Truth or Beard

Title: Truth or Beard
Series: Winston Brother Book 1
Author: Penny Reid
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*Synopsis*

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 Jessica James, recent college graduate and perpetual level headed good girl, has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life. His friendly smiles make her tongue-tied and weak-kneed, and she’s never been able to move beyond her childhood crush. 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. Not helping Jessica’s muddled mind and good girl sensibilities, Duane seems to have gotten himself in trouble with the local biker gang, the Iron Order.
Certainly, Beau’s magic spell is broken. Yet when Jessica finds herself drawn to the man who was always her adversary, now more dangerous than ever, how much of her level-headed heart is she willing to risk?

~BUY LINKS~

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Bring on the beards!

Daredevil Duane Winston has had a crush on good girl Jessica James for years. Whenever they're around each other, though, they can't help but fight with one another. After a case of mistaken identity Jessica and Duane can't deny their feelings any longer and jump into a relationship. But Jessica has plans to leave town and travel the world and Duane is too loyal to his family to leave them. 

Truth or Beard is the first book by Penny Reid that I've read and I really enjoyed it. Duane was a great character and I loved how he was so bad ass but also sweet at the same time. He was a risk taker and it was fun to hear about some of the things he did in the past. I thought he and Jessica went well together with her wanderlust and his adventurous ways. I loved when we got Duanes POV and he had a more interesting story than Jessica, in my opinion. He wasn't your typical Hero that was trying to deny his feelings, he went after what he wanted. He also had trouble with the local MC, who his deadbeat father was a member of, and that added a lot of intrigue to the story. 

"But maybe you could pretend to be a little less capable from time to time?"
"To what end?"
"So I get to feel good about rescuing you."



I did have some problems with Jessica, and she wasn't my favorite character. There were times that it seemed like I was reading about a little kid and not a woman in her twenties. The beginning of her and Duane was not going well with me, especially when Jessica had to question herself on whether or not it was cheating on Beau to be with Duane. Well...you were never with Beau so grow up! Anyway, after the initial annoyance with her character she got better but was unremarkable for me. I found her to be a bit plain and still a tad annoying.

This series is a spin-off from Penny Reid's Knitting in the City series, which I found out after some confusion. Duane mentions some trouble that happened with his sister Ashley but didn't go into a lot of detail so I found myself with questions from that. I would have liked if the situation was actually explained for those readers that haven't read Ashley's story but I think for most it wouldn't be a problem. I just have an insane need to know everything about characters past stories if they are mentioned. I also still have questions about Jessica that weren't answered but I hope maybe they will be in the next books.


Despite my troubles with the story, I still really liked this book and Duane was a winner for me. His family was so close and all seemed like great guys so I know their stories will be good also. This was a great start to my adventure's with Penny Reid's books and I can't wait to start reading more of hers. First up, Knitting in the City.