by Kristin A. Oakley | Nov 2, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
For my November Book Club, I listened to Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, narrated by David Morse. I’d heard a lot of buzz about this book (it has over 200,000 reviews and a 4.7 star rating), so I was eager to listen to it. I’m sorry to say I struggled...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Oct 4, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
Land, is a historical novel by Maggie O’Farrell (author of Hamnet) of a family and their struggles while living in Ireland in 1865. The book had a slow start and then had a dramatic turn, which hooked me. British soldiers hire land surveyor Tomas who enlists the...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Sep 21, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, News and Events, Newsletter
A few days ago, my friend, author Abigail Morrison, texted me, “Congrats fellow semi-finalist!” I had to ask, “For what?” I’d completely forgotten that I’d submitted The Vessel – Book Two in The Devil Particle Series and its...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Aug 1, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter
This month’s book club goes back in time to late 1700s Maine and Ariel Lawhon’s novel The Frozen River. Lawhon based her historical murder mystery upon the journal entries of real life midwife Martha Ballard. Martha delivered over 800 babies and was called...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Jun 14, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister is my favorite book of 2026 (so far), and one of the best books I’ve read in the last decade. I listened to the audio book version of this psychological thriller twice, narrated by Leslie Sharp who did an excellent...
by Kristin A. Oakley | May 31, 2026 | Books and Movies, Creativity & Craft, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter
Opposable thumbs? When I attended elementary school, my teachers asked, “What makes us human? What separates us from the beasts?” They then posited the opposable thumb theory—we’re human because, unlike animals, we have opposable thumbs. That theory...
