Review for Where Silence Gathers (Some Quiet Place #2) by Kelsey Sutton

TITLE: Where Silence Gathers
SERIES: Some Quiet Place #2
AUTHOR: Kelsey Sutton
PUBLICATION DATE: July 8, 2014
PUBLISHER: Flux
PAGES: 360 pages
FORMAT: E-ARC / ARC / Audiobook
SOURCE: Blog tour via NetGalley / Freebie shelf at Malaprops / Gifted from Kelsey Sutton
RATING: 3 bows

Nate Foster ruined Alex’s life. He is responsible for the car crash that killed her parents and her baby brother, leaving her orphaned to live with her uncle. Alex’s life was already complicated before that. She sees emotions. Love, joy, anger, sadness, and every other feeling you can think of. Revenge has been her best friend ever since her parents were killed and now that Nate has been released from prison, her path is clear. Kill the man who killed her parents and take her revenge. And when she is just about ready to make it happen, Forgiveness shows up and completely confuses her. She cannot forgive this man, he took her family from her, but yet, she doesn’t know if she can bring herself to end his life either. Given the choice, will she stick with Revenge or cave to Forgiveness?

Alex wasn’t a character I enjoyed. Right off the bat, I wavered between finding her dull and being annoyed with her. Her life sucks, understood, but I still didn’t get her attitude. Her aunt and uncle do everything they can for her, they offer psychiatric help, and she just brushes it off. I guess I just can’t understand that near-suicidal thought process. I was diagnosed with depression in middle school, but I don’t know if that was the right diagnosis for me. I don’t understand someone who feels so hopeless. I don’t understand her down-spiraling mindset. I have never understood how suicide could ever be the answer. I get that changing things is difficult, sometimes impossible, but once you pull that trigger (or down those pills or take the hairdryer into the tub), it’s all over. Any shot you had at happiness is gone. I don’t believe in any form of life after death, so I don’t ever see how that would help. I’m not criticizing or anything, it’s just not a mindset I can understand or like to read about. Even though I have taken psychology and I know all about depression and it’s effects, I still find the characters with it highly annoying. I just want to shake them out of their trance. I know this is not an acceptable response and I know that they can’t help it, but that’s is the response it generates in me.

As for the guys, let’s just say I didn’t care for either of them. Part of what I loved about Some Quiet Place was Fear and how amazing he was. I fell in love with his character. We get small glimpses of him here, but nothing to satisfy that craving I had for him. Compared to him, both Revenge and Forgiveness fall flat. Revenge is a jackass who is only trying to get Alex to make the choice his way, prepping her for that decision. Forgiveness is better, but he just comes off as a bit….um…I don’t know? I want to say religious, but that is so far from the right word that it’s not funny. I can’t put my finger on the right word, but I just didn’t particularly like him.

That was a big problem for me, I didn’t like any of the cast…except for the scant glimpses of Fear we get. I’m very character driven. I was also a little bored by the whole story. I read the first 50 or so pages in a book and then listened to the rest on audio and there was never a moment when I felt like I had to continue listening, despite any other interruptions. I just wasn’t very enthralled by the story or where it was going. I also wasn’t crazy about the ending. I like happy endings. I like the girl getting the boy she wants (or, better yet, the one she needs) and knowing that they are going to make it work. That’s not how this ends.

Despite my issues, this gets three stars because I think my problems were just that, my problems. I have a hard time relating to a depressed character like Alex, I didn’t care for the love interests, and the plot was just mehish to me. Then again, it’s hard to care where the plot goes when I don’t care how the characters end up. The ending wasn’t what I wanted, but it does end on a happy(ish) note, with hope for the future.

Bottom line? If you are reading this looking for something similar to it’s predecessor, you won’t get it. Alex’s story and Elizabeth’s is that they can both see emotions. That’s it. Starting this, I was so excited and overjoyed because I truly loved Elizabeth’s story and I was looking for something else along those lines. This story is completely different. I won’t say it’s bad, because it’s not, I just don’t think it was the right story for me. I like that nearly perfect HEA and this isn’t that type of story.

****Thank you to Flux for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review****Also thank you to Kelsey for gifting me an audible copy****

Review for Some Quiet Place (Some Quiet Place #1) by Kelsey Sutton

TITLE: Some Quiet Place
SERIES: Some Quiet Place #1
AUTHOR: Kelsey Sutton
PUBLICATION DATE: July 8, 2013
PUBLISHER: Flux
PAGES: 331 pages
FORMAT: Paperback
SOURCE: Purchased
RATING: 4 bows

Elizabeth Caldwell doesn’t feel emotions, she sees them. They have long given up on making her feel the effects of their touch. It doesn’t work and no one knows why. The only one who hasn’t given up is Fear, who spends too much time looking into her past and attempting to torment her with his touch. Elizabeth herself has come to depend on Fear’s company and chatter, but is he dependable as she needs? Can they unravel the mystery of her emotionless existence?

Elizabeth is an interesting character. She fakes her way through life, without experiencing any emotions, but she isn’t cruel. She tries to assimilate into high school culture and follows the social norms and rules, but is always just a little off. It’s hard to pretend to be ruled by emotions she doesn’t feel. She experiences nothing, not joy, not rage, not sorrow, not even lust. Pretty faced boys with oodles of muscles illicit no reaction. Fear, with his gorgeous face and obvious devotion to her, doesn’t bring anything to the table. And man, oh man, does she want to feel something for Fear.

Speaking of Fear….

I love him. He’s diabolical and terrifying and absolutely amazing. He’s devotion to Elizabeth is swoon-inducing on it’s own because he’s so tenacious about it. He refuses to believe Elizabeth cannot feel any emotion. She feels, he knows she does, it’s just so very faint it’s hard to tell. Despite her insistence that she feels absolutely nothing, he manages to make her cry at a particular funeral. He is right about her on so many levels and I was rooting for him so hard it wasn’t funny.

I was rooting for him because this does have a dreaded love triangle.

I know, I know, but they are unavoidable and this wasn’t even remotely alluded to in the description. I was a little miffed when I realized that was where this was heading.

Okay, so maybe more than a little because I generally try to avoid love triangles because they are a source of rage for me. I hate the whole set up. I hate the two people fighting for one person and knowing that someone is going to end up unhappy. I want everyone to ride off into the sunset at the end, all shits and giggles. I know this is too much to ask, I’ve been told over and over again, but it’s still what I hope for, k?

ANYWAY, the other point in the love triangle is Joshua, a sweet, farm boy Elizabeth has known all her life who has finally worked up the guts to talk to her. I really liked him and had you put him up against any other male than Fear, he might have been who I rooted for, but Fear wins, hands down. He does nothing wrong and helps Elizabeth even when she’s particularly bitchy, but the connection with Fear was already established and that who I liked best. There isn’t really a logical reason behind this, I just liked one better. However, Joshua’s happiness is part of why it got 4 stars instead of 5. Joshua genuinely loves Elizabeth and that does not end well for him. I feel like he deserves to be happy and maybe he will be eventually, but not at this exact moment.

Another reason is the matter with Charles, Elizabeth’s brother, wasn’t finished well. They made up and started to work things out and she leaves without any resolution. I guess I just don’t understand why things had to end that particular way? I can’t say more with revealing spoilers, I don’t think, but after everything they went through, I hate that she leaves it the way she does. There is no logical reason to do so.

BUT, besides the two small issues, I loved this novel. It was impossible to put down and wholly entertaining. Within the first 20 or so pages, you get so much. I remember talking to Lauren about the two books I was reading last Saturday and saying that so far, The Brokenhearted was pretty good, but I was only 20 or so pages in. I said that this one was amazing so far and was talking about Fear and all the things that have happened so far and thinking, “Wow, I must have gotten further than I thought.” So I pulled it out of my purse to check and I was only on chapter 4. It’s an action packed ride that keeps you guess and begging for me. Fear stole my heart almost instantly and Elizabeth’s journey isn’t one I’ll soon forget.

All you really need to know is that the good far outweighs the bad. This has great writing, interesting characters, and a truly unique, well fleshed-out world. It will suck you in and won’t let you be until you have devoured every page!