Beard Necessities by Penny Reid

Book Review

Grade: A

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts, and my soul was still Scarlet.

This book is the long-awaited series-finale of Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series. A spin-off of her Knitting-in-the-City (KITC) series. The Winston Brothers, for me, took on a life of its own. I have loved every second of the series, and I honestly wasn’t sure at the start that I would. When Ashley talked about her seven brothers in KITC, I was like – well that’s a series in the making, but I’m not sure I want to read about seven hillbilly brothers. This is me, here, and now telling you I WAS WRONG! (my husband might want me to record that – so he has a record of it for all time).

If you haven’t read any of the other books in the series, I would not recommend starting here. Do yourself a favor and read all the other books first! I’ll give you the links below.

Billy and Scarlet are so wonderful – I love both of them and the whole Winston clan. This book is deeply emotional. It is a romance – no doubt about it – but it almost more a tutorial about how to stop avoiding the past and move forward for the future. It is also a story that shows how sometime love isn’t enough – you have to have trust, empathy, and look outside yourself.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind (especially not the Winston siblings – at least after Cletus tells them whats what) that Billy and Scarlet belong together and can be together if they’d both just talk. Thank God for Cletus and the rest of the family – they really did have to step in. I think Billy had really settled in to an acceptance that he wasn’t going to ever have what he wanted – so much so that he couldn’t see what he was doing was hurting himself and Scarlet so so much. Scarlet (at least) was getting therapy and it helped her move forward. By the time they come together in Italy, she is ready to try to move past the past. Watching them both work through what has come before and sorting through the present is not always easy – but it is wonderful.

This series has meant more to me than almost any other series of books I’ve ever read. The realness of the characters, their individuality, humor, and love are so powerful to read. As hard as it was to read the final installment of this series, it is also wonderful to see that their stories continue on into other area of the Smartypants universe of characters (both through Penny Reid and other authors).

Thank you Penny Reid for these characters and these stories.

So why not dream? Why not hope? Why not live life with wild faith and abandon? Why not take the risk? Otherwise, all these moments—small or significant, heaven on earth—would be lost to fear.

Buy this book on Amazon!