Felix Navidad

Take the opportunity. That’s what they’re for. 

Not my favorite Little Village novella, but it was definitely a cute and pleasant wintery read! I kind of regret not picking up Village Fool earlier, though. Of course, this series can be read any which way, but it does feel like some context from that particular book would have come handy.

The romance part was vaguely underwhelming for me, to be honest, which is funny, given that it's the whole reason I picked up. But at the beginning there was such a strong notion that Kevin was still hung on Ru, so complete with a rather fast relationship development, it created a sort of, "So is it going to be just a rebound then?" feel. I was honestly far more invested in the second of the two timelines. There was something really beautiful about Felix bonding with Danya while working as Danya's nurse, and I appreciated Felix's work philosophy and ethics a lot. He's a great caretaker.

As usual, I loved the strong sense of queer community and the found family vibes all around, specifically during the wedding scenes. It was also interesting how firmly the book is rooted in the now. The small casual mentions of climate change affecting weather patterns and therefore plans, the recent COVID pandemics—somehow, the way it was done really made me feel like all the characters were real people, just going about their lives across the globe from me, coping with the same world-wide troubles. That was a curious effect.

All in all, a good edition to my December reading list, even if I maybe expected a bit more!