REVIEW: Beard in Hiding by Penny Reid

OUR REVIEW:

Here's the thing about Penny Reid novels. Once you read one, you can't help but want to read them all. And then once you've read them all, you find yourself very impatient for the next one because they are THAT GOOD. Fortunately for me, I still have a few novels that I need to read, and I while my tendency is to binge them, I've learned that if I can just try to space them out, I can usually get my much needed fix between new releases.

In Beard in Hiding, she takes characters that you don't think you could possible forgive and you find yourself not only forgiving them but rooting for them to get all the things. This is absolutely the case for Diane Donner (Jennifer's mom) and Jason (Mr. Repo). After having such a strong disliking for her in Jennifer and Cletus' first novel together, I had softened to her in the spin off novels, but this novel melted all the ice I had in my heart for her. Seeing the world from her eyes really changed a lot of things and actively made me feel for her. It helps that she takes full responsibility for her mistakes and is making steps to rectify them. 

And then there's Repo. I don't know that I especially felt one way or the other about him. I was curious--he seemed different than the other Wraiths. Turns out he is, though he might not fully cop to that. For someone who thinks of himself as a 'bad guy', he has a strong set of ethics and an interesting moral compass, that somehow works. While we don't get to know his entire history, we learn enough to have some understanding of why he is the way he is and you can't help but really like him, especially when he 's with Diane. Their love story is a bit unconventional and yet totally works--I really couldn't image it any other way.

Beard in Hiding goes a long way in answering some questions and showing another point of view, compared to the timeline of events in Marriage and Murder, that makes even more sense of the events in that novel. 

I have to admit that I'm so very curious about them and where they go next and I can only hope that as time goes on, we get a little more of their story..of their in between times.

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SYPNOPSIS:

Propositioning the Iron Wraiths’ money man seemed like a good idea at the time…

Diane Donner—recently divorced pillar of polite society—is craving danger. She’s tired of playing it safe and she knows just the sexy criminal motorcycle man to proposition for a good time. Problem is, she doesn’t actually know his name.

Jason “Repo” Doe never takes risks. So when the queen of local commerce walks into his club, looking to get risky and frisky, Jason knows the smartest thing to do is save himself a headache while saving the new divorcee from her worst impulses.

But then one thing leads to another, and the memory of just-one-night doesn’t feel like enough.

Theirs is a story with no future, because how can a dangerous criminal win (and keep) a queen?

‘Beard In Hiding’ is book #4.5 in the Winston Brothers series, is a full length contemporary romantic comedy about two lost souls in their 40s, and is a companion novel to the Winston Brothers and Solving for Pie series.

If you want to get the full immersive Green Valley world experience, I recommend reading ‘Truth or Beard,’ ‘Beard Science,’ ‘Engagement and Espionage,’ and ‘Marriage and Murder’ beforehand. ‘Beard In Hiding’ contains spoilers for these four books (in specific).