Powerless: A Small Town Friends to Lovers Romance

Powerless is the third book in Elsie Silver’s Chestnut Springs series, which focuses on the Eaton family and is set in the rugged Canadian wilderness on Wishing Well Ranch. With a focus on small-town settings, emotionally layered characters, and narratives that explore healing and the complexities of human connection, Powerless engages with themes of Healing Old Wounds with Love and Support, The Struggle to Reclaim Self-Worth, and The Stabilizing Influence of Found Family. Powerless precedes Flawless, which follows Rhett and Summer, and Heartless, which tells Cade and Willa’s story. The fourth installment, Reckless, picks up Theo and Winter’s story, and the series concludes with Beau and Bailey’s story in Hopeless. 

Elsie Silver is a contemporary Canadian novelist whose work makes a significant contribution to the genre of popular romance fiction. Her writing is notable for its nuanced portrayal of masculinity, often featuring emotionally wounded male protagonists whose internal conflicts challenge traditional norms of stoicism and emotional detachment. Silver is also known for her Gold Rush Ranch and Rose Hill series. 

This guide refers to the 2023 Bloom Books eBook edition.

Content Warning: Both the source material and this guide feature depictions of sexual content, child death, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

After a tragedy shatters his family, teenager Jasper Gervais is forced to live in his car. When the school bullies threaten him, Beau Eaton invites Jasper to stay with his family. Jasper becomes part of the Eaton family, which includes Beau’s brothers, Rhett and Cade, and their little sister, Violet. Jasper also meets Sloane Winthrop, the Eatons’ cousin, for the first time when she visits for the summer. Despite coming from different worlds, the two quickly form a close bond that strengthens over the years. Sloane develops a crush on Jasper and asks him to the prom, but he declines because he is older than she is. Although they remain in touch, they grow apart in their adult lives as Sloane pursues her ballet career and Jasper advances in professional hockey. Jasper always knew about Sloane’s feelings for him, but he assumes that her crush was a childhood phase and that she has since moved on.

One year later, Sloane gets engaged to Sterling Woodcock, the son of one of her father’s business associates; it is essentially an arranged marriage. When Jasper attends a dinner party to celebrate the wedding, he can’t understand why Sloane would marry someone as possessive and unpleasant as Sterling. Jasper confronts her about this, and an argument ensues; Sloane wonders why Jasper suddenly cares about her when they have drifted apart. 

On her wedding day, Sloane receives an anonymous text featuring a video of Sterling cheating on her with a stripper at his bachelor party. When she confronts him, he doesn’t deny it. Jasper overhears them arguing and breaks into the room to help. Sloane asks him to take her to Wishing Well Ranch. Willa, Cade’s wife, is pregnant, so she fakes going into labor to create a diversion while Jasper whisks Sloane away before her father or Sterling notice that they are gone.

Sloane rips her wedding gown and ditches her uncomfortable shoes. They stop at a store, where she buys new clothes, including a replica of Jasper’s hockey jersey. When they arrive at the ranch, they are greeted by Harvey, the patriarch of the Eaton family, who did not attend the wedding festivities; he has just learned that his son Beau, who is in the military, is now missing in action. Overwhelmed by the dual stress of caring for Sloane and worrying about his best friend’s safety, Jasper finds himself triggered by his childhood trauma of loss and abandonment, and after his team experiences a losing streak, his coach forces him to take a two-week break. Meanwhile, Sloane ignores her father and Sterling’s texts and phone calls demanding that she return home. Instead, she focuses on caring for Jasper and supporting Harvey. 

One day, Violet and her husband, Cole, who live at Gold Rush Ranch, need to get hay from Wishing Well. Harvey wants to stay near the ranch to wait for news on Beau, so Jasper and Sloane volunteer to deliver the hay. During their road trip through the mountains, Jasper and Sloane reconnect. Although Jasper is reluctant to express his feelings, he eventually tells Sloane that he has wanted to be in a relationship with her ever since she moved to the city, but her father forced him to stay away by threatening to end his hockey career.

When the vehicle’s brakes suddenly malfunction, they nearly crash, and in the aftermath of the shock, Japer and Sloane share an embrace that turns into a passionate kiss, unleashing years of pent-up tension and yearning. Jasper reveals a ballerina tattoo on his chest, which represents Sloane. Later, they become intimate, and Jasper knows there’s no going back, even though he fears losing her.

The military finds Beau, who is injured but has been safely returned to a military hospital; Harvey travels to be with him. When Jasper and Sloane return to the ranch, Jasper returns to hockey while Sloane works on renovating Jasper’s investment properties. The couple doesn’t speak of the future or share their feelings as the shadow of doubt looms over their burgeoning relationship. 

When Sloane performs in the ballet company’s performance of The Nutcracker, Jasper is in the front row. After the performance, they share a steamy tryst in the dressing room and are interrupted by Sloane’s parents, who surprise her by attending. Robert, Sloane’s father, threatens Jasper again and warns Sloane to stay away from Jasper lest she cause him to lose his career. Robert then invites Sloane to a birthday celebration in her honor the following week, but Jasper is not invited.

Knowing that her father would happily sabotage Jasper’s career just to spite them both, Sloane tells Jasper that he must choose whether he is comfortable with risking his career to be with her. He remains silent. The couple separates; Sloane returns to the ranch while Jasper stays in the city. Jasper meets with Harvey, who reprimands him for not being honest with Sloane. Harvey encourages Jasper to tell her how he feels. 

Sloane’s mother, Cordelia, leaves her husband for good and goes to the ranch. She invites Jasper to attend the birthday dinner. Meanwhile, Robert has brought Sterling to the dinner so that they can both confront Sloane and manipulate her into acceding to their control. Cordelia warns Sloane of this issue, so Sloane arrives at the dinner fully prepared to defend herself. She tells her father that she is no longer under his authority, and Jasper surprises her by showing up to support her. Sloane silences her father and Sterling, then leaves the restaurant hand-in-hand with Jasper. He declares his love and promises to risk everything to remain by her side.

Months later, after Jasper’s team wins the Stanley Cup, he proposes to Sloane on the ice. Cordelia is now living at the ranch, and Sloane and Jasper choose to get married on the ranch, having Harvey officiate. As a wedding gift, Harvey deeds a portion of his land to the couple, just as he has done for his other children. Before the ceremony, Jasper reveals his new tattoo: a wedding ring on his finger.