 17, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 319 - CODE NAME SAPPHIRE by Pam Jenoff
First Chapter Fun – Episode 319 – CODE NAME SAPPHIRE by Pam Jenoff
Listen to Hannah Mary McKinnon read the description and opening pages of Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff, which is available February 7, 2023!
About Code Name Sapphire: 1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.

Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves?
About the author: Pam Jenoff is the author of several books of historical fiction. She holds a degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a degree in history from Cambridge, and she received her JD from UPenn. Her novels are inspired by her experiences working at the Pentagon and as a diplomat for the State Department handling Holocaust issues in Poland. She lives with her husband and 3 children near Philadelphia, where she teaches law.
Connect with Pam:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PamJenoffAuthor
Instagram: www.instagram.com/pamjenoff
Twitter: www.twitter.com/PamJenoff
Website: www.pamjenoff.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
Please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hank & Hannah x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
34min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 318 - THE WIDOW by Kaira Rouda
First Chapter Fun – Episode 318 – THE WIDOW by Kaira Rouda
Listen to bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan read the description and opening pages of The Widow by Kaira Rouda, which is available now!
About The Widow: Jody Asher had a plan. Her charismatic husband, Martin, would be a political icon. She, the charming wife, would fuel his success. For fifteen congressional terms, they were the golden couple on the Hill. Life was good. Until he wasn’t.
Martin’s secret affair with a young staffer doesn’t bother Jody personally. But professionally? It’s a legacy killer. Soon a reporter gets word of this scandal in the making, and Martin’s indiscretions threaten to ruin everything Jody has accomplished.
When Martin suddenly dies, it’s a chance to change the narrative—but the reporter won’t let go of his lead. As the balance of power shifts in the Asher house and on the Hill, it’s time for Jody to take control. And there’s nothing the ruthless widow won’t do to secure the future she’s entitled to. Even if she has a secret of her own.
About the author: Kaira Rouda is a USA TODAY, Amazon charts, and international bestselling, multiple award-winning author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Her domestic suspense novels include BEST DAY EVER, THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, ALL THE DIFFERENCE, THE NEXT WIFE, and SOMEBODY'S HOME. Her latest novel is THE WIDOW. BENEATH THE SURFACE will be out in September, 2023. To date, Kaira's novels have been translated into more than ten languages.
She lives in Southern California with her family and is at work on her next novel.
Connect with Kaira:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KairaRoudaBooks
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kairarouda
Twitter: www.twitter.com/kairarouda
Website: www.kairarouda.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
Please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hank & Hannah x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
33min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 317 - THE BLUE BAR by Damyanti Biswas
First Chapter Fun – Episode 317 – THE BLUE BAR by Damyanti Biswas
Listen to bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan read the description and opening pages of The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas, which is available now!
About The Blue Bar: After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.

Thirteen years later, Tara’s lover, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, is still grappling with her disappearance as he faces a horrifying new crisis: on the city’s outskirts, women’s dismembered bodies are being unearthed from shallow graves. Very little links the murders, except a scattering of blue sequins and a decade’s worth of missing persons reports that correspond with major festivals.

Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer and that someone wants his investigation buried at any cost. Could the key to finding Tara and solving these murders be hidden in one of his cold cases? Or will the next body they recover be hers?
About the author: Damyanti's Indian debut literary crime novel You Beneath Your Skin was an Amazon bestseller, and optioned for the screens by Endemol Shine. Her work has been published in Smokelong Quarterly, Ambit, Pembroke Review, Griffith review among many others in the US, UK, and Australia. She also serves as one of the editors of The Forge literary magazine.
She’s a fan of listening to audiobooks while pottering about with her plants or her aquariums, or baking up a storm.
Connect with Damyanti:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DamyantiWrites
Instagram: www.instagram.com/damyantig
Twitter: www.twitter.com/damyantig
Website: www.damyantiwrites.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
Please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hannah & Hank x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
58min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 316 - HOLIDAY CELEBRATION
Hurray! It's Hannah and Hank's annual Holiday Celebration!
Tune in to hear some holiday banter with bestselling authors Hank Phillippi Ryan and Hannah Mary McKinnon. Includes a special reading of the poem 'Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore.
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
Please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone. Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hank & Hannah x
...more
43min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 315 - THE COLOR OF ICE by Barbara Linn Probst
First Chapter Fun – Episode 315 – THE COLOR OF ICE by Barbara Linn Probst
Listen to bestselling author Hannah Mary McKinnon read the description and opening pages of The Color of Ice by Barbara Linn Probst, which is available now!
About The Color of Ice: Cathryn McAllister, a freelance photographer, travels to Iceland for a photo shoot with an enigmatic artist who wants to capture the country’s iconic blue icebergs in glass. Her plan is to head out, when the job is done, on a carefully curated “best of Iceland” solo vacation.
Cathryn abandons her itinerary to remain with Mack, the glassblower, who awakens all the things she’s told herself she doesn’t need anymore. Passion. Vulnerability. Risk. Cathryn finds herself torn between the life—and self—she’s come to know, and the new world Mack offers.
About the Author: Barbara Linn Probst is an award-winning author of contemporary women’s fiction living on an historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her work has been featured in places such as Ms. Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, Pop Sugar, Bustle, Parade, Entertainment Weekly, and Working Mother. Barbara has also published nearly sixty essays on the craft of writing for sites such as Jane Friedman and Writer Unboxed.
Connect with Barbara:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BarbaraLinnProbst
Instagram: www.instagram.com/barbara_linn_probst
Website: www.BarbaraLinnProbst.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
While you're here, please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hannah & Hank x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
28min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 314 - DARK RIVERS TO CROSS by Lynne Reeves
First Chapter Fun – Episode 314 – DARK RIVERS TO CROSS by Lynne Reeves
Listen to bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan read the description and opening pages of Dark Rivers To Cross by Lynne Reeves, which is available now!
About Dark Rivers To Cross: Lena Blackwell has kept her sons sheltered and close by her side for over two decades, working and living at their successful Maine river lodge. She’s raised them to be kind, hard-working, and caring young men—and she’s determined that they never learn of their true origin story, even though that’s meant erasing every connection she has to her own past. When Lena’s son Jonah insists on searching for his biological family, she’s resolved to stop him from discovering what is certain to shatter the peaceful life she’s built for him and his brother. Luke wants nothing to do with the search, but he recognizes that his brother will never give up and feels caught between the devastating secret his mother is desperate to hide and the hard truths his brother is determined to expose. When friends from their mother’s past unexpectedly arrive at the lodge, a series of events is put into motion that Lena is unable to halt, jeopardizing the very relationships she’s lied to protect and forcing her to sacrifice everything, perhaps even her life, to protect her sons.
About the author: Lynne Reeves Griffin is an internationally recognized family counselor, public speaker, teacher and writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work has appeared in Parents, Psychology Today, Solstice Literary Magazine, Chautauqua Journal, Craft Literary, Fiction Writers Review, Brain, Child and more.
Lynne regularly appears as a media guest expert to discuss contemporary family life and preventive mental health.
Writing as Lynne Griffin, she is the author of the family-focused novels, Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster), and Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books).
She writes novels of domestic suspense as Lynne Reeves, with The Dangers of an Ordinary Night published by Crooked Lane Books last year and Dark Rivers to Cross.
Connect with Lynne:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LynneGriffin
Instagram: www.instagram.com/LynneReevesGriffin
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Lynne_Griffin
Website: www.lynnegriffin.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
While you're here, please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hank & Hannah x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
32min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 313 - THE SUNSHINE GIRLS by Molly Fader
First Chapter Fun – Episode 313 – THE SUNSHINE GIRLS by Molly Fader
Listen to bestselling author Hannah Mary McKinnon read the description and opening pages of The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader, which is available now!
About The Sunshine Girls: 1967 Iowa. Nursing school roommates BettyKay and Kitty don’t have much in common. BettyKay has risked her family’s disapproval to pursue her dreams away from her small town. Cosmopolitan Kitty has always relied on her beauty and smarts to get by and to hide a painful secret. Yet the two share a determination to prove themselves in a changing world, forging an unlikely bond on a campus unkind to women.

Before their first year is up, tragedy strikes, and the women’s paths are forced apart. But against all odds, a decades-long friendship forms, persevering through love, marriage, failure, and death, from the jungles of Vietnam to the glamorous circles of Hollywood. Until one snowy night leads their relationship to the ultimate crossroads.

Fifty years later, two estranged sisters are shocked when a famous movie star shows up at their mother's funeral. Over one tumultuous weekend, the women must reckon with a dazzling truth about their family that will alter their lives forever...
About the author: Molly Fader is the USA Today Bestselling author of page-turning women’s fiction, her latest The Sunshine Girls has been given a starred review from Booklist and Kristy Woodson Harvey calls it "a breathtaking story of extraordinary friendship.” Under the name Molly O'Keefe she is the award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author of over 70 sexy contemporary romance novels. Her novel Indecent Proposal was featured in the blockbuster move Suicide Squad. She lives in Toronto Canada with her family, rescue dog and the largest heap of dirty laundry in North America
Connect with Molly:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mollyfader
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mokeefeauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mokwrites
Website: www.molly-okeefe.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
While you're here, please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
Happy reading everyone.
Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hannah & Hank x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
31min
January 11, 2023 First Chapter Fun - Episode 312 - ASHTON HALL by Lauren Belfer
First Chapter Fun – Episode 312 – ASHTON HALL by Lauren Belfer
Listen to bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan read the description and opening pages of Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer, which is available now!
About Ashton Hall: “How many lives can you imagine yourself living?”
Or so Hannah Larson wonders. When an uncle falls ill, Hannah and her young, neurodivergent son, Nicky, decide to join him for the summer at Ashton Hall, a historic manor house outside Cambridge, England. Hannah gave up her academic career to raise her beloved child, and she's grateful to escape her life in New York City, where her marriage has been upended by a devastating betrayal.
Soon after their arrival, ever-curious Nicky finds the skeletal remains of a woman who had been walled into a forgotten part of the manor, and Hannah is pulled into an all-consuming quest for answers, with Nicky close by her side. Working from clues in centuries-old ledgers and the personal papers of the long-departed family, Hannah begins to recreate the Ashton Hall of the Elizabethan era in all its color and conflict. As the secrets of her own life begin to unravel, and the rewards and heartrending complications of being Nicky's mother come into focus, Hannah realizes that Ashton Hall’s women had lives not so different from her own. She confronts what women throughout history have had to do to control their own destinies and protect their children.
About the author: Lauren Belfer is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels – CITY OF LIGHT, A FIERCE RADIANCE, AND AFTER THE FIRE, and her latest, ASHTON HALL. She’s the winner of the National Jewish Book Award. Lauren lives in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, where the palpable sense of history inspires her every day.
Connect with Lauren:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorlaurenbelfer
Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurenbelfer1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/laurenbelfer
Website: www.laurenbelfer.com
Join Hannah Mary and Hank for First Chapter Fun, live, every Tuesday at 12.30pm ET for the opening pages of a new book on Facebook and/or Instagram. First Chapter Funsters can interact with the authors on the posts during the live readings, enter giveaways and be the first to know about special events.
Please follow your First Chapter Fun hosts on Facebook and Instagram for their latest updates:
www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyanAuthor / www.instagram.com/hankpryan
www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon / www.instagram.com/hannahmarymckinnon
Happy reading everyone.

Stay safe. Stay kind. See you next time on First Chapter Fun!
Hank & Hannah x
Note: read with the author’s and publisher’s kind permission
...more
32min

FAQs about FIRST CHAPTER FUN:

How many episodes does FIRST CHAPTER FUN have?

The podcast currently has 49 episodes available.