Title : Beard With Me (Winston Brothers #6)
Author : Penny Reid
Release date : September 16th 2019
Date Read : September 3rd 2019
Rating : ★★★★★

“You want me to do the knee thing? I’ll do the knee thing.”
She laughed, a little breathless, still staring at the ring. “I was being crushed under the weight of my desire to be with her always, a desire that sought to overturn my honorable instincts. I was suffocating with it.”

Beard With Me, an epic and breathtaking story from New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Penny Reid, is available now!

No one is better at surviving than Scarlet St. Claire and making the best out of circumstances beyond her control is Scarlet’s specialty. In an apocalyptic situation, she’d be the last person on earth, hermitting like a pro, singing along to her CD Walkman, and dancing like no one is watching.

Scarlet is clever, Scarlet is careful, and Scarlet is smart . . . except when it comes to Billy Winston.

No one is better at fighting than Billy Winston and raging against his circumstances—because nothing is beyond his control—is Billy’s specialty. In an apocalyptic situation, he’d be the first person on earth to lead others to safety, overcome catastrophe, or die trying.

Billy is fearless, Billy is disciplined, and Billy is honorable . . . except when it comes to Scarlet St. Claire.

MY REVIEW :

It is no secret, for anyone who knows me, that this book has been at the top of my most anticipated list, because throughout the Winston brother series, I found myself getting intrigued with Claire and Billy's background with each book and at some point, they've become my favorites. Granted, we did not know much about them, but sometimes you don't need to know much to have this feeling that lets you know you're going to care about someone or something a lot. That was my case with Billy and Claire.

Going into this book I was expecting a lot of things, I had a lot of ideas of what might have happened, I had a lot of thoughts, I was ready. I THOUGHT I was ready.

Boooy was I wrong.

Because everything we come to know in this book is nothing I was expecting. That is not to say it was bad or that I hated it, because, oh my god, that is the exact opposite. This book was so surprising to me because everything I was expecting to happen did NOT happen, and everything I wouldn't have guessed at all, happened.

It's true that this book has a lot of angst, but it also has a lot of funny moments,, and a lot of heartwarming moments which could be translated into a lot of Billy and Scarlet moments.

Which leads me to my first point : Scarlet St. Claire.

Out of most of the characters in the series, Scarlet/Claire is one of the most mysterious ones. Because although we see her in the other books, and we see how these characters feel about her and how much they love her, we don't get to know the person. And this book shows you exactly who Scarlet St. Claire is, and that is one of the strongest characters ever. Scarlet has had the worst childhood, growing up with an abusive father, in a very abusive environment, is not an easy feat at all. But Scarlet doesn't let it kill her spirit, she keeps her positivity, her love for the simple things in life. She tries to do the best with the bad hand she was delt. She tells jokes, sings, dances. It is impossible not to fall head over heels in love with her, which, Billy, absolutely did.

“But then, that was Scarlet. Brave, beautiful, strong, sweet, funny, stubborn Scarlet.”

Now, Billy Winston. Oh Billy, my Billy.

Billy has been my favorite man in the series ever since that scene in Dr. Strange Beard. I mean, don't get me wrong I loved him before obviously, that scene just cemented it. And this book just gave me even more reason to know I chose right. Billy Winston is quite simply the best man in literatture, someone who is willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the people he loves. Someone who goes above and beyond for his family, putting their happiness and safety well above his own. He hasn't had the best childhood, either. With an abusive father he had to chase out of the house by any means necessary, 5 siblings and a mother to take care of, he puts a lot of responsability and shoulders a lot more than any 16 year old should and he never complains. I could not love him even more if I tried.

“Billy Winston, you’re one of the good ones. You take my breath away. You’ve stolen my heart.”

These two have had to grow up sooner than any other teenager, they know a lot more about life than some adults and they sure have went through a lot more than most adults ever, and the only confort they can find is with each other.

Billy and Scarlet's story is at the same time heartwarming and heartbreaking. They bring out the best in each other, they teach each other a lot, and take care of each other the way non one has taken of them before. Billy teaches Scarlet to dream, or at least, to allow herself to. Scarlet teaches Billy to let go, to just BE for a while, because with her he doesn't have to always be on his guards, he can just.... BE. And most importantly they show each other how to love. Freely. Irrevocably. Incondionally. FULLY.

Their story is beautiful, raw, powerful but also sad. None of them was expecting the other, but before they could realize it, there was just no coming back for either of them, it was a fall head and heart first, think later kind of thing. And, eventhough, as a reader, you know this part of the story does not have a happy ending, you can't help picturing it. Because, what if they didn't have shitty fathers? What if they could be together freely without being afraid that if someone finds out one of them will get hurt? What if the universe is NOT against them? What if... what if.. what if. You get so lost in the what ifs and the hopes that when you get reminded that they DO have shitty fathers, that they are NOT safe to be together, that the universe IS against them, you are simply just not ready for it. But somehow, the magnitude of the heartbreak only makes you feel their love, root for them and love them as a couple even more.

And that, in my opinion, is a big testament of Penny's writing. She just tranports you into the page with her words, that you can't help but forget yourself or where you are.

“This was the best sound. Singing with Billy Winston and his guitar while fighting laughter. Never in my life had I been so happy. Never in my life had I imagined or dreamed such happiness was possible. And nothing existed beyond right now, this moment, and Billy’s smile.”

Another thing I adored about this book were the Winston siblings moments. It feels so weird to see these people as kids when we met as adults. Penny managed to make every single one of them different, but not less easy to love (maybe not Jethro though.. but that was to be expected)

I love how this book had the perfect balance between tragedy and humor. It didn't go overboard on either, and that, again, is the perfect testament to Penny's writing.

I did, however, feel a lot uncomfortable with Ben's character. I had no idea what to expect from him, because all we know was from what other characters said about him in other books, and I was under the impression he was a saint. I was disabused of this impression in this installement. Because eventhough the entire town thinks he's God's gift to Green Valley, I could not like one thing about him. His fascination with Scarlet, who is 14 in this book, when he's 19, rubbed me off the wrong way. I just did not like him and couldn't feel anything other than strong dislike and being uncomfortable whenever he showed up on page.

That being said, this book has got to be one of my favorites in this series, right up there with Beard Science. It only served to make me fall even more with all these characters and with this universe and I never want it to end. I am absolutely in love and I cannot wait for Billy and Claire's happy ending, God knows how much they deserve it.

I can officially, and without a doubt say : Billy and Claire are my favorite Penny couple and on the top 3 of my favorites ever.

‘Beard With Me’ is the origin story of Billy Winston and Scarlet St. Claire (aka Claire McClure) and is just the beginning of their epic love story.

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