Flawless by Elsie Silver was not a book I thought I would ever be interested in reading. Bull rider MMC? Not my thing. However, a couple of quotes and a few recommendations had me rethinking my stance, and well, the entire Chestnut Springs series hooked me.
Introduction
Flawless by Elsie Silver is book one of the Chestnut Springs series and is a complete standalone. It is a small town contemporary romance publish on June 24th, 2022. It is 424 pages long and can be found on Kindle Unlimited, Amazon, and on the author’s website here.
Quotes to Use
“I love your freckles,” he murmurs from behind me, the pad of his finger tracing lines across the expanse of my back. “They remind me of all the constellations. Like I could draw lines between them, and pictures would appear.”
“Choosing each other. Finding each other. Showing up for each other. And everything about the moment is flawless.”
“One more championship and maybe I’ll take my gold buckle and hang up my hat.
Preferably on Summer Hamilton’s head.”
Premise
Son of a rancher and top of his game bull rider, Rhett, has gotten a bit of a reputation for being a bad boy and his sponsors aren’t happy about it. Neither is his manager who has just saddled him with his daughter, Summer. She’ll follow him around the bull riding circuit making sure he’s a good boy, but all he sees is her. He’s not allowed to touch her, but he can’t stop thinking about putting his hat on her head.
Triggers
Triggers found in Flawless by Elsie Silver include:
- Grooming in a Doctor/Patient relationship (Not MMC)
- Child abuse
- Divorce
- Grief & loss depiction
- Stalking
My Thoughts
I am not a cowboy romance reader. Despite the popularity of the Chestnut Springs books, I was pretty dead set against reading them. Evidently I will sometimes fold to peer pressure and a well marketed book quote – which isn’t all that shocking.
So, with that being said, I was really glad I didn’t skip out on these small town cowboys.
Rhett was hilarious, and Summer wasn’t taking no shit from him either. I loved the dynamic between the two main characters. I was flipping pages, laughing, and I might have even shed a tear or two, in happiness.
I thought I was getting a cute small town fluffy rom com, instead I was slightly surprised by the depth of emotions in these characters backstories. Rhett comes from a family of ranchers not bull riders, but bull riding provided a hefty paycheck. It didn’t stop Rhett from feeling like he was an outsider in his own family.
Then there is Summer, who has had a not so great childhood, health issues as a teenager that led to an inappropriate situation with a predatory doctor, who still stalks her.
If you are looking for a cutesy, low angst, rom com, this really isn’t it. It will have you deep in your emotions as Elsie makes you fall for these characters.
The spice was spicing, in a moves the story forward type of way. The spice is goooood, but it’s not what makes this book. Which I like it that way. I like spice that is just there and spice that is the added bonus of a great story. Flawless by Elsie Silver is the later.
At first impression Rhett has a lot of growing up to do, but as the story goes on you realize he isn’t quite what that first impression gives us, and there is a lot about himself that he hides away. Whereas Summer appears to be this woman who has it all together, but she’s dying for a chance to let it go and live fully. Part of the relationship dynamic are these two helping each other, even without realizing that’s what they were doing.
Elsie Silver has created a whole slew of amazing side characters for this series and after reading the first book I couldn’t wait to dive into the rest of them too.
Overall the book gave me summer country vibes, but in a relaxing field with your best friends type of way. It was chilling with your weird family but you’re all weird together and despite the small spats and possible resentfulness you are all still there for each other.
Who Would Like Flawless by Elsie Silver?
Tropes found in Flawless by Elsie Silver include:
- Found Family
- Cowboy Romance
- Small Town
- Forced Proximity
If you liked Smoky Darling by SJ Tilly, So Not Meant To Be by Meghan Quinn, or The Mixtape by Brittainy C Cherry, you will likely love this book as well.
Check out my posts on all the Chestnut Springs books:
Have you read Flawless by Elsie Silver, or have you added it to your TBR? Let me know in the comments below, I love interacting with other readers about books I loved.