Very sweet childhood friends to lovers story set in the late aughts with wonderful MySpace references that brought me back to my own teenage years. It's interesting to read this back-to-back with a queer YA set in 2022 and notice the differences in the social climate.

I really don't have many thoughts on this beyond enjoying it. The characters were fun and it reminded me of a less problematic Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I wish there was less drama towards the end, but I loved reading this. I'd recommend this to people as Heartstopper meets Ari and Dante!

This book was like a warm blanket, it reminded me of the graphic novel Heartstopper. Len and Henry were so cute! I loved how we got to witness Henry's journey of self-discovery :)

Cutest mlm romance ever. The story follows Henry Hamlet through his senior year. I absolutely love his friend group since I can see a lot of my own friend group in them. The ending was kind of predictable, but I’m the type of person not to care as long as the plot over all is good. And it was amazing. I don’t really know what I expected when I started reading it but I definitely think everyone should pick this book up at least once.

This was a cute Australian YA about best friends falling in love. Other reviews mention that it has Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda vibes, and I agree that it does. Henry's angst about 1) falling for a boy and 2) falling for his best friend feels real and relatable. When Henry and Len finally kiss and start a relationship, the novel started to click for me. Before that point, it was a little slow-moving, and with such a large cast of friends and classmates, it was sometimes hard for me to follow along.

Henry's Grandma was hands down my favorite supporting character! I loved her!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

an exciting, vulnerable story about self-discovery and internal battles faced as teenagers. this book was equally cute and amusing, and henry and len were both interesting main characters who i was rooting for the entire time. this story was a great look into the process of figuring out platonic vs romantic feelings, and i fully enjoyed reading.

TW: harsh parenting, grief
Henry Hamlet Heart. A breezy high school romance novel perfect for the month of June while we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Laden with insecurities about identity and exploration of sexuality, Rhiannon Wilde takes us on a sweet journey of falling in love and fighting for it across three parts of the book.
Henry Hamlet, a high school nerd falls in love with his best friend and it shakes his world up. Falling in love with a friend is like skating on thin ice, it puts the friendship in jeopardy. But if it hurts the heart to be apart, what can one possibly do?

"You're half of me."

This novel does not only boast of exploration about sexuality and identity but also traverses through the themes of dysfunctional family dynamics, grief, friendship and the fact that it is alright to not always be sorted about our future. While it maintains a light hearted attitude throughout the book but it discusses some heavy topics, which the author should be praised for.

Some important points I would like to mention are:
1. I felt the dire need to know what Len felt like about the entire thing because he's the one going through a lot, so it would've been interesting if the narrators were switched for every chapter. Len's side of the story could've engrossed the readers even more, if the author isn't saving it for a part two. (Are you?)
2. Henry doesn't try being a knight in the shining armour while Len grieves which definitely shows the depth and maturity of the character.
3. A bisexual woman getting married to her lady love and her children supporting them? Yes please! I beg for more bisexual characters because most people do not even understand bisexuality to begin with.
4. The only thing a gay teenage couple needs to worry about is that they might be losing their friendship and not about the society? That's a dream. Bring it on! (Well, not entirely but you know, the worry wasn't heavy on the society's part)

Tear rating: your girl didn't even cry once while reading it. Well, at times her heart felt heavy and she had closed the book to catch her breathe but didn't cry even a single drop of tear. That's so rare!

This is a book that I think so many teens need. Is it similar to some other books with LGBTQ+ characters? Yes. Did I still absolutely love it, and think people should read it? Also yes. Henry and Len have my heart, and I think if I were a teen right now, I would relate and appreciate them and their journey.

I couldn't really get into this book, which was sad because I liked Henry and Len. The progression of their relationship felt really authentic, but it was hindered by the plot's weird pacing and tendency to focus on the unimportant for long stretches of time. The first half of the book felt like pure exposition, though despite this I still wasn't able to tell most of the side characters apart.

Also, while Henry and Len did grow throughout the book, it wasn't really clear to see how or why they'd done so. Sometimes it felt like Henry was thinking one thing one minute, and then in the next he'd changed his mind completely. And their main issue (communication) doesn't really seem to be resolved by the end of the book.

I received this books an ARC and was thrilled when it instantly gave me Heartstopper vibes. This book is about an awkward teen named Henry and his search for love. Henry is focused on his schoolwork and hanging out with his closest friends one of whom, Len, feels that Henry is watching life pass him by. Len encourages Henry to start living and having experiences. Len tries to change the way that he sees himself and ends up showing Henry new experiences and that even the effortlessly cool Len has more to him than Henry thought. This book included complex characters with deep emotions and thoughts. I enjoyed the fact that the author didn't simplify these aspects due to the books YA status and the fact that the book was about teens. A 5 star YA read.

I have really mixed feelings about this book and I am going to try my best to explain why I gave it three stars.

When I read what the story was about I got so excited, there was a bit of a mystery what it was going to be about precisely, and I always love that. I ofcourse had my expectations, and unfortunately those were not met.

It was a bit hard to get into the story at first. I still can't lay my finger on what the problem was, but it was though to get through the first few pages. For a long time it felt like the story was not going anywhere. It was like I was reading loose points the author wanted to tell about, instead of it pointing in a certain direction. It was only towards the end that the novel started having a point it was working towards.

The characters and their background stories felt flat and unfinished to me. Henry was a developed character, but this point actually applies more to Len. I felt like I did not really know who he was, and what we knew about him was just a little, and mentioned only shortly. I mean, without spoilering anything, I thought that there were certain things that needed to be discussed further. Also, there could have been more communication between the characters. I still liked the main characters, it just feels like there could have been more to them.

I did really enjoy the ending. It was filled with emotions, emotions that I wish I had felt sooner. My heart felt like it was going to explode at certain times because of the intense emotions. If this had been they way the novel was written in its entirety I would defenitly rated the book four stars, but now I had to leave it at three.

ahhh i totally guessed that ending- what happened at the exhibition. i knew it, i called it!

anyways this was SO CUTE but like so real and funny
all the characters were so real and like, although Henry was a bit annoying, I liked that flaw and how all the characters weren’t perfect. my favorite character has got to be ham, Henry’s younger brother, he’s just so wholesome!!!

this book was really quick and easy to read, but my arc had missing letters for some reason so sometimes I would have to guess what the word was :/

something that would’ve been a really cool addition in this book was if we had some dual-pov action, especially from len:)

ALSOO can we appreciate this cover? It’s gorgeous!

i think fans of heartstopper and what if it’s us would really enjoy this

:)

but yeah this was also an arc so make sure to check it out when it comes out on October 18th!!

—————————
heartstopper vibes

! Spoilers ahead !
This story follows the friends-to-lovers relationship between the protagonist, Henry Hamlet, and his best friend Lennon Cane.

First of all I’d like to say that this book was cute and I enjoyed the typical ups and downs of a “first-love in high-school” novel.
I liked the characters, even though I didn’t find their personalities to be that deep or fully shaped.
Being Italian, I sadly didn’t understand many of the references, but I did catch the one about McGonagall and I honestly find it hard to let this go. A queer story with references to the work of someone who openly disrespects the community? I mean… wasn’t there any other old white and stern-looking lady to compare that person to?

Furthermore, I’d like to understand why an incestuous relationship between cousins was mentioned more than once? I mean… was that necessary?

Overall, the story wasn’t bad. The romance was full of clichés and the characters felt incredibly bland at times, but the book per se was a nice reading altogether.

I found myself imagining Len completely different than how he was described by the author. In my head, he had typically asian features, with dark brown eyes and black hair.
To me, this book lacked diversity and I know for a fact that Australia is a pool of different ethnicities.
It just may be the fact that I am always looking for different kinds of stories, the ones with people who aren’t always represented, but this book was compared to Red White and Royal Blue or Becky Albertalli’s and Adam Silvera’s novels. In those novels I pretty much always found some representation, but here… this was literally two white people falling in love and they just happened to be gay. There was no self-discovery, no fully trying to understand their sexualities or questioning them. As part of the lgbt community, I know that we don’t all have the same experience, but this made me feel like I was reading about a straight relationship. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that. At times, their relationship felt… unseasoned?

Overall, I’ll still say that this story was cute and a nice read, but I probably wouldn’t read it again. I hope I wasn’t too harsh because I did enjoy reading parts of it, especially once the story took a faster pace (the beginning was a bit slow).


Thank you to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for the opportunity to read this book

I actually read the ebook version of this book as an ARC from NetGalley. But the cover was the same as the hardcover version.

I decided to read this book based on what I thought was an interesting description. It surpassed what I thought it was and I absolutely loved it. It was just what I needed to lighten my day.

It was beautifully written. But I think what surprised me most was the relationships and how they were portrayed: those between Henry and his friends and Henry and his family. He is such a connectable character that I couldn’t help but laugh and cry along with him. I liked the fact that we really got to see all the wide variety of things going on in Henry’s life - not just his romance with Len.

I wasn’t sure how the friendship between Henry and Len was going to develop into a romance, but there too, it was done well, making both of them so adorable.

so this was a typical coming of age story, sweet ad angsty, and yeah i mean that's basically it. I'm just gonna haphazardly list off some of my thoughts. I felt like the pacing was a little off especially during the last half of the book, I won't get too much into it to avoid spoilers but the choice to drag on certain situations was very frustrating for the reader I'd say. The characters were pretty likeable but I still felt like I didn't really know them enough (except for Henry I guess), still enjoyed certain parts of the book. Cute but unremarkable.

First, thank you to Rhiannon Wilde and Charlesbridge Teen for the arc of Henry Hamlet’s heart.

Unfortunately it just wasn’t for me and I had to DNF. There isn’t much to say about why, it just didn’t fit the vibe of books I normally enjoy reading. The writing seemed sweet, if a bit confusing. The characters from how far I read seemed to be a fun lovable cast as well.

I think this book has potential, but it just missed the mark for me unfortunately.

This is a really cute book! It has a lot of character and I really enjoyed the experience of reading it. I read the majority of it in one sitting actually. The plotting was a little messy at times, but it had a strong sense of what it was trying to accomplish and had a wonderful set of distinct characters. I think the lovable cast of characters is what really makes this book so enjoyable. They have distinct personalities that really come through on the page. I would recommend this for sure.

Such a good book, I couldn't put it down I loved len and Henry so much and their relationship. They're were parts I didn't expect and some did, but it was such a beautiful book. I loved all parts of it, the characters, the writing and the story. I think Henry and Lens story was amazing, not just some story where they kiss and love happily ever after, they were a realistic couple and that's what made it so good. I'm definitely going to buy a copy when it comes out because it's just so good.

i was obsessed with the book omg ! the plot had my hooked from the beginning and i couldn’t physically put it down. it was a perfect read for one sitting. i loved henry and fell in love with all his antics through the book, my only issue was the characters read younger then they were. i felt like the characters were 15/16 rather then 17/18 but it wasn’t a huge issue just jared me slightly. perfect if you loved Simon vs the homo saipan’s agenda!

Already released in Australia, Henry Hamlet's Heart is coming to the United States on October 18, 2022, and it's definitely worth picking up!

Henry Hamlet's Heart is an absolute gem of a book. It is a queer coming of age novel written about a young man about to graduate from high school, dealing with anxieties about college and the future, as well as school pressures and a newfound crush on his best friend, Len. Henry had never thought of himself as anything but straight; he just struggles to connect with and get the attention of women. However, after a wild party, complete with a game of truth-or-dare gone awry, he can't seem to get Len out of his head.

Henry Hamlet's Heart follows the story of Henry's coming of age, his budding relationship with Len, and all the messy steps along the way. It is a humorous and heartfelt book that is nearly impossible to put down. The author writes beautifully, with many touching scenes that keep the audience enraptured and emotional, along with the occasional and impressive poetic, vividly descriptive, phrasing. But the comical elements were just as great; the relatable gay disaster that is Henry, the painfully awkward scenes that you can't help but laugh at, and the cheesiest moments that still manage to hit you deep in the heart. As a whole, Henry Hamlet's Heart is a brillant, exceptionally charming novel that is perfect for fans of the friends-to-lovers trope and humorous and heart-touching elements. It is a must-read for this fall and perfect addition to any reader's TBR, releasing for US readers with an absolutely gorgeous new cover and the same incredible story,

* I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.