Elsie Silver

Review: Hopeless by Elsie Silver

October 13, 2023 by Lana · Leave a Comment

HOPELESS
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chestnut Springs #5
Author: Elsie Silver
Release Date: October 13, 2023

Beau Eaton is the town prince, a handsome military hero with a tortured past.

I’m the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

He’s thirty-five and all man, and I’m twenty-two and all . . . virgin.

He’s also my fiancé. Correction: my fake fiancé.

We start out as a bet. He doesn’t believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point.

It’s win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family’s prying, and I get a chance to shed my family’s reputation while I save up to ditch this small town.

He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I can’t keep my hands off of him in public.

But it’s what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines.

It’s what transpires behind closed doors that doesn’t feel like pretending at all.

This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.

He once told me he’d never fall in love.

And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiancé.

AMAZON

You’re relentless, you know that?”
And I just give her a salute and a wink. Because yeah, I am. No one has ever showed up for Bailey, but she’s about to get the full experience.
“No, sugar. When it comes to you, I’m downright hopeless.”

Beau has been one of the most anticipated Eaton brothers for me especially after Jasper’s book in Powerless. There’s just something about this wounded soldier who comes back from his mission a bit more broken that just called to my heart. I couldn’t wait for him to get his HEA.

Now admittedly, the fake dating/fake engagement trope isn’t my favorite. But if Elsie writes it, I read it. Period. And from page one, I was absolutely sold.

Sugar, put your hand back in my pocket.”
Bailey doesn’t even move her eyes my way when she says, “Why? I think she’s buying it just fine.”
My lips dust over the shell of her ear. “I don’t give a fuck about her. I just like it.”

Bailey is the town’s black sheep. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks if you will. Her family is notorious for their drunken escapades and she’s been lumped in with them all her life. My heart broke for her and everything she had to go through because of her family and judgmental town people. All she wants is to leave the place, go to school, and leave everything behind her. But then Beau Eaton offers her a solution; pretend to be his fiancé. It gets the town’s women off his back and gives her the Eaton name backing to improve her chances of finding work. Win win. Except Bailey is nothing what he expects. She may be quiet and unassuming to the town, but this is a girl with a spine of steel and not afraid to give him hell while also soothing his wounded soul.

That’s what I like about her. She’s not a kiss ass, she’s not a pushover, and she doesn’t tiptoe around me. She also might not be as sweet and quiet as I thought.

This is very much a slow burn and I thought I may explode if these two didn’t finally get together. But the burn also hurt so good. Beau tries to be the gentleman while Bailey has no problem speaking her mind. And I loved the dynamic between them.

“If you hadn’t known I was a virgin, would you have fucked me?”
He fidgets now, hand scrubbing at his beard as he groans. “Jesus, Bailey.”
“Would you?”
He looks away, down river, before turning back to me. Slowly. There’s a sudden predatory vibe in the way he carries himself, in the way he moves. “Thoroughly.”

While I expected Beau to be more grumpy and gritty, this man really had a heart of gold. He may hide his pain from everyone including his family, but not from Bailey. And I loved how he allowed her to be there for him.

I know you’re scared of losing control around me.” Her chin tips up as though she’s told me something that will make me back down. Run me off. It doesn’t.
“No, I’m scared of you becoming something I can’t live without.”

Now while I did enjoy this book, it also didn’t fully enrapture me like the other books in this series. Don’t get me wrong, it was still fantastic and I loved Bailey and Beau. But it also wasn’t my favorite in the series. But considering I’ve 5 starred all the other books, take that with a grain of salt. If you love a fake dating trope with a broody hero with a heart of gold and fantastic down on her luck heroine who doesn’t lose any of her sass to her circumstance, do yourself a favor and read it.

Elsie Silver is a Canadian author of sassy, sexy, small town romance who loves a good book boyfriend and the strong heroines who bring them to their knees. She lives just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, son, and three dogs and has been voraciously reading romance books since before she was probably supposed to.

She loves cooking and trying new foods, traveling, and spending time with her boys-especially outdoors. Elsie has also become a big fan of her quiet five am mornings, which is when most of her writing happens. It’s during this time that she can sip a cup of hot coffee and dream up a fictional world full of romantic stories to share with her readers.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: age gap, Book Reviews: 4 stars, Elsie Silver, small town

Review: Reckless by Elsie Silver

June 9, 2023 by Lana · Leave a Comment

RECKLESS
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chestnut Springs #4
Author: Elsie Silver
Release Date: June 9, 2023

Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider. Notorious ladies’ man. Scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package.

And he’s looking at me like I might be his next meal.

But I’m almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look back is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak.

The man is hard to trust—and even harder to resist.

Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defenses.

Over a drink in a small town bar, I blurt out my deepest, darkest secrets. Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him.

He worships my body. He makes me blush. I come alive beneath his hands.

Then I tell him to forget it ever happened. I want simple, and with him it all feels complicated.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

A secret.

But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.

AMAZON

I’m a bull rider and she’s a doctor. I’m fire and she’s ice. She wants to forget about me, and right now I can’t stop thinking about her.

How this woman does it, I will never understand. Every time I think there is no possible way this series can get any better, she goes and outdoes herself. And Reckless? It was everything I hoped it would be and so much more.

Well, now you have a window into how women feel in your presence.”
“Is that why they scream Oh Theo, this is so boring! when I’m inside them?”
I snort and gaze up at him, blushing a little at the knowing look in his eye. It’s unnerving. He’s unnerving. So I volley. Hoping I can wound him enough to make him leave me alone. “They just tell you that so you’ll finish and stop flopping around on top of them.”
“Do you think? Maybe we could arrange a time when you can instruct me on how to flop less. I do love to practice.”

Full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of the surprise baby trope. But if Elsie writes it, I will read it. And I’m so glad I did, because Winter and Theo were everything together. The instant chemistry, the banter, the yearning, all of it was absolute perfection.

You may recall Winter as the ice princess older sister of Summer from Flawless. But there is so much more to this woman than meets the eye. She’s such a complex and yet endearing character. There is so much hurt she’s been through and as you peel back each layer of what made her into the woman she is today, the more you fall for her.

Theo is the irreverent playboy, or so it seems anyway. But there’s also so much more to him than the playboy bull rider you assume him to be ay first. The minute Winter turns her venom on him, he knows he wants her. But when one night of alcohol and no inhibition turns to something more, neither of them are prepared for the journey it takes them on.

I don’t understand what’s happening here. The things you say. The things you do. Everything that’s happened. It doesn’t make sense. I can’t figure it out.”
He tilts his head, as if he’s trying to figure me out from a different perspective. “What’s happening is Miss Independent met the treat-her-like-a-princess guy, and she’s freaking out.”

The way Theo works to earn Winter’s trust is what book boyfriend dreams are made of. And Theo as a daddy? Be still my ovaries. My GOD, but this man was sheer perfection.

These two were absolutely everything. I couldn’t get enough of them together. I loved their journey almost as much as I loved their banter. Theo is the calm to Winter’s storm and I loved how they balance each other. I am so in love with this series that it’s not even funny. I’m completely addicted and can’t wait for Beau’s book.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance, Dirty Talkers · Tagged With: Book Reviews: 5 stars, Elsie Silver, surprise baby

DGRFave & Review: Powerless by Elsie Silver

February 10, 2023 by Lana · Leave a Comment

POWERLESS
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chestnut Springs #3
Author: Elsie Silver
Release Date: February 10, 2023

Two childhood friends. Two broken hearts. One impromptu road trip to get away from everything. That’s all this was supposed to be. Afterall, I’ve been living in the friend zone for years now.

But hockey heartthrob Jasper Gervais isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one either.

To his fans, he’s the handsome, talented athlete on TV. But to me he’s still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold.

The man I’ve loved in secret for years.

So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he’s the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I’m there to return the favor.

But the more time we spend alone, the more Jasper doesn’t feel like a friend at all. He feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and thought I could never have.

Our feelings aren’t straight forward though. They twist and turn around the pain of his past and the reality of my present.

Jasper Gervais acts like he wants me.

But after years of turning me away, he’s going to need to prove it.

AMAZON

I can’t ever lose you,” he growls.
“You won’t,” I reply quietly, right as the tip of his nose traces the shell of my ear.
“I might.”
“Nev—” Before I can say never, he cuts me off with, “Because I think I’m about to fuck everything up between us.” And then he kisses me.

OHMYGAWD! The level of obsession I now have with this series known no bounds. NONE. Obsessed is an understatement.

Let me start off by saying I’m not really a friends to lovers girly. This trope has always been meh to me. Like I don’t gravitate to it but I will read it from select authors. But after Heartless, I knew that Elsie can write a grocery list and I’ll read it. And you know what? I think I’ve changed my mind on the friends to lovers trope. Because this book? It was EVERYTHING.

Jasper Gervais and I are friends. Good friends. He’s made that clear a couple times over now. And I’m not enough of a masochist to go for the hat trick.

I was already obsessed with Jasper before reading this book. But now? I bow down at his alter, because the man is a god. He’s everything I didn’t know I needed and I will never have enough. Jasper and Sloane (Sunny) have been friends since childhood. Jasper is the epitome of tortured, with his brooding and his troubled childhood. Sunny has always been his happy place (with his found family of course) but he never looked at her as more than a friend, while Sunny has been in love with him for most of her life. When Sunny finally has a wake up call about her douchebag of a fiancé and leaves him shortly before their wedding, Jasper is right there to help her escape. The escape leads to a journey neither of them expected.

Times have changed, Sloane. I’m not scared anymore. You’re not my fucking friend. You’re just mine.”

Sloane soon learns that she hasn’t been beyond his notice, he just hadn’t dared to really look. Never feeling good enough and he hides a secret of what made him back down. But when I tell you that this man is obsessed with Sunny, I mean you can see that the sun rises and sets with her for him.

But what I really loved about this is that Sunny doesn’t immediately jump for joy to have Jasper’s affections. She makes him work for it. And even though she accepted her douchebag ex’s treatment, she’s no pushover when it comes down to it.

They’ve always felt this way for me!” she explodes, arms flung wide, eyes shining with emotion. “And you’ve never noticed. But now you do? What am I supposed to do? Jump for joy and say thank you for blessing me with your interest?”

And when I tell you that still waters run deep with Jasper, I mean the man caught me completely by surprise. The mouth on him. And did I mention the intensity? Good lord!

I point at the floor beneath my feet and say, “Lose that fucking ring and crawl.”

Yeah. Uh huh. Exactly.

This book was everything. It was swoony, heartfelt, heart breaking, heart warming, and with enough steam to set your kindle on fire. These two were incendiary together and I couldn’t get enough. Their friendship, their bond, their love for each other was almost as amazing as their chemistry.

Jasper may have a dirty mouth but the man has a heart of gold. He loves and he loves hard and he would move mountains for Sloane. God but I melted for him. Goo. Pure goo I tell you.

And if you haven’t yet read this series, I simply cannot recommend it enough. Trust me. Do yourself a favor and read it!

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: Book Reviews: 5 stars, DGR Fave, Elsie Silver, friends-to-lovers, hockey players, small town

Review: Heartless by Elsie Silver

December 5, 2022 by Lana · Leave a Comment

HEARTLESS
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chestnut Springs #2
Author: Nikki Sloane
Release Date: February 23, 2021

Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I can’t keep my eyes off him. And he can’t keep his hands off of me.

Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes.

He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist?

But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him.

Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms.

My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months.

But my heart says this is forever.

AMAZON

Cade,” her lips part on my name, her tongue darting out to wet them. “God.”
“He’s not here right now, baby. It’s just me. And I’m done asking nicely. I’m ready to take.”

What rock have I been living under that this is my first Elsie Silver book? And why hasn’t everyone kicked out from under that rock sooner? Because OH MY GOD this book was EVERYTHING.

Right there at the birthday party?” Summer whisper-shouts across the small table at Le Pamplemousse. I take a sip of my mimosa and wink at her. “I saved another horse, Sum. I’m practically an animal rights activist at this point.”

Deeply immersed in my toxic antihero era as I am, I don’t venture out of the angst and gritty genre often. And I may have judged this cover and thought this book would be too fluffy for me. Boy was I wrong.

If you’re a fan of small town, grumpy/sunshine romances, you simply cannot miss this book. You just can’t. The banter here was utterly delicious. And the characters? Unforgettable.

Cade is the grump of his family and given his history, it’s understandable. After his wife walked out of his life leaving him to parent his adorable son on his own, he focused on two things; his son and his work. But he needs help and is seeking a nanny who can give his son the attention he needs while keeping the attention off of him. He may be a bachelor, but he doesn’t need the entanglement of another relationship and the broken heart that follows.

Willa is in town for the summer. She’s Summer’s best friend from Flawless. But if you’re like me and haven’t read that book yet, you can still enjoy this one as a standalone. However I’m not fully addicted to all things Elsie so plan on rectifying my oversight by devouring her backlist. But I digress.

Cade is immediately attracted to the younger woman but doesn’t want the complication. But the longer he spends in Willa’s presence, the more his resolve crumbles as their chemistry climbs to incendiary levels.

When I tell you I binge read this in one sitting, I’m not even a little exaggerating. It was sweet and spicy, emotional, hilarious, and everything I could want in a romance. An absolute must read and I can’t wait for the next installment. I’m a sucker for the unrequited love trope.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance, Cowboys · Tagged With: Book Reviews: 5 stars, Elsie Silver, Grumpy Sunshine

Review: Hopeless by Elsie Silver

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