Beard in Mind (The Winston Brothers #4) by Penny Reid
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.
When the guy voted Most Likely To Charm Your Pants Off finds himself falling for the girl who would've never even bothered voting.
I liked reading about the Winston Brothers more! As the books progress you get so many good little snippets of the previous characters and where they are now in their lives. This is why I would recommend reading them in order- even though you don't have to. Because you'll miss out on how exciting it is to experience Cletus, Duane and Jethro in their current state of affairs.I love how Penny Reid writes complex female characters- she has not let me down with a heroine being complicated yet!
I've read that a bunch of people were super excited to read about Beau. I wasn't in that camp. I didn't find him nearly as likeable as his brothers - especially Cletus- but he's still a Winston so he has likable in him.I'm not into plot lines where the character could talk things through with someone, but instead purposefully keeps secrets from them. There was a bit of Duane and Beau drama in this book like that, and I could've done without it. I cannot be the only one who feels like this- but I swear this is actually in the majority of books! The whole- I'm going to deal with this myself even though it directly affects other people. LAME.I am hesitant to write much about Shelly- our main girl in this book because, to my VERY limited OCD knowledge- she seemed to also struggle from other issues, and is maybe even on the spectrum- which was never mentioned. She couldn't read sarcasm and was very blunt. She SAID she used to lie all of the time, though the reader never experienced that- and maybe this new personality trait of overt bluntness was meant to counteract that? But it really seemed more like she was on the spectrum, rather than her just being blunt. Anyways, (in my limited knowledge) it's a whole separate thing from OCD so that was not in the pro column for me. Overall I didn't really like Shelly.Would you believe me if I told you this book was verrrrry steamy? Haha. I know, I've said it for the previous books too. Well, like the rest of the Winston Brothers books- this one was a bit too graphic for me. I find myself skimming over some of the steamier parts. I know you're wondering, why read them or finish the series? 1. Because this the 4th of 6 books. 2. Because I wanted to read a romance series and 3. Because I am reading these to experience romance novels and dive into the genre- and I think I certainly am with these ones!This was my least favorite Winston Brothers novel but I wouldn't be discouraged from reading it if you read the rest. And you may also really like Beau more than I did! #teamcletusWinston Brothers Predictions:Billy and Claire (where is my Billy and Claire book already?!). Roscoe and Simone.
Listen to: What Makes You Beautiful by One DirectionWatch: John Tucker Must DieLearn: How to jump a car (Seriously, you should know how to change your own tire and how to jump a car. I promise it isn't hard and you'll feel empowered just by watching a youtube tutorial!)