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Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
3.0

Seventeen-year-old Felix Love is a trans, biracial high school senior at an expensive private art academy in Brooklyn, New York. He's taking a summer program to try and build up his painting portfolio to apply to Brown in the coming year- but of course he is competing against another boy who goes to his school, his wildly talented on-campus rival. Felix is shaken and horrified when someone posts up a whole gallery of photos of himself pre-transition, labelled with his deadname, in his school's lobby. He jumps to the conclusion that it was his rival, and starts up an elaborate plan to catfish him on instagram and get revenge. Felix's best friend, Ezra, who comes from an ultra-rich family and isn't very motived in class, is dubious of this plan. The plot thickens when someone starts DMing Felix transphobic messages, and when several crushes and breakups occur within Felix's all-queer friend group. I both enjoyed this book and was frustrated by it. I was annoyed by how much of the story hinged on instagram usage, and at times I struggled with Felix's often very negative attitude. I did enjoy the storylines of Felix's continued exploration of his identity and also his growing self-confidence in art-making. But I think this is a YA book I'd have liked a lot more when I was still a teen. And oh, how nice it would have been, to have a book about an artsy trans teen when I was one, and didn't have any language with which to describe myself.