Beard Science: Winston Brothers, Book 3

Written by Penny Reid

Narrated by Chris Brinkley and Joy Nash

Make a deal with the devil and you might get what you want, but will it be what you need?

★★★★★ Goodreads Choice Award Finalist for Best Romance ★★★★★

★★★★★ Amazon Top 10 Romances of 2016 ★★★★★

★★★★★ AAR Top 10 Romances of All Time ★★★★★

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

Jennifer Sylvester wants one thing, and that one thing is NOT to be Tennessee’s reigning Banana Cake Queen. Ever the perpetual good girl and obedient daughter, Jennifer is buckling under the weight of her social media celebrity, her mother’s ambitions, and her father’s puritanical mandates. Jennifer is officially desperate.

And desperate times call for Cletus Winston.

Cletus Winston is a puzzle wrapped in a mystery covered in conundrum sauce, and now he’s in a pickle. Despite being convinced of his own omniscience, extortion by the exalted Banana Cake Queen of Green Valley has taken him completely by surprise. So... what’s a maniacal mastermind to do?

Likely, the last thing you expect.

Beard Science is book #3 in the Winston Brothers series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the romantic exploits and adventures of one of the six Winston Brothers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cipher-Naught
• Release date: Oct 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781987124262

Penny Reid

Sign up for the newsletter of awesome: www.pennyreid.ninja/newsletterPenny 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.FOLLOW PENNY:Facebook: www.facebook.com/pennyreidwriterTwitter: www.twitter.com/reidromanceInstagram: www.instagram.com/reidromanceJust Released:December 13th, 2022: Drama King, Three Kings Series, Book 2Upcoming Releases:2023: All Folked Up, Good Folk: Modern Folktales, Book 3Currently Working On:2023: Pride and Dad Jokes, Ideal Man, Book 1

Reviews for Beard Science

[SamBeth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cletus is my Favourite. Winston. Brother. His humor, machinations and personality is supremely endearing. Jennifer is also a strong woman who learns to come into her own. In its own way, Beard Science is a coming of age story for Cletus and Jennifer. In the words of the great Cletus Byron Winston, "they fit".

[Book Burrito · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book has been great! Cletus is my favorite Winston brother and Jenn is perfect for him. Penny Reid is a genius, Joy Nash and Chris Brinkley did a fantastic job narrating. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Seloff · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love these characters so much. Wishing I can go live in the south in a small town. P.s I'm from South Africa! Lol

[Lala Bubbles · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cletus is my favorite from the series. Such a great set of books can’t wait to read more.

[kristina stewart · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If you are going to have your character speak fluent French please make sure your narrator doesn’t butcher it. I had to rewind and slow the speed right down to even remotely understand what she was trying to say in French. It was bad and unrecognizable. Yikes.

[Shalane Du Preez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I honestly loved this book. Since the first book - Cletus has been my fav Winston bro, was so happy when I saw book 3 was about him ?

[Yourstruly romance · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is definitely a 5++ book. Finish listening to it in one day ❤️

[lauren Kilroy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Clematis is my favorite and I really like Jen too. This is my favorite of the series to read. I’ve read most of them 3-4 times but it is almost impossible to listen to. The female narrator is so awful, it’s hard to listen and I have to fast forward her chapters.

[Stephanie Radloff · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love Cleatus, and I was looking forward to this book the most, and it didnt disappoint! Love it!

[Marta · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such a great and fun read!! Honestly this one was my favorite

[T. Rosado · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 Stars!
I'm having a really hard time coming up with a review that fairly and reasonably explains my thoughts. I am a huge fan of Penny Reid's books and having read all of the Knitting and Winston Bros. books, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed them all. I just didn't love this one as much as all of the others. (Although, 4.5 stars is nothing to whine about.) This was most surprising to me since the reviews were all so over the moon about it. Beard Science had Penny Reid's trademark quirky humor and character growth, but lacked the intensely romantic aspects that I always feel with her books. I, also couldn't get Zach Galifinakus (The Hangover) out of my head when picturing Cletus since that was an early image the author posted after the release of Beauty and the Mustache. The newer images of Cletus were vastly different, but I couldn't shake that first one. Not that there's anything wrong with Zach Galifinakus. :-)

Bottom line: This was another well-written and unique foray into the Winston world. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It may not be my favorite, but it is an essential chapter of the Winston family's happily-ever-afters.

[Lindsay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a re-read for me but with the audio book. Cletus is one of my top book boyfriends, I love this book! And the narrator's were great, I particularly liked Joy as the Banana Cake Queen.

[Kari Chapel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite story in the series so far!!! Love love love!!

[SerendipityReads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'd read so many glowing reviews of this book, but it just wasn't for me.
I LOVE PENNY REID!!!!! (and SmartyPants Romance books in general)
but I've figured out that the whole Iron Wraiths (or whatever they're called!) story line just bores me to tears.

And I get it, they serve a great purpose in that universe by providing built in tension/conflict, but I just find myself resenting every time they're on the page, because as "evil bike gangs" go they're really just silly, and I'd rather just be reading about the relationship.

Additionally:

...the hard turn in the first couple of chapters that played switcheroono with the expected heroine served up confusion, but no ultimate purpose....

...The whole "blackmail" premise between the H and h was ridiculous, and just made Jennifer seem like a total psycho...

....Cletus's initial criticisms of her clothing and general appearance were completely off-putting, and made him no better than her parents in the area of blindly demanding that she conform to THEIR preferences...

.....the concept of her being some big minor celebrity as "The Banana Cake Queen" completely failed to jive with the completely mousy personality she was portrayed to have...

....her parents were ridiculously cartoonishly awful....and yet, we were supposed to accept her mother's turn-around at the end...

....this book is ostensibly a "stand alone", but needs to be read as part of the series if you don't want to feel completely lost when it comes to the significant appearance of minor characters ...

Well, you get the idea. It just didn't work for me, in general.

But I do LOVE the Winston clan. And ultimately I loved the IDEA of Cletus and Jennifer as a couple, even if it felt like the development of their relationship was a tad disjointed. I felt like there could have been a little more detail put in to the process of them falling in love, as there just seemed to be gaps in the progression from blackmail to friends to romantic interests to lovers.

WHAT CAN I SAY, I'M A HELPLESS ROMANTIC?!!!!

And Chris Brinkley's narration in this universe is always SWOOOOONY!

So I'm being generous and giving this four stars. But again, I recommend reading this as part of the series, and not as a stand alone. If I'd read it as a stand alone it would probably be a three star for me.

[Anne Rueve · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think this book is my favorite in the whole Winston Brothers series. I will definitely be listening to it again.

[Adelyn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

amongst the three book.. this captured my interest the most. I think it was because Cletus and Jennifer portrait an excellect unique characters. I had a glimpse of Clutes brief story on the second book which intriged me more. I even guessed that the 'beard science' is his story even without reading the synopsis. compliment to the writer and i am thinking if Billy and the youngest Winston brother will have their own story.