Heartless: A Chestnut Springs Special Edition

Anything and everything by Elsie Silver is pure gold. The plot, the characters, the dialogue, the funny moments, the romance, and the emotional pull she infuses in her stories are always an absolute joy to read. This book is filled with small town romance, nanny x boss, single dad, grumpy x sunshine, age gap, single dad, country boy x city girl, forced proximity... and did I mention single dad... ?38 year old Cade Eaton spent his entire life running the family ranch and being the caretaker for his family. His 5 year old son, Luke, is out of school for the summer and Cade is desperate to hire a live-in nanny to watch over his son while he's working the ranch. After running out of options, Summer suggests hiring her best friend for the job. Enter Willa Grant, a 25 year old spitfire with no experience with kids, but is willing to help out and go with the flow.Cade being the grump to Willa's sunshine was amazing. He comes off as brash at first, but he's really just an introvert who is very private about his life. When Willa is able to break his walls down, he turns out to be the most selfless, thoughtful, caring, protective, and loving man. It warmed my heart to see how hard he was trying to be a good father to Luke. Willa's fiery, friendly, and bright personality is the perfect complement to the Cade and his moody scowls. He appreciates her for the force of nature that she is. One of my favorite moments was Willa's bonding relationship with Luke. It took Cade a bit to warm up, but Willa's actions soon show she isn't who he expected her to be and she actually has a good influence on his son.The spice in this book was incredible. There were some very passionate, fiery and intense moments that definitely left me blushing. The absolute filth coming out from Cade's mouth... yeah, he's Daddy Cade for a reason.

I've read books with the single dad trope, but for some reason, this one did something entirely different to me.It was so wholesome, sweet, and infectious. A big part of that comes from Luke. He was just as cute and sweet as he could be. I was literally gushing over a fictional kid. Add in Willa and my heart absolutely melted. The moments between them were so heartfelt. I loved the way Willa treated and loved him. Even more, I loved that she fell for Luke before she fell for Cade.I knew from the first book that I loved both Willa and Cade independently. And I honestly thought with Willa's personality, she would end up with Beau (sorry Cade). But boy was I wrong. Opposites attract after all. They were perfect for each other and Willa was exactly what Cade needed. I could say the opposite is true as well, but I honestly think the that Cade needed Willa more.And y'all I seriously love Willa. She's funny and has a great sense of humor. She's relatable. She's definitely more of free spirit and go with the flow kind of gal, never really staying in one place too long, just going with the opportunities that are presented to her. She's incredibly loyal and actually kind of longs to have a family of her own.However, when that opportunity is present to her in the form of Luke and Cade, she kinda just won't jump at it. Despite Cade telling her he's sure of what he wants, that he want's her to stay, and he doesn't want her to go back to the city, she still can't tell him that she wants the same thing. AND SHE DOES. She gives him half truths that don't really reveal how she's feeling causing Cade to then be unsure about where her head is at so he does everything he can not to push her so he doesn't scare her.It's the miscommunication trope that drives me nuts. Let it be known that I hate this trope with a passion. Even more than I hate love triangles and that's saying something.And honestly, it wasn't even a large factor in this one compared to other books I've read. It was subtly there. It just felt like it was conflict for conflict's sake and wasn't necessary. Same thing with his occasional mindset about their age gap. I mean Cade's 38, acting like she's 18 sometimes, when she's 25. And he's acting like he's ancient at 38.Otherwise, I really did love it. It was funny. I didn't say this in my review for Flawless because I think I forgot, but I love the text messages at the start of every chapter. Those are hilarious and never fail to crack me up. And just like Flawless, I love the family vibe and banter. Not to mention those little moments between Willa, Cade, and Luke that have a hold on my heart. The Eaton boys are some of my favorite characters I've read in a long time.To put simply, it was heart - warming, hilarious, and steamy.Rating: 4.5

Cade Eaton! The mouth on that man! I love Cade and Willa together; Luke is just the icing on the cake. Heck, I loved all the side characters, too. Harvey had me rolling with laughter.

I should have known that I would be gone for this book. It’s grumpy/sunshine, single dad/nanny, age gap, forced proximity, small town perfection. I loved Flawless so much and it was fantastic to go back to Chestnut Springs. If you haven’t read Flawless (book 1 of this series), I definitely highly recommend reading that first and reading it ASAP, because you need Rhett and Summer in your life. Heartless follows Rhett’s oldest brother Cade, and Summer’s best friend Willa. When the meet cute begins with Cade saying to Willa “You, uh, dropped your panties, ma’am” with a sly little grin, it’s going to be gold. Where does it even go from there? Well I’ll tell you. She shows up on his doorstep, turns out Summer talked her into applying to become the new nanny for his 5 year old son Luke (who is THE MOST precious boy in the world).The way Cade and Willa just start to completely fall in love with each other, and the way Willa also falls hard for little Luke, is so freaking heart warming. Cade has not had an easy life at all and doesn’t get to enjoy things. Willa is lost and underneath her brashness really lacks confidence in herself. They center each other and the three of them form the most adorable family unit. She brings out his fun side, and he brings out a lot more confidence and stability in her. The banter is top notch, patriarch of the family Harvey steals the show multiple times, we get to see Rhett and Summer again, and the STEAM. The uber responsible, grouchy cowboy has THE most deliciously filthy mouth. Holy hell, I wish I could get into a hot tub with Cade Eaton sometime. Saddle up and enjoy another fantastic entry in this series!