Title: Heartless
Author: Elsie Silver
Publisher: Piatkus
Pages: 464
Genre: Romance
My Rating:

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Heartless

Cade Eaton is 38 years old and he is a single father. The mother of his child only shows up once a year if they are lucky. So Cade can use all the help he can get. Now he is looking for a nanny, but he is looking for something who doesn’t want him. A lot of women are willing to do anything for him as long as Cade will give them attention, but Cade is not interested.

Willa is looking for a new job. Her best friend knows the perfect one for her: being Luke’s Nanny for the summer. Cade barely looks her way, and is grumpy all the time. That is until she gets him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then, all bets are off―and so are their clothes.

Review

Just finished my first book of 2025, and it was a pretty good one! This was the second book in the Chestnut Springs series. Last year, I read Flawless (the first book) and had mixed feelings about it, but I’m glad I gave this one a shot because I enjoyed most of it. Last year, I discovered I’m kind of obsessed with cowboy romances, so starting 2025 with this book just felt right. Still not sure why I find Cowboys so appealing, but hey, I’m working on that.

The characters were pretty likable overall. That said, Cade was a bit too grumpy for my taste at times. He had his moments, though, where he let his guard down and became way more likable. By the end, I felt like I was living on that ranch, and Cade’s son, Luke. Absolutely adorable.

As I mentioned, I had mixed feelings about Flawless, but this book was definitely better. That said, if you’re not into spicy scenes, there’s a big chunk you could skip here. I think that’s just Elsie’s thing—personally, I prefer a bit less spice. I still read those chapters, but I’m more here for the story.

There were a couple of things that gave me the ick, though. First, the age gap: she’s 25, and he’s 38. It didn’t bug me much while I was reading, but then I thought back to when I was 25, and yeah… I wasn’t interested in men that age at all. But that’s just me—it’s definitely a personal preference thing.

And then there was the hot tub situation. Let’s just say I really hope he deep cleans that thing often and that nobody else is using it.

Okay, now it sounds like I didn’t like the book, but I swear I did! I gave it 4 out of 5 hearts, which is pretty high. It made me smile and giggle like crazy, so it deserves the love.

I’m definitely planning to read the rest of the Chestnut Springs series this year. Maybe one book a month? We’ll see, but I’m excited to dive in and finish them all!

4o

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Title: Flawless
Author: Elsie Silver
Publisher: Bloom Books
Genre: Romance
Pages: 400
My Rating:

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Flawless

Rhett is a famous bull rider, but his reputation is not great. On television, he made the biggest mistake he could make for his career. One of his sponsors is not happy with him and stops sponsoring him. Kip Hamilton owns a company that helps famous people with sponsors and he decides it is time to fix his reputation and make sure he does not make more stupid decisions. He asks his daughter to babysit him for the next few months until the World Cup.
Summer works for her dad and now she has to babysit Rhett non-stop. She used to have a major crush on him when she was a teenager, but dealing with him in real life is hard especially because Rhett thinks he does not need a babysitter.

Review

I have never thought I would enjoy a book about someone who is a professional bull rider, but here I am. If the movie ‘The Longest Ride’ (based on Nicholas Sparks’ book) did not exist I would never have known bull riding was a real thing. I have never heard anyone talking about it. I guess it is an American thing.

But I am going to be honest and say that this book wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read. But let’s start with the main characters Rhett and Summer, starting with Summer. Summer is the daughter of Kip Hamilton and Kip is also her boss. Summer’s mom ran away and her whole family situation is a little bit complicated. Kip cheated with someone and Summer is the result of that. Kip was married at that time and is still together with Summer’s stepmother and she makes Summer’s life a hell. She is never nice to Summer, I wanted to hit her face so hard. I get that the stepmother was angry with Kip because he cheated, but it wasn’t Summer’s fault. So I felt sorry for her. She also has a stepsister (named Winter), but they don’t get along very well and there is also a huge secret Summer has been keeping from her.

Rhett is a bull rider. His life is probably less complicated. He has the status of a playboy, but he tells everyone he isn’t anymore. He is 32 now and is more mature. There is one problem, Rhett has and that is that literally everything makes him horny. It was like he was more a teenager who couldn’t keep his hormones under control. It was insane. Also, the way he communicated with Kip was crazy. Those messages were definitely not professional. It felt very weird

I liked the story. I never thought I would ever read a book about bull riding. I have to admit, I liked the beginning more than the last part of the book. Mostly because they were like horny teenagers who couldn’t stop thinking dirty thoughts, and it got worse in the second half of the book. Yes, there is a lot of smut in this book. If you like that, this book might be the right book for you. For me personally, it was sometimes a little bit too much.  Also, at one point Summer said, she wanted a man who smelled like leather. Do you really, Summer? Because leather does not smell great. 

I also think Rhett quitting bull riding did not come as a surprise, but I was expecting him to quit his job after he had a good conversation with his family. He was only bull riding because he thought his family needed the money. I never really had the feeling they fixed their family issues around him bull riding. He just quit for a woman, which makes sense too, but I was expecting he would do it for his family. 

Overall, I still liked this book. I liked the banter between the two, especially in the beginning. It was fast-paced and it never got boring. There were still certain things that made the main characters likable enough. This book still made me happy and in my opinion, that means it is a good book.  This is only the first book in the Chestnut Springs book series by Elsie Silver, but I am definitely putting the next book on my wishlist. 

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<p>The post Flawless – Elsie Silver | Book Review first appeared on Bettie Toon.</p>