Book Review: A Frozen Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick

Back in 2015, while I was taking care of a relative, I saw A Frozen Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick for sale at Walmart. I read a copy of my friend’s book, but I wasn’t able to finish it before I gave it back to them. Even though I didn’t finish it, I liked it and wanted to continue reading it. Since it was available to purchase that day, I bought it, took it home, and began to read it… but still never finished reading my copy of it.

In 2025, I found A Frozen Heart in my book collection with my bookmark from 2015 left inside it. By this time, I was able to read my friend’s copy and know what happened in the rest of the book. Since my copy was left in the same state I left it ten or so years prior, I decided to reread the book and write a review about it.

The blurb for the book on Amazon is…

Told in alternating chapters from both Anna’s and Hans’ perspectives, A Frozen Heart takes a sophisticated look at events of Frozen, exploring the couple’s backstories, motivations, and doomed relationship.

The blurb on the flap of the book’s dust jacket is…

Anna is a princess of Arendelle. Locked away from the outside world for years, Anna is desperate to leave her lonely life behind. Her parents are gone, and her sister, Elsa- the only person who might show her an ounce of love- is cold and distant.

Hans is a prince of the Southern Isles. As thirteenth in line to the throne, Hans is desperate to escape the tyranny of his father and older brothers and find a kingdom of his own to rule.

Their worlds collide at Elsa’s coronation. At first, it seems as if all Anna’s dreams have come true At last she has found someone to love. But as Hans’s true motivations come to light, their fairy-tale romance begins to melt away and Anna discovers that love is a more mysterious- and powerful- force than she ever could have imagined.

After reading and rereading A Frozen Heart, I think the blurb on Amazon is more straightforward and accurate to the book than on the blurb on the dust jacket. The story is told from alternating perspectives, Anna’s and Hans’, with each character’s perspective taking a chapter. I like this way of telling the story. It made it more enjoyable and provided more detail to each of the characters’ thoughts and intentions as the story of Frozen unfolds.

Even though I like the way it is told, I feel conflicted about the story. Anna and Hans has more depth and complexity than in the movie, which I really enjoyed. Yet, I feel like it lost me halfway through the book. It started very strong, explaining Hans’ intentions and drive to attend Elsa’s coronation. This was something that wasn’t explained in the movie, yet in this book it adds a much deeper complexity of Hans and why he was on a quest to become the villain of the book, no matter if he meant to or not. This continued until about halfway through the book, when Hans became less complicated and more of a back story to Anna’s perspective. The rest of the book follows this pattern until Anna becomes the more dominant character with better descriptions of Anna’s motives.

After giving this book a lot of thought (Ten years worth of it) I decided that this book is a 3 out of 5 stars. I like how strong it started, providing information into Hans’ thoughts, intentions, and motives in more depth than ever before. Yet, I don’t like how the information about Hans starts to become less important as Hans’ presence in the story as an emerging villain starts to become more important. I wonder if this was done to make Anna the more prominent hero of the latter half of the book, but I think there is enough need for Hans’ character to be given the same treatment as he becomes a villain. It would give a better, more complex picture of the Anna/Hans side of Frozen that would keep my attention to the last page. Sadly, this did not happen.

I still think anyone who is a major fan of Frozen should read this book. Even though I have my problems with it, it does give important information about Hans and Anna that is absent from the movie. This book would be great for adults fans of Frozen and childhood fans of the movie who want to read a more sophisticated, depth filled version of the story.

 

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!