Frost by Kate Avery Ellison Launch Party

A very special THANK YOU to AToMR Tours and Julie for allowing me to be a part of this Launch Tour!

In the icy, monster-plagued world of the Frost, one wrong move and a person could end up dead—and Lia Weaver knows this better than anyone. After monsters kill her parents, she must keep the family farm running despite the freezing cold and threat of monster attacks or risk losing her siblings to reassignment by the village Elders. With dangers on all sides and failure just one wrong step away, she can’t afford to let her emotions lead her astray. So when her sister finds a fugitive bleeding to death in the forest—a young stranger named Gabe—Lia surprises herself and does the unthinkable. 

She saves his life. 

Giving shelter to the fugitive could get her in trouble. The Elders have always described the advanced society of people beyond the Frost, the “Farthers,” as ruthless and cruel. But Lia is startled to find that Gabe is empathetic and intelligent…and handsome. She might even be falling in love with him. 

But time is running out. The monsters from the forest circle the farm at night. The village leader is starting to ask questions. Farther soldiers are searching for Gabe. Lia must locate a secret organization called the Thorns to help Gabe escape to safety, but every move she makes puts her in more danger. 

Is compassion—and love—worth the risk? 

Want to know more about the making of this beautiful book cover???????

I love art and I enjoy dabbling in design, so I actually made the cover myself! These kinds of opportunities are one of the reasons I decided to be an independent author. Call me a control freak, but I just like having a say in the finished “face” of the book. Plus, I have an absolute BLAST designing covers. If I wasn’t an author, I’d want to be a designer. 

Let me tell you a little about the process. 

Frost is a fairly creepy story about an orphaned girl trying to avoid death at every turn. A constant undercurrent of danger runs through the narrative—monsters inhabit the snow-filled woods. Threats surround Lia and her family on all sides. Everyone has a secret. Yet the book is also about love and courage and sacrifice, which are beautiful values to hold. Given the setting and themes, I wanted the cover to convey an instant sense of coldness and foreboding while still being beautiful. 

Sometimes I have a specific image in mind when I start looking for the cover photo, but with Frost I simply knew I wanted something ominous. I spent days browsing the stock photo site I use. When I finally stumbled upon a blue-tinted image of a girl in a non-descript, simple dress, I knew immediately I’d found The One. 

But the girl didn’t look very creepy. Her mouth wasn’t smiling, but her eyes were a little flirty. I downloaded the sample and experimented with cropping. When I cropped the image so that her eyes were hidden from view, the effect was perfect. Suddenly the blue looked chilling instead of simply pretty. The photo went from calm to atmospheric in an instant, and I was in love. 

Finding the right font for the title took a little longer. At first I planned to use a thick, plain font with a semi-transparent effect to make it look like ice. I couldn’t get it to look right, though, so I played around with some other ideas and I ended up settling on Phonetica, which I used with permission from the designer, Clement Nicolle. I love this font because the curves on the f, t, and especially the s give it a slight “wrought iron” feel to me, almost like filigree around a stained-glass window or on a gate, but it is still very plain. Life in the Frost is straightforward and sensible, but at the same time it has its own evocative flavor and style. The font conveyed that style to me, and I was thrilled with it. 

Beyond choosing the image, the cropping, and the fonts, I played with the effects a little, deepened the shadows, and made the tone of the image a crisper, brighter blue with more hints of green and white mixed in—almost like ice. And voila—I had my cover.

Want more of Frost follow along the Launch Tour from blog to blog with lot's of excerpts and dream cast members and giveaways for the book

Frost Launch Party Post Schedule 

Tuesday, April 3: 

Chapter by Chapter ~ Twitter Conversation with Lia and Gabe 

The Princess of Storyland ~ Creating Chemistry Guest Post 

A Diary of A Book Addict ~ Making of the Cover Guest Post 

Rondo of a Possible World ~ Spotlight 

BookLove101 ~ Music Playlist Guest Post 

Insightful Minds ~ Dream Cast with Ann 

Paranormal Indulgence ~ Excerpt #3 

Megan Likes Books ~ Top 10 with Kate Avery Ellison 

We Fancy Books ~ Dream Cast with Lia & GIVEAWAY 

Splash of Our Worlds ~ This or That with Kate Avery Ellison 

Fictional Distraction ~ Interview with Lia 

Little Library Muse ~ Author Interview 

So Simply Sara ~ Excerpt #4 

StuckInBooks ~ Excerpt #1 & GIVEAWAY 

JJiReads ~ Excerpt #2 

FireStarBooks ~ 6 Words Post 

Bookworm Lisa ~ Dream Cast with Ivy 

The Magic Attic ~ Dream Cast with Gabe & GIVEAWAY 

The Reading Housewives ~ Dream Cast with Jonn 

Literary Obsession ~ Spotlight 

Moonlight Book Reviews ~ Guest Post with Lia & GIVEAWAY 

Paranormal Romance Fanatic ~ Spotlight 

A Soul Unsung ~ Author Fun Facts 

Journey with Books~ Interview with Gabe

  A Tale of Many Reviews ~ Excerpt #5 & GIVEAWAY

Frost Launch Giveaways: 

StuckInBooks: 1 signed and personalized copy of Frost 

The Magic Attic: 1 signed and personalized copy of Frost 

A Tale of Many Reviews: 1 signed and personalized copy of The Curse Girl, another book by the author 

Moonlight Book Reviews: 1 Frost-inspired artistic print signed by the artist and the author 

We Fancy Books: 1 Frost-inspired artistic print signed by the artist and the author

Let's meet the master mind behind Frost Kate Avery Ellison

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kate Avery Ellison loves long walks, late night phone calls, and reading while it rains. She thinks ice cream cake is the perfect combination and she has a love/hate relationship with the sultry climate of her hometown, Atlanta. FROST, her third book, is a YA fantasy/dystopian tale of love, sacrifice, and suspense. 

LINKS: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Katiewriting

Blog: http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.com/

Goodreads profile: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4863270.Kate_Avery_Ellison