by Kristin A. Oakley | Apr 19, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter
For this month’s Writer’s Book Club, I’m reviewing the young adult mystery One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. In the novel, a teacher sends five high schoolers to detention for having phones—phones they claim aren’t theirs. When one...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Apr 7, 2026 | For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writing Life
As a novelist, I am anti Artificial Intelligence. Full disclosure, I use Spellcheck, Grammarly, and ProWritingAid to check my grammar (I suck at commas). I also use people—my critical and ARC (advanced reader copy) readers point out missed commas and typos. The rest...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Mar 22, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
For this month’s Writer’s Book Club, I’m tackling the spooky thriller We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook (expertly read by Jeremy Carlisle Parker and Corey Brill). In We Used to Live Here, Eve and her...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Mar 9, 2026 | Creativity & Craft, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writing Life
I’ve received feedback from three of my critical readers and know I’ve got more work to do on the last two books in The Devil Particle Series. Even so, I’m almost done with these novels. I’m mourning the characters and the story and am almost...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Feb 22, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
I picked up this month’s novel, Detour, at the independent bookstore Arcadia Books in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and couldn’t wait to get to it. Jeff Rake, creator of Netflix’s Manifest, and bestselling author Rob Hart, wrote the tale of six people...
by Kristin A. Oakley | Feb 8, 2026 | For Readers, For Writers, News and Events, Newsletter, Writing Life
Two Sundays ago, I went to a movie theater to see The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was great fun watching it on the big screen. I’m now reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and wondered how J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the books...
