VBT# One Breath Away - Heather Gudenkauf

Oh, I love the Virtual Book Tours that come through BookTrib :) They are always such exciting reads and I get to read a copy of the book and I also get a cute Tour Badge :)

Today's book is one for all parents and readers who enjoy novels about School Shootings and the hanging question on How far would you go to save the ones you love ?
Check out more participating sites at http://booktrib.com/booktrib-blog-tour-nyt-bestselling-author-heather-gudenkaufs-one-breath-away-one-school-one-gunman-your-child/,

Review: One Breath Away - Heather Gudenkauf - June 2012

As soon as I saw the cover of this book and read the blurb, I knew I would fall in love with the book . One of my favourite Edgy content themes to read about in Novels is School Shootings as I find them quite fascinating in a non-sadistic sociopath/ psychopath way. They hold my attention , they are so well written and draw the readers in as it is I find in the last moment of survival and a fight for the fittest when people reveal their true colours. Will they fight and stay for their loved ones , or will they freeze up and freak out ? 

One Breath Away by Heather Gundenkauf is a book that those who have read and enjoyed Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult , Save Me by Lisa Scottoline , The Pact by Jodi Picoult, 13 Reasons why by Jay Asher and The Hate List by Jennifer Brown - (all books I have read and loved-well most of them I loved) will really enjoy, they will find that they are unable to put the book in and the story will have them drawn deeper and deeper into the book. 

In One Breath Away , Augie and PJ have gone to live with their grandparents whilst their mother Holly gets well soon. The children have been enrolled into school and are slowly making friends, until one day a gunman storms into the school and starts to hold the students in one particular classroom hostage - the classroom of Mrs. Oliver , PJ's classroom. Augie , not one to let her brother die or be alone despite repeated attempts rushes to the classroom only to find her brother being held at gunpoint. Will Augie be able to save PJ ? Is the Killer someone who knows them or is it about something more deeper ? A novel that shows us that when it comes down to the crunch, are you a fight or flight ? Would you be able to save the one person you care most about in the world ?

A heart-wrenching and powerful novel, One Breath Away as the title suggests captures you in one breath and blows you away with it's awesomeness.

A definite Must -Read.

Mr. Ellery always gives time for people to read what they’ve written out loud if they’d like to. I’ve never shared. No way I’m going to let these morons know what I’m thinking. I’ve read Harriet the Spy and I keep my notebook with me all the time.

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.