Book 1 in the Chestnut Springs Series | Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 3.25/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 | 📖
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Flawless yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
OPENING HOOK
A professional bull rider gets his sponsorship threatened over milk. You heard correctly, Milk! Rhett Eaton climbs up onto massive, angry animals for a living, and it’s a confession of not liking milk caught on camera that nearly ends his career. That’s the book in a nutshell: a fair bit of drama, a great supporting family (even if they don’t like what he does for a living), and two main characters I just didn’t love as much as I wanted to.
*I want to add a note here, that I’ve read all of Elsie’s published books, and love so many of them. There are a few though, this one included, that I just couldn’t seem to connect to the characters within. So keep that in mind when you’re reading my review*
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
We open in the middle of a scandal. Rhett gets caught on camera saying how much he hates milk, which is particularly unfortunate because milk is one of his sponsors. His agent, Kip, is so over him and his antics that he decides Rhett needs a babysitter and sends his own daughter, PR specialist Summer Hamilton. They don’t act like father and daughter at work, which I liked, and he sends her with the expectation that she’ll be able to handle the assignment.
So, Summer heads to the Eaton’s at Wishing Well Ranch (the family ranch and Rhett’s home base) to keep him in line for the rest of the rodeo season. Rhett is sore, tired and struggling, but he really doesn’t want to change anything. Summer is a people-pleaser who wants to prove to her dad that she can do this, leaving Rhett annoyed by bulldozing her way in with her strict boundaries. He’s resistant and she’s determined, so we all know where that going to go.
The Eatons think the whole situation is adorable. They don’t love his bull riding career, so they take to Summer right away. Somewhere in all of the family dinners, shared hotel rooms and quiet conversations she sees how hard he’s pushing through injury and exhaustion to win one more championship and bring money home for the ranch and he sees what she’s carrying and the trauma she’s been working through. Tentative allies turns into something more.
She tells Rhett about Rob, her awful ex. He was the big flashy heart surgeon who saved her when she was a sick, sheltered teenager, and then he manipulated and took advantage of her. He ended up marrying her sister Winter, although he still can’t seem to let Summer go (we will get Winter’s side of the story in a later book, so you can be happy knowing that her perspective is coming). The whole situation is a mess, and especially nasty when you think about the predatory nature of an older man in power with a teenager who relies on him.
Anyway, Kip has a heart attack, and Rob is at the hospital of course. He’s a heart surgeon and married to one of his daughters. Since Rhett has been told the whole story about Rob, he can’t hold himself back from charging in to confront him in the waiting room. He’s overcome with rage and tells Rob exactly what he thinks of him, but he doesn’t consider the fact that Summer had never told anyone else about their relationship. Her secrets are blown open in front of her family and friends, including his wife; her sister. Summer is devastated and sends him away.
Rhett tried to apologize, but when she ignores him he goes back to competing, and the younger bull rider he’s been mentoring, Theo Silva (can I spoil this serious and scary moment as well as the plot for his book as well? It’s Theo and Winter, and an unexpected surprise!! Eeeeeee! You can find them in Reckless, book 4), has a terrible accident in the arena. Rhett runs in to stop Theo from being trampled and they both get hurt. It’s a serious accident, and it makes Rhett realize how dangerous and terrifying this sport is. Summer comes to see him at the hospital to make sure he’s okay, and he lashes out. He’s still upset that she sent him away, and he’s in pain, so he tells her she can’t tell him what to do. She leaves and cuts contact, and won’t return his calls.
Conflict between Summer and Kip has been building, and Kip finally fires her, freeing her from everyone else’s expectations, so when Rhett heads to Vegas for the last ride of his career, she gets on a plane and goes straight to him. He has decided this is his last ride before retirement, and he wants one more championship and the money that goes with it for his family ranch. Then, when he realizes that she’s in the stands, he walks away from the bull mid-event, walking right over to her in the arena, to tell her he loves her and hear her say it back. It’s really emotional, and I did love that part.
After that, Rhett shifts into mentoring and coaching, Summer invests in a gym, and they build their life together. They bring out the best in and support each other, and that’s exactly what you want for the end of a romance book
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
Watching two people circle and learn each other. What drives them, what trauma they’re working around, and how best they can be what the other wants and needs. That part worked for me.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
I didn’t love the characters. I have quite a few favourites among Elsie Silver’s books, but I didn’t connect with either of these two. I didn’t like Summer much at all, and I’m not used to disliking the main female character, so I think that played a big part in how I felt.
I did really like the Eaton family though. I didn’t hate the book, but I didn’t feel what I normally feel when I’m reading Elsie Silver. I was more interested in getting to the books about other characters, like Jasper and Cade.
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN — 🔥🔥🔥🔥
- Sex scenes: Yes, there sure are.
- Fade to black or explicit: Open door and explicit.
- Rhett’s inner monologue: Pretty detailed, including a lot of masturbation thoughts.
- How central is the romance: It’s the whole book. Rhett and Summer’s story is the plot.
- Content warnings: Explicit sex, a manipulative ex who took advantage of a sick, sheltered teen, a heart attack, and a serious rodeo accident with injuries.
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Satisfying enough. Rhett walking away from his ride to tell her he loves her as she’s rushing in to tell him the same is really emotional.
Getting there was a lot of push and pull. We can’t be together because we’re PR agent and client. Then we can’t be together because I’m the bad boy rodeo guy who doesn’t settle down. Then we need to be together, but we can’t because you confronted my ex in front of my family. And so on. I didn’t love the book, but the ending is satisfying as far as endings go.
THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE
Rob. He’s a slimy weasel and a predator.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Probably not this one. I’d reread some of the others in the series though.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Small town, rodeo, ranch romance.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📖 Physical Book
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Bookshop.org
🎧 Audiobook
Audible US | Audible CA | Libro.fm
📚 More from the Chestnut Springs Series
Book 1 — Flawless | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 3.25/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 — You’re here now!
Book 2 — Heartless | Review Coming Soon
Book 3 — Powerless | Review Coming Soon
Book 4 — Reckless | Review Coming Soon
Book 5 — Hopeless | Review Coming Soon
Ready for more reviews from CJ? Find More Here
Plot Twisted. 🔥
📖 | Series: Chestnut Springs Book 1 | Genre: Small-town rodeo romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
More by Elsie Silver
TAGS: Flawless, Elsie Silver, Chestnut Springs, Chestnut Springs Series, Rodeo Romance, Small Town Romance, Cowboy Romance, Bull Rider Romance, Ranch Romance, Spicy Romance, Open Door Romance, Forbidden Romance, Boss’s Daughter Romance, Book Review, Spoiler Review, Plot Twisted, Do Rhett and Summer Get Together, Does Rhett Quit Riding Bulls,