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
I read Some Quiet
Place when it came out, by accident, and it was one of the loveliest most
interesting books. The companion novel; Where
Silence Gathers lived up to my hopes and dreams.
It was dark, dealt with real life issues like loss and pain,
boredom and sorrow while also dragging you through a magical world where some
people can see emotions and elements as real people.
This book dealt with the MC, Alexandra’s, struggle between
revenge and forgiveness. Revenge has been her constant companion since her parent’s
death and she fancies herself in love with him. Then forgiveness appears and
throws her world into chaos. Even though I mention that the MC thinks she loves
Revenge I must admit this book had little to no romantic element in it.
The minor and major characters were very well flushed out,
each with personality and back-story. The writing was dreary, imaginative, descriptive,
heartbreaking and beautiful.
The author likes to write about characters that are somewhat
hopeless and give them brief glimmers of hope (in a very literal sense.) I
enjoy her ideal of the small quiet town where nothing lives but dust and
everything tastes of sadness. I know it is not a great representation of small
town life, but coming from a small town myself I know it can feel like you are
living in a dead place where nothing happens and everyone is dull and
colorless.
The mystery in this novel was pretty good as well, I enjoyed
that there was more to the plot than Alex and her dismal life and rebellious
attitude. The MC does tend to whine a bit and acts out against those that love
her. However, if your family had all been killed in an accident and you couldn’t
even grieve without being bothered a hundreds of emotions that could talk to
you and touch you, you might be pissy at life too.
While I didn’t like this as much as Some Quiet Place, it was a great second novel from the author. I
especially liked that this was a companion novel instead of a sequel, since a sequel
was not needed.
