But also Noah had demons to struggle with and a father pushing him into things that were not his own choice. My heart ached for him, even when he made the most stupid choices.

He was such a complex character, with his tough attitude to try to cover his insecurity and vulnerability, and with his loneliness, his compassion and his love for his little brothers. Evan’s situation was absolutely devastating and I rooted so much for him. This might seem like a light and funny YA gay romance, but it had such depths and sadness in addition to the sweet and heartwarming parts. But when he learns his identity by mistake, he no longer wants to stay trapped in his lie, and when he learns that Noah is interested too, he takes a chance at love, risking everyone he’s tried to protect, including himself.

The only positive thing going on in his life are his chats with the anonymous pen pal. His life is full of fear and responsibilities, knowing he has to protect his little brothers from his abusive dad at all costs. Nor could he guess why Evan has all the bruises, why he’s so aggressive or why he’s so protective of his little brothers.Įvan keeps a devastating secret that he can’t confide in anyone, believing he doesn’t deserve to be loved, that he deserves the hell he’s living in. Neither could he ever suspect that the annoying but intriguing superjock Evan Santiago would be that pen pal, nor that he would be the one encouraging Noah to come out of the closet and make a move on a boy he fancies, even though the thought of Noah with someone else breaks Evan’s heart. Little did he know, when reluctantly writing his first letter, that the anonymous pen pal would become his closest confidant for the next years, nor that the anonymous pen pal would move to his school and find out who Noah was in real life. In sixth grade Noah Stone is assigned an anonymous pen pal for a school assignment.

Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde