‘Beard With Me’ is the origin story of Billy Winston and Scarlet St. Claire (aka Claire McClure) and is just the beginning of their epic love story. No one is better at surviving than Scarlet St. Claire and making the best out of circumstances beyond her control is Scarlet’s specialty. In an apocalyptic situation, she’d be the last person on earth, hermitting like a pro, singing along to her CD … singing along to her CD Walkman, and dancing like no one is watching.
Scarlet is clever, Scarlet is careful, and Scarlet is smart . . . except when it comes to Billy Winston.
No one is better at fighting than Billy Winston and raging against his circumstances—because nothing is beyond his control—is Billy’s specialty. In an apocalyptic situation, he’d be the first person on earth to lead others to safety, overcome catastrophe, or die trying.
Billy is fearless, Billy is disciplined, and Billy is honorable . . . except when it comes to Scarlet St. Claire.
COMING SEPTEMBER 2019
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I was on deadline when I read this, so it was emotional torture to only have time to read this a few chapters at a time. By the last 40% I couldn’t take it anymore and stayed up to the wee hours of the morning to finish it. This book was a “chest acher” and one of my favourite reads of 2019. That’s all I can articulate. Feels. TOO MANY FEELS to adequately express them.
This is a must-read for all Penny Reid fans! Don’t let her warning scare you off! This is such a great book for all the Winston Family fans!
If you love books that make you FEEL, you will LOVE Beard with Me. It’s a fantastic trip back in time as we learn the origins of so many Winston Brothers stories.
Tragic, heartbreaking, tear jerking, story of the horror of Scarlet, Billy and Cletus. Children of dangerous men trapped in their horrendous world. In all this darkness there is a love so strong, so willing to sacrifice everything. I guarantee you’ll be crying
Readers of Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series are already familiar with Claire (nee Scarlet) and Billy, and their distance. Throughout the Winston Brothers series, Penny hinted at Billy and Claire (nee Scarlet) having a very complicated past that made Scarlet avoid Billy like the plague in the present. This book is their complicated backstory from when Scarlet was 14 and Billy was 16.
This is NOT a romance novel. This is not a happily-ever-after or a happy-for-now book. This is a book that is full of raw emotion and angst, and deals with topics like abuse, teen pregnancy, absentee parents, and homelessness.
The writing and the story are incredible. Fans of Penny Reid will love this book, and those of you that have not yet read Penny, note that this is not her typical book. She excels at smart romance – romantic comedies with intelligent and strong characters that take readers on a fantastic journey. This book, while not a romance and not a comedy, also takes you on a fantastic journey and it is a great companion to the other Winston Brothers books. We see the entire family in this book, including Cleatus and Jethro during his Iron Wraiths days of the past, which were only alluded to in the present. Rest assured (and this is in no way a spoiler), eventually Billy and Scarlet will get their Happily-Ever-After in the next book, Bead Necessities.
You do not need to read Beard with Me in order to read any of the other Winston Brothers books, nor do you need to read it to enjoy Beard with Me, Billy and Claire’s current-day romance. I recommend you read this in the published order, and do not read this before the other Winston Brothers books, as you definitely get more out of it by knowing the brothers going in.
For those of you that are fans of audio, the audiobook is available through several outlets (just not Audible), and it’s incredible. Chris Brinkley and Joy Nash do a fantastic job conveying the emotions of the story.
Oh, this book. Penny said time and time again that she would break our hearts with this story. That it was not a romance, but a love story. I went in this book knowing all of this, knowing all that I already knew reading all of her books before this one. This being a prequel, we already know the characters, we think we already know their past. How wrong I was. This book was heartbreaking from the first page to the last one. But at the same time, this book is hope. Hope that good people in the world can make a difference. Hope that we can see a different end after all. It’s also the proof that Penny is a master of her world and you can see all the clues she left in all her books and how everything comes together. If you have read the other Winston books, please read this one, even tough we know it’s not the end of Scarlet and Billy’s story, but it’s a necessary path to the end. Is it already November so I can devour the next book?
Oh my goodness. My chest is aching after finishing Beard With Me. I knew going in that Penny Reid was going to make it rough but Billy and Scarlet’s backstory slayed me. It was ugly and painful and she was just such a darling that I hated every moment of it for her.
It was fun and harrowing to see the Winston clan as kids. To see them in their youth and some of them still have their innocence about them and to know all they had faced down and overcome to be where they are now was bittersweet.
I was rooting so dang hard for Scarlett. I adored her friendship with Cletus. All that she endured at the hands of her father. The games she had to play, the bargains she made with herself and others to survive broke my heart. The tension and almost disdain between her and Billy. Watching that transform into something neither of them could’ve predicted. It was everything…until it imploded in the most dire of ways.
Desire. Forgiveness. Young love. Sacrifice. Pain. Those were the name of the game here. And the way Penny Reid ended things slayed me. Beard with Me wasn’t easy to swallow. It was brutal and tragic and has me on that much more on edge for the rest Billy’s story.
A new book from Penny Reid! Beard With Me is the origin story of Billy Winston and Scarlet St. Claire (aka Claire McClure) and is just the beginning of their epic love story.
No one is better at surviving than Scarlet St. Claire and making the best out of circumstances beyond her control is Scarlet’s specialty. In an apocalyptic situation, she’d be the last person on earth, hermitting like a pro, singing along to her CD Walkman, and dancing like no one is watching.
Scarlet is clever, Scarlet is careful, and Scarlet is smart . . . except when it comes to Billy Winston.
This book is everything I never thought I wanted it to be.
Is it heartbreaking? Absolutely!
Will you be gutted? For sure!!
Will this review do the story justice? No way!!
You should remember that this is a love story, not a romance so there isn’t a HEA, but this IS a complete story with an ending…for now.
While this story was difficult to read and broke my heart in more ways than I can count, it’s the story I needed. It finally feels like all of the little things that we’ve been learning about Billy and Scarlett over the course of the Winston Brothers series are starting to make sense. I thought that maybe I had them figured out but boy was I wrong.
This little glimpse into their history is just the beginning. I wish that I could say that we are over the hard part but I think that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Honestly, though, I’m here for it because I have complete faith in Penny and her love for these characters.
“I knew, with absolute certainty, I’d dream of her and her spirit and her voice for the rest of my life. The belief was soul-deep, in my bones and muscles and skin, but particularly in my heart.”
Reid’s ability to “flip the script” and write this breathtaking, angst-filled story was both shocking and expected. Her talent has been proven time and again. With each book she sets the bar higher as she pours more of herself into her characters and their stories.
‘Beard With Me’ was overwhelming, wonderous and crushing. My chest ached and my eyes burned. Billy and Scarlet/Clare’s story had a tragic beginning. Full of promise and lies. Full of pain and solace. Full of firsts and last times.
Billy’s quiet strength, loyalty and resounding need to protect those he loved, was exactly what Scarlet needed. He was her shelter from the pain, her promise of better, and he filled her emptiness with expectations and hope. Billy was her first kiss, her first love and was supposed to be the one she grew old with. Yet it was because of his strength, loyalty and undeniable need to protect her, that he couldn’t grow old with her. He had to let her go.
Blown away. I am blown away by the fact that this story was never planned on being told. This would have been a travesty, because this book feels integral to the entire Winston Brother’s series. It explains so much, it explains who Billy is and why he is. I am glad I read it now, after having read all of the others, because there were many “a ha!” moments. I loved the little ‘Easter eggs’ that Reid placed throughout the pages of this book. It was like I was in on inside jokes with the author as she placed these morsels throughout this story.
Billy had always been this entity that stayed just on the fringe of each story. He was either talked about or had what seemed to be a small role in the other sibling’s stories. But Billy was never small. He never stayed in the shadows. He was there, supporting them and encouraging them, and giving up who he was and who he could have been for everyone he loved.
I get it. I understand now. This entire series has been leading up to ‘Beard Necessities’ – to Billy and Scarlet’s story, and I now know why. And as much as I WANT/NEED that book, I am afraid. I am full of trepidation not just because I know it will break me, but because it is the last book in the Winston Brother’s series and I don’t want them to end.
In an apocalyptic situation, I want this series with me!
”If the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts, then my soul was Scarlet.”
I was provided a review copy by Penny Reid; this did not influence my opinion of the book nor my review.
It was recommended somewhere to read this book out of order, because it would explain a lot. I took the advice and I think I’m going to be glad that I did. It provides the backstory to the love story of Billy and Scarlet. I really thought that this was going to be lighthearted. It did have laugh worthy and bubbly parts, but folks, the ending had me in tears. There were also some heavy issues in it with some physical and emotional abuse.
Scarlet is fourteen and living out in the woods to escape the abuse by her father. When Billy finds out, he starts taking care of her. Soon, however, he develops feelings for her that he shouldn’t be having for a fourteen year old. He keeps things to kisses, but Scarlet is seeing hearts everywhere. Things don’t exactly work out they way I would have liked for them to. Hence the tears. I highly recommend this book and the series.
The dual narrations by Chris Brinkley and Joy Nash added immensely to the story.
Somehow I have skipped this book.. Not sure how that could happen.
The Winston Brothers are one of my all time favorite book series.
Quite a few answers I had about Billy and Claire got answered and things make a little more sense now
I loved this family. You wanted them as your brothers and they were as entertaining as they were troublesome. This was one of the best series and I loved everything about this family and all their books were great.
this book destroyed me.
Author Penny Reid describes this story as a tragic love story. I almost didn’t read it for fear of it making me very sad. Yet, I was so deep into the series and this was the last sibling’s story so I felt like I should know what makes Billy so driven. This story explains that. Circumstances make him and schoolmate Scarlet cross paths. The more he gets to know her spirit and strength, the more he connects with her. That becomes a problem for Scarlet St. Claire, because she starts to dream and lose focus on putting up protective walls. They both have dangerous fathers that like to assert themselves in their lives to control them. Billy is a protector of those he loves and as noble as that makes him, it makes him vulnerable. I was only able to read this book knowing there is a sequel with a happy ending. This author is superb!
Bittersweet. I was leery going in reading this one but glad I did. There are so many hints to this story in the previous Winston Brothers books but now we get the beginnings of Scarlet/Claire and Billy’s story.
I need them to finally… finally… get their HEA.
May I also add that Cletus, as usual steals the story. Damn him for unintentionally and damnably becoming my favourite Winston brother.
Heartbreakingly emotional roller coaster ride to go on. Finally we get a glimpse at what shaped Billy and Scarlet(Claire). I knew there was a past between these two but oh my! I was not expecting what deep seated feelings I would have when I found out what they both went through. In true Penny Reid fashion there was some light hearted moments with Cletus, and some witty banter between the brothers. I think what got to me the most is Bethany Winston’s appearance. Feeling her compassion, kindness, and love made me understand why these siblings are good people. I honestly felt like I was going on this journey along with them. My heart broke, my heart beat so fast I thought I would pass out, but I was left with a warmth inside of me. Well done Ms. Reid. This was a phenomenal story.
Not what I was expecting or looking for in a read, but if you want an angst filled, torturous read, Billy’s story is it.
This was sad, fearful, painful, somber, troubling and distress filled listen. This was 12+ emotionally hours of some form of sorrow.
Scarlett’s life was miserable. Billy’s life was overburdened, then destroyed. I didn’t expect the entire book to be about when Billie as 16 and Scarlett was 14. I thought Ben was kind of creepy, wanting to be with a 14 yo when he was 19. There was something about Ben that I just didn’t like.
I kept waiting for this book to move into the future, but it never did. That whole fade to black scene with Scarlett and Razor was cringe worthy.
I can’t say that it wasn’t well written. It was. It was also very long. I will go with 3.5 stars. This was not my favorite. I hope the continuation of Billy and Scarlett’s story is a little more lighthearted and humorous.
If you’ve read any other book in this series, then you know how this one will end. It’s so hopeful and heartbreaking and so interesting to see how this all went down.
4 1/2 stars. I loved Billy and Scarlet’s story. Be prepared to move right into the next book.