Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers Book 1)

Great sexy story with well developed main and supporting characters. Topped off with just enough drama and a small dash of angst! Favorite line..." I would kiss you, but I don't want our beards to tangle" ! Funny and sweet!

First book in the Winston Brothers series, and as per usual, Penny Reid fleshed out her characters beautifully. Brag about this brilliant author of intelligent romance novels often, also adore her Knitting in the City series.

This book had everything; hilarity, sarcasm, sexy times and love! I loved getting to know the Winston brothers and can't wait to read more. I'm very intrigued by Cletus and look forward to Lear ing more about him!!

I read the Knitting in the City series before launching into the Winston brothers books. Greatly enjoyed the Knitting ladies' adventures, and it looks as though I will be reading all of these books, as well. This book could be read as a standalone, or as a reintroduction to the brothers we met in Ashley's story from the Knitting series.

I enjoyed the characters in the book and easy, humorous manner in which it is written. Great book to read if you don’t want anything too heavy. The author’s writing style reminded me of Janet Evanovich. Looks like there are other books by this author that I will happily read. ?

I really enjoyed this book! I normally don’t go for anything romance, mushy gushy stuff, but once I started with the first few chapters, I was hooked! The characters are very loveable except for those select few lol!

This was just great. Loved the writing. Loved the humor. The plot really pulled me in and kept me interested. I really want to have dinner at the Winston home.Will definitely be reading more in this series!

What can I say about this book? Beardtastic? Beardnificent?

Let’s just say that I’m not personally that into facial hair, but for Duane, I would so make an exception. So, I love Penny Reid’s books, she has this unique smart-dumb humor that I enjoy immensely.

Her characters are usually weird (in a great way) and this time it was no exception. Jess had a hero-worship crush on Duane’s twin brother Beau since childhood. She’d get tongue tied and moon-eyed and have the social adequacy of a chipmunk, whilst with Duane she would be argumentative, competitive and pushy, all because she thought he couldn’t stand her.

We will learn quite soon that Duane is not indifferent to Jess’ charms when they get it on in a dark backstage… unfortunately, Jess was under the impression that Beau was the one doing the kissing and… other stuff, so when things are about to get out of hand or… well about to go on the hands (if you know what I mean), Duane comes clean about who he is and Jess… well, Jess almost has a conniption when all her assumptions about the twins come crashing down. Because wow, that make-out/groping session was H-O-T hawwwt.

And so it begins, this epic tale of love and beards. Now, Duane had some really jerk moments here and there… But I forgave him because Jess was as much of a stubborn butt herself. I wanted to kick her caboose more than once because Duane was a sweetie pie and she made him sad. But then Duane in true man fashion makes Jess sad and I wanted to slap the beard off him.

There’s a lot going on in the background with the other Winston Bearded Brothers (or WBB) and I could definitely see some of the future couples… or I could be totally wrong. Either way, I’m not too concerned, I know I will love whatever Ms. Reid writes.

The MC was a nice touch, or more accurately a nasty touch in itself, but cool for the plotline. I was left with this big, gigantic unknown (hate you Ms. Reid!!!-- but I still love you)

So, MC action, fast cars, racing, a bit of family drama, an awesome, hot, sweet, bearded mechanic who is exceptionally good with his hands, and a quirky, hilarious girl learning that dreams come in many ways, and sometimes what you didn’t dare to dream is so much better than what you thought you wanted in the first place.

Recapping, they all end up happy as it should be, leaving me with a huge smile on my face and a serious work out for my abdominal muscles (from the continued laughter that is). Loved Truth or Beard by Penny Reid and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next WBB story. I say beard it on! Ms Reid, these guys are beardiliciuos.

Sexy Gandalf, mistaken identity, catastrophic engine failure, and Truth or Dare. Leave it to Penny Reid to whip up such a delightful combination. Right from the start, she had me in the palm of her creative and whimsical little hands.

Jessica James has just returned to her small hometown after college to take a job as the high school’s Calculus teacher. She’s only in town long enough to pay off her student loans and save enough money to pursue her wanderlust – her intense desire to travel the world. Jessica grew up alongside the six Winston brothers, including identical twins Beau and Duane Winston. Beau and Duane are identical in looks but polar opposites in personalities. Whereas Beau is friendly and outgoing, Duane is moody and unsociable.

Jessica has had a massive crush on Beau her entire life. She hero worships him and is positively tongue-tied in his presence. Jessica and Duane, on the other hand, have had an entirely antagonist relationship involving verbal sparring and one-upmanship of the pranking variety. As for Duane’s part, perhaps their love-hate relationship weighed more heavily on the love side?

After she is tricked into kissing the “wrong” Winston brother Jessica finds the Beau spell has been broken and she sees Duane in a new light. As Jessica and Duane come to know each other as the adults they are now, their feelings grow stronger. But can they commit to one another knowing their relationship has an expiration date? Complicating matters, Duane and the Winston brothers get dragged into a dispute with the local biker gang.

Penny Reid has a knack for creating quirky heroines who are also easy to relate to. Jessica is no exception. She is smart, sassy, quirky, and misunderstood by almost everyone. What’s more, nobody has ever tried to accept her – until Duane.

I loved Duane. He’s such a loyal man. I was charmed by his inherent goodness and his respect for Jessica. What girl wouldn’t swoon over his blatant adoration? However, like Jessica, I grew tired of Duane repeatedly putting the brakes on their relationship. And this may just be the perspective of an older reader, but the deal they made entering the relationship seemed unnecessary and rather ridiculous to me. Even so, this is a heartwarming story and a promising start to the series.

The Winston brothers seem like a wonderfully rambunctious brood. Each one is so different and I can’t wait to learn more about all of them. Odd, zany, and loveable Cletus really captured my heart and I’m especially looking forward to reading his story.

Firstly, I love everything that Penny Reid writes as her humour shines through her books and makes me laugh and in places, especially the part about the bananas and coconuts rubbing together and how Jackson's Banana has been wrapped a few times made me crack up and I read it aloud to my partner. The second thing is I adore this cover, with the whole crossstitch imagery going on. So when I had heard that Penny Reid had a new book out , I knew I had to read and try it. I have to say, I did enjoy it but not as much as her other series. In Truth or Beard, we meet Jessica James who is a sexy maths teacher - yes it does happen, I had a sexy science teacher in high school who actually in the same year turned out to be a guest at my cousin's wedding. All through her schooling , she had a major crush on Beau Winston - one of the twins , he made her swoon whereas Duane Winston - the other twin got her all riled up. Years pass and they are all back in the same town and now it seems that Jessica is falling for not Beau but Duane. If that wasn't bad enough, she has just found out her parents aren't actually her parents - that she was adopted by her Aunt when she was a baby. For this storyline , I was hoping that we would discover more about Jessica's biological dad as I had wondered if he was Razor - part of the Iron Dragons MC.

Truth or Beard was another great story by Penny Reid and if you love humour with your romance then this is the read for you . I am looking forward to reading more of The Winston Brothers as the other thing I enjoyed about this book was the great family chemistry and connection between The Winston Brothers despite how dysfunctional and troublesome their family had been portrayed.

Firstly, I love everything that Penny Reid writes as her humour shines through her books and makes me laugh and in places, especially the part about the bananas and coconuts rubbing together and how Jackson's Banana has been wrapped a few times made me crack up and I read it aloud to my partner. The second thing is I adore this cover, with the whole crossstitch imagery going on. So when I had heard that Penny Reid had a new book out , I knew I had to read and try it. I have to say, I did enjoy it but not as much as her other series. In Truth or Beard, we meet Jessica James who is a sexy maths teacher - yes it does happen, I had a sexy science teacher in high school who actually in the same year turned out to be a guest at my cousin's wedding. All through her schooling , she had a major crush on Beau Winston - one of the twins , he made her swoon whereas Duane Winston - the other twin got her all riled up. Years pass and they are all back in the same town and now it seems that Jessica is falling for not Beau but Duane. If that wasn't bad enough, she has just found out her parents aren't actually her parents - that she was adopted by her Aunt when she was a baby. For this storyline , I was hoping that we would discover more about Jessica's biological dad as I had wondered if he was Razor - part of the Iron Dragons MC.

Truth or Beard was another great story by Penny Reid and if you love humour with your romance then this is the read for you . I am looking forward to reading more of The Winston Brothers as the other thing I enjoyed about this book was the great family chemistry and connection between The Winston Brothers despite how dysfunctional and troublesome their family had been portrayed.

Love the characters. Author brings the characters to life and with day to day problems and situations. Happy, sad, love, hate and romance. Would recommend and can't wait to read the author's other books.

Jessica James is back in Green Valley - but she is only here to make and save money for her plans to travel the world. But being back in Green Valley means having to cross paths with the Winston brother again, especially Beau, who renders her completely speechless. But when she finds out that she was actually making out with his twin Duane Winston - who, incidentally, she can't stand - things change. Considerably.

What I loved about this book:

The wonderful male MC
The Winston brother
Penny Reid's humor-laden writing

What I felt needed improvement:

The story was missing an epilogue
The female MC was a bit wishy-washy
The story stalled after the 50-60% mark

Having read a couple of Penny Reid books so far, I knew I wanted to give Truth Or Beard a chance, let alone for the cheesy cover, which, along with the title made it sound quite intriguing.
"I wondered if we would disagree about the color of the sky on our date, fall into our old habit of debating and making mountains out of molehills. The possibility was exciting."

From the first page on, I fell in love with Penny Reid's writing style. It was extremely funny (the main characters have a brand of self-deprecation that is just too good to be true) and at the same time, it was hot. I was extremely giddy when reading this book and in the beginning, there wasn't a single page that could get a chuckle out of me. The relationship between Duane and Jessica was special, since they hated each other being kids, and now that they bump into each other again, they have this incredibly hot mutual attraction to each other, it's insane. But, you know, given the fact that they still have the urge to pick on each other all the time, there is some wonderful (and funny) chemistry between them.
"Did I want to kiss the hell out of him? Yes, I did. Did I want to wrap his banana and let him have his way with my coconuts? Yes. I wanted that to happen."

I absolutely loved Duane. I am not into beards, or redheads, but I would have liked to see him in the flesh. He was the perfect male MC for this book: grumpy and reserved on the outside, yet a real gentleman when you get to know him. I was less impressed with Jessica just because - despite all her efforts - she really did seem like a flake. There's nothing wrong with wanting to explore the world, but it was like she was talking the talking more than she would walk the walk - she's basically living off her parents until she has enough money to travel...

And then, for some reason, around the 50% mark, the book started stalling, or at least moving forward extremely slowly. From then on, it took me ages to finish Truth Or Beard . The book revolves around two main intrigues (the main characters relationship and Duane's trouble with a local biker gang), and they just suddenly become boring, even though they get tied up quite nicely in the end.

In the end, I was a bit disappointed that there were a couple of things in this story that just didn't add up. Actually, it's not that they didn't add up, it's more that some things were left with loose ends at the end of the story. Let's take for example the story around Jessica's aunt. It's not going to spoil anything when I tell you that it turns out her aunt is actually her mother. It's not going to spoil anything because that piece of information comes up in the story but has absolutely no impact on it whatsoever. And than there's this story around the biker guy, Repo, who I am sure is somehow related to Jessica, but the matter is only being hinted at, and not picked up. And yeah... there was just no real epilogue here, so this was a major disappointment.

But thankfully, there was one aspect of the book I enjoyed the heck out: I loved the side characters. Well, the Winston Brothers, that is! They were all incredibly adorable and charming, and added a whole lot of flair to the book. I can't wait to hear Beau's story, because he is the corny and foodie one! At the end of the book, we get a sneak peak at the next book in the series, which will be Jethro's story. But again, this yielded disappointment. I didn't mind reading about Jethro next, but I was convinced he was pining after Claire (Jessica's friend), and that the story revolved around that.

Anyway, I'll be giving this one a try (it's called Grin And Beard It ) hoping it will have the same spirit and humour and that it is going to be a little more polished where side stories are concerned. Now that would make it perfect.