Dearest reader,
I know you’re eager to get started, but I just want to set the stage before you dive into Henry and Halle’s love story. I said this would be a “quick note,” but as I sit here and work out what I want to say, I can tell it isn’t going to be, so buckle up.
Since I 1rst published Icebreaker, I’ve received so many messages asking if
Henry will receive a diagnosis to explain the traits that I’ve always called “neurodivergent coded.” The short answer is no, he doesn’t.
Some of you might be thinking, okay? Cool? I could have read the book to 1nd that out… but I know many of you feel represented by Henry, or might be on a journey of your own, and knowing this ahead of time might be important to you.
I’ve always said I wouldn’t write a diagnosis storyline, so this shouldn’t be a shock to the ones who have followed me for a while. There are so many reasons why, but aside from the real-life obstacles Henry might face in the health-care system, the main reason is people live ful1lled lives every day without an explanation for why they feel diIerent.
It doesn’t make anyone, their wants, or their needs less valid to not have a medical diagnosis.
Henry and his actions have always been loosely based on my own and it’s taken thirty years to receive my AuDHD diagnosis, something I did not have when I started writing Henry. When I was twenty like Henry, frustrated and upset because it felt like my brain just would not work properly and I was suIocating, at no point did anybody think it could be something more than the anxiety and depression I was diagnosed with.
I’ve been very honest that this book was di cult for me to write. I wanted to get it right for you all, and more important, I wanted to get it right for Henry.
I put a bit of myself in every character I create: Anastasia’s anxiety, Nate’s self-sacri1ce, Aurora’s need to be wanted, Halle’s loneliness, and the internal scars Russ has because of his father’s gambling addiction. I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about people understanding Henry for the parts of him—parts of me
—that shut down or need to be alone. The part of me that exhausts herself mirroring those around her and soaking up their characteristics like a sponge. The part of me that tries so hard and still gets things so, so wrong.
Ironically, the pressure I put on myself to not let you all down was possibly the most Henry thing I could do.
I believe Henry is the character who has changed the most since I created him, but that’s because I’ve changed so much since I gave you all Nate and Stassie.
I hope you read this story and see a man who loves the people around him,
and when it comes to conRict, you watch through a lens knowing not everyone thinks the same way.
I truly hope Daydream was worth waiting for.
Get comfortable, she’s a long one.
All my love, xo, Hannah
