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Hopeless

Hopeless

Contemporary LiteratureContemporary Romance
Pages
552
Published
2023
Language
English

Synopsis

Beau Eaton is the town golden boy — a thirty-five-year-old military hero with a tortured past and the kind of name that opens every door in Chestnut Springs. Bailey Jansen is the opposite: a shy, twenty-two-year-old outcast bartender saddled with a family reputation she never asked for. Convinced that people would treat her differently if she carried a different last name, Beau makes her an outrageous offer — a fake engagement to prove a point. It starts as a bet and a mutual convenience: he gets relief from his family’s worried hovering, she gets a chance to outrun her family’s shadow and save up to leave town. But what happens behind closed doors stops feeling like pretending. The fifth and final Chestnut Springs novel closes the series with a fake-engagement, age-gap romance about reinvention and belonging.

Prose complexity
1/10

Vibe

RomanticEmotionalSpicyHeartwarming
Fake DatingForced ProximityGrumpy SunshineFound Family
Spice level
4.0 avg spice

Genres

Contemporary Literature Contemporary Romance Romance Small-Town Romance

About the author

E
Elsie Silver

A #1 New York Times, Sunday Times, and Globe and Mail bestselling author, Elsie Silver writes sassy, steamy, small-town contemporary romance. Born and raised in Canada, she lives just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, son, and dogs — and the rugged ranch towns of her home province shape the settings of nearly all her books. A lifelong romance reader, she came to writing at her mother's urging to reclaim an identity of her own, drawing on an earlier background in copywriting...

Characters

Beau EatonProtagonist

Decorated soldier and Eaton golden boy with a tortured past.

Bailey JansenProtagonist

Shy young bartender trying to escape her family's bad reputation.

Bailey JensenSupporting
All characters in Hopeless

Frequently asked questions

  • Can I read this book if I have not read the previous Chestnut Springs novels?

    Each installment in the series focuses on a different couple, allowing you to follow this story as a standalone narrative without needing to read the earlier books first.

  • Does this book connect to any of the author's other series?

    The Chestnut Springs series shares the same fictional universe as the Gold Rush Ranch series, and you may encounter character connections or world-building elements that span across both collections.

  • Who are the leads in Hopeless?

    It follows Beau Eaton, the town's golden-boy military hero, and Bailey Jansen, a young outcast bartender from the 'wrong' family.

  • What is the fake-engagement setup in Hopeless?

    Beau offers Bailey a fake engagement to prove that people would treat her differently as an Eaton; the arrangement starts as a bet and benefits them both before turning into real feelings.

  • Is Hopeless the last Chestnut Springs book?

    Yes. Hopeless is the fifth and final book in the Chestnut Springs series.

  • What tropes does Hopeless feature?

    Fake dating/fake engagement, age gap, grumpy-sunshine, small-town class divide, and found family.

  • Is Hopeless steamy?

    Yes — it's an open-door contemporary romance like the rest of the series.

  • Can I read the Chestnut Springs books as standalones?

    Yes. Every Chestnut Springs book follows a new couple and resolves its own romance, but the Eaton family and their friends recur throughout, so reading in order (Flawless first) is the most rewarding way through the series.

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