Truth or Beard by Penny Reid (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Identical twins Beau and Duane Winston might share the same devastatingly handsome face, but where Beau is outgoing and sociable, Duane is broody and reserved. This is why Jessica James, recent college graduate and perpetual level-headed good girl, has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life.

His friendly smiles make her tongue-tied and weak-kneed, and she’s never been able to move beyond her childhood crush. Whereas Duane and Jessica have always been adversaries. She can’t stand him, and she’s pretty sure he can’t stand the sight of her…

But after a case of mistaken identity, Jessica finds herself in a massive confusion kerfuffle. Jessica James has spent her whole life paralyzed by the fantasy of Beau and her assumptions of Duane’s disdain; therefore she’s unprepared for the reality that is Duane’s insatiable interest, as well as his hot hands and hot mouth and hotter looks. Not helping Jessica’s muddled mind and good girl sensibilities, Duane seems to have gotten himself in trouble with the local biker gang, the Iron Order.

Certainly, Beau’s magic spell is broken. Yet when Jessica finds herself drawn to the man who was always her adversary, now more dangerous than ever, how much of her level-head heart is she willing to risk?"

My Thoughts:

This was a really fun and steamy read that I couldn't help but adore!  I don't read a lot of contemporary romance although after loving this one so much I think that I really should.  This author (and series) jumped on to my TBR list when a bunch of romance bloggers that I trust were raving about this series.  I couldn't resist downloading a copy of this book when it was available for free on Amazon and rather than waiting for months to read it, I jumped right in.  I'm so glad that I didn't wait as this book was just a really great read.  Not only was there a really steamy romance developing between Duane and Jessica but there was also some laugh out loud moments in this book.  I love a romance that makes me laugh as well.  Jessica was hilarious to me and she would say the most inappropriate things off the top of her head at the worst times.  It was really great and was an unexpected surprise.  

One of the things that I also enjoyed about this book was the conflict on how Jessica and Duane's relationship would work out.  Jessica has always wanted to travel the world and has been planning on leaving town as soon as she has enough money saved.  Duane on the other hand is more tied down to the area as he owns a car garage with his brothers.  They both seemingly wanted different things out of life so it was interesting to me to see how the author was going to make it all work.  I liked that there was also the added problems that Duane had with a local biker gang.  It added a little bit of tension especially to the end of the book which had me reading faster to see how it would all work out.  I loved the way that the author ended this book.  I can't say more than that without spoiling anything but I do want to mention that I found the ending to be really great!

Overall, this was a really great romance- one of the best that I have read in awhile!  I am so excited to read more books by this author (and get to know Duane's other brothers).  I hope that the other books are just as humorous as I found this book to be!  I'm now thinking that I need to find some more contemporary romance recommendations to try out thanks to this book.  What other great authors am I missing out on?  I can easily recommend this book to fellow romance readers!

Bottom Line:  A really great romance- both steamy and fun!

Disclosure:  I downloaded a copy of this book for free from Amazon.