Sunday, September 29, 2013

Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton

Some Quiet Place
by Kelsey Sutton
Read: September 23 - 25
Published: July 8th 2013 by Flux 
Source: Library
Category: PNR, Horror elements, YA
Find: Goodreads | Amazon



I can’t weep. I can’t fear. I’ve grown talented at pretending.

Elizabeth Caldwell doesn’t feel emotions . . . she sees them. Longing, Shame, and Courage materialize around her classmates. Fury and Resentment appear in her dysfunctional home. They’ve all given up on Elizabeth because she doesn’t succumb to their touch. All, that is, save one—Fear. He’s intrigued by her, as desperate to understand the accident that changed Elizabeth’s life as she is herself.

Elizabeth and Fear both sense that the key to her past is hidden in the dream paintings she hides in the family barn. But a shadowy menace has begun to stalk her, and try as she might, Elizabeth can barely avoid the brutality of her life long enough to uncover the truth about herself. When it matters most, will she be able to rely on Fear to save her?

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Elizabeth Caldwell is a high school girl living on a farm with her family in the Midwest. But nothing is as simple as that. Elizabeth lives in a world where Emotions and Elements have literal personifications. Maybe it's our world too, because she is the only one who can actually see them. Although Elizabeth knows what Anger, Guilt and Courage look like, she can't feel any emotions. They don't affect her at all. In an effort to hide her emptiness, Elizabeth carefully fakes appropriate reactions around her family and at school. But they all know something is different about her anyway. Elizabeth doesn't have any idea why she is like this, but she thinks it has something to do with strange dreams she keeps having.  

Fear is fascinated by Elizabeth, and determined to get a reaction of her. So he visits, bringing illusions of terror that would have the strongest among us begging for mercy. But nothing works.  I really loved the imagery in this book, especially when Fear visits. We are able to experience Elizabeth's lack of emotions in a nearly tangible way. I could sense the absence through her. She faces truly horrifying situations in this book - some from her real life and some Fear's illusions - and instead of being scared or angry or sad, Elizabeth thinks clinically about what the most appropriate reaction should be in that moment and executes it accordingly. There's something eerie about the wrongness of how she responds, which sets a great tone for in the book. 

In Some Quiet Place, Elizabeth works to discover why she is the way she is. I think the author did a great job of slowly unraveling the mystery surrounding Elizabeth. Information comes out at a good pace and there are many pieces that surprised me along the way. This book is pretty scary in parts, and turns up the horror notch as well. But it also contains some raw and powerful emotions, which may be surprising since Elizabeth cannot feel.

Despite everything that I enjoyed about this book, I had issues with a few elements. The first is the presence of a love triangle. Although I understood it to a degree - with Elizabeth lacking emotions, it is hard to for her to figure out what she actually feels about others (or what she would feel if she possessed emotions). I didn't think it needed to go on so long, and I didn't fully buy the justification for it in the latter part of the book. However, I still didn't feel overly threatened by the triangle. Thankfully, it didn't quite make it to the "I love you, but I love him more," status that is the kiss of death for me. 

I also had a big problem with Elizabeth's school nemesis Sophie, aka "The Mean Girl." She was so over the top that her behavior irritated me more and more the further into the book I read. Even with her background, I couldn't believe her actions. 

Some Quiet Place has a strong beginning and possesses fantastic imagery all the way through, but it began to follow more of the standard Paranormal Romance plot elements as it progressed into the second half. This made the book less interesting in my opinion. I will admit that part of this transition for me has to do with the triangle. I also felt like some things got drawn out unnecessarily near the end. However, as a whole I enjoyed Some Quiet Place and I am interested in the sequel. 

Love Triangle Factor: Mild that felt medium at times
Cliffhanger Scale: Low. Part of a series, but book 2 may be a companion? 

Book 2 is called Where Silence Gathers and it will be published July 0f 2014. "Kelsey Sutton’s follow-up to SOME QUIET PLACE (Flux, July, 2013), set in the same world of personified emotions, in which a girl wanting revenge on the man responsible for the death of her family is influenced by both Forgiveness and Revenge and must ultimately choose which path to take."





20 comments:

  1. I was not super engaged by this book probably because of Elizabeth's lack of emotions-since she didn't feel anything, I didn't really feel anything.

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    1. HA! That's actually one of the my favorite aspects of the book! BUt I'm sorry that it didn't work for you.

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  2. Book two might be a companion eh? I'm excited to see that there is a book two, since I really want to find out more about the Emotions and how that whole system works, but I agree with you about the various character dynamics. I got sick of the high school scene!

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    1. YES the High School drama is exactly what I meant. Ugh is right. But glad you liked this one overall as well. I added some copy above about book 2, which I got from Goodreads. It sounds like a companion!

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  3. Ehh, not impressed by the mention of a love triangle or the fact that this evolves into a typical paranormal romance story arc. I'll wait on your thoughts about the sequel before charging into this series, I think. Thanks for the honest review, Lauren!(:

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    1. Not sure this one will have enough in it to tempt you, K! I'll keep you informed about the sequel if I read it.

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  4. Love the cover on this one (I know. It's a girl in a dress. But a dress made of awesome! Definitely an intriguing concept and at least the love triangle factor isn't *too* high...

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    1. The cover IS gorgeous! I agree. The dress is pretty spectacular. Even though it doesn't play directly into the story. You know, another recent book with a prom dress looking cover is THESE BROKEN STARS. But that dress IS in the story, and it actually represents the story well. But I digress. This story is unique and approached well, minus the triangle. However, it's not THAT threatening if you're worried!

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  5. There's a sequel? I had no idea! Blogger fail:) I really liked this one Lauren, but I agree with you on the triangle, I could have done without it entirely, or without it getting quite to the point it did. Like you though, I enjoyed the other aspects of the book enough that the pseudo triangle didn't bother me all that much. And there were definitely some terrifying moments! Fear was good at his job:) Gorgeous review as always!

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    1. I added information above about the second book. Also, I'm sending you an email about some spoilery things!

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  6. Hmmm... I'm really intrigued by her thinking about how she should react, but I'm not the biggest fan of over the top mean girls.

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    1. That mean girl Sophie is crazy! Her behavior gets wilder as the book progresses. HOWEVER< if you're interested in the other elements in this book, I don't think that should completely deter you. There are some really great elements to balance everything out.

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  7. Such a gorgeous cover! I remember hearing about this book a few months back--glad you were able to check it out and vet it for me, L:) It seems like a standard paranormal in many ways--and frankly I'm a bit burnt on those, so I'll probably hold off reading this one for now. But I do like that there is some horror included--that's always a good thing, imo:)

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    1. Aren't they beautiful! I think this one got very PNR in the middle, but the beginning was strong and it has some really great moments and themes throughout. And YES some great horror. I think you would approve.

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  8. I ended up DNFing this book, I'm afraid. I liked the concept of it, but the lack of emotion was really hard for me to get past. I think her writing is interesting though, so I'd definitely try out another book by this author down the road. Love your review, Lauren, as always.

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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    1. The way the lack of emotion was written was one of my favorite parts! BUt you're not the only person who's mentioned that they couldn't connect to it. I admire your ability to DNF books you're not feeling. But this one I did like overall.

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  9. Hmmm...I'm intrigued by this book, I may have to check it out. Not sure how a girl with no emotions can be involved in a love triangle.... ~Pam

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    1. My thoughts exactly, Pam. I don't think the triangle was necessary. But I never do, really. If triangles don't bother you, I think you'll be okay with this one. But overall this book was pretty creative for its genre and I really like how the lack of emotion was written in the story. Hope you enjoy this one too!

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  10. That's a really fascinating concept. I'd love to read about Fear personified! I guess I never really paid attention to this synopsis before because after seeing that cover I'd immediately move on to reading about something else. I'm just not a fan of the cover at all.
    I was thinking that maybe I should reconsider this book as I started reading your review, but then I got to the part where you said that this does end up taking a turn for the worst, cliched and all. Not for me right now, but perhaps I'll reconsider when the next novel releases?
    I'm glad, though, that you still found this to be a mostly enjoyable read!

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  11. The first time I heard about this I thought it was such a fascinating concept, but over time I've seen some pretty mixed reviews about this one that make me decidedly less excited about it. I'm still probably going to read it at some point, but it's not at the top of my TBR.
    Great review!

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