“They’re like ‘Oh, I made too many typos, they’re gonna think less of me.’ ‘The book didn’t sell as well as expected, they’re disappointed in me.’ And they really have that fear. “I have friends who are also writers, they have that fear of their own editors and publishers,” he tells So Booking Cool. Readers who enjoy realistic and complex young adult novels with a hint of contemporary romance, will definitely enjoy this book.When asked for advice about what authors should look for in agents, editors, and publishers, award-winning and Charming As A Verb (Balzer + Bray, October 13, 2020) author Ben Philippe, encourages finding industry professionals whose emails they are unafraid to receive.

Readers will want Henri to get everything that he wants, and so much more. Henri’s internal struggles with this time in his life come across the page so vividly that it feels so realistic and just pulls on your heart strings. Philippe has created a novel that other teenagers and young adults in a position similar to Henri’s (those leaving high school and going off to college) will be able to connect and identify with. Although readers discover that Henri is flawed fairly quickly, it is important to note that by the end of the book Henri realizes this as well, as his character develops and he grapples with the consequences of what he has done and tries to make amends with the people he cares about. Philippe has successfully created a charming, witty, and likeable character in Henri, as well as a character who is flawed and makes real mistakes that have lasting consequences on the trajectory of his life. In short, Henri is a complex character and the way that he navigates through these various challenges is what makes the overall novel, Charming as a Verb, so realistic. Without spoiling the major plot twists of the book, I will say that as a result of Henri’s overzealousness, his extracurricular school activities fall to the side, he gets caught in lies related to his business, his interview with his dream university does not go as expected, and he makes decisions that put both his romantic and familial relationships in jeopardy. At first, it seems as if Henri is on top of it all-but the reader soon realizes that Henri is juggling too much. Published on September 8, 2020, Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe is an authentic young adult contemporary novel that portrays a realistic account of a teenager as he is about to embark on the next stage of his life.Ĭharming as a Verb follows Haitian-American protagonist Henri Haltiwanger as he tries to navigate his life through his final year of high school at FATE Academy (an elite private arts school located in Manhattan), while juggling his own dog-walking business, applying to colleges, complicated romantic relationships, and parents who expect too much from him.

Charming is a verb