Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

132 reviews

emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Complicated

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emotional funny hopeful 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: Complicated

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emotional reflective 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: Yes

This really takes me back to a lot of insecurities and feelings I had when I was in high school, namely, being curious about romantic relationships and feeling unworthy of them. The author captures those feelings very well. I liked this book. 

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

This book is officially my new favourite book of 2021. I've just finished it and I'm at a loss of what to say; it just means so much to me. I loved the conversations it held, such those about pronouns and transphobic "feminists", but also ones about love and what this feels like and looks like and how you are deserving of it. Felix was an incredible main character. He had so much confusion and hope and I felt so caught up in his journey of self discovery and acceptance. He is a character that is going to stay with me for a long time. 
However, this book deserves 5 stars not just because of how meaningful it was to me, but also because it was just GOOD. The pacing was fantastic; I read it in two sittings. The romance was gorgeous and done so, so well. The book was also just so poetic. I've highlighted so many places, and the ending was perfect. I genuinely love this book so much. 

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

the ending was great!!! felix went through a lot of shit and i like how it was mostly about self discovery and self improvement.

not sure why it's marketed as a romance though. it does have romance bits in it, but the main theme is about felix finding himself.

the book went really fucking fast - so much happened in such little time holy shit??
especially declan and felix's very short relationship it went flying past and then it suddenly stopped. i really don't understand why they would add their relationship in there, it was kind of unnecessary. felix developing a crush on declan made sense but a relationship definitely did not.


remember when i said this book wasn’t realistic? sorry i take that back... i genuinely love felix’s character development because i hated him at the start. he was kind of a little shit in the beginning, just constantly looking for someone to villanize and dump his problems on, and ezra was always just going along with it because he knew felix would get pissed at him if he didn’t. and at the end, he figured his shit out. i like that it’s very cool. realistic too.

i love the problematic people too!!!

..sorry that was worded weirdly but i mean i like how the people who did bad shit to felix wasn’t just “transphobia transphobe” they were real characters with real problems and their reasons behind giving felix shit about his identity were explained. of course not justified but explained well. 
like marisol and austin. also. i really hate marisol that whole "you're a misogynist because you transitioned" bit was never explained i would very much like an explanation on that.


representation was amazing!! i love the little discoveries felix make like that one scene where he realizes he shouldn’t assume stranger’s identities and pronouns !!!! yes felix go felix 
and i love his discovery as a demiboy!! that scene was nice too:)

the dialogue wasn’t great in the beginning of the book but it got so much better as i kept reading. the whole book got better as i kept reading honestly. great read:-) the representation is so gratifying.

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Eu tive muita dificuldade em me conectar com Félix, de entender ele ou ter empatia por ele.
 
 O livro é basicamente todo ele reclamando que todo o trabalho de anos vai ser jogado fora por que ele não consegue fazer algo hoje. E como não é mostrado ele ativamente correndo atrás disso fica muito difícil entender, porque pra mim agora que é o passo final ele tá basicamente bebendo e fumando maconha e em quase todo livro você não vê sequer ele trabalhando mesmo que de hobby na arte em geral. Não tem ele pintando, não tem ele indo ver uma peça de arte ou QUALQUER coisa assim.
 A insegurança com o talento dele também segue a mesma coisa, ele tá o tempo todo dizendo que ele é bom e usando palavras como "até eu consigo ver" ou "melhor até do que eu mesmo" e coisa do tipo, então quando começa todo questionamento eu literalmente não me importei.
 
 Eu também nao entendi toda a questão da bolsa de estudos, não entendi porque em toda a escola que é enorme só duas pessoas estariam lutando por ela.
 
 Todo o mistério pra saber quem é a pessoa transfobica não é muito massa, toda pessoa basicamente que ele conversa ele começa a se questionar se é ela, e não é nem que solta pistas que podem significar algo é só algum drama ser criado que ele faz a pergunta pra si mesmo.
 
 Eu odiei a relação dele com o pai. Confesso que sofro demais pra empatizar com toda essa necessidade de validação familiar, é algo que eu não entendo em qualquer comunidade lgbtq+, ainda quando ele tem um enorme apoio e não que ele tenha que aguentar deadnaming nem nada mas é uma relação extremamente desrespeitosa da parte dele, e aí a conclusão dele com o pai é péssima. Toda construção do drama era que o pai não se comunicava direito? Félix, obviamente não é um narrador confiável no caso porque os sentimentos dele são muito fortes aqui, mas é claro que o pai tá ali pra ser esse personagem que demonstra amor de outras formas e aí do nada ele fala mais do que todas as vezes juntas de ambos e ainda da uma lição de moral e tal.
 
 Félix também é muito autocentrado. O livro inteiro é ele percebendo que outras pessoas ao redor dele também tem problemas, também tem dificuldades. A relação dele com Ezra mesmo é um saco, eu entendo totalmente a questão de classe, e obviamente a gente também tem esses pensamentos, mas do mesmo jeito que é com o pai ele vive em cima de Ezra e está o tempo todo menosprezando os sentimentos dele.
 O romance também não me convenceu, nem a tentativa de triangulo. Primeiro que toda a questão de perfil falso eu odeio, é péssimo. E daí pra se apaixonar tão rápido? Foi menos que 5 conversas entre eles, e o outro interesse romântico também não é bom.
 
 A escrita é boa, eu gostei mais aqui do que o outro livro que li do autor mas não conseguir simpatizar com Félix mesmo.

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

How I enjoyed this book! I highly recommend that you listen to the audiobook if you are able. Logan Rozos did such an incredible job bringing the characters to life, especially Felix.

Felix has never been in love. He is Black, transgender and queer and feels that his identities count against him in this regard. We follow Felix as he experiences love for the first time, questions his relationships and gender identity. 

Kacen Callender created a cast of wonderfully diverse characters that feel real and aren't without flaws. The book was insightful and inspiring, painful at times and unapologetically queer. Also, I absolutely adored the friendship relationships in this book!

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