Hunches, horse races, and heartbreakTen years after Simone Payton broke his heart, all Roscoe Winston wants is a doughnut. He’d also like to forget her entirely, but that’s never going to happen. Roscoe Winston remembers everything – every look, every word, every single unrequited second – and the last thing he needs is another memory of Simone.Unfortunately, after one chance encounter, Simone … encounter, Simone keeps popping up everywhere he happens to be . . .
Ten years after Roscoe Winston dropped out of her life, all Simone Payton wants is to exploit him. She’d also like some answers from her former best friend about why he ghosted her, but if she never gets those answers, that’s a-okay. Simone let go of the past a long time ago. Seriously, she has. She totally, totally has. She is definitely not still thinking about Roscoe. Nope. She’s more than happy to forget he exists.
But first, she needs just one teeny-tiny favor . . .
Dr. Strange Beard is a full-length romantic comedy novel, can be read as a stand-alone, and is the fifth book in the USA TODAY bestselling Winston Brothers series.
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3.75 stars-A little confusing in the beginning figuring out how much time has passed between the prior book (Beau’s) and this one (Roscoe’s) and honestly it took awhile to figure it out.
Then throw in a few shockers and surprises that have happened since then where it feels a novella could have helped keep them from coming from left field.
Overall this second chance romance was a good story with humor and all the fun living characters. I loved seeing Roscoe’s personality since he wasn’t as featured in the other books. He seems to have an old soul.
Simone is a tough beautiful and extremely intelligent woman and I love these two together.
I could not wait for the story of the youngest Winston brother, Roscoe.
Simone and Roscoe were best friends when they were kids. But somewhere along the way, he started feeling more than just friendship. Unfortunately, it was one-sided. So he put distance between them so his heart wouldn’t get even more broken.
Fast forward to years later – Roscoe is a veterinarian in Nashville. When he comes home to visit, with feelings still lingering, he forces himself to stay away from her, makes sure to avoid her when she‘s in town.
Oh Roscoe, you big-hearted man you. I adored him. My heart warmed at his vulnerability. My heart broke for the unrequited love. I just wanted to hug him so many times. I was so frustrated with Simone, and felt satisfied when she FINALLY realized what an amazing catch Roscoe Winston is.
More Winston family drama kept my interest and wanting more. I loved seeing all the past characters, and I cannot wait to read/listen to Billy’s story!
*I listened to the audiobook. I do believe I would’ve enjoyed this more had I read it. I didn’t care for the female narrator’s voice when she was doing characters’ voices other than Simone.
Roscoe and Simone are just the sweetest!!!
Veterinary doctor, Roscoe Winston is still nursing a broken heart leftover from high school. He avoids Simone Payton at all costs. With an eidetic memory, Roscoe can’t afford anymore memories of Simone breaking his heart.
The youngest of the Winston Brothers, he was somewhat protected from their evil father, but he remembers more than anyone realizes.
Simone, back home investigating a series of murders, is undercover FBI agent working at her mother’s donut shop. When a chance encounter with the Winston Patriarch and her former best friend it sends the estranged friends into a tailspin of romance and intrigue. Throw in a prejudiced cop who threatens her cover by bringing her unwanted attention when those who care about her want to come to her rescue.
Murder, romance, FBI, lies, memories, horses, and puppies, oh and we can’t forget the clowns, Penny Reid has done it again. I’m almost afraid to read the last book. I don’t want this series to end. Maybe I’ll just start all over again. Love the beards y’all. This is a fantastic series with laughter, love, sexy romantic heroes and kick-ass heroines, and all the emotions. Penny Reid doesn’t backdown from the tough issues, but she doesn’t preach. She opens the eyes of the reader and allows us to see the beauty in our differences, our similarities and the celebration of it all.
Penny Reid makes me laugh, cry and fall in love and that’s just with her grocery list…y’all have got to read this series.
Penny Reid continues the Winston brothers series with what I’ve come to expect…humor, phenomenal writing and a great plot. While I’ve loved all the Winston brothers books, this is my one of my absolute favs. However, if you are new to the series, I recommend you read them in order. While they can be read out of order or even as a stand alone (I don’t see how anyone could stop reading this series after one book) each book adds to the history of this family. I think what I love most about this series is the love the Winston family has for each other. The Winston brothers are nice men. I fell in love with Roscoe while reading this book. I know you will too. I read and enjoy bad boy romances but it has been a delight to read about complex men, not without issues, who are respectful to the women in their lives. I, also, love the complexities of Penny’s writing. If you are ready to laugh, worry, cry and feel that wonderful feeling when two characters finally admit they love each other, then read this book.
Good old southern boys who despite their father have become perfect gentleman. Roscoe is the really sensitive one with a picture perfect memory and is still in love with his childhood best friend. Simone has always been about brain over heart and never realised what happened to change their relationship. Her voyage of discovery and acceptance made me proud. Roscoe deserves a strong and beautiful woman.
The eagerly anticipated DSB was so worth the wait. I am so in love with the Winston family. Roscoe and Simone are my second favorite Winston couple (Cletus & Jenn hold first place). Their second chance romance story was amazing. I laughed, giggled and of course cried -this book is full of the feels! I love Simone’s parents & how much they loved Roscoe. I love the tidbits left for us while Roscoe recounted his memories. I will recommend this book to all my friends, but strongly advise starting at book one in the series only because the Winstons are that wonderful. I wouldn’t want them to miss a single minute of this adventure. Another FIVE star for Penny Reid & Dr. Strange Beard.
I just can’t get enough of this wonderful family. From their beards to their humor to their ability to relate to everyday people, they are amazing. I recommend reading this series by Penny Reid.
“I was having an epiphany. You can’t avoid heartache without also leaving out the love . . . That meant you took risks, you made the bad memories trusting that you’d be making sublime ones in between.”
I have adored the Winston Brother series ever since I discovered it, but Dr. Strange Beard was so far off the mark it felt like Penny Reid was taken over by a body-snatcher determined on forcing their didactic agenda on a romantic comedy.
The result is a departure from the wit, humor, fun, and romance of the previous installments and instead delivering a story shrouded in a cloud of malaise that felt so forced, inauthentic, and untrue to the characters and identity of the Winston Brother series.
Reid planted these seeds of wonderful potential for Simone and Roscoe throughout the Winston Brother series only to smother them by constraining them to fit the real world issues she wanted to insert into Dr. Strange Beard. I expected a quick-witted, wicked-smart Simone and a fun, flirty, and compassionate Roscoe to get their chance a wonderful story, but seventy-five percent of the story was taken up by – I’ll just say other things to avoid any spoilers – and twenty-five percent felt authentically Winston Brother series.
“I can’t miss out on any more time with you. I want all your moments, I want every memory.”
Not to mention that Dr. Strange Beard jumps five years ahead, but mentions all of these great morsels of happy, fun, and “wait, what!?” references that I felt like I was missing out on so many story references to some hidden secret book or short stories in an anthology somewhere that I don’t even know exists. I want to read those stories, I want those moments!
Dr. Strange Beard took me what felt like forever to read, because I found myself not wanting to read it. It gave me such a melancholy feeling and was so disappointing with all the things I felt readers like myself missed out on. It didn’t feel like Roscoe and Simone’s story. It felt like didactic
disquisition with no resolution for the events that took place, leaving them open-ended to resolve in the next installments.
I love the Winston Brother series I’m still going to stick around for Billy and Claire’s duet in Beard With Me and Beard Necessities but Dr. Strange Beard is such an immense disappointment that left me heartbroken that Simone and Roscoe (and readers) did not get the story they deserve.
1.5 to 2 stars
I have really enjoyed all of the Winston Brothers, but this book along with Beard Science are my favourites. This book is entertaining from the get go, and the angst and the stakes are high as these two former best friends reconnect. All the local people/family are there and as loveable as ever, but their collective familiarity with Roscoe and Simone make you more desperate to see what happens
I loved this book really because Roscoe is unlike any male character I’ve come across. His sensitivity and intelligence set him apart from other more generic heroes we see, and he is still as manly and sexy without being overt or obvious or ‘alpha’.
Simone kicks ass, hilarious and it’s heartwarming to watch her self awareness grow. The reality of the prejudice she faces is also handled exceptionally well.
The story is well written and easy to follow despite the flashbacks and memories, and the intrigue keeps the story humming along. So for me Roscoe is a favourite with Cletus, but Billy’s book is yet to come, so that may change!
Entertaining continuation of the Winston family.
As per usual of Penny Reid and this series, what is there not to love ?
I love everything that Penny Reid writes!
I love everything Penny Reid writes! This was actually one of my favorites. Highly recommend!
4.5 stars–DR. STRANGE BEARD is the fifth full-length instalment in Penny Reid’s contemporary, adult WINSTON BROTHERS romance series focusing on the Winston siblings. This is twenty-six year olds, FBI agent Simone Payton, and veterinarian Roscoe Winston’s story line. DR. STRANGE BEARD can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Roscoe and Simone) DR. STRANGE BEARD follows the second chance relationship between twenty-six year olds, childhood friends and sweethearts, FBI agent Simone Payton, and veterinarian Roscoe Winston. Ten years earlier, at sixteen years old, after professing his love to the girl that he loved, the youngest Winston sibling Roscoe walked away without explanation leaving a grieving Simone Payton to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. Fast forward to present day wherein Simone, now an undercover FBI agent, returns to her hometown of Green Valley, Tennessee as part of a sting operation to take down the local MC believed to be involved in a string of murders and missing men. Enter veterinarian Roscoe Winston, the man who destroyed her heart, and the man with whom she is still in love. What ensues is the rekindling romance between Roscoe and Simone, and the potential fall-out as the sting operation comes to a head placing our story line couple in the direct line of fire.
For close to five years, Roscoe Winston has avoided Payton’s bakery owned and operated by Simone’s mother but a chance encounter found Roscoe face to face with his past when he and his father squared off the bakery parking lot, as Simone played interference between the cantankerous duo. Still reeling from the events ten years earlier, Winston is constantly on the run to avoid a confrontation with the woman he loves.
Throughout the story Penny Reid offers up bits of information from the previous story lines including the dysfunctional Winston family dynamics, as well as the on-going history of the local MCs. The Winston siblings are a tight knit group held together by their tormented pasts including their futile relationship with the man they called dad.
The relationship between Simone and Roscoe is one of second chances; a rekindling romance between two people torn apart by misunderstanding and miscommunication, and the betrayal of heart break and pain. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
Most of the Winston siblings are present and accounted for including the long suffering eldest brother Billy Winston whose own personal life is spiralling out of control. We are re-introduced to Simone’s parents Daisy and Trevor Payton, and her siblings Dani and Poe. The requisite evil has many faces including Roscoe’s father Darrell Winston, and MC member Razor Dennings.
DR. STRANGE BEARD is a well-written, infinitely detailed, and intelligent story line focusing on family, friendships, second chances, murder, betrayal and race. The premise is energetic and animated; the characters are colorful and spirited; the romance is dramatic and edgy. DR. STRANGE BEARD is a suspenseful, impassioned and palpable tale about the destructive nature of secrets, lies, power and greed.
Witty romantic once you start it can’t put it down
This book had it all–great characters, a great story line, heart, humor, tension. It was everything I wanted this installment in the Winston Brothers series to be and then some. Simone and Roscoe were great together and great separate–they were characters I genuinely liked and was rooting for the entire time. There were moments that pulled on the heart strings and moments that pulled on the funny bone. Highly recommend.
Another fabulous chapter in this very beardy series!
Roscoe is an unexpected yet charming hero…of course all the brothers in the series are unexpected! Never know what you’re gonna get, but you’ll love them all.
The heroine is strong, and easy to relate to. All in all, a total page-turner!
It’s a second chance romance filled with suspense! Ten years have passed since Roscoe and Simone have seen one another. A young romance that never had the chance to flourish and ended with no explanation. But now Simone is back in town for an FBI assignment and it puts her right in the pathways of her first love. It may be tough to face her past but she’s got to make that choice to save lives, including Roscoe’s.
Roscoe’s not sure why Simone is back and suddenly every where he is. She’s pushing things from the past that he can’t handle. Because Roscoe is a particular type of man; he has the ability to remember every moment in exact detail. So each minute spent with Simone brings back all the heartache he’s spent years trying to forget. While he has to figure out her true intentions, there’s a new danger in town; his father and his MC.
As Simone hides her true reasons for coming home. Roscoe begins to fall for her once again and fight his own feelings. It’s truly a slow burn romance and I absolutely appreciated it. Reid gives readers time to not only ingest the twisted plot but really fall for Simone and Roscoe individually. Dr. Strange Beard definitely has the most action I think we’ve seen since the Winston’s first came out and Reid has some HEART STOPPING twists! Filled with hope and heart, this new Winston is a winner!
Heartbreak, that hopeless, empty, all-encompassing sensation, dimming and numbing everything but the focus of your desire and the pain of the unobtainable, hit me in the chest and stomach. A one-two sucker punch, I almost grunted at the impact.
I’ve wanted Roscoe’s book since this series began. He’s been this sexy, mysterious, and endearing character who always stood off to the side never appearing to get fully involved. And now, we know why. Roscoe remembers every encounter with people, in exact detail, the good and the bad. So the less involved he is with others, the fewer memories there are to develop.
He and Simone had been friends since they were young children. They were inseparable through high school until Roscoe abruptly stopped having anything to do with Simone. Both went their separate ways after high school; he became veterinarian working in Nashville and she went to work in DC for the FBI. Confused and hurt, Simone never understood why Roscoe dropped out of her life for the last 10 years. When Simone is asked to do field work in Green Valley, she quickly learns Roscoe won’t be easy to ignore even while he’s avoiding her.
It took me a bit to get into the story. The beginning was slow for me. Also, there were characters introduced or talked about that I had no memory of. I didn’t know if these were new characters or ones from previous books. I was lost sometimes because of this and wondered if it was because it’s been awhile since I read the series? Regardless, once the story got going and Roscoe and Simone came to terms with their past, started enjoying the present and planning the future, I was invested. AND, Penny Reid, wrote THE BEST phone sex scene!!!
Dr. Strange Beard is a slow-burn, second-chance romance, with a swoon-worthy hero and a badass heroine.