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Hit the open road with these books about road trips. Let's hop in the getaway car and learn what it takes to write a great Thelma and Louise story with Colleen Oakley.

Do you love road trip books? In today's show, we will go on a wildly entertaining road trip with a college dropout and an eighty-four-year-old woman on the run from the law.

Today’s Book Gang podcast features an interview with Colleen Oakley discussing her feisty new novel, The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise, which pays tribute to the iconic movie Thelma & Louise. 

Colleen shares how she aimed to capture various aspects of the film in her story and how her research on police work and investigations informed the development of the missing person case and jewelry heist in the book. 

We also discuss what it takes to write about two very different generations and why she included Tanner's struggles with chronic pain in her story. 

Don’t miss Colleen’s favorite books about road trips in today’s bonus book list with a few of my favorite adventures on the open road. We have included joyful stories, thought-provoking adventures, and nonfiction memoirs for your best armchair travel escape. 

Meet Colleen Oakley  

Colleen Oakley is the USA Today bestselling author of five novels, including The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, You Were There Too, Close Enough to Touch, and Before I Go. 

Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages worldwide, lauded by numerous magazines, including People, Us Weekly, Library Journal, and Real Simple, and won multiple awards, including Georgia Author of the Year. 

Her newest novel THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF TANNER & LOUISE, is a GMA Buzz Pick, the April 2023 selection of the Reader's Digest Book Club, the Marie Claire #ReadWithMC Book Club, a LibraryReads pick, and was named a most anticipated book for 2023 by The Today Show, Southern Living, The AJC, NerdDaily, SheReads and more. 

A former magazine editor for Women's Health & Fitness and Marie Claire, Colleen lives in Atlanta with her husband, four children, a flock of chickens, and a mutt named Baxter.

Mentioned in this episode:

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The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley

The BEST BOOKS ABOUT ROAD TRIPS Bonus Book List 

Normal Family by Chrysta Bilton

MomAdvice Book Club

Normal Family Book Chat

Fables Books

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley

Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley

Before I Go by Colleen Oakley

Thelma and Louise

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Stardew Valley

The Last Of Us

Rose the Prude - Golden Girls

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

The Long Way Back by Nicole Baart

Side Trip by Kerry Lonsdale

Rebecca’s Book Reviews

Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale

A Day in the Life of a Book Publicist

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

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