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.
This is a full-length novel, can be read as a standalone, and is the fourth book in the 'Knitting in the City' series.
Penny Reid is without a doubt one of my favourite authors, if ever caught in a reading slump, I know that I can pick up one of her novels and it will capture my undivided attention with the intelligent thought-provoking words that she uses to craft her well-defined characters and enthralling story-lines. Beauty and the Mustache is the latest book I’ve added to my Penny Reid collection and it is yet another that has blown me away with its captivating brilliance. It not only evoked strong emotion and sent my brain into a word-loving meltdown, but left me craving more. I did not like it, I did not love it; I wanted to live it.
Ashley Winston left the small town life behind and moved to Chicago, where she spends her time working, reading, knitting and talking to her mother on a daily basis, but after a few days of not hearing from her mother, Ash, after eight years of being away, decides to take her first trip home to find out what is going on. What she finds when she returns to Tennessee is something, as well as someone, that turns her world upside and forces her to take a step back and look a little more closely at life.
Ashley was a character I instantly liked; she is kind, funny, clever and relatable, with a vulnerable side that left her a little distrustful of the opposite sex. There were plenty of moments during the story where I was laughing at Ash’s entertaining thoughts and actions, though there were also pages that had me wishing that there was some way for her to move on and heal from the interactions in the past that left her feeling so distrustful, so that she’d let someone in to support her during one of the most painful times of her life. I wanted her to take a chance and let Drew give her the support he offered.
Drew is my most favourite male character ever; he embodied so much of what would be the perfect man. His kind and caring heart, his shy and bold behaviour, his uniqueness, his everything, I loved all there was of him. He was a rock for Ash’s mother, he was there for the Winston brothers and for her, doing all that was in his power to support and try to protect them. Not only that but he had a way with words that could melt even the hardest of hearts. It was in Drew’s thoughts that I found one of my most favourite quotes, from not just Penny’s works, but from all the books I’ve read.
“When I write, speaking is an obstacle. I struggle to abdicate thoughts that are shadows of my feelings and passions. Giving words to these feral impulses never does them justice because they are not my will; their course leads to no action, and expressing them is an exercise in unceasing frustration. But withholding them from the page is a path to insanity.”
It is with those words and more that I was left in awe of Penny Reid’s genius, that she could write words with such passion and others full of so much humour. A quote, though brief, that had me full on belly laughing, was a question from Sandra, another lovable character of the knitting in the City series.
“Does he give you zings in your things?”
Short and simple though it gave insight into the character who spoke it and some depth of the kind of friendship she held with Ashley. Insightful sentences and paragraphs were scattered throughout the entire story and as a reader I felt that I knew each of the characters mentioned. I can’t wait to read more of the Winston Brothers, I loved the mentions they had in this story and what I have read of them already in Truth or Beard.
If you have yet to read anything by Penny Reid I highly recommend the Knitting in the City Series (each one can be read as standalone), trust me after you’ve started you’re going to want to read every book she has ever published.
5/5 <3 s
Amanda
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