Book Club Reads,  Book Reviews,  Recommendations,  What Renée Reads

Review: Nappily Ever After by Trisha R. Thomas

This book drew so many thoughts and emotions from me, starting with how much weight my hair holds in my life. I mean, our hair, our crowns affect us every day of our lives. Sometimes you just want to pull a Venus and shave it all off. I completely understand why she did so and sympathize with her. She has become a prisoner to her hair. Confined in so many ways.

I felt bad for Venus and all the things she endured throughout the story. It seemed like she just couldn’t catch a break. From not getting engaged after 4 years to the man she loved, to receiving threatening letters at work, to being sexually violated by a coworker, to being told to take some time away from work to gather herself. It was a cycle of chaos that continued to repeat itself.

Through all of this turmoil, Venus decides to make a liberating statement by chopping off all her hair. She no longer wanted her hair to define who she was. And for a while, until she fully embraced it, her new hairstyle continued to do so. She went from being loved for her hair and looks to being stared at awkwardly because of her hair (or lack thereof) and looks. She needed to find a way to get out of her slump and gain her confidence back.

The other part of this storyline was Clint and Kandi’s love story. I hated them together. Kandi was nothing but a gold digging rebound that ended up getting wifed up. I found her to be quite crazy and unattractive because of her jealously. I detest home wreckers and didn’t think she deserved that come up after dating a married man for years. I, however, was more in shock that Clint actually fell for her like he did. He couldn’t see through it.

At the end of the story though, I felt more comfort at the fact that Venus found her happily ever after too by getting engaged and evening up the scoreboard. After the years she put in with Clint, I felt she really deserved a happy ending.

The overall message (for me) was to not let a man nor my hair and looks define me. Self love is the best kind of love. If you don’t fully love yourself, it will be impossible for anyone else to do so. I gave this book a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating.

Movie Comparison:

Like most people had said to me beforehand, the movie was NOTHING like the book so I didn’t enjoy it as much. There was no Kandi, no sexual harassment in the office and the course of events happened very differently than what took place in the book. The movie was cute but just not based on a good chunk of the books contents.

To see my own hair chronicles, click here.