Frozen 2: Dangerous Secrets: The Story of Iduna and Agnarr

Sixteen-year-old Iduna harbors a dark secret. On the surface, she is an Arendellian village girl, an aspiring inventor, and the best friend of Prince Agnarr, but she is also secretly Northuldra.

Ever since the day the forest fell, Arendellians have despised and distrusted Northuldra with a vengeance. No matter that the Northuldra-along with some of Arendelle's own-have been trapped in the Enchanted Forest behind an impenetrable wall of mist since the day of the battle.

Iduna doesn't know why the mist refuses to part, or why it descended to begin with. The only clear thing is that she must keep her identity from everyone, even Agnarr. Her life depends on it.

Fortunately for her, Agnarr doesn't know that Iduna is the Northuldra girl he saw seemingly flying on a gust of wind all those years ago, the day of the celebration turned disaster. The day Agnarr lost his father, the king. The day Agnarr himself almost died.

What Agnarr does know is that Iduna is a true ally in the face of his royal responsibilities and the expectations of an overbearing council and a well-meaning regent who will rule in Agnarr's place until he turns twenty-one and assumes the Arendellian throne.

As Iduna and Agnarr grow ever closer, however, friendship is no longer enough. If only falling for each other didn't mean risking their futures: Iduna's as a hidden-in-plain-sight citizen of Arendelle, and Agnarr's as imminent king.

But for a chance at true love, the risk might be worth taking

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Perfect for readers who want:

• More background behind Frozen 2.
• A sweet friends-to-lovers romance.
• Forbidden love.
• Adorable banter and antics.
• Found family and coming of age.

Many thanks to Disney Press and Rockstar Book Tours for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and for inclusion on this blog tour.

I knew I had to pick this one up for two very simple reasons:

1. Frozen. Duh. I love both films, and I especially wanted more background after watching the second movie!
2. I read Mari Mancusi’s Dragon Ops earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so when I saw she wrote this? I knew it’d be worth it.

And it definitely was! See? I’m obviously always right.

Frozen 2: Dangerous Secrets will appeal to fans of Frozen 2 who wanted a little more depth about Anna and Elsa’s parents. The book is filled with a sweet friends-to-lovers romance, forbidden love, and the struggle of finding one’s place.

I knew from page one this was going to be a kick in the feels, and it honestly was. In all the best ways. There were moments toward the end where there were some large time jumps, and that felt a little awkward, but also kind of necessary at the same time. Overall, though, it added a wonderful amount of depth to a movie so many of us know and love!

This book provides so much depth and background to the Frozen 2 movie.

So if you enjoyed the movie … you’ll probably like this book. It’s got the same charm and a lot of the same themes of growth, self-acceptance, coming-of-age, and found family. Plus, even better, this focuses on Iduna and Agnarr, Anna and Elsa’s parents, so it’s a bit of the story behind the story.

It’s really nice seeing Arundelle before the movie and seeing how the fear of magic took root and was fostered in the population. It isn’t something that just popped up out of nowhere, and the movies never particularly went into it, so the world-building in this book added a lot of depth and context.

There are a lot of little Easter eggs in this book that fans will recognize and likely appreciate.

I’m a huge fan of Easter eggs, in general. It makes me happy when I stumble across something that I recognize from the movie and go, “Oh, I know that!” There are a lot of these little moments, which really help solidify the world but also act as a neat little nod to what happens in the films.

The romance between Iduna and Agnarr is a super sweet friends-to-lovers story that involves forbidden romance and adorable banter.

If you’ve ever grown up in love with your best friend, you’ll definitely recognize the vibes between these two. Only, they’re still in the stage where they have to come to realize this themselves, even while everything in their lives are currently pushing them apart. If you love sweet romances, this one is definitely for you!

The only pitfall about this is that the reader already knows how it ends, so it kind of drains the tension from the will they/won’t they aspect of it.

I thought that bit was a bummer, because it felt unnecessary. I still enjoyed the romance, though, even if romance isn’t my thing. It’s also a super clean, aspirational romance. Talk about good influences. This is a power couple that has its struggles but stands by each other, and it’s such a sweet message to kids!

The darkness in this book is nicely offset by the light-heartedness and the humor.

I don’t want to misrepresent this at all. Even though there’s a lot of heavy subject matter in this book, there’s a lot of really light, funny scenes, too! It really reflects the Frozen 2 movie well in that way. There are absolutely moments that will snatch your heart and stomp it into the ground. But then you’ll find yourself laughing the next moment, too. It’s a real roller coaster ride, and in that way, it pulls the reader into the daily lives and moments of the characters as they go through the same emotional ride.

This book hit me in the feels over and over again, and gosh, it hurt, but in a good way.

As a parent, I’ve always wondered how Elsa’s parents could let her sink into the situation she was in during the first movie. Well, this peels back the curtain a little bit and shows some more of the depth between their interactions and their thoughts. This part of the book was a little shorter and involved a lot of time skips, since the focus is on Iduna and Agnarr as children. It did touch on it, though. And since we know what ultimately happens to Iduna and Agnarr, just … ugh. The feels!

About Mari Mancusi

Mari Mancusi is a former Emmy award-winning TV news producer, as well as an award winning YA author. She has published more than two dozen sci-fi/fantasy novels for kids, teens, and adults including The Camelot Code, Scorched, and Dragon Ops. Her series have been chosen as featured selections in the Scholastic Book Fairs and clubs and have been selected by the American Library Association as “Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers” and “Popular Paperbacks.” In addition to writing, Mari is an avid cosplayer, traveller, and gamer. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their young daughter. She can be found online at www.marimancusi.com.

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3 Winners will receive a finished copy of FROZEN 2:DANGEROUS SECRETS: THE STORY OF IDUNA AND AGNARR.
US Only.

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