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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I love the characters – what a fun family to follow.
Loved, loved it. She is a fabulous writer. Certainly keeps your attention.
I love this series!
People seemed real
I have no clue how I’ve missed recommending this book (and series) but I’m finally correcting that horrendous mistake. The Winston brothers and their world have simply stolen my heart. I love their loyalty and small-town charm. I adore the women who are strong enough to tame them, and every witty word Penny Reid writes. Read this book, this series, then do it again. So, so good.
Just finished this and loved it. Can’t wait to read the rest of the Winstons. Reid hits the perfect balance of heartfelt, romantic, sexy, funny and smart
Such a good book!! I’ve never read Penny’s books yet but I wanted to read about the Winston Brothers.
I loved this story every one needs a sexy Duane in their life. This book had a little bit of excitement some crazy bikers 5 sexy brothers and a fun main character.
Duane has been waiting practically his whole life for Jessica who had been ironically in lust with his twin brother. After 5 long years of college she’s back and he’s ready to claim what he has been waiting for. A mix up and some sexy kisses gets Jess thinking of Duane and not Beau.
Add in a scary motorcycle gang and some unexpected truths gives a great love story. I loved this book! I can’t wait to read about the rest of the Winston’s !!
I love everything that Penny Reid writes!
A wonderful start to a new series. This book took me on an almost physical journey to the Smokey Mountains of eastern Tennessee through the author’s vivid narrative. The plot is exceptional and the characters, all of them, are captivating. And the slow burn between Jessica and Duane…HOT. Yeah, I loved it!
I fell in love with this book! First time I have read anything by Penny Reid and I loved the story line, the characters, the writing. I was hooked! I cannot wait to read the rest of the series!
I’ll read the rest of the series.
Ahhh I loved this book, so hard! I was so excited to see that it is written in dual POV (it’s my fav)! I just got finished binging on her Knitting in the city books and I wrapped it up with this jem. This book and Ashley’s book are my 2 favorites so far. I pretty much love all of her characters, you can’t help but like them. Everyone makes you laugh!
Duane and Jessica make such a great couple. Duane just kills me with his epic love for Jessica.
“Jessica,” he whispered, “arguing with you is one of my favorite things to do.”
“You’re already on that pedestal, Princess. And I respect the hell out of you, whether you like it or not.” *girly sigh*
Duane is such a good guy. His momma raised all those boys right! I really liked Jessica, so glad she got over her “mystical Beau voodoo spell”. Her “brain soundtrack”, so awesome! I want to start doing that. Gah! I could go on and on about this book. I love it so much!
Oh and Cletus…. I can’t even!!! He had some of the best lines in the book.
Can not wait for his story. Read this book people, you won’t be sorry!
Love Penny Reid books
LOL funny, love the twins twist
I loved, like seriously LOVED, Beauty and the Mustache (prequel book to this series), so I had super high expectations for Truth or Beard. Unfortunately, it’s wasn’t as good. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it and it was a good book, just not as fantastic as the previous book.
This book was told from dual, 1st person POV, rotating between Jessica and Duane. That was totally fine and didn’t bother me. I think because the previous book was so tame when it came to language and sexy stuff, I was expecting the same in this novel. There was a tiny bit more F bombs and definitely more sexy stuff. While the relationship between Drew and Ashley of BatM was more focused on emotions and feelings, I think that Jessica and Duane’s relationship was more focused on the physical side of things, at least in the beginning.
The first half of the book was kind of ‘eh’ for me. The second half picked up and was much better. I was wondering how she was going to bring these two characters to a compromise when one wanted so badly to leave Green Valley and the other felt like they had to stay. I was very happy with the conclusion!
I wasn’t super crazy about the biker story line going on in this book. I like how everything was dealt with and wrapped up, and I’ve got a feeling that we are definitely going to see more of the biker gang, especially after Cletus outsmarted them, but I hope it’s not in every single book. That will get repetitive.
Speaking specifically about the hero and heroine now, I liked Duane but I’ve liked other heroes more than him in the past. He was too proud and too stubborn for my taste. I’m glad that he conceded in the end and humbled himself a bit. I loved how much he loved Jessica. That was his redeeming quality in my eyes. His refusal to stand in the way of her dreams. Jessica was a good heroine, I just had a hard time understanding her. She has what she referred to as wanderlust, wanting to see the world. And I know that’s a real thing and people literally live their lives travelling the world, but I’m not one of those people so I had a hard time connecting to her character. Duane and Jessica were perfect for each other and that’s all that really mattered!
I loved the interactions with all the brothers and am very excited to read the next book! Hopefully the next book will be back to being as good as Beauty and the Mustache!
Jessica & Duane have a funny, witty repartee when they are happy together. The Winston brothers, as a sibling unit, are fantastic together.
Cletus, in all his non-sequitur-that-is-really-on-point glory, is my favorite. I am very curious to see how he becomes a romantic lead.
This is the story of a dynamic small town with lots of drama, and great characters.
This is the first book in this series and I liked it. I liked the knitting in the city series better but this is good too. Reid does a really good job at character development and her plots and creative and different. I would recommend this book!
I couldn’t get into this book at all. Had to quit after the first couple of chapters. Poorly written and hard to follow.
This is a very good series about the Winston family
Where can I find me a Winston brother?
Gosh I’d forgotten how much I love Penny Reid’s first Winston brothers book Truth or Beard. This was a re-read for me that achieved two purposes: 1) I can review it because when I last read it I wasn’t reviewing and 2) Remind me of the awesomeness that is Penny as I’m meeting her at a signing very soon!! And I have to say I had a fabulous time reading and enjoying the story as well.
In a case of mistaken identity, our heroine Jess ends up sharing a hot and heavy kiss with one of the Winston twins… the mix-up being that she thought she was kissing her longtime “hero worship” crush Beau when in fact it was Duane Winston with whom she locked lips and had the best kiss of her life. Upon discovering this, Jess is angry at first but then comes to realise that perhaps a lingering attraction to the Winston brother twin she argued with constantly growing up, that she pulled pranks on, that she actually knows a great deal about…is the man she really has held a flame for.
“Are you sure you had a crush on Beau? Or did you maybe like Duane all along, but felt Beau was a safer choice?”
Penny manages to weave an absolutely incredible tale of relationships into what is an extremely funny, very intelligent and quite relatable romance novel. It’s about more than just Duane and Jess – though their relationship is front and centre and definitely of importance – it’s also a story that touches on the impact of family, the desire to travel and what it means to find home. And I loved that the two major complications in this book were solved so simply and easily and yet I was pleasantly satisfied by the outcome – I didn’t feel like the book was missing anything from the resolutions being straightforward. If anything, this made the focus on the relationships that much more special.
And I have to make reference to the fabulous quotes at the start of each chapter. So many spoke to me and I relished and enjoyed reading everyone. I really really need to read more of the Winston Brothers though I have a feeling I’ll probably end up waiting until all the books are out and I can have a Winston Brothers binge week!
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