Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

189 reviews

bookish_perseus's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Classism

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

knunderb's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I mostly liked this book. It was paced well and the characters had great growth. Felix was kind of a judgmental dick, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Violence

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

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Felix Love, 17, black, queer and trans. Just one of those things makes him marginalized and he wonders if that is why he can't seem to find love. He's thinking about his gender identity and starts to question who he really is. At the same time he gets humiliated by a public display of his old photos - before transforming - and he receives several homophobic messages. Now all Felix can think about is finding out who's doing this to him, and get revenge. 

This is a really good story about identity, self-discovery, friendship and love. As a teenager most have problems with self esteem, and thoughts about who you are. I can hardly imagine how much more difficult it must be if you're marginalized. To question something is usually healthy, even if it's yourself you question. Felix's best friend Ezra don't like to compartmentalize himself and I truly wish we weren't so focused on that. But we think it's easier to put people in different compartments, so that's what we do.

When Felix begins to receive homophobic messages I get annoyed when he answers them. I understand the feeling of standing up for oneself, but experience shows that it's playing the bully's game. If you don't react there's no reason for the bully to continue. I also think it's a bit uneasy how focused Felix is on revenge, and I don't sympathize with his way of getting the culprit to expose himself. Sure, it's a teenager with an identity crisis, but it bothers me, none the less.

As a hetrosexual white woman I can't say I have any experience with all of this, and despite trying to keep myself updated and informed, I think it's hard to know what all the terms involve. It was kind of a relief to hear that even those who identify within the LBTQIA+ community have the same problem, simply because there's so many of them. If I say the wrong thing it's never out of disrespect, to me it's obvious that you can love whoever you want, as well as it's up to you how you want to be addressed and what you identify yourself as.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol

axel_p's review against another edition

3.0

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria

ecn's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

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Very sweet but also so heavy and difficult at times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Classism

ecster's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, Dysphoria

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol

lololovesthings's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

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4.5 stars!

I am so, so happy I get to live at a time when "Felix Ever After" by Kacen Callender exists. This book is so important, so emotional, so powerful! I laughed, I cried, I felt so many things reading this story. Loved the characters, so many iconic lines, enjoyed the setting and the conversations it will spark. Please read this book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia

Moderate: Drug use

michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful 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: Complicated

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⚠️ CW: drug use, transphobia, dead naming, bullying, homophobia and classism ⚠️ If you're looking for an emotional but beautiful read that will have you sobbing one minute and getting lost in pure queer joy and love the next then this book is for you! Felix Love has never been in love. He desperately wants to know what it's like and why it seems so easy for everyone else but him. What's worse is that even though he is proud of his identity he also secretly fears that he's one marginalisation too many as a black, queer and transgender person in NYC just looking for his own happily ever after. Until one day an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages after publicly posting his dead name and photos of him before he transitioned. And this is when Felix decides to come up with a plan for revenge, however what he didn't count on was his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle. But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine how he feels about himself. This book is absolute perfection and I could rave about it all day. It's the perfect story of identity, falling in love and recognising your worth but it is written in a way that is so real and raw. My favourite thing is how it shows that journey's of self-discovery aren't linear and even though it can be messy it doesn't make it any less beautiful. Overall, this book really got me in the feels and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug use, Homophobia, Transphobia, Classism

bookishrey's review against another edition

5.0

emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Minor: Drug use