Truth or Beard
Winston Brothers, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Joy Nash
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Chris Brinkley
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By:
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Penny Reid
About this listen
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. She 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?
Series description:
Everyone in Green Valley, Tennessee, knows that the six bearded Winston brothers have been imbued with an unfair share of charm and charisma...and are prone to mischief.
Truth or Beard is book number one in the Winston Brother's series. Each book is a stand-alone, full-length, contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the romantic exploits and adventures of one of the six Winston brothers.
©2015 Cipher-Naught, LLC (P)2025 Cipher-Naught, LLCLove this author. Love Joy Nash
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Confused? I was, because this book was pleasant enough, but for me it just failed to recreate the chemistry that is usually such a delightful feature of Ms Reid’s books. The H was in love with the h from before the book started, and declared this pretty much from the beginning, both to the reader and then to the h. As the h felt pretty much felt the same way, that lovely tension of uncertainty and anticipation between our couple was sadly lacking.
The conflict in this book was supposed to be created by an odd plot line where the H was a home town boy with roots and connections, whilst the h was desperate to travel, and experience the world outside of her home town. This just did not work for me. Unlike some readers, I did understand that desperate feeling of wanting to see the world – not just on holiday but as a working member of other communities. What I found surprising was the lack of understanding by others. Maybe I just don’t understand small town America. Nevertheless I could not see why it would have been so impossible to discuss a compromise right from the beginning (as they eventually did, at the end). The couple were both very young so I could not understand why her desire to travel was such an overwhelming barrier to establishing a permanent relationship.
Added to this was a weird side story about the h’s dying Aunt who, after her death, is revealed to be h’s mother. We had strong hints that a local biker was her father, but nothing more. It left so many questions. Why did the Aunt treat her so badly, but then leave her everything in her will? Who is her father?
The writing of this book was up to Ms Reid’s usual high standard, but I did not particularly like the dual narration. The female narration was pretty much perfect for all voices, but the male narrator has a fabulous deep (very sexy!) voice which unfortunately does not lend itself well to female voices, and I found this a jarring distraction from what was otherwise excellent narration.
There is a fabulous interview at the end of the audio with Ms Reid which makes me like her so much I feel a bit guilty for my criticisms above (!), and I am most relieved to hear that she is going to remain self-published and not allow established publishing houses to dictate changes in her characters. Her fabulous characters are what makes her books truly special and even though this book was not a favourite for me, I look forward to reading the next in the series.
Ok, but lacking sparkle
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All.of the characters are so wonderfully 3 Dimensional and relatable. Even though I'm English and have not been lucky enough to visit Tennessee, I could easily picture all of the brothers and the other characters too.
The book makes you want to root for Jessica and Duane to find their HEA all the way through.
Wonderful writing and fantastic narration by both narrators who did a brilliant job of bringing all of the characters to life. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the series 😊
This book made me so happy
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Another great love story in this series
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Fantastic
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