I could not stop listening to this audiobook. The narration was fabulous, the pace quick, and the plot almost perfect. Felix, Ezra and Leah are so stinking loveable, fallible, but loveable. Felix is sympathetic and well crafted. The reader cheers him on as he continues to question his gender identity, his search for self love, his desire to belong in his own body and to deserve to be loved by others as himself. As he searches for his truth. The use of art throughout the novel to portray the many different aspects of Felix was ingenious, expressing the emotions he keeps inside of himself, every doubt her harbours, everything he is that no one bothers to see beyond their own perceptions and expectations. The friendship between Ezra and Felix is both beautiful and also too all encompassing. They rely to heavily on each other, and this is a little detrimental, in that they heighten each others bad habits (tardy to things, skipping class, etc.). It is understandable as to why they became so connected, with Felix having lost his mother (moved away to Florida when he was 10 and has cut off communication with him) and with Ezra's parents keeping him like a pet (they are obscenely rich and hardly ever see him). Ezra is overprotective of Felix, while Felix pushes Ezra to be more than another rich boy drifting through life on his parents funds. They push each other creatively and help each other to navigate life, love, society, and their own emotions. The catfishing scheme was well played, and luckily was not a large part of the story. It was over quite quickly, but played an important role within the book. The plot was richer, and helped Felix to grow as a person, to revisit his own misperceptions of others. Felix learns early on his mistake about who was at fault, but keeps his correspondence going when he actually connects with the supposed culprit. It is through this connection that he can see how his friendships shape him, how he takes people for granted, and how he can learn to appreciate and except help and love. The book also looked at the role of family, that family can both hurt and heal us, that family can build us up, stand by us, and continue to surprise us. Also, family can be whoever we rely on, love and cherish (including friends). Felix has a wonderful group of friends that end up supporting him. So, while there are instances of transphobia, there are many more instances of love and acceptance. Highly encourage everyone to read this novel. It was beautiful and thoughtful. TW: several mentions of HP throughout, transphobia, homophobia, deadnaming, bullying, underage drinking and drug use
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Romance Audiobook
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April 2024
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