Beard Science (Winston Brothers #3)

Author: Penny Reid Title: Beard Science Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca Date Published: 06/09/2026

Read Dates: 05/10/2026- 05/11/2026
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 📖 I received a gifted e-book ARC. The following is my honest review✍🏻

Beard Science is a dual POV opposites attract romance. Jennifer is sweet as pie, or banana cake, a people pleaser and people watcher who is desperate to get out from under her controlling mother’s thumb. When she happens upon evidence of clever and manipulative Cletus committing a crime, she decides to blackmail him into helping her. Cletus has everyone figured out and he’s pulling all the strings, and is thrown for a loop when sweet forgettable Jenn manages to pull the rug out from under him! He reluctantly agrees to help her stand on her own and pursue her goals, but finds himself impressed with her and forced to consider that maybe, just this once, he might not know everything!

Penny Reid books are always a delight and I loved this! I’m jumping into the series partway through (I read book one years ago and book two is on my TBR) but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Cletus is clever and a bit on the morally gray side, but I love his revenge plans (big and small!) and his fierce sense of right and wrong. I loved seeing Jenn break away from a controlling and toxic environment and learn to value herself and stop hiding. The two of them together were great and the found family story was just fantastic all around.

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.