Hopeless

Hopeless is the final installment in Elsie Silver’s Chestnut Springs series. The title is preceded by Flawless, Heartless, Powerless, and Reckless. Each title in the series follows a different couple, all of whom live or end up living in the town of Chestnut Springs. Nestled in the Canadian Rockies, in Chestnut Springs, life is governed by the surrounding mountains, local ranches, and ranching events. While Flawless, Heartless, Powerless, Reckless, and Hopeless can all function as standalone novels, they are all a part of the same fictional universe, in which the side characters in one title become the main characters in another. The novels also have thematic overlaps, playing off of one another’s central explorations of love and belonging.

Flawless tells the story of Rhett Eaton and Summer Hamilton. Rhett is a rodeo bad boy who is forced to work with Summer when he upsets a key sponsor. Rhett initially begrudges the arrangement but soon discovers that Summer is the only one who truly supports his bull-riding career. Summer, meanwhile, develops feelings for Rhett and finds herself opening up to him about her childhood trauma and familial dysfunction. Their atypical workplace romance teaches each of them about love.

Heartless tells the story of Cade Eaton and Willa Grant. Cade is another member of the Eaton ranching family and another integral member of life at Wishing Well Ranch and in Chestnut Springs. Consumed by work, Cade struggles to care for his two young children until Summer urges him to hire her friend Willa to do the job. Willa moves onto Cade’s property to help him with the kids, marking the start of their forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers romance. Over time, the two soften toward one another and realize they have more in common than they imagined. They ultimately start a family together, merging their lives and dreams in Chestnut Springs.

In the third Chestnut Springs novel, Powerless, Silver tells the story of Jasper Gervais (Beau Eaton’s best friend) and Sloane Winthrop’s (the Eatons’ cousin) romance. Jasper and Sloane have been friends for many years, but neither of them has professed their feelings for each other. Years later, when Sloane gets engaged to another man, Jasper begins to realize how much he cares for his childhood friend. Sloane backs out of the wedding when she learns that her fiancé cheated on her. The end of her engagement creates an organic opportunity for her and Jasper to reconnect.

In Reckless, Silver traces the story of bull-rider Theo Silva and his love interest Winter Hamilton (Summer’s estranged sister). The two become involved when Winter moves to Chestnut Springs to flee her abusive ex-husband and start her life over. Their passionate one-night stand leads to Winter’s unexpected pregnancy, which forces the love interests into a more committed relationship.

Finally, in Hopeless, Silver knits all of the Chestnut Springs characters’ lives together, fleshing out the stories of side characters Beau Eaton and Bailey Jansen’s storylines. Rhett, Summer, Cade, Willa, Jasper, Sloane, Theo, and Winter all appear in the margins of this age gap romance. Like the previous installments, Hopeless explores what happens when unlikely characters find themselves engaging in intimacy. Beau and Bailey find love when they’re least expecting it, much like all of their Chestnut Springs companions.

The Chestnut Springs novels are in conversation with other contemporary romance series, including Brynne Weaver’s Ruinous Love trilogy, Becka Mack’s Playing for Keeps series, and Lyla Sage’s Rebel Blue Ranch series.