Review ~ FROST (Frost #1) by Kate Avery Ellison

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? ~From GoodReads

Imagine a life in a frozen terrain, where monsters come out at night and you must beware of the Farthers. Your family must earn it's keep or face the consequences. Your parents are dead and you, still a youth, are left to care for your siblings. This is Lia Weaver's life and it is bleak. When Lia rescues Gabe, a Farther, she puts herself and her family at risk. Although the Farthers have been portrayed as heartless and evil, Lia can't help but discover that's not the case. Gabe is kind and caring, and she is willing to risk her life to keep him safe.
Gah...Middle-of-the-road reviews are so hard for me to write. FROST is a good story. The author obviously took great care in building a realistic world and society in her story. The setting is brilliantly descriptive. I felt the cold, biting chill of the land. I could practically hear the crunch of the frozen ground. Frost is a world I would hate to live in and that's kudos to Ellison's descriptive abilities.

The plot was interesting, but not wholly thrilling. I just couldn't get fully involved in what was happening. I didn't feel the intense emotions the characters were experiencing. I do think Ellison is a talented author. I read another of her books THE CURSE GIRL, and adored it. Her writing is very nicely paced and easy to read.  I think, actually, that this is nothing more than a case of "good story, wrong person". There was nothing at all wrong with FROST, its just not my kind of story.

FROST has been receiving very positive reviews. I've provided a couple of links for alternate points of view:

Mandy at TwinMom 101  and Kim.


Favorite Quote:

"In that moment, we were not a Farther and a Frost girl. We were just two people, and I was astonished at how easy it was to forget that there were any other barriers between us." (ebook,53%)

Published April 18th 2012            

You can purchase FROST at:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Smashwords


Source: Received from author for review purpose.