Thank you to @netgalley and @charlesbridgepublishing for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Henry Hamlet’s Heart…what a book…

I got admit that it took me some time to get into this book, but once I did I couldn’t put it down.

I loved the opening that starts talking about Henry’s gran being bi. I think it’s the first book that I read with this kind of rep (bi elderly person) and I think it was brilliant!

Henry’s family is the best. I love their dynamic, their banter, their transparent love, how they show their emotions and prompts each other to talk about their feelings and whatever is going on in their lives. It’s truly beautiful! Also, how accepting they are and how they don’t make a big thing about who they people in the family love and want to be with. Oh, and his relationship with his little brother is so heartwarming, I really love it.

Then, there’s Henry’s friends. They’re all seniors, trying to figure out what life will be after their last year of school.

This book is about self-discovery, love, heartbreak, acceptance, friendships, family, living in the present and decisions for the future, literature, poetry, and more.

In the beginning I think I was a bit annoyed with the writing due to some abrupt scene cuts. However, as it progressed I realised that the abruptness made so much sense for how we see life at that age (18), or any age really, that indeed we don’t remember everything that happens in a day, but instead we retain only some moments and conversations. Sometimes we may be talking deeply with someone in bed and then we’re already walking up in the morning. It all makes sense in the end.

Henry Hamlet’s Heart is a beautiful YA story of friends who fall in love with each other, but there is something else I loved about it…where the book is set. I lived in Brisbane for 17 months almost 10 years ago when I was at uni, and it was delightful to see familiar places, to see the love for that place in the pages of this book. Tiny mentions that filled my heart with happiness and nostalgia. The jacarandas, the bats, the river, the ferry,…

Thanks @rhiannon_wilde for this beautiful book!

This was a gorgeous queer YA romance and everything about it was exactly what I would look for in that category. The only reason I didn’t adore it, I think, was personal preference on books when I read it- it just wasn’t what I wanted at the time. However, I’ll consider trying again in the future! Overall really good!

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

Unfortunately this book was not for me, I got until 25% until I found myself that I it's been weeks and I didn't really want to keep going. This is one of those slow stories about a group of friends and facing the greatest task of all: growing up. I think I may not be the right target for it so I'd still recommend it!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed the new cover for the book. It highlights the story a lot better and is super cute. I’m also a sucker for friends-to-lovers troupes so I was excited for this one.

Henry is a boy who just started his 12th year of school and is thinking about what to do for university. He’s school captain, on the debate team, and juggling everything while also worrying about not being in a relationship yet at 18. It’s hard and embarrassing to be a teenager and Henry is well aware of that.

Henry was a super relatable character. I thought about being in high school and wanting to be perfect at everything while also just wanting to get out of there. He seemed like such a lovely person who has a lot of feelings and wanted everyone around him to be happy. I was frustrated with Len throughout the story, but I know it’s bit unfair to say he was a bad person when I haven’t been in his shoes. It’s just hard to see people in pain and hurt each other when they just shouldn’t be dumb and talk it out. But what can you do with teenage boys?

Henry’s friend group was hilarious. They reminded me of the boys from the Invbetweeners. All with a different personality but fitting together perfectly through their different backgrounds. I fully enjoyed all the early 2000’s references to bands and texting lingo. I was cracking up over some of it. It reminded me of being in school and I went back to my cringe days.

This was a fantastic debut book and I’m sure that it won’t be the last. Keep up the great work!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed Henry Hamlet's Heart. The main characters were well developed and I also enjoyed Henry's family as well as the group of friends Len and Henry share. The relationship going from friends to more was engaging and at times painful to read about. I was so engrossed that I read this book in two sittings and that was only because I had somewhere to be and needed to stop reading for a bit. I also enjoyed the Australian setting and that it took place in the early 2000's. The mentions of MySpace and some older video games were fun. I was truly invested in seeing these friends come together. I'd enjoy seeing a sequel although this book wraps up nicely. I think it would be nice to see them together as they move into Uni years. My one complaint is that I wish we had more time to see Len and Henry's friendship before things start to change between them. I wish we could have seen how they interacted with each other over the years as friends.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. Henry’s uncertainty was relatable and I loved the friendship group. However, be warned, this book starts slow. So slow that I wondered if we were going to get anything beyond a slice of life. The story does pick up after the party scene and the middle chunk is the best imo, as Henry is figuring stuff out. The ending segment left a bit to be desired and I’d have loved an epilogue or something as the it did feel a bit abrupt. Still, a solid, cute book that is good for a chill read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

6/10
thank you to netgalley and charlesbridge teen for the arc!

Henry Hamlet's Heart is a YA fiction romance following Henry Hamlet in his last year of high school as he navigates being the class president and the responsibilities that come with it, thinking about his future, and realizing that he has a crush on his best friend Len after they kiss in a game of truth or dare.
My main issues with this book are the culture references (why does everything need a Harry Potter reference??) and with Len as a character. I didn't like how he treated Henry and thought that his characterization was a bit back and forth. I liked him more towards the beginning, but as time went on I just wished that he would communicate properly and thought that he should be acting differently if he really was in love with Henry for years.
I did like Henry's friend group and thought that the way they act and the struggles they face are realistic for their age, and overall enjoyed the book. It is a cute story and I liked the ending as well!

With the success of Heartstopper, this release comes at the perfect time. The Australian setting solidified the queer teen experience even further. It was a journey of emotions that allowed us to get attached to each and every character.

Thank you Charlesbridge Teen and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

First of all, this book is fantastic. I love the way Rhiannon writes her characters and their dialogues, they all seem very distinctive from eachother but very casually, like real people. everything about this book is a pure joy and I smiled a lot while reading, because the book’s actually quite funny and the main character is so endearing and clumsy you can’t help but to love him.
At one point I thought the pop culture references were kind of dated but I realised later that the book was set in 2008, after that the Jordin Sparks & My Chemical Romance mentions made perfect sense!

In conclusion, I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone who loves M/M romance or YA romance in general.

A lovely heartfelt coming of age story with wonderfully written characters and relationships of all types. I especially loved the scenes with Henry and his family.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

When I read the synopsis of this book I got really excited and realised that this might be the book for me. However, the beginning was a bit boring and slow going and it almost made me DNF the book, but boy am i glad I didn't. The ending made up for the beginning and I loved it. The characters are really well built and struggles are portrayed splendidly. I wanna give this book 3.5 / 5 stars. For anyone that might wanna read this book, be aware of a slow beginning

First, of all the cover matches wonderfully with the story. And secondly, this was beyond adorable and you can’t help but to wish for a relationship like Henry and Len’s.

This book was a breath of fresh air for me. I loved Henry as a character, and his friendship with Len (which soon turned to more) the friends to lovers arc was beautifully written, and then romance was well paced.
The struggles of high school was also a well done aspect of this story. The concerns of what to do beyond high as well as completing high school in Australia was really well done.

Will be recommended this toy friends. Cannot wait to see what comes next!

this is a heartwarming book about best-friends-to-lovers with a HEAPING of angst and mutual yearning. the story is set in a boys’ school in brisbane. our protagonist, henry, is a bit of a nerd (think school captain and debate club) but he has a group of chums to get him through high school. things change in their final year when his childhood best friend, len, kisses him on a dare. from then on their friendship becomes strained and suffused with something more.

the second half of the book was one big emotional roller coaster which is due in part to henry being an idiot who cannot see what is so painfully obvious to everyone else. many time i’ve wanted to reach into the book and yell at him for being so blind but i guess that’s just the folly and tunnel vision of youth.

call it wish fulfilment but i particularly liked how accepting his friends and family, and even the teaching staff, were when it all came to light. the fear and anxiety henry felt is very realistic, given that he goes to a boys’ school and we all know how homophobic the culture can be, but sometimes we need more happy endings and less realism.

henry’s relationship problems are not all there is to the story though. he also studies for his exams, stresses about university applications, takes care of his family members, and spends time hanging out and getting into trouble with his friend group. even the side characters were given some depth and their own story arcs.

overall this was quite an enjoyable coming-of-age YA/romance novel featuring queer characters. it makes me so happy to see that there are books like this for youths these days. everyone deserves hope and representation in romance :’-)

Oh, wow. That was adorable and so so cute.
Henry Hamlet's Heart was a wholesome queer romance.
The jokes were hilarious!!! I laughed so much!!!
Henry, himself was a sweet guy. I loved his confession at the end, and Len, dude!!! You were romantic as hell!!!

Wilde's writing style was so expressive. I would love to recommend this book to 'Simon VS The Homosapiens Agenda' fans out there

This quickly became one of my favorite queer coming of age books!

I wasn’t expecting to love it this much when I requested the book on NetGalley but I DEVOURED the whole thing as soon as I started it. The vibes throughout the whole book? Absolutely perfect!

Henry is so so lovable it’s ridiculous, he’s so sweet and so very brave and I love him with my whole heart.
I loved len! I loved the process of getting to learn more and more about him.
Even the side characters ( Emilia , ged, Henry’s family, etc) were genuinely fun to get to know and their interactions were interesting.

Len and Henry had great chemistry. I loved how adorably awkward they were at times, I loved seeing how much they loved each other and I loved how it wasn’t perfect. How relatable they both were in different ways. We get to see them both trying to figure out things as they go, we get to see them struggle and we get to fall in love with them as they fall for each other


It was a fun quick read. It’s perfect for heartsopper fans and for people who like awkward (endearing) mutual pinning and friends to lovers trope.

god, this was just so, so beautiful. my heart ached and my eyes burned and i was feeling all the emotions while reading. if i could've give this a 10 out of 5, i would.

the characters were a surprisingly well-done combination of mysterious/readable and archetype/wildcard. each and every one of them was fully fleshed-out and interesting and vibrant, even if they didn't get much page time. i think this has to do with how vivid the dialogue was. it was hilarious and sad and oh so realistic (especially with the teenage boys). if this ever gets turned into a movie, wilde needs to write the script.

the plot was exactly what i like in coming of age novels, that is to say, there was little plot and it was mostly vibes, you know. the structure felt very fluid and not at all desperately trying to clutch on to something overly, well, structured, if that makes sense. there were little tidbits in each part that felt very unexpected, making it a non-overwhelming page-turner.

the writing style was giving john green/sally rooney and i was HERE for it. seriously. i usually hate when authors try to write like that because it feels like a rip-off but it works so incredibly well. the way every other ish sentence felt a little abrupt, unfinished, messy truly expressed how being young and having a whole life head of you and not knowing what you're doing feels like.

this book does a wonderful job of capturing so many experiences. the queer experience of falling for someone and desperately trying to avoid your attraction and wanting them so bad and everything feeling dangerous and intoxicating. the teen experience of fucking up and being a dumb high schooler and not knowing what's waiting even a year or two later.

i truly loved this book and i can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy <3

This book encapsulates a lot of what I enjoy in a good friends to lovers romance. It’s got a slow burn to more but it’s almost too slow at times. I really enjoyed getting to see Henry and Len’s relationship progress though I did feel a bit frustrated with Len for backing away instead of talking it out with his best friend.

Also, this book NEEDS an epilogue. The romance finally ensues to the much anticipated crescendo and it ends so abruptly that you’re left needing more.

Overall, I did really like this story I liked Len and Henry both and I loved Henry’s family and “the boiyss” and enjoyed to getting to know their characters and how they loved their friends unconditionally, while still feeling authentically like teenagers.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and think it’s worth a read.

4 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank You to NetGalley and Charlesbridge teen for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

** spoiler alert ** DNF 40%
It started great. Looked great. Sounded okay.
The first thing that threw me off in this book were the missing letters in the copy. Maybe it was on purpose, maybe it was only my problem but it really affected my reading experience.
The writing style was okay. If I was more interested in the book, I'm sure I could've finished it in a day but here's where the problem comes. I don't like this book. I don't like the characters and the plot.
140 pages in and I still couldn't find anything to keep me there, to keep me interested. For that first part, this book didn't bring anything new to the table, didn't make me want to know where the story is going, so I decided it's not worth to torture myself with reading it. I really tried hard but it didn't work for me.
For me this was the typical my-first-kiss-is-my-best-friend-now-im-crushing-and-ill-ruin-our-friendship type of story which is not up my alley.
I was so hyped when I saw it and I'm really sorry I couldn't like it.
I love the grandma tho.