Title: Beard in Mind
Author: Penny Reid
Series: Winston Brothers #4
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 14th – 15th February 2021
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: SmartyPants Romance
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: We’d barely spoken in weeks.

Beards, brothers, and birds! Oh my! 88 All is fair in love and auto maintenance.

Beau Winston is the nicest, most accommodating guy in the world. Usually. Handsome as the devil and twice as charismatic, Beau lives a charmed life as everyone’s favorite Winston Brother. But since his twin decided to leave town, and his other brother hired a stunning human-porcupine hybrid as a replacement mechanic for their auto shop, Beau Winston’s charmed life has gone to hell in a hand-basket.

Shelly Sullivan is not nice and is never accommodating. Ever. She mumbles to herself, but won’t respond when asked a question. She glares at everyone, especially babies. She wont’ shake hands with or touch another person, but has no problems cuddling with a dog. And her damn parrot speaks only in curse words.

Beau wants her gone. He wants her out of his auto shop, out of Tennessee, and out of his life.

The only problem is, learning why this porcupine wears her coat of spikes opens a Pandora’s box of complexity – exquisite, tempting, heartbreaking complexity – and Beau Winston soon discovers being II nice II and II accommodating II might mean losing what matters most.

Ever since meeting Beau in Truth or Beard – after all, he’s Duane’s other half. And considering he is about to lose Duane, I really wanted to see how the poor boy would cope. And you know what? He actually did a lot better than I had anticipated. And I enjoyed this story so much more than I thought I would. Particularly when the lady-love is Shelly, who we got to meet in Neanderthal Seeks Human.

One of my favourite things about Penny Reid’s books is that she takes characters that really aren’t considered mainstream. Characters that have different issues that you don’t normally see in romances and stories. In the case of Beard in Mind, it’s OCD. I know that many people joke about being “a bit OCD”, but there are very few people, if any who actually understand what this is really and truly like. I might not have this disorder myself, but I know what it’s like to have a psychological issue and battle constantly to overcome it.

I love that the saga of the Winston Brothers furthers throughout this story. Beau finds out yet more secrets that tie them to the Iron Wraiths, Duane continues to try and protect his brother. And just, in general, the whole family continues to try and pull together, tighter and tighter than before. It’s the kind of family that you kind of wish you had. Alright, not the insane father, but the siblings, the close knitedness and acceptance of them all? I have that with one sister, imagine if I had even more siblings!!!

I loved, loved, loved this story. I love how Beau finds out about Shelly’s issues and tries to work with her. It reminds us all that support is what is important, that ability to look at someone and just accept them for who and what they are. It’s a difficult thing to do. One that a lot of people struggle with, and I always love seeing this in a story. The fact that Beau chooses to support Shelly and accept that her OCD will always be there – not everyone is so lucky, and I love the feeling of hope that this story provides.

<- Beard Science

Beard in Hiding ->

Image source: Goodreads