Title: Beard Necessities
Author: Penny Reid
Series: Winston Brothers #7
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 22nd October 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: SmartyPants Romance
Year: 2019
5th sentence, 74th page: “Then why are you drunk?”

Beards, brothers, and bears! Oh my!

Billy Winston’s family is going to see him happy and in love if it’s the last thing they do.

No one deserves happily-ever-after quite as much as the second oldest Winston brother and his lady love, Claire McClure (aka Scarlet St. Claire). Cruelty and circumstance tore them apart almost twenty years ago. Secrecy and bitterness kept them separated.

But you know who’s tired of their separation and stubbornness? Everyone. Especially billy Winston’s family. And now they’re going to do something about it.

Well-meaning interference means the star-crossed lovers can’t stop tripping over each other in the hills of Tuscany, the catacombs of Rome, and the waterways of Venice. Billy and Claire find themselves thrown together and at the mercy of the Winston siblings’ shenanigans.

But will their forced proximity bring them together? Or push them even further apart?

It’s taken me a while to get to this story. I’ve been attached to the idea of Scarlet and Billy from fairly early on in my reading of this series. But, it’s taken this long to actually get to this book. Partly because I obviously read all of the other books in this series first. But, mostly because I knew that they had the most tragic of backstories. And sometimes I really struggle with the sad backstories. They’re just so… sad.

Having said that, I did get the worst of the “sadness” over during my reading through of Beard in Mind. But I was worried about how long Reid was going to prolong the pain. I mean we’re talking a love story that is decades in the making and filled with lots of tragedy. I was still feeling tentative reading this. Luckily, it was NO where near as painful as I was expecting.

In fact, Scarlet seems to jump on board with the whole plan fairly quickly. And she’s able to stick with Billy as all of the secrets of the oast unravel. Don’t get me wrong, she’s no dishrag – she most definitely gives him what for when she finds out what he’s been keeping secret. But, her willingness to finally get over her crap and finally try made the hard parts so much more pleasant.

I loved the plotting and scheming of the Winston family throughout this. Surprisingly, nothing hugely backfired on them. And it filled this story with many, many beautiful, lighthearted moments. Finally, the epilogue helped to tie in all of the Winston family’s happily ever afters. Leaving me feeling grateful and at peace. Now onto the next series in my Penny Reid pile…

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Beard with Me
Author: Penny Reid
Series: Winston Brothers #6
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 19th – 21st October 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: SmartyPants Romance
Year: 2019
5th sentence, 74th page: How’re we going to pay for all this stuff?

Beards, brothers, and bears! Oh my!

‘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 speciality. 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.

No one is better at fighting than Billy Winston and raging against his circumstances – because nothing is beyond his control – is Billy’s speciality. 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

I have been putting off reading this book for ages. I knew that it was going to be sad and heartwrenching. And that it was probably going to make me cry. Turns out, it wasn’t ANYWHERE near as bad as I expected. It wasn’t happy, and I still cries. But less tears than expected.

One of the reasons I think this destroyed my heart a little less than expected was probably the fact that I had Beard Necessities ready to go. Knowing that regardless of how sad I found this, the part ending was RIGHT THERE most definitely helped. But, more than that it was Scarlet. She was able to take hold of all this horribleness and be filled with joy. And humour. I seriously loved all of her jokes.

That’s not to say that there wasn’t tragedy and Scarlet was always happy in this. She had so many battles to face. And at fourteen. Then, considering what else she faces after the conclusion of this story. Seriously tragic. Not to mention Billy. I think it was Billy’s ending that completely destroyed my self control. To love someone that truly and deeply… I’m not sure I can even fathom it.

Yes, this story was less soul destroying than I had expected. But it was still completely heart wrenching. It was the kind of story that helped me to completely invest in the couple (even though I WAS already invested). And it is obvious that it was very much needed. But wow. Make sure you have tissues handy.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Dr. Strange Beard
Author: Penny Reid
Series: Winston Brothers #5
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Chic lit, Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 15th – 25th March 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: SmartyPants Romance
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: I see your point.

Beards, brothers, and bears, oh my!
Hunches, horse races, and heartbreak

Ten years after Simone Parton 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 remembers everything – every look, every word, every single unrequited second – and the least thing he needs is another memory of Simone.

Unfortunately, after one chance 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 is 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…

As usual, I love the works of Reid. She is funny, engaging, generally awesome and just all round, a lot of fun. The fact that, yet again, Reid finds characters that are not mainstream and a little in the minority… well, it just draws you further and further into the storyline. In this case, we have a POC lead female, and a male with a seriously awesome memory… one that I’m not exactly jealous of, because I can understand how painful that would probably be for him.

Roscoe is such an absolute sweetheart. He has been throughout all of the Winston Brothers books but getting to read about him as a sweetheart from the very beginning… oh. My heart just melted. Of all of the absolutely delectable brothers, he is most definitely the sweetest. Which is lovely considering that he is also the one that is in love with his childhood best friend… and the way he goes about it? Oh, honestly, once I actually got into this book and had the time to pick it up, I just devoured the whole damn story.

Although this is a contemporary romance series, Darrell Winston is a scary, horrible villain. He is just… so damn evil. And probably because he is also believable… he is also one of those villains that seriously give me the heebie jeebies. So, having a story that much more heavily featured him in the present (for the first four books he’s in jail) was… awesome. And horrible. It just made this story all that much more difficult to put down. Plus, it also is a great story point and methodology to pull Simone into the tale and the world of the Winston’s again.

Simone and Roscoe are a great couple. One that you fall in love with from the very first moment. I mean, all of the Reid couples are ones that you are pulling for from the beginning. But something about these two… it’s just wonderful. I love the stories about those who grew together as friends and become lovers. There is something just… adorable and impossible to forget about such a story line. There is a horrible cliché about falling in love with your best friend. One that is so completely true – and Roscoe and Simone definitely work with this cliché perfectly.

Not only does this story hit all of my happy points for diversity and romance. But it also helps to kind of round out the story with Darrell, who hovers throughout all of the tales. And it sets things up for the next two books – Billy’s story. I’m not exactly jumping to read Beard With Me because I know that it’s probably going to break my heart. But then, the other part of me… just can’t wait.

Image source: Bookdepository

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.

Image source: Goodreads