4.5 
 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.