Title: Conceal, Don’t Feel
Author: Jen Calonita
Published: 2019
Genre: Middle Grade/Retellings
When a magical accident erases Anna and Elsa’s memories not only of magic, but of each other the sisters are separated for protection. But when Elsa unexpectedly finds herself as a young queen mysterious magic begins to happen and questions of her past start to form. Will the sisters ever be reunited?
Source: GoodReads.com
I pictured this book to be a new take on the Frozen story. However, it was the same basic story with slight changes. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Frozen movie, so I don’t know why I was excepting to enjoy this book. When I think of retellings, I envision a whole new tale that takes inspiration from it’s origin story. Unfortunately that was not the author’s plan for this novel.
I was curious to see who Elsa and Anna would become without one another. The answer the same exact people they were in the film. There were minor changes to their personalities, but unless you were looking you wouldn’t be able to notice these differences. I think the biggest change was Elsa and Hans’ relationship. Although, he is scum the book and movie writes him in a charming almost likable way. As someone that loved his and Anna’s duet from the animated film it would have been great to have him be a good guy this go around.
This is probably an unpopular opinion but I find Olaf to be annoying. He is too much for me in the movie. However, I liked the change to his personality in the book. The author kept his lovable and clueless charm while reining in his over-the-top persona. Also, I found his forgetfulness kind of adorable. One character change I wasn’t a fan of was Kristoff. Now I enjoyed his interactions with Sven, yet he seemed cold and irritated with Anna. I didn’t see them development from friends to lovers, or in this case enemies to lovers.
Overall, this book was an average, quick middle grade. While being a good choice for Disney fans, if you’re looking for a reimagined take on the story, skip this one. This is my first “Twisted Tale” and despite it not being my favorite, it hasn’t totally prevented me from giving others in the series a fair chance. Still, here’s hoping the rest are a bit of a fresher take on the classic tales we all know and love.
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Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny
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