Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender Published by HarperCollins on May 5th 2020
Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQIA
Goodreads
From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.
Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he's painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it's like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What's worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he's one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.
When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn't count on: 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 his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.
Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.
I received a copy of this book for review. This does not influence my thoughts on this book or this review.
I’ve read Callender’s previous works and when I saw the description for Felix Ever After, I knew I had to read it. I’m a huge fan of contemporary novels, especially ones with slightly messy characters and I am always looking for more books with queer characters and this one checked all the boxes!
Felix is an artist attending a summer art program in order to help him get into his dream university. During the semester though, someone displays all of Felix’s old photos and his deadname throughout the school. As Felix attempts to find out who did it, he also must navigate first love. Felix Ever After is a voice-driven novel about love and art and takes place in one of my favourite cities, New York City.
I adored Felix. While he wasn’t the most perfect character, I could definitely understand why he did certain things or felt some type of way. I adored all of the side characters and I think that the novel explores some important themes beyond those mentioned in the blurb (such as privilege and family) really well. I thought the romance elements were adorable, despite being a bit messy. I will admit that I was a little too stressed reading Felix Ever After because I just wanted to protect Felix and make sure he was okay so I’ve added spoiler tags here about the ending. View Spoiler »
Overall, Felix Ever After is a phenomenal novel that I encourage everyone to read. If you like novels with characters that seem real, I highly recommend this one.
