Beard Necessities: A Small Town Romantic Comedy

I can't believe this is the last book in the Winston series! It went out with a bang for sure. I was instantly drawn into this one. If anyone deserves a HEA it's Billy and Claire. Everything those two have gone through at a young age they deserve a second chance at what should have been. Even all of those Winstons are going to meddle to help out their brother and friend. There are so many funny moments that will make you laugh. Then there are moments that will just hit you in the heart. The emotions just roll off these characters and as a reader you can feel them too. The epilogue is everything for me. It made my heart feel so full to see where everyone in the family is at. How big the family is grown. This is a must read book!

I cannot believe the time has come to say goodbye to the Winstons. Beard Necessities is a bittersweet farewell to a truly amazing series with some of the quirkiest, lovable characters ever created. Thank goodness they get to make cameo appearances in other Smartypants Romance stories. Although it was a sad farewell to the series it was also an uplifting and inspiring love story which desperately needed a happily ever after – Billy and Scarlet. All of the loose ends from the series as a whole are tied up within Beard Necessities but the true focus is on Billy finding the happiness he truly deserves. With an intense love that has spanned almost two decades and a little bit of family meddling, Billy and Scarlet finally face the emotions, barriers and heartbreak between them. While Beard in Mind gave insight into the connection and devastation between Scarlet and Billy, Beard Necessities fills in the blanks of events from Scarlet’s departure from Green Valley to the present. Including some eye-openers with regard to Scarlet’s relationship with Ben McClure. With so much baggage accumulated between them, Scarlet and Billy have a lot of issues to work through before they can truly submit to a relationship. Maturity and the benefit of hindsight aid in their quest for happiness. There are a lot of swoon-worthy moments between Scarlet and Billy to balance out the emotional outpouring. It is truly humbling to believe in a love so powerful that it could withstand the test of time and their own individual imperfections including Billy’s propensity to martyrdom. I am not quite willing to let this family go and will be popping back to the homestead to visit regularly ❤ Plus I am very excited for Jenn and Cletus’ new series!!!!

4.5 stars — This book made me LAUGH AND LAUGH AND LAUGH out loud in so many places. I seriously just love this Winston extended family, they absolutely DELIGHT me. But it also made me ACHE so much in my heart, b/c there’s so much pain and misunderstandings and mistakes and tragedy between Billy and Scarlet. And seriously, it was so hard to watch these two struggle to get back to one another. I loved that they were both so flawed in that way, that they were holding on to things in the past and allowing that to dictate things now. I really enjoyed Scarlet, but in part, I loved her more in Beard With Me. I loved who she is deep down inside, when she hasn’t been stomped on. She’s so delightfully scattered and silly and just great fun. She’s also fierce when she wants to be, and I loved seeing that come out of her in this book. I love that Billy always seems to bring out her protective instincts as well as her stubbornness. I also loved that Scarlet was finally getting help and therapy…I mean, gosh girl, you deserve healing. Related to that, I actually really hate Ben, and I’m having conflicting feelings about that. Because Jethro doesn’t know, and he’s dead so what does it matter, but seriously…he was the worst. Seeing my two views of Billy come together was pretty satisfying. In Beard With Me we get to see more of his heart, but in the rest of the series he’s so harsh…and we get to see how those two can exist together. It’s weird, because I genuinely love Billy, but my love doesn’t come easily. He’s so bitter, and harsh, and black and white about everything, which is offputting. But despite those things, he really does have a marshmallow center that is super protective of everyone he loves. I LOVED that he finally got told about some of the things he’d been hanging onto, and I loved that they penetrated his wall and he was able to finally grow. Seriously, the chemistry between Billy and Scarlet was freaking OUT OF THIS WORLD. Like, I can’t even with it. And holy wow, Billy is a dirty boy! I LOVED that. OMG. Especially because he kept it all internal and it warred with his wanting to be gentlemanly. ROFL. So great. I also loved that they were both so naive about relationships, and intimacy, and all of that stuff, because they never got over one another. It made them so sweet together, because their feelings were genuine, and awkward at times, and just delightful. I LOVED having all of the Winstons in this book. I loved seeing them interact with one another, and all the different relationships that have formed — not just the couples, but the friendships between them. I loved getting to remember all the little great details of all the romances by seeing glimpses of them in their current interactions. It makes me desperately want to go back and do a binge read. Maybe next year. I think I would get a lot out of that. I loved that they bring the hilarity so easily, but they also bring heart to the story. That epilogue was everything that is right in the world. I’m so glad I know that someone in the Sharks group is going to write out the family tree, because WOW. So yeah. Great conclusion. So satisfying. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.