Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Felix Ever After

This is a YA coming-of-age story about Felix, a Black, trans, queer teen who loves art and hanging out with his best friend. But when someone posts photos of him pre-transition and begins bullying him online, he decides to fight back by catfishing the person he thinks is responsible.

One of the main things I liked about this book is the way it portrays teenagers being messy and complicated, and gives them the space to grow and make mistakes. Felix's actions aren't always well-thought out or honorable, but they come from a place of wanting to stand up for injustices and defend himself.

Something else I loved about this book is the way the author encourages us, through the narrative, to be our authentic selves. Felix wants to be able to be his authentic self without worrying about prejudice but he fears that he's 'one label too many'. Throughout the story, we see him begin to accept every aspect of who he is, while also discovering new things about himself, like the fact that he's a demiboy.

The book also shows is the beauty of unconditional love from parents, even those who make mistakes. Felix's father makes a lot of missteps throughout the story (misgendering and deadnaming Felix) while he's trying to unpack his own internalised transphobia. This irritates Felix at first, but he begins to realise that his father is really trying and only wants him to be happy and loved.

Friends-to-lovers is so underrated (especially when it's childhood friends or they've been friends for YEARS) and Felix Ever After does it so well. The gradual realisation that Felix likes his best friend romantically is exciting because he has an inkling that those feelings are mutual. Plus, the two of them already know each other so well that Felix can envision how good they'd be together in a romantic relationship.

The only downsides to this book are that I think I lost some of my connection to the characters by listening to it on audio and there were also a lot of HP references that didn't really need to be there.

Other than that, this was a hopeful, uplifting story of love, friendship, and acceptance. It feels like a heart-felt love letter to trans and queer readers and teens saying, you're loved and you're enough.

Content warnings for transphobia and homophobia, outing, deadnaming (Felix's deadname is never mentioned on-page) and misgendering, bullying and cyber bullying, toxic friendships, absentee parent, casual use of drugs.

Content Warnings

noceur's review

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challenging emotional funny inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“I’m not flaunting anything. I’m just existing. This is me. I can’t hide myself. I can’t disappear. And even if I could, I don’t fucking want to. I have the same right to be here. I have the same right to exist.”

OMG i have so much to say about this book. First of all pls read this if you haven't it’s really amazing. The hype is very real for this one,I read it all in one sitting and underlined a bunch of things. There was so much representation and diversity too. I don't even know where to begin, this book made me feel seen and understood i loved the characters Ezra and Felix are my favourites. I don’t think I have anything negative to say about this book also if you think this may effect your mental health and wellness, tread carefully. I loved that this novel allows its characters to be messy. No one is perfect and this book made it clear that it’s okay to be wrong we are young and we have place for growth. I think i cried like three times. As a closeted person it showed me like a new world. We all hear that it’s okay to be gay, trans etc but the truth is it’s not easy accepting ourselves and dealing with the confusion of labels. I first thought that this novel was gonna be a cute read about two boys in love but it’s so much more than that. It was beautiful, painful, realistic, inspiring and hilarious too.

“But, just because we loved each other, doesn't mean we were meant to be together.
And just because you loved one, doesn't mean you can't love another.”

“It's easier to accept hurt and pain, sometimes, than love and acceptance.”

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e_reader's review

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved this book! The characters felt so real and believable to me, which is sometimes hard to come by as a high schooler reading books written by people that were in high school 10 years ago. Felix is sometimes clueless, but in an endearing, human way. I think it’s a fine line between that, and making them irritatingly obtuse—but Kacen nailed it here. It’s clear they’re speaking from their own life through Felix, but I never got the sense that they were projecting so much so that Felix couldn’t be separated from them. That is, Kacen drew upon his own experiences but Felix was still distinct as a character. Also, maybe it’s a small thing but the way Instagram is used feels authentic. That’s easy to mess up, but everything there made sense.

Overall, I really enjoyed the window into the life of a Black, trans, and queer art student in NYC at a preppy high school.

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jeanniea's review

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Love the themes of the book and the conversations held by characters to discuss important subject matters. It was a little slower in the beginning of the book, and the pace and plot picked up close to halfway thru the story.

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was amazing. I loved Felix. I loved the friendships/relationships. I also loved the topics this discusses. This is intsalovey and Felix and the characters make dumb decisions but their teenagers. While this does deal heavily with transphobia, this is also really just a story about Felix falling in love with himself and others and I think that is beautiful. I highly recommend this because it’s such an important story to tell.

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