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emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS: deadnaming, transphobic actions, transphobic language and rhetoric, swearing, marijuana use (smoking), underage drinking, absent parents, emotionally unavailable parents, Harry Potter references
It's the real, loving relationships that can be the scariest.
Um, wow. Whew. This book. This book. This book. My thoughts on this book are fairly complicated. To begin with, I want to say that I really hope the author is proud of themselves. They ought to be. This book, to the best of my knowledge, resonated powerfully with the communities it was designed to reach. The sheer amount of love and hype surrounding this book is very much deserved. "Felix Ever After" depicts BIPOC, queer teenage/young adult life with all the glorious messiness that comes with it – figuring out first love, dealing with applications to schools and parental misunderstandings and complete lack of understanding, all while figuring out who you are and trying to piece that together (or set it completely apart) from who the world wants you to be, expects you to be. It's powerful in many ways. I liked it in many ways.
And I didn't like it in many ways.
My thoughts and feelings on this book are, again, complicated. Many parts made my heart light up and many parts didn't quite hit me. I have learned, from my experience with this book, that the "It was you all along/everything I wanted was right here in front of me" trope can be quite hit or miss. And I think this book missed me on this one. I don't know why. I really can't explain why. I wanted to love this book, very badly. But I just don't think this one is for me. I feel like certain characters, like Declan, where more plot devices than characters, and that made me upset.
All that being said, there's nothing particularly *wrong* with the book, it just didn't hit all my emotions the way I really wanted it to. But I do highly recommend this book. The way it depicts BIPOC queer teen drama and pain and just life in general are very raw and real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming
Minor: Drug use
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Gaslighting
Minor: Drug use, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
This book is absolutely fantastic. I didn't know what to expect going in but it was better than I could have ever thought. It was so insightful and uplifting but also heartbreaking.
I loved that is brought attention to many different gender identities. The fact that Felix identifies as demiboy honestly made me so happy. As someone who also identifies as demigender it was so wonderful to see if being talked about
I loved that is brought attention to many different gender identities.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Outing
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Medical content
Minor: Deadnaming
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia
Moderate: Addiction
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:
Complicated
This was a wonderful conclusion to my reads of 2021.
I love the way intersectionality is addressed in this book. Felix's struggles are painfully relatable and it's so wonderful to watch him gain a greater sense of self and more confidence in his identities and his ability as an author.
Transphobia and trans identity is so well portrayed in this book. A wide variety of both gender expression and gender identity is portrayed in such a beautiful way in this book. I'm happy that both outing and transphobia are given both the weight and sensitivity needed in this book. Discussions of the foundations of a healthy relationship are discussed in a great way that is not always present in many YA books.
I'm happy that while Felix being trans, queer, and black is allowed to be discussed and inform his experiences, he is allowed to also have struggles outside of that.
I love the way Felix's relationships with other characters were explored in this book and how Felix is allowed to make mistakes that are reasonable for his character and he actually faces the consequences for some of his choices without being demonized.
I love the discussions of class and gentrification that are allowed to be woven throughout the story.
The conclusion to this book was very satisfying in my opinion and is wonderful to see Felix grow so much over the course of this book
I do need to note that there have been concerns raised about the South Asian rep in this book and there are a disturbing amount of references to Harry Potter in a book centering trans identity and trans issues. It is to my understanding that future editions of this book will be correcting this issues which I am very happy to see.
Overall, if anyone is looking for a good book that heavily features trans identity and the high school experience that is not very white-centric, I would absolutely recommend this book.
I love the way intersectionality is addressed in this book. Felix's struggles are painfully relatable and it's so wonderful to watch him gain a greater sense of self and more confidence in his identities and his ability as an author.
Transphobia and trans identity is so well portrayed in this book. A wide variety of both gender expression and gender identity is portrayed in such a beautiful way in this book. I'm happy that both outing and transphobia are given both the weight and sensitivity needed in this book. Discussions of the foundations of a healthy relationship are discussed in a great way that is not always present in many YA books.
I'm happy that while Felix being trans, queer, and black is allowed to be discussed and inform his experiences, he is allowed to also have struggles outside of that.
I love the way Felix's relationships with other characters were explored in this book and how Felix is allowed to make mistakes that are reasonable for his character and he actually faces the consequences for some of his choices without being demonized.
I love the discussions of class and gentrification that are allowed to be woven throughout the story.
The conclusion to this book was very satisfying in my opinion and is wonderful to see Felix grow so much over the course of this book
I do need to note that there have been concerns raised about the South Asian rep in this book and there are a disturbing amount of references to Harry Potter in a book centering trans identity and trans issues. It is to my understanding that future editions of this book will be correcting this issues which I am very happy to see.
Overall, if anyone is looking for a good book that heavily features trans identity and the high school experience that is not very white-centric, I would absolutely recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Outing
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Drug use
CW: Frequent HP References, Classism, Misgendering, Abandonment is by both parents
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 ⭐ 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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Transphobia, Alcohol
Minor: Deadnaming
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
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, Transphobia, Outing, Alcohol
Minor: Deadnaming, Sexual content, Toxic relationship
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Mental illness, Transphobia, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment
Moderate: Drug use, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol