Here comes trouble… and make it double!

Double trouble in this case is a good thing, because it is an opportunity for you to meet not one, but two, fan-favorite author duos: Alli Frank & Asha Youmans and Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke. Come enjoy a delicious glass of wine, along with some scrumptious bite-sized snacks as we celebrate the newest book releases of these two sets of author best friends!

Your Adventure includes a happy hour experience, a glass of wine paired with some delicious snacks, tax, gratuity, and an opportunity to meet both sets of authors up close and personal in an intimate setting. Better yet, double your fun with our VIP ticket which includes discounted event plus copies of bothThe Better Half and Forever Hold Your Peace to be delivered to the event for signing.

About the Authors and Books

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans found literary soulmates in each other after working together as teacher and school administrator in Seattle, WA. They discovered a shared mission as educators and as authors— to use humor, joy and compassion to write stories that encourage candid conversations about issues such as race, religion, culture, class, privilege, parenting and education. Their debut, Tiny Imperfections, tackled desperate parents and their ill-fated misbehaviors with razor-sharp wit, followed by Never Meant to Meet You, which deftly mined the often comedic and underexplored common ground between Black and Jewish experiences in America.

Their newest collaboration, The Better Half, captivated Mindy Kaling, and Mindy’s Book Studio, to publish the book in collaboration with Amazon Publishing. It is a sidesplitting spin on reaching the pinnacle of life, only to stare down a slippery slope on the other side.

After a difficult five years, at age forty-three, Nina Morgan Clarke’s time has finally arrived. With an ex-husband relocated across the country, her father bouncing back after the loss of his beloved wife, and her daughter, Xandra, thriving at boarding school, Nina is stepping into her dream job as a trifecta: a first-generation, Black female head of the storied Royal-Hawkins School. To mark the moment, Nina and her best friend, Marisol, take a long-overdue girls’ trip to celebrate the second half of Nina’s life―which is shaping up to be the best part of her life.

As Nina’s school year gets underway, all seems to be progressing as planned. Before long, wunder-hire Jared Jones, two hundred pounds of Harvard-educated ego, relentlessly pushes Nina to her ethical limits. Soon after, dutiful Xandra accuses one of her teachers of misconduct. And most alarming, the repercussions of her trip with Marisol force Nina into a life-altering choice. Time is of the essence, and Nina must decide if she will embrace a future she never could have predicted..

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans bring their very different cultural backgrounds and perspectives together to write in one seamless, cohesive voice, united in their belief that humor and fiction can inspire empathy and learning, and that exposure to diverse experiences can only enrich one’s life.

Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been best friends for over thirty years and survived high school and college together. They’ve co-authored seven novels, including the Amazon Charts bestseller, The Good Widow. In addition to writing books, they created a podcast, We Fight So You Don’t Have to: Lessons from a thirty-year friendship. They also appear monthly on a San Diego news station to share their favorite book club picks.

Their forthcoming book, Forever Hold Your Peace, is like Father of the Bride meets Bride Wars, and features two ex-best friends find themselves shockingly entangled after more than two decades apart.

When their newly engaged kids ask all four divorced parents to meet each other over brunch, everyone RSVPs yes–secretly hoping someone at the table will get to the bottom of the bottomless mimosas fast enough to say what they’re all thinking: that this engagement, coming after a whirlwind romance between two people barely out of college, is too much too soon.

But at that brunch it’s not the impulsive couple’s decisions that end up under the microscope, as it turns out June, mother of the bride, and Amy, mother of the groom, certainly do know each other–they’re ex-best-friends who haven’t spoken since their explosive falling out more than twenty-five years ago. Reeling from their unwanted reunion and eager to shift the spotlight off their past as decades-old secrets and rivalries come to light, the two moms battle it out for the prize of Most Enthusiastic About This Wedding.

But when their history—and their present-day shenanigans—threaten to crack the foundations of the happy couple’s future, June and Amy find themselves becoming unexpected allies in an all-hands-on-deck effort to get their kids (and themselves) a happily-ever-after two generations in the making.

About Napatini Bistro and Wine Bar

Lynn and Gary McLean are the owner-operators of Carlsbad’s Napatini Bistro & Wine Bar. They moved to San Diego’s North County in 2019 from the San Francisco Bay Area, where they lived very close to California Wine Country. Long story made short: This is a bucket list to-do for Lynn & Gary! “We wanted a wine experience. Our friends and we thought of all the great times we had at wine tasting rooms in Wine Country. We thought that if we were ever given the opportunity, we would try to mimic that wine-tasting room experience- at least as much as practical- by opening a wine bar, minus elaborate decor. After hitting a number of challenges we opened in December 2022!”