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 17, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
It’s been a while since I’ve read one of Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books, and I’d forgotten how much I love them—the humor, the smart, competent characters, the twists. His latest novel, The Big Empty, doesn’t disappoint. Ex-con...
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 | 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 | Jan 25, 2026 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
To start this year’s Writer’s Book Club, I’ve selected Stephen King’s novella The Life of Chuck. At only 109 pages, $20 seems pricey for the slim, small hardcover, but it includes images in the lower-right-hand corner of a man dancing....
by Kristin A. Oakley | Aug 18, 2025 | Books and Movies, For Readers, For Writers, Newsletter, Writer's Book Club
I’ve recently discovered Blake Crouch and his sci-fi, dystopian novels including Dark Matter and Recursion, so I went looking for more of his work and discovered Pines. The first book in the Wayward Pines Trilogy, this novel had me hooked the minute I started...
