Felix Ever After

I loved so much of this #ownvoices book about a trans demiboy figuring out his gender identity, and how to accept the love he deserves.

This book is so obviously written as a love letter to trans teens, and I'm so so happy it exists. As a teenager, I couldn't have even imagined walking into a bookstore and seeing a visibly trans person (with top surgery scars!) on a book cover, especially not in the YA section. We still have a long way to go with representation, but books like this are making such a big difference.

Despite the transphobia in this book, I really appreciate the nuance and delicacy with which it was handled. There are some tough scenes and moments to get through, but it's so clear that the author put so much care into writing them—the kind of care that I think can only come from an LGBTQ+ author. Since everything is from Felix's POV, he is the one controlling the narrative, and the way we see everything. Even when he is deadnamed, we don't actually see his deadname used. We don't need to know the name to know that it happened, it hurts him, and why.

The only reason this isn't a 5-star read for me is because the romance(s) kind of went off the rails, and didn't really play out in a way that felt natural to me. But I might just be too old now to remember what it's like to try to navigate romance and love as a teenager