Name: Henry Hamlet's Heart
Rating: 3.863636363636364 (11 reviews)
ISBN: 9780702263149

Rhiannon Wilde

Henry Hamlet's Heart

Rani Jango

This smart and charming queer YA rom-com about falling for your best friend will win the hearts of fans of Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. Henry Hamlet doesn’t know what he wants after school ends. It’s his last semester of high school, and all he’s sure of is his uncanny ability to make situations awkward. Luckily, he can always hide behind his enigmatic best friend, Len. They’ve been friends since forever, but Len is mysterious and Henry is clumsy, and Len is a heartthrob and Henry is a neurotic mess. Somehow it’s always worked. That is, until Henry falls in love. Hard. How do you date your best friend? From an exciting debut author comes a passionate story of growing up, letting go, and learning how to love.

Ellie M.

Thank you to Rhiannon Wilde and Charlesbridge Teen for providing me with an ARC last year through Netgalley. I have only started catching up on ARCs I missed, and this doesn’t affect my review in any way. 

Henry doesn’t know what he wants. He doesn’t think he’s good enough for anything except making things awkward. Then there’s the charismatic Len, Henry’s childhood bestfriend. The popular guy to Henry’s anxious personality. And yet they always made it work since forever. Nevertheless, things take for a turn when their last semester of Year 12 finally begins. 

Henry Hamlet’s Heart is an adorable queer YA rom com that explores a coming-of-age story that takes us through Henry’s life as he navigates the difficulties of growing up, family dynamics, friendships, and falling in love. 

This book was both superbly emotional and insightful as it tells us a story of two childhood bestfriends becoming more. I find this trope to be very underrated because I’ve always been attuned by how realistic it grasps falling in love in real life. It’s what most of us hope for, yet rarely attain because it is difficult to know someone so deeply and crave this longing then to realize the feelings are better left unspoken because we’re avoiding ruining what already seems so good. But sometimes, the tide changes, and that’s what makes me so fascinated with the ever-changing aspects of this trope and Wilde’s impeccable writing was able to convey that narrative through Henry and Len’s story.
 
Overall, the prose was beautiful, and I easily fell in love with the characters as Henry fell in love with Len. This book is very promising, and I’d recommend it to anyone who’d love a good, childhood friends to lovers’ story. 
We definitely need more books like this!

*4.5/5*

Oh, this was a lovely read. It was lighthearted with just the right amount of angst.

Henry Hamlet’s Heart follows Henry, a Year 12 student who has no clue what the future has in store for him, and his best friend Len. Like all Year 12’s, they party. However, when Henry catches feelings at one of these parties he begins to spiral.

While this book gave me secondhand embarrassment, it was still an amazing read. Being a teen is hard, especially when these never felt before feelings begin to develop. Henry really struggles with his feelings and how to accept them. With all these things going on, you start to understand why Henry is spiraling. Henry is a very relatable teen. He doesn’t know where his life is heading, but as long as his best friend is around he feels okay.

Now Len has his issues, but he’s still an amazing character. The way he is written invokes frustration, especially when it comes to his decision making. There is definitely a duality to him. I think this portrayal of grief is good. Len has his moments, but it all leads back to grieving. He fears losing Henry, so he pushes him away. Len is both confident and insecure. I loved Len, but I would understand those who end up disliking him.

Overall, this book was sweet. The writing style was great. Both the main and side characters were very well written and felt relatable. However, I wish there was an epilogue. I would have liked to have a flash forward, since the book ended quite abruptly.

Thank you NetGalley and Charlesbridge Teen for providing the eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Dani

Sweet and gripping. A lovely YA coming-of-age that will have you smiling like a fool and reminiscing on your younger years and the intensity with which you felt everything. I particularly related to Henry and his constant existential crises, his failure to see beyond his insecurities and his tendency to project his anxieties in the form of anger and indignation. I loved Len and his polished exterior, his compulsion to protect his heart by bringing up walls around him… While also having Henry be his heart, constantly stepping to protect him and his feelings. I loved this tacit understanding between them that they were one and acted as one. I think it’s just a specific combination of elements I’ll never fail to fall for. 

Also, the use of Rilke’s work to set the tone for each part of the book was absolutely lovely, and definitely played a part in me consuming this in a matter of hours. I love Rilke, and I love how he argues for feeling it all, letting it all happen to you. He posits that suffering isn’t wasted on you, that all emotion is right and true — this is definitely true to what this book is trying to communicate and I thought it gave a wholesome end result. All in all, this book felt like a warm, fuzzy hug from the past (from my own high school years, my own sadnesses and disappointments but also each and every smile) only for it to reach me now, after all these years, at a time when I finally feel ready to take it for what it is.

nina 

This book was straight up serotonin and nostalgia injected into my veins. [4]

One of those stories that make you feel so (sometimes uncomfortably) transparent when reading, but in a really good way. 

Alana May

sydney

I liked the actual story but I did not enjoy the writing style at all. It would be two stars but the Ben Mckenzie and Seth Cohen references make it 3 stars.

eden

I didn’t like the writing style. I hated all the pop culture references and didn't understand any actual cultural references since it's in Australia. there is an incest line that got repeated three times, and hp references that pissed me off. but henry and len were cute and I liked henry enough to push through it. overall slightly above average. also, the ending is ambiguous from henry’s side there was something related to him that was dropped around the last quarter (even though it was an actual point in the plot)

Inez

It reminds me of that first love story back in high school, the uncertainty and awkward stare kind of situation. It's the kind of story that I never really experienced but somehow as I keep reading it I can nod to their moment, agreeing to them like I was with them. There were tears and laugh too, there were hopes and desperation too, all wrapped beautifully in a delicate writing style.

A very fine read, the story moves at a slow pace that it gives me time to indulge with every moment the MC went through.

Sincerely thank you for the publisher to provide me with the ARC in exchange of honest and unbiased review.

Lukas Ellerbrook

thank you to netgalley and charlesbridge for the e-arc

I thought this book was really wonderful. I love reading YA, especially LGBTQ+ YA that takes place in other countries than the US as I feel like we really lack in that for this genre.

Henry is such a relatable character to me. When I was the same age, I didn't know what I wanted either after I graduated. I was confused and clumsy. I am also always down for a nice friends to lovers trope as well, always warms my heart.

I will definitely be giving it a re-read when it's published in it's physical form. 

valentina

This was such a cute book! I loved the little tidbits of Australian culture in the book and the cast of characters was really lovable. Henry was such an entertaining character to follow and I found myself really appreciating his family and their dynamics as well. My biggest (and possibly only) gripe with the book would be the abundance of male characters, but I felt like the author really tried to include as much of the female characters who were there to make up for it. Thanks to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for the ARC.

Hannah Kingsley

The perfect book to get me out of a reading slump! Genuinely laughed many times throughout the book and the relationships between characters were very real and sweet. 

Henry Hamlet's Heart

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