What I Learned About Reese at Shine Away Today

Event Takeaways, Author Photos, and a Podcast Playlist (with Reese's Book Club Authors)

Shine Away Takeaways

I just got home from Hello Sunshine’s Shine Away event, a massive conference-style production (2,000 guests!) at which Zibby’s Bookshop was the chosen bookseller. We were SO honored to be there as a partner! THANK YOU, Hello Sunshine! Watch my recap reel here.

Reese herself was there all day — and boy, was she impressive. Seriously. Inspiring, funny, authentic, articulate, and the ultimate cheerleader for female empowerment. She stressed the importance of giving women financial tools that could then empower them to make more independent decisions and encouraged everyone to help younger women learn this skill early. She is all about women.

FYI, she changed her outfit midway through… and then changed back. I want to know what those backstage conversations were. (Sorry, she was too far away for great pics!)

The panels featured women leaders in business, sports, entertainment, and more. By showcasing women who have conquered all, Reese said she wanted to inspire everyone in the audience to see their own potential. She compared us all to a field of sunflowers that follow the sun wherever it goes. Do with that what you will.

Some things that might surprise you about Reese:

• Reese shared that she came from a military family, and that her mother was a nurse and worked long hours, so she was mostly raised by her grandmother. She always knew she wanted to be of service in her career, like the nurses and doctors in her family.

• Her advice is “to walk purposefully in the direction you’re going.”

• She had a childhood crush on Jim Morrison of the Doors. But maybe just Val Kilmer playing Jim Morrison.

• Her first concert was INXS.

• She loved a young dancer on Instagram so much that she “slid into his DMs” and invited him to Shine Away last week — and he came (with his mom) and performed for all of us!

• She always wears “matching bras and panties.” (TMI?! Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx and Sneex, does not. They put it out there!!!)

• She thinks Octavia Spencer (who was on a panel) has the best manners in Hollywood; she always sends flowers and shows up for her friends. Octavia is producing “First Lie Wins,” a Reese’s Book Club pick by Ashley Elston.

• Reese’s favorite class was English. (“No surprise.”)

• She calls Laura Dern everyday. And apparently calls her “Dern.”

• She’s watching the “hot rabbi show” (“Nobody Wants This”) on Netflix and said, “Omg, he’s so cute. I can’t. That kiss? I can’t.”

In addition to Reese and the star-studded line-up, there were so many authors there! I didn’t realize just how many Reese’s Book Club pick authors I’d interviewed.

Okay, I just counted: 42. Links to all those episodes below!

13 Authors I Saw Today:

Laura Dave, The Last Thing He Told Me

Left to right: Amanda Eyre Ward, The Jetsetters, Ana Reyes, The House in the Pines, Andrea Bartz, We Were Never Here

Lauren Ling Brown, Society of Lies (Lauren did an event at Zibby’s Bookshop last night! See my pics and videos on Instagram) with Michelle Weiner of CAA.

FYI, for Ashley Elston, author of First Lie Wins, Reese called her out from the stage and both she and Octavia Spencer were like, “So good! So good!” Ashley apparently teared up! Not surprisingly, we had a run on the title at the bookshop!

From left: Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins, not sure about the woman in green - yikes!, Kate Quinn, The Alice Network, me, Sadeqa Johnson, The House of Eve, Megan Miranda, The Last House Guest

Yamile Saied Mendez, Furia

Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee

Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist

Liv Constantine (this a sister duo with a pen name, btw!), The Last Mrs. Parrish

And there were SO MANY MORE fun people who I saw!!!!! This is just a small sample.

From left: Me, Steph Hockensmith (@pieladybooks), and CEO of Hello Sunshine Sarah Harden

Plus I got to hang out with Raegan Revord (Missy from “Young Sheldon”) who has a book club (@readwithraegan) and her own book coming out in fall 2025, a rom-com set in London. We booked her on the spot for an event at Zibby’s Bookshop!

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Okay.

Here are the 40+ Podcasts I’ve Done with Reese’s Book Club Authors.

Listen to all of them on Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books.

J. Courtney Sullivan, The Cliffs

Claire Lombardo, The Most Fun We Never Had

Xochitl Gonzalez, Anita Da Monte Laughs Last

Ella Berman, Before We Were Innocent

Ann Patchett, Tom Lake and This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

Curtis Sittenfeld, Romantic Comedy and You Think It, I’ll Say It

Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

Sadeqa Johnson, The House of Eve

Ana Reyes, The House in the Pines

Maggie O’Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things

Celeste Ng, Our Missing Hearts and Little Fires Everywhere

Maria Ampar Escandon, L.A. Weather

Miranda Cowley Heller, The Paper Palace

Tia Williams, Seven Days in June

Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

Laura Dave, The Last Thing He Told Me

Patricia Engel, Infinite Country

K.J. Dell’Antonio, The Chicken Sisters

Christie Tate, Group

Peace Adzo Medie, His Only Wife

Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee

Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist

Glennon Doyle, Untamed

Amanda Eyre Ward, The Jetsetters

Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age

Jojo Moyes, The Giver of Stars

Eve Rodsky, Fair Play

Lara Prescott, The Secrets We Kept

Chandler Baker, Whisper Network

Tembi Locke, From Scratch

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six

Jasmine Guillory, The Proposal

Susan Orlean, The Library Book

Josie Silver, One Day in December

Laurie Frankel, This is How it Always Is

Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

Maria Hummel, Still Lives

Jill Santopolo, The Light We Lost

Liv Constantine, The Last Mrs. Parrish

Alice Hoffman, The Rules of Magic

Gail Honeymoon, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

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The fun continues tomorrow, but I have to head back to New York. And I’m late going out to dinner!!

Hope you enjoyed the recap! THANK YOU, Hello Sunshine, for inviting us to partner with you. And thanks to Reese for putting on such a fabulous event. I’m in for next year.