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A review by drakoulis
Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde
4.0
Henry Hamlet's Heart is a heartfelt story of two best friends falling for each other in Brisbane, Australia in the late 00s.
It's funny, light-hearted, full of banter and school shennaningans that seem like the whole world when you are a teenager. Henry is adorably nerdy while artsy Len is an amazing friend but has the habit of hiding from his feelings, afraid of getting hurt.
I loved the two first parts of the book, where we watch Henry, Len and the Boyisss (their friend group) during their last school term. Henry's family is weird and full of love, and I adored his little brother Ham. Len on the other side was dealt a tougher hand, especially after his mother's death left him with his (let's be honest, absolutely terrible) father.
The third part suffered from the author's choice to use some overused and eye-rolling tropes: "I'm not worth for you", "Running away afraid of getting hurt", "I refuse to communicate". It's implied that the underlying reason for this behaviour lies with the grief of the past, but it isn't really explored - and the book is from Henry's POV, so we never know what Leni is thinking.
The finale makes up with a very sweet scene, although (as in many other YA romace books) I wish the book would have one-two more chapters with the boys being more talkative and open about their feelings instead of ending with the climax.
Another standout of the book was the Australian feel, and the 2008 feel - you could very quickly see that this book is not set in the present, without explicitly mentioning it immediately.
Thank you NetGalley and Charlesbridge Teen for the ARC of the US version!
It's funny, light-hearted, full of banter and school shennaningans that seem like the whole world when you are a teenager. Henry is adorably nerdy while artsy Len is an amazing friend but has the habit of hiding from his feelings, afraid of getting hurt.
I loved the two first parts of the book, where we watch Henry, Len and the Boyisss (their friend group) during their last school term. Henry's family is weird and full of love, and I adored his little brother Ham. Len on the other side was dealt a tougher hand, especially after his mother's death left him with his (let's be honest, absolutely terrible) father.
The third part suffered from the author's choice to use some overused and eye-rolling tropes: "I'm not worth for you", "Running away afraid of getting hurt", "I refuse to communicate". It's implied that the underlying reason for this behaviour lies with the grief of the past, but it isn't really explored - and the book is from Henry's POV, so we never know what Leni is thinking.
The finale makes up with a very sweet scene, although (as in many other YA romace books) I wish the book would have one-two more chapters with the boys being more talkative and open about their feelings instead of ending with the climax.
Another standout of the book was the Australian feel, and the 2008 feel - you could very quickly see that this book is not set in the present, without explicitly mentioning it immediately.
Thank you NetGalley and Charlesbridge Teen for the ARC of the US version!