8 Reasons You Absolutely Need To Read Felix Ever After

If you’ve been around for a while you’ll know that if I love a book I simply won’t stop talking about it. Seriously, you can tape up my mouth and I’ll scream through it.

And guess what? I found a new favourite book!

This is kind of a rare phenomenon because I’ve only ever felt this way about Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda in the past and then this year I fell in love with The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow. So I thought alright, I’ll find a new favourite 4 years later but boom, 4 months later I found Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender.

If it were up to me I would never stop reading this book. I would read it over and over and over, I want to read this book every second of my life. I could honestly marry this book, okay.

But enough blabbering, if you haven’t heard of this masterpiece then today I’m going to tell you all that it’s about and 8 reasons why you need to read it 🙂

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.

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1. Felix is the softest boy ever

Honestly from page one I wanted to scream from the rooftops that anyone who wanted to hurt Felix would have to go through me. Felix is such a soft and sweet character and I just want to hug him and tell him how brilliant and amazing he is. Felix is one of those people who has low self-worth so he keeps bashing himself and every single time I just softly yell at him that he’s enough and absolutely perfect and screw anyone who makes him feel otherwise.

*breathes heavily*

um yeah, Felix is my life.

 

2. Texting trope!

Give me a book which has a texting trope and I’ll devour it. There’s just something about reading conversations through text messages, social media messages or letters that I just love. Part of it is that we can’t really see the other person so here I am, fantasizing about the other character and what must have been going around them when they were sending that message.

I’m not completely sure what charm this trope holds over me but I just melt in a puddle whenever this happens. Oh and I absolutely love the build up to the reveal when the two people finally meet each other for the first time – honest to god I start squealing and giggling like crazy.

 

3. Quotes that hit you at 1am

Did I stay up till 1am to finish this book? Hell yes. It would have taken me less time if I weren’t being hit by beautiful quotes every single chapter. I was listening to Felix Ever After on audiobook and there were times that I had to rewind and play some lines multiple times and then just stare at the ceiling in amazement. 

Kacen Callender’s words have so much power. They made me cry and so much of this book was relatable, I would have ended up highlighting 70% of this book if it were in front of me.

 

4. Gender questioning representation

I think this was the first time I read about gender questioning and it was own voice as well! Now I’m pretty set in my gender but reading about Felix’s journey as he questioned everything about himself and his gender was so raw and emotional. There were quite a few parallels to sexuality questioning which is why I just found it all very relatable and hard hitting.

I could absolutely understand the mixed feelings and anxiety that Felix had after declaring himself to be a trans boy and then questioning about it all over again. Sometimes you use a label to define yourself and to connect with similar people but when that label starts feeling uncomfortable it can be very frustrating and scary and I’m so grateful that the author was able to portray that in such a wonderful manner.

 

5.  The friendships made me cry

Hello can anyone volunteer to be the Ezra to my Felix?

Honestly these two were just friendship goals. They’re both always there for each there and it’s always refreshing to see soft boys. And when I say Ezra will kill every single person on the planet for Felix I absolutely mean it.

And oh my god, I stan Leah. The scene where she asks Felix if they can hang our more often was the part where I gave her my heart. Leah’s honestly so sweet and helpful and just wants to be friends with people she looks up to. But if someone dares to wrong any of her friends watch her stand up and have their heads. What’s not to love?

 

6. Supporting parent who tries, I stan

Felix’s father is pretty supportive of his transition even though he might accidentally call him by the wrong name. Something that Felix realises through the book is his father really tries to be there for Felix and support him but he slips up, makes mistakes and overall just takes some time to adjust to the change.

Would it have been great if he could immediately appreciate Felix in every manner? Of course. But I love to read about parents who try with their children, giving their best and stumbling along the way. I mean we all love messy teen characters and allow them to mistakes from which they can learn so why not give the adults a chance to. They’re not perfect and they slip up as well but what matters is that they want to support their children. Most YA novels just cut out parents completely so it’s nice to see the parents present in books and love and support their kids.

 

7. Featuring lovely young artists

I love reading books about artists, especially painters. Maybe it’s because I’m an amateur artist but it’s also something about the way characters express their feelings through art and how you can get an insight into them through their work. Also art means amazing analogies and the paint all over me aesthetic that I love.

I mean, look at that gorgeous cover!!!

 

8. So many great discussions!

Felix Ever After is packed with beautifully written discussions around so many themes like family, friendship, priviledge, queer communities and more. I love how the author explored each theme so deeply, it simply blew my mind. I had a discussion post with some readers on my blog where they especially talked about the manner in which queer spaces and people are discussed.

“I feel like a lot of the time, the queer community is portrayed as this safe and accepting space for everyone, when that often isn’t true. A lot of the time the queer community is only a safe space for cis white people and I really appreciated that this was a theme that was discussed in this book and the way it was done. ” – Enne

You can check out that post here: Read the Rainbow Spotlight: Felix Ever AfterRead the Rainbow Spotlight: Felix Ever After

 

Honestly if all that is not enough to convince you all, I don’t know what will be… oh wait!

 

BONUS! The audiobook narrator brings everything to life

If you all get the chance please listen to Felix Ever After in audiobook because I’ve never heard such beautiful and expressive narration, it really enhanced my overall experience and made me fall in love.

Is Felix Ever After on your TBR or have you read it?

What have been some of your favourite audiobook experiences?

What themes do you love to read about in books?