Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Felix Ever After

Hm, a very tough one to review and a very emotional read. I loved Felix and wanted to shout at him, and the other characters. In ways a very realistic portrait of what it's like to be a teenager (though most teenagers don't have to deal with the terrible act Felix has committed against him at the start of the book, or one of their parents abandoning them). I, very personally and subjectively, disagree with who he ends up with and was more interested in the other love interest (very personal opinion). But I also find it very believable. This book touches on so many topics in gender, identity, hate, growing up and finding out who you want to be, I think it could be a life-changing read for someone out there. I, like Felix, don't enjoy pride parades that much, but I almost cried during that whole scene.

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lorithereadingfairy's review

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challenging informative inspiring relaxing fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

TW: homophobia, transphobia, racism, parental abuse and neglect, frequent drug and alcohol use, ableist language

Rep: Black queer Trans (later demiboy) main character with biracial Black Bengali LI, gay Black biracial side character, lesbian side characters, gay side character, various other queer + POC characters

“I was hurt this summer, hurt more than I thought I ever could be. It could’ve been easy to say I was hurt because I’m trans, because someone singled me out for my identity, but there’s something weird about that—something off, about suggesting that my identity is the thing that brought me any sort of pain. It’s the opposite. Being trans brings me love. It brings me happiness. It gives me power.” Ezra’s biting his lip as he grins at me. I shrug a little. “It makes me feel like I’m a god. I wouldn’t change myself for anything.”

If it’s possible that this book might have to be one of my favorite books of all time. Because, I wanted a book-one book with a non-cis POV. When I heard abut this book, I was really excited as it had a Black, Trans (with visible top-surgery scars), and a Queer MC which made me a thousand times excited. And honestly, this book did not disappoint at all.

It surpassed all my expectations, and just made it feel like a love letter to the nonbinary and Trans. I think I may need to recommend this book to my Trans friend though. Looking back, I love how like a lot of signs I showed that I was never fully a ‘girl’. I have never realized that until now, until I realized I hung out with guys and wanted to join them which failed, I can not wear dresses or makeup whatsoever. Feeling like being a girl never felt quite right even while I was growing up.

Just reading the beginning, just brought tears to my eyes and I just wanted to cry. All I thought: This is me on page. I have never related something so much that it could bring so much tears, minus some of the the other books I have cried. This book almost made me cry and I don’t cry over books.

I still question my gender identity and the dysphoria that goes along with it. And it’s hard constantly and how Felix was struggling with his identity even though he knew he was trans. Just having that on page was just so meaningful to me.

I think the one thing that was really really nice and appreciative minus the fact that this is by an OWNVOICES AUTHOR, but that Felix’s deadname is never on page. If someone uses it’s just referred as deadname, and that’s really awesome. It’s the exact opposite of what most of the Trans books do. We need more of these authentic, ownvoices rep and No deadnaming.

This book also explored the unsupportive parents, where the parents weren’t accepting. It broke my heart in a few sections, but it always tends to happen a lot. I kinda have supportive parents, but they see me as “straight” and “girl” even though I told them I was bisexual a couple years ago-I can’t bare coming out to them again. Also, the fact that I drop clues about not falling in love and they don’t get it. They don’t even understand being Queer and the issues that goes along with it, don’t know what Pride month is at all.

This book does have some sad parts especially with dealing with transphobia in every day life, but honestly-the fact that Felix was always so proud of being trans was really powerful even if he still struggled trying to find his gender. He knows that he isn’t a girl, and that being “Trans” didn’t always fit him too much. We need more Gender struggles please.

Also, this book talks about labels. For me, labels are important at least to me-just to keep myself sane and just to put a word to where I’m always constantly struggling when it comes gender/romantic interest/sexuality issues. And just seeing a full-on conversation about labels just made me cry more.

He shrugs with a smile. “I honestly don’t care that much about labels. I mean, I know they’re important to a lot of people, and I can see why—I’m not knocking them. It’s just . . . I kind of wish we could exist without having to worry about putting ourselves into categories. If there were no straight people, no violence or abuse or homophobia or anything, would we even need labels, or would we just be? Sometimes I wonder if labels can get in the way. Like, if I was adamant that I’m straight, does that force me into only liking girls? What if that’d stopped me from falling in love with a guy? I don’t know,” he says again. “I get that labels can be important.”

“They connect us. They help create community,” Leah says. “I can see what you’re saying. If the world was perfect, maybe we wouldn’t need labels. But the world isn’t perfect, and labels can really be a source of pride—especially when we’ve got to deal with so much crap. I’m really freaking proud to be a lesbian.”

😭😭😭😭 This is my first time seeing something like this be on page, and have a discussion. These type of discussion in queer always makes it awesome-and how just being labeled as ‘queer’ is okay.

And the queer spaces? I actually really want to go to one, but honestly-I don’t think I’d feel very welcome in that kind of situation. But this book also shows the struggle especially being a young queer person in queer spaces could be so hard.

I keep saying that queer people always find each other, as a lot of people in my life (friends wise ish) is queer, and my friends online are queer. This book has a lot of queer characters in it, and they were somewhat accepting of Felix’s transness minus a few transphobic characters.

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oliverthegame's review

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emotional informative tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

[ORIGINAL REVIEW 7-21-2020]
I didn’t sleep at all because I was reading this book. I don’t know if I gave it a higher or lower rating because of this...
I loved Ezra so much. And while I didn’t find Felix to be too likable of a character, I definitely related a lot and could sympathize. I only started liking Felix at 61% of the way done.
There are some pretty profound lines, but I often found myself wanting the author to give us readers some credit and stop explaining or reiterating things so much.
Overall, I thought it was a very solid work. Also cute.

[EDIT 10-5-2020]
Okay, I’ve never done this before, but I keep thinking about this book today... I’m going to give it the full five stars because it just gives me such good vibes. Also, planning a reread of it.

[EDIT 12-11-2020, FIRST REREAD]
Ugh, okay, so I now realize why I didn’t like Felix that much the first time. I relate to him too much. This time around, though, he’s my favorite. I still love Ezra, but Felix—I mean, come on. He feels so <i>real</i>. Like, if I went to Brooklyn, I wouldn’t be surprised to bump into him and Ezra on their way to school, or see them in a Pride Parade. He’s selfish, and sometimes annoying, but that just adds to who he is. He’s a kid trying to figure himself out. And that’s amazing.

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