Tuesday 23 January 2024

Romance Recommendation: The Chestnut Springs Series by Elsie Silver

 Hey all,

If you enjoy romance, then I have some really good and fun recommendations for you! 

Let's get into it! 

This is a series of 5 books with a mix of tropes such as:

  • Small town setting 
  • Cowboys 
  • Feisty female protagonists 
  • Sort of sports backdrop (2 of male protagonists are professional bull riders and one is a professional ice hockey player) 
  • Close family, found family 
  • A mix of humour and heart 
  • Some serious issues (mental health, infertility etc.) 
  • Quite spicy 



Quick summaries and mini reviews for each of these books: 

Book 1: Flawless 

Plot Summary: I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”

But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running.

A mouth I can’t stop thinking about.

Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run—she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.

She says this means nothing.

I say this means everything.

She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation can’t take any more hits—and neither can her damaged heart.

I say I’m going to steal it anyway.


Review: This was my second or third favourite book in the series. Summer and Rhett are really good together and how they fall for each other and look out for each other is really sweet. Rhett helps Summer come to terms with a situation-ship in her life that's unhealthy and Summer helps Rhett accept that there is more to life than doing risky stuff. A fun, spicy romance. 


Book 2: Heartless 

Plot Summary: 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.


Mini Review: Heartless was my favourite book in the series. I did not expect to like it as much as I did! It is a single dad, grumpy-sunshine story featuring a brooding, serious, hurt male protagonist and a feisty, sunshine-y spitfire of a female protagonist and a very cute kid. It is so heartwarming and cute and fun and quite spicy as well. 

Book 3: Powerless 

Plot Summary: 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.


Mini Review: Powerless was my third favourite in the series. It has the best-friends-to-lovers trope. It has a lot of pining, second guessing, waiting etc. The characters are both really great. However, what I found odd was the guy suddenly going all dominant on the girl in the bedroom. On the one hand, he was all angsty and pining after Sloane and then he was like "obey me" or whatever. So, that was a bit odd, but *shrugs* it seemed to work for a lot of people based on the reviews :) 

Book 4: Reckless 

Plot Summary: 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.


Mini Review: Reckless was good- nothing to hate about it. It's the classic one night stand turns into pregnancy and then a second chance type of a story. Decent level of spice and a lot of found family type vibes. However, I didn't much care for the female protagonist and that may have reduced my connect with the book. 

Book 5: Hopeless 

Plot Summary: 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.


Mini Review: Hopeless is my second favourite book in this series. It is an age difference love story about the town golden boy and the town pariah. It is both sweet and spicy. Beau is dealing with PTSD and how Bailey helps him through it is really lovely. Plus, we get to see the other characters and get some news about each of them, so that's always a good thing! 


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