Review: Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers #1) by Penny Reid

Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers #1) by Penny Reid

Beards, brothers, and bikers! Oh my!

Identical twins Beau and Duane Winston might share the same devastatingly handsome face, but where Beau is outgoing and sociable, Duane is broody and reserved. This is why Jessica James, recent college graduate and perpetual level-headed good girl, has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life. His friendly smiles make her tongue-tied and weak-kneed, and she’s never been able to move beyond her childhood crush. Whereas Duane and Jessica have always been adversaries. She can’t stand him, and she’s pretty sure he can’t stand the sight of her…

But after a case of mistaken identity, Jessica finds herself in a massive confusion kerfuffle. Jessica James has spent her whole life paralyzed by the fantasy of Beau and her assumptions of Duane’s disdain; therefore she’s unprepared for the reality that is Duane’s insatiable interest, as well as his hot hands and hot mouth and hotter looks. Not helping Jessica’s muddled mind and good girl sensibilities, Duane seems to have gotten himself in trouble with the local biker gang, the Iron Wraiths.

Certainly, Beau’s magic spell is broken. Yet when Jessica finds herself drawn to the man who was always her adversary, now more dangerous than ever, how much of her level-head heart is she willing to risk?

Series Description
Everyone in Green Valley, Tennessee knows that the six bearded Winston brothers have been imbued with an unfair share of charm and charisma… and are prone to mischief.

Truth or Beard is book #1 in the Winston Brother’s series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the romantic exploits and adventures of one of the six Winston Brothers.

5 out of 5 stars

This made me feel all melty and warm, I loved it! It was a witty and entertaining story with a great cast of characters. Excellent read!

Loved this story and how it was laid out. Jess and Duane are wonderful characters, so sweet and caring. Loved their animosity and bickering. They had such a fantastic re-meeting, it definitely kicked everything off perfectly. They had a nice push and pull towards each other and great chemistry! I like the conflict that was created for the characters and how they worked though it. Duane was so sweet, kind of gruff, but all man. I loved the bits of old fashioned he had going on in his head concerning Jessica. Jessica was awesome and I totally got her and where she was coming from. The two together were great and I loved their story.

There was a perfect build and pace throughout. I thought the writing was fantastic. I really liked discovering all the ends and outs of Duane and Jessica, their family, and their growing relationship. It was such a fun entertaining story but there was a lot of emotion involved that definitely pulled at my heart strings. There were definitely some angst ridden moments that had me holding my breath. I also really liked the element of drama that was added with Duane and what he and his brothers were up to.

Excellent cast of characters. Cletus was awesome, I want more of him for sure! It was nice getting to meet all the brothers and learn little snippets about them. This was my first book by Penny Reid and I will defiantly be reading more. It was witty and thoughtful and I totally enjoyed it.

(p.s. In case you were wondering, this is NOT a love triangle type of story. I was slightly unsure because of the description and had to check before I started. It’s definitely not. What it is, is a 100% awesome read.)