Review Post : Truth or Beard by Penny Reid (3 Stars)

Truth Or Beard by Penny Reid
Series: Winston Brothers #1
Published by Caped Publishing on 2015-07-23
Genres: Romantic Comedy
Pages: 400
Format: eBook
Goodreads

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?

FTC : I bought this book and I will be buying the next one.

I bought this book because I loved the cover, the concept and the blurb. I’ve never read this author before but I was excited by the look of this. The author’s comedic writing style means book two is definitely on the list but there were things that annoyed me about this book that means that, although I’m kinda hooked into the series because of its unique and quirky feeling, I won’t be picking up this as a re-read.

Mistaken identity is actually a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. The fact that this is also an enemies-to-lovers book made it the type of book I’ll literally throw money at and I’m really glad that I did; this is a writing style that I know will work for me in the long run. I think that it is the strength of the writing that kept me turning the pages because, I have to admit, the H/h were the types of characters that just do not work for me. The rest of the characters, now the rest of the characters intrigued me… I think that I could look forward to some of these character’s stories (especially Cletus).

The comedic writing style obviously worked for me but so did the author’s ability to write believable chemistry. Although I didn’t particularly like the characters, I believed in their relationship and the depth of their attraction. Penny Reid writes good romances; I just didn’t like the players in this particular one.

So, there was a lot of stuff that obviously worked for me, so why did the characters not? The main reason was that I found them both to be completely immature and so their reasoning/actions were just ones that I couldn’t relate to. Jessica’s POV is written from mainly inside her own head (there is a lot of inner thoughts and monologue on page) and her reasoning to keep away from Duane, although well explained, was just bizarre when the solution was obvious from the start. Duane? Well Duane pulled a stupid move where he kissed her cousin, which he was dared to do in a game of Truth or Dare, in a way that was designed to make her jealous. That alone was the reason he was never going to be my idea of a hero because I just thought that level, and method, of game playing was very high school and I couldn’t get past it.

So overall, for me, there were positives and negatives to this book. I think the overwhelming thing that I will take from this book is that this author is one I am excited about but I probably won’t be reading this book again.