Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe

Book review by Sydney

“Charming As A Verb” by Ben Philippe, begins explaining the life of a young FATE Academy, dog walker, by the name of Henri Haltiwanger. Henri is an amazing debater, one of the most popular students at the academy, and the most reliable dog walker, for his New York City neighbors. Henri can charm anyone, just with a little show of his easy smile. 

All of Henri’s friends have been accepted to their dream university, while he is still on the wait list. Henri’s constant ambition to attend his dream university (Columbia University), causes his life to turn in the opposite direction.

He later found out that he had to dog-walk for his apartment neighbour’s dog, while running into the most fierce classmate in school, Corinne Troy. The more closer he got to her the more risk he had to take with his dream, and future life. When she uncovers Henri’s big plot of the fake dog-walking business, she blackmails him into helping her change her school life style. Henri likes the idea of this, because Troy’s mother is the one who could help him with his dream university.

Henri is a complex character to understand at first, the way that he tries finding a different path to take, to get through many challenges in his life. He is charming, and a very likeable character. Which helps you understand how hard it is for him in his life. He is a character who makes real mistakes that have lasting consequences of his life, but his character always develops and he is always able to take care of the consequences of what he has done, and makes sure the ones he loves and knows don’t get hurt from it.

I definitely fell in love with this book, and would definitely recommend it to any readers who enjoy complicated, and life problem teen novels with a touch of romance. This book made my heart skip at some points, and made me feel like I was Henri, facing those problems myself.