One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf (Book Review)

Title: One Breath Away
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher: MIRA/Harlequin


About the Book: In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom.  Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits.


Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands.  Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again.  Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care.  And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.


As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.


My thoughts: I liked the premise of this story and the way that it was told from five different points of view.  The narrators all came from different walks of life and are at different stages of life.  


Meg is a police officer with a child who attends Broken Branch school in Iowa.  On this day, however, her child is with her father for an early start to spring break. Even so, she feels close ties to the children still left inside.  


Will has two grandchildren at the school - grandchildren he just met for the first time weeks earlier.  He had an instant connection to P.J., and they have become very close.  However, P.J.'s sister Augie is a hard nut to crack.  She is much like her mother and Will has a hard time relating to her, in much the same way as his relationship with her mother, his daughter Holly, suffered.  


Augie has not given her grandpa much to work with though.  She grew up hearing her mother complain about her life on the farm and was prejudiced against him before she ever met him.  She would do anything for P.J. though and refuses to leave the school without him.


Holly is in a hospital bed thousands of miles away in Arizona.  She is suffering from burns that cover her hands, arms and part of her head.  Her mother and father flew out and it was the first time she had spoken to them in fifteen years. Her mother has stayed to take care of her and her father has flown home with her children. 


Mrs. Oliver is the third grade teacher whose class the gunman has entered.  It is through her that we learn what we can about the gunman and his motives.  She does her best to keep her class from harm, one of which is P.J.


These five narrators begin to paint a picture of Broken Branch and it's people.  The secrets that we choose not to see, the ones that we do.  Those that we are quick to blame when something goes wrong. I liked the way that secrets were revealed and tension was built.  Unfortunately I had figured out who the gunman was early on, just didn't have a clue to what his motive was.  


~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Media Muscle in exchange for my review.~


DON"T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY GIVEAWAY FOR A COPY OF THIS BOOK THAT ENDS ON JULY 16.


One Breath Away
Publisher/Publication Date: MIRA, July 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1365-6
384 pages

One Breath Away (Scavenger Blog Tour and Giveaway)

One Breath Away

by Heather Gudenkauf

In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom.  Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits.

Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands.  Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care.  And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.

As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.

In her most emotionally charged novel to date, New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf explores the unspoken events that shape a community, the ties between parents and their children and how the fragile normalcy of our everyday life is so easily shattered. 

One Breath Away is touring with a Scavenger Blog Tour Hunt!  My excerpt is below, but I am number 7 on the tour so please visit this link to read all the excerpts! You can also join the author, Heather Gudenkauf for a live chat on July 26!  Click the picture for more details!

(Excerpt from One Breath Away)

Not sounding like my daughter at all. Augie is confident, smart, a take-charge, no one is ever going to walk all over me kind of girl.

“Augie? What’s the matter?” I try to blink the fuzziness of the morphine away; my tongue is dry and sticks to the roof of my mouth.

Interview with Heather Gudenkauf

What draws you to write suspenseful women’s fiction? I’ve enjoyed writing since I was a child – yes, I was one of those kids who did a fist pump whenever the teacher assigned a writing project -but as is typical with most writers, I was and am, first and foremost an avid reader. As a child my favorite place in the world was our public library and I spent as much time as possible with my nose in a book. I loved mysteries and plowed my way through all the Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew Mystery books. One of my favorite mystery series growing up was The Boxcar Children which I recently learned was originally published in 1924. I read all the books that were available when I was a child, and again as an adult I read them to my own children with enthusiasm. Who can resist a story about a tight knit set of orphaned siblings, an abandoned boxcar, a dog, and the mystery surrounding a long lost grandfather?

As I got older, I continued to enjoy mystery and suspense novels but my interests expanded to a variety of genres, including books that explored the intricacies of the human heart: Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Elizabeth Berg’s Pull of the Moon, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and so many more. I’ve always admired the way writers could take me away to different places and times through the written word. I knew I wanted to try my hand at writing but didn’t sit down and seriously begin until after I was married and had my children.  But when I did, I remembered all the stories and books I’ve read through the years, remembered how deftly authors could arrange the words on a page to be suspenseful, heart wrenching, or heart-warming – to evoke all varieties of emotion. My hope is to do the same for my readers.

And last but not least - please enter to win a paperback copy of One Breath Away!  Giveaway is open to U.S./Canada only and will end on July 16, 2012 at midnight.

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ARC Arrival: The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Publisher: Mira Books

I received this book from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.

About the book: It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets. (from the back cover)

About the author: Heather Gudenkauf has spent the past sixteen years working with students of all ages and is currently an instructional coach, an educator who provides curricular and professional development support to teachers. As an individual with a hearing impairment, Heather chose to write The Weight of Silence to, among other things, highlight the struggles faced by children with communication disabilities. She lives in Dubuque, Iowa, with her husband, three children and a very spoiled German shorthaired pointer. The Weight of Silence is her first novel. (from the back cover)

The Weight of Silence
Publisher/Publication Date: Mira Books, August 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2740-0
384 pages

Waiting on Wednesday: The Weight of Silence

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Publisher/Publication Date: Mira, August 2009

While looking for a Waiting on Wednesday book this morning - I didn't have to go far, when this one jumped up at me from the beginnning of the Shelf Awareness e-mail!

About the book: Masterfully written and beautifully told, Heather Gudenkauf's debut is a stunning novel of family devotion, honesty and regret that will linger long after the last page is turned.

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn’s shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Petra Gregory is Calli’s best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra or Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets. (from the MIRA website)

About the author: Heather graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent the past sixteen years working with students of all ages and is currently an instructional coach, and educator who provides curricular and professional development support to teachers.

Heather lives in Dubuque, Iowa, with her husband, three children and a very spoiled German shorthaired pointer named Maxine. When she's not working, Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking and running.

The Weight of Silence is her first novel.

Click on The Weight of Silence for a link to preview this book.

The Weight of Silence
Publisher/Publication Date: Mira, August 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-2740-0
384 pages

What book are you waiting for?