Falling for the wrong twin never felt so good . . .From the NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, & USA TODAY bestselling series Beards, brothers, and bikers! Oh my! Identical twins Beau and Duane Winston might share the same devastatingly handsome face, but where Beau is outgoing and sociable, Duane is broody and reserved. This is why perpetually level-headed Jessica James has been in naïve … level-headed Jessica James has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life. Whereas Duane and Jessica have always been adversaries. She can’t stand him, and she’s pretty sure he can’t stand the sight of her…
But after a case of mistaken identity, Jessica finds herself in a massive confusion kerfuffle. Jessica James has spent her whole life paralyzed by the fantasy of Beau and her assumptions of Duane’s disdain; therefore she’s unprepared for the reality that is Duane’s insatiable interest, as well as his hot hands and hot mouth and hotter looks.
When Jessica finds herself drawn to the man who was always her adversary, how much of her level-head heart is she willing to risk?
Truth or Beard is book #1 in the Winston Brothers series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the romantic exploits and adventures of one of the six Winston Brothers.
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Another great story by Penelope Reid. I am looking forward to the next Winston’s story. I definitely recommend this author and this series.
I received a free audible version from Romance Read of the Month on Author’s Direct. 9.1.19 and started it in 2021.
A fun, witty, a little suspenseful, and full of heart romantic story. I loved the dynamics between Jessica, Duane, and the rest of the Winston brothers. This was an adorable book. I enjoyed it.
You know what?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I enjoyed listening to it (the Narrators are FANTASTIC! Perfectly portrayed the characters! Their southern accents didn’t sound ridiculous or cheesy!) and found it to be an easy read when I switched back over to ebook.
Pick this one up when you’re in the mood for a romantic comedy peppered with some sweet southern charm!
Miscommunication isomer of my least favorite tropes and it’s in full force in this book. I finished it out of spite.
Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers #1) was a great read by Penny Reid. Jessica is a level headed woman who has always been infatuated with Beau Winston. She has also been adversaries with his twin brother Duane. They both seem to not be able to stand each other. After mistaking Duane for Beau, she realizes she may have been wrong all along. Jessica finds herself drawn to Duane. I loved reading Jessica and Duane’s story and can’t wait to read more by Penny Reid.
I loved Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series, and I may love this one even more. The characters are adorable, the setting is perfect, the humor is spot on, and the romance is swoon worthy. The perfect rom com escape from reality.
Ansurb premise, ridiculous people and tha over exaggerated drawl made it painful to listen to.
Love the Winston Brothers. Penny Reid is awesome.
Jessica mistakenly identifies one of twin brothers as the one on which she crushes. To her personal embarrassment she discovers she’s unable to banish him from her thoughts. How will she reconcile her growing feelings with his family connections to a bad actor of a father? Lots of on again, off again from both sides with a little blackmail thrown in.
“You’re a siren who doesn’t need to sing…”
Well I just discovered another world of Rom-Com books, and I am over the moon!!! Penny Reid has a new die-hard fan in me that now craves her stories like Betty Crocker brownie mix (I’d die for one now btw).
Wanderlust is Jessica’s true essence but for that to happen, she needs to go home just to make enough money to travel the world; she’s been infatuated with Beau, one of the Winston twins, but she can’t stand Duane, they’ve been having an ongoing joke fight over the years but one identity confusion has Jessica wondering if her true infatuation was real or not. The fear of not being free is what keeps Jessica with one foot in and foot out; she can’t think of being tied down, but Duane is making things really hard with an offer she can’t resist.
A romance comedy full of sweet moments, steamy chapters and a beautiful and surprising end. Loved it!!!
If you haven’t jumped into Penny Reid’s Winston series… do it! Fun and smart and sexy.
it was gay
Duane may be the most prickley of the Winston boys, but I really liked him. This book is a great introduction to the series about the Winston family and the town. A little curious that a small town in Tn. could have 2 strip clubs- but roll with it. Our heroine is the daughter of the local sheriff and her brother is a deputy.
Since Duane is a twin, it starts with mistaken identity…
Jessica James can’t believe it when the devastatingly handsome Beau Winston, her adolescent crush, kisses her. Jessica is really enjoying their grope fest and wants more until she finds out her companion is Beau’s twin Duane, her childhood nemesis. What happens when Duane tells Jessica it’s time to call a truce and start over?
Truth or Beard is a funny, entertaining and steamy story that’s unputdownable. I can’t wait to read Jethro’s story in Grin and Beard It, Book 2 of the Winston Brothers Series.
4 1/2 stars. Be prepared to fall in love with the Winston’s.
I love it when books start with the main couple caught up in an awkward situation, so the beginning of “Truth or Beard””was just perfect for me. It was so funny to see Jessica all flustered thinking she was talking to her childhood crush and then finding out that, well, things aren’t always what they seem lol
I really liked how well Penny Reid developed Jessica and Duane’s personalities and how it affected their relationship’s dynamic. For some people, it might seem that the reason they “hated” each other was silly, but for me it was actually very convincing and endearing. Their fights were always full of an underlying tension that made me anxious to see what would happen when they finally realized they liked each other. Overall, I loved that they made sense as a couple even with all their differences.
Jessica being a mathematician was an incredible surprise. I always like to see smart female characters working in male dominated fields. Her passion for traveling made me really love her because I’m also someone who longs to see the world. I could relate a lot to her in this aspect and I’m glad she was dead set on fulfilling her biggest dream, even if it cost her the love of her life. Strong characters like that are always a breath of fresh air.
Duane was such a big softie. Behind all his grumpiness, there was a man who just wanted to be loved and I’m a sucker for guys like him. It was great to see how gentle and caring he was with his family and with Jess. I understood why he thought he needed to keep Jess at arm’s length to protect himself and I really loved seeing his vulnerable side. Thankfully, he soon accepted that he was meant to be with Jess no matter what (or where).
However, I had some problems with this book. The first one was how detailed everything was. Now that I’ve finished the series, I know it was only because the author wanted to introduce the Green Valley world as best as she could, but it still bothered me and made me lose interest in some scenes. The second problem was that I didn’t really like the whole Iron Wraiths plot. I think it messed with the pacing of the book and the romance between Jessica and Duane. Other than that, this was still an enjoyable read and the characters made it totally worth it.
Characters:
Jessica- Jessica and I didn’t vibe right off the bat. I will say I started to enjoy her character more as the book progressed.
Duane- Duane was such a sweetheart. He gives off this grizzly bear vibe but deep down, he’s a teddy bear.
Quotes:
“You’re a siren who doesn’t need to sing.”
“You can’t just go around giving people cars. You’re not Oprah.”
“he said in a near whisper, “My momma once told me, you don’t need to be pushed in order to fall. I don’t think you’ll need to do much pushing, Jessica.”
“Thanks for being such a bully.” I flattened my expression. “I wasn’t a bully. I was merely a persistent peddler of holiday cheer.”
“But love is the greatest adventure, where you risk the most for the greatest reward.”
Overall:
This book started off…….not very well. This is my first book by the author Penny Reid so I wasn’t sure what to expect going in. Jessica believed she was in love with Beau. She had little to no interactions with Beau which made me feel she was a bit fickle. Jessica had tunnel vision when it came to Beau. He could do no wrong in her eyes. I sort of get the gist of where she was coming from in that we can build up this idea of a person and once we truly get to know them…..our expectations were off. That’s not to say Beau is a bad guy, because he isn’t. He just wasn’t the one for Jessica.
First off, I loved having a book where the main character had the same name as me. You would think with a name as common as Jessica that this would happen all the time but it doesn’t. I think because the name is so common, authors tend to stray from using it. The problem was, I didn’t like Jessica so much. She thought she was in love with Beau and then all of a sudden Duane is there and then she’s in love with Duane. I felt she was bouncing all over the place. I feel like Jessica needed to regroup after her realization about Beau and take a breath before diving into another guy, especially his twin brother.
I will say I adored Duane. He was this old fashioned guy who wanted to treat a girl respectably and do the right thing by everyone. Duane has had a crush on Jessica since they were teenagers. The problem was, Jessica only had eyes for Beau. I can’t imagine being so into someone only to realize they only have feelings for your twin brother. OUCH. After some trickery, he did get on Jessica’s radar. From there the ball started rolling.
I loved the family aspect in this book. We may not always love the choices and decisions our family members make but we still stick by them no matter what. I loved this crazy Winston family with their 500 siblings. Okay, it was 7 but still….that’s quite a large family. I adored getting to know each of the siblings and seeing each of their personalities. They are certainly a quirky bunch and I love each of them!! I can’t wait to continue this series and learn more about each of them as individuals.
On the down side, I had some issues with the writing. The author had words scattered throughout the book that I felt alienated the average reader. I’m by no means an English scholar and my vocabulary isn’t the best but I feel I’m on par with the average person. Several times I had to stop reading and look up the meaning of words. This made it difficult to keep with my reading vibe having to stop and search for the definition of words continuously. Certain words like: laconic, magnanimity, acquiesced, modicum, dichotomously, minutiae, lissome, etc. were used when I feel we could’ve just used a more average word. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy learning new words and definitions to expand my vocabulary but the words popped up a bit too frequently for my taste.
Overall, I enjoyed the love story between Duane and Jessica. It wasn’t picture perfect by any means but I still swooned over it. The book did take awhile to get going in my opinion. I’d say it took until about 50% into the book for me to really become invested in the story. I’m giving this story a 3.5-3.75 and rounding up to a 4 star rating. I will continue this series and think I will enjoy it more with different characters highlighted.
Started this book with the audio version and it was a DNF soon after started. Couldn’t handle the character’s voice.
I gave this book another try (minus audio) and was glad I did so.
Jessica is funny, straight forward and way too honest. Her tormenting her daddy and brother cracked me up.
Duane is Trouble with a capital T. Sweet man but just as spunky as Jessica if not more.
They have their struggles, add in some run ins with local criminals, overall it was enjoyable.
A few times were low and not as entertaining which did make me want to set the book down but got through them and it picked up once more.
Overall was a good book, characters were fun especially all the Winston brothers. Cletus is my fav! Onto the next book!
I think this book is fascinating
Penny Reid is one of those authors I’ve heard tons of amazing things about but never read. Truth or Beard has convinced me that I need to read all the Penny Reid words. The Winston brothers and Jessica are so fun to read about. All the characters in the world Penny Reid has created are real and easy to connect with. I love the story she has weaved and how she’s created such strong female characters who aren’t afraid to be themselves. This is a book I would definitely recommend to romance readers who want something that will make them laugh and swoon.