Blurb: There are three things you need to know about Ashley Winston: 1) She has six brothers and they all have beards, 2) She is a reader, and 3) She knows how to knit.
Former beauty queen, Ashley Winston’s preferred coping strategy is escapism. She escaped her Tennessee small town, loathsome father, and six brothers eight years ago. Now she escapes life daily via her Amazon kindle one-click addiction. However, when a family tragedy forces her to return home, Ashley can’t escape the notice of Drew Runous— local Game Warden, reclusive mountain man, bear wrestler, philosopher, and everyone’s favorite guy. Drew’s irksome philosophizing in particular makes Ashley want to run for the skyscrapers, especially since he can’t seem to keep his exasperating opinions— or his soulful poetry, steadfast support, and delightful hands— to himself. Pretty soon the girl who wanted nothing more than the escape of the big city finds she’s lost her heart in small town Tennessee.
I do love this author and I’ve enjoyed majority of her works but halfway through this one, I started skimming a bit because it’s just gotten repetitive. Drew’s stoic characterization isn’t really that far-fetched from the “romance novel” characters Ashley was adamantly avoiding. I was rolling my eyes over Drew’s histrionics and the whole Nietzsche fanboying was just cringe if I’m being totally honest. It’s a shame because Ashley’s character is absolutely interesting and there’s so many aspect of her characterization to really flesh out!
Also, Ashley’s brother pushing her towards Drew just doesn’t make sense to me. It feels exploitative in a way. For me, there was just not enough chemistry for me between them.
Only fun I’ve had reading this were the small bits involving Cletus. He’s funny, very likable and dreamy to boot!
I find Reid’s books usually enjoyable but this one isn’t just for me.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Kindle Edition, 372 pagesPublished July 1st 2019 by Cipher-Naught (first published August 24th 2014)
Beauty and the Mustache is a full-length novel, can be read as a standalone, and is the fourth book in the ‘Knitting in the City’ series.
About Penny Reid
Penny Reid is a USA Today Best Selling Author of romantic fiction. When she’s not immersed in penning smart romances she works in the biotech industry as a researcher. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults (boy-8, girl-6, and girl-4 months), wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.
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