Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Felix Ever After

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Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

70 reviews

davidbythebay's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

4 5 Stars. I really enjoyed this book. Not only was it from a unique perspective, it was also committed to being honest and frank. One of the greatest things I think this book does I'd contribute to and foster conversation about gender identity and sexual orientation. Filled with wonderful insight and a few new-to-me terms, it was a fun story despite the transphobia, homophobia, and racism. It was amazing to have an intersectional look at a character. Felix is trans, queer, and black. It's a perspective we don't get very often at all.

My drawbacks were the pacing was a little slow at times and I really didn't like how with each new direct message (DM) on Instagram we began at the beginning of the conversation to see the new message. It just took the wind out of the sails for me. But it didn't happen very often, so that's good. Another quibble is how I know Felix is 17 and all, but damn can he come across a little immature and amazingly single minded. From the fixation on every new possible transphobic suspect to how he can hyper focus on how his dad won't use his name, Felix just comes across as though he is immature masquerading as mature. With his dad, he never once considers the changes his dad has gone through and has to go through. Another gripe is how quickly turns happen with explosive emotional moments and then they seem to disappear - like with (no spoilers!) finding out someone you thought you knew is actually a transphobe and yet it just seems like they are still around in the background with other friends of yours.

Overall, however, it was an interesting take on a suspenseful mystery mixed with a little MM romance love triangle sort of thing, mixed with a self exploration of identity. Just plain identity in all its iterations. I really recommend this to anyone who has felt lost, anyone in the LGBTQ community, or anyone who wants to know what it's like being queer in our "enlightened" age.

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puhlowmuh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

5.0

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readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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.

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josie24601's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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scarlettskyes's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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? No

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: deadnaming, transphobia (actions/words), swearing, marijuana use, underage drinking, absent parents, parental abandonment, Harry Potter references

Felix Ever After is a YA contemporary Romance that features a trans kid, named Felix (obviously). This was my first Kacen Callender book. Can I just say, the sheet amount of queer/trans books and authors I've read just this year alone is simply amazing to me? When I first came out as nonbinary, it was barely a word anyone knew or recognized, and here I am reading my third (THIRD!) nonbinary author. JOY. 😭

We follow Felix as he navigates life during a summer program at his art school in NYC. Felix's last name is Love, but has never fallen in love, but desperately wants to. He is also trying to figure out his portfolio so he can get into Brown, but doesn't know what he wants to do. When a classmate very publicly outs him and posts his deadname for everyone to see, Felix is obviously devastated and decides to catfish the person he thinks has done it to get revenge. Plot twist: the revenge catfishing turns into a weird love triangle. Also during this, Felix is questioning his gender even after his transition, which just makes everything more complicated.

So. Much. Queer. Teen. Angst! This book touches on so many important things, like the added stress Felix has as being a queer, trans, person of color. How Felix often feels like he's too much, has one too many marginalizations. We also get great themes on (especially when your a teen) making snap judgements of who we think people are without actually knowing the whole story.

I also appreciated the themes on love being complicated and hard to figure out. We also get a "what you were looking for was right in front of you the whole time" trope, which was fine, if a bit predictable. Leah has my heart completely, she's the bomb.

Overall this was a very enjoyable read and I recommend this to anyone who wants to know the pressure that queer kids of color face and the difficulties they face on top of hard it is being a teen in general. One thing I really didn't like about the book was all the HP references. I get the HP is part of the cultural fabric of our society, but this book was written by a trans author about a trans teen and was published in 2020. To me there is no excuse for this at this point. JKR is trash and you can't change my mind. Read this book anyway. Definitely will be reading more of Callender's work.

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