Review: Felix Ever After
Felix Ever After was my first read of 2021, and it was a gift from the gorgeous Fliss @live_laugh_loveliterature on insta. And I’m so glad this was how I started my reading in 2021!
TWs: transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering.
*
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 marginalisation 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 recognising the love you deserve.
*
What I loved most about this book was how unapologetically messy everything was: friendships, relationships, romance… all of it was just as messy and chaotic as things are when you’re a teenager. Felix is also trying to figure out his own identity and what it means to ‘be trans’ in a world that is obsessed with fixing humans under labels.
I loved the supporting cast in this book too: Felix’s best friend Ezra who, despite being fantastically wealthy and privileged, has his own challenges; Declan, the seemingly cut-out ‘villain’ character who becomes more interesting the farther on we read; Felix’s dad, who finds it hard to ‘get’ Felix, but wants to do the right thing. Ezra is my favourite because he’s so good at being confident and cocky while actually things are kind of terrible. The way him and Felix talk to each other and discuss their own troubles as they navigate their way through the year was a real strength of the book, for me.
And on top of all of this, I spent so much time trying to figure out who the anonymous attacker was, alongside Felix - which led to some real gasp-out-loud moments!
Overall, this was a heartwarming story with a happy ending that was just the way I wanted to start 2021.
*
