Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Hair and Heart: A Contemporary MM Rapunzel Retelling
SERIES: MM Fairy Tale Romance Book 5
AUTHOR: Rhys Everly
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 294 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 13, 2020
BLURB:
My life is like a prison.
I may be one of the world’s biggest popstars, but I live no fairy tale.
Everything I do is controlled by my manager. It’s the only way I don’t hurt anyone again.
The only way to be free.
Until I meet him.
Sandy Thorne.
He comes into my life full of color, passion and snark, and despite irritating me to no end, he makes me believe in happy ever afters.
But can I trust myself? Can I trust that I won’t hurt him?
And what does it really mean to be free and happy?
Caution: Contains an oppressed popstar, a sassy color-blind stylist, a Christmas concert ball, and the color pink. So much pink!
Hair & Heart is part of the MM Fairy Tale Romance series. All books are completely standalone and are modern retellings of classic fairy tales with a gay romance twist.
REVIEW:
Hair and Heart is a spin on the fairy tale Rapunzel. Here, long-haired Rapunzel is pink-haired pop star Val, who is metaphorically locked up in a tower through a conservatorship held by his uncle. Val’s life and finances are controlled by his uncle and it seems that every time Val gets close to getting out of the conservatorship, something inexplicably goes wrong and he ends up back at square one still under his uncle’s thumb. This story struck me as less a fairy tale and more the male-equivalent tabloid story of Brittany Spears’ life. The similarities are strong and evident: pop stars with mental health issues have enormous wealth, health and professional careers put under the tight control of a relative/manager through a conservatorship that is intended to be temporary and yet seems to persist indefinitely. Hair and Heart therefore seems rooted in realism and any fantastical link to a fairy tale is missing. However, a different fantastical element is present instead. The expression “You can’t make this stuff up” is apropos; the story told in Hair and Heart is riveting because of its similarity to a very bizarre reality story that you (almost) can’t believe is true.
The plot of Hair and Heart is engaging. Where I struggled was with the characters. The love story is between Val and his colorblind spit-fire of an assistant, Sandy. I didn’t much like either of them. Despite Val’s challenges and my sympathy for his situation, and notwithstanding Sandy’s saucy, sassy personality, I felt oddly detached from them. Val and Sandy are both caricatures: their personalities, their interactions – it’s just too much. For example, these two snark and banter, pushing each other’s buttons, giving as good as they get. The author likely intended this to translate as crackling chemistry between them. However, it is overdone so instead of clever banter, it reads as juvenile bickering with increasingly offensive name-calling. All of the verbal sparring is basically just the equivalent of pulling pigtails.
Without the connection to the MCs, it was difficult to invest in the relationship between Val and Sandy. It’s a “love” story in words, but missing the emotional component. I was hoping for a romance wrapped in a captivating story, but Hair and Heart only gave me the captivating story. It’s still a fun read, but if you want fairy tale romance, this story does not deliver that, despite its title and billing.
RATING: 
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