"One Breath Away" by Heather Gudenkauf

Her Best Yet!

In One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf, a lone gunman takes over a small classroom holding the teacher and pupils hostage.  What made this book so good in my opinion is that it is told by five people as the novel is ongoing.  I got to know their thought and background to understand what led up to this point.  The writing is superb.  If you want riveting, this is it!  I could hardly put it down and kept saying how good it was while reading it.  Oh, and good luck trying to figure out who the gunman is—I was completely surprised!  To sum it up, it doesn’t get any better than this—don’t let this one get past you! 
(Gerard's review, rating 5 stars)

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf is really, really good!  It is fast-paced and realistic contemporary fiction with characters that are very believable.  It grabbed my attention right from the start and never let me go!  The hostage situation at the small school in a fictional small town in Iowa is described so well, I could feel what the characters were feeling.  It kept me guessing who the gunman was right until he was revealed.  I’m sure because this story is told from five different people, there is at least one that you will identify with.  For me, I identified with the teacher—determined to protect her students from the gunman while thinking about her husband.  The teen girl’s unwavering desire to protect her brother was both touching and heartwarming.  It shows how a crisis can bring families closer.    I highly recommend One Breath Away—it even has a dog in it!
(Karen's review, rating 5 stars)

Other books we've read by this Heather Gudenkauf:
These Things Hidden
Weight of Silence

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Amped" by Daniel H. Wilson

Amped by Daniel H. Wilson is about people who get implanted with an amp. This amp gives them more power than the average human and a conflict grows. I thought this was pretty good but it took me awhile to get into it. The last 100 pages really saved it and makes it one I recommend!
(Gerard's review, rating 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"The Face of Heaven" by Murray Pura

The Face of Heaven by Murray Pura is historical Christian fiction about an Amish man and woman who feel strongly enough against slavery that the man joins the union army and the woman volunteers as a nurse on the battlefields of the Civil War. There is the romance story line too but the majority of the book is about the Civil War through their eyes. Nathaniel and Lyndel must endure shunning from their families and community when they join the war effort, but believe it is what God would have them do. I learned from reading this book that it is not the custom of the Amish to wear wedding bands and that a married woman wears a white knapp, but a single woman wears a black knapp.

Parts of this book were very intense and so gripping that I missed my bus stop while reading it coming home from work on the bus one day. Other, parts dragged a bit, but overall it was good. I also read The Wings of Morning by this author and liked that one even better.
(Karen's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Do I Give Away Too Much?

Reading in our backyard with our dog, Abby.

Writing book reviews is a bit tricky for me to know how much of the story to share without spoiling it for someone.  Recently, I got two replies to a couple reviews on Amazon that I shouldn't include spoilers in my reviews.  Honestly, I didn't think I did; however, the fact that these readers thought so made me question it.  On this blog, my husband and I both review the books we read and have very different styles.

Gerard tends to focus more on what he thought of the book and are generally very short reviews.  On the other hand, I give a short synopsis of what happens in the book without giving away the ending.  Sometimes I'll share a part I especially liked if it's a book I really enjoyed.  When I finish a book that makes me go "Wow!" and that I want to discuss it with someone, it's difficult for me not to share some details. 

So, I'm asking our blog readers, what do you think?  Do I give away too much.  Does Gerard give you enough?  In general, I am asking for constructive criticism here so we can improve our reviews.

Happy Reading!

Tuesday Teasers: Historical Amish Fiction and a Mystery

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Karen's:

When they arrived at the second landing, the man shoved him forward down the final set of stairs and the slave landed with a cry of pain on top of Nathaniel. Immediately behind, Moses came tumbling down the steps after him.

Taken from page 25 of The Face of Heaven by Murray Pura. (Historical Christian Amish Fiction)

Gerard's:

"It's nothing I can't work out," he stated flatly. "We'll find Paul Everett, Ms. Gleason. If he's alive, we'll find him."

From page 21 of The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane. (Finished this one yesterday, click the link for the review.)

Here's a link to Our Favorite Reads For July.

If you have reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!