Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton

Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton is a hard book to summarize/review.  I liked it, but it was also odd and at the end I really didn’t feel complete.  Elizabeth Caldwell is our main character.  She doesn’t feel emotions, instead she sees them.  She can identify an emotion because to her they look like people, granted not always the best looking people.  Elizabeth is in this protective bubble that doesn’t allow emotions to enter, and at this point in her life most emotions have stopped trying to make her feel… anything.  All emotions, that is, except one: Fear.  Fear, with his white blond hair and piercing cold blue eyes, is too intrigued that this mere mortal cannot feel him so he visits her as much as possible trying to create an effect on her.  There isn’t much that is given to the reader to figure out Elizabeth’s story.  You are told that she was in an accident when she was younger and she has these bizarre dreams, where she is someone else. 

In these dreams she sees a twin brother and sister.  She sees their loving relationship, along with Fear and his relationship with the sister.  The connection between what Elizabeth dreams about and why she is the way she is, is very vague and doesn’t become clearer to the end.  The point is that the book keeps you guessing and trying to figure out why Elizabeth cannot feel emotions.  This is a great characteristic for a book, but that isn’t what I was discontent. 

Let’s talk about triangles.  I am always ranting and raving about teenage love triangles because there is no possible way that every teenage girl gets two amazing guys fighting for her… every time.  That just doesn’t make sense with the statistical and scientific proof out there.  If anything there should be more books about how teenage boys have to fight off girls (there are more girls than boys, consensus wise in the world).  This book, even though the main character cannot feel emotions, does not escape the whole triangle conundrum.  Instead, I think it showed triangles for what they are worth.  One person wins (out of the boys) and the other person is used by the main love interest to gain perspective of what/who they really are before the make the obvious choice.  And I think I fell for the one being used, or at least felt terrible that he was being used and didn’t really respect the main character all that much. 

So, is the book terrible? No, my lack of feeling complete is a personal one.  The author did a great job in creating a world where emotions were personified and those personifications were “real people” too. 

3.5/5 stars.  Thanks NetGalley!