Beard in Mind: A Small Town Romantic Comedy

Penny Reid

Jul 2017 · The Winston Brothers Series Book 4 · Cipher-Naught

About this eBook

From the NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, & USA TODAY bestselling series

All is fair in love and auto maintenance.

Beau Winston is the nicest, most accommodating guy in the world. Usually.

Handsome as the devil and twice as charismatic, Beau lives a charmed life as everyone’s favorite Winston Brother. But since his twin decided to leave town, and his other brother hired a stunning human-porcupine hybrid as a replacement mechanic for their auto shop, Beau Winston’s charmed life has gone to hell in a handbasket.

Shelly Sullivan is not nice and is never accommodating. Ever.

She mumbles to herself, but won’t respond when asked a question. She glares at everyone, especially babies. She won’t shake hands with or touch another person, but has no problems cuddling with a dog. And her damn parrot speaks only in curse words. 

Beau wants her gone. He wants her out of his auto shop, out of Tennessee, and out of his life.

The only problem is, learning why this porcupine wears her coat of spikes opens a Pandora’s box of complexity—exquisite, tempting, heartbreaking complexity—and Beau Winston soon discovers being nice and accommodating might mean losing what matters most.

*****

Read the entire Winston Brothers series!
Beauty and the Mustache Book #0.5 USA Today Bestseller
Truth or Beard Book #1 USA Today Bestseller
Grin and Beard It #2 USA Today Bestseller
Beard Science #3 USA Today Bestseller
Beard in Mind #4 USA Today Bestseller
Dr. Strange Beard #5 New York Times Bestseller
Beard with Me #5.5 (Coming September 2019)
Beard Necessities #6 (Coming October 2019)

*****

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Ratings and reviews

4.5 stars — Beau was the absolute highlight of this story for me… Now don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed Shelly as well, but Beau surprised the heck out of me, he was nothing like what I was expecting. And I totally fell in love with him, he stole my heart, and I ache for this sweet and sensitive man. Something about the other books and the way that people described him, I truly believed that the charm that he so effortlessly delivers would have some other purpose…but the reality was that he just did it to make people feel good, not as something for himself. He was a genuinely friendly and caring guy, and I guess I just don’t come across heroes like him nearly enough. It’s not about alpha or beta or any of that, but I fell in love with the kindness of this man. In the end I actually felt a bit sorry for him, for how people made assumptions about his character. I also expected him to be a bit of a player, but again, that was another erroneous assumption based on how people perceived him. I seriously can’t say enough good things about him. Does that mean he wasn’t flawed? Heck no. But the goodness…oh the goodness. As I said, I ended up really enjoying Shelly as well. But we actually got remarkably fewer chapters from her POV, which surprised me quite a bit, and it made it a bit harder to connect with her sometimes. Now, I’m kind of selfish and enjoyed being in Beau’s head, so this only bothered me a little bit. But it does mean that I didn’t connect with her quite as much as I did Beau. She’s a bit of an odd duck too, what with the things she struggled with because of her OCD, so there’s a tiny part of me that had a hard time figuring her out. But that could be just me. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to see the woman below the disorder, but we did get there eventually, and I loved her subtle sass and vulnerability. I’m not sure if this book was as strong in the romance department, it just had so much else going on in the story. I did enjoy their chemistry though, you could really feel their attraction to one another. And I did understand their friendship, but there was the odd time where I would wonder if I bought what drew them to each other initially, other than just the hand wavy stuff…but I’m probably not making any sense. I cried for both Shelly and Beau. Shelly struggled with so much, and a part of me was saddened that she didn’t get to resolve things with her family, though I understood it and it made sense for her and for the story. I definitely cried for Beau…for the hurts of his childhood, and for seeing him struggle with Duane leaving. I loved how unafraid of showing emotion he could be. I loved how close he and Duane were, and how you could really feel how the twins were two halves of a whole. I also fully understood why Christine chose to approach (and manipulate) him, b/c he just has such a good heart. He might be one of my favourite heroes of all time, but definitely my favourite Winston brother so far (which I can’t believe he usurped Jethro). On the topic of diversity, I loved learning about OCD, and what a person experiencing it might possibly feel and go through, not to mention potential treatments. I thought the subject was treated with respect, gave a great peek into what it might be like, and I LOVED Ms. Reid’s note at the end about this not encompassing all people with this disorder, but just one character. I think people often forget how mental disabilities of all kinds vary widely from person to person. But what I love, and look for, in a diversity read is the ability to connect to a character, and understand things from their perspective. So yeah. This series has been a serious hit with me, and I can’t wait for Roscoe and Billy’s stories… Meanwhile, I will dream of my sweet, kind, ginger boy…

Penny Reid is a remarkable woman. At least from what I can tell. There are very few books in the romance genre that have lead characters with OCD. Although it could be attributed to lack of awareness, I think it comes down to people wanting a 'perfect' world. Penny challenges that, whether it be intentional or not and I cannot thank her enough. I entered the book being a person who didn't say 'I'm OCD about...' but I never corrected it tried to inform people that it is a serious disorder. So thank you Penny for bringing this to the forefront of my mind. Shelly and Beau both have baggage, but their ability to love, carry the luggage and slowly work at unpacking is truly inspiring.

***5 ‘Refrigerator’ Stars*** I adored Beard Science, so going into Beard in Mind I was a bit...wary about how it would hold up against it’s predecessor and I have to admit that I’m a little shook right now because it not only held it’s own, but surpassed Beard Science...as a whole. I still adore Cletus and am still a member of #TeamCletusandJenn, but the words in Beard in Mind were simply brilliant and pulled out all FEELS from me. I laughed (because it is the Winston family) I got teary/sniffly (which I don’t very often) and even had slightly violent tendencies towards certain characters, but regardless of the emotion my heartstrings were pulled over and over again throughout the story. Now, I don’t like to pigeon hole myself, and I haven’t read all of Ms. Reid’s books...yet, but from what I have read, I have to say that this may just be one of her best books to date. Now I know that we all love and adore the Winston’s, and we should, but Shelly is EVERYTHING in this book. She has landed herself on the top of my Girl Crush list. She is everything she appears to be and nothing like she appears to be all at the same time. To say she is complex is a true understatement, but it made her unique and utterly fascinating to me. I loved her honesty, especially when it bent towards the brutal, and how golden her heart was. And then there is Beau. He is the most charming of the Winston clan and appears to be the easiest going, but not everything is that simple. His compassion and honest desire to help others was a huge draw for me and I loved watching him evolve throughout the book and how with each change his perception of himself shifted and pushed him closer to being the man he was always meant to be. Their “enemies to lovers” journey was fun, heartwarming, heart breaking and simply everything it should be. Their first collision was more than rocky, as was much of the road they travelled, but I thoroughly enjoyed all the steps that it took to get them to their very special HEA. There was a whole bunch of sweet going on as well as a bunch of smexy that was HAWT. I loved their bantering and how deeply invested in each other’s happiness as time went on and what they wanted their future to hold. I’m still kind of hung up on the words and how they were woven together in Beard in Mind, not that I’m surprised at all, Ms. Reid has a way with words that make you feel them and not just read them. There were quite a few twists and turns in this book that I didn’t see coming, but they all made perfect sense when it was all said and done. Through Shelly Ms. Reid touches on a few subjects that will hit quite close to home for many people and I thought she presented it with a lot of sensitivity and respect even as she didn’t hold back from the intensity of how it can rule a person’s life and affect those around them. This book was everything and I can’t wait to see what Ms. Reid has up her sleeve for the remaining Winston brothers! ~ Copy provided by Social Butterfly PR & voluntarily reviewed ~

About the author

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Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.

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