Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

168 reviews

candearangotobon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

My jaw was dropped several times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Outing, Racism, Transphobia, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

midnightbelles's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was really sweet and it made me so emotional. I couldn’t stand the love triangle (I did like both guys but the catfishing made me so anxious) but other than that and some things I found annoying in Felix I really enjoyed reading this . I loved most of the characters and I loved getting to read about Felix opening up to love and learning more about himself and his identity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual content

bookish_afrolatina's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

Since I couldn't get a hold of the print copy in time for this read-a-thon, I ended up listening to it on audiobook via the Libby app, which was great!

I really enjoyed this story despite this anxiety that catfishing give me 😂. Felix is a sweet kid who has been through some shit & I'm glad he had the space to explore the complexities of it. I was a little bit surprised at the amount of cannabis use throughout the book, but it's not like I can say whether or not that's authentic as I'm not a teenager & I don't live in NYC. The best part about this book for me, aside from Felix's friendship with Ezra, was the depiction of a person questioning who they really are & realizing that this may be a lifelong journey instead of arriving at an identity destination.

❗content warning❗: there are a lot of instances of transphobia throughout.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Bullying

Moderate: Gaslighting and Drug use

roorooreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

An amazingly queer ya novel! The beginning was a bit hard to get through and there were a lot of painful moments that made you feel for Felix and what he was going through. I adored the ending though and u loved that the backdrop was an art school! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Deadnaming

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

This is a book about finding and learning to love oneself. It was so cute and I found myself internally and sometimes externally screaming. Everything is so interconnected and cool. The plot had a lot of different points which sometimes felt like too much but it was still fabulous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Abandonment, Alcohol, Transphobia, Homophobia, Drug use, and Outing

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual content and Medical content

brandirecognition's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense 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

3.75

Be warned that the inciting incident is a transphobic hate crime (outing & deadnaming) that continues throughout the story. Hard to read given the rampant transphobia being enacted by US state legislatures, but Felix's personal journey toward loving/accepting all parts himself makes this an affirming trans story. The YA love triangle made this hard to read at times, but the set up and fall out was a realistic seventeen year old problem.

Felix had to feel more secure in himself and his relationships with others before he could be open to understanding that Ezra loved him. The story's trampling on Declan felt undeserved, though, especially because he and Felix's poor communication skills were similar and ended up causing the same problem for each of them.

 
The gratuitous references to Harry Potter were jarring and honestly a huge detractor for me. This book was published in 2020, when Rowling was very much openly a terf. just a bizarre choice
Felix's gender journey was well-written and realistic and definitely made me tear up. 4/5 stars in regards to his continuing journey

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Outing, and Racism

sarahsbookstacks's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I am so glad this book exists. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Bullying, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Deadnaming, and Drug use

emilyhv's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Transphobia, Abandonment, Outing, Cursing, and Deadnaming

Minor: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Biphobia, Drug use, and Religious bigotry

emma_ekb's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

very uwu. i think i’ve kind of outgrown YA to some extent but it was nice to kind of relive that youthful exuberance. really good portrayal of young love and queer friendships and identity. love simon vibes 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

marioosa517's review against another edition

challenging 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Abandonment, Cursing, Transphobia, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Racism, Medical content, Sexual content, and Homophobia