Jessica and Duane's love story really starts off with a bang - a little bit of small town heart, a little mistaken identity, a lot of steam. I loved the varied cast of supporting characters that we had supporting these two and the world that Penny Reid built for all of them. The book has a lot of humor, but I felt like in trying to raise the stakes, the author was introducing new plot points that were taking the overall journey off the rails, both in plot beats and tonally - it felt like too much. And even though it was explained away, I felt like Jessica's willingness to just transfer her crush from one twin to the other was a little underdeveloped and contributed to my main issue with the book, which is that she felt a little immature. All in all, this was still a fun story and I'm interested to see what the books about Duane's other brothers are about! I'd definitely check the TW before you pick this up - I didn't and I was surprised at some of the heavy topics we got into!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️/5

This was a fun read that had me rolling with laughter.

Duane was a man after my heart! First of all, who doesn't want a tall bearded man? Especially if he is a little grumpy!
Not to mention, his impeccable manners. Him wanting to do everything right by Jessica was the sweetest thing. Of course, this made him totally unrealistic by today's standard but I am definitely not complaining.

Jessica had me dying from laughter. From the very first chapter, I knew I was going to like her.

The story was fun and lighthearted. Definitely entertaining. I did enjoy the idea of two childhood friends falling in love. I feel like a lot of people can relate to this, or at least the possibility of it.

All of the characters were diverse in personality, which was impressive given the amount of brothers Duane has lol. I specifically adored Claude. I think he brought much needed perspective to his brothers.

This book certainly had its flaws. None of them were enough to completely alter my opinion of this book, but I feel like I should still mention them.

Firstly, I wasn't really a fan of the "conflicts" in the storyline. They seemed a bit ridiculous to me. I feel like Jessica's desire to travel could definitely be a small bump in the road, but there was no reason for it to blow up like it did. Even worse, the problems with the biker gang didn't hit the mark for me. It felt like the author brought that issue completely out of left field. At the very least, I would have enjoyed it more if the build up was more intense.

Like I said, these "problems" weren't enough to make me dislike this book but I definitely wanted to bring them up in case these things may bother others.

Overall, I did enjoy the book.

I would recommend to anyone who is looking for light and hilarious read. If you are into bearded men, Duane is your guy!

I wouldn't recommend to anyone who needs a lot of heavy conflict in their stories.

Cute, sexy and an easy read. With a beard. What else do you need in life?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I received this as an ARC review via NetGalley. All views are my own.

If you love small town romance, this is for you! The first chapter hooked me in with a bit of spice involving a twin pretending to be the other! I loved all of the quotes at the start of each chapter, loved the banter between the two main characters Jessica and Duane and overall, loved the relationship of these childhood sweat hearts! I love how their story unfolded and felt sadness whilst reading knowing that their story may potentially come to an end as Jessica leaves to go travelling. Such a light hearted, heart warming story and I highly recommend.

I can’t wait to get the paperback when it releases in the works and can’t wait to read book two to see what happens next with the Winston brothers!

This book is absolutely adorable! Jessica is hilariously in denial about her childhood nemesis, Duane Winston, who’s now all grown up—and kind of irresistible. The fast pace, charming scenarios, and engaging plot kept me hooked as these two navigate their undeniable chemistry. Penny Reid also does a great job immersing readers in small-town Appalachia - really made the setting stand out.

This is such a fun read!

You had me at chapter one when Jessica is dressed as a sexy Gandalf. Loved this book, Jess and Duane’s relationship was everything. Perfect small town romance!

Truth or Beard had me laughing out loud, it’s a fun, cute read!

⭐️: 4/5
🌶️: open door, several scenes

💭 overall thoughts:
Jessica has had a crush on Beau for years, but mistakingly ends up kissing Duane, his twin, and that changes everything.

I adored both main characters, in their abilities to always be themselves no matter what. I appreciated that they loved, supported, and respected who the other was, without wanting to change anything about them.

There was A LOT going on in this story (maybe a little too much), which was hard to follow at times.
Many characters were being introduced (since it is setting up the rest of the Winston brothers series), and that got a little confusing at some points.

read if you love:
🫣 mistaken identity
🌦 grumpy sunshine
💛 childhood friends to lovers
🧰 math teacher fmc + mechanic mmc
🤫 secret crush
🫶🏼 family + found family
🌳 small town
💞 dual 1st person pov

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book. It was unique and still hot all the great romance points without being redundant and feeling like I'm reading the same story that I have in other books. Amazing :)

Penny Reid’s new spin-off series The Winston Brothers starts with a hit! Truth or Beard is a small town unrequited love romance. Jessica has had the biggest crush on Beau Winston since she was a little girl. When she moves back to Green Valley Tennessee after college she is excited to reconnect with the affable ginger twin. Mishaps abound, local motorcycle clubs get in the way, and Jessica finds out her heart may be leading her in the wrong direction after all.... This book is hilarious and so sweet! I love Jess and Duane together and I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

Unfortunately, this was not for me. The writing was just too immature and there were several passages that left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Winston books are such fun! I read the other but somehow managed to miss this one so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of the reprint. A fun mix of adventure and romance.

This was not my first foray into Penny Reid's books (I've previously read Bananapants), but this is one that I've had the indie version on my shelf for a long time.

Jessica is back in her small town after college to teach a higher level math class in exchange of her student loans being forgiven. While back in town, her long-time crush/adoration on Beau Winston has been re-ignited. Jessica has held Beau on a pedestal for a long time, and in addition to the high esteem she gives Beau, Jessica has extreme disdain for his twin brother Duane. When Jessica accidentally gets the two confused, she has to readjust her previous thoughts on each of them.

One thing that I think Reid does well with her writing is creating fun, quirky characters. This is something that I think I enjoyed enough in Bananapants where the title ques you into the quirky-ness of the story. I think the quirkiness of the main characters here just kind of lended themselves to instead feeling very fake. I couldn't believe the romance because Duane's attitude and actions felt so out-of-place. Jessica as well, felt kinda "not like other girls" and the insta-love that ends up happening was fairly frustrating with knowing her ultimate dreams. Plot wise, I feel like Reid is definitely hinting at something that wasn't wrapped up by the end of this book. I don't think I'm interested enough to read the full series to find out the answer to some of my questions though and I don't see any direct reason why some of the answers wouldn't have been revealed here.

Ultimately, I think this story is fine, probably not for me. I did enjoy the new Special Edition items included in this story though. Some cute art and a map, helped set up the setting a bit more!

I thought this book was so steamy and funny. It led me to reading more in the series and I can't wait to read more from this author. It made me giggle and I loved their banter.

I went into this book with high expectations; I’ve loved previous books written by Penny Reid. This is a good book, but it didn’t meet my high expectations. Jess is a calculus teacher and I love how Penny uses smart women in her novels. However, Jess didn’t come off as just being brainy or loving math so it seemed weird other than the occasional mention of someone Jess admired who worked in mathematics. Also wasn’t sure how she ended up teaching Cletus who is older? Jess is just a little too southern and has wayyyyy too much repetitive inner dialogue.
Dwayne is a nice sturdy character and seemed like the perfect man in most instances. However he feels a little one dimensional and the entire side story with the biker gang felt so unnecessary. The biker gang felt like it was added to make the Winton brothers be the perfect amount of dangerous and attractive but it all just seemed really stupid.
Overall, it was a good book (narration wasn’t my fave for audiobooks) but I’m hoping the other brothers have a better story. 4⭐️, 2🌶

This is a very cute romance that will do well with romance readers when they're in the mood for something small town cute. There was a lot of humor in this story and is a nice, easy read. I could have gone for a snappier first half (and the biker gang didn't do it for me). It was dangerously close to feeling icky with the twin situation, but the way it was written made it ultimately fine (not impersonating someone else to the detriment of others). Overall I will recommend this to folks whose primary genre is romance!

I’ve been meaning to try Penny Reid’s books forever, so I finally jumped in. I’m really glad I did! This was a quirky and fun small town romance. There’s a large subplot with a motorcycle gang that I felt a little confused by and lots of different characters to keep track of, but this was a good time and I’m very intrigued by the Winston family.

Read if you like:
- small town hijinks
- childhood enemies-ish to lovers
- slow burn
- pining
- grumpy + sunshine
- he falls first and harder
- it’s always been you
- meddling family members and shenanigans

I didn’t love the drama at the end and Duane making unilateral decisions, but I think his heart was always in the right place. More grovel would have been better and I also could have done without all the ex drama and details from his “relationship” with Tina. I appreciated that Jessica was confident and smart enough to not fall for it though and the entire miscommunication conflict (for that) was avoided. I’m most intrigued by Claire (and Billy?!?) at this point and will be looking forward to that book later in the series.

Note: I actually didn’t realize there was an earlier book that introduced these characters/family (Beauty and the Mustache), so I would probably read that first if I could do it again.

CW: death of parent (past), grief, parental abandonment (past), blackmail, mentions of hiding/smuggling drugs, threats to safety, guns

OW/OM notes: FMC initially kisses and fools around with the MMC thinking it’s his twin brother, MMC kisses OW (his on/off ex of 5 years) in front of FMC to make her jealous, drama with the MMC’s ex

Thank you to the publisher and author for this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a solid romance book. I loved the family aspect of the Winston brothers. I thought the way it started off with her being into the other twin was a little awkward, but we moved past it quickly which was good. I did feel like the main characters were a bit immature and I would’ve liked more depth/development from them. I was quite bored in the middle and I didn’t really feel connected to the side plot. The ending brought everything together and I enjoyed it! Overall a solid book

“Be wild for me, be reckless. I love your kind of wild.”

When Jessica James returns home, her plan is to stay just as long as it takes to make enough money to pay off her student loans. then she’ll be off to travel the world. she has no intention of putting down romantic roots. but what Jessica doesn’t know is that Duane Winston has loved her for years, and he sees this as his opportunity to finally make something happen between them.

with Jessica determined to see the world and not get stuck in her hometown, she and Duane agree to spend thirteen months together. they’ll have just over a year, and then they’ll break up, no matter what. this way they can experience life together, but she’ll still get to live out her dreams of traveling the world. however, as the days go by and they get closer than ever, both of them begin to realize a one year deal probably wasn’t a good idea. how are they supposed to just say goodbye when it’s all over? is heartbreak inevitable?

Truth or Beard was fun and flirty, but ultimately, it fell flat for me. the big conflict keeping Jessica and Duane from being able to commit felt like a weak hurdle that could be overcome with some discussions and planning. also, both MCs had some problematic behaviors, especially around intimacy. I understand why so many people love this, but it just wasn’t my favorite.
—

this and that:
♡ band of brothers
♡ bearded men
♡ childhood frenemies-to-lovers
♡ classic cars
♡ dirt road racing
♡ dual pov
♡ he’s obsessed
♡ it was always you
♡ love with a timeline
♡ mechanic x math teacher
♡ open door spice
♡ picnics
♡ small town
♡ skinny dipping
♡ truth or dare

triggers:
☞ biker gangs
☞ child abuse (mentioned)
☞ death of a loved one
☞ domestic abuse (mentioned)

This starts as an unexpected and mistaken identity moment of lust. This love story has many layers and is the beginning of one of my very favorite romance series of all time. The Winston brothers are quirky, kind, and sexy. Duane is unexpectedly everything Jessica needs

Love love love this book! So excited it’s coming out in a special edition. The Winston Brothers series holds a very special place in my heart as it was one of the first series I read when I was getting back into reading!