Billy Winston’s family is going to see him happy and in love if it’s the last thing they do.No one deserves a happily-ever-after quite as much as the second oldest Winston brother and his lady love, Claire McClure (aka Scarlet St. Claire). Cruelty and circumstance tore them apart almost twenty years ago. Secrecy and bitterness kept them separated.But you know who’s tired of their separation and … who’s tired of their separation and stubbornness? Everyone. Especially Billy Winston’s family. And now they’re going to do something about it.
Well-meaning interference means the star-crossed lovers can’t stop tripping over each other in the hills of Tuscany, the catacombs of Rome, and the waterways of Venice. Billy and Claire find themselves thrown together and at the mercy of the Winston siblings’ shenanigans.
But will their forced proximity bring them together? Or push them even further apart?
This second-chance romance brings back the entire Winston gang, playing cupid in one last story of love, hi-jinks, and family collusion.
BEARD NECESSITIES is a full-length contemporary romantic comedy, and can be read as a stand-alone, but it’s probably best read after books 0.5, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the Winston Brothers series.
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FINALLY!
I loved it. I have no other words. Expectations were high for the conclusion of Billy and Scarlet’s story and they were not only met, but surpassed. I felt gratified, giddy and yet bereft to say goodbye to the Winstons. Thankfully, with books, it’s never really goodbye. Penny’s books are at the top of my re-read pile for whenever I need a happy, escapist fix, and I’m already looking forward to re-reading the Winston Bros.
FIVE EPIC STARS.
It’s all been leading to this…I feel like I’ve been waiting ten years for Billy to get his happy and let me just say, in true Penny Reid fashion, it took a while to get him there. But my goodness Beard Necessities was so worth the wait.
Scarlet and Billy had so much to work through. SO MUCH. Years of half truths and secrets, guilt and fear. It took some good old fashioned meddling, thanks to Cletus and the rest of the family, to actually push these two together to make them actually talk. But when they finally did…it was just what their aching hearts needed. Acceptance. Sacrifice. Forgiveness. Healing.
Reading Beard Necessities was bittersweet. It was everything I’ve come to love about the Winson’s with this stunning Italian backdrop that I wanted to escape to. Full of family and scheming, awkwardness and jokes, hope and love, Penny Reid gave this series and this family the ending they all deserved. Yes, I’m sad for the end of this era but I know I’ll be revisiting these characters time and again.
We HATE saying goodbye to the Winstons, but we LOVED this final installment of one of our favorite series EVER.
The final Winston story is here and you don’t want to miss it!
Billy and Claire’s story continued in current time. This starts off where Roscoe’s story ended in time and in Italy for Duane and Jess’ arrival for their newborn baby.
Putting Billy and Claire together under the same roof some may say is not a good idea.
Your heart tears for these two, you feel loss, love, frustration.
Of course you get the full Winston experience as usual which how can you not live this family.
This was one of my favorites of the series and definitely gave a lot of feel good vibes.
Oh my goodness, this book……I absolutely loved it. And it made me have a better appreciation for Beard With Me! I was shocked by some of the revelations, but in a really good way. It was less heart breaking than Beard With Me, though you still get all the feels. but mostly the good feels. Though not all.
Man oh man, that is a lot of Winston offspring!
So happy for Billy and Scarlett
I loved and hated this book. I hate that it means this series is over although there is more Green Valley books to come (Totally Folked!!) I loved this epic 2 book span of Billy and Scarlet’s love story.
This book is one of the most emotional reads in the series.
My favorite part was the epilogue that ties up the books and “where are they now”.
As always Joy and Chris nailed these characters and made me ugly cry and in the next moment had me laughing!!
There was so much in Beard Necessities that I found it necessary to read it twice. Having the facts from Beard with Me made this story POP. The two books are a great example of “working through your issues”. Billy and Claire both have a lot of issues and a lot of secrets from one another.
The author has ended the Winston Brothers series with a BANG. The reader was given so many Winstonisms–it was beautiful. The spouses have been influenced by their Winston love giving the reader even more Winstonisms. The wives are geniuses!!!
Much of the story takes place on a family holiday in Italy. The ever scheming Cletus recruits his family to force Billy and Claire to face the past and move on to a wonderful future. The behind the seasons manipulations had me reading on and on to see what would go wrong next.
9/18/21 Listened to the audiobook. The narrators are wonderful. They bring the books to life.
Winston brothers for life!
This was the toughest to read of the series. Billy dealt with a lot and so did Claire. You root for them to find a way back to each other and you feel for them and their stories. It was a great book just a bit deeper than some of the others of the series.
This is the story whereby Billy gets a happy ending at the very end, which concludes the series. This second-oldest responsible Winston brother continues to have crushing challenges with his love Claire McClure (aka Scarlet St. Claire). His brother Cletus gets the whole family to meddle and influences them to join the family on a vacation in Italy, whereby they will be forced to see each other. Billy will have to realize that he isn’t the only one who can be a protective savior. There were parts of this story that I found to be a bit slow, but maybe I was as frustrated at Billy as Scarlet was (and vice versa). This serves as a reminder to us all that communication is key in a loving relationship that matters. Penny Reid is a masterful storyteller. I’ve never felt so invested in an author and her works.
Oh goodness… I absolutely loved this story. Finally Billy gets his happily ever after. This book was filled with forgiveness, patience, protectiveness, and a beautiful, endearing & everlasting love. Billy and Scarlet were always meant to be together, their journey was filled with miscommunications, lots of twists and turns but their destination is absolutely amazing. Great story.
I’ll read anything by Penny Reid; I wish I could crawl into her stories and live there sometimes.
You don’t HAVE to read Beard With Me before you read this book, but I think you will be missing out if you don’t.
Even in this book, it took quite a while for Billy and Scarlett to finally get together. Although this book had a fair bit of angst, it was still much more uplifting than book 6.
I have firmly decided that Cletus is my favor Winston sibling. The way his mind works and his comments are usually responsible for my LOL moments.
I was glad almost everything was resolved in this final book and billy and Scarlett FINALLY got their HEA. There was also an epilogue that I felt like I needed a family tree to keep track of the additional family members.
I enjoyed the closeness of this family with all of their ups and downs, and I am kind of sad to reach the final book. I know I stated in one of my earlier reviews that I almost didn’t read this series because I couldn’t get through the first book. Luckily I was able to listen to each book and I am glad I didn’t miss out on the Winston Brothers journey.
Just not my cup of tea.
Puppet master Cletus Winston calls a secret family meeting to inform them that
1) Billy Winston and Claire McClure have been pining for each other for 18 years
2) Billy deserves happiness, as does Claire
3) It falls on the Winston family to make the magic happen
With Cletus and the whole family playing matchmaker, will Billy and Claire finally get their HEA?
Beard Necessities is a funny, angsty and steamy story that will have cheering for the hero and heroine to get together
I usually get irritated when others meddle, but this was so good. I feel like we waited so long for Billy to get his happy ever after and it was worth the wait.
One of a great series
4.75 Stars!
After lightly skimming some reviews before going in, I found that there were many reviewers who didn’t care for the Winston family members playing such large roles in this final story and would have preferred a more insular focus on Billy and Claire. Maybe it was lowered expectations, but I was surprised and elated at how much I enjoyed this closing chapter in the Winston saga. Instead of feeling like the family members were taking precious time away from Billy and Claire’s story, I was actually impressed with how much their romance stood out in the midst of a cacophony of family intrusions. Most often, when reading a familial romantic series, the glimpses of previous characters are never quite enough to give me any kind of satisfaction after having read their separate books. Reid managed to write a satisfying romance between two highly anticipated characters, as well as interjecting substantial and fulfilling cameos of well-loved previous characters. I’m wholly satisfied with this finale and truly enjoyed Billy and Claire’s long awaited love story.
A beautiful ending to the Winston Brothers Saga. Bravo and Thank You!