Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Felix Ever After

i had the best time with this! it was the perfect upper YA rom-com, with all the swoony moments but also the tough decisions/thoughts that many teens experience. i wish i had had a book like this when i was in high school. so much love for felix!! loved being in his head for the duration of the book. amazing LGBTQIA+ rep in the mcs and side characters!

⚠️: transphobia, deadnaming, bullying, homophobia, outing, hate crime, abandonment, drug use, toxic friendship, racism, emotional abuse

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midnightbelles's review against another edition

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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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roorooreads's review against another edition

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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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brandirecognition's review against another edition

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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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