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Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers, #1)

Penny Reid

Start date: July 2, 2019

Finish date: July 7, 2019

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Apr 13, 2017 Diane (Books and Tequila Blog) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-authors, 5-stars, favorites, listened-to, kindle, audible, more-than-5-stars, candice-recommended, funny-and-swoony

I completely fell in love with all of the Winston brothers while reading Beauty and the Mustache so I jumped right into this series with Truth or Beard.
Jessica James is the daughter of the local sheriff and an all around good girl. For many years she has had a crush on Beau, the out-going, friendly Winston twin and constantly clashed with the gruff and broody twin, Duane. Jessica has her world shaken up when her perceptions of the brothers are mixed up.

"Some of the terms he used—like throttle ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2015 Christyn (The Book Cafe) rated it really liked it

My Rating: 4 1/2 Coffee Cups!!

This book was perfect. It was sweet, hot, funny as hell, heartfelt and the characters were amazing. It's been awhile since I've read a book that had so many characters, but I liked each and every one of them. But the main characters. Ooff. I loved me some Duane and Jess. Seriously adored them.

Jessica has a serious case of wanderlust. She wants nothing more than to travel the world. She's read National Geographic since she was 10 and was bound and determined to bec My Rating: 4 1/2 Coffee Cups!!

This book was perfect. It was sweet, hot, funny as hell, heartfelt and the characters were amazing. It's been awhile since I've read a book that had so many characters, but I liked each and every one of them. But the main characters. Ooff. I loved me some Duane and Jess. Seriously adored them.

Jessica has a serious case of wanderlust. She wants nothing more than to travel the world. She's read National Geographic since she was 10 and was bound and determined to become one of the people she read about in her magazine. And she has a plan. She just came home from college and plans on living with her family and saving up for 1.5-2 years. She has a job teaching Calculus at the local high school that she enjoys and friends she made through teaching. Everything is easy and temporary, just like she likes it.

Enter twins Duane and Beau Winston. She grew up with them both. One is friendly smiles and easy conversations and sweet intentions. To the point of turning Jess into an intelligible, gooey, bumbling mess. The other is broody, short tempered, blunt and a little bit dangerous. To the point of turning Jess into a seething, ill tempered ball of anger. Guess which one is which? It's ok, Jess got them confused for a moment too. A moment which essentially turned everything on it's head. Duane took Jess's moment of confusion to express all the feelings and do all the things he's ever dreamed of doing to her. He's wanted her from afar for years, but she's only ever had googly eyes for his brother Beau. And after her initial hatred of him for his trickery she realized that maybe she got it wrong, maybe the Winston brother she wanted wasn't in fact the safe choice Beau, but Duane, the one that made her blood boil.

"I knew he would push me. I had no doubt. But I trusted that, even though Duane would definitely push, he'd also be there to catch me when I fall."

So she puts herself all in. Kind of. She tells him about her dreams and plans, which pretty much adds both a hitch and an expiration date to their relationship.

"I was always running after her, but this time I wasn’t going to let her get away."

But then this wonderful thing called life gets in the way. Add in a death, an unexpected revelation, an angry Motorcycle Club and the rest of the Winston clan and a lot of things can and do transpire.

This was an awesome start to what I'm thinking will be an AWESOME series. I honestly hadn't read any of Penny Reid's Knitting in the City series, but now after hearing that the Winston Brothers first appear in Beauty and the Mustache I am totally picking that up ASAP to get a Winston fix until Grin and Beard it comes out. PS- And as much as I love the entire Winston Brood, I absolutely CANNOT wait for Cletus's story (Book #3!! Woo-Hoo!!). ...more

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Jul 23, 2015 Cyle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, humor, motorcycle-club, alpha-male, chick-lit

GENRE: Contemporary
THEME: Romance, New Adult, Humor
RECEIVED: Bought
BLOG: http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/

REVIEW:
Holy moly I have so been missing out! Penny Reid has a gift, I love the humor and flow of her writing, plus her characters are fantastic. This may be my first introduction, which it was a wonderful one, but I know these characters have been introduced in her other series, so I will have to schedule a reading fest to catch up.

Truth or Beard follows Jessica James who runs into the guy GENRE: Contemporary
THEME: Romance, New Adult, Humor
RECEIVED: Bought
BLOG: http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/

REVIEW:
Holy moly I have so been missing out! Penny Reid has a gift, I love the humor and flow of her writing, plus her characters are fantastic. This may be my first introduction, which it was a wonderful one, but I know these characters have been introduced in her other series, so I will have to schedule a reading fest to catch up.

Truth or Beard follows Jessica James who runs into the guys she crushed on since she was young. But her crush and hero Beau also has a twin whom she’s always clashed with. But since the years have passed she has a little mistake in identity at whom she actually runs into at a party. But it’s Duane, and a connection he has held on for starts to spark. In the end Jessica has a dream, traveling the world and seeing all that’s out there, where Duane wants to stay in place.

Jessica comes back to her hometown after college to save up money for her future travels, working now as a math teacher. She has a restless spirit and is now struggling with what he goals are and now the mystery spark she cant deny from Duane. I love the twin confusion, how she has always adored the two Beau who was always the sweet one, but her connection to Duane the moody one that played pranks on her, is a bit of a surprise. Even though I love the idea of travel and adventure, I’m the type to settle and I love small towns so I couldn’t see why she wanted to escape so bad. Of course the readers will get closer on that, but when you have a hot rugged man like Duane who wants you, I wouldn’t totally think twice. The readers will love her sassy attitude and her family was entertaining.

Then there is Duane, ohhh Duane how much I love this guy. He is a charming and sweet man, who loves cars and knows what he wants in life. Duane is one of the six Winston brothers that live in Green Valley. They are all hilariously entertaining and I love every one of them. I cant count how many times I laughed in this book. Duane and Jessica have a great connection right from the beginning, their bickering was the best and boy can they build up some steamy scenes together. I think every person who reads this will fall head over heels for Duane, his devotion towards Jessica is so darn sweet, you just have to root for him to win her heart.

Overall I loved every minute, I may not of been a fan of men with beards before but I’m so digging the scruff now. There are lots of twist and turns the main couple goes on, including a sticky situation with a motorcycle club. I cant wait to read more about the rest of the brothers including Beau and Cletus! So be prepared to have a smiling on your face from beginning to end, because this book is going to entertain the heck out of your cheeks from laughter and steaminess.
...more

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Jul 26, 2016 booklovinrn rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-romance, audiobook, new-adult, penny-reid

Reread/Audiobook October 2019

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2023 Shan ~A~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-humor, owned-kindle, books-i-own, 1st-in-series, humorous, series-trilogies-i-started, new-adult, romance, crime, kindle-freebie

Duane Winston & Jessica James

I was drawn in from the moment Jessica was carried away at the community center by one of the twins.

Jessica has know the Winston boys her entire life, but especially the twins Duane and Beau. She had a worshipful crush on Beau and a bit of an antagonistic relationship with Duane.

Now they're adults and things have definitely changed.

I think what I loved the most about this book is that it was full of southern charm, mixed with a bit of that good ole boy manners. I l ...more

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