Felix Ever After Review

Author: Kacen Callendar
Publish Date: May 5, 2029
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Fiction, YA, Contemporary, LGBTQIA+
add to Goodreads

“Being trans brings me love. It brings me happiness, It gives me power. It makes me feel like I’m a god. I wouldn’t change myself for anything.”

Disclaimer: This book features a Black, queer, transgender main character. As I am not any of those things, I can’t speak for the representation of these groups!

TW: transphobia, bullying & use of deadname

Where, oh where, do I even start with this one?

I stumbled upon Felix Ever After in the usual way; seeing people rave about it online. After an impromptu trip to the bookstore w/ my mom, I saw it in all its gorgeous-cover glory on display and had to pick it up! As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I’ve dedicated June to reading books by/featuring LGBTQIAP+ or POC characters, and just couldn’t say no to this one.

And I’m so glad I didn’t, because wow! What a brilliant, heart-stopping, important book! I’ve never read anything like this before, and suffice it to say, I absolutely loved it!

Felix Ever After is a story of love, acceptance, and self discovery. Felix Love (just so coincidental!) is a Black, transgender, queer boy living in NYC and attending art school. He lives alone with his dad in Harlem, having moved there after his mom left during his childhood and began a new family elsewhere. Throughout the story, we see Felix grapple with his understanding of his sexually and gender, as well as the changing of his relationships with his friends, classmates and parents, and how these dynamics lead to him feeling unworthy of long term love and affection. Most importantly, though, we get to see Felix learn to finally love and accept himself.

I found this book to be enlightening as to the struggles that trans people go through when learning how to accept a different identity than what they might have been born as. I could feel Felix’s confusion, his anger, his “otherness”. Even within the queer community (which the media paints frequently as being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc.) , he struggled with his identity, not knowing if he identified fully as a boy or as something else entirely. While I can’t relate to this experience myself, I felt that I learned a lot about sexual exploration and how much harm the lines of gender can cause to those who do not fit strictly between them. It wasn’t just that Felix decided in an afternoon that he felt more male than female, and decided to transition. Instead, Felix goes through a journey that leaves room for doubt, along with moments of clarity. Watching Felix find a term that felt right to him, and his utter relief at finally feeling seen and understood, was the highlight of this story for me.

This book focuses heavily on self discovery and identity, but that’s not to say that we don’t get a few good tropes thrown in there for good measure! There’s a slowburn romance, a love square(ish?), and an adorable sassy cat named Captain. It’s also set in New York City, and it was fun to read about the lifestyle that Felix and his friends live (walking to White Castle every day during lunch break? I’m down!). Ezra is an absolute joy and I would kill to have him as my BFF – (there’s a scene where they drink wine and eat chicken wings together?? Hello, can I join?). I’d be interested in reading a story from some of the other characters POV’s, because I think a few of the side characters had some pretty interesting backgrounds and plot lines. Sadly, that’s something that I’m not sure will happen. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, though!

In the end, I’d highly HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend picking this one up. It’s a wonderful read by an ownvoices author, and teaches a lesson that we all could do better to learn closely: only you have the power to say who you are.

Rating: