Review: Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
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I kept seeing hype on #romanstagram about The Winston Brothers series, and as a result, I absolutely had to jump on board. I love bearded men and the Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee, so I was all about the concept. While I only rated Truth or Beard with 3 stars, that wasn’t because it was “just okay” – in fact, I really, really loved this book and am excited to delve into the series as a wohle. Read on to find out more!
Relatable Characters
Jessica James is the daughter of a sheriff and sister of a deputy. It’s very small town Southern romance. But outside of that, I found Jessica’s postgrad, wanderlust struggle to be oh-so-relatable. I wish I had more of her drive, but Jessica’s desire to fulfill her dreams is what’s stopping her from giving into love. And girl, did I relate!
And then there’s Duane. He’s sarcastic, smart, and sexy – everything I want in a man – with a sexy red beard to boot. Immediately, Penny Reid had me falling in love with snarky Duane, his charming twin Beau, and their quirky brother Cletus. And that’s just a handful of the Winston siblings.
Why 3 Stars?
SPOILERS AHEAD. The only thing holding me back on this book made it lost major points. There’s that whole plot twist where Jessica finds out her aunt is really her mother. (Obviously Repo is her father. It’s predictable, and I’ll be shocked if I find out I’m wrong later in the series.) The discovery scene isn’t from Jessica’s point of view, but rather from Duane’s, who is in a completely different time zone. Jessica inherits tons of money and can go live her dream, blah blah blah.
There are so many fun tropes in this novel that the inheritance/secret adoption thing doesn’t make me cringe. It’s the way in which it was told. I would have loved to have seen this chapter from Jess’s POV. Pushing it off on Duane was lazy writing, in my opinion. To be honest, I would have written it that way, but that’s why I don’t have a published novel. Yet.
P.S. Other fun tropes in this book include mistaken identity, childhood friends/sweethearts, enemies to lovers, and, obviously, truth or dare!
So yes, this is a 3 star book with some awesome 5 star moments. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.
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Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While the ~twists and turns~ where cheesy and not executed in a manner I would have found to be creative and entertaining, I had a lot of fun reading this contemporary romance and am eager to read the rest of the series. Jessica is a truly relatable character for me, and her relationship with Duane plays on so many fun, classic tropes: mistaken identity, childhood friends/sweethearts, enemies to lovers, truth or dare, and more!
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Tagged with: 3 Stars, Penny Reid, The Winston Bros, Truth or Beard
Great post!
Thank you!
This sounds like a good read. Great review!
Thank you!
I have been seeing this around and now I know what for! I love how you broke down your review and you certainly photographed the cover well.
Thanks! I’m still learning how to photograph Kindles, haha.
I adore Penny Reid – sorry you didn’t enjoy this one.
Oh, I liked it! But it wasn’t my favorite ever. I’ll read the whole series for sure. I’m excited to learn about the other brothers.
Great review. Pity it wasn’t brilliant for you. Sounded good though even if it does have a strange sounding title.
Haha, the title is a little goofy! But even if it wasn’t my favorite book ever, it really did get me excited for the entire series.
Ah I’ve seen the whole beard thing on FB but wasn’t sure what it was about
Yeah – it’s huge on social media. I’m excited to check out the rest of the series.
Great review! Hopefully the next book is better!
I hope so too! This one was a fun start, so I will see!
I love all her books. I still need to read a few books before I can read this one.
I at least want to read this series if not her others.
I have seen a couple reviews for this book. Yours is very well done!
Glad you enjoyed! I hope you read the book.
Great review, I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about this series as well and this book looks and sounds so much fun and amazing. I am really glad you enjoy this series so far, thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.
Thanks, Katrina! It’s a fun series so far. I can’t wait to dive into the rest.