Nerd Blast: Where Silence Gather by Kelsey Sutton!!

Welcome to the Nerd Blast for Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton hosted and organized by Jean BookNerd!!

Publisher: FLUX
Format: Paperback | 350 pages
Dimensions: 132mm x 201mm x 25mm | 340g
Publication date: 8 July 2014
Publication City/Country: Woodbury
ISBN 10: 0738739472
ISBN 13: 9780738739472

Synopsis: 

 In this companion novel to the critically acclaimed Some Quiet Place, Alex must choose between Revenge and Forgiveness.

For as long as she can remember, Alexandra Tate has been able to see personified Emotions, and she's found a best friend in Revenge. He's her constant companion as she waits outside Nate Foster's house, clutching a gun. Every night since Nate's release from prison, Alex has tried to work up the courage to exact her own justice on him for the drunk driving accident that killed her family.

But there's one problem: Forgiveness. When he appears, Alex is faced with a choice—moving on or getting even. It's impossible to decide with Forgiveness whispering in one ear . . . and Revenge whispering in the other.

 

Kelsey Sutton has done everything from training dogs and making cheeseburgers to selling yellow page ads and cleaning hotel rooms. She lives in northern Minnesota and received a BA in English from Bemidji State University. 

When Kelsey is not writing or trying out a new career, she can be found in the park with her dogs, ordering a coconut mocha at the local coffee shop, or browsing a bookstore.

  

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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton!

Hello everyone! How's Monday going? Mine gives the start to a fairly busy week, where I'll have to juggle reading and blogging with a very full week of work and quite a few errands, appointments and a co-worker's wedding on Saturday! I'm feeling tired already! I foresee a VERY lazy Sunday this week!

I'm starting the week and my Mark This Book Monday with a book that I got for review on NetGalley and that's been one of my quite awaited books of the year. Thanks for the approval Flux Books! As an eARC it counts for my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I loved Kelsey's debut novel last year, Some Quiet Place, so when I saw the companion novel on NetGalley I requested it, and was super happy to get approved by Flux once again!

I have to say that I didn't manage to enjoy the book as much as I did the previous one. It's not that the story wasn't compelling or the writing fantastic but I just couldn't connect with Alexandra, the main character.

Alex's story is quite opposite from Elizabeth's on Some Quiet Place. Where Elizabeth can see emotions but doesn't feel anything, Alex can see AND feel the emotions. She lost her parents and her brother in a car crash where she survived and since then she's twisted herself around her grief, holding on to it as if that was all that's left. Combine that with getting attached to an Emotion like Revenge, and you can see what a twisted character she is.

The story follows Alex to all her mistakes and her inability to face or deal with her grief, her search for information about the truth about her father and her godfather, and her infatuation/love for Revenge and her confusion when Forgiveness enters the picture.

Even if I can understand how grief can consume us and shape who we are, no matter how long ago a loss has happened and I've seen quite a lot of loss in my line of work, and even if I could see how much Alex was suffering and how wrapped up was in it and how nearly impossible it can be to break from it... I just couldn't connect with her. I kept feeling more for the family and friends she kept pushing away and hurting than for Alex herself. She felt so removed from everyone around her that I ended up feeling removed from her too.

This book gives us a bit more of glimpse into a world where some people can see Emotions and Elementals when the majority can't, and although we don't get too many clear explanations, we get a few glimpses that can help us draw our own conclusions.

I'm giving this book 3 stars, it could have been 4 or more easily if I could have connected with Alex, and it's a brave risk that the author has taken, to write a character like her. I will surely be keeping an eye on whatever Kelsey writes next, cause she's an author to watch!



View all my reviews

Waiting On Wednesday #46!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

What book am I is-it-already-here kind of waiting for this week? Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton!!

Goodreads Summary:

"In this companion novel to the critically acclaimed Some Quiet Place, Alex must choose between Revenge and Forgiveness.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandra Tate sits outside Nate Foster's house, clutching a gun. After serving ten years for the drunk driving accident that killed Alex's family, Nate has been released from prison. Every night, Alex waits out of sight, building up the courage to exact her own justice. There's just one problem: Forgiveness.

Alex has been able to see personified Emotions for as long as she can remember, and Revenge is her best friend. But when Forgiveness suddenly appears, he offers Alex a choice—getting even or moving on. It's impossible to decide when Revenge whispers in one ear . . . and Forgiveness whispers in the other."



Why am I eagerly awaiting Where Silence Gathers? Well, the first book in the series was one of my favourite debuts of the year, very different and one of the first ARCs I also got approved for via NetGalley. After the poetic creepiness of embodied emotions, I cannot wait to see what this sequel/companion novel has in store for us!

What are you all (im)patiently awaiting this week?