Grin and Beard It

GRIN AND BEARD IT (Winston Brothers #2)

Written by Penny Reid

Published by Cipher-Naught, March 21, 2016

My rating – 5 stars

THE SYNOPSIS:

Sienna Diaz is everyone’s favorite “fat” funny lady. The movie studio executives can’t explain it, but her films are out-grossing all the fit and trim headliners and Hollywood’s most beautiful elite. The simple truth is, everyone loves plus-sized Sienna.

But she has a problem, she can’t read maps and her sense of direction is almost as bad as her comedic timing is stellar. Therefore, when Sienna’s latest starring role takes her to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park she finds herself continually lost while trying to navigate the back roads of Green Valley, Tennessee. Much to her consternation, Sienna’s most frequent savior is a ridiculously handsome, charming, and cheeky Park Ranger by the name of Jethro Winston.

Sienna is accustomed to high levels of man-handsome, so it’s not Jethro’s chiseled features or his perfect physique that make Sienna stutter. It’s his southern charm. And gentlemanly manners. And habit of looking at her too long and too often.

Sienna has successfully navigated the labyrinth of Hollywood heart-throbs. But can she traverse the tenuous trails of Tennessee without losing her head? Or worse, her heart? Find it on Goodreads

MY REVIEW:

Look at me go! Two books in a series in the same month? Who am I? LOL! That just goes to show just how much I am LOVING this series! With so much stress around the world right now I gotta say that this series has been a wonderful vacation from reality. And, as much as I loved book one, this book was a million times better!!

What made it better you ask? A few things. The main reason was the characters. In book one we followed Duane and Jess. Now there was nothing wrong with them! It’s just that their personalities were very STRONG and a few of the things they did irked me. They were kind of pig headed and did things that I didn’t agree with or understand. In this book we are following Jethro and Sienna. These two were amazing people on their own but even better as a team!

Jethro is your typical mans man. He is strong, can fix or build anything, works as a park ranger trapping bears…. you know, a mans man lol. But, at the same time, he was so caring and thoughtful and didn’t give a shit who knew it! His best friend was killed in the war and he made sure that his wife was taken care of. He would go over once a week and fix anything that needed fixing, kept up on her yard work, and stayed for dinner. This wasn’t a sexual relationship. This was just a guy making sure that his best friends wife was ok. Another small thing that he did was took Sienna’s Hello Kitty cup, cleaned it, and refilled it with coffee. Some of you might not think that’s a big deal. But what man do you know that would do that? I know one – and I call him my husband! It’s the small things that we appreciate!

Sienna wasn’t in the first book at all. She is a screenwriter and big time Hollywood actress who is new to the area as they’re filming a movie in the park that Jethro works at.  I know what you’re thinking – hollywood’s “It Girl” is going to be annoying and selfish. That’s what I thought lol. I don’t usually like anything to do with actors or actresses. But this girl couldn’t have been more down to earth and empowering! She’s from a large Mexican family, a self proclaimed chubby girl, and funny as all hell! Her humour was a big part of who she is. She plays a lot of funny roles and is hired to write rom-com’s. In an industry where men are considered funny, she’s had to struggle to get where she is. She’s effortless about it and doesn’t apologize that her humour is sometimes crass and crude – which is why I loved her so much!! Her awareness of her own beauty was honestly refreshing. She loves herself. Plain and simple. She’s a size 14 and is happy with that, even if there are people in the industry that made shitty comments about her not eating carbs (and then she goes on to contemplate making love to a doughnut…. my kind of girl!) and being too chubby for a role. She loves herself so completely and made it sound like it was the easiest thing in the world. I could take a chunk of that advice….

Another reason why I loved this one more than the first was the sexual relationship. The both wondered if they were meant for each other. He is a small town boy and she’s a big city girl. They both worried that their lives wouldn’t mesh well and if they could make it work. Also, as Jethro had broken so many women’s hearts, he vowed to not get serious until he was serious – which meant no one nighters or any other contact for 5 years. Their hesitance was kind of adorable. Then, once they realized that they could at least try – they dove in head first and fell harder than a 2 ton elephant falling from 30,000 feet.

I could gush about this book forever but I would rather you just read it! Next up is book 3 and it’s all about Cletus!! He’s hands down my favourite Winston brother….. I can only imagine what’s in store for that one!!

Until next time, happy reading!