Reading for the Second Time
Sexy Gandalf, mistaken identity, catastrophic engine failure, and Truth or Dare. Leave it to Penny Reid to whip up such a delightful combination. Right from the start, she had me in the palm of her creative and whimsical little hands.

Jessica James has just returned to her small hometown after college to take a job as the high school’s Calculus teacher. She’s only in town long enough to pay off her student loans and save enough money to pursue her wanderlust – her intense desire to travel the world. Jessica grew up alongside the six Winston brothers, including identical twins Beau and Duane Winston. Beau and Duane are identical in looks but polar opposites in personalities. Whereas Beau is friendly and outgoing, Duane is moody and unsociable.

Jessica has had a massive crush on Beau her entire life. She hero worships him and is positively tongue-tied in his presence. Jessica and Duane, on the other hand, have had an entirely antagonist relationship involving verbal sparring and one-upmanship of the pranking variety. As for Duane’s part, perhaps their love-hate relationship weighed more heavily on the love side?

After she is tricked into kissing the “wrong” Winston brother Jessica finds the Beau spell has been broken and she sees Duane in a new light. As Jessica and Duane come to know each other as the adults they are now, their feelings grow stronger. But can they commit to one another knowing their relationship has an expiration date? Complicating matters, Duane and the Winston brothers get dragged into a dispute with the local biker gang.

Penny Reid has a knack for creating quirky heroines who are also easy to relate to. Jessica is no exception. She is smart, sassy, quirky, and misunderstood by almost everyone. What’s more, nobody has ever tried to accept her – until Duane.

I loved Duane. He’s such a loyal man. I was charmed by his inherent goodness and his respect for Jessica. What girl wouldn’t swoon over his blatant adoration? However, like Jessica, I grew tired of Duane repeatedly putting the brakes on their relationship. And this may just be the perspective of an older reader, but the deal they made entering the relationship seemed unnecessary and rather ridiculous to me. Even so, this is a heartwarming story and a promising start to the series.

The Winston brothers seem like a wonderfully rambunctious brood. Each one is so different and I can’t wait to learn more about all of them. Odd, zany, and loveable Cletus really captured my heart and I’m especially looking forward to reading his story. ( )

This was such a fun read!

Jessica has known the Winston boys since she was little. After finishing college, she returns home to save up some money to travel and to pay off her loans. At a Halloween party, she runs into one of the brothers who she assumes is Bo, her childhood crush. However, it turns out to be his twin brother Dwayne, who she never got along with as a kid.

As expected with a romance, they fall in love and lots of drama takes place. This romance has a motorcycle club, southern boys, a small town, a big family, daughter of the sheriff, and so many other romance tropes.

I will certainly continue reading these books. ( )

Non è di certo brutto questo libro, ma sicuramente neanche entusiasmante.
Una storia non proprio originale e, per di più, da poco avevo finito di leggere un altro libro che riportava la medesima situazione di avvio di questa.
La vicenda risulta inizialmente molto lenta e poco avvincente per poi proseguire in maniera piuttosto altalenante fino alla parte finale che, di sicuro, è quella migliore, la più coinvolgente.
Anche i due protagonisti, Duane e Jessica, non mi hanno entusiasmato, troppo arroccati sulle le loro posizioni tanto da portare avanti un tira e molla che allunga solo il brodo senza alcun effettivo costrutto.
Pure lo stile non mi ha entusiasmato, l’ho trovato poco scorrevole e mi è rimasta addosso una fastidiosa sensazione di intermittenza.
I presupposti per una serie frizzante e divertente c’erano tutti, ma la realizzazione finale, almeno per questo primo libro, mi è sembrata piuttosto inefficace.
Sinceramente questa storia non mi sprona a continuare nella lettura di questa serie anche se i restanti cinque fratelli Winston sembrerebbero invece meritare molto più di Duane.
Effettive tre stelle e mezzo.
( )

Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
Winston Brothers #1. Contemporary romance. Spin off of a prior series which does. It have to be read to enjoy this book.
Jessica has had a crush on Beau since grade school. A sexy costume and kiss from Duane has Jessica rethinking everything.

Fun twin story as Jessica learns more about the brothers and family. We also learned more about the family of brothers which will lead to the future books. Thought the motorcycle club was a bit heavy handed but that was only a small part of the story.
Loved the heroine’s bravery of accepting the dare to skinny dip in the cold pond.
This book is the start of a big trend that is recognized mostly by the cross stitch cover which the author created herself. ( )

A cute little read. At first I wasn't so sure I was going to believe the happy ending but I think the author did a good job of figuring it out and making everyone's motivations believable. I particularly liked the way the heroine was willing to compromise. Interested in reading about the other brothers particularly Cletus. Also found the portrayal of the 1 percenter motorcycle club different since here they were not glamorized as good guys. In fact they were the bad guys. ( )