I did enjoy this story but I had a few problems. The daily ongoings of Henry's life started to become very repetitive and I kinda wanted a fast forward button to get thru them. I was also more invested in the friendships than the actual relationship. And then the second act kind of frustrated me with how the characters were acting. The ending also felt very abrupt.

Representation: Queer MCs, discovering queerness

Set in Australia, we spend time with Henry, who’s in his final year of school and has no idea what he wants once it ends. He just knows he has a skill of making things awkward, but he’s always had his best friend to hide behind. Despite being best friends, there’s still a lot about Len that Henry doesn’t know. They’ve always worked, and have a group of boys that spend a lot of time together. Henry slowly realizes that he’s not straight, and on top of that, he develops a crush on Len. This is a heartfelt coming-of-age story, figuring out messy feelings and relationships.

Rating: 4.5/5 I immensely enjoyed this. Right off, this is hard to talk about without spoiling anything, so beware. I will stay away from any details. It was very much a slice-of-life feeling, there weren’t any major events that pushed the story along. Both Henry and Len are very likable people, and their personalities are fun! These lifelong friends are stumbling their way through charged feelings, but they care enough about each other to work it out and figure out what’s next. The friend dynamics through the whole story were just fantastic, you can tell these people truly love and care for each other. They felt like their own people, and not just barely fleshed out supporting characters. The majority of the story is fairly slow paced, and it’s absolutely a slow burn romance. I wish the pace didn’t feel so quick at the end, I would’ve loved a little more of them together at the end. I’m also getting a little tired of the same not-fun tropes in a lot of romance, like “I’m not worthy of this person” or “we can’t do this, commitment is scary!” Like I get it, people are like this in real life, but the way it’s handled is often not enjoyable. Overall, I would definitely recommend this if you enjoy fluffy slow burn romances.

Henry Hamlet's Heart was a cute and heartwarming YA contemporary serving some of the very best tropes like enemies to lovers and found family (with his big group of friends). I loved seeing the beautiful family dynamics and I wish we just generally had more time with all these side characters - Henry's family members, his friends, just all of them! I loved seeing the love story slowly reveal itself and bloom, it absolutely captured my heart!

The book did touch on some heavier issues and while I absolutely loved that, I also wish we got to dig a bit deeper, that those themes got more page time.

I will definitely be recommending this beautiful book to anyone looking for a sweet YA romance filled with friendships, family, and self-discovery.

DNF.

Tried many times to start the book and the keep on reading, and Idk if it was because of the formatting or because the characters seemed to have the same voice but I couldn't for the sake of enjoyment keep on reading without checking my phone five times per paragraph or get into the story, its characters and relationships with one another.

I really wanted to love this book and I don’t believe that it is fair for me to review it because it is not the books fault I did not like it.
I feel like I had just read to many books similar to this and felt bored. It didn’t have anything to add for me that set it apart from the rest. But again, I also think that this is just because I’ve recently been into stories with this description and may have just hit my target point of burnout with them.

What a lovely gay coming-of-age story! All the characters were likable and the story was captivating, with typical high-school scenarios and lighter moments in between. I loved the writing style and it has a great theme of self-discovery!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher, Charlesbridge Teen, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book has all the elements I love to see in queer YA contemporaries: the gay confusion, the awkward pining, the unexpected heartbreak, and the moments that make it all worth it. Wilde has such a talent of creating a narrative that completely sucks you in. Once I started Henry’s story, I couldn’t put it down. From his funny and weird group of friends who all deserve their own book because boy oh boy do they get in trouble sometimes, to the slow unravelling of Henry’s feelings for his best friend, this narrative kept me on the edge of my seat. The humour is also so seamlessly interweaved that at any moment, you can find yourself close to tears only to be cracking up a few sentences later. Definitely would recommend this one to anyone looking for a queer YA contemporary.

Fun, LGBTQ+ YA contemporary novel that teens will find heartwarming and entertaining! Set in Australia, which sets it apart from other similar titles. Fans of Becky Albertalli's novels will likely enjoy this one as well.

Friends to lovers! Friends to lovers! Friends to lovers! What a sweet, smart, and charming debut. I will be thinking about these two sweethearts for a long time to come!

Like a more angst Heartstopper, this novel tells the story of a friendship turned crush turned to love. The confused emotions and pining are so strong, and presented with such honesty, I couldn’t put it down. It captures both the deep friendships of our teenage years and the complicated feelings of first love. We only get Henry’s perspective, which makes it all the more complicated as he realized he loves his best friend. There is also the threat of homophobia at Henry’s all-boy school ruining everything as well. It is definitely a YA angst fest, but a well crafted one.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

This was a fun read, I enjoyed the familiar and friend dynamic. It was really emotional and surprising! I loved the story and the characters. Definitely would recommend it!

I received an eARC copy via NetGalley. I had a bit of trouble getting into this book initially. I started and stopped ready probably 3 times. On my 4th attempt I decided I was going to give it a go and read through the first half of the book to see if it would grow on me. It did!! I think the first quart to half of the book had a lot going on and dealing with the friendship thing and ALL the friends just kind of lost me in the beginning, but once things between Henry and Len started getting a little more involved the story really took off for me there. I love how they both tried to work through the idea of being more than friends and seeing their initial struggles and challenges with Growing up, family, friends, their sexuality, and love really made the 2nd half of the book to me. Definitely recommend this one.

I really enjoyed the humor and the family and friend dynamic. However, the conflict that happens later in the book consists of overused tropes and is *magically* resolved. There were also some heavier topics mentioned that I would have liked to see explored.

Sometimes this book is laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes serious, and other times perfectly romantic. A sweet charmer of a tale. A pleasing page-turner about high school boys who fall in love. Quick dialogue in a speedy tale. Not at all boring. Gay all the way, which is enlightening and endearing. A fun read that adults and teens alike can read and enjoy, perhaps even together to discuss. A keeper here. Readable all the way.

This was a cute and quick read. I think I read it in about a day and enjoyed it thoroughly. For fans of Patrick Ness and David Levithan.

Este libro se me hizo parecido al libro de Simon Homosapiens ( creo que ese fue uno de los títulos que le colocaron en español). ES un libro fácil de leer, con interacciones divertidas y tiernas y con un lindo mensaje. Sin duda lo recomendaría enormemente.

Gracias Netgalley por el ejemplar a cambio de una reseña honesta

This was a heart-warming and heart-wrenching friends-to-lovers and coming-of-age novel that hit all the right emotional beats and had me so hooked I was at risk of missing by stop on the subway. Charming, funny, and tender, this was a great read!

I went into Henry Hamlet’s Heart not expecting much, and ended up getting a totally sweet, impactful and heartfelt coming of age romance. Henry Hamlet is starting his final year of school, and doesn’t know who he is. He’s smart, a little shy and best friends with Len, who is popular and can get any girl. They also hang with three other boys who are wonderful and funny in their own ways (including an emo and a jock). This is a slice of life story that follows Henry as he navigates school and his future, and mostly importantly, his newfound feelings for Len.

Henry and Len share a kiss during a game of truth or dare, which results in some of the most intense and well-written pining I have ever read. The romance between these boys is so tender, yet feels so true to actual teenage boy behavior. They can barely share their feelings with each other, and I think the miscommunication in this makes perfect sense for two teenage boys who have no experience talking about feelings. This works because Henry and Len are so easy to root for, despite the messes they make.

This story takes place in Australia in 2008, and it shows! I feel like a learned a lot about the school system there and I appreciated the throwback references. The National is mentioned twice, and there’s one particularly emotion scene involving “Luck You”. While some might get annoyed by these references, I loved them. I already cry every time I listen to The National and now I have a reason (sort of).

Ultimately this was great. There’s a likable supporting cast, a ton of angst and enough finding yourself moments for any Alice Oseman fan. This will also work for Becky Albertelli lovers, or anyone looking for a little queer joy! Henry Hamlet forever!

Thank you to NetGalley, Charlesburg Teen, and Rhiannon Wilde for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this coming of age and coming out story charming and fun to read at times. In addition, I think it did a great job of capitalizing on such a short timeline around the final month of high school.

Overall, this novel fell flat for me in that it did not stick out from any other queer, YA coming out stories I have read in the past. I know the author had been writing this since 2015 and I think had it came out earlier it would have met the critical acclaim of that era of queer literature.

Furthermore, outside of our 2 main characters all supporting characters felt unmemorable or interesting in their characterization which caused me to mix up Henry’s main friend group up consistently throughout the book.

Finally, I really wanted to enjoy this book, but found large issues in the pacing having the give up and restart it 3 times.

If you’ve never read queer YA I think this could be a good read because there is nothing inherently wrong with it and it quite light and fluffy. However, if you have dipped your toes into the genre before I would pass on this book.

Henry Hamlet's Heart is a really sweet queer coming of age story. It's a pretty easy read, and the characters are very likeable and very engaging. It has really cute friends to lovers vibes. Super relaxing, easy afternoon read.

I would recommend if you enjoyed Love Simon or enjoy young adult romances.